Led by members of the search team, Ella stood in front of the cave. The cave is located at the foot of the mountain near the woods. It is as tall as a person and is completely tall enough for an adult man to enter upright. It was already dark, so Amy lit a torch and looked inside, but the light was like a stone thrown into the lake. It only caused waves of light in a small area nearby, but deeper in the cave, The darkness remained as quiet as death.
There was silence in the cave.
"What about the cry that sounds like a wolf and a human?" Amy asked the members of the search team, "Why didn't you hear anything?"
"It was there just now when we were there!" All the members of the search team replied confidently, "The sound was very weird. It sounded almost like a ghost. It made people want to go in and beat up the person who made the strange scream. pause."
Ella touched her forehead. For some reason, it felt a little hot.
"Is there anyone there?" Dast shouted towards the cave. "Here are the King of Sweden and her soldiers. We don't mean any harm, we just want to pay you a visit!"
The sound flew into the cave and made a long echo.
"No one answered, but someone must live here." Dast tapped the ground beneath him with his toes. "Look here, a path has been trampled on the grass, indicating that people come and go here often."
"It seems that the other party is not very willing to come out." Amy said aside, "Your Majesty, how about we go in directly to see them?"
Ella looked up at the sky, then shook her head:
"It's not very early. It's not polite to go in and disturb others now. Since it's confirmed that someone lives here, let's come back during the day tomorrow."
If you want to negotiate well, you must first show respect for the other party. Ella is very careful about this.
The soldiers who stayed in the camp were ready to barbecue and were just waiting for Ella to come back. The Aztlan people captured too many bison. Ayla's soldiers plus Aztlan warriors and Lubeck sailors, a total of more than two thousand people, could not finish one meal. Judging from the quantity, even if they only eat meat all day long, this meat is enough for them to eat for a week. And if they eat it sparingly after drying or salting it, they won't be short of meat until they get to Aztlan.
However, the eyes of the Aztlan people when they looked at the Lübeck people were a bit fierce, while the eyes of the Lübeck people when they looked at the Aztlan people were full of fear, just like a pack of wolves and lambs waiting to be preyed on. For safety reasons, Aila placed the two waves of people on both sides of the camp, while his own troops were located in the center of the camp. In this way, the night passed peacefully.
Early the next morning, Ella ordered her men to prepare gifts for the meeting. She didn't know whether the indigenous people on the island were from Aztlan or the Old World, so she prepared a little something for each side - iron tools, green glass beads, honey, furs, spices, and a small jar of gold coins. . These were placed on a lamb brought up from the ground floor of the Flying Zealander, and the lamb itself was part of the gift.
Judging from the number of "no more than four or five people" that Dast judged last night, this was a generous gift.
In addition, in order not to make the other party feel threatened, Ella only brought Dust, Amy, and two soldiers to herd the sheep.
Just when Ella was getting ready to drive the sheep, the surveyor on the ship came over scratching his head.
"King of Sweden, come and take a look. I don't know which step caused the problem. The results I measured yesterday are different from today's!"
"Not the same?"
"For some reason, the longitude and latitude measured today are more southwesterly than those measured yesterday!" the surveyor said. "It is impossible for the island to float to the southwest, and the speed of the floating is faster than our ship! There must be something I made a mistake in one step, but I have checked it from when the sun came up until now, and I still haven’t found out where I made the mistake!”
As soon as the pirate mentioned this matter, Ella's head started to hurt again. She knew that there must be a mistake in some step, otherwise the Aztlan people would not be able to come to their front, but it was very troublesome to find this mistake. If it's a problem with the equipment or algorithm, it's not bad. If not, then the theory is wrong. The algorithm for measurable longitude and latitude involves more than one or two theories. If none of them lasts more than a year and a half, how can we find the problem?
"You can check it again and wait until I come back from visiting the local residents!"
Ella dropped these words and ran away. Astronomy was enough to make her irritated, and she didn't want to devote more energy to geography. She didn't think there was anything wrong with this. Even Ptolemy, who achieved the highest achievements in astronomy and geography at the same time, did not study these two subjects at the same time.
Not long after, Ella came to the cave again. The cave was as quiet as last night, and there was no strange sound reported by the soldiers. But for some reason, Ella felt that her head was getting hot again.
"Is there anyone there?" Amy shouted towards the cave, "The King of Sweden has prepared some gifts and is here to visit you!"
No one answered Amy's words, and just like yesterday, the cave was silent. Everyone outside the cave looked at each other, lit lamps, drove the sheep, and entered the cave with gifts.
The cave is very deep, and the further in, the wider the space becomes. Soon, Ella heard the sound of water dripping from the top of the cave. She continued to walk forward for a while, and a pool of water appeared inside the cave. Water drops kept falling from the top of the cave, creating ripples in the lake.
This is the end of the cave, there is no more road.
Dast pointed to a place on the edge of the cave where thatch was laid for sleeping, as well as a few pieces of charcoal that had not been cleaned on the ground: "There are indeed people living there. But judging from the number of thatch, I'm afraid there is only one person living here. people."
Amy was quite surprised: "Only one person? How lonely is that?"
"It can only be explained by being in trouble. But if you are in trouble, why are you avoiding us?"
Ella pressed her hot forehead, glanced around the cave, and finally stopped at the lake. There was a path that led directly to the lake. At the very end of the path and in the center of the lake, there was There was something like a stick sticking out of it.
She followed the path to the stick and discovered that it was a wooden cane. The base of the cane penetrated a map and stuck into the soil.
"Huh? This map?"
Ella felt a little surprised for a moment. She pulled out her cane, took the map in her hand and looked at it carefully. This is a world map, covering the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa, extending to an eastern country labeled "Serica", with the capital specifically marked on its territory: "Xianyang".
However, there is no Iceland on the map, no Greenland, and no Vinland. Neither did the Atlantis described by Plato. But in the southernmost part of the map, further down in Africa, a new continent is inexplicably drawn. The continent spread out horizontally, extending from the bottom of Africa to the bottom of Seriska. The name of the continent was marked with characters on the inside of the continent: Terra Australis Ignotga (Unknown Southern Continent)
"Well, I seem to have seen this world map before. Let me think about it, its author is..."
Before Ella could recall the name of the painter, an angry voice came from the entrance of the cave:
"How did you get in?"
I spelled it correctly, it's Australis, not Australia. The word written on the map is derived from the two continents Antarctica and Australia.
