Chapter 9
In a few words, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, and Neb were made acquaintedwith what had happened. This accident, which appeared so very seriousto Pencroft, produced different effects on the companions of the honestsailor.
Neb, in his delight at having found his master, did not listen, orrather, did not care to trouble himself with what Pencroft was saying.
Herbert shared in some degree the sailor's feelings.
As to the reporter, he simply replied,--
"Upon my word, Pencroft, it's perfectly indifferent to me!"
"But, I repeat, that we haven't any fire!"
"Pooh!"
"Nor any means of relighting it!"
"Nonsense!"
"But I say, Mr. Spilett--"
"Isn't Cyrus here?" replied the reporter.
"Is not our engineer alive? He will soon find some way of making firefor us!"
"With what?"
"With nothing."
What had Pencroft to say? He could say nothing, for, in the bottom ofhis heart he shared the confidence which his companions had in CyrusHarding. The engineer was to them a microcosm, a compound of everyscience, a possessor of all human knowledge. It was better to be withCyrus in a desert island, than without him in the most flourishing townin the United States. With him they could want nothing; with him theywould never despair. If these brave men had been told that a volcaniceruption would destroy the land, that this land would be engulfed in thedepths of the Pacific, they would have imperturbably replied,--
"Cyrus is here!"
While in the palanquin, however, the engineer had again relapsed intounconsciousness, which the jolting to which he had been subjected duringhis journey had brought on, so that they could not now appeal to hisingenuity. The supper must necessarily be very meager. In fact, all thegrouse flesh had been consumed, and there no longer existed any means ofcooking more game. Besides, the couroucous which had been reserved haddisappeared. They must consider what was to be done.
First of all, Cyrus Harding was carried into the central passage. Therethey managed to arrange for him a couch of sea-weed which still remainedalmost dry. The deep sleep which had overpowered him would no doubt bemore beneficial to him than any nourishment.
Night had closed in, and the temperature, which had modified when thewind shifted to the northwest, again became extremely cold. Also, thesea having destroyed the partitions which Pencroft had put up in certainplaces in the passages, the Chimneys, on account of the draughts, hadbecome scarcely habitable. The engineer's condition would, therefore,have been bad enough, if his companions had not carefully covered himwith their coats and waistcoats.
Supper, this evening, was of course composed of the inevitablelithodomes, of which Herbert and Neb picked up a plentiful supply on thebeach. However, to these molluscs, the lad added some edible sea-weed,which he gathered on high rocks, whose sides were only washed by the seaat the time of high tides. This sea-weed, which belongs to the orderof Fucacae, of the genus Sargassum, produces, when dry, a gelatinousmatter, rich and nutritious. The reporter and his companions, afterhaving eaten a quantity of lithodomes, sucked the sargassum, of whichthe taste was very tolerable. It is used in parts of the East veryconsiderably by the natives. "Never mind!" said the sailor, "the captainwill help us soon." Meanwhile the cold became very severe, and unhappilythey had no means of defending themselves from it.
The sailor, extremely vexed, tried in all sorts of ways to procure fire.Neb helped him in this work. He found some dry moss, and by strikingtogether two pebbles he obtained some sparks, but the moss, not beinginflammable enough, did not take fire, for the sparks were really onlyincandescent, and not at all of the same consistency as those whichare emitted from flint when struck in the same manner. The experiment,therefore, did not succeed.
Pencroft, although he had no confidence in the proceeding, then triedrubbing two pieces of dry wood together, as savages do. Certainly, themovement which he and Neb exhibited, if it had been transformed intoheat, according to the new theory, would have been enough to heat theboiler of a steamer! It came to nothing. The bits of wood became hot, tobe sure, but much less so than the operators themselves.
After working an hour, Pencroft, who was in a complete state ofperspiration, threw down the pieces of wood in disgust.
"I can never be made to believe that savages light their fires in thisway, let them say what they will," he exclaimed. "I could sooner lightmy arms by rubbing them against each other!"
