A Night at Sea -- Shark Gulf -- Confidences -- Preparations
for Winter -- Forwardness of the bad Season -- Severe Cold --
Work in the Interior -- In six Months -- A photographic
Negative -- Unexpected Incident.
Things happened as Pencroft had predicted, he being seldom mistaken in
his prognostications. The wind rose, and from a fresh breeze it soon
increased to a regular gale; that is to say, it acquired a speed of
from forty to forty-five miles an hour, before which a ship in the
open sea would have run under close-reefed topsails. Now, as it was
nearly six o'clock when the _Bonadventure_ reached the gulf, and as at
that moment the tide turned, it was impossible to enter. They were
therefore compelled to stand off, for even if he had wished to do so,
Pencroft could not have gained the mouth of the Mercy. Hoisting the
jib to the mainmast by way of a storm-sail, he hove to, putting the
head of the vessel towards the land.
Fortunately, although the wind was strong, the sea, being sheltered by
the land, did not run very high. They had then little to fear from the
waves, which always endanger small craft. The _Bonadventure_ would
doubtlessly not have capsized, for she was well ballasted; but
enormous masses of water falling on the deck, might injure her, if her
timbers could not sustain them. Pencroft, as a good sailor, was
prepared for anything. Certainly, he had great confidence in his
vessel, but nevertheless he awaited the return of day with some
anxiety.
During the night, Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett had no opportunity
for talking together, and yet the words pronounced in the reporter's
ear by the engineer were well worth being discussed, together with the
mysterious influence which appeared to reign over Lincoln Island.
Gideon Spilett did not cease from pondering over this new and
inexplicable incident,--the appearance of a fire on the coast of the
island. The fire had actually been seen! His companions, Herbert and
Pencroft, had seen it with him! The fire had served to signalise the
position of the island during that dark night, and they had not
doubted that it was lighted by the engineer's hand; and here was Cyrus
Harding expressly declaring that he had never done anything of the
sort! Spilett resolved to recur to this incident as soon as the
_Bonadventure_ returned, and to urge Cyrus Harding to acquaint their
companions with these strange facts. Perhaps it would be decided to
make in common a complete investigation of every part of Lincoln
Island.
However that might be, on this evening no fire was lighted on these
yet unknown shores, which formed the entrance to the gulf, and the
little vessel stood off during the night.
When the first streaks of dawn appeared in the western horizon, the
wind, which had slightly fallen, shifted two points, and enabled
Pencroft to enter the narrow gulf with greater ease. Towards seven
o'clock in the morning, the _Bonadventure_, weathering the North
Mandible Cape, entered the strait and glided on to the waters, so
strangely enclosed in the frame of lava.
"Well," said Pencroft, "this bay would make admirable roads, in which
a whole fleet could lie at their ease!"
"What is especially curious," observed Harding, "is that the gulf has
been formed by two rivers of lava, thrown out by the volcano, and
accumulated by successive eruptions. The result is that the gulf is
completely sheltered on all sides, and I believe that even in the
stormiest weather, the sea here must be as calm as a lake."
"No doubt," returned the sailor, "since the wind has only that narrow
entrance between the two capes to get in by; and besides, the north
cape protects that of the south in a way which would make the entrance
of gusts very difficult. I declare our _Bonadventure_ could stay here
from one end of the year to the other, without even dragging at her
anchor!"
"It is rather large for her!" observed the reporter.
"Well! Mr. Spilett," replied the sailor, "I agree that it is too large
for the _Bonadventure_; but if the fleets of the Union were in want of
a harbour in the Pacific, I don't think they would ever find a better
place than this!"
"We are in the shark's mouth," remarked Neb, alluding to the form of
the gulf.
"Right into its mouth, my honest Neb!" replied Herbert; "but you are
not afraid that it will shut upon us, are you?"
"No, Mr. Herbert," answered Neb; "and yet this gulf here doesn't
please me much! It has a wicked look!"
"Hallo!" cried Pencroft, "here is Neb turning up his nose at my gulf,
just as I was thinking of presenting it to America!"
"But, at any rate, is the water deep enough?" asked the engineer, "for
a depth sufficient for the keel of the _Bonadventure_, would not be
enough for those of our iron-clads."
"That is easily found out," replied Pencroft.
And the sailor sounded with a long cord, which served him as a
lead-line, and to which was fastened a lump of iron. This cord
measured nearly fifty fathoms, and its entire length was unrolled
without finding any bottom.
"There," exclaimed Pencroft, "our iron-clads can come here after all!
They would not run aground!"
"Indeed," said Gideon Spilett, "this gulf is a regular abyss; but,
taking into consideration the volcanic origin of the island, it is not
astonishing that the sea should offer similar depressions."
