CHAPTER XI.
WE LEARN ATVATABARESE.
This exclamation was a very puzzling phrase to us.
Professor Starbottle said: "It appears to me, gentlemen, before we canmake any use of our prisoner we must first learn his language."
Again the stranger smote his breast, exclaiming: "Plothoy, wayleal arAtvatabar."
"Well, of all the lingoes I iver heard," said Flathootly, "this is theworst case yet. It bates Irish, which is the toughest langwidge tolarn undher the sun. What langwidge do you call that, sorr?"
Professor Goldrock, besides being a naturalist, was an adept inlanguage. He stated that our captive appeared to be either a soldieror courier or coast-guard of his country, which was evidentlyindicated by the last word, Atvatabar. "Let us take for granted," saidhe, "that 'Plothoy' is his name and 'Atvatabar' his country. We haveleft the two words 'wayleal ar.' Now the pronunciation and grouping ofthe letters leads me to think that the words resemble the Englishlanguage more nearly than any other tongue. The word 'wayleal' has thesame number of letters as 'soldier' and 'courier,' and I note that thefourth and last letters are identical in both 'courier' and 'wayleal.'On the supposition that both words are identical we might compare themthus:
c is wo " au " yr " li " ee " i or ar " l
The word 'wayleil' or 'wayleal' means to us leal or strong--by theway, a very good name for a soldier."
At this moment our mysterious friend yelled out:
"Plothoy, wayleal ar Atvatabar, em Bilbimtesirol!"
"Kape quiet, me boy," said Flathootly, "and we'll soon find out allabout you."
"Rather let him talk away," said the professor, "and we'll find outwho he is much quicker. You see he has given us two new words thistime, the words 'em Bilbimtesirol.' Now an idea strikes me--let ustranspose the biggest word thus:
b is pi " el " rb " pi " em " nt " de " is " ci " ur " lo " al " r
Here we have the word 'perpendicular.' What does 'Bilbimtesirol' as'perpendicular' mean? It may mean that the interior planet is lit by aperpendicular sun, and that we are in a land of perpendicular light andshadow. See how the shadow, of every man surrounds his boots! Now,granting 'wayleal' means 'courier' and 'Bilbimtesirol' 'perpendicular,' wehave a clue to the language of Atvatabar. It seems to me to be amiraculous transposition of the English language thus:
a is ob " pc " s or kd " te " i or af " f or vg " jh " ohi " ej " gk " cl " rm " nn " mo " ap " bq " vr " ls " c or st " du " ijv " quw " y c or sx " zy " u or iz " x
According to this transposition our friend means, 'Plothoy courier ofAtvatabar, in Bilbimtesirol.' Let us see if we can so understand him."So saying, the professor approached and said:
"Ec wayl moni Plothoy?" (Is your name Plothoy?)
"Wic cel, ni moni ec Plothoy" (Yes, sir, my name is Plothoy), promptlyreplied the stranger.
"Good!" said the professor; "that's glorious! We understand each othernow."
I congratulated the professor on his brilliant discovery. It wasmagnificent! We could now converse with our prisoner on any subject wedesired.
We had the key in our hands that would unlock the wonders of Plutusia,or rather Bilbimtesirol, the interior world.
Flathootly turned a dozen summersaults in the air to express hisdelight. The sailors spun upon the deck, and threw each other into theair like jugglers playing with balls, in pure excitement.
"Ec Atvatabar dofi moni ar wail saimtle?" (Is Atvatabar the name ofyour country?) inquired the professor of Plothoy.
"E on o wayleal ar Fec Nogicdi, Cemj Aldemegry Bhoolmakar arAtvatabar" (I am a wayleal of his majesty King Aldemegry Bhoolmakar ofAtvatabar), said Plothoy.
Atvatabar, then, was a kingdom. We should go there certainly and seeKing Bhoolmakar and his people. But where was this mysterious country?
"Yohili ec Atvatabar?" we asked of Plothoy.
"Dohili!" he replied, pointing to a continent in the southwest. Thesouthwest in the interior world, it should be stated, corresponds tothe southeast on the outer earth. Atvatabar, then, lay underneath theAtlantic Ocean.
"Yohod ec dohi moni ar dohi miolicd gliod sedi?" (What is the name ofthe nearest great city?) we asked.
"Kioram," replied Plothoy. "Dohili ed ec fequi ohymtlit neric tyicaydoh docd." (There it is, five hundred miles due southeast.)
We looked in the direction indicated with our glasses and plainly sawthe white marble buildings of a large city not three degrees above theplane of our position. Further off, in the haze of distance, a mightycontinent unrolled its landscapes, until it was merged in thebrightness of the sunlight above us.
All this time Plothoy's companion circumnavigated the ship on hisswift wings. We inquired his name.
"Lecholt," said Plothoy, "omt ohi orca ec o wayleal." (And he also isa wayleal.)
"What is the name of the sun above us?" we inquired.
"Swang," said Plothoy.
Good! we would sail direct to Kioram, the principal port of Atvatabar.
I assured Plothoy that as long as he was detained by us he wouldreceive the greatest consideration at our hands. We would do him noinjury, but, on the contrary, amply reward him for his services. Hecould understand that, being strangers in an unknown world, it wasabsolutely necessary for us to have a pilot, or guide, not merely toadvise how to direct the ship, but to inform us regarding the laws,manners, and customs of the people we proposed visiting, that we mightaccommodate ourselves to such novel experiences as we were certain toundergo. We told him we had come to Bilbimtesirol as pioneers of theouter planet, as heralds of the intercourse that would undoubtedlytake place between two worlds separated for ages until now. We assuredPlothoy how indebted we were to him for the information he had alreadygiven, and his great importance to us in a voyage that would affectthe interests of thousands of millions of men ought to reconcile himto his brief captivity. We could not afford to lose him, and thereforeasked him to remain with us for the remainder of the voyage, and onreaching Kioram we would give him his liberty.
These words, with the treatment he was receiving, completelyreconciled Plothoy, who called Lecholt to come down on deck besidehim. His companion obeyed, and presently the two strangers sat on therail of the vessel engaged in earnest conversation.
Presently Plothoy said that his companion Lecholt would go forward inadvance of the ship to inform the king of our coming, that duepreparations be made for our reception. This was an admirablesuggestion, and accordingly we despatched Lecholt with a message ofprofound respect for King Aldemegry Bhoolmakar, saying that thecommander of the _Polar King_ with his officers and retinue would dothemselves the honor of visiting his majesty and people as soon as the_Polar King_ would reach Atvatabar.
Poising himself for a moment on his wings, Lecholt saluted us with hissword and immediately swept away in the direction of Atvatabar.