CHAPTER XVIII
Conversation -- Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett -- An Idea of the Engineer's -- The Electric Telegraph -- The Wires -- The Battery -- The Alphabet -- Fine Season -- Prosperity of the Colony -- Photography -- An Appearance of Snow -- Two Years in Lincoln Island.
"Poor man!" said Herbert, who had rushed to the door, but returned,having seen Ayrton slide down the rope of the lift and disappear inthe darkness.
"He will come back," said Cyrus Harding.
"Come now, captain," exclaimed Pencroft, "what does that mean? What!wasn't it Ayrton who threw that bottle into the sea? Who was it then?"
Certainly, if ever a question was necessary to be made, it was thatone!
"It was he," answered Neb, "only the unhappy man was half mad."
"Yes!" said Herbert, "and he was no longer conscious of what he wasdoing."
"It can only be explained in that way, my friends," replied Hardingquickly, "and I understand now how Ayrton was able to point outexactly the situation of Tabor Island, since the events which hadpreceded his being left on the Island had made it known to him."
"However," observed Pencroft, "if he was not yet a brute when he wrotethat document, and if he threw it into the sea seven or eight yearsago, how is it that the paper has not been injured by damp?"
"That proves," answered Cyrus Harding, "that Ayrton was deprived ofintelligence at a more recent time than he thinks."
"Of course it must be so," replied Pencroft, "without that the factwould be unaccountable."
"Unaccountable indeed," answered the engineer, who did not appeardesirous to prolong the conversation.
"But has Ayrton told the truth?" asked the sailor.
"Yes," replied the reporter. "The story which he has told is true inevery point. I remember quite well the account in the newspapers ofthe yacht expedition undertaken by Lord Glenarvan, and its result."
"Ayrton has told the truth," added Harding. "Do not doubt it,Pencroft, for it was painful to him. People tell the truth when theyaccuse themselves like that!"
The next day--the 21st of December--the colonists descended to thebeach, and having climbed the plateau they found nothing of Ayrton. Hehad reached his house in the corral during the night, and the settlersjudged it best not to agitate him by their presence. Time woulddoubtless perform what sympathy had been unable to accomplish.
Herbert, Pencroft, and Neb resumed their ordinary occupations. On thisday the same work brought Harding and the reporter to the workshop atthe Chimneys.
"Do you know, my dear Cyrus," said Gideon Spilett, "that theexplanation you gave yesterday on the subject of the bottle has notsatisfied me at all! How can it be supposed that the unfortunate manwas able to write that document and throw the bottle into the seawithout having the slightest recollection of it?"
"Nor was it he who threw it in, my dear Spilett."
"You think then...."
"I think nothing, I know nothing!" interrupted Cyrus Harding. "I amcontent to rank this incident among those which I have not been ableto explain to this day!"
"Indeed, Cyrus," said Spilett, "these things are incredible! Yourrescue, the case stranded on the sand, Top's adventure, and lastlythis bottle.... Shall we never have the answer to these enigmas?"
"Yes!" replied the engineer quickly, "yes, even if I have to penetrateinto the bowels of this island!"
"Chance will perhaps give us the key to this mystery!"
"Chance! Spilett! I do not believe in chance, any more than I believein mysteries in this world. There is a reason for everythingunaccountable which has happened here, and that reason I shalldiscover. But in the meantime we must work and observe."
The month of January arrived. The year 1867 commenced. The summeroccupations were assiduously continued. During the days whichfollowed, Herbert and Spilett having gone in the direction of thecorral, ascertained that Ayrton had taken possession of the habitationwhich had been prepared for him. He busied himself with the numerousflock confided to his care, and spared his companions the trouble ofcoming every two or three days to visit the corral. Nevertheless, inorder not to leave Ayrton in solitude for too long a time, thesettlers often paid him a visit.
It was not unimportant either, in consequence of some suspicionsentertained by the engineer and Gideon Spilett, that this part of theisland should be subject to a surveillance of some sort, and thatAyrton, if any incident occurred unexpectedly, should not neglect toinform the inhabitants of Granite House of it.
Nevertheless it might happen that something would occur which it wouldbe necessary to bring rapidly to the engineer's knowledge.Independently of facts bearing on the mystery of Lincoln Island, manyothers might happen, which would call for the prompt interference ofthe colonists,--such as the sighting of a vessel, a wreck on thewestern coast, the possible arrival of pirates, etc.
Therefore Cyrus Harding resolved to put the corral in instantaneouscommunication with Granite House.
It was on the 10th of January that he made known his project to hiscompanions.
"Why! how are you going to manage that, captain?" asked Pencroft. "Doyou by chance happen to think of establishing a telegraph?"
"Exactly so," answered the engineer.
"Electric?" cried Herbert.
"Electric," replied Cyrus Harding. "We have all the necessarymaterials for making a battery, and the most difficult thing will beto stretch the wires, but by means of a draw-plate I think we shallmanage it."
"Well, after that," returned the sailor, "I shall never despair ofseeing ourselves some day rolling along on a railway!"
