The Mysterious Island Read online

  "In any case," Hannah replied, "if I had not the knowledge I would not fail through any lack of good will."

  "And with good will—" Ernest went on.

  "One can build lighthouses two hundred feet above the level of the Indian Ocean," Jack answered lightly. "So I rely upon Hannah to lay the first stone."

  "Whenever you like, my dear Jack," she answered, laughing.

  On the morning of the 25th of July, M. and Mme. Zermatt were in their room when Ernest came to them, looking even more serious than usual, his eyes shining brightly.

  He wanted to acquaint his father with a discovery, which, if properly worked, might, he thought, have results of the very highest importance in the future.

  In his hand he held something which he handed to M. Zermatt after a final look at it.

  It was one of the pebbles he had picked up in the gorge on the occasion of his trip in the canoe, with Mr. Wolston, on the upper reaches of the Montrose River.

  M. Zermatt took the pebble, the weight of which surprised him to begin with. Then he asked his son why he brought it to him with such an air of mystery.

  "Because it is worth while to give it a little careful attention," Ernest replied. "Why?"

  "Because that pebble is a nugget."

  "A nugget?" M. Zermatt said questioningly.

  And going to the window he began to look at it in the better light.

  "I am certain of what I allege," Ernest declared. "I have examined that pebble, have analysed some portions of it, and I can guarantee that it is largely composed of gold in a native state."

  "Are you sure you are not mistaken, my boy?" M. Zermatt asked.

  "Quite, Papa, quite!"

  Mme. Zermatt had listened to this conversation without speaking a word, without even putting out her hand to take the precious object, the finding of which seemed to leave her quite indifferent.

  Ernest continued:

  "Now, as we were coming back down the Montrose gorge I noticed a number of pebbles like that. So it is certain that there are quantities of nuggets in that corner of the island."

  "And what does that matter to us?" Mme. Zermatt demanded.

  M. Zermatt looked at his wife, recognising all the scorn in her remark.

  Then he said:

  "My dear Ernest, you have not mentioned your discovery to any one?" "To no one."

  "I am glad: not because I have no confidence in your brother or in Mr. Wolston. But this is a secret that ought to be carefully considered before it is divulged."

  "What is there to be afraid of, Papa?" Ernest asked.

  "Nothing at present, but much for the future of the colony! Let the existence of these gold-bearing districts once be heard of, let it once be known that New Switzerland is rich in nuggets, and gold-miners will come in crowds, and in their train will come all the evils, all the disorder, all the crimes that gold-hunting involves! You may be quite sure that what did not escape you, Ernest, will not escape others, and that all the mineral treasures of the Montrose will be known some day. Well, let that be as far in the future as possible! You were right to keep this secret, my boy, and we will keep it too."

  "That is wisely spoken, dear," Mme. Zermatt added, "and I quite approve of all you have said. No! Let us say nothing, and do not let us go back to that gorge up the Montrose. Let us leave it to chance, or rather to God, who orders all the treasures of this world and distributes them as He thinks fit!"

  Father, mother, and son agreed. The desert region between the upper reaches of the river and the foot of the mountain range would not attract the new inhabitants of the island for a long time to come, and beyond question many evils would thus be avoided.

  The rainy season was now at its height. For at least another three weeks they must exercise patience. After twenty-four hours' respite the gales burst out again with greater violence, under the influence of the atmospheric disturbances which convulsed the whole of the north of the Indian Ocean. It was now August. Although this month only represents our February in the Southern hemisphere, it is then, between the Tropics and the Equator, that the rains and winds usually begin to abate and the sky to be cleared from the heavy vapours.

  "For twelve years we have never experienced such a long series of gales," M. Zermatt remarked one day. "Even in May and July there were some weeks of lull. And the west wind always sets in again at the beginning of August."

  "You will get a very sorry idea of our island, Merry dear," Mme. Zermatt added.

  "Make yourself easy, Betsy," Mrs. Wolston replied. "Are we not accustomed in my country, England, to bad weather for six months in the year?"

  "It is abominable!" said Jack emphatically. "An August like this in New Switzerland! I ought to have been out hunting three weeks ago, and every morning my dogs ask me what is the matter!"

  "This spell will soon end now," Ernest declared. "If I may believe the barometer and the thermometer, it will not be long before we get into the period of thunderstorms, which generally is the end of the rainy season."

  "Anyhow," said Jack, "this abominable weather is lasting too long. It is not what we promised Mr. and Mrs. Wolston, and I am sure Hannah is cross with us for having deceived her."

  "No, I am not, Jack—really."

  "And that she would be glad to go away!"

  The young girl's eyes answered for her. They told how happy she was in the cordial hospitality of the Zermatts. Her real hope was that nothing would ever part her parents and herself from them!

  As Ernest had remarked, the rainy season generally ended in violent thunderstorms, which lasted for five or six days. The whole heavens were then illumined by lightning, followed by peals of thunder as though the starry vault were crashing in, peals which re-echoed from a thousand points along the shore.

