Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-19
CHAPTER Nv.
The Secret of the Runic Ring.

while here and there were many ornd-
ments betraying the taste of Beatrice, for
the room was jointly occupied by brother
and sister. They loved to be together, and
while Godfrey studied his medical tones,
Beatrice's fingers would be busy with sew
| ing or embroidery.
| On this particular evening the presence
| of Idris caused both study and needlework
| to be suspended. He had whetted the Gu
| riosity of his entertainers by affirming that
| his coming to Ormsby had something to do
| with the search for his father; he was, IN
| fact, following clue.
| His hearers pressed for enlightenment
| Let us sit around the fire, and l VIII ex-
| plain my meaning.
| Drawing a comfortable armchair to the
| hearth Beatrice composed herself Tor what
| she felt was about to be an interesting dls-
| closure.
"Among the papers," Idris began, hand
| cd tn me on my eighteenth birthday by my
mothers executors was a piece of vellum
with runic letters upon it.. Though eleven
| these characters as being Identical with
those engraved on the ring OF OoIn. NY
mother had had the forethougnt u ihahe
| copy of the inscription o.+;o,, in
Here Idris paused, reaoihs H
.uave YOU the transcript with you? she
| asked 1T will be interesting 10 iooA a.
| though we do not understand IL.
| LARS nroduced from his pocket DOCK d
scran of yellum inscribed with four lines Oh
| tiny runic letters. ptr;oo
! land these are runeS Salo beatil..
| looking at them attentively Ihey are VIZ
| like the characters on the bugle that hangs
| within the porch of Ravenhali: -,
precisely" said Godfrey, inasmucn as
that is an old Morse drinking norm Du' VIZ
| are interrupting IdriS story
| ..The sight of this inscription naturally
| interested me-" continued 1dris, "and re-
| solved to make an attempt at us ueciphei
ment. In the hope that II miss gu Snoi
| of light upon the mystery of Duchesne
| murder for l have always held TO the pc
| lief that he was assassinated LOT thg SAM SAN
! of the altar ring. With this view pro-
| cured the services of a professor eminent
| for his knowledge of Morse Antiquities ana
| under his tuition 1 began the study OF ru-
| nology. 49,, ,o.+ors
| of the inscription, and to pronounce what
| supposed were syllables and words; put
| syllables and words would not yleid any
| sense And here and there came Juxtapo-
sition of consonantS quite unpronounceaDle.
| To add TO the difficulty, there were no
| spaces to show where one word ended ana
| another began. All the characters were
equally close together and seemed TO form
one long word / did my best to break the
inscription up into its component parts,
but failed l could not distinguish one IA
miliar term. Either the language was NOT
old Morse or the professor hao tdushl HE
wrongly.
why did you not lay the inscription be
| fore the professor asked Beatrice, land
get him to decipher it for your
Because l did not wish any one to know
| the secret till ] myself had first -ascertained
| its value In the belief that it might be
| written in some language other than Ola
] Morse 1 made incursions, not very deep, l
/ fear into Danish. Tristan. 1celandic and
| other northern dialects. but failed to iden-
tify the inscription with any one of these
tongues. .
AT last in despair I cast aside the eau
ton l had hitherto exercised. and placed
the writing before my tutor: but. eminent
runologist he was, he could extract no
meaning from IT,
Anxious to begin the search for my
father. 1 parted from the Morse professor;
but yet amid all my wanderings through
Europe, l never quite gave up the hope OF
being able to decipher the inscription.
Now. few weeks ago 1t occurred to me
that the art of secret writing may have
| been practiced in Morse times just as in
our own. Hitherto. following modern usage
| to right: why not from right to left, as an
| cient Hebrew is read? / tried the course
but it made me no wiser.
| However, the cryptOgraphic idea grew
upon me, and was not to be shaken off. AS
| you perceive, it is four-line inscription:
| therefore read downward combining the
| letters in the first line with those directly
\ beneath In the second. third and fourth
| disappointment was still my lot. / tried
| the plan of emitting every alternate letter
| 1 seemed as far off as ever
| But you succeeded in the end" said Bea-
| trice.
Yes. By playing at random with the
letters 1 hit upon the key to the decipher-
| ment. Observe this character" continued
line. shaped thus: =. 1t is called Hagl
and corresponds to our H. AS 1t is
slightly larger than the other letters,
| had come to regard it as the initial one
| in the series, and the sequel proved that
| was correct. Beginning with this Hagl, 1
| omitted the three following letters, taking
the NTH which corresponds to our i.''
| That gives us Hi said Beatrice
| Just So Passing over the next three
| characters we come TO tie equivalent Of
| our l."
| Hill" said Beatrice.
| Proceeding in this way l add two more
| letters. and the result is a woman's name,
| as common in Morse days as in our own"
You mean Hilda?"
| Precisely. Hilda is the first word of the
| inscription. Light had dawned at last.
had discovered the key to the writing, and
| it Is this: Every fourth letter is to be treat
ed IS if in immediate sequence
| Il instantly marked off the characters
| into sets of four. By taking out the first
| letter in each quartet and placing them in
| consecutive order. 1 found the result was
! an intelf,Iibie sentence. BY treating the
second letter of each quartet in like manner
/ the sentence was continued; and so with the
| third and fourth letters. There could be no
| doubt about 1t. I had mastered the secret
| of Odins ring.
| And what Is the secret?" said Beatrice
| breathlessly.
Idris could not avoid smiling at her eager
| ness. 1t w, pleasant to have so fair and
| interested listener.
| 'Impulsive Beatrice." said Godfrey "Idris
may wish to keep the secret to himself
| 1T will be very unfair, then after having
| excited our curiosity" she retorted
| You shall have the secret" said Idris:
| though you will probably be as much dis
| appointed with il as l was. There is moth
ing very startling in ii. II does not relate
| to Odin and tie gods of ValhalIa but to an
| old Viking and a buried treasure This is
| my rendering of the Morse runes engraved
on the broad perimeter of the ancient altar
| ring
| And here Idris drew forth a second piece
| of vellum. and read from it as follows:
| Hiida the Alruna, TO her son. Magnus
| of Deira, greeting.-Within the lofty tomb
of thy sire Orm, the Golden. wilt thou find
| the treasure won by his high arm. The
| noopti6e shadow of the oft-carried throne
| will be to thee for a sign. And may the
fires of the Asas guard thy heritage for
! thee.-Farewell.' ="
| That" continued Idris after pause 'fs
| the secret of Odins ring: and though as
| have said. 1 was disappointed at first, yet
| In course of time 1 began to think that the
| knowledge l had acquired might furnish me