THE CONVICTS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE CORRAL--PROVISIONAL
ESTABLISHMENT--CONTINUATION OF THE TREATMENT OF HERBERT--PENCROFT'S
FIRST REJOICINGS--CONVERSATION ON PAST EVENTS--WHAT THE FUTURE HAS IN
RESERVE--CYRUS HARDING'S IDEAS ON THIS SUBJECT.
So the convicts were still there, watching the corral, and determined to
kill the settlers one after the other. There was nothing to be done but
to treat them as wild beasts. But great precautions must be taken, for
just now the wretches had the advantage on their side, seeing, and not
being 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 last
for a tolerable length of time. Ayrton's house had been provided with
all that was necessary for existence, and the convicts, scared by the
arrival of the settlers, had not had time to pillage it. It was
probable, as Gideon Spilett observed, that things had occurred as
follows:--The six convicts, disembarking on the island, had followed the
southern shore, and after having traversed the double shore of the
Serpentine Peninsula, not being inclined to venture into the Far West
woods, they had reached the mouth of Falls River. From this point, by
following the right bank of the watercourse, they would arrive at the
spurs of Mount Franklin, among which they would naturally seek a
retreat, and they could not have been long in discovering the corral,
then uninhabited. There they had regularly installed themselves,
awaiting the moment to put their abominable schemes into execution.
Ayrton's arrival had surprised 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,--were
roaming the woods, and to venture there was to expose themselves to
their attacks, which could be neither guarded against nor prevented.
"Wait! There is nothing else to be done!" repeated Cyrus Harding.
"When Herbert is cured, we can organise a general battue of the island,
and have satisfaction of these convicts. That will be the object of our
grand expedition at the same time--"
"As the search for our mysterious protector," added Gideon Spilett,
finishing the engineer's sentence. "Ah, it must be acknowledged, my
dear Cyrus, that this time his protection was wanting at the very moment
when it 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 invention may, perhaps, have another opportunity of
exercising itself. But that is not the question now. Herbert's life
before everything."
This was the colonists' saddest thought. Several days passed, and the
poor boy's state was happily no worse. Cold water, always kept at a
suitable temperature, had completely prevented the inflammation of the
wounds. It even seemed to the reporter that this water, being slightly
sulphurous,--which was explained by the neighbourhood of the volcano,--
had a more direct action on the healing. The suppuration was much less
abundant, and--thanks to the incessant care by which he was
surrounded!--Herbert returned to life, and his fever abated. He was
besides subjected to a severe diet, and consequently his weakness was
and would be extreme; but there was no want of refreshing drinks, and
absolute rest was of the greatest benefit to him. Cyrus Harding, Gideon
Spilett, and Pencroft had become very skilful in dressing the lad's
wounds. All the linen in the house had been sacrificed. Herbert's
wounds, covered with compresses and lint, were pressed neither too much
nor too little, so as to cause their cicatrisation without determining
on inflammatory reaction. The reporter used extreme care in the
dressing, knowing well the importance of it, and repeating to his
companions that which most surgeons willingly admit, that it is perhaps
rarer to see a dressing 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 colour was returning to his
cheeks, and his bright eyes smiled at his nurses. He talked a little,
notwithstanding Pencraft's efforts, who talked incessantly to prevent
him from beginning to speak, and told him the most improbable stories.
Herbert had questioned him on the subject of Ayrton, whom he was
astonished not to see near him, thinking that he was at the corral. But
the sailor, not wishing to distress Herbert, contented himself by
replying that Ayrton had rejoined Neb, so as to defend Granite House.
"Humph!" said Pencroft, "these pirates! they are gentlemen who have no
right to any consideration! And the captain wanted to win them by
kindness! I'll send them some kindness, but in the shape of a good
bullet!"
"And have they not been seen again?" asked Herbert.
"No, my boy," answered the sailor, "but we shall find them, and when you
are cured we shall see if the cowards, who strike us from behind, will
dare 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 the
chest? Nothing but a joke! I've seen many, and I don't think much of
them!"
At last things appeared to be going on well, and if no complication
occurred, Herbert's recovery might be regarded as certain. But what
would have been the condition of the colonists if his state had been
aggravated,--if, for example, the ball had remained in his body, if his
arm or his leg had had to be amputated?
"No," said Spilett more than once, "I have never thought of such a
contingency without shuddering!"
"And yet, if it had been necessary to operate," said Harding one day to
him, "you would not have hesitated?"
"No, Cyrus!" said Gideon Spilett, "but thank God that we have been
spared this complication!"
As in so many other conjectures, the colonists had appealed to the logic
of that simple good sense of which they had made use so often, and once
more, thanks to their general knowledge, it had succeeded! But might
not a time come when all their science would be at fault? They were
alone on the island. Now, men in all states of society are necessary to
each other. Cyrus Harding knew this well, and sometimes he asked
himself if some circumstance might not occur which they would be
powerless to surmount. It appeared to him besides, that he and his
companions, till then so fortunate, had entered into an unlucky period.
During the three years and a half which had elapsed since their escape
from Richmond, it might be said that they had had everything their own
way. The island had abundantly supplied them with minerals, vegetables,
animals, and as Nature had constantly loaded them, their science had
known how to take advantage of what she offered them.
The well-being of the colony was therefore complete. Moreover, in
certain occurrences an inexplicable influence had come to their aid! ...
But all that 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 of
them, at least, had escaped the catastrophe. They had disembarked on
the island, and it was almost impossible to get at the five who
survived. Ayrton had no doubt been murdered by these wretches, who
possessed fire-arms, and at the first use that they had made of them,
Herbert had fallen, wounded almost mortally. Were these the first blows
aimed by adverse fortune at the colonists? This was often asked by
Harding. This was often repeated by the reporter; and it appeared to
him also that the intervention, so strange, yet so efficacious, which
till then had served them so well, had now failed them. Had this
mysterious being, whatever he was, whose existence could not be denied,
abandoned the island? Had he in his turn succumbed?
No reply was possible to these questions. But it must not be imagined
that because Harding and his companion spoke of these things, they were
men to despair. Far from that. They looked their situation in the
face, they analysed the chances, they prepared themselves for any event,
they stood firm and straight before the future, and if adversity was at
last to strike them, it would find in them men prepared to struggle
against it.