L'île mystérieuse. English

by Jules Verne

  Chapter 14

  Three years had passed away since the escape of the prisoners fromRichmond, and how often during those three years had they spoken oftheir country, always present in their thoughts!

  They had no doubt that the civil war was at an end, and to them itappeared impossible that the just cause of the North had not triumphed.But what had been the incidents of this terrible war? How much blood hadit not cost? How many of their friends must have fallen in the struggle?They often spoke of these things, without as yet being able to foreseethe day when they would be permitted once more to see their country.To return thither, were it but for a few days, to renew the social linkwith the inhabited world, to establish a communication between theirnative land and their island, then to pass the longest, perhaps thebest, portion of their existence in this colony, founded by them,and which would then be dependent on their country, was this a dreamimpossible to realize?

  There were only two ways of accomplishing it--either a ship must appearoff Lincoln Island, or the colonists must themselves build a vesselstrong enough to sail to the nearest land.

  "Unless," said Pencroft, "our good genius, himself provides us with themeans of returning to our country."

  And, really, had any one told Pencroft and Neb that a ship of 300 tonswas waiting for them in Shark Gulf or at Port Balloon, they would noteven have made a gesture of surprise. In their state of mind nothingappeared improbable.

  But Cyrus Harding, less confident, advised them to confine themselves tofact, and more especially so with regard to the building of a vessel--areally urgent work, since it was for the purpose of depositing, assoon as possible, at Tabor Island a document indicating Ayrton's newresidence.

  As the "Bonadventure" no longer existed, six months at least wouldbe required for the construction of a new vessel. Now winter wasapproaching, and the voyage would not be made before the followingspring.

  "We have time to get everything ready for the fine season," remarkedthe engineer, who was consulting with Pencroft about these matters. "Ithink, therefore, my friend, that since we have to rebuild our vesselit will be best to give her larger dimensions. The arrival of the Scotchyacht at Tabor Island is very uncertain. It may even be that, havingarrived several months ago, she has again sailed after having vainlysearched for some trace of Ayrton. Will it not then be best to builda ship which, if necessary, could take us either to the PolynesianArchipelago or to New Zealand? What do you think?"

  "I think, captain," answered the sailor; "I think that you are ascapable of building a large vessel as a small one. Neither the wood northe tools are wanting. It is only a question of time."

  "And how many months would be required to build a vessel of from 250 to300 tons?" asked Harding.

  "Seven or eight months at least," replied Pencroft. "But it must not beforgotten that winter is drawing near, and that in severe frost wood isdifficult to work. We must calculate on several weeks delay, and if ourvessel is ready by next November we may think ourselves very lucky."

  "Well," replied Cyrus Harding, "that will be exactly the most favorabletime for undertaking a voyage of any importance, either to Tabor Islandor to a more distant land."

  "So it will, captain," answered the sailor. "Make out your plans then;the workmen are ready, and I imagine that Ayrton can lend us a goodhelping hand."

  The colonists, having been consulted, approved the engineer's plan,and it was, indeed, the best thing to be done. It is true that theconstruction of a ship of from two to three hundred tons would be greatlabor, but the colonists had confidence in themselves, justified bytheir previous success.

  Cyrus Harding then busied himself in drawing the plan of the vessel andmaking the model. During this time his companions employed themselves infelling and carting trees to furnish the ribs, timbers, and planks.The forest of the Far West supplied the best oaks and elms. They tookadvantage of the opening already made on their last excursion to form apracticable road, which they named the Far West Road, and the trees werecarried to the Chimneys, where the dockyard was established. As tothe road in question, the choice of trees had rendered its directionsomewhat capricious, but at the same time it facilitated the access to alarge part of the Serpentine Peninsula.

  It was important that the trees should be quickly felled and cut up, forthey could not be used while yet green, and some time was necessary toallow them to get seasoned. The carpenters, therefore, worked vigorouslyduring the month of April, which was troubled only by a few equinoctialgales of some violence. Master Jup aided them dexterously, either byclimbing to the top of a tree to fasten the ropes or by lending hisstout shoulders to carry the lopped trunks.

