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"Nothing that has survived the years of exposure."
"Not unusual," said Pitt. "Few if any artifacts ever turned up along Coronado's trail centuries after his trek from Mexico as far as Kansas."
"Here's the million-dollar question," Giordino asked Marlys. "What does the stone say?"
Marlys took a CD disc and inserted it in her terminal. In a moment the letters, highlighted on the mold cast from the liquid late
x, were revealed in great detail on the monitor. There were four lines of almost 140 letters.
"We may never have a totally accurate translation," she said, "but six runologists from here and Scandinavia agree that the inscription reads . . .
"Magnus Sigvatson passed this way in year 1035 and claimed the lands this side of the river for his brother, Bjarne Sigvatson, leader of our tribe. Helgan Siggtrygg murdered by Skraelings.
"Skraelings translates to barbarians or lazy heathen, or in the old vernacular, wretches. We must assume that Siggtrygg was killed during a clash with local native Indians, the early ancestors of the Sioux and Ojibway."
"Magnus Sigvatson." Pitt spoke the name softly, accenting each syllable. "Brother of Bjarne."
Marlys sighed thoughtfully. "There is a saga that mentions Bjarne Sigvatson along with several boatloads of colonists setting off from Greenland toward the west. Later sagas claim Sigvatson and his people were swallowed up by the sea and never seen again."
"The other thirty-four stones," said Pitt. "What do they reveal?"
"Most of them seem to be boundary markers. Magnus was quite ambitious. He claimed a quarter of what became the United States for his brother, Bjarne, and his tribe." She paused to scan another highlighted inscription mold on the monitor. "This one reads . . .
Magnus Sigvatson came ashore here."
"Where was this stone found?" inquired Giordino.
"Bark Point, which sticks out into Siskiwit Bay."
Pitt and Giordino exchanged amused glances. "We're not familiar with the names," said Pitt.
Marlys laughed. "I'm sorry. Siskiwit Bay is on Lake Superior in Wisconsin."
"And where were the other rune stones found?" asked Kelly.
"These Norsemen were quite wordy when you consider that probably fewer than a quarter of the rune stones they carved have been located and translated. The first and last was discovered at Crown Point on the southern end of Lake Champlain." She paused and looked at Pitt with a sly grin. "That's in upstate New York."
Pitt smiled back courteously. "I know."
"From there," Maryls continued, "three stones are found at different sites in the Great Lakes, suggesting that they sailed the waterway north to the St. Lawrence River. They then came through the lakes until coming ashore at Siskiwit Bay. Once there, I believe they portaged their boats from one body of water to another until they reached the Mississippi River, where they began their journey south."
"But Bertram Lake is not on the river," stated Kelly.
"No, but we're only two miles away. My guess is the Norsemen would come ashore and conduct short treks into the countryside before continuing downstream."
"How far did they reach?" asked Giordino.
"Stone inscriptions were found on a meandering course through Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. The farthest stone was found by a Boy Scout troop near Sterling, Colorado. Then we estimate they trekked back to the Mississippi where they had left their boats. A stone was uncovered on the west bank of the river across from Memphis, which read,
"Boats stay here guarded by Olafson and Tyggvason."
She continued, "From that point they must have sailed up the Ohio River and into the Allegheny River, where they made their way to Lake Erie before retracing their path back the way they had come to Lake Champlain."
Kelly looked puzzled. "I'm unclear as to what you mean by the first and last stone."
"As close as we can tell, the Lake Champlain rune stone was the first inscribed at the beginning of the expedition. There must be others, but none have been found. When they returned nearly a year later, they made a second inscription on the stone below the first."
"May we see them?" Pitt asked.
