Part 1 - Dropped from the Clouds: Chapter 3

by Jules Verne

　　The engineer, the meshes of the net having given way, had been carried offby a wave. His dog also had disappeared. The faithful animal hadvoluntarily leaped out to help his master. "Forward," cried the reporter;and all four, Spilett, Herbert, Pencroft, and Neb, forgetting theirfatigue, began their search. Poor Neb shed bitter tears, giving way todespair at the thought of having lost the only being he loved on earth.

　　Only two minutes had passed from the time when Cyrus Harding disappearedto the moment when his companions set foot on the ground. They had hopestherefore of arriving in time to save him. "Let us look for him! let uslook for him!" cried Neb.

　　"Yes, Neb," replied Gideon Spilett, "and we will find him too!"

　　"Living, I trust!"

　　"Still living!"

　　"Can he swim?" asked Pencroft.

　　"Yes," replied Neb, "and besides, Top is there."

　　The sailor, observing the heavy surf on the shore, shook his head.

　　The engineer had disappeared to the north of the shore, and nearly half amile from the place where the castaways had landed. The nearest point ofthe beach he could reach was thus fully that distance off.

　　It was then nearly six o'clock. A thick fog made the night very dark. Thecastaways proceeded toward the north of the land on which chance had thrownthem, an unknown region, the geographical situation of which they could noteven guess. They were walking upon a sandy soil, mingled with stones, whichappeared destitute of any sort of vegetation. The ground, very unequal andrough, was in some places perfectly riddled with holes, making walkingextremely painful. From these holes escaped every minute great birds ofclumsy flight, which flew in all directions. Others, more active, rose inflocks and passed in clouds over their heads. The sailor thought herecognized gulls and cormorants, whose shrill cries rose above the roaringof the sea.

　　From time to time the castaways stopped and shouted, then listened forsome response from the ocean, for they thought that if the engineer hadlanded, and they had been near to the place, they would have heard thebarking of the dog Top, even should Harding himself have been unable togive any sign of existence. They stopped to listen, but no sound aroseabove the roaring of the waves and the dashing of the surf. The little bandthen continued their march forward, searching into every hollow of theshore.

　　After walking for twenty minutes, the four castaways were suddenlybrought to a standstill by the sight of foaming billows close to theirfeet. The solid ground ended here. They found themselves at the extremityof a sharp point on which the sea broke furiously.

　　"It is a promontory," said the sailor; "we must retrace our steps,holding towards the right, and we shall thus gain the mainland."

　　"But if he is there," said Neb, pointing to the ocean, whose waves shoneof a snowy white in the darkness. "Well, let us call again," and alluniting their voices, they gave a vigorous shout, but there came no reply.They waited for a lull, then began again; still no reply.

　　The castaways accordingly returned, following the opposite side of thepromontory, over a soil equally sandy and rugged. However, Pencroftobserved that the shore was more equal, that the ground rose, and hedeclared that it was joined by a long slope to a hill, whose massive fronthe thought that he could see looming indistinctly through the mist. Thebirds were less numerous on this part of the shore; the sea was also lesstumultuous, and they observed that the agitation of the waves wasdiminished. The noise of the surf was scarcely heard. This side of thepromontory evidently formed a semicircular bay, which the sharp pointsheltered from the breakers of the open sea. But to follow this directionwas to go south, exactly opposite to that part of the coast where Hardingmight have landed. After a walk of a mile and a half, the shore presentedno curve which would permit them to return to the north. This promontory,of which they had turned the point, must be attached to the mainland. Thecastaways, although their strength was nearly exhausted, still marchedcourageously forward, hoping every moment to meet with a sudden angle whichwould set them in the first direction. What was their disappointment, when,after trudging nearly two miles, having reached an elevated point composedof slippery rocks, they found themselves again stopped by the sea.

　　"We are on an islet," said Pencroft, "and we have surveyed it from oneextremity to the other."

　　The sailor was right; they had been thrown, not on a continent, not evenon an island, but on an islet which was not more than two miles in length,with even a less breadth.