  It was on the 17th of August that these storms were announced by a rising of the temperature, an increasing heaviness of the atmosphere, and a drifting up in the north-west of livid clouds, denoting high electric tension.

  Rock Castle, from the shelter of its dome of rock, set wind and rain at defiance. There was nothing to be feared there from the lightning, which is so dangerous in open country or among trees, to which the electric fluid is easily attracted.

  The next day but one, in the evening, the skies were rent by the most terrible ball of fire that had fallen yet. All gathered in the library sprang to their feet at the noise of the dry and rending peal of thunder, which went rolling on and on through the upper zones of the air.

  Then, after a minute's interval, dead silence reigned outside.

  The bolt had unquestionably fallen not far from Rock Castle.

  At this moment the report of an explosion was heard. "What is that?" cried Jack.

  "It is not thunder," said M. Zermatt.

  "Certainly not," said Mr. Wolston, who had come to the window.

  "Was it a gun fired outside the bay?" Ernest asked.

  All listened with panting hearts.

  Were they mistaken—was it an acoustic illusion, a final thunderclap?

  If it was really the discharge of a piece of ordnance, it meant that a ship was off the island, driven there by the storm, and perhaps in distress.

  A second report resounded. It was the same sound, and therefore came from the same distance, and this time no lightning had preceded it.

  "Another," said Jack, "and there can be no doubt—"

  "Yes," Mr. Wolston declared, "it was a gun we just heard!"

  Hannah ran towards the door crying out as if involuntarily:

  "The Unicorn! It can only be the Unicorn!"

  For a few moments a stupefied silence reigned. The Unicorn off the island, and calling for help? No, no! That some ship might have been driven to the northeast, and be disabled and drifting among the reefs of False Hope Point or Cape East, was conceivable. But that it was the English corvette was not admissible. That would have necessitated her having left Europe three months earlier than they had expected. No, no! And M. Zermatt was so emphatic in his assertion
of the contrary that all came round to his opinion: this could not be the Unicorn.

  But it was none the less appalling to think that a ship was in distress near the island, that the gale was driving her onto the reef where the Landlord had been dashed to pieces, and that she was appealing for help in vain.

  M. Zermatt, Mr. Wolston, Ernest, and Jack went out into the rain and climbed up the shoulder of cliff behind Rock Castle.

  The darkness was so intense that they could not see farther than a very few yards in the direction of the sea. All four were obliged to return almost at once, without having seen anything on the surface of Deliverance Bay.

  "And if we had seen, what could we do to help the ship?" Jack asked.

  "Nothing," M. Zermatt answered.

  "Let us pray for those in peril," said Mrs. Wolston; "may the Almighty protect them!"

  The three women fell on their knees beside the window, and the men stood by them with bent heads.

  As no other report of guns was heard, they were obliged to conclude that the vessel was either lost with all hands or had passed by the island out to sea.

  No one left the great hall that night, and directly day appeared, the storm having ceased, all hurried out of the grounds of Rock Castle.

  There was no sail in sight, either in Deliverance Bay or in the arm of the sea between False Hope Point and Cape East.

  Nor was anything to be seen of any ship which might have been dashed upon the Landlord's reef six or seven miles beyond.

  "Let us go to Shark's Island," Jack suggested.

  "You are right," M. Zermatt replied. "We shall see farther from the top of the battery."

  "Besides," Jack added, "now or never is the time to fire a few guns. Who knows if they won't be heard at sea, and answered?"

  The difficulty evidently would be to get to Shark's Island, for the bay must still be very rough indeed. But the distance was not much more than a couple of miles, and the longboat could risk it.

  Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston, conquering their anxiety, did not oppose the idea. It might be a question of saving the lives of fellow-men.

  At seven o'clock the boat left the little creek. M. Zermatt and Mr. Wolston, Ernest, and Jack all rowed energetically, helped forward by the ebb tide. A few bucketfuls shipped over the bows did not frighten them into turning back.

  Directly they reached the island all four jumped out onto the low rocks.

  What havoc they found! Trees lying uprooted by the wind, the antelopes' paddocks were destroyed, and the terrified animals rushing about all over the place!

  M. Zermatt and the rest reached the foot of the little hill on which the battery stood, and Jack was naturally the first to appear at the top.

  "Come along, come along!" he shouted impatiently.

  M. Zermatt, Mr. Wolston and Ernest hurried up to him.

  The shed under which the two guns were placed side by side had been burnt down during the night, and all that was left of it was a few ruins, which were still smoking. The flag-staff was split right down, and lay in the midst of a heap of half-burnt grass and brushwood. The trees, whose branches had been interlaced above the battery, were shivered right down to their roots, and the marks could be seen of flames that had consumed their upper branches.

  The two guns were still upon their gun-carriages, which were too heavy for the gale to overturn them.

