CHAPTER IX
Bad Weather -- The Hydraulic Lift -- Manufacture of Glass-ware -- The Bread-tree -- Frequent Visits to the Corral -- Increase of the Flock -- The Reporter's Question -- Exact Position of Lincoln Island -- Pencroft's Proposal.
The weather changed during the first week of March. There had been afull moon at the commencement of the month, and the heat was stillexcessive. The atmosphere was felt to be full of electricity, and aperiod of some length of tempestuous weather was to be feared.
Indeed, on the 2nd, peals of thunder were heard, the wind blew fromthe east, and hail rattled against the facade of Granite House likevolleys of grape-shot. The door and windows were immediately closed,or everything in the rooms would have been drenched. On seeing thesehailstones, some of which were the size of a pigeon's egg, Pencroft'sfirst thought was that his cornfield was in serious danger.
He directly rushed to his field, where little green heads were alreadyappearing, and, by means of a great cloth, he managed to protect hiscrop.
This bad weather lasted a week, during which time the thunder rolledwithout cessation in the depths of the sky.
The colonists, not having any pressing work out of doors, profited bythe bad weather to work at the interior of Granite House, thearrangement of which was becoming more complete from day to day. Theengineer made a turning-lathe, with which he turned several articlesboth for the toilet and the kitchen, particularly buttons, the want ofwhich was greatly felt. A gun-rack had been made for the firearms,which were kept with extreme care, and neither tables nor cupboardswere left incomplete. They sawed, they planed, they filed, theyturned: and during the whole of this bad season, nothing was heard butthe grinding of tools or the humming of the turning-lathe whichresponded to the growling of the thunder.
PENCROFT TO THE RESCUE]
Master Jup had not been forgotten, and he occupied a room at the back,near the storeroom, a sort of cabin with a cot always full of goodlitter, which perfectly suited his taste.
"With good old Jup there is never any quarrelling," often repeatedPencroft, "never any improper reply! What a servant, Neb, what aservant!"
Of course Jup was now well used to service. He brushed their clothes,he turned the spit, he waited at table, he swept the rooms, hegathered wood, and he performed another admirable piece of servicewhich delighted Pencroft--he never went to sleep without first comingto tuck up the worthy sailor in his bed.
As to the health of the members of the colony, bipeds or bimana,quadrumana or quadrupeds, it left nothing to be desired. With theirlife in the open air, on this salubrious soil, under that temperatezone, working both with head and hands, they could not suppose thatillness would ever attack them.
All were indeed wonderfully well. Herbert had already grown two inchesin the year. His figure was forming and becoming more manly, and hepromised to be an accomplished man, physically as well as morally.Besides, he improved himself during the leisure hours which manualoccupations left to him; he read the books found in the case; andafter the practical lessons which were taught by the very necessity oftheir position, he found in the engineer for science, and the reporterfor languages, masters who were delighted to complete his education.
The tempest ended about the 9th of March, but the sky remained coveredwith clouds during the whole of this last summer month. Theatmosphere, violently agitated by the electric commotions, could notrecover its former purity, and there was almost invariably rain andfog, except for three or four fine days on which several excursionswere made. About this time the female onaga gave birth to a young onewhich belonged to the same sex as its mother, and which throvecapitally. In the corral, the flock of musmons had also increased, andseveral lambs already bleated in the sheds, to the great delight ofNeb and Herbert, who had each their favourite among these new-comers.An attempt was also made for the domestication of the peccaries, whichsucceeded well. A sty was constructed near the poultry-yard, and sooncontained several young ones in the way to become civilised, that isto say, to become fat under Neb's care. Master Jup, entrusted withcarrying them their daily nourishment, leavings from the kitchen,etc., acquitted himself conscientiously of his task. He sometimesamused himself at the expense of his little pensioners by tweakingtheir tails; but this was mischief, and not wickedness, for theselittle twisted tails amused him like a plaything, and his instinct wasthat of a child. One day in this month of March, Pencroft, talking tothe engineer, reminded Cyrus Harding of a promise which the latter hadnot as yet had time to fulfil.
"You once spoke of an apparatus which would take the place of the longladders at Granite House, captain," said he; "won't you make it someday?"
"Nothing will be easier; but is this a really useful thing?"
"Certainly, captain. After we have given ourselves necessaries, let usthink a little of luxury. For us it may be luxury, if you like, butfor things it is necessary. It isn't very convenient to climb up along ladder when one is heavily loaded."
"Well, Pencroft, we will try to please you," replied Cyrus Harding.
"But you have no machine at your disposal."
"We will make one."
"A steam machine?"
"No, a water machine."