　　Was this barren spot the desolate refuge of sea-birds, strewn with stonesand destitute of vegetation, attached to a more important archipelago? Itwas impossible to say. When the voyagers from their car saw the landthrough the mist, they had not been able to reconnoiter it sufficiently.However, Pencroft, accustomed with his sailor eyes to piece through thegloom, was almost certain that he could clearly distinguish in the westconfused masses which indicated an elevated coast. But they could not inthe dark determine whether it was a single island, or connected withothers. They could not leave it either, as the sea surrounded them; theymust therefore put off till the next day their search for the engineer,from whom, alas! not a single cry had reached them to show that he wasstill in existence.

　　"The silence of our friend proves nothing," said the reporter. "Perhapshe has fainted or is wounded, and unable to reply directly, so we will notdespair.

　　The reporter then proposed to light a fire on a point of the islet, whichwould serve as a signal to the engineer. But they searched in vain for woodor dry brambles; nothing but sand and stones were to be found. The grief ofNeb and his companions, who were all strongly attached to the intrepidHarding, can be better pictured than described. It was too evident thatthey were powerless to help him. They must wait with what patience theycould for daylight. Either the engineer had been able to save himself, andhad already found a refuge on some point of the coast, or he was lost forever! The long and painful hours passed by. The cold was intense. Thecastaways suffered cruelly, but they scarcely perceived it. They did noteven think of taking a minute's rest. Forgetting everything but theirchief, hoping or wishing to hope on, they continued to walk up and down onthis sterile spot, always returning to its northern point, where they couldapproach nearest to the scene of the catastrophe. They listened, theycalled, and then uniting their voices, they endeavored to raise even alouder shout than before, which would be transmitted to a great distance.The wind had now fallen almost to a calm, and the noise of the sea beganalso to subside. One of Neb's shouts even appeared to produce an echo.Herbert directed Pencroft's attention to it, adding, "That proves thatthere is a coast to the west, at no great distance." The sailor nodded;besides, his eyes could not deceive him. If he had discovered land, howeverindistinct it might appear, land was sure to be there. But that distantecho was the only response produced by Neb's shouts, while a heavy gloomhung over all the part east of the island.

　　Meanwhile, the sky was clearing little by little. Towards midnight thestars shone out, and if the engineer had been there with his companions hewould have remarked that these stars did not belong to the NorthernHemisphere. The Polar Star was not visible, the constellations were notthose which they had been accustomed to see in the United States; theSouthern Cross glittered brightly in the sky.

　　The night passed away. Towards five o'clock in the morning of the 25th ofMarch, the sky began to lighten; the horizon still remained dark, but withdaybreak a thick mist rose from the sea, so that the eye could scarcelypenetrate beyond twenty feet or so from where they stood. At length the foggradually unrolled itself in great heavily moving waves.

　　It was unfortunate, however, that the castaways could distinguish nothingaround them. While the gaze of the reporter and Neb were cast upon theocean, the sailor and Herbert looked eagerly for the coast in the west. Butnot a speck of land was visible. "Never mind," said Pencroft, "though I donot see the land, I feel it... it is there... there... as sure as the factthat we are no longer at Richmond." But the fog was not long in rising. itwas only a fine-weather mist. A hot sun soon penetrated to the surface ofthe island. About half-past six, three-quarters of an hour after sunrise,the mist became more transparent. It grew thicker above, but cleared awaybelow. Soon the isle appeared as if it had descended from a cloud, then thesea showed itself around them, spreading far away towards the east, butbounded on the west by an abrupt and precipitous coast.

　　Yes! the land was there. Their safety was at least provisionally insured.The islet and the coast were separated by a channel about half a mile inbreadth, through which rushed an extremely rapid current.

　　However, one of the castaways, following the impulse of his heart,immediately threw himself into the current, without consulting hiscompanions, without saying a single word. It was Neb. He was in haste to beon the other side, and to climb towards the north. It had been impossibleto hold him back. Pencroft called him in vain. The reporter prepared tofollow him, but Pencroft stopped him. "Do you want to cross the channel?"he asked. "Yes," replied Spilett. "All right!" said the seaman; "wait a bit;Neb is well able to carry help to his master. If we venture into thechannel, we risk being carried into the open sea by the current, which isrunning very strong; but, if I'm not wrong, it is ebbing. See, the tide isgoing down over the sand. Let us have patience, and at low water it ispossible we may find a fordable passage." "You are right," replied thereporter, "we will not separate more than we can help."

