"Look at this one," said Morhange. There was such an accent of triumph in his tone that this time I concentrated my attention. I looked again. The characters of the inscription were arranged in the form of a cross. It plays such an important part in this adventure that I cannot forego retracing it for you. | | + o o o o -- W + -- - | | | [Transcriber's Note: This is but a crude ASCII representation of the inscription. The center 'W' is rotated 90 degrees counter-clockwise in the book.] It was designed with great regularity, and the characters were cut deep into the rock. Although I knew so little of rock inscriptions at that time I had no difficulty in recognizing the antiquity of this one. Morhange became more and more radiant as he regarded it. I looked at him questioningly. "Well, what have you to say now?" he asked. "What do you want me to say? I tell you that I can barely read Tifinar." "Shall I help you?" he suggested. This course in Berber writing, after the emotions through which we had just passed, seemed to me a little inopportune. But Morhange was so visibly delighted that I could not dash his joy. "Very well then," began my companion, as much at his, ease as if he had been before a blackboard, "what will strike you first about this inscription is its repetition in the form of a cross. That is to say that it contains the same word twice, top to bottom, and right to left. The word which it composes has seven letters so the fourth letter, W [Transcriber's Note: Rotated 90 deg. counter-clockwise], comes naturally in the middle. This arrangement which is unique in Tifinar writing, is already remarkable enough. But there is better still. Now we will read it." Getting it wrong three times out of seven I finally succeeded, with Morhange's help, in spelling the word. "Have you got it?" asked Morhange when I had finished my task. "Less than ever," I answered, a little put out; "a,n,t,i,n,h,a,--Antinha, I don't know that word, or anything like it, in all the Saharan dialects I am familiar with." Morhange rubbed his hands together. His satisfaction was without bounds. "You have said it. That is why the discovery is unique." "Why?" "There is really nothing, either in Berber or in Arabian, analogous to this word." "Then?" "Then, my dear friend, we are in the presence of a foreign word, translated into Tifinar." "And this word belongs, according to your theory, to what language?" "You must realize that the letter _e_ does not exist in the Tifinar alphabet. It has here been replaced by the phonetic sign which is nearest to it,--h. Restore _e_ to the place which belongs to it in the word, and you have--" "Antinea." "'Antinea,' precisely. We find ourselves before a Greek vocable reproduced in Tifinar. And I think that now you will agree with me that my find has a certain interest."