"One would say too," observed Herbert, "that these cliffs were
perfectly perpendicular; and I believe that at their foot, even with a
line five or six times longer, Pencroft would not find the bottom."
"That is all very well," then said the reporter; "but I must point out
to Pencroft that his harbour is wanting in one very important
respect!"
"And what is that, Mr. Spilett?"
"An opening, a cutting of some sort, to give access to the interior of
the island. I do not see a spot on which we could land."
And, in fact, the steep lava cliffs did not afford a single place
suitable for landing. They formed an insuperable barrier, recalling,
but with more wildness, the fiords of Norway. The _Bonadventure_,
coasting as close as possible along the cliffs, did not discover even
a projection which would allow the passengers to leave the deck.
Pencroft consoled himself by saying that with the help of a mine they
could soon open out the cliff when that was necessary, and then, as
there was evidently nothing to be done in the gulf, he steered his
vessel towards the strait and passed out at about two o'clock in the
afternoon.
"Ah!" said Neb, uttering a sigh of satisfaction.
One might really say that the honest negro did not feel at his ease in
those enormous jaws.
The distance from Mandible Cape to the mouth of the Mercy was not more
than eight miles. The head of the _Bonadventure_ was put towards
Granite House, and a fair wind filling her sails, she ran rapidly
along the coast.
To the enormous lava rocks succeeded soon those capricious sand dunes,
among which the engineer had been so singularly recovered, and which
sea-birds frequented in thousands.
About four o'clock, Pencroft, leaving the point of the islet on his
left, entered the channel which separated it from the coast, and at
five o'clock the anchor of the _Bonadventure_ was buried in the sand
at the mouth of the Mercy.
The colonists had been absent three days from their dwelling. Ayrton
was waiting for them on the beach, and Jup came joyously to meet them,
giving vent to deep grunts of satisfaction.
A complete exploration of the coast of the island had now been made,
and no suspicious appearances had been observed. If any mysterious
being resided on it, it could only be under cover of the impenetrable
forest of the Serpentine Peninsula, to which the colonists had not yet
directed their investigations.
Gideon Spilett discussed these things with the engineer, and it was
agreed that they should direct the attention of their companions to
the strange character of certain incidents which had occurred on the
island, and of which the last was the most unaccountable.
However, Harding, returning to the fact of a fire having been kindled
on the shore by an unknown hand, could not refrain from repeating for
the twentieth time to the reporter--
"But are you quite sure of having seen it? Was it not a partial
eruption of the volcano, or perhaps some meteor?"
"No, Cyrus," answered the reporter; "it was certainly a fire lighted
by the hand of man. Besides, question Pencroft and Herbert. They saw
it as I saw it myself, and they will confirm my words."
In consequence therefore, a few days after, on the 25th of April, in
the evening, when the settlers were all collected on Prospect Heights,
Cyrus Harding began by saying,--
"My friends, I think it my duty to call your attention to certain
incidents which have occurred in the island, on the subject of which I
shall be happy to have your advice. These incidents are, so to speak,
supernatural--"
"Supernatural!" exclaimed the sailor, emitting a volume of smoke from
his mouth. "Can it be possible that our island is supernatural?"
"No, Pencroft, but mysterious, most certainly," replied the engineer;
"unless you can explain that which Spilett and I have until now failed
to understand."
"Speak away, captain," answered the sailor.
"Well, have you understood," then said the engineer, "how was it that
after falling into the sea, I was found a quarter of a mile into the
interior of the island, and that, without my having any consciousness
of my removal there?"
"Unless, being unconscious--" said Pencroft.
"That is not admissible," replied the engineer. "But to continue. Have
you understood how Top was able to discover your retreat five miles
from the cave in which I was lying?"
"The dog's instinct--" observed Herbert.
"Singular instinct!" returned the reporter; "since notwithstanding the
storm of rain and wind which was raging during that night, Top arrived
at the Chimneys, dry and without a speck of mud!"
"Let us continue," resumed the engineer. "Have you understood how our
dog was so strangely thrown up out of the waters of the lake, after
his struggle with the dugong?"
"No! I confess, not at all," replied Pencroft; "and the wound which
the dugong had in its side, a wound which seemed to have been made
with a sharp instrument; that can't be understood either."
"Let us continue again," said Harding. "Have you understood, my
friends, how that bullet got into the body of the young peccary; how
that case happened to be so fortunately stranded, without there being
any trace of a wreck; how that bottle containing the document
presented itself so opportunely, during our first sea-excursion; how
our canoe, having broken its moorings, floated down the current of the
Mercy and rejoined us precisely at the very moment we needed it; how
after the ape invasion the ladder was so obligingly thrown down from
Granite House; and lastly, how the document, which Ayrton asserts was
never written by him, fell into our hands?"
