Part 1 - Dropped from the Clouds: Chapter 12

by Jules Verne

　　They now began the descent of the mountain. Climbing down the crater, theywent round the cone and reached their encampment of the previous night.Pencroft thought it must be breakfast-time, and the watches of the reporterand engineer were therefore consulted to find out the hour.

　　That of Gideon Spilett had been preserved from the sea-water, as he hadbeen thrown at once on the sand out of reach of the waves. It was aninstrument of excellent quality, a perfect pocket chronometer, which thereporter had not forgotten to wind up carefully every day.

　　As to the engineer's watch, it, of course, had stopped during the timewhich he had passed on the downs.

　　The engineer now wound it up, and ascertaining by the height of the sunthat it must be about nine o'clock in the morning, he put his watch at thathour.

　　"No, my dear Spilett, wait. You have kept the Richmond time, have younot?"

　　"Yes, Cyrus."

　　"Consequently, your watch is set by the meridian of that town, which isalmost that of Washington?"

　　"Undoubtedly."

　　"Very well, keep it thus. Content yourself with winding it up very,exactly, but do not touch the hands. This may be of use to us.

　　"What will be the good of that?" thought the sailor.

　　They ate, and so heartily, that the store of game and almonds was totallyexhausted. But Pencroft was not at all uneasy, they would supply themselveson the way. Top, whose share had been very much to his taste, would knowhow to find some fresh game among the brushwood. Moreover, the sailorthought of simply asking the engineer to manufacture some powder and one ortwo fowling-pieces; he supposed there would be no difficulty in that.

　　On leaving the plateau, the captain proposed to his companions to returnto the Chimneys by a new way. He wished to reconnoiter Lake Grant, somagnificently framed in trees. They therefore followed the crest of one ofthe spurs, between which the creek that supplied the lake probably had itssource. In talking, the settlers already employed the names which they hadjust chosen, which singularly facilitated the exchange of their ideas.Herbert and Pencroft--the one young and the other very boyish--wereenchanted, and while walking, the sailor said,

　　"Hey, Herbert! how capital it sounds! It will be impossible to loseourselves, my boy, since, whether we follow the way to Lake Grant, orwhether we join the Mercy through the woods of the Far West, we shall becertain to arrive at Prospect Heights, and, consequently, at Union Bay!"

　　It had been agreed, that without forming a compact band, the settlersshould not stray away from each other. It was very certain that the thickforests of the island were inhabited by dangerous animals, and it wasprudent to be on their guard. In general, Pencroft, Herbert, and Neb walkedfirst, preceded by Top, who poked his nose into every bush. The reporterand the engineer went together, Gideon Spilett ready to note everyincident, the engineer silent for the most part, and only stepping aside topick up one thing or another, a mineral or vegetable substance, which heput into his pocket, without making any remark.

　　"What can he be picking up?" muttered Pencroft. "I have looked in vainfor anything that's worth the trouble of stooping for."

　　Towards ten o'clock the little band descended the last declivities ofMount Franklin. As yet the ground was scantily strewn with bushes andtrees. They were walking over yellowish calcinated earth, forming a plainof nearly a mile long, which extended to the edge of the wood. Great blocksof that basalt, which, according to Bischof, takes three hundred and fiftymillions of years to cool, strewed the plain, very confused in some places.However, there were here no traces of lava, which was spread moreparticularly over the northern slopes.

　　Cyrus Harding expected to reach, without incident, the course of thecreek, which he supposed flowed under the trees at the border of the plain,when he saw Herbert running hastily back, while Neb and the sailor werehiding behind the rocks.

　　"What's the matter, my boy?" asked Spilett.

　　"Smoke," replied Herbert. "We have seen smoke among the rocks, a hundredpaces from us."

　　"Men in this place?" cried the reporter.

　　"We must avoid showing ourselves before knowing with whom we have todeal," replied Cyrus Harding. "I trust that there are no natives on thisisland; I dread them more than anything else. Where is Top?"

　　"Top is on before."

