CHAPTER EIGHT.
THE CONVICTS IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF THE CORRAL--PROVISIONALESTABLISHMENT--CONTINUATION OF THE TREATMENT OF HERBERT--PENCROFT'SFIRST REJOICINGS--CONVERSATION ON PAST EVENTS--WHAT THE FUTURE HAS INRESERVE--CYRUS HARDING'S IDEAS ON THIS SUBJECT.
So the convicts were still there, watching the corral, and determined tokill the settlers one after the other. There was nothing to be done butto treat them as wild beasts. But great precautions must be taken, forjust now the wretches had the advantage on their side, seeing, and notbeing 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 lastfor a tolerable length of time. Ayrton's house had been provided withall that was necessary for existence, and the convicts, scared by thearrival of the settlers, had not had time to pillage it. It wasprobable, as Gideon Spilett observed, that things had occurred asfollows:--The six convicts, disembarking on the island, had followed thesouthern shore, and after having traversed the double shore of theSerpentine Peninsula, not being inclined to venture into the Far Westwoods, they had reached the mouth of Falls River. From this point, byfollowing the right bank of the watercourse, they would arrive at thespurs of Mount Franklin, among which they would naturally seek aretreat, 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 overpowerthe unfortunate man, and--the rest may be easily imagined!
Now, the convicts,--reduced to five, it is true, but well-armed,--wereroaming the woods, and to venture there was to expose themselves totheir 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 ourgrand 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, mydear Cyrus, that this time his protection was wanting at the very momentwhen 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, andthat his powerful invention may, perhaps, have another opportunity ofexercising itself. But that is not the question now. Herbert's lifebefore everything."
This was the colonists' saddest thought. Several days passed, and thepoor boy's state was happily no worse. Cold water, always kept at asuitable temperature, had completely prevented the inflammation of thewounds. It even seemed to the reporter that this water, being slightlysulphurous,--which was explained by the neighbourhood of the volcano,--had a more direct action on the healing. The suppuration was much lessabundant, and--thanks to the incessant care by which he wassurrounded!--Herbert returned to life, and his fever abated. He wasbesides subjected to a severe diet, and consequently his weakness wasand would be extreme; but there was no want of refreshing drinks, andabsolute rest was of the greatest benefit to him. Cyrus Harding, GideonSpilett, and Pencroft had become very skilful in dressing the lad'swounds. All the linen in the house had been sacrificed. Herbert'swounds, covered with compresses and lint, were pressed neither too muchnor too little, so as to cause their cicatrisation without determiningon inflammatory reaction. The reporter used extreme care in thedressing, knowing well the importance of it, and repeating to hiscompanions that which most surgeons willingly admit, that it is perhapsrarer 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 hischeeks, and his bright eyes smiled at his nurses. He talked a little,notwithstanding Pencraft's efforts, who talked incessantly to preventhim from beginning to speak, and told him the most improbable stories.Herbert had questioned him on the subject of Ayrton, whom he wasastonished not to see near him, thinking that he was at the corral. Butthe sailor, not wishing to distress Herbert, contented himself byreplying that Ayrton had rejoined Neb, so as to defend Granite House.
"Humph!" said Pencroft, "these pirates! they are gentlemen who have noright to any consideration! And the captain wanted to win them bykindness! I'll send them some kindness, but in the shape of a goodbullet!"
"And have they not been seen again?" asked Herbert.
"No, my boy," answered the sailor, "but we shall find them, and when youare cured we shall see if the cowards, who strike us from behind, willdare 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 thechest? Nothing but a joke! I've seen many, and I don't think much ofthem!"
At last things appeared to be going on well, and if no complicationoccurred, Herbert's recovery might be regarded as certain. But whatwould have been the condition of the colonists if his state had beenaggravated,--if, for example, the ball had remained in his body, if hisarm or his leg had had to be amputated?
"No," said Spilett more than once, "I have never thought of such acontingency without shuddering!"
"And yet, if it had been necessary to operate," said Harding one day tohim, "you would not have hesitated?"
"No, Cyrus!" said Gideon Spilett, "but thank God that we have beenspared this complication!"
As in so many other conjectures, the colonists had appealed to the logicof that simple good sense of which they had made use so often, and oncemore, thanks to their general knowledge, it had succeeded! But mightnot a time come when all their science would be at fault? They werealone on the island. Now, men in all states of society are necessary toeach other. Cyrus Harding knew this well, and sometimes he askedhimself if some circumstance might not occur which they would bepowerless to surmount. It appeared to him besides, that he and hiscompanions, till then so fortunate, had entered into an unlucky period.During the three years and a half which had elapsed since their escapefrom Richmond, it might be said that they had had everything their ownway. The island had abundantly supplied them with minerals, vegetables,animals, and as Nature had constantly loaded them, their science hadknown how to take advantage of what she offered them.
The well-being of the colony was therefore complete. Moreover, incertain 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 ofthem, at least, had escaped the catastrophe. They had disembarked onthe island, and it was almost impossible to get at the five whosurvived. Ayrton had no doubt been murdered by these wretches, whopossessed fire-arms, and at the first use that they had made of them,Herbert had fallen, wounded almost mortally. Were these the first blowsaimed by adverse fortune at the colonists? This was often asked byHarding. This was often repeated by the reporter; and it appeared tohim also that the intervention, so strange, yet so efficacious, whichtill then had served them so well, had now failed them. Had thismysterious 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 imaginedthat because Harding and his companion spoke of these things, they weremen to despair. Far from that. They looked their situation in theface, they analysed the chances, they prepared themselves for any event,they stood firm and straight before the future, and if adversity was atlast to strike them, it would find in them men prepared to struggleagainst it.