As Cyrus Harding thus enumerated, without forgetting one, the singular
incidents which had occurred in the island, Herbert, Neb, and Pencraft
stared at each other, not knowing what to reply, for this succession
of incidents, grouped thus for the first time, could not but excite
their surprise to the highest degree.
"'Pon my word," said Pencroft at last, "you are right, captain, and it
is difficult to explain all these things!"
"Well, my friends," resumed the engineer, "a last fact has just been
added to these, and it is no less incomprehensible than the others!"
"What is it, captain?" asked Herbert quickly.
"When you were returning from Tabor Island, Pencroft," continued the
engineer, "you said that a fire appeared on Lincoln Island?"
"Certainly," answered the sailor.
"And you are quite certain of having seen this fire?"
"As sure as I see you now."
"You also, Herbert?"
"Why, captain," cried Herbert, "that fire was blazing like a star of
the first magnitude!"
"But was it not a star?" urged the engineer.
"No," replied Pencroft, "for the sky was covered with thick clouds,
and at any rate a star would not have been so low on the horizon. But
Mr. Spilett saw it as well as we, and he will confirm our words."
"I will add," said the reporter, "that the fire was very bright, and
that it shot up like a sheet of lightning."
"Yes, yes! exactly," added Herbert, "and it was certainly placed on
the heights of Granite House."
"Well, my friends," replied Cyrus Harding, "during the night of the
19th of October, neither Neb nor I lighted any fire on the coast."
"You did not!" exclaimed Pencroft, in the height of his astonishment,
not being able to finish his sentence.
"We did not leave Granite House," answered Cyrus Harding, "and if a
fire appeared on the coast, it was lighted by another hand than ours!"
Pencraft, Herbert, and Neb were stupefied. No illusion could be
possible, and a fire had actually met their eyes during the night of
the 19th of October.
Yes! they were obliged to acknowledge it, a mystery existed! An
inexplicable influence, evidently favourable to the colonists, but
very irritating to their curiosity, was executed always in the nick of
time on Lincoln Island. Could there be some being hidden in its
profoundest recesses? It was necessary at any cost to ascertain this.
Harding also reminded his companions of the singular behaviour of Top
and Jup when they prowled round the mouth of the well, which placed
Granite House in communication with the sea, and he told them that he
had explored the well, without discovering anything suspicious. The
final resolve taken, in consequence of this conversation, by all the
members of the colony, was that as soon as the fine season returned
they would thoroughly search the whole of the island.
But from that day, Pencroft appeared to be anxious. He felt as if the
island which he had made his own personal property belonged to him
entirely no longer, and that he shared it with another master, to whom
whether willing or not, he felt subject. Neb and he often talked of
those unaccountable things, and both, their natures inclining them to
the marvellous, were not far from believing that Lincoln Island was
under the dominion of some supernatural power.
In the meanwhile, the bad weather came with the month of May, the
November of the northern zones. It appeared that the winter would be
severe and forward. The preparations for the winter season were
therefore commenced without delay.
[Illustration: RETURNING FROM A SPORTING EXCURSION]
Nevertheless, the colonists were well prepared to meet the winter,
however hard it might be. They had plenty of felt clothing, and the
musmons, very numerous by this time, had furnished an abundance of the
wool necessary for the manufacture of this warm material.
It is unnecessary to say that Ayrton had been provided with this
comfortable clothing. Cyrus Harding proposed that he should come to
spend the bad season with them in Granite House, where he would be
better lodged than at the corral, and Ayrton promised to do so, as
soon as the last work at the corral was finished. He did this towards
the middle of April. From that time Ayrton shared the common life, and
made himself useful on all occasions; but still humble and sad, he
never took part in the pleasures of his companions.
For the greater part of this, the third winter which the settlers
passed in Lincoln Island, they were confined to Granite House. There
were many violent storms and frightful tempests, which appeared to
shake the rocks to their very foundations. Immense waves threatened to
overwhelm the island, and certainly any vessel anchored near the shore
would have been dashed to pieces. Twice, during one of these
hurricanes, the Mercy swelled to such a degree as to give reason to
fear that the bridges would be swept away, and it was necessary to
strengthen those on the shore, which disappeared under the foaming
waters, when the sea beat against the beach.
It may well be supposed that such storms, comparable to water-spouts
in which were mingled rain and snow, would cause great havoc on the
plateau of Prospect Heights. The mill and the poultry-yard
particularly suffered. The colonists were often obliged to make
immediate repairs, without which the safety of the birds would have
been seriously threatened.