The sailor was wrong to despise the proceeding. Savages often kindlewood by means of rapid rubbing. But every sort of wood does not answerfor the purpose, and besides, there is "the knack," following the usualexpression, and it is probable that Pencroft had not "the knack."
Pencroft's ill humor did not last long. Herbert had taken the bits ofwood which he had turned down, and was exerting himself to rub them.The hardy sailor could not restrain a burst of laughter on seeing theefforts of the lad to succeed where he had failed.
"Rub, my boy, rub!" said he.
"I am rubbing," replied Herbert, laughing, "but I don't pretend to doanything else but warm myself instead of shivering, and soon I shall beas hot as you are, my good Pencroft!"
This soon happened. However, they were obliged to give up, for thisnight at least, the attempt to procure fire. Gideon Spilett repeated,for the twentieth time, that Cyrus Harding would not have been troubledfor so small a difficulty. And, in the meantime, he stretched himself inone of the passages on his bed of sand. Herbert, Neb, and Pencroft didthe same, while Top slept at his master's feet.
Next day, the 28th of March, when the engineer awoke, about eight in themorning, he saw his companions around him watching his sleep, and, as onthe day before, his first words were:--
"Island or continent?" This was his uppermost thought.
"Well!" replied Pencroft, "we don't know anything about it, captain!"
"You don't know yet?"
"But we shall know," rejoined Pencroft, "when you have guided us intothe country."
"I think I am able to try it," replied the engineer, who, without mucheffort, rose and stood upright.
"That's capital!" cried the sailor.
"I feel dreadfully weak," replied Harding. "Give me something to eat, myfriends, and it will soon go off. You have fire, haven't you?"
This question was not immediately replied to. But, in a few seconds--
"Alas! we have no fire," said Pencroft, "or rather, captain, we have itno longer!"
And the sailor recounted all that had passed the day before. He amusedthe engineer by the history of the single match, then his abortiveattempt to procure fire in the savages' way.
"We shall consider," replied the engineer, "and if we do not find somesubstance similar to tinder--"
"Well?" asked the sailor.
"Well, we will make matches.
"Chemicals?"
"Chemicals!"
"It is not more difficult than that," cried the reporter, striking thesailor on the shoulder.
The latter did not think it so simple, but he did not protest. All wentout. The weather had become very fine. The sun was rising from the sea'shorizon, and touched with golden spangles the prismatic rugosities ofthe huge precipice.
Having thrown a rapid glance around him, the engineer seated himself ona block of stone. Herbert offered him a few handfuls of shell-fish andsargassum, saying,--
"It is all that we have, Captain Harding."
"Thanks, my boy," replied Harding; "it will do--for this morning atleast."
He ate the wretched food with appetite, and washed it down with a littlefresh water, drawn from the river in an immense shell.
His companions looked at him without speaking. Then, feeling somewhatrefreshed, Cyrus Harding crossed his arms, and said,--
"So, my friends, you do not know yet whether fate has thrown us on anisland, or on a continent?"
"No, captain," replied the boy.
"We shall know to-morrow," said the engi
neer; "till then, there isnothing to be done."
"Yes," replied Pencroft.
"What?"
"Fire," said the sailor, who, also, had a fixed idea.
"We will make it, Pencroft," replied Harding.
"While you were carrying me yesterday, did I not see in the west amountain which commands the country?"
"Yes," replied Spilett, "a mountain which must be rather high--"
"Well," replied the engineer, "we will climb to the summit to-morrow,and then we shall see if this land is an island or a continent. Tillthen, I repeat, there is nothing to be done."
"Yes, fire!" said the obstinate sailor again.
"But he will make us a fire!" replied Gideon Spilett, "only have alittle patience, Pencroft!"
The seaman looked at Spilett in a way which seemed to say, "If itdepended upon you to do it, we wouldn't taste roast meat very soon"; buthe was silent.
Meanwhile Captain Harding had made no reply. He appeared to be verylittle troubled by the question of fire. For a few minutes he remainedabsorbed in thought; then again speaking,--
"My friends," said he, "our situation is, perhaps, deplorable; but, atany rate, it is very plain. Either we are on a continent, and then, atthe expense of greater or less fatigue, we shall reach some inhabitedplace, or we are on an island. In the latter case, if the island isinhabited, we will try to get out of the scrape with the help of itsinhabitants; if it is desert, we will try to get out of the scrape byourselves."
