190 
THE RED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA. 
the papers he could make nothing ; for not only was the 
writing blurred and almost indecipherable by reason of 
age, but the characters were of a sort which the honest 
young officer had never set eyes on before. 
" They're not Russian," said he, throwing down the 
papers in despair before Mrs. Button and her daughter ; 
" I'm sure of that. What those outlandish-looking square 
things mean, with their dots and crosses, is more than I 
can tell." 
Mrs. Dutton pored over them in vain, and shook her 
head. 
" Let me see, mamma," said Florence, stretching out 
her hand languidly. She had not been wholly herself 
since her adventure that so nearly proved fatal, and her 
mother watched her pale face anxiously as she handed 
her the mysterious manuscripts. 
Why," she exclaimed, "these are not paper at all! 
They're parchment, and I think — yes, I'm sure, the 
writing is in Hebrew." 
"Why, how do you know that. Floss?" asked the 
lieutenant, scrutinizing each fragment with a new in- 
terest. 
" Teacher once showed us the ' Lord's Prayer ' in two 
or three languages. She copied them on the blackboard 
out of a book, and one of them was Hebrew. It looked 
almost exactly like this." 
As none of the party knew a word of the language, the 
information didn't avail them much; although, as Dick 
