Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space

by Jules Verne

  CHAPTER XVIII. AN UNEXPECTED POPULATION

  The _Dobryna_ was now back again at the island. Her cruise had lastedfrom the 31st of January to the 5th of March, a period of thirty-fivedays (for it was leap year), corresponding to seventy days asaccomplished by the new little world.

  Many a time during his absence Hector Servadac had wondered how hispresent vicissitudes would end, and he had felt some misgivings asto whether he should ever again set foot upon the island, and seehis faithful orderly, so that it was not without emotion that he hadapproached the coast of the sole remaining fragment of Algerian soil.But his apprehensions were groundless; Gourbi Island was just as he hadleft it, with nothing unusual in its aspect, except that a very peculiarcloud was hovering over it, at an altitude of little more than a hundredfeet. As the yacht approached the shore, this cloud appeared to rise andfall as if acted upon by some invisible agency, and the captain, afterwatching it carefully, perceived that it was not an accumulation ofvapors at all, but a dense mass of birds packed as closely together asa swarm of herrings, and uttering deafening and discordant cries,amidst which from time to time the noise of the report of a gun could beplainly distinguished.

  The _Dobryna_ signalized her arrival by firing her cannon, and droppedanchor in the little port of the Shelif. Almost within a minute Ben Zoofwas seen running, gun in hand, towards the shore; he cleared the lastridge of rocks at a single bound, and then suddenly halted. For afew seconds he stood motionless, his eyes fixed, as if obeying theinstructions of a drill sergeant, on a point some fifteen yards distant,his whole attitude indicating submission and respect; but the sightof the captain, who was landing, was too much for his equanimity, anddarting forward, he seized his master's hand and covered it with kisses.Instead, however, of uttering any expressions of welcome or rejoicingat the captain's return, Ben Zoof broke out into the most vehementejaculations.

  "Thieves, captain! beastly thieves! Bedouins! pirates! devils!"

  "Why, Ben Zoof, what's the matter?" said Servadac soothingly.

  "They are thieves! downright, desperate thieves! those infernal birds!That's what's the matter. It is a good thing you have come. Here haveI for a whole month been spending my powder and shot upon them, and themore I kill them, the worse they get; and yet, if I were to leave themalone, we should not have a grain of corn upon the island."

  It was soon evident that the orderly had only too much cause for alarm.The crops had ripened rapidly during the excessive heat of January, whenthe orbit of Gallia was being traversed at its perihelion, and were nowexposed to the depredations of many thousands of birds; and althougha goodly number of stacks attested the industry of Ben Zoof duringthe time of the _Dobryna_'s voyage, it was only too apparent that theportion of the harvest that remained ungathered was liable to the mostimminent risk of being utterly devoured. It was, perhaps, only naturalthat this clustered mass of birds, as representing the whole of thefeathered tribe upon the surface of Gallia, should resort to GourbiIsland, of which the meadows seemed to be the only spot from which theycould get sustenance at all; but as this sustenance would be obtainedat the expense, and probably to the serious detriment, of the humanpopulation, it was absolutely necessary that every possible resistanceshould be made to the devastation that was threatened.

  Once satisfied that Servadac and his friends would cooperate with him inthe raid upon "the thieves," Ben Zoof became calm and content, and beganto make various inquiries. "And what has become," he said, "of all ourold comrades in Africa?"

  "As far as I can tell you," answered the captain, "they are all inAfrica still; only Africa isn't by any means where we expected to findit."

  "And France? Montmartre?" continued Ben Zoof eagerly. Here was the cryof the poor fellow's heart.

  As briefly as he could, Servadac endeavored to explain the truecondition of things; he tried to communicate the fact that Paris,France, Europe, nay, the whole world was more than eighty millions ofleagues away from Gourbi Island; as gently and cautiously as he couldhe expressed his fear that they might never see Europe, France, Paris,Montmartre again.

  "No, no, sir!" protested Ben Zoof emphatically; "that is all nonsense.It is altogether out of the question to suppose that we are not to seeMontmartre again." And the orderly shook his head resolutely, with theair of a man determined, in spite of argument, to adhere to his ownopinion.

  "Very good, my brave fellow," replied Servadac, "hope on, hope while youmay. The message has come to us over the sea, 'Never despair'; but onething, nevertheless, is certain; we must forthwith commence arrangementsfor making this island our permanent home."