"Certainly, nothing could be plainer," replied Pencroft.
"But, whether it is an island or a continent," asked Gideon Spilett,"whereabouts do you think, Cyrus, this storm has thrown us?"
"I cannot say exactly," replied the engineer, "but I presume it issome land in the Pacific. In fact, when we left Richmond, the wind wasblowing from the northeast, and its very violence greatly proves thatit could not have varied. If the direction has been maintained fromthe northeast to the southwest, we have traversed the States of NorthCarolina, of South Carolina, of Georgia, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico,itself, in its narrow part, then a part of the Pacific Ocean. I cannotestimate the distance traversed by the balloon at less than six to seventhousand miles, and, even supposing that the wind had varied half aquarter, it must have brought us either to the archipelago of Mendava,either on the Pomotous, or even, if it had a greater strength than Isuppose, to the land of New Zealand. If the last hypothesis is correct,it will be easy enough to get home again. English or Maoris, we shallalways find some one to whom we can speak. If, on the contrary, this isthe coast of a desert island in some tiny archipelago, perhaps we shallbe able to reconnoiter it from the summit of that peak which overlooksthe country, and then we shall see how best to establish ourselves hereas if we are never to go away."
"Never?" cried the reporter. "You say 'Never,' my dear Cyrus?"
"Better to put things at the worst at first," replied the engineer, "andreserve the best for a surprise."
"Well said," remarked Pencroft. "It is to be hoped, too, that thisisland, if it be one, is not situated just out of the course of ships;that would be really unlucky!"
"We shall not know what we have to rely on until we have first made theascent of the mountain," replied the engineer.
"But to-morrow, captain," asked Herbert, "shall you be in a state tobear the fatigue of the ascent?"
"I hope so," replied the engineer, "provided you and Pencroft, my boy,show yourselves quick and clever hunters."
"Captain," said the sailor, "since you are speaking of game, if on myreturn, I was as certain of roasting it as I am of bringing it back--"
"Bring it back all the same, Pencroft," replied Harding.
It was then agreed that the engineer and the reporter were to pass theday at the Chimneys, so as to examine the shore and the upper plateau.Neb, Herbert, and the sailor were to return to the forest, renew theirstore of wood, and lay violent hands on every creature, feathered orhairy, which might come within their reach.
They set out accordingly about ten o'clock in the morning, Herbertconfident, Neb joyous, Pencroft murmuring aside,--
"If, on my return, I find a fire at the house, I shall believe thatthe thunder itself came to light it." All three climbed the bank; andarrived at the angle made by the river, the sailor, stopping, said tohis two companions,--
"Shall we begin by being hunters or wood-men?"
"Hunters," replied Herbert. "There is Top already in quest."
"We will hunt, then," said the sailor, "and afterwards we can come backand collect our wood."
This agreed to, Herbert, Neb, and Pencroft, after having torn threesticks from the trunk of a young fir, followed Top, who was boundingabout among the long grass.
This time, the hunters, instead of following the course of the river,plunged straight into the heart of the forest. There were still thesame trees, belonging, for the most part, to the pine family. Incertain places, less crowded, growing in clumps, these pines exhibitedconsiderable dimensions, and appeared to indicate, by their development,that the country was situated in a higher latitude than the engineer hadsupposed. Glades, bristling with stumps worn away by time, were coveredwith dry wood, which formed an inexhaustible store of fuel. Then,the glade passed, the underwood thickened again, and became almostimpenetrable.
It was difficult enough to find the way among the groups of trees,without any beaten track. So the sailor from time to time broke offbranches which might be easily recognized. But, perhaps, he was wrongnot to follow the watercourse, as he and Herbert had done on their firstexcursion, for after walking an hour not a creature had shown itself.Top, running under the branches, only roused birds which could not beapproached. Even the couroucous were invisible, and it was probable thatthe sailor would be obliged to return to the marshy part of the forest,in which he had so happily performed his grouse fishing.
