"Why is that?"

"Because Arne Saknussemm was persecuted for heresy, and in 1573 his
books were burned by the hands of the common hangman."

"Very good! Excellent!" cried my uncle, to the great scandal of the
professor of natural history.

"What!" he cried.

"Yes, yes; now it is all clear, now it is all unravelled; and I see
why Saknussemm, put into the Index Expurgatorius, and compelled to
hide the discoveries made by his genius, was obliged to bury in an
incomprehensible cryptogram the secret--"

"What secret?" asked M. Fridrikssen, starting.

"Oh, just a secret which--" my uncle stammered.

"Have you some private document in your possession?" asked our host.

"No; I was only supposing a case."

"Oh, very well," answered M. Fridrikssen, who was kind enough not to
pursue the subject when he had noticed the embarrassment of his
friend. "I hope you will not leave our island until you have seen
some of its mineralogical wealth."

"Certainly," replied my uncle; "but I am rather late; or have not
others been here before me?"