The Mysterious Island
by Jules Verne
[Redactor’s Note: _The Mysterious Island_ (Number V013 in the T&M
numerical listing of Verne’s works) is a translation of _L’Île
mystérieuse_ first published in England by Sampson and Low and in the
United States by Scribner and Henry L. Shepard using the same
translation of W. H. G. Kingston. English translators often altered
their translations to suit current political views of Church and
Empire. In the Kingston translation the chapters near the end of the
book where Captain Nemo makes his appearance are altered beyond all
recognition and all mention of Captain Nemo’s previous life as a
“freedom fighter” for Indian independence is removed, in addition to
other deletions. The present translation is by the American Stephen W.
White. It first appeared in the _Evening Telegraph_ of Philadelphia, PA
and was later published as an Evening Telegraph Reprint Book (1876).
The present version is prepared from a xerox copy of that book kindly
provided by Mr. Sidney Kravitz of Dover, NJ. According to Taves and
Michaluk “Although more faithful than any other translation, this one
has never been reprinted”. And so after a lapse of 127 years this
translation of _The Mysterious Island_ is now again available to the
public.
Since the text was hand set for a newspaper there are many printer’s
errors (including upside-down characters). Where obvious these have
been corrected, although an attempt has been made to retain the
original spelling of words in use at that period. Where there is a
doubt, words have been altered so that the spelling is consistent. In
other cases, like “trajopan” where the inconsistency is traced to
Verne’s original, the spelling is left unaltered. A table of contents
based on the chapter headings has been added which also indicates the
points at which the french version was divided into three parts. An
updated translation by Sidney Kravitz is now available from Wesleyan
University Press (2001).
JULES VERNE’S LAST STORY
THE
THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
ISLAND
WITH A MAP OF THE ISLAND AND A FULL GLOSSARY
By JULES VERNE
AUTHOR OF “THE TOUR OF THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS,” “A JOURNEY TO THE
CENTRE OF THE EARTH,” “TWENTY THOUSAND LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA,”
ETC.,ETC.
_TRANSLATED EXPRESSLY FOR_
“T H E E V E N I N G T E L E G R A P H,”
_AND REPRINTED FROM THE COLUMNS OF THAT JOURNAL._
PHILADELPHIA:
OFFICE OF THE EVENING TELEGAPH, 108 SOUTH THIRD ST.
1876
PRICE, 25 CENTS
THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
CONTENTS
PART I SHIPWRECKED IN THE AIR
I The Hurricane of 1865—Cries in the Air—A Balloon Caught By a
Waterspout—Only the Sea in Sight—Five Passengers—What Took Place in the
Basket—Land Ahead!—The End.
II An Episode of the Rebellion—The Engineer Cyrus Smith—Gideon
Spilett—The Negro Neb—The Sailor Pencroft—The Youth, Herbert—An
Unexpected Proposal—Rendezvous at 10 O’clock P.M.—Departure in the
Storm.
III Five O’clock in the Afternoon—The Lost One—The Despair of
Neb—Search to the Northward—The Island—A Night of Anguish—The Fog of
the Morning—Neb Swimming—Sight of the Land—Fording the Channel.
IV The Lithodomes—The Mouth of the River—The “Chimneys”—Continuation
of the Search—The Forest of Evergreens—Getting Firewood—Waiting for the
Tide—On Top of the Cliff—The Timber-Float—The Return to the Coast.
V Arranging the Chimneys—The Important Question of Fire—The Match
Box—Search Over the Shore—Return of the Reporter and Neb—One Match—The
Crackling Fire—The Fish Supper—The First Night on Land.
VI The Castaways’ Inventory—No Effects—The Charred Linen—An Expedition
Into the Forest—The Flora of the Woods—The Flight of the Jacamar—Tracks
of Wild Beasts—The Couroucous—The Heath-Cock—Line-Fishing
Extraordinary.