  Captain Servadac now led the way to the gourbi, which, by his servant'sexertions, had been entirely rebuilt; and here he did the honors of hismodest establishment to his two guests, the count and the lieutenant,and gave a welcome, too, to little Nina, who had accompanied them onshore, and between whom and Ben Zoof the most friendly relations hadalready been established.

  The adjacent building continued in good preservation, and CaptainServadac's satisfaction was very great in finding the two horses, Zephyrand Galette, comfortably housed there and in good condition.

  After the enjoyment of some refreshment, the party proceeded to ageneral consultation as to what steps must be taken for their futurewelfare. The most pressing matter that came before them was theconsideration of the means to be adopted to enable the inhabitants ofGallia to survive the terrible cold, which, in their ignorance of thetrue eccentricity of their orbit, might, for aught they knew, last foran almost indefinite period. Fuel was far from abundant; of coal therewas none; trees and shrubs were few in number, and to cut them down inprospect of the cold seemed a very questionable policy; but there wasno doubt some expedient must be devised to prevent disaster, and thatwithout delay.

  The victualing of the little colony offered no immediate difficulty.Water was abundant, and the cisterns could hardly fail to be replenishedby the numerous streams that meandered along the plains; moreover, theGallian Sea would ere long be frozen over, and the melted ice (waterin its congealed state being divested of every particle of salt) wouldafford a supply of drink that could not be exhausted. The crops thatwere now ready for the harvest, and the flocks and herds scattered overthe island, would form an ample reserve. There was little doubt thatthroughout the winter the soil would remain unproductive, and no freshfodder for domestic animals could then be obtained; it would thereforebe necessary, if the exact duration of Gallia's year should ever becalculated, to proportion the number of animals to be reserved to thereal length of the winter.

  The next thing requisite was to arrive at a true estimate of thenumber of the population. Without including the thirteen Englishmen atGibraltar, about whom he was not particularly disposed to give himselfmuch concern at present, Servadac put down the names of the eightRussians, the two Frenchman, and the little Italian girl, eleven in all,as the entire list of the inhabitants of Gourbi Island.

  "Oh, pardon me," interposed Ben Zoof, "you are mistaking the state ofthe case altogether. You will be surprised to learn that the total ofpeople on the island is double that. It is twenty-two."

  "Twenty-two!" exclaimed the captain; "twenty-two people on this island?What do you mean?"

  "The opportunity has not occurred," answered Ben Zoof, "for me to tellyou before, but I have had company."

  "Explain yourself, Ben Zoof," said Servadac. "What company have youhad?"

  "You could not suppose," replied the orderly, "that my own unassistedhands could have accomplished all that harvest work that you see hasbeen done."

  "I confess," said Lieutenant Procope, "we do not seem to have noticedthat."

  "Well, then," said Ben Zoof, "if you will be good enough to come with mefor about a mile, I shall be able to show you my companions. But we musttake our guns."

  "Why take our guns?" asked Servadac. "I hope we are not going to fight."

  "No, not with men," said Ben Zoof; "but it does not answer to throw achance away for giving battle to those thieves of b
irds."

  Leaving little Nina and her goat in the gourbi, Servadac, CountTimascheff, and the lieutenant, greatly mystified, took up their gunsand followed the orderly. All along their way they made unsparingslaughter of the birds that hovered over and around them. Nearly everyspecies of the feathered tribe seemed to have its representative in thatliving cloud. There were wild ducks in thousands; snipe, larks, rooks,and swallows; a countless variety of sea-birds--widgeons, gulls, andseamews; beside a quantity of game--quails, partridges, and woodcocks.The sportsmen did their best; every shot told; and the depredators fellby dozens on either hand.

  Instead of following the northern shore of the island, Ben Zoof cutobliquely across the plain. Making their progress with the unwontedrapidity which was attributable to their specific lightness, Servadacand his companions soon found themselves near a grove of sycamores andeucalyptus massed in picturesque confusion at the base of a little hill.Here they halted.

  "Ah! the vagabonds! the rascals! the thieves!" suddenly exclaimed BenZoof, stamping his foot with rage.

  "How now? Are your friends the birds at their pranks again?" asked thecaptain.

  "No, I don't mean the birds: I mean those lazy beggars that are shirkingtheir work. Look here; look there!" And as Ben Zoof spoke, he pointedto some scythes, and sickles, and other implements of husbandry that hadbeen left upon the ground.

