high in favour among the people of the neighbourhood.

"Hilda and I were considering a matter of which we will make thee
judge," said Erling, as they sat down on the bank together.

"I will do my best," said the hermit, with a smile, "if Hilda consents
to trust my judgment."

"That she gladly does," said the maid.

"Well, then, I will detail the facts of the case," said Erling; "but
first tell me what strange marks are those on the skin thou holdest in
thy hand?"

"These are words," said the hermit, carefully spreading out a roll of
parchment, on which a few lines were written.

Erling and Hilda regarded the strange characters with much interest.
Indeed, the young man's look almost amounted to one of awe, for he had
never seen the scroll before, although Hilda, to whom it had several
times been shown and explained, had told him about it.

"These marks convey thoughts," said Christian, laying his forefinger on
the characters.

"Can they convey intricate thoughts," asked Erling, "such as are
difficult to express?"

"Aye; there is no thought which can quit the tongue of one man and enter
the understanding of another which may not be expressed by these letters
in different combinations."

"Dim ideas of this have been in my mind," said Erling, "since I went on
viking cruise to the south, when first I heard of such a power being
known to and used by many, but I believed it not. If this be as thou
sayest, and these letters convey thy thoughts, then, though absent, thy
thoughts might be known to me--if I did but understand the tracing of
them."

"Most true," returned the hermit; "and more than that, there be some
who, though dead, yet speak to their fellows, and will continue to do so
as long as the records are preserved and the power to comprehend them be
maintained."

"Mysterious power," said Erling; "I should like much to possess it."

"If thou wilt come to my poor abode on the cliff I will teach it thee.
A few months, or less, will suffice. Even Hilda knows the names of the
separate signs, and she has applied herself to it for little more than a
few days."

Hilda's face became scarlet when Erling looked at her in surprise, but
the unobservant hermit went on to descant upon the immense value of
written language, until Hilda reminded him that he had consented to sit
in judgment on a knotty point.

"True, I had forgotten.--Come now, Erling, let me hear it."

The youth at once began, and in a few minutes