Chapter 20
An isolated rock, thirty feet in length, twenty in breadth, scarcely tenfrom the water's edge, such was the only solid point which the waves ofthe Pacific had not engulfed.
It was all that remained of the structure of Granite House! The wall hadfallen headlong and been then shattered to fragments, and a few of therocks of the large room were piled one above another to form this point.All around had disappeared in the abyss; the inferior cone of MountFranklin, rent asunder by the explosion; the lava jaws of Shark Gulf,the plateau of Prospect Heights, Safety Islet, the granite rocks of PortBalloon, the basalts of Dakkar Grotto, the long Serpentine Peninsula, sodistant nevertheless from the center of the eruption. All that couldnow be seen of Lincoln Island was the narrow rock which now served as arefuge to the six colonists and their dog Top.
The animals had also perished in the catastrophe; the birds, as wellas those representing the fauna of the island--all either crushed ordrowned, and the unfortunate Jup himself had, alas! found his death insome crevice of the soil.
If Cyrus Harding, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Pencroft, Neb, and Ayrtonhad survived, it was because, assembled under their tent, they had beenhurled into the sea at the instant when the fragments of the islandrained down on every side.
When they reached the surface they could only perceive, at half acable's length, this mass of rocks, towards which they swam and on whichthey found footing.
On this barren rock they had now existed for nine days. A few provisionstaken from the magazine of Granite House before the catastrophe, alittle fresh water from the rain which had fallen in a hollow of therock, was all that the unfortunate colonists possessed. Their last hope,the vessel, had been shattered to pieces. They had no means of quittingthe reef; no fire, nor any means of obtaining it. It seemed that theymust inevitably perish.
This day, the 18th of March, there remained only provisions for twodays, although they limited their consumption to the bare necessariesof life. All their science and intelligence could avail them nothing intheir present position. They were in the hand of God.
Cyrus Harding was calm, Gideon Spilett more nervous, and Pencroft, aprey to sullen anger, walked to and fro on the rock. Herbert did notfor a moment quit the engineer's side, as if demanding from him thatassistance he had no power to give. Neb and Ayrton were resigned totheir fate.
"Ah, what a misfortune! what a misfortune!" often repeated Pencroft."If we had but a walnut-shell to take us to Tabor Island! But we havenothing, nothing!"
"Captain Nemo did right to die," said Neb.
During the five ensuing days Cyrus Harding and his unfortunatecompanions husbanded their provisions with the most extreme care, eatingonly what would prevent them from dying of starvation. Their weaknesswas extreme. Herbert and Neb began to show symptoms of delirium.
Under these circumstances was it possible for them to retain even theshadow of a hope? No! What was their sole remaining chance? That avessel should appear in sight of the rock? But they knew only too wellfrom experience that no ships ever visited this part of the Pacific.Could they calculate that, by a truly providential coincidence, theScotch yacht would arrive precisely at this time in search of Ayrtonat Tabor Island? It was scarcely probable; and, besides, supposingshe should come there, as the colonists had not been able to deposita notice pointing out Ayrton's change of abode, the commander of theyacht, after having explored Tabor Island without results, would againset sail and return to lower latitudes.
No! no hope of being saved could be retained, and a horrible death,death from hunger and thirst, awaited them upon this rock.
Already they were stretched on the rock, inanimate, and no longerconscious of what passed around them. Ayrton alone, by a supreme effort,from time to time raised his head, and cast a despairing glance over thedesert ocean.
But on the morning of the 24th of March Ayrton's arms were extendedtoward a point in the horizon; he raised himself, at first on his knees,then upright, and his hand seemed to make a signal.
A sail was in sight off the rock. She was evidently not without anobject. The reef was the mark for which she was making in a direct line,under all steam, and the unfortunate colonists might have made her outsome hours before if they had had the strength to watch the horizon.
"The 'Duncan'!" murmured Ayrton--and fell back without sign of life.
When Cyrus Harding and his companions recovered consciousness, thanks tothe attention lavished upon them, they found themselves in the cabin ofa steamer, without being able to comprehend how they had escaped death.
A word from Ayrton explained everything.
"The 'Duncan'!" he murmured.
"The 'Duncan'!" exclaimed Cyrus Harding. And raising his hand to Heaven,he said, "Oh! Almighty God! mercifully hast Thou preserved us!"