VII Neb Has Not Yet Returned—The Reflections of the Reporter—The
Supper—Prospect of a Bad Night—The Storm Is Frightful—They Go Out Into
the Night—Struggle with the Rain and Wind.
VIII Is Cyrus Smith Alive?—Neb’s Story—Footprints—An Insoluble
Question—The First Words of Smith—Comparing the Footprints—Return to
the Chimneys—Pencroff Dejected.
IX Cyrus Is Here-Pencroff’s Attempts—Rubbing Wood—Island or
Continent—The Plans of the Engineer—Whereabouts in the Pacific—In the
Depths of the Forest—The Pistachio Pine—A Pig Chase—A Smoke of Good
Omen.
X The Engineer’s Invention—Island Or Continent?—Departure for the
Mountain—The Forest—Volcanic Soil—The Tragopans—The Moufflons—The First
Plateau—Encamping for the Night—The Summit of the Cone
XI At the Summit of the Cone—The Interior of the Crater—Sea
Everywhere—No Land in Sight—A Bird’s Eve View of the Coast—Hydrography
and Orography—Is the Island Inhabited?—A Geographical Baptism—Lincoln
Island.
XII Regulation of Watches—Pencroff Is Satisfied—A Suspicious Smoke—The
Course of Red Creek—The Flora of the Island—Its Fauna—Mountain
Pheasants—A Kangaroo Chase—The Agouti—Lake Grant—Return to the
Chimneys.
XIII Top’s Contribution—Making Bows and Arrows—A Brick-Kiln—A
Pottery—Different Cooking Utensils—The First Boiled Meat—Mugwort—The
Southern Cross—An Important Astronomical Observation.
XIV The Measure Of the Granite Wall—An Application of the Theorem of
Similar Triangles—The Latitude of the Island—An Excursion to the
North—An Oyster-Bed—Plans for the Future—The Sun’s Passage of the
Meridian—The Co-ordinates of Lincoln Island.
XV Winter Sets In—The Metallurgic Question—The Exploration of Safety
Island—A Seal Hunt—Capture of an Echidna—The Ai—The Catalonian
Method—Making Iron and Steel.
XVI The Question of a Dwelling Discussed Again—Pencroff’s Ideas—An
Exploration to the North of the Lake—The Western Boundary of the
Plateau—The Serpents—The Outlet of the Lake—Top’s Alarm—Top Swimming—A
Fight Under Water—The Dugong.
XVII A Visit to the Lake—The Direction of the Current—The Prospects of
Cyrus Smith—The Dugong Fat—The Use of the Schistous Limestone—The
Sulphate of Iron—How Glycerine Is Made—Soap—Saltpetre—Sulphuric
Acid—Nitric Acid—The New Outlet.
XVIII Pencroff Doubts No More—The Old Outlet of the Lake—A
Subterranean Descent—The Way Through the Granite—Top Has
Disappeared—The Central Cavern—The Lower Well—Mystery—The Blows with
the Pick—The Return.
XIX Smith’s Plan—The Front of Granite House—The Rope Ladder—Pencroff’s
Ideas—The Aromatic Herbs—A Natural Warren—Getting Water—The View From
the Windows of Granite House.
XX The Rainy Season—What to Wear-A Seal-Hunt—Candle-Making—-Work in
the Granite House—The Two Causeways—Return From a Visit to the
Oyster-Bed—What Herbert Found in His Pocket.
XXI Several Degrees Below Zero—Exploration of the Swamp Region to the
Southeast—The View of the Sea—A Conversation Concerning the Future of
the Pacific Ocean—The Incessant Labor of the Infusoria—What Will Become
of This Globe—The Chase—The Swamp of the Tadorns.
XXII. The Traps—The Foxes—The Peccaries—The Wind Veers to the
Northwest—The Snow-Storm—The Basket-Makers—The Coldest Snap of
Winter—Crystallization of the Sugar-Maple—The Mysterious Shafts—The
Projected Exploration—The Pellet of Lead.