  All this timber was piled up under a large shed, built near theChimneys, and there awaited the time for use.

  The month of April was tolerably fine, as October often is in thenorthern zone. At the same time other work was actively continued, andsoon all trace of devastation disappeared from the plateau ofProspect Heights. The mill was rebuilt, and new buildings rose in thepoultry-yard. It had appeared necessary to enlarge their dimensions,for the feathered population had increased considerably. The stablenow contained five onagers, four of which were well broken, and allowedthemselves to be either driven or ridden, and a little colt. The colonynow possessed a plow, to which the onagers were yoked like regularYorkshire or Kentucky oxen. The colonists divided their work, and theirarms never tired. Then who could have enjoyed better health than theseworkers, and what good humor enlivened the evenings in Granite House asthey formed a thousand plans for the future!

  As a matter of course Ayrton shared the common lot in every respect,and there was no longer any talk of his going to live at the corral.Nevertheless he was still sad and reserved, and joined more in the workthan in the pleasures of his companions. But he was a valuable workmanat need--strong, skilful, ingenious, intelligent. He was esteemed andloved by all, and he could not be ignorant of it.

  In the meanwhile the corral was not abandoned. Every other day one ofthe settlers, driving the cart or mounted on an onager, went to lookafter the flock of musmons and goats and bring back the supply ofmilk required by Neb. These excursions at the same time affordedopportunities for hunting. Therefore Herbert and Gideon Spilett, withTop in front, traversed more often than their companions the road tothe corral, and with the capital guns which they carried, capybaras,agouties, kangaroos, and wild pigs for large game, ducks, grouse,jacamars, and snipe for small game, were never wanting in the house.The produce of the warren, of the oyster-bed, several turtles which weretaken, excellent salmon which came up the Mercy, vegetables from theplateau, wild fruit from the forest, were riches upon riches, and Neb,the head cook, could scarcely by himself store them away.

  The telegraphic wire between the corral and Granite House had of coursebeen repaired, and it was worked whenever one or other of the settlerswas at the corral and found it necessary to spend the night there.Besides, the island was safe now and no attacks were to be feared, atany rate from men.

  However, that which had happened might happen again. A descent ofpirates, or even of escaped convicts, was always to be feared. It waspossible that companions or accomplices of Bob Harvey had been in thesecret of his plans, and might be tempted to imitate him. The colonists,therefore, were careful to observe the sea around the island, and everyday their telescope covered the horizon enclosed by Union and WashingtonBays. When they went to the corral they examined the sea to the westwith no less attention, and by climbing the spur their gaze extendedover a large section of the western horizon.

  Nothing suspicious was discerned, but still it was necessary for them tobe on their guard.

  The engineer one evening imparted to his friends a plan which he hadconceived for fortifying the corral. It appeared prudent to him toheighten the palisade and to flank it with a sort of blockhouse, which,if necessary, the settlers could hold against the enemy. Granite Housemight, by its very position, be considered impregnable; therefore thecorral with its buildings, its stores, and the anima
ls it contained,would always be the object of pirates, whoever they were, who might landon the island, and should the colonists be obliged to shut themselvesup there they ought also to be able to defend themselves without anydisadvantage. This was a project which might be left for consideration,and they were, besides, obliged to put off its execution until the nextspring.

  About the 15th of May the keel of the new vessel lay along the dockyard,and soon the stem and stern-post, mortised at each of its extremities,rose almost perpendicularly. The keel, of good oak, measured 110 feetin length, this allowing a width of five-and-twenty feet to the midshipbeam. But this was all the carpenters could do before the arrival of thefrosts and bad weather. During the following week they fixed the firstof the stern timbers, but were then obliged to suspend work.

