L'île mystérieuse. English Read online

  Chapter 4

  All at once the reporter sprang up, and telling the sailor that he wouldrejoin them at that same place, he climbed the cliff in the directionwhich the Negro Neb had taken a few hours before. Anxiety hastenedhis steps, for he longed to obtain news of his friend, and he soondisappeared round an angle of the cliff. Herbert wished to accompanyhim.

  "Stop here, my boy," said the sailor; "we have to prepare an encampment,and to try and find rather better grub than these shell-fish. Ourfriends will want something when they come back. There is work foreverybody."

  "I am ready," replied Herbert.

  "All right," said the sailor; "that will do. We must set about itregularly. We are tired, cold, and hungry; therefore we must haveshelter, fire, and food. There is wood in the forest, and eggs in nests;we have only to find a house."

  "Very well," returned Herbert, "I will look for a cave among the rocks,and I shall be sure to discover some hole into which we can creep."

  "All right," said Pencroft; "go on, my boy."

  They both walked to the foot of the enormous wall over the beach, farfrom which the tide had now retreated; but instead of going towards thenorth, they went southward. Pencroft had remarked, several hundred feetfrom the place at which they landed, a narrow cutting, out of whichhe thought a river or stream might issue. Now, on the one hand it wasimportant to settle themselves in the neighborhood of a good streamof water, and on the other it was possible that the current had thrownCyrus Harding on the shore there.

  The cliff, as has been said, rose to a height of three hundred feet, butthe mass was unbroken throughout, and even at its base, scarcely washedby the sea, it did not offer the smallest fissure which would serve asa dwelling. It was a perpendicular wall of very hard granite, which eventhe waves had not worn away. Towards the summit fluttered myriads ofsea-fowl, and especially those of the web-footed species with long,flat, pointed beaks--a clamorous tribe, bold in the presence of man,who probably for the first time thus invaded their domains. Pencroftrecognized the skua and other gulls among them, the voracious littlesea-mew, which in great numbers nestled in the crevices of the granite.A shot fired among this swarm would have killed a great number, but tofire a shot a gun was needed, and neither Pencroft nor Herbert had one;besides this, gulls and sea-mews are scarcely eatable, and even theireggs have a detestable taste. However, Herbert, who had gone forwarda little more to the left, soon came upon rocks covered with sea-weed,which, some hours later, would be hidden by the high tide. On theserocks, in the midst of slippery wrack, abounded bivalve shell-fish, notto be despised by starving people. Herbert called Pencroft, who ran uphastily.

  "Here are mussels!" cried the sailor; "these will do instead of eggs!"

  "They are not mussels," replied Herbert, who was attentively examiningthe molluscs attached to the rocks; "they are lithodomes."

  "Are they good to eat?" asked Pencroft.

  "Perfectly so."

  "Then let us eat some lithodomes."

  The sailor could rely upon Herbert; the young boy was well up in naturalhistory, and always had had quite a passion for the science. His fatherhad encouraged him in it, by letting him attend the lectures of the bestprofessors in Boston, who were very fond of the intelligent, industriouslad. And his turn for natural history was, more than once in the courseof time, of great use, and he was not mistaken in this instance. Theselithodomes were oblong shells, suspended in clusters and adheringvery tightly to the rocks. They belong to that species of molluscousperforators which excavate holes in the hardest stone; their shell isrounded at both ends, a feature which is not remarked in the commonmussel.

  Pencroft and Herbert made a good meal of the lithodomes, which werethen half opened to the sun. They ate them as oysters, and as they hada strong peppery taste, they were palatable without condiments of anysort.

  Their hunger was thus appeased for the time, but not their thirst, whichincreased after eating these naturally-spiced molluscs. They had then tofind fresh water, and it was not likely that it would be wanting in sucha capriciously uneven region. Pencroft and Herbert, after having takenthe precaution of collecting an ample supply of lithodomes, with whichthey filled their pockets and handkerchiefs, regained the foot of thecliff.

  Two hundred paces farther they arrived at the cutting, through which, asPencroft had guessed, ran a stream of water, whether fresh or not was tobe ascertained. At this place the wall appeared to have been separatedby some violent subterranean force. At its base was hollowed out alittle creek, the farthest part of which formed a tolerably sharp angle.The watercourse at that part measured one hundred feet in breadth, andits two banks on each side were scarcely twenty feet high. The riverbecame strong almost directly between the two walls of granite, whichbegan to sink above the mouth; it then suddenly turned and disappearedbeneath a wood of stunted trees half a mile off.

  "Here is the water, and yonder is the wood we require!" said Pencroft."Well, Herbert, now we only want the house."

  The water of the river was limpid. The sailor ascertained that at thistime--that is to say, at low tide, when the rising floods did not reachit--it was sweet. This important point established, Herbert looked forsome cavity which would serve them as a retreat, but in vain; everywherethe wall appeared smooth, plain, and perpendicular.

