“Well, Herbert, this is jolly! We can’t lose ourselves now, my boy, since, whether we follow Lake Grant or get to the Mercy through the woods of the Far West, we must come to Prospect Plateau, and so to Union Bay.”
Pencroff, Herbert, and Neb walked in front, preceded by Top, who poked his nose into every corner. The reporter and engineer walked together, the former ready to note down every incident, the latter seldom speaking, and picking up sometimes one thing, sometimes another, vegetable or mineral, which he put in his pocket without saying a word.
About 10 o’clock the little company descended the last declivities of Mount Franklin. A few bushes and trees were scattered over the ground. They were walking on a yellowish soil, forming a plain about a mile long, which extended to the border of the wood. Smith thought they should soon reach the creek, when he saw Herbert running back.
“What’s the matter, my boy?” said Spilett.
“Smoke,” answered Herbert. “We saw smoke ascending from among the rocks, a hundred steps in front.”
“Men in this region!” cried the reporter.
“We must not show ourselves till we know with whom we have to deal,” answered Smith. “Where is Top?”
“Top is on ahead.”
“And has not barked?”
“No.”
“That is strange. Still, let us try to call him back.”
In a few moments the three had rejoined their companions. They saw, very evidently, a yellowish smoke curling into the air. Top was recalled by a low whistle from his master.
“Nature is responsible for that smoke,” said Smith, “It is nothing but a sulphur spring[65], which will be good for our sore throats.”
“Good!” said Pencroff; “what a pity I don't have not a cold!”
The colonists walked towards the smoke. There they beheld a spring of sulphate of soda, which flowed in currents among the rocks, and whose waters, absorbing the oxygen of the air, gave off a lively odor. Smith dipped his hand into the spring and found it oily.
The colonists walked towards the thick border of the forest, a few hundred paces distant. There they saw a brook with bright limpid waters between high, reddish banks, whose color betrayed the presence of oxide of iron. They instantly named the water course Red Creek[66]. It was nothing but a large mountain brook, deep and clear. It was a mile and a half long; its breadth varied from thirty to forty feet. Its water was fresh.
Happily, there was neither wild beast nor savage native, but merely mountain pheasants. Crows and magpies, which flew about, were beyond reach. The colonists had nothing but stones and sticks, very insufficient weapons. Suddenly a troop of quadrupeds[67] leaped away through the underbrush.
“Kangaroos!” cried Herbert.
“Can you eat them?” said Pencroff.
“They make a delicious stew,” said the reporter.
The sailor with Neb and Herbert rushed after the kangaroos. Smith tried in vain to recall them. After five minutes’ chase, they gave it up, out of breath.
“You see, Mr. Smith,” said Pencroff, “we need guns. Will it be possible to make them?”
“Perhaps,” replied the engineer; “but we will begin by making bows and arrows.”
“Bows and arrows!” said Pencroff, with a contemptuous look. “They are for children!”
“Don’t be so proud, my friend,” said the reporter. “Bows and arrows were sufficient for many centuries for the warfare of mankind. Powder is an invention of yesterday.”
“That’s true, Mr. Spilett,” said the sailor. “I always speak before I think. Forgive me.”
Top, who felt his dinner, rushed hither and thither. About 3 o’clock he disappeared into the rushes, from which came grunts and growls. Neb rushed in, and found Top greedily devouring an animal. Neb reappeared in triumph with a rodent in each hand. It was a sort of agouti[68], true American hare, with long ears.
“Hurrah!” cried Pencroff, “the roast is here; now we can go back to the house.”
The journey was resumed. As the party emerged from a massive thicket of trees, the lake suddenly appeared before them. They were now on its left bank, and a picturesque region opened to their view. The smooth sheet of water, about seven miles in circumference and 250 acres in extent, lay sleeping among the trees. Towards the east, across the intermittent screen of verdure, appeared a shining horizon of the sea. To the north the curve of the lake concaved. Numerous aquatic birds frequented its banks. The waters of the lake were fresh and limpid, somewhat dark, and from the concentric circles on its surface, were evidently full of fish.
“How beautiful this lake is!” said Spilett. “We could live on its banks.”
“We will live there!” answered Smith.
The colonists went down towards the angle formed at the south by the junction of the banks. After a two miles’ walk they came upon the thick turf of the plateau, and saw before them the infinite ocean. To get back to the Chimneys they had to walk across the plateau for a mile to the elbow formed by the first bend of the Mercy. It was now half past 4. The party reached the Chimneys by the left bank of the Mercy. Then the fire was lighted, and Neb and Pencroff skilfully broiled the agouti, to which the hungry explorers did great honor. When the meal was over, Smith drew from his pocket little specimens of various kinds of minerals, and said quietly,
“My friends, this is iron ore, this pyrites, this clay, this limestone, this charcoal.”
Chapter XIII
“Now then, Mr. Smith, where shall we begin?” asked Pencroff the next morning.
“At the beginning,” answered the engineer.
It must be remembered, however, that these colonists were men, in the best sense of the word. The engineer Smith had questioned them, and knew their abilities. These five men were ready to struggle against fate, and to triumph in the end.
At the beginning, Smith had said. And this beginning was the construction of an apparatus which would serve to transform the natural substances. Everyone knows what an important part heat plays in these transformations. Therefore, it was necessary to make an oven.
“Why oven?” asked Pencroff.
“To make the pottery that we want,” replied Smith.
“And how will we make an oven?”
“With bricks.”
“And how will we make the bricks?”
“With clay. Come, friends.”
“If we only had a knife!” cried the sailor.
“What then?” asked Smith.
“Why, I would make a bow and arrows.”
“A knife. Something that will cut,” said the engineer, as if talking to himself.
Suddenly his face brightened:
“Come here, Top,” he called.
The dog bounded to his master, and Smith took off the collar which the animal had around his neck, broke it into halves, and said:
“Here are two knives, Pencroff.”
The sailor gave a couple of cheers. Top’s collar was made from a thin piece of tempered steel[69]. All that was therefore necessary was to rub it to an edge upon a sand-stone, and then to sharpen it.
The engineer decided to return to the western bank of the lake, where he had noticed the clay. Following the bank of the Mercy they crossed Prospect Plateau, and after a walk of about five miles, they arrived at a glade some 200 paces distant from Lake Grant.
On the way, Herbert had discovered a tree from which the South American Indians make bows. The party had reached the place discovered the day before. The ground was composed of that clay which is used in making bricks and tiles. The labor was not difficult. It was only necessary to scour the clay with sand, mould the bricks, and then bake them before a wood fire.
68
agouti – агути (