  "What is it you mean?" asked Servadac, getting somewhat impatient.

  "Hush, hush! listen!" was all Ben Zoof's reply; and he raised his fingeras if in warning.

  Listening attentively, Servadac and his associates could distinctlyrecognize a human voice, accompanied by the notes of a guitar and by themeasured click of castanets.

  "Spaniards!" said Servadac.

  "No mistake about that, sir," replied Ben Zoof; "a Spaniard would rattlehis castanets at the cannon's mouth."

  "But what is the meaning of it all?" asked the captain, more puzzledthan before.

  "Hark!" said Ben Zoof; "it is the old man's turn."

  And then a voice, at once gruff and harsh, was heard vociferating, "Mymoney! my money! when will you pay me my money? Pay me what you owe me,you miserable majos."

  Meanwhile the song continued:

  _"Tu sandunga y cigarro, Y una cana de Jerez, Mi jamelgo y un trabuco, Que mas gloria puede haver?"_

  Servadac's knowledge of Gascon enabled him partially to comprehend therollicking tenor of the Spanish patriotic air, but his attention wasagain arrested by the voice of the old man growling savagely, "Pay meyou shall; yes, by the God of Abraham, you shall pay me."

  "A Jew!" exclaimed Servadac.

  "Ay, sir, a German Jew," said Ben Zoof.

  The party was on the point of entering the thicket, when a singularspectacle made them pause. A group of Spaniards had just begun dancingtheir national fandango, and the extraordinary lightness which hadbecome the physical property of every object in the new planet madethe dancers bound to a height of thirty feet or more into the air,considerably above the tops of the trees. What followed was irresistiblycomic. Four sturdy majos had dragged along with them an old manincapable of resistance, and compelled him, _nolens volens_, to joinin the dance; and as they all kept appearing and disappearing above thebank of foliage, their grotesque attitudes, combined with the pitiablecountenance of their helpless victim, could not do otherwise than recallmost forcibly the story of Sancho Panza tossed in a blanket by the merrydrapers of Segovia.

  Servadac, the count, Procope, and Ben Zoof now proceeded to make theirway through the thicket until they came to a little glade, where two menwere stretched idly on the grass, one of them playing the guitar, andthe other a pair of castanets; both were exploding with laughter, asthey urged the performers to greater and yet greater exertions inthe dance. At the sight of strangers they paused in their music, andsimultaneously the dancers, with their victim, alighted gently on thesward.

  Breathless and half exhausted as was the Jew, he rushed with an efforttowards Servadac, and exclaimed in French, marked by a strong Teutonicaccent, "Oh, my lord governor, help me, help! These rascals defraud meof my rights; they rob me; but, in the name of the God of Israel, I askyou to see justice done!"

  The captain glanced inquiringly towards Ben Zoof, and the orderly, by asignificant nod, made his master understand that he was to play the partthat was implied by the title. He took the cue, and promptly orderedthe Jew to hold his tongue at once. The man bowed his head in servilesubmission, and folded his hands upon his breast.

  Servadac surveyed him leisurely. He was a man of about fifty, but fromhis appearance might well have been taken for at least ten years older.Small and skinny, with eyes bright and cunning, a hooked nose, a shortyellow beard, unkempt hair, huge feet, and long bony hands, he presentedall the typical characteristics of the German Jew, the heartless, wilyusurer, the hardened miser and skinflint. As iron is attracted by themagnet, so was this Shylock attracted by the sight of gold, nor would hehave hesitated to draw the life-blood of his creditors, if by such meanshe could secure his claims.

  His name was Isaac Hakkabut, and he was a native of Cologne. Nearly thewhole of his time, however, he informed Captain Servadac, had been spentupon the sea, his real business being that of a merchant trading at allthe ports of the Mediterranean. A tartan, a small vessel of two hundredtons burden, conveyed his entire stock of merchandise, and, to say thetruth, was a sort of floating emporium, conveying nearly every possiblearticle of commerce, from a lucifer match to the radiant fabrics ofFrankfort and Epinal. Without wife or children, and having no settledhome, Isaac Hakkabut lived almost entirely on board the _Hansa_, as hehad named his tartan; and engaging a mate, with a crew of three men, asbeing adequate to work so light a craft, he cruised along the coasts ofAlgeria, Tunis, Egypt, Turkey, and Greece, visiting, moreover, most ofthe harbors of the Levant. Careful to be always well supplied with theproducts in most general demand--coffee, sugar, rice, tobacco, cottonstuffs, and gunpowder--and being at all times ready to barter, andprepared to deal in secondhand wares, he had contrived to amassconsiderable wealth.