  During the last days of the month the weather was extremely bad. Thewind blew from the east, sometimes with the violence of a tempest. Theengineer was somewhat uneasy on account of the dockyard shed--whichbesides, he could not have established in any other place near toGranite House--for the islet only imperfectly sheltered the shore fromthe fury of the open sea, and in great storms the waves beat against thevery foot of the granite cliff.

  But, very fortunately, these fears were not realized. The wind shiftedto the southeast, and there the beach of Granite House was completelycovered by Flotsam Point.

  Pencroft and Ayrton, the most zealous workmen at the new vessel, pursuedtheir labor as long as they could. They were not men to mind the windtearing at their hair, nor the rain wetting them to the skin, and a blowfrom a hammer is worth just as much in bad as in fine weather. But whena severe frost succeeded this wet period, the wood, its fibers acquiringthe hardness of iron, became extremely difficult to work, and about the10th of June shipbuilding was obliged to be entirely discontinued.

  Cyrus Harding and his companions had not omitted to observe how severewas the temperature during the winters of Lincoln Island. The cold wascomparable to that experienced in the States of New England, situated atalmost the same distance from the equator. In the northern hemisphere,or at any rate in the part occupied by British America and the north ofthe United States, this phenomenon is explained by the flat conformationof the territories bordering on the pole, and on which there is nointumescence of the soil to oppose any obstacle to the north winds;here, in Lincoln Island, this explanation would not suffice.

  "It has even been observed," remarked Harding one day to his companions,"that in equal latitudes the islands and coast regions are less tried bythe cold than inland countries. I have often heard it asserted that thewinters of Lombardy, for example, are not less rigorous than those ofScotland, which results from the sea restoring during the winter theheat which it received during the summer. Islands are, therefore, in abetter situation for benefiting by this restitution."

  "But then, Captain Harding," asked Herbert, "why does Lincoln Islandappear to escape the common law?"

  "That is difficult to explain," answered the engineer. "However, Ishould be disposed to conjecture that this peculiarity results from thesituation of the island in the Southern Hemisphere, which, as you know,my boy, is colder than the Northern Hemisphere."

  "Yes," said Herbert, "and icebergs are met with in lower latitudes inthe south than in the north of the Pacific."

  "That is true," remarked Pencroft, "and when I have been serving onboard whalers I have seen icebergs off Cape Horn."

  "The severe cold experienced in Lincoln Island," said Gideon Spilett,"may then perhaps be explained by the presence of floes or icebergscomparatively near to Lincoln Island."

  "Your opinion is very admissible indeed, my dear Spilett," answeredCyrus Harding, "and it is evidently to the proximity of icebergs thatwe owe our rigorous winters. I would draw your attention also to anentirely physical cause, which renders the Southern colder than theNorthern Hemisphere. In fact, since the sun is nearer to this hemisphereduring the summer, it is necessarily more distant during the winter.This explains then the excess of temperature in the two seasons, for, ifwe find the winters very cold in Lincoln Island, we must not forget thatthe summers here, on the contrary, are very hot."

  "But why, if you please, captain," asked Pencroft, knitting his brows,"why should our hemisphere, as you say, be so badly divided? It isn'tjust, that!"

  "Friend Pencroft," answered the engineer, laughing, "whether justor not, we must submit to it, and here lies the reason for thispeculiarity. The earth does not describe a circle around the sun, butan ellipse, as it must by the laws of rational mechanics. Now, the earthoccupies one of the foci of the ellipse, and so at one point in itscourse is at its apogee, that is, at its farthest from the sun, andat another point it is at its perigee, or nearest to the sun. Now ithappens that it is during the winter of the southern countries thatit is at its most distant point from the sun, and consequently, in asituation for those regions to feel the greatest cold. Nothing can bedone to prevent that, and men, Pencroft, however learned they may be,can never change anything of the cosmographical order established by GodHimself."

  "And yet," added Pencroft, "the world is very learned. What a big book,captain, might be made with all that is known!"

