The Mysterious Island
revolver, and placed a cutlass in his belt, he began the descent.
The sides were everywhere entire; but points of rock jutted out here and
there, and by means of these points it would have been quite possible
for an active creature to climb to the mouth of the well.
The engineer remarked this; but although he carefully examined these
points by the light of his lantern, he could find no impression, no
fracture which could give any reason to suppose that they had either
recently or at any former time been used as a staircase. Cyrus Harding
descended deeper, throwing the light of his lantern on all sides.
He saw nothing suspicious.
When the engineer had reached the last rounds he came upon the water,
which was then perfectly calm. Neither at its level nor in any other
part of the well, did any passage open, which could lead to the interior
of the cliff. The wall which Harding struck with the hilt of his cutlass
sounded solid. It was compact granite, through which no living being
could force a way. To arrive at the bottom of the well and then climb
up to its mouth it was necessary to pass through the channel under the
rocky subsoil of the beach, which placed it in communication with the
sea, and this was only possible for marine animals. As to the question
of knowing where this channel ended, at what point of the shore, and at
what depth beneath the water, it could not be answered.
Then Cyrus Harding, having ended his survey, re-ascended, drew up the
ladder, covered the mouth of the well, and returned thoughtfully to the
diningroom, saying to himself,--
“I have seen nothing, and yet there is something there!”
Chapter 12
In the evening the hunters returned, having enjoyed good sport, and
being literally loaded with game; indeed, they had as much as four men
could possibly carry. Top wore a necklace of teal and Jup wreaths of
snipe round his body.
“Here, master,” cried Neb; “here’s something to employ our time!
Preserved and made into pies we shall have a welcome store! But I must
have some one to help me. I count on you, Pencroft.”
“No, Neb,” replied the sailor; “I have the rigging of the vessel to
finish and to look after, and you will have to do without me.”
“And you, Mr. Herbert?”
“I must go to the corral to-morrow, Neb,” replied the lad.
“It will be you then, Mr. Spilett, who will help me?”
“To oblige you, Neb, I will,” replied the reporter; “but I warn you that
if you disclose your recipes to me, I shall publish them.”
“Whenever you like, Mr. Spilett,” replied Neb; “whenever you like.”
And so the next day Gideon Spilett became Neb’s assistant and was
installed in his culinary laboratory. The engineer had previously made
known to him the result of the exploration which he had made the day
before, and on this point the reporter shared Harding’s opinion, that
although he had found nothing, a secret still remained to be discovered!
The frost continued for another week, and the settlers did not leave
Granite House unless to look after the poultry-yard. The dwelling
was filled with appetizing odors, which were emitted from the learned
manipulation of Neb and the reporter. But all the results of the chase
were not made into preserved provisions; and as the game kept perfectly
in the intense cold, wild duck and other fowl were eaten fresh, and
declared superior to all other aquatic birds in the known world.
During this week, Pencroft, aided by Herbert, who handled the
sailmaker’s needle with much skill, worked with such energy that the
sails of the vessel were finished. There was no want of cordage. Thanks
to the rigging which had been discovered with the case of the balloon,
the ropes and cables from the net were all of good quality, and the
sailor turned them all to account. To the sails were attached strong
bolt ropes, and there still remained enough from which to make the
halyards, shrouds, and sheets, etc. The blocks were manufactured by
Cyrus Harding under Pencroft’s directions by means of the turning lathe.
It therefore happened that the rigging was entirely prepared before the
vessel was finished. Pencroft also manufactured a flag, that flag so
dear to every true American, containing the stars and stripes of their
glorious Union. The colors for it were supplied from certain plants
used in dyeing, and which were very abundant in the island; only to the
thirty-seven stars, representing the thirty-seven States of the Union,
which shine on the American flag, the sailor added a thirty-eighth, the
star of “the State of Lincoln,” for he considered his island as already
united to the great republic. “And,” said he, “it is so already in
heart, if not in deed!”
In the meantime, the flag was hoisted at the central window of Granite
House, and the settlers saluted it with three cheers.
The cold season was now almost at an end, and it appeared as if this
second winter was to pass without any unusual occurrence, when on the
night of the 11th of August, the plateau of Prospect Heights was menaced
with complete destruction.
After a busy day the colonists were sleeping soundly, when towards four
o’clock in the morning they were suddenly awakened by Top’s barking.
The dog was not this time barking near the mouth of the well, but at
the threshold of the door, at which he was scratching as if he wished to
burst it open. Jup was also uttering piercing cries.
“Hello, Top!” cried Neb, who was the first awake. But the dog continued
to bark more furiously than ever.
“What’s the matter now?” asked Harding.
And all dressing in haste rushed to the windows, which they opened.
Beneath their eyes was spread a sheet of snow which looked gray in the
dim light. The settlers could see nothing, but they heard a singular
yelping noise away in the darkness. It was evident that the beach had
been invaded by a number of animals which could not be seen.
“What are they?” cried Pencroft.
“Wolves, jaguars, or apes?” replied Neb.