  However, at the mouth of the watercourse and above the reach of the hightide, the convulsions of nature had formed, not a grotto, but a pileof enormous rocks, such as are often met with in granite countries andwhich bear the name of "Chimneys."

  Pencroft and Herbert penetrated quite far in among the rocks, by sandypassages in which light was not wanting, for it entered through theopenings which were left between the blocks, of which some were onlysustained by a miracle of equilibrium; but with the light came alsoair--a regular corridor-gale--and with the wind the sharp cold from theexterior. However, the sailor thought that by stopping-up some ofthe openings with a mixture of stones and sand, the Chimneys could berendered habitable. Their geometrical plan represented the typographicalsign "&," which signifies "et cetera" abridged, but by isolating theupper mouth of the sign, through which the south and west winds blew sostrongly, they could succeed in making the lower part of use.

  "Here's our work," said Pencroft, "and if we ever see Captain Hardingagain, he will know how to make something of this labyrinth."

  "We shall see him again, Pencroft," cried Herbert, "and when he returnshe must find a tolerable dwelling here. It will be so, if we can make afireplace in the left passage and keep an opening for the smoke."

  "So we can, my boy," replied the sailor, "and these Chimneys will serveour turn. Let us set to work, but first come and get a store of fuel. Ithink some branches will be very useful in stopping up these openings,through which the wind shrieks like so many fiends."

  Herbert and Pencroft left the Chimneys, and, turning the angle, theybegan to climb the left bank of the river. The current here was quiterapid, and drifted down some dead wood. The rising tide--and it couldalready be perceived--must drive it back with force to a considerabledistance. The sailor then thought that they could utilize this ebb andflow for the transport of heavy objects.

  After having walked for a quarter of an hour, the sailor and the boyarrived at the angle which the river made in turning towards the left.From this point its course was pursued through a forest of magnificenttrees. These trees still retained their verdure, notwithstanding theadvanced season, for they belonged to the family of "coniferae," whichis spread over all the regions of the globe, from northern climates tothe tropics. The young naturalist recognized especially the "deedara,"which are very numerous in the Himalayan zone, and which spread aroundthem a most agreeable odor. Between these beautiful trees sprang upclusters of firs, whose opaque open parasol boughs spread wide around.Among the long grass, Pencroft felt that his feet were crushing drybranches which crackled like fireworks.

  "Well, my boy," said he to Herbert, "if I don't know the name of thesetrees, at any rate I reckon that we may call th
em 'burning wood,' andjust now that's the chief thing we want."

  "Let us get a supply," replied Herbert, who immediately set to work.

  The collection was easily made. It was not even necessary to lop thetrees, for enormous quantities of dead wood were lying at their feet;but if fuel was not wanting, the means of transporting it was not yetfound. The wood, being very dry, would burn rapidly; it was thereforenecessary to carry to the Chimneys a considerable quantity, and theloads of two men would not be sufficient. Herbert remarked this.

  "Well, my boy," replied the sailor, "there must be some way of carryingthis wood; there is always a way of doing everything. If we had a cartor a boat, it would be easy enough."

  "But we have the river," said Herbert.

  "Right," replied Pencroft; "the river will be to us like a road whichcarries of itself, and rafts have not been invented for nothing."

  "Only," observed Herbert, "at this moment our road is going the wrongway, for the tide is rising!"

  "We shall be all right if we wait till it ebbs," replied the sailor,"and then we will trust it to carry our fuel to the Chimneys. Let us getthe raft ready."

  The sailor, followed by Herbert, directed his steps towards the river.They both carried, each in proportion to his strength, a load of woodbound in fagots. They found on the bank also a great quantity of deadbranches in the midst of grass, among which the foot of man had probablynever before trod. Pencroft began directly to make his raft. In a kindof little bay, created by a point of the shore which broke the current,the sailor and the lad placed some good-sized pieces of wood, whichthey had fastened together with dry creepers. A raft was thus formed, onwhich they stacked all they had collected, sufficient, indeed, to haveloaded at least twenty men. In an hour the work was finished, and theraft moored to the bank, awaited the turning of the tide.

  There were still several hours to be occupied, and with one consentPencroft and Herbert resolved to gain the upper plateau, so as to have amore extended view of the surrounding country.

  Exactly two hundred feet behind the angle formed by the river, the wall,terminated by a fall of rocks, died away in a gentle slope to the edgeof the forest. It was a natural staircase. Herbert and the sailor begantheir ascent; thanks to the vigor of their muscles they reached thesummit in a few minutes; and proceeded to the point above the mouth ofthe river.