　　"And he doesn't bark?"

　　"No."

　　"That is strange. However, we must try to call him back."

　　In a few moments, the engineer, Gideon Spilett, and Herbert had rejoinedtheir two companions, and like them, they kept out of sight behind theheaps of basalt.

　　From thence they clearly saw smoke of a yellowish color rising in theair.

　　Top was recalled by a slight whistle from his master, and the latter,signing to his companions to wait for him, glided away among the rocks. Thecolonists, motionless, anxiously awaited the result of this exploration,when a shout from the engineer made them hasten forward. They soon joinedhim, and were at once struck with a disagreeable odor which impregnated theatmosphere.

　　The odor, easily recognized, was enough for the engineer to guess whatthe smoke was which at first, not without cause, had startled him.

　　"This fue," said he, "or rather, this smoke is produced by nature alone.There is a sulphur spring there, which will cure all our sore throats."

　　"Captain!" cried Pencroft. "What a pity that I haven't got a cold!"

　　The settlers then directed their steps towards the place from which thesmoke escaped. They there saw a sulphur spring which flowed abundantlybetween the rocks, and its waters discharged a strong sulphuric acid odor,after having absorbed the oxygen of the air.

　　Cyrus Harding, dipping in his hand, felt the water oily to the touch. Hetasted it and found it rather sweet. As to its temperature, that heestimated at ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit. Herbert having asked on whathe based this calculation,--

　　"Its quite simple, my boy," said he, "for, in plunging my hand into thewater, I felt no sensation either of heat or cold. Therefore it has thesame temperature as the human body, which is about ninety-five degrees."

　　The sulphur spring not being of any actual use to the settlers, theyproceeded towards the thick border of the forest, which began some hundredpaces off.

　　There, as they had conjectured, the waters of the stream flowed clear andlimpid between high banks of red earth, the color of which betrayed thepresence of oxide of iron. From this color, the name of Red Creek wasimmediately given to the watercourse.

　　It was only a large stream, deep and clear, formed of the mountain water,which, half river, half torrent, here rippling peacefully over the sand,there falling against the rocks or dashing down in a cascade, ran towardsthe lake, over a distance of a mile and a half, its breadth varying fromthirty to forty feet. Its waters were sweet, and it was supposed that thoseof the lake were so also. A fortunate circumstance, in the event of theirfinding on its borders a more suitable dwelling than the Chimneys.

　　As to the trees, which some hundred feet downwards shaded the banks ofthe creek, they belonged, for the most part, to the species which abound inthe temperate zone of America and Tasmania, and no longer to thoseconiferae observed in that portion of the island already explored to somemiles from Prospect Heights. At this time of the year, the commencement ofthe month of April, which represents the month of October, in thishemisphere, that is, the beginning of autumn, they were still in full leaf.They consisted principally of casuarinas and eucalypti, some of which nextyear would yield a sweet manna, similar to the manna of the East. Clumps ofAustralian cedars rose on the sloping banks, which were also covered withthe high grass called "tussac" in New Holland; but the cocoanut, soabundant in the archipelagoes of the Pacific, seemed to be wanting in theisland, the latitude, doubtless, being too low.

　　"What a pity!" said Herbert, "such a useful tree, and which has suchbeautiful nuts!"

　　As to the birds, they swarmed among the scanty branches of the eucalyptiand casuarinas, which did not hinder the display of their wings. Black,white, or gray cockatoos, paroquets, with plumage of all colors,kingfishers of a sparkling green and crowned with red, blue lories, andvarious other birds appeared on all sides, as through a prism, flutteringabout and producing a deafening clamor. Suddenly, a strange concert ofdiscordant voices resounded in the midst of a thicket. The settlers heardsuccessively the song of birds, the cry of quadrupeds, and a sort ofclacking which they might have believed to have escaped from the lips of anative. Neb and Herbert rushed towards the bush, forgetting even the mostelementary principles of prudence. Happily, they found there, neither aformidable wild beast nor a dangerous native, but merely half a dozenmocking and singing birds, known as mountain pheasants. A few skillfulblows from a stick soon put an end to their concert, and procured excellentfood for the evening's dinner.