PART II THE ABANDONED
XXIII Concerning the Leaden Pellet—Making a Canoe—Hunting—In the Top
of a Kauri—Nothing to Indicate the Presence of Man—The Turtle on its
Back—The Turtle Disappears—Smith’s Explanation.
XXIV Trial of the Canoe—A Wreck on the Shore—The Tow—Jetsam
Point—Inventory of the Box—What Pencroff Wanted—A Bible—A Verse from
the Bible.
XXV The Departure—The Rising Tide—Elms and Other Trees—Different
Plants—The Kingfisher—Appearance of the Forest—The Gigantic
Eucalypti—Why They Are Called Fever-Trees—Monkeys—The
Waterfall—Encampment for the Night.
XXVI Going Toward the Coast—Troops of Monkeys—A New Water-Course—Why
the Tide Was Not Felt—A Forest on the Shore—Reptile Promontory—Spilett
Makes Herbert Envious—The Bamboo Fusilade.
XXVII Proposal to Return By the South Coast—Its Configuration—Search
for the Shipwrecked—A Waif in the Air—Discovery of a Small Natural
Harbor—Midnight on the Mercy—A Drifting Canoe.
XXVIII Pencroff’s Halloos—A Night in the Chimneys—Herbert’s
Arrow—Smith’s Plan—An Unexpected Solution—What Had Happened in Granite
House—How the Colonists Obtained a New Domestic.
XXIX Projects to Be Carried Out—A Bridge Over the Mercy—To Make An
Island of Prospect Plateau—The Draw-Bridge—The Corn Harvest—The
Stream—The Causeway—The Poultry Yard—The Pigeon-House—The Two Wild
Asses—Harnessed to the Wagon—Excursion to Balloon Harbor.
XXX Clothing—Seal-Skin Boots—Making Pyroxyline—Planting—The
Fish—Turtles’ Eggs—Jup’s Education—The Corral-Hunting Moufflons—Other
Useful Animals and Vegetables—Home Thoughts.
XXXI Bad Weather—The Hydraulic Elevator—Making Window Glass and Table
Ware—The Bread Tree—Frequent Visits to the Corral—The Increase of the
Herd—The Reporter’s Question—The Exact Position of Lincoln
Island—Pencroff’s Proposal.
XXXII Ship Building—The Second Harvest—Ai Hunting—A New Plant—A
Whale—The Harpoon From the Vineyard—Cutting Up This Cetacea—Use of the
Whalebone—The End of May—PencroffIs Content.
XXXIII Winter—Fulling Cloth—The Mill—Pencroff’s Fixed Purpose—The
Whalebones—The Use of An Albatross—Top and Jup—Storms—Damage to the
Poultry-Yard—An Excursion to the Marsh—Smith Alone—Exploration of the
Pits.
XXXIV Rigging the Launch—Attacked By Foxes—Jup Wounded—Jup Nursed—Jup
Cured—Completion of the Launch—Pencroff’s Triumph—The Good Luck—Trial
Trip, to the South of the Island—An Unexpected Document.
XXXV Departure Decided Upon—Preparations—The Three Passengers—The
First Night—The Second Night—Tabor Island—Search on the Shore—Search in
the Woods—No One—Animals—Plants—A House—Deserted.
XXXVI The Inventory—The Night—Some Letters—The Search Continued—Plants
and Animals—Herbert in Danger—Aboard—The Departure—Bad Weather—A
Glimmer of Intelligence—Lost At Sea—A Timely Light.
XXXVII The Return-Discussion—Smith and the Unknown—Balloon Harbor-The
Devotion of the Engineer-A Touching Experience-Tears.
XXXVIII A Mystery to Be Solved—The First Words of the Unknown—Twelve
Years on the Island—Confessions—Disappearance—Smith’s
Confidence—Building a Wind-Mill—The First Bread—An Act of
Devotion—Honest Hands.