  On attaining it, their first look was cast upon the ocean which not longbefore they had traversed in such a terrible condition. They observed,with emotion, all that part to the north of the coast on which thecatastrophe had taken place. It was there that Cyrus Harding haddisappeared. They looked to see if some portion of their balloon, towhich a man might possibly cling, yet existed. Nothing! The sea was butone vast watery desert. As to the coast, it was solitary also. Neitherthe reporter nor Neb could be anywhere seen. But it was possible that atthis time they were both too far away to be perceived.

  "Something tells me," cried Herbert, "that a man as energetic as CaptainHarding would not let himself be drowned like other people. He must havereached some point of the shore; don't you think so, Pencroft?"

  The sailor shook his head sadly. He little expected ever to see CyrusHarding again; but wishing to leave some hope to Herbert: "Doubtless,doubtless," said he; "our engineer is a man who would get out of ascrape to which any one else would yield."

  In the meantime he examined the coast with great attention. Stretchedout below them was the sandy shore, bounded on the right of the river'smouth by lines of breakers. The rocks which were visible appeared likeamphibious monsters reposing in the surf. Beyond the reef, the seasparkled beneath the sun's rays. To the south a sharp point closed thehorizon, and it could not be seen if the land was prolonged in thatdirection, or if it ran southeast and southwest, which would have madethis coast a very long peninsula. At the northern extremity of the baythe outline of the shore was continued to a great distance in a widercurve. There the shore was low, flat, without cliffs, and with greatbanks of sand, which the tide left uncovered. Pencroft and Herbert thenreturned towards the west. Their attention was first arrested by thesnow-topped mountain which rose at a distance of six or seven miles.From its first declivities to within two miles of the coast were spreadvast masses of wood, relieved by large green patches, caused by thepresence of evergreen trees. Then, from the edge of this forest to theshore extended a plain, scattered irregularly with groups of trees. Hereand there on the left sparkled through glades the waters of the littleriver; they could trace its winding course back towards the spurs of themountain, among which it seemed to spring. At the point where the sailorhad left his raft of wood, it began to run between the two high granitewalls; but if on the left bank the wall remained clear and abrupt, onthe right bank, on the contrary, it sank gradually, the massive sideschanged to isolated rocks, the rocks to stones, the stones to shinglerunning to the extremity of the point.

  "Are we on an island?" murmured the sailor.

  "At any rate, it seems to be big enough," replied the lad.

  "An island, ever so big, is an island all the same!" said Pencroft.

  But this important question could not yet be answered. A more perfectsurvey had to be made to settle the point. As to the land itself, islandor continent, it appeared fertile, agreeable in its aspect, and variedin its productions.

  "This is satisfactory," observed Pencroft; "and in our misfortune, wemust thank Providence for it."

  "God be praised!" responded Herbert, whose pious heart was full ofgratitude to the Author of all things.

  Pencroft and Herbert examined for some time the country on whichthey had been cast; but it was difficult to guess after so hasty aninspection what the future had in store for them.

  They then returned, following the southern crest of the graniteplatform, bordered by a long fringe of jagged rocks, of the mostwhimsical shapes. Some hundreds of birds lived there nestled in theholes of the stone; Herbert, jumping over the rocks, startled a wholeflock of these winged creatures.

  "Oh!" cried he, "those are not gulls nor sea-mews!"

  "What are they then?" asked Pencroft.

  "Upon my word, one would say they were pigeons!"

  "Just so, but these are wild or rock pigeons. I recognize them bythe double band of black on the wing, by the white tail, and by theirslate-colored plumage. But if the rock-pigeon is good to eat, its eggsmust be excellent, and we will soon see how many they may have left intheir nests!"

  "We will not give them time to hatch, unless it is in the shape of anomelet!" replied Pencroft merrily.

  "But what will you make your omelet in?" asked Herbert; "in your hat?"

  "Well!" replied the sailor, "I am not quite conjuror enough for that;we must come down to eggs in the shell, my boy, and I will undertake todespatch the hardest!"

  Pencroft and Herbert attentively examined the cavities in the granite,and they really found eggs in some of the hollows. A few dozen beingcollected, were packed in the sailor's handkerchief, and as the timewhen the tide would be full was approaching, Pencroft and Herbert beganto redescend towards the watercourse. When they arrived there, it wasan hour after midday. The tide had already turned. They must now availthemselves of the ebb to take the wood to the mouth. Pencroft did notintend to let the raft go away in the current without guidance, neitherdid he mean to embark on it himself to steer it. But a sailor is neverat a loss when there is a question of cables or ropes, and Pencroftrapidly twisted a cord, a few fathoms long, made of dry creepers. Thisvegetable cable was fastened to the after-part of the raft, and thesailor held it in his hand while Herbert, pushing off the raft witha long pole, kept it in the current. This succeeded capitally. Theenormous load of wood drifted down the current. The bank was veryequal; there was no fear that the raft would run aground, and beforetwo o'clock they arrived at the river's mouth, a few paces from theChimneys.