  On the eventful night of the 1st of January the _Hansa_ had been atCeuta, the point on the coast of Morocco exactly opposite Gibraltar. Themate and three sailors had all gone on shore, and, in common withmany of their fellow-creatures, had entirely disappeared; but themost projecting rock of Ceuta had been undisturbed by the generalcatastrophe, and half a score of Spaniards, who had happened to beupon it, had escaped with their lives. They were all Andalusian majos,agricultural laborers, and naturally as careless and apathetic as men oftheir class usually are, but they could not help being very considerablyembarrassed when they discovered that they were left in solitude upona detached and isolated rock. They took what mutual counsel they could,but became only more and more perplexed. One of them was named Negrete,and he, as having traveled somewhat more than the rest, was tacitlyrecognized as a sort of leader; but although he was by far the mostenlightened of them all, he was quite incapable of forming the leastconception of the nature of what had occurred. The one thing upon whichthey could not fail to be conscious was that they had no prospect ofobtaining provisions, and consequently their first business was todevise a scheme for getting away from their present abode. The _Hansa_was lying off shore. The Spaniards would not have had the slightesthesitation in summarily taking possession of her, but their utterignorance of seamanship made them reluctantly come to the conclusionthat the more prudent policy was to make terms with the owner.

  And now came a singular part of the story. Negrete and his companionshad meanwhile received a visit from two English officers from Gibraltar.What passed between them the Jew did not know; he only knew that,immediately after the conclusion of the interview, Negrete came to himand ordered him to set sail at once for the nearest point of Morocco.The Jew, afraid to disobey, but with his eye ever upon the main chance,stipulated that at the end of their voyage the Spaniards should pay fortheir passage--terms to which, as they wo
uld to any other, they did notdemur, knowing that they had not the slightest intention of giving him asingle real.

  The _Hansa_ had weighed anchor on the 3rd of February. The wind blewfrom the west, and consequently the working of the tartan was easyenough. The unpracticed sailors had only to hoist their sails and,though they were quite unconscious of the fact, the breeze carried themto the only spot upon the little world they occupied which could affordthem a refuge.

  Thus it fell out that one morning Ben Zoof, from his lookout on GourbiIsland, saw a ship, not the _Dobryna_, appear upon the horizon, andmake quietly down towards what had formerly been the right bank of theShelif.

  Such was Ben Zoof's version of what had occurred, as he had gathered itfrom the new-comers. He wound up his recital by remarking that the cargoof the _Hansa_ would be of immense service to them; he expected, indeed,that Isaac Hakkabut would be difficult to manage, but considered therecould be no harm in appropriating the goods for the common welfare,since there could be no opportunity now for selling them.

  Ben Zoof added, "And as to the difficulties between the Jew and hispassengers, I told him that the governor general was absent on a tour ofinspection, and that he would see everything equitably settled."

  Smiling at his orderly's tactics, Servadac turned to Hakkabut, and toldhim that he would take care that his claims should be duly investigatedand all proper demands should be paid. The man appeared satisfied, and,for the time at least, desisted from his complaints and importunities.

  When the Jew had retired, Count Timascheff asked, "But how in the worldcan you ever make those fellows pay anything?"

  "They have lots of money," said Ben Zoof.

  "Not likely," replied the count; "when did you ever know Spaniards likethem to have lots of money?"

  "But I have seen it myself," said Ben Zoof; "and it is English money."

  "English money!" echoed Servadac; and his mind again reverted to theexcursion made by the colonel and the major from Gibraltar, about whichthey had been so reticent. "We must inquire more about this," he said.

  Then, addressing Count Timascheff, he added, "Altogether, I think thecountries of Europe are fairly represented by the population of Gallia."

  "True, captain," answered the count; "we have only a fragment of aworld, but it contains natives of France, Russia, Italy, Spain, andEngland. Even Germany may be said to have a representative in the personof this miserable Jew."

  "And even in him," said Servadac, "perhaps we shall not find soindifferent a representative as we at present imagine."