I put one hand on the dynamo and made a gesture of inquiry with the other, whereupon our strange friend said, "Nojmesedi!" Was this the name of the new force we had discovered, or the name of the flying apparatus as a whole? Before we could settle the point our friend became communicative, and, smiting his breast, said: "Plothoy, wayleal ar Atvatabar!" With the right hand he pointed to a continent rising above us, its mighty features being clearly visible to the naked eye. CHAPTER XI. WE LEARN ATVATABARESE. This exclamation was a very puzzling phrase to us. Professor Starbottle said: "It appears to me, gentlemen, before we can make any use of our prisoner we must first learn his language." Again the stranger smote his breast, exclaiming: "Plothoy, wayleal ar Atvatabar." "Well, of all the lingoes I iver heard," said Flathootly, "this is the worst case yet. It bates Irish, which is the toughest langwidge to larn undher the sun. What langwidge do you call that, sorr?" Professor Goldrock, besides being a naturalist, was an adept in language. He stated that our captive appeared to be either a soldier or courier or coast-guard of his country, which was evidently indicated by the last word, Atvatabar. "Let us take for granted," said he, "that 'Plothoy' is his name and 'Atvatabar' his country. We have left the two words 'wayleal ar.' Now the pronunciation and grouping of the letters leads me to think that the words resemble the English language more nearly than any other tongue. The word 'wayleal' has the same number of letters as 'soldier' and 'courier,' and I note that the fourth and last letters are identical in both 'courier' and 'wayleal.' On the supposition that both words are identical we might compare them thus: c is w o " a u " y r " l i " e e " i or a r " l The word 'wayleil' or 'wayleal' means to us leal or strong--by the way, 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 all about you." "Rather let him talk away," said the professor, "and we'll find out who he is much quicker. You see he has given us two new words this time, the words 'em Bilbimtesirol.' Now an idea strikes me--let us transpose the biggest word thus: b is p i " e l " r b " p i " e m " n t " d e " i s " c i " u r " l o " a l " r Here we have the word 'perpendicular.' What does 'Bilbimtesirol' as 'perpendicular' mean? It may mean that the interior planet is lit by a perpendicular sun, and that we are in a land of perpendicular light and shadow. See how the shadow, of every man surrounds his boots! Now, granting 'wayleal' means 'courier' and 'Bilbimtesirol' 'perpendicular,' we have a clue to the language of Atvatabar. It seems to me to be a miraculous transposition of the English language thus: