by Jules Verne
Chapter 8
So the convicts were still there, watching the corral, and determined tokill the settlers one after the other. There was nothing to be done butto treat them as wild beasts. But great precautions must be taken, forjust now the wretches had the advantage on their side, seeing, and notbeing seen, being able to surprise by the suddenness of their attack,yet not to be surprised themselves. Harding made arrangements,therefore, for living in the corral, of which the provisions would lastfor a tolerable length of time. Ayrton's house had been provided withall that was necessary for existence, and the convicts, scared bythe arrival of the settlers, had not had time to pillage it. It wasprobable, as Gideon Spilett observed, that things had occurred asfollows:
The six convicts, disembarking on the island, had followed the southernshore, and after having traversed the double shore of the SerpentinePeninsula, not being inclined to venture into the Far West woods, theyhad reached the mouth of Falls River. From this point, by following theright bank of the watercourse, they would arrive at the spurs of MountFranklin, among which they would naturally seek a retreat, and theycould not have been long in discovering the corral, then uninhabited.There they had regularly installed themselves, awaiting the momentto put their abominable schemes into execution. Ayrton's arrival hadsurprised them, but they had managed to overpower the unfortunate man,and--the rest may be easily imagined!
Now, the convicts,--reduced to five, it is true, but well armed,--wereroaming the woods, and to venture there was to expose themselves totheir attacks, which could be neither guarded against nor prevented.
"Wait! There is nothing else to be done!" repeated Cyrus Harding. "WhenHerbert is cured, we can organize a general battle of the island, andhave satisfaction of these convicts. That will be the object of ourgrand expedition at the same time--"
"As the search for our mysterious protector," added Gideon Spilett,finishing the engineer's sentence. "And it must be acknowledged, my dearCyrus, that this time his protection was wanting at the very moment whenit was most necessary to us!"
"Who knows?" replied the engineer.
"What do you mean?" asked the reporter.
"That we are not at the end of our trouble yet, my dear Spilett,and that his powerful intervention may have another opportunity ofexercising itself. But that is not the question now. Herbert's lifebefore everything."
This was the colonists' saddest thought. Several days passed, and thepoor boy's state was happily no worse. Cold water, always kept at asuitable temperature, had completely prevented the inflammation of thewounds. It even seemed to the reporter that this water, being slightlysulphurous,--which was explained by the neighborhood of the volcano,had a more direct action on the healing. The suppuration was muchless abundant, and thanks to the incessant care by which he wassurrounded!--Herbert returned to life, and his fever abated. He wasbesides subjected to a severe diet, and consequently his weakness wasand would be extreme; but there was no want of refreshing drinks, andabsolute rest was of the greatest benefit to him. Cyrus Harding, GideonSpilett, and Pencroft had become very skilful in dressing the lad'swounds. All the linen in the house had been sacrificed. Herbert'swounds, covered with compresses and lint, were pressed neither too muchnor too little, so as to cause their cicatrization without effecting anyinflammatory reaction. The reporter used extreme care in the dressing,knowing well the importance of it, and repeating to his companions thatwhich most surgeons willingly admit, that it is perhaps rarer to see adressing well done than an operation well performed.
In ten days, on the 22nd of November, Herbert was considerably better.He had begun to take some nourishment.
The color was returning to his cheeks, and his bright eyes smiled athis nurses. He talked a little, notwithstanding Pencroft's efforts, whotalked incessantly to prevent him from beginning to speak, and told himthe most improbable stories. Herbert had questioned him on the subjectof Ayrton, whom he was astonished not to see near him, thinking thathe was at the corral. But the sailor, not wishing to distress Herbert,contented himself by replying that Ayrton had rejoined Neb, so as todefend Granite House.
"Humph!" said Pencroft, "these pirates! they are gentlemen who haveno right to any consideration! And the captain wanted to win them bykindness! I'll send them some kindness, but in the shape of a goodbullet!"
"And have they not been seen again?" asked Herbert.
"No, my boy," answered the sailor, "but we shall find them, and whenyou are cured we shall see if the cowards who strike us from behind willdare to meet us face to face!"
"I am still very weak, my poor Pencroft!"
"Well! your strength will return gradually! What's a ball through thechest? Nothing but a joke! I've seen many, and I don't think much ofthem!"
At last things appeared to be going on well, and if no complicationoccurred, Herbert's recovery might be regarded as certain. But whatwould have been the condition of the colonists if his state had beenaggravated,--if, for example, the ball had remained in his body, if hisarm or his leg had had to be amputated?
"No," said Spilett more than once, "I have never thought of such acontingency without shuddering!"
"And yet, if it had been necessary to operate," said Harding one day tohim, "you would not have hesitated?"
"No, Cyrus!" said Gideon Spilett, "but thank God that we have beenspared this complication!"
As in so many other conjectures, the colonists had appealed to the logicof that simple good sense of which they had made use so often, and oncemore, thanks to their general knowledge, it had succeeded! But might nota time come when all their science would be at fault? They were aloneon the island. Now, men in all states of society are necessary to eachother. Cyrus Harding knew this well, and sometimes he asked if somecircumstance might not occur which they would be powerless to surmount.It appeared to him besides, that he and his companions, till then sofortunate, had entered into an unlucky period. During the two years anda half which had elapsed since their escape from Richmond, it mightbe said that they had had everything their own way. The island hadabundantly supplied them with minerals, vegetables, animals, and asNature had constantly loaded them, their science had known how to takeadvantage of what she offered them.
The wellbeing of the colony was therefore complete. Moreover, in certainoccurrences an inexplicable influence had come to their aid!... But allthat could only be for a time.
In short, Cyrus Harding believed that fortune had turned against them.
In fact, the convicts' ship had appeared in the waters of the island,and if the pirates had been, so to speak, miraculously destroyed, six ofthem, at least, had escaped the catastrophe. They had disembarked on theisland, and it was almost impossible to get at the five who survived.Ayrton had no doubt been murdered by these wretches, who possessedfirearms, and at the first use that they had made of them, Herbert hadfallen, wounded almost mortally. Were these the first blows aimed byadverse fortune at the colonists? This was often asked by Harding. Thiswas often repeated by the reporter; and it appeared to him also that theintervention, so strange, yet so efficacious, which till then had servedthem so well, had now failed them. Had this mysterious being, whateverhe was, whose existence could not be denied, abandoned the island? Hadhe in his turn succumbed?
No reply was possible to these questions. But it must not be imaginedthat because Harding and his companions spoke of these things, they weremen to despair. Far from that. They looked their situation in the face,they analyzed the chances, they prepared themselves for any event, theystood firm and straight before the future, and if adversity was at lastto strike them, it would find in them men prepared to struggle againstit.