　　Herbert also discovered some magnificent pigeons with bronzed wings, somesuperbly crested, others draped in green, like their congeners at Port-Macquarie; but it was impossible to reach them, or the crows and magpieswhich flew away in flocks.

　　A charge of small shot would have made great slaughter among these birds,but the hunters were still limited to sticks and stones, and theseprimitive weapons proved very insufficient.

　　Their insufficiency was still more clearly shown when a troop ofquadrupeds, jumping, bounding, making leaps of thirty feet, regular flyingmammiferae, fled over the thickets, so quickly and at such a height, thatone would have thought that they passed from one tree to another likesquirrels.

　　"Kangaroos!" cried Herbert.

　　"Are they good to eat?" asked Pencroft.

　　"Stewed," replied the reporter, "their flesh is equal to the bestvenison!--"

　　Gideon Spilett had not finished this exciting sentence when the sailor,followed by Neb and Herbert, darted on the kangaroos tracks. Cyrus Hardingcalled them back in vain. But it was in vain too for the hunters to pursuesuch agile game, which went bounding away like balls. After a chase of fiveminutes, they lost their breath, and at the same time all sight of thecreatures, which disappeared in the wood. Top was not more successful thanhis masters.

　　"Captain," said Pencroft, when the engineer and the reporter had rejoinedthem, "Captain, you see quite well we can't get on unless we make a fewguns. Will that be possible?"

　　"Perhaps," replied the engineer, "but we will begin by firstmanufacturing some bows and arrows, and I don't doubt that you will becomeas clever in the use of them as the Australian hunters."

　　"Bows and arrows!" said Pencroft scornfully. "That's all very well forchildren!"

　　"Don't be proud, friend Pencroft," replied the reporter. "Bows and arrowswere sufficient for centuries to stain the earth with blood. Powder is buta thing of yesterday, and war is as old as the human race--unhappily."

　　"Faith, that's true, Mr. Spilett," replied the sailor, "and I alwaysspeak too quickly. You must excuse me!"

　　Meanwhile, Herbert constant to his favorite science, Natural History,reverted to the kangaroos, saying,--

　　"Besides, we had to deal just now with the species which is mostdifficult to catch. They were giants with long gray fur; but if I am notmistaken, there exist black and red kangaroos, rock kangaroos, and ratkangaroos, which are more easy to get hold of. It is reckoned that thereare about a dozen species."

　　"Herbert," replied the sailor sententiously, "there is only one speciesof kangaroos to me, that is 'kangaroo on the spit,' and it's just the onewe haven't got this evening!"

　　They could not help laughing at Master Pencroft's new classification. Thehonest sailor did not hide his regret at being reduced for dinner to thesinging pheasants, but fortune once more showed itself obliging to him.

　　In fact, Top, who felt that his interest was concerned went and ferretedeverywhere with an instinct doubled by a ferocious appetite. It was evenprobable that if some piece of game did fall into his clutches, none wouldbe left for the hunters, if Top was hunting on his own account; but Nebwatched him and he did well.

　　Towards three o'clock the dog disappeared in the brushwood and gruntingsshowed that he was engaged in a struggle with some animal. Neb rushed afterhim, and soon saw Top eagerly devouring a quadruped, which ten secondslater would have been past recognizing in Top's stomach. But fortunatelythe dog had fallen upon a brood, and besides the victim he was devouring,two other rodents--the animals in question belonged to that order--laystrangled on the turf.

　　Neb reappeared triumphantly holding one of the rodents in each hand. Theirsize exceeded that of a rabbit, their hair was yellow, mingled with greenspots, and they had the merest rudiments of tails.

　　The citizens of the Union were at no loss for the right name of theserodents. They were maras, a sort of agouti, a little larger than theircongeners of tropical countries, regular American rabbits, with long ears,jaws armed on each side with five molars, which distinguish the agouti.