It was, in fact, the "Duncan," Lord Glenarvan's yacht, now commanded byRobert, son of Captain Grant, who had been despatched to Tabor Island tofind Ayrton, and bring him back to his native land after twelve years ofexpiation.
The colonists were not only saved, but already on the way to theirnative country.
"Captain Grant," asked Cyrus Harding, "who can have suggested to you theidea, after having left Tabor Island, where you did not find Ayrton, ofcoming a hundred miles farther northeast?"
"Captain Harding," replied Robert Grant, "it was in order to find, notonly Ayrton, but yourself and your companions."
"My companions and myself?"
"Doubtless, at Lincoln Island."
"At Lincoln Island!" exclaimed in a breath Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Neb,and Pencroft, in the highest degree astonished.
"How could you be aware of the existence of Lincoln Island?" inquiredCyrus Harding, "it is not even named in the charts."
"I knew of it from a document left by you on Tabor Island," answeredRobert Grant.
"A document!" cried Gideon Spilett.
"Without doubt, and here it is," answered Robert Grant, producing apaper which indicated the longitude and latitude of Lincoln Island, "thepresent residence of Ayrton and five American colonists."
"It is Captain Nemo!" cried Cyrus Harding, after having read the notice,and recognized that the handwriting was similar to that of the paperfound at the corral.
"Ah!" said Pencroft, "it was then he who took our 'Bonadventure' andhazarded himself alone to go to Tabor Island!"
"In order to leave this notice," added Herbert.
"I was then right in saying," exclaimed the sailor, "that even after hisdeath the captain would render us a last service."
"My friends," said Cyrus Harding, in a voice of the profoundest emotion,"may the God of mercy have had pity on the soul of Captain Nemo, ourbenefactor."
The colonists uncovered themselves at these last words of Cyrus Harding,and murmured the name of Captain Nemo.
Then Ayrton, approaching the engineer, said simply, "Where should thiscoffer be deposited?"
It was the coffer which Ayrton had saved at the risk of his life, atthe very instant that the island had been engulfed, and which he nowfaithfully handed to the engineer.
"Ayrton! Ayrton!" said Cyrus Harding, deeply touched. Then, addressingRobert Grant, "Sir," he added, "you left behind you a criminal; you findin his place a man who has become honest by penitence, and whose hand Iam proud to clasp in mine."
Robert Grant was now made acquainted with the strange history of CaptainNemo and the colonists of Lincoln Island. Then, observation being takenof what remained of this shoal, which must henceforward figure on thecharts of the Pacific, the order was given to make all sail.
A few weeks afterwards the colonists landed in America, and found theircountry once more at peace after the terrible conflict in which rightand justice had triumphed.
Of the treasures contained in the coffer left by Captain Nemo to thecolonists of Lincoln Island, the larger portion was employed in thepurchase of a vast territory in the State of Iowa. One pearl alone, thefinest, was reserved from the treasure and sent to Lady Glenarvan in thename of the cast
aways restored to their country by the "Duncan."
There, upon this domain, the colonists invited to labor, that is to say,to wealth and happiness, all those to whom they had hoped to offer thehospitality of Lincoln Island. There was founded a vast colony towhich they gave the name of that island sunk beneath the waters of thePacific. A river there was called the Mercy, a mountain took the nameof Mount Franklin, a small lake was named Lake Grant, and the forestsbecame the forests of the Far West. It might have been an island onterra firma.
There, under the intelligent hands of the engineer and his companions,everything prospered. Not one of the former colonists of Lincoln Islandwas absent, for they had sworn to live always together. Neb was with hismaster; Ayrton was there ready to sacrifice himself for all; Pencroftwas more a farmer than he had ever been a sailor; Herbert, who completedhis studies under the superintendence of Cyrus Harding, and GideonSpilett, who founded the New Lincoln Herald, the best-informed journalin the world.
There Cyrus Harding and his companions received at intervals visits fromLord and Lady Glenarvan, Captain John Mangles and his wife, the sisterof Robert Grant, Robert Grant himself, Major McNab, and all those whohad taken part in the history both of Captain Grant and Captain Nemo.
There, to conclude, all were happy, united in the present as they hadbeen in the past; but never could they forget that island upon whichthey had arrived poor and friendless, that island which, during fouryears had supplied all their wants, and of which there remained but afragment of granite washed by the waves of the Pacific, the tomb of himwho had borne the name of Captain Nemo.
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