And, indeed, to work his apparatus there was already a natural forceat the disposal of the engineer which could be used without greatdifficulty. For this, it was enough to augment the flow of the littlestream which supplied the interior of Granite House with water. Theopening among the stones and grass was then increased, thus producinga strong fall at the bottom of the passage, the overflow from whichescaped by the inner well. Below this fall the engineer fixed acylinder with paddles, which was joined on the exterior with a strongcable rolled on a wheel, supporting a basket. In this way, by means ofa long rope reaching to the ground, which enabled them to regulate themotive power, they could rise in the basket to the door of GraniteHouse.
It was on the 17th of March that the lift acted for the first time,and gave universal satisfaction. Henceforward all the loads, wood,coal, provisions, and even the settlers themselves, were hoisted bythis simple system, which replaced the primitive ladder, and, as maybe supposed, no one thought of regretting the change. Top particularlywas enchanted with this improvement, for he had not, and never couldhave possessed Master Jup's skill in climbing ladders, and often itwas on Neb's back, or even on that of the orang, that he had beenobliged to make the ascent to Granite House. About this time, too,Cyrus Harding attempted to manufacture glass and he at first put theold pottery-kiln to this new use. There were some difficulties to beencountered, but after several fruitless attempts, he succeeded insetting up a glass manufactory, which Gideon Spilett and Herbert, hisusual assistants did not leave for several days. As to the substancesused in the composition of glass, they are simply sand, chalk andsoda, either carbonate or sulphate. Now the beach supplied sand, limesupplied chalk, sea weeds supplied soda, pyrites supplied sulphuricacid and the ground supplied coal to heat the kiln to the wished-fortemperature. Cyrus Harding thus soon had every thing ready for settingto work.
The tool, the manufacture of which presented the most difficulty, wasthe pipe of the glass maker, an iron tube, five or six feet long,which collects on one end the material in a state of fusion. But bymeans of a long, thin piece of iron rolled up like the barrel of agun, Pencroft succeeded in making a tube soon ready for use.
On the 28th of March the tube was heated. A hundred parts of sandthirty-five of chalk, forty of sulphate of soda, mixed with two orthree parts of powered coal, composed the substance which was placedin crucibles. When the high temperature of the oven had reduced it toa liquid, or rather a pasty state, Cyrus Harding collected with thetube a quantity of the paste, he turned it about on a metal platepreviously arranged so as to give it a form suitable for blowing, thenhe passed the tube to Herbert, telling him to blow at the otherextremity.
THE GLASS-BLOWERS]
And Herbert, swelling out his cheeks, blew so much and so well intothe tube--taking care to twirl it r
ound at the same time--that hisbreath dilated the glassy mass. Other quantities of the substance in astate of fusion were added to the first, and in a short time theresult was a bubble which measured a foot in diameter. Harding thentook the tube out of Herbert's hands, and, giving to it a pendulousmotion, he ended by lengthening the malleable bubble so as to give ita cylindro-conic shape.
The blowing operation had given a cylinder of glass terminated by twohemispheric caps, which were easily detached by means of a sharp irondipped in cold water; then, by the same proceeding, this cylinder wascut lengthways, and after having been rendered malleable by a secondheating, it was extended on a plate and spread out with a woodenroller.
The first pane was thus manufactured, and they had only to performthis operation fifty times to have fifty panes. The windows at GraniteHouse were soon furnished with panes; not very white, perhaps, butstill sufficiently transparent.
As to bottles and tumblers, that was only play. They were satisfiedwith them, besides, just as they came from the end of the tube.Pencroft had asked to be allowed to "blow" in his turn, and it wasgreat fun for him; but he blew so hard that his productions took themost ridiculous shapes, which he admired immensely.
Cyrus Harding and Herbert, whilst hunting one day, had entered theforest of the Far West, on the left bank of the Mercy, and, as usual,the lad was asking a thousand questions of the engineer, who answeredthem heartily. Now, as Harding was not a sportsman, and as, on theother side, Herbert was talking chemistry and natural philosophy,numbers of kangaroos, capybaras, and agoutis came within range, which,however, escaped the lad's gun; the consequence was that the day wasalready advanced, and the two hunters were in danger of having made auseless excursion, when Herbert, stopping, and uttering a cry of joy,exclaimed,--
"Oh, Captain Harding, do you see that tree?" and he pointed to ashrub, rather than a tree, for it was composed of a single stem,covered with a scaly bark, which bore leaves streaked with littleparallel veins.
"And what is this tree which resembles a little palm?" asked Harding.
"It is a 'cycas revoluta,' of which I have a picture in our dictionaryof Natural History!" said Herbert.
"But I can't see any fruit on this shrub!" observed his companion.
"No, captain," replied Herbert; "but its stem contains a flour withwhich nature has provided us all ready ground."