"Well, Pencroft," said Neb, in a slightly sarcastic tone, "if this isall the game which you promised to bring back to my master, it won'tneed a large fire to roast it!"
"Have patience," replied the sailor, "it isn't the game which will bewanting on our return."
"Have you not confidence in Captain Harding?"
"Yes."
"But you don't believe that he will make fire?"
"I shall believe it when the wood is blazing in the fireplace."
"It will blaze, since my master has said so."
"We shall see!"
Meanwhile, the sun had not reached the highest point in its course abovethe horizon. The exploration, therefore, continued, and was usefullymarked by a discovery which Herbert made of a tree whose fruit wasedible. This was the stone-pine, which produces an excellent almond,very much esteemed in the temperate regions of America and Europe. Thesealmonds were in a perfect state of maturity, and Herbert described themto his companions, who feasted on them.
"Come," said Pencroft, "sea-weed by way of bread, raw mussels for meat,and almonds for dessert, that's certainly a good dinner for those whohave not a single match in their pocket!"
"We mustn't complain," said Herbert.
"I am not complaining, my boy," replied Pencroft, "only I repeat, thatmeat is a little too much economized in this sort of meal."
"Top has found something!" cried Neb, who ran towards a thicket, in themidst of which the dog had disappeared, barking. With Top's barking weremingled curious gruntings.
The sailor and Herbert had followed Neb. If there was game there thiswas not the time to discuss how it was to be cooked, but rather, howthey were to get hold of it.
The hunters had scarcely entered the bushes when they saw Top engagedin a struggle with an animal which he was holding by the ear. Thisquadruped was a sort of pig nearly two feet and a half long, of ablackish brown color, lighter below, having hard scanty hair; its toes,then strongly fixed in the ground, seemed to be united by a membrane.Herbert recognized in this animal the capybara, that is to say, one ofthe largest members of the rodent order.
Meanwhile, the capybara did not struggle
against the dog. It stupidlyrolled its eyes, deeply buried in a thick bed of fat. Perhaps it saw menfor the first time.
However, Neb having tightened his grasp on his stick, was just going tofell the pig, when the latter, tearing itself from Top's teeth, by whichit was only held by the tip of its ear, uttered a vigorous grunt, rushedupon Herbert, almost overthrew him, and disappeared in the wood.
"The rascal!" cried Pencroft.
All three directly darted after Top, but at the moment when they joinedhim the animal had disappeared under the waters of a large pond shadedby venerable pines.
Neb, Herbert, and Pencroft stopped, motionless. Top plunged into thewater, but the capybara, hidden at the bottom of the pond, did notappear.
"Let us wait," said the boy, "for he will soon come to the surface tobreathe."
"Won't he drown?" asked Neb.
"No," replied Herbert, "since he has webbed feet, and is almost anamphibious animal. But watch him."
Top remained in the water. Pencroft and his two companions went todifferent parts of the bank, so as to cut off the retreat of thecapybara, which the dog was looking for beneath the water.
Herbert was not mistaken. In a few minutes the animal appeared on thesurface of the water. Top was upon it in a bound, and kept it fromplunging again. An instant later the capybara, dragged to the bank, waskilled by a blow from Neb's stick.
"Hurrah!" cried Pencroft, who was always ready with this cry of triumph.
"Give me but a good fire, and this pig shall be gnawed to the bones!"
Pencroft hoisted the capybara on his shoulders, and judging by theheight of the sun that it was about two o'clock, he gave the signal toreturn.
Top's instinct was useful to the hunters, who, thanks to the intelligentanimal, were enabled to discover the road by which they had come. Halfan hour later they arrived at the river.
Pencroft soon made a raft of wood, as he had done before, though ifthere was no fire it would be a useless task, and the raft following thecurrent, they returned towards the Chimneys.
But the sailor had not gone fifty paces when he stopped, and againuttering a tremendous hurrah, pointed towards the angle of the cliff,--
"Herbert! Neb! Look!" he shouted.
Smoke was escaping and curling up among the rocks.