XXXIX Always Apart—A Bequest of the Unknown’s—The Farm Established At
the Corral—Twelve Years—The Boatswain’s Mate of the Britannia—Left on
Tabor Island—The Hand of Smith—The Mysterious Paper
XL A Talk—Smith and Spilett—The Engineer’s Idea—The Electric
Telegraph—The Wires—The Batter—the Alphabet—Fine Weather—The Prosperity
of the Colony—Photography—A Snow Effect—Two Years on Lincoln Island.
XLI Thoughts of Home—Chances of Return—Plan to Explore the Coast—The
Departure of the 16th of April—Serpentine Peninsula Seen From Sea—The
Basaltic Cliffs of the Western Coast—Bad Weather—Night—A New Incident.
XLII Night At Sea—Shark Gulf—Confidences—Preparations for Winter—Early
Advent of Bad Weather—Cold—In-Door Work—Six Months Later—A Speck on the
Photograph—An Unexpected Event.
PART III THE SECRET OF THE ISLAND
XLIII Lost Or Saved?—Ayrton Recalled—Important Discussion—It Is Not
the Duncan—Suspicion And Precaution—Approach of the Ship—A Cannon
Shot—The Brig Anchors in Sight of the Island—Night Fall.
XLIV Discussions—Presentiments—Ayrton’s Proposal—It Is Accepted—Ayrton
and Pencroff on Safety Islet—Norfolk Convicts—Their Projects—Heroic
Attempt of Ayrton—His Return—Six Against Fifty.
XLV The Mist Rises—The Engineer’s Disposition of Forces—Three
Posts—Ayrton and Pencroft—The First Attack—Two Other Boat Loads—On the
Islet—Six Convicts on Shore—The Brig Weighs Anchor—The Speedy’s
Projectiles—Desperate Situation—Unexpected Denouement.
XLVI The Colonists on the Beach—Ayrton and Pencroff as Salvors—Talk At
Breakfast—Pencroff’s Reasoning—Exploration of the Brig’s Hull in
Detail—The Magazine Uninjured—New Riches—A Discovery—A Piece of a
Broken Cylinder.
XLVII The Engineer’s Theory—Pencroff’s Magnificent Suppositions—A
Battery in the Air—Four Projectiles—The Surviving Convicts—Ayrton
Hesitates—Smith’s Generosity and Pencroff’s Dissatisfaction.
XLVIII The Projected Expedition—Ayrton At the Corral—Visit to Port
Balloon—Pencroff’s Remarks—Despatch Sent to the Corral—No Answer From
Ayrton—Setting Out Next Day—Why the Wire Did Not Act—A Detonation.
XLIX The Reporter and Pencroff in the Corral—Moving Herbert—Despair of
the Sailor—Consultation of the Engineer and the Reporter—Mode of
Treatment—A Glimmer of Hope—How to Warn Neb—A Faithful Messenger—Neb’s
Reply.
L The Convicts in the Neighborhood of the Corral—Provisional
Occupation—Continuation of Herbert’s Treatment—Pencroff’s
Jubilation—Review of the Past—Future Prospects—Smith’s Ideas.
LI No News of Neb—A Proposal From Pencroff and Spilett—The Reporter’s
Sorties—A Fragment Of Cloth—A Message—Hurried Departure—Arrival At
Prospect Plateau.
LII Herbert Carried to Granite House—Neb Relates What Had
Happened—Visit of Smith to the Plateau—Ruin and Devastation—The
Colonists Helpless—Willow Bark—A Mortal Fever—Top Barks Again.
LIII An Inexplicable Mystery—Herbert’s Convalescence—The Unexplored
Parts of the Island—Preparations for Departure—The First
Day—Night—Second Day—The Kauris—Cassowaries—Footprints in the
Sand—Arrival At Reptile End.
LIV Exploration of Reptile End—Camp At the Mouth of Fall River—By the
Corral—The Reconnaissance—The Return—Forward—An Open Door—A Light in
the Window—By Moonlight.