　　During this time Neb was struggling vigorously against the current. Hewas crossing in an oblique direction. His black shoulders could be seenemerging at each stroke. He was carried down very quickly, but he also madeway towards the shore. It took more than half an hour to cross from theislet to the land, and he reached the shore several hundred feet from theplace which was opposite to the point from which he had started.

　　Landing at the foot of a high wall of granite, he shook himselfvigorously; and then, setting off running, soon disappeared behind a rockypoint, which projected to nearly the height of the northern extremity ofthe islet.

　　Neb's companions had watched his daring attempt with painful anxiety, andwhen he was out of sight, they fixed their attention on the land wheretheir hope of safety lay, while eating some shell-fish with which the sandwas strewn. It was a wretched repast, but still it was better than nothing.The opposite coast formed one vast bay, terminating on the south by a verysharp point, which was destitute of all vegetation, and was of a very wildaspect. This point abutted on the shore in a grotesque outline of highgranite rocks. Towards the north, on the contrary, the bay widened, and amore rounded coast appeared, trending from the southwest to the northeast,and terminating in a slender cape. The distance between these twoextremities, which made the bow of the bay, was about eight miles. Half amile from the shore rose the islet, which somewhat resembled the carcass ofa gigantic whale. its extreme breadth was not more than a quarter of a mile.

　　Opposite the islet, the beach consisted first of sand, covered with blackstones, which were now appearing little by little above the retreatingtide. The second level was separated by a perpendicular granite cliff,terminated at the top by an unequal edge at a height of at least 300 feet.It continued thus for a length of three miles, ending suddenly on the rightwith a precipice which looked as if cut by the hand of man. On the left,above the promontory, this irregular and jagged cliff descended by a longslope of conglomerated rocks till it mingled with the ground of thesouthern point. On the upper plateau of the coast not a tree appeared. Itwas a flat tableland like that above Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope,but of reduced proportions; at least so it appeared seen from the islet.However, verdure was not wanting to the right beyond the precipice. Theycould easily distinguish a confused mass of great trees, which extendedbeyond the limits of their view. This verdure relieved the eye, so longwearied by the continued ranges of granite. Lastly, beyond and above theplateau, in a northwesterly direction and at a distance of at least sevenmiles, glittered a white summit which reflected the sun's rays. It was thatof a lofty mountain, capped with snow.

　　The question could not at present be decided whether this land formed anisland, or whether it belonged to a continent. But on beholding theconvulsed masses heaped up on the left, no geologist would have hesitatedto give them a volcanic origin, for they were unquestionably the work ofsubterranean convulsions.

　　Gideon Spilett, Pencroft, and Herbert attentively examined this land, onwhich they might perhaps have to live many long years; on which indeed theymight even die, should it be out of the usual track of vessels, as waslikely to be the case.

　　"Well," asked Herbert, "what do you say, Pencroft?"

　　"There is some good and some bad, as in everything," replied the sailor."We shall see. But now the ebb is evidently making. In three hours we willattempt the passage, and once on the other side, we will try to get out ofthis scrape, and I hope may find the captain." Pencroft was not wrong inhis anticipations. Three hours later at low tide, the greater part of thesand forming the bed of the channel was uncovered. Between the islet andthe coast there only remained a narrow channel which would no doubt be easyto cross.

　　About ten o'clock, Gideon Spilett and his companions stripped themselvesof their clothes, which they placed in bundles on their heads, and thenventured into the water, which was not more than five feet deep. Herbert,for whom it was too deep, swam like a fish, and got through capitally. Allthree arrived without difficulty on the opposite shore. Quickly dryingthemselves in the sun, they put on their clothes, which they had preservedfrom contact with the water, and sat down to take counsel together what todo next.