On that bit of brass there was information.

It had been conveyed all the way from Calcutta by the bird that bore the shining circlet upon its shank.

By the same means why might not information be carried back?
Why-- "I have it! I have it!" shouted Caspar, without waiting to pursue the thread of conjecture that had occurred to him.

"Yes, dear Karl, I know your scheme--I know it; and by Jupiter Olympus, it's a capital one!" "So you have guessed it at last," rejoined Karl, rather sarcastically.
"Well, it is high time, I think! The sight of that brass ring, with its engraved letters, should have led you to it long ago.

But come! let us hear what you have got to say, and judge whether you have guessed correctly." "Oh, certainly!" assented Caspar, taking up the tone of jocular badinage in which his brother had been addressing him.