[Illustration: THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVE]
During the worst weather, several jaguars and troops of quadrumana
ventured to the edge of the plateau, and it was always to be feared
that the most active and audacious would, urged by hunger, manage to
cross the stream, which besides, when frozen, offered them an easy
passage. Plantations and domestic animals would then have been
infallibly destroyed, without a constant watch, and it was often
necessary to make use of the guns to keep those dangerous visitors at
a respectful distance. Occupation was not wanting to the colonists,
for without reckoning their out-door cares, they had always a thousand
plans for the fitting up of Granite House.
They had also some fine sporting excursions, which were made during
the frost in the vast Tadorn marsh. Gideon Spilett and Herbert, aided
by Jup and Top, did not miss a shot in the midst of the myriads of
wild-duck, snipe, teal, and others. The access to these
hunting-grounds was easy; besides, whether they reached them by the
road to Port Balloon, after having passed the Mercy Bridge, or by
turning the rocks from Flotsam Point, the hunters were never distant
from Granite House more than two or three miles.
Thus passed the four winter months, which were really rigorous, that
is to say, June, July, August, and September. But, in short, Granite
House did not suffer much from the inclemency of the weather, and it
was the same with the corral, which, less exposed than the plateau,
and sheltered partly by Mount Franklin, only received the remains of
the hurricanes, already broken by the forests and the high rocks of
the shore. The damages there were consequently of small importance,
and the activity and skill of Ayrton promptly repaired them, when some
time in October he returned to pass a few days in the corral.
During this winter, no fresh inexplicable incident occurred. Nothing
strange happened, although Pencroft and Neb were on the watch for the
most insignificant facts to which they attached any mysterious cause.
Top and Jup themselves no longer growled round the well or gave any
signs of uneasiness. It appeared, therefore, as if the series of
supernatural incidents was interrupted, although they often talked of
them during the evenings in Granite House, and they remained
thoroughly resolved that the island should be searched, even in those
parts the most difficult to explore. But an event of the highest
importance, and of which the consequence might be terrible,
momentarily diverted from their projects Cyrus Harding and his
companions.
It was the month of October. The fine season was swiftly returning.
Nature was reviving; and among the evergreen foliage of the coniferae
which formed the border of the wood, already appeared the young leaves
of the banksias, deodars, and other trees.
It may be remembered that Gideon Spilett and Herbert had, at different
times, taken photographic views of Lincoln Island.
Now, on the 17th of this month of October, towards three o'clock in
the afternoon, Herbert, enticed by the charms of the sky, thought of
reproducing Union Bay, which was opposite to Prospect Heights, from
Cape Mandible to Claw Cape.
The horizon was beautifully clear, and the sea, undulating under a
soft breeze, was as calm as the waters of a lake, sparkling here and
there under the sun's rays.
The apparatus had been placed at one of the windows of the dining-room
at Granite House, and consequently overlooked the shore and the bay.
Herbert proceeded as he was accustomed to do, and the negative
obtained, he went away to fix it by means of the chemicals deposited
in a dark nook of Granite House.
Returning to the bright light, and examining it well, Herbert
perceived on his negative an almost imperceptible little spot on the
sea horizon. He endeavoured to make it disappear by reiterated
washing, but could not accomplish it.
"It is a flaw in the glass," he thought.
And then he had the curiosity to examine this flaw with a strong
magnifier which he unscrewed from one of the telescopes.
But he had scarcely looked at it, when he uttered a cry, and the glass
almost fell from his hands.
Immediately running to the room in which Cyrus Harding then was, he
extended the negative and magnifier towards the engineer, pointing out
the little spot.
Harding examined it; then seizing his telescope he rushed to the
window.
The telescope, after having slowly swept the horizon, at last stopped
on the looked-for spot, and Cyrus Harding lowering it, pronounced one
word only,--
"A vessel!"
And in fact a vessel was in sight, off Lincoln Island!
THE TEMPLE PRESS, PRINTERS, LETCHWORTH
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
2. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the
closest paragraph break.
3. Due to the poor scan quality of the original, text was found to be
missing at some places. Most prominent were the missing periods which
have been added for the sake of clarity. Also few missing punctuation
marks like commas, quotes, etc. have been added where obvious need was
felt. Apart from that, some missing text has also been added after
verification from other sources.
4. The words manoeuvred & manoeuvre have oe ligature in the original.
5. The following misprints have been corrected:
"Ned" corrected to "Neb" (page 13)
"cruciferae" corrected to "cruciferae" (page 25)
"thoughfully" corrected to "thoughtfully" (page 182)
"pronouced" corrected to "pronounced" (page 199)
"resoved" corrected to "resolved" (page 205)
6. Other than the corrections listed above, printer's inconsistencies
in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained.