The Hunt for Atlantis Read Free Page B

last scraps of food. But beneath these remnants, things became more interesting. Folded maps, leather-bound notebooks, sheets of paper bearing rubbings of more carved Glozel characters, a scoured sheet of copper with what looked like a map or chart scored into its surface … and something carefully wrapped in layers of what he was surprised to discover was dark velvet.
    Laura took the copper piece. “Sand-worn … do you think they might have found this in Morocco?”
    “It’s possible.” The notebooks should have been the first items Henry examined, but he was intrigued enough by the mystery object—flat, just under a foot long and surprisingly heavy—that he placed it carefully on the ground next to the lantern and peeled back the velvet.
    “What’s that?” asked Laura.
    “No idea. I think it’s metal, though.” The velvet, stiffened by time and cold, reluctantly gave up its contents as Henry pulled away the last layer.
    “Wow,” Laura gasped. Jack’s eyes widened in amazement.
    Inside the velvet wrapping was a metal bar some two inches wide, one end rounded off and marked with an arrowhead stamped into the surface. Even under the cold blue light of the lantern, the object had a radiance, sparkling with a reddish-golden glow unlike anything else found in nature.
    Henry, transfixed, bent down for a better look. In contrast to the piece Laura was holding, the bar showed no signs of age or weathering, seeming freshly polished. The metal wasn’t gold or bronze, but…
    Laura leaned closer as well, her breath briefly condensing on the cold surface. “Is that what I think it is?”
    “Looks like it. My God. I can’t believe it. The Nazis actually found an artifact made of orichalcum, just like Plato described. A real, honest-to-God Atlantean artifact! And they had it fifty years ago!”
    “You owe Nina an apology when we get home,” quipped Laura. “She always thought that piece she found in Morocco was orichalcum.”
    “I guess I do,” said Henry, carefully picking up the bar. “There’s no way this is just off-color bronze.” The underside, he noticed, was not flat—there was a circular protrusion at the squared-off end. In the same position on the top side was a small slot at a forty-five-degree angle. “I think this was part of something larger,” he observed. “Like it was meant to hang from something.”
    “Or swing from it,” Laura suggested. “Like a pendulum arm.”
    Henry ran a fingertip along the inscribed arrowhead. “A pointer?”
    “What are those marks?” asked Jack. Running along the length of the artifact was a thin line, equally faint symbols scribed into the metal on each side. A series of tiny dots, arranged in groups of up to eight. Also visible were…
    “More Glozel characters,” said Henry. “But not quite the same as the ones in the tomb—look, some of these are more like hieroglyphics.” He compared them to the ones on the rubbings. They were the same style. “Curiouser and curiouser.”
    Jack looked more closely. “They look a lot like Olmec, or something related. Bizarre mix …”
    “What do they say?” asked Laura.
    “No idea. It’s not exactly a language I’m fluent in. Well, not yet.” He coughed modestly.
    “They look like they were added after it was made,” Henry noted. “The inscribing’s much cruder than the arrowhead.” He returned the mysterious object to the velvet. “This justifies us coming here all on its own!” He jumped to his feet and let out a triumphant whoop, then hugged Laura. “We did it! We actually found proof that Atlantis wasn’t just a myth!”
    She kissed him. “Now all we need to do is find Atlantis itself, huh?”
    “Well, one step at a time.”
    A shout from deeper inside the cave caught their attention. “Something down here, Professor!” called Sonam.
    Leaving the artifact on the floor, Henry and Laura hurried to the Tibetan. “Look at this,” Sonam said, holding up his light to the tomb wall. “I