LV Ayrton’s Recital—Plans of His Old Comrades—Taking Possession of the
Corral—The Rules of the Island—The Good Luck—Researches About Mount
Franklin—The Upper Valleys—Subterranean Rumblings—Pencroff’s Answer—At
the Bottom of the Crater—The Return
LVI After Three Years—The Question of a New Ship—Its
Determination—Prosperity of the Colony—The Shipyard—The Cold
Weather—Pencroff Resigned—Washing—Mount Franklin.
LVII The Awakening of the Volcano—The Fine Weather—Resumption of
Work—The Evening of the 15th of October—A Telegraph—A Demand—An
Answer—Departure for the Corral—The Notice—The Extra Wire—The Basalt
Wall—At High Tide—At Low Tide—The Cavern—A Dazzling Light.
LVIII Captain Nemo—His First Words—History of a Hero of Liberty—Hatred
of the Invaders—His Companions—The Life Under Water—Alone—The Last
Refuge of the Nautilus—The Mysterious Genius of the Island.
LIX The Last Hours of Captain Nemo—His Dying Wishes—A Souvenir for His
Friends—His Tomb—Some Counsel to the Colonists—The Supreme Moment—At
the Bottom of the Sea.
LX The Reflections of the Colonists—Renewal of Work—The 1st of
January, 1869—A Smoke From the Volcano—Symptoms of An Eruption Ayrton
and Smith At the Corral—Exploration of the Crypt Dakkar—What Captain
Nemo Had Said to the Engineer.
LXI Smith’s Recital—Hastening the Work—A Last Visit to the Corral—The
Combat Between the Fire and the Water—The Aspect of the Island—They
Decide to Launch the Ship—The Night of the 8th of March.
LXII An Isolated Rock in the Pacific—The Last Refuge of the
Colonists—The Prospect of Death—Unexpected Succor—How and Why It
Came—The Last Good Action—An Island on Terra Firma—The Tomb of Captain
Nemo.
THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND.
By JULES VERNE.
PART I
SHIPWRECKED IN THE AIR
CHAPTER I.
THE HURRICANE OF 1865—CRIES IN THE AIR—A BALLOON CAUGHT BY A
WATERSPOUT—ONLY THE SEA IN SIGHT—FIVE PASSENGERS—WHAT TOOK PLACE IN THE
BASKET—LAND AHEAD!—THE END.
“Are we going up again?”
“No. On the contrary; we are going down!”
“Worse than that, Mr. Smith, we are falling!”
“For God’s sake throw over all the ballast!”
“The last sack is empty!”
“And the balloon rises again?”
“No!”
“I hear the splashing waves!”
“The sea is under us!”
“It is not five hundred feet off!”
Then a strong, clear voice shouted:—
“Overboard with all we have, and God help us!”
Such were the words which rang through the air above the vast
wilderness of the Pacific, towards 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the
23d of March, 1865:—
Doubtless, no one has forgotten that terrible northeast gale which
vented its fury during the equinox of that year. It was a hurricane
lasting without intermission from the 18th to the 26th of March.
Covering a space of 1,800 miles, drawn obliquely to the equator,
between the 35° of north latitude and 40° south, it occasioned immense
destruction both in America and Europe and Asia. Cities in ruins,
forests uprooted, shores devastated by the mountains of water hurled
upon them, hundreds of shipwrecks, large tracts of territory desolated
by the waterspouts which destroyed everything in their path, thousands
of persons crushed to the earth or engulfed in the sea; such were the
witnesses to its fury left behind by this terrible hurricane. It
surpassed in disaster those storms which ravaged Havana and Guadeloupe
in 1810 and 1825.
While these catastrophes were taking place upon the land and the sea, a
scene not less thrilling was enacting in the disordered heavens.
A balloon, caught in the whirl of a column of air, borne like a ball on
the summit of a waterspout, spinning around as in some aerial
whirlpool, rushed through space with a velocity of ninety miles an
hour. Below the balloon, dimly visible through the dense vapor, mingled
with spray, which spread over the ocean, swung a basket containing five
persons.
From whence came this aerial traveller, the sport of the awful tempest?