　　"Hurrah!" cried Pencroft, "the roast has arrived! and now we can gohome."

　　The walk, interrupted for an instant, was resumed. The limpid waters ofthe Red Creek flowed under an arch of casuannas, banksias, and giganticgum-trees. Superb lilacs rose to a height of twenty feet. Other arborescentspecies, unknown to the young naturalist, bent over the stream, which couldbe heard murmuring beneath the bowers of verdure.

　　Meanwhile the stream grew much wider, and Cyrus Harding supposed thatthey would soon reach its mouth. In fact, on emerging from beneath a thickclump of beautiful trees, it suddenly appeared before their eyes.

　　The explorers had arrived on the western shore of Lake Grant. The placewas well worth looking at. This extent of water, of a circumference ofnearly seven miles and an area of two hundred and fifty acres, reposed in aborder of diversified trees. Towards the east, through a curtain ofverdure, picturesquely raised in some places, sparkled an horizon of sea.The lake was curved at the north, which contrasted with the sharp outlineof its lower part. Numerous aquatic birds frequented the shores of thislittle Ontario, in which the thousand isles of its American namesake wererepresented by a rock which emerged from its surface, some hundred feetfrom the southern shore. There lived in harmony several couples ofkingfishers perched on a stone, grave, motionless, watching for fish, thendarting down, they plunged in with a sharp cry, and reappeared with theirprey in their beaks. On the shores and on the islets, strutted wild ducks,pelicans, water-hens, red-beaks, philedons, furnished with a tongue like abrush, and one or two specimens of the splendid menura, the tail of whichexpands gracefully like a lyre.

　　As to the water of the lake, it was sweet, limpid, rather dark, and fromcertain bubblings, and the concentric circles which crossed each other onthe surface, it could not be doubted that it abounded in fish.

　　"This lake is really beautiful!" said Gideon Spilett. "We could live onits borders!"

　　"We will live there!" replied Harding.

　　The settlers, wishing to return to the Chimneys by the shortest way,descended towards the angle formed on the south by the junction of thelake's bank. It was not without difficulty that they broke a path throughthe thickets and brushwood which had never been put aside by the hand ofmm, and they thus went towards the shore, so as to arrive at the north ofProspect Heights. Two miles were cleared in this direction, and then, afterthey had passed the last curtain of trees, appeared the plateau, carpetedwith thick turf, and beyond that the infinite sea.

　　To return to the Chimneys, it was enough to cross the plateau obliquelyfor the space of a mile, and then to descend to the elbow formed by thefirst detour of the Mercy. But the engineer desired to know how and wherethe overplus of the water from the lake escaped, and the exploration wasprolonged under the trees for a mile and a half towards the north. It wasmost probable that an overfall existed somewhere, and doubtless through acleft in the granite. This lake was only, in short, an immense centerbasin, which was filled by degrees by the creek, and its waters mustnecessarily pass to the sea by some fall. If it was so, the engineerthought that it might perhaps be possible to utilize this fall and borrowits power, actually lost without profit to any one. They continued then tofollow the shores of Lake Grant by climbing the plateau; but, after havinggone a mile in this direction, Cyrus Harding had not been able to discoverthe overfall, which, however, must exist somewhere.

　　It was then half-past four. In order to prepare for dinner it wasnecessary that the settlers should return to their dwelling. The littleband retraced their steps, therefore, and by the left bank of the Mercy,Cyrus Harding and his companions arrived at the Chimneys.

　　The fire was lighted, and Neb and Pencroft, on whom the functions ofcooks naturally devolved, to the one in his quality of Negro, to the otherin that of sailor, quickly prepared some broiled agouti, to which they didgreat justice.

　　The repast at length terminated; at the moment when each one was about togive himself up to sleep, Cyrus Harding drew from his pocket littlespecimens of different sorts of minerals, and just said,--

　　"My friends, this is iron mineral, this a pyrite, this is clay,this is lime, and this is coal. Nature gives us these things. It is ourbusiness to make a right use of them. To-morrow we will commenceoperations."