“They have nearly reached the plateau,” said the reporter.
“And our poultry-yard,” exclaimed Herbert, “and our garden!”
“Where can they have crossed?” asked Pencroft.
“They must have crossed the bridge on the shore,” replied the engineer,
“which one of us must have forgotten to close.”
“True,” said Spilett, “I remember having left it open.”
“A fine job you have made of it, Mr. Spilett,” cried the sailor.
“What is done cannot be undone,” replied Cyrus Harding. “We must consult
what it will now be best to do.”
Such were the questions and answers which were rapidly exchanged between
Harding and his companions. It was certain that the bridge had been
crossed, that the shore had been invaded by animals, and that whatever
they might be they could by ascending the left bank of the Mercy reach
Prospect Heights. They must therefore be advanced against quickly and
fought with if necessary.
“But what are these beasts?” was asked a second time, as the yelpings
were again heard more loudly than before. These yelps made Herbert
start, and he remembered having heard them before during his first visit
to the sources of the Red Creek.
“They are colpeo foxes!” he exclaimed.
“Forward!” shouted the sailor.
And all arming themselves with hatchets, carbines, and revolvers, threw
themselves into the lift and soon set foot on the shore.
Colpeos are dangerous animals when in great numbers and irritated by
hunger, nevertheless the colonists did not hesitate to throw themselves
into the midst of the troop, and their first shots vividly lighting up
the darkness made their assailants draw back.
The chief thing was to hinder these plunderers from reaching the
plateau, for the garden and the poultry-yard would then have been at
their mercy, and immense, perhaps irreparable mischief, would inevitably
be the result, especially with regard to the corn-field. But as the
invasion of the plateau could only be made by the left bank of the
Mercy, it was sufficient to oppose the colpeos on the narrow bank
between the river and the cliff of granite.
This was plain to all, and, by Cyrus Harding’s orders, they reached the
spot indicated by him, while the colpeos rushed fiercely through
the gloom. Harding, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Pencroft and Neb posted
themselves in impregnable line. Top, his formidable jaws open, preceded
the colonists, and he was followed by Jup, armed with a knotty cudgel,
which he brandished like a club.
The night was extremely dark, it was only by the flashes from the
revolvers as each person fired that they could see their assailants, who
were at least a hundred in number, and whose eyes were glowing like hot
coals.
“They must not pass!” shouted Pencroft.
“They shall not pass!” returned the engineer.
But if they did not pass it was not for want of having attempted it.
Those in the rear pushed on the foremost assailants, and it was an
incessant struggle with revolvers and hatchets. Several colpeos already
lay dead on the ground, but their number did not appear to diminish,
and it might have been supposed that reinforcements were continually
arriving over the bridge.
The colonists were soon obliged to fight at close quarters, not without
receiving some wounds, though happily very slight ones. Herbert had,
with a shot from his revolver, rescued Neb, on whose back a colpeo had
sprung like a tiger cat. Top fought with actual fury, flying at the
throats of the foxes and strangling them instantaneously. Jup wielded
his weapon valiantly, and it was in vain that they endeavored to keep
him in the rear. Endowed doubtless with sight which enabled him to
pierce the obscurity, he was always in the thick of the fight uttering
from time to time--a sharp hissing sound, which was with him the sign of
great rejoicing.
At one moment he advanced so far, that by the light from a revolver
he was seen surrounded by five or six large colpeos, with whom he was
coping with great coolness.
However, the struggle was ended at last, and victory was on the side
of the settlers, but not until they had fought for two long hours! The
first signs of the approach of day doubtless determined the retreat of
their assailants, who scampered away towards the North, passing over the
bridge, which Neb ran immediately to raise. When day had sufficiently
lighted up the field of battle, the settlers counted as many as fifty
dead bodies scattered about on the shore.
“And Jup!” cried Pencroft; “where is Jup?” Jup had disappeared. His
friend Neb called him, and for the first time Jup did not reply to his
friend’s call.
Everyone set out in search of Jup, trembling lest he should be found
among the slain; they cleared the place of the bodies which stained the
snow with their blood. Jup was found in the midst of a heap of colpeos
whose broken jaws and crushed bodies showed that they had to do with the
terrible club of the intrepid animal.
Poor Jup still held in his hand the stump of his broken cudgel, but
deprived of his weapon he had been overpowered by numbers, and his chest
was covered with severe wounds.
“He is living,” cried Neb, who was bending over him.
“And we will save him,” replied the sailor. “We will nurse him as if he
was one of ourselves.”
It appeared as if Jup understood, for he leaned his head on Pencroft’s
shoulder as if to thank him. The sailor was wounded himself, but his
wound was insignificant, as were those of his companions; for thanks to
their firearms they had been almost always able to keep their assailants
at a distance. It was therefore only the orang whose condition was
serious.
Jup, carried by Neb and Pencroft, was placed in the lift, and only a
slight moan now and then escaped his lips. He was gently drawn up to
Granite House. There he was laid on a mattress taken from one of the