Evidently it could not have been launched during the storm, and the
storm had been raging five days, its symptoms manifesting themselves on
the 18th. It must, therefore, have come from a great distance, as it
could not have traversed less than 2,000 miles in twenty-four hours.
The passengers, indeed, had been unable to determine the course
traversed, as they had nothing with which to calculate their position;
and it was a necessary effect, that, though borne along in the midst of
this tempest; they were unconscious of its violence. They were whirled
and spun about and carried up and down without any sense of motion.
Their vision could not penetrate the thick fog massed together under
the balloon. Around them everything was obscure. The clouds were so
dense that they could not tell the day from the night. No reflection of
light, no sound from the habitations of men, no roaring of the ocean
had penetrated that profound obscurity in which they were suspended
during their passage through the upper air. Only on their rapid descent
had they become conscious of the danger threatening them by the waves.
Meanwhile the balloon, disencumbered of the heavy articles, such as
munitions, arms, and provisions, had risen to a height of 4,500 feet,
and the passengers having discovered that the sea was beneath them, and
realizing that the dangers above were less formidable than those below,
did not hesitate to throw overboard everything, no matter how
necessary, at the same time endeavoring to lose none of that fluid, the
soul of the apparatus, which sustained them above the abyss.
The night passed in the midst of dangers that would have proved fatal
to souls less courageous; and with the coming of day the hurricane
showed signs of abatement. At dawn, the emptied clouds rose high into
the heavens; and, in a few hours more, the whirlwind had spent its
force. The wind, from a hurricane, had subsided into what sailors would
call a “three reef breeze.”
Toward eleven o’clock, the lower strata of the air had lightened
visibly. The atmosphere exhaled that humidity which is noticeable after
the passage of great meteors. It did not seem as if the storm had moved
westward, but rather as if it was ended. Perhaps it had flowed off in
electric sheets after the whirlwind had spent itself, as is the case
with the typhoon in the Indian Ocean.
Now, however, it became evident that the balloon was again sinking
slowly but surely. It seemed also as if it was gradually collapsing,
and that its envelope was lengthening and passing from a spherical into
an oval form. It held 50,000 cubic feet of gas, and therefore, whether
soaring to a great height or moving along horizontally, it was able to
maintain itself for a long time in the air. In this emergency the
voyagers threw overboard the remaining articles which weighed down the
balloon, the few provisions they had kept, and everything they had in
their pockets, while one of the party hoisted himself into the ring to
which was fastened the cords of the net, and endeavored to closely tie
the lower end of the balloon. But it was evident that the gas was
escaping, and that the voyagers could no longer keep the balloon
afloat.
They were lost!
There was no land, not even an island, visible beneath them. The wide
expanse of ocean offered no point of rest, nothing upon which they
could cast anchor. It was a vast sea on which the waves were surging
with incomparable violence. It was the limitless ocean, limitless even
to them from their commanding height. It was a liquid plain, lashed and
beaten by the hurricane, until it seemed like a circuit of tossing
billows, covered with a net-work of foam. Not even a ship was in sight.
In order, therefore, to save themselves from being swallowed up by the
waves it was necessary to arrest this downward movement, let it cost
what it might. And it was evidently to the accomplishment of this that
the party were directing their efforts. But in spite of all they could
do the balloon continued to descend, though at the same time moving
rapidly along with the wind toward the southwest.
It was a terrible situation, this, of these unfortunate men. No longer
masters of the balloon, their efforts availed them nothing. The
envelope collapsed more and more, and the gas continued to escape.
Faster and faster they fell, until at 1 o’clock they were not more than
600 feet above the sea. The gas poured out of a rent in the silk. By
lightening the basket of everything the party had been able to continue
their suspension in the air for several hours, but now the inevitable
catastrophe could only be delayed, and unless some land appeared before
nightfall, voyagers, balloon, and basket must disappear beneath the
waves.