  Ernest and Jack had brought quick-matches, and were also provided with several cannon-cartridges in order that they might be able to continue firing if they heard any reports from out at sea.

  Jack, posted by the first gun, applied the light.

  The match burnt right down to the touch-hole, but the charge did not go off.

  "The charge has got damp," Mr. Wolston remarked, "and could not catch light."

  "Let us change it," M. Zermatt replied. "Jack, take the sponge and try to clean out the gun. Then you can put a new cartridge in."

  But when the sponge had been thrust into the gun, it went right down to the end of it, much to Jack's surprise. The old cartridge, which had been put in it at the end of the summer, was not there. It was the same with the second gun."

  "So they have been fired!" Mr. Wolston exclaimed. "Fired?" M. Zermatt repeated. "Yes—both of them," Jack replied. "But by whom?"

  "By whom?" Ernest answered. "Why, by the thunder itself."

  "The thunder?" M. Zermatt repeated.

  "Not a doubt of it, papa. That last thunderbolt which we heard yesterday fell upon the hill. The hangar caught fire, and when the flames reached the two guns, the two charges exploded, one after the other."

  This was the obvious explanation, in view of the burnt ruins which strewed the ground. But what anxious hours the good people at Rock Castle had spent during that interminable night of storm!

  "Nice sort of thunder, turning gunner!" Jack exclaimed. "Jupiter Tonans is meddling with what is no concern of his!"

  The cannon were reloaded, and the longboat left Shark's Island, where the hangar must be rebuilt as soon as the weather permitted.

  But as no vessel had arrived in the waters of the island in the course of the previous night, so no vessel had been lost upon the reefs of New Switzerland.

  CHAPTER XII - THE NEW VENTURE

  THE rainy season, which was very long drawn out that year, came to an end about the last week in August. The work of ploughing and sowing was immediately begun. As M. Zermatt did not propose to start upon the expedition to the interior before the third week in September, there would be ample time for this labour.

  On this occasion the two families decided not to settle in at Falconhurst. The dwelling-place in the air had suffered damage during the recent storms, and some repairs were necessary. They would merely pass a few days there to attend to the sowing, the pruning of the vineyard, and what had to be done for the animals; and they would not make any longer stay at Wood Grange or Sugar-cane Grove or Prospect Hill.

  "We must remember," said M. Zermatt, "that when our absent ones come back, with all the new friends that they will bring, Colonel Montrose, your son James and his wife, my dear Wolston, and perhaps some new colonists, additions will be absolutely necessary at Falconhurst and the other farms. Some additional pairs of hands will be uncommonly useful for all that work, which is bound to be heavy. Let us confine our attention now to our fields and stables and poultry-yards. We shall have quite enough to do in the next two months, while waiting for the Unicorn."

  As Mme. Zermatt and Mrs. Wolston must stay at Rock Castle, they agreed to be responsible for everything both in and out of doors, the cattle, the birds on Goose Pond, and the vegetable garden. They gave Hannah permission to go with her father to the farms, and the girl and Ernest were equally pleased.

  The waggon, drawn by the two buffaloes, and the three asses, was to be used in the transport across the Promised Land. M. Zermatt, Ernest, Mr. Wolston and Hannah were to drive in the waggon, while Jack, who always enjoyed acting as scout, was to ride before them on the onager, Lightfoot.

  On the 25th of August, the first halt was made at Falconhurst. The weather was fine, with a light breeze blowing from Deliverance Bay. The heat, as yet, was not excessive. The journey along the shady avenue of trees which lined the river bank resembled a pleasant stroll.

  There was no agricultural labour to be done at Falconhurst. The fields which had to be sown were at the other, more remote, farms. The whole time was devoted to the animals, to supplying them with fresh food, executing some necessary repairs to the sheds, and cleaning and dredging the little stream which watered this property.

  The magnificent trees in the adjoining wood had withstood the fierce assaults of the storms, though not without the loss of a few branches. All this dead wood had to be collected and piled in the woodsheds in the yard.

  It was discovered that one of the largest mangrove trees had been struck by lightning. Although the same fate had not befallen the tree which supported the aerial dwelling-place, Ernest thought it would be prudent to protect it by m
eans of a lightning conductor reaching above the top of its highest branches and connected with the ground by a metal rod. He determined to look into the matter of this device, for the summer season was broken by many thunderstorms, and the electricity might have caused serious damage at Falconhurst.

  All this work took three full days, and it was not until the fourth that M. Zermatt returned to Rock Castle. He left it again forty-eight hours later with his companions, and, riding and driving as before, they took the road to Wood Grange.

  The distance between Rock Castle and that farm was covered in the morning. Directly they arrived, everybody set to work. It was here that the sheep-fold was, with an annually increasing number of sheep and goats; and here, too, was a poultry-run with several hundreds of birds. There was damage to be repaired in the hayloft, where the feed from the last harvest had been stored.