"It is, then, the bread-tree?"
"Yes, the bread-tree."
"Well, my boy," replied the engineer, "this is a valuable discovery,since our wheat harvest is not yet ripe; I hope that you are notmistaken!"
Herbert was not mistaken: he broke the stem of a cycas, which wascomposed of a glandulous tissue, containing a quantity of floury pith,traversed with woody fibre, separated by rings of the same substance,arranged concentrically. With this fecula was mingled a mucilaginousjuice of disagreeable flavour, but which it would be easy to get ridof by pressure. This cellular substance was regular flour of asuperior quality, extremely nourishing; its exportation was formerlyforbidden by the Japanese laws.
Cyrus Harding and Herbert, after having examined that part of the FarWest where the cycas grew, took their bearings, and returned toGranite House, where they made known their discovery.
The next day the settlers went to collect some and returned to GraniteHouse with an ample supply of cycas stems. The engineer constructed apress, with which to extract the mucilaginous juice mingled with thefecula, and he obtained a large quantity of flour, which Neb soontransformed into cakes and puddings. This was not quite real wheatenbread, but it was very like it.
Now, too, the onaga, the goats, and the sheep in the corral furnisheddaily the milk necessary to the colony. The cart, or rather a sort oflight carriole which had replaced it, made frequent journeys to thecorral, and when it was Pencroft's turn to go he took Jup, and let himdrive, and Jup, cracking his whip, acquitted himself with hiscustomary intelligence.
Everything prospered, as well in the corral as in Granite House andcertainly the settlers, if it had not been that they were so far fromtheir native land, had no reason to complain. They were so well suitedto this life, and were, besides, so accustomed to the island, thatthey could not have left its hospitable soil without regret!
And yet so deeply is the love of his country implanted in the heart ofman, that if a ship had unexpectedly come in sight of the island, thecolonists would have made signals, would have attracted her attention,and would have departed!
It was the 1st of April, a Sunday, Easter Day, which Harding and hiscompanions sanctified by rest and prayer. The day was fine, such as anOctober day in the northern hemisphere might be.
All, towards the evening after dinner, were seated under the verandahon the edge of Prospect Heights, and they were watching the darknesscreeping up from the horizon. Some cups of the infusion of elderberries, which took the place of coffee, had been served by Neb. Theywere speaking of the island and of its isolated situation in thePacific, which led Gideon Spilett to say,--
"My dear Cyrus, have you ever, since you possessed the sextant foundin the case, again taken the position of our island?"
"No," replied the engineer
"But it would perhaps be a good thing to do it with this instrument,which is more perfect than that which you before used."
"What is the good?" said Pencroft. "The island is quite comfortablewhere it is!"
"Well, who knows," returned the reporter, "who knows but that we maybe much nearer inhabited land than we think?"
"We shall know to morrow," replied Cyrus Harding, "and if it had notbeen for the occupations which left me no leisure, we should haveknown it already."
"Good!" said Pencroft. "The captain is too good an observer to bemistaken, and, if it has not moved from its place, the island is justwhere he put it."
"We shall see."
THE VERANDAH ON THE EDGE OF PROSPECT HEIGHTS]
On the next day, therefore, by means of the sextant, the engineer madethe necessary observations to verify the position which he had alreadyobtained, and this was the result of his operation. His firstobservation had given him for the situation of Lincoln Island,--
In west longitude: from 150 deg. to 155 deg.; In south latitude: from 30 deg. to 35 deg..
The second gave exactly:
In longitude: 150 deg. 30'; In south latitude: 34 deg. 57'.
So then, notwithstanding the imperfection of his apparatus, CyrusHarding had operated with so much skill that his error did not exceedfive degrees.
"Now," said Gideon Spilett, "since we possess an atlas as well as asextant, let us see, my dear Cyrus, the exact position which LincolnIsland occupies in the Pacific."
Herbert fetched the atlas, and the map of the Pacific was opened, andthe engineer, compass in hand, prepared to determine their position.
Suddenly the compasses stopped, and he exclaimed,--
"But an island exists in this part of the Pacific already!"
"An island?" cried Pencroft.
"Tabor Island."
"An important island?"
"No, an islet lost in the Pacific, and which perhaps has never beenvisited."
"Well, we will visit it," said Pencroft.
"We?"
"Yes, captain. We will build a decked boat, and I will undertake tosteer her. At what distance are we from this Tabor Island?"
"About a hundred and fifty miles to the north-east," replied Harding.
"A hundred and fifty miles! And what's that?" returned Pencroft. "Inforty-eight hours, with a good wind, we should sight it!"
And, on this reply, it was decided that a vessel should be constructedin time to be launched towards the month of next October, on thereturn of the fine season.