It was evident that these men were strong and able to face death. Not a
murmur escaped their lips. They were determined to struggle to the last
second to retard their fall, and they tried their last expedient. The
basket, constructed of willow osiers, could not float, and they had no
means of supporting it on the surface of the water. It was 2 o’clock,
and the balloon was only 400 feet above the waves.
Then a voice was heard—the voice of a man whose heart knew no
fear—responded to by others not less strong:—
“Everything is thrown out?”
“No, we yet have 10,000 francs in gold.”
A heavy bag fell into the sea.
“Does the balloon rise?”
“A little, but it will soon fall again.”
“Is there nothing else we can gut rid of?”
“Not a thing.”
“Yes there is; there’s the basket!”
“Catch hold of the net then, and let it go.”
The cords which attached the basket to the hoop were cut, and the
balloon, as the former fell into the sea, rose again 2,000 feet. This
was, indeed, the last means of lightening the apparatus. The five
passengers had clambered into the net around the hoop, and, clinging to
its meshes, looked into the abyss below.
Every one knows the statical sensibility of a balloon. It is only
necessary to relieve it of the lightest object in order to have it
rise. The apparatus floating in air acts like a mathematical balance.
One can readily understand, then, that when disencumbered of every
weight relatively great, its upward movement will be sudden and
considerable. It was thus in the present instance. But after remaining
poised for a moment at its height, the balloon began to descend. It was
impossible to repair the rent, through which the gas was rushing, and
the men having done everything they could do, must look to God for
succor.
At 4 o’clock, when the balloon was only 500 feet above the sea, the
loud barking of a dog, holding itself crouched beside its master in the
meshes of the net, was heard.
“Top has seen something!” cried one, and immediately afterwards another
shouted:—
“Land! Land!”
The balloon, which the wind had continued to carry towards the
southwest, had since dawn passed over a distance of several hundred
miles, and a high land began to be distinguishable in that direction.
But it was still thirty miles to leeward, and even supposing they did
not drift, it would take a full hour to reach it. An hour! Before that
time could pass, would not the balloon be emptied of what gas remained?
This was the momentous question.
The party distinctly saw that solid point which they must reach at all
hazards. They did not know whether it was an island or a continent, as
they were uninformed as to what part of the world the tempest had
hurried them. But they knew that this land, whether inhabited or
desert, must be reached.
At 4 o’clock it was plain that the balloon could not sustain itself
much longer. It grazed the surface of the sea, and the crests of the
higher waves several times lapped the base of the net, making it
heavier; and, like a bird with a shot in its wing, could only half
sustain itself.
A half hour later, and the land was scarcely a mile distant. But the
balloon, exhausted, flabby, hanging in wrinkles, with only a little gas
remaining in its upper portion, unable to sustain the weight of those
clinging to the net, was plunging them in the sea, which lashed them
with its furious billows. Occasionally the envelope of the balloon
would belly out, and the wind taking it would carry it along like a
ship. Perhaps by this means it would reach the shore. But when only two
cables’ length away four voices joined in a terrible cry. The balloon,
though seemingly unable to rise again, after having been struck by a
tremendous wave, made a bound into the air, as if it had been suddenly
lightened of some of its weight. It rose 1,500 feet, and encountering a
sort of eddy in the air, instead of being carried directly to land, it
was drawn along in a direction nearly parallel thereto. In a minute or
two, however, it reapproached the shore in an oblique direction, and
fell upon the sand above the reach of the breakers. The passengers,
assisting each other, hastened to disengage themselves from the meshes
of the net; and the balloon, relieved of their weight, was caught up by
the wind, and, like a wounded bird recovering for an instant,
disappeared into space.
The basket had contained five passengers and a dog, and but four had
been thrown upon the shore. The fifth one, then, had been washed off by
the great wave which had struck the net, and it was owing to this
accident that the lightened balloon had been able to rise for the last
time before falling upon the land. Scarcely had the four castaways felt
the ground beneath their feet than all thinking of the one who was
lost, cried:—“Perhaps he is trying to swim ashore. Save him! Let us
save him!”