  "And what a much bigger book still with all that is not known!" answeredHarding.

  At last, for one reason or another, the month of June brought the coldwith its accustomed intensity, and the settlers were often confined toGranite House. Ah! how wearisome this imprisonment was to them, and moreparticularly to Gideon Spilett.

  "Look here," said he to Neb one day, "I would give you by notarialdeed all the estates which will come to me some day, if you were a goodenough fellow to go, no matter where, and subscribe to some newspaperfor me! Decidedly the thing that is most essential to my happiness isthe knowing every morning what has happened the day before in otherplaces than this!"

  Neb began to laugh.

  "'Pon my word," he replied, "the only thing I think about is my dailywork!"

  The truth was that indoors as well as out there was no want of work.

  The colony of Lincoln Island was now at its highest point of prosperity,achieved by three years of continued hard work. The destruction of thebrig had been a new source of riches. Without speaking of the completerig which would serve for the vessel now on the stocks, utensils andtools of all sorts, weapons and ammunition, clothes and instruments,were now piled in the storerooms of Granite House. It had not evenbeen necessary to resort again to the manufacture of the coarse feltmaterials. Though the colonists had suffered from cold during theirfirst winter, the bad season might now come without their having anyreason to dread its severity. Linen was plentiful also, and besides,they kept it with extreme care. From chloride of sodium, which isnothing else than sea salt, Cyrus Harding easily extracted the soda andchlorine. The soda, which it was easy to change into carbonate of soda,and the chlorine, of which he made chloride of lime, were employed forvarious domestic purposes, and especially in bleaching linen. Besides,they did not wash more than four times a year, as was done by familiesin the olden times, and it may be added, that Pencroft and GideonSpilett, while waiting for the postman to bring him his newspaper,distinguished themselves as washermen.

  So passed the winter months, June, July, and August. They were severe,and the average observations of the thermometer did not give more thaneight degrees of Fahrenheit. It was therefore lower in temperature thanthe preceding winter. But then, what splendid fires blazed continuallyon the hearths of Granite House, the smoke marking the granite wall withlong, zebra-like streaks! Fuel was not spared, as it grew naturally afew steps from them. Besides, the chips of the wood destined for theconstruction of the ship enabled them to economize the coal, whichrequired more trouble to transport.

  Men and animals were all well. Master Jup was a little chilly, it mustbe confessed. This was perhaps his only weakness, and it was necessaryto make him a well-padded dressing-gown. But what a servant he was,clever, zealous, indefatigable, not indiscreet, not talkative, andhe might have been with reason
proposed as a model for all his bipedbrothers in the Old and New Worlds!

  "As for that," said Pencroft, "when one has four hands at one's service,of course one's work ought to be done so much the better!"

  And indeed the intelligent creature did it well.

  During the seven months which had passed since the last researches maderound the mountain, and during the month of September, which broughtback fine weather, nothing was heard of the genius of the island. Hispower was not manifested in any way. It is true that it would havebeen superfluous, for no incident occurred to put the colonists to anypainful trial.

  Cyrus Harding even observed that if by chance the communication betweenthe unknown and the tenants of Granite House had ever been establishedthrough the granite, and if Top's instinct had as it were felt it, therewas no further sign of it during this period. The dog's growlinghad entirely ceased, as well as the uneasiness of the orang. The twofriends--for they were such--no longer prowled round the opening of theinner well, nor did they bark or whine in that singular way which fromthe first the engineer had noticed. But could he be sure that this wasall that was to be said about this enigma, and that he should neverarrive at a solution? Could he be certain that some conjuncture wouldnot occur which would bring the mysterious personage on the scene? whocould tell what the future might have in reserve?

  At last the winter was ended, but an event, the consequences of whichmight be serious occurred in the first days of the returning spring.

  On the 7th of September, Cyrus Harding, having observed the crater, sawsmoke curling round the summit of the mountain, its first vapors risingin the air.