They then set to work, beginning with the most difficult thing, for,if they failed in that, it would be useless to manufacture the batteryand other accessories.
The iron of Lincoln Island, as has been said, was of excellentquality, and consequently very fit for being drawn out. Hardingcommenced by manufacturing a draw-plate, that is to say, a plate ofsteel, pierced with conical holes of different sizes, which wouldsuccessively bring the wire to the wished-for tenacity. This piece ofsteel, after having been tempered, was fixed in as firm a way aspossible in a solid framework planted in the ground, only a few feetfrom the great fall, the motive power of which the engineer intendedto utilise. In fact, as the fulling-mill was there, although not thenin use, its beam moved with extreme power would serve to stretch outthe wire by rolling it round itself. It was a delicate operation, andrequired much care. The iron, prepared previously in long thin rods,the ends of which were sharpened with the file, having been introducedinto the largest hole of the draw-plate, was drawn out by the beamwhich wound it round itself, to a length of twenty-five or thirtyfeet, then unrolled, and the same operation was performed successivelythrough the holes of a less size. Finally, the engineer obtained wiresfrom forty to fifty feet long, which could be easily fastened togetherand stretched over the distance of five miles, which separated thecorral from the bounds of Granite House.
It did not take more than a few days to perform this work, and indeedas soon as the machine had been commenced, Cyrus Harding left hiscompanions to follow the trade of wire-drawers, and occupied himselfwith manufacturing his battery.
It was necessary to obtain a battery with a constant current. It isknown that the elements of modern batteries are generally composed ofretort coal, zinc, and copper. Copper was absolutely wanting to theengineer, who, notwithstanding all his researches, had never been ableto find any trace of it in Lincoln Island, and was therefore obligedto do without it. Retort coal, that is to say, the hard graphyte whichis found in the retorts of gas manufactories, after the coal has beendehydrogenised, could have been obtained, but it would have beennecessary to establish a special apparatus, involving great labour. Asto zinc, it may be remembered that the case found at Flotsam Point waslined with this metal, which could not be better utilised than forthis purpose.
Cyrus Harding, after mature consideration, decided to manufacture avery simple battery, resembling as nearly as possible that invented byBec
querel in 1820, and in which zinc only is employed. The othersubstances, azotic acid and potash, were all at his disposal.
The way in which the battery was composed was as follows, and theresults were to be attained by the reaction of acid and potash on eachother. A number of glass bottles were made and filled with azoticacid. The engineer corked them by means of a stopper through whichpassed a glass tube, bored at its lower extremity, and intended to beplunged into the acid by means of a clay stopper secured by a rag.Into this tube, through its upper extremity, he poured a solution ofpotash, previously obtained by burning and reducing to ashes variousplants, and in this way the acid and potash could act on each otherthrough the clay.
Cyrus Harding then took two slips of zinc, one of which was plungedinto azotic acid, the other into a solution of potash. A current wasimmediately produced, which was transmitted from the slip of zinc inthe bottle to that in the tube, and the two slips having beenconnected by a metallic wire the slip in the tube became the positivepole, and that in the bottle the negative pole of the apparatus. Eachbottle, therefore, produced as many currents as united would besufficient to produce all the phenomena of the electric telegraph.Such was the ingenious and very simple apparatus constructed by CyrusHarding, an apparatus which would allow them to establish atelegraphic communication between Granite House and the corral.
On the 6th of February was commenced the planting, along the road tothe corral, of posts, furnished with glass insulators, and intended tosupport the wire. A few days after, the wire was extended, ready toproduce the electric current at a rate of twenty thousand miles asecond.
Two batteries had been manufactured, one for Granite House, the otherfor the corral; for if it was necessary the corral should be able tocommunicate with Granite House, it might also be useful that GraniteHouse should be able to communicate with the corral.
As to the receiver and manipulator, they were very simple. At the twostations the wire was wound round a magnet, that is to say, round apiece of soft iron surrounded with a wire. The communication was thusestablished between the two poles, the current, starting from thepositive pole, traversed the wire, passed through the magnet which wastemporarily magnetised, and returned through the earth to the negativepole. If the current was interrupted the magnet immediately becameunmagnetised. It was sufficient to place a plate of soft iron beforethe magnet, which, attracted during the passage of the current, wouldfall back when the current was interrupted. This movement of the platethus obtained, Harding could easily fasten to it a needle arranged ona dial, bearing the letters of the alphabet, and in this waycommunicate from one station to the other.
All was completely arranged by the 12th of February. On this day,Harding, having sent the current through the wire, asked if all wasgoing on well at the corral, and received in a few moments asatisfactory reply from Ayrton. Pencroft was wild with joy, and everymorning and evening he sent a telegram to the corral, which alwaysreceived an answer.
This mode of communication presented two very real advantages;firstly, because it enabled them to ascertain that Ayrton was at thecorral, and secondly, that he was thus not left completely isolated.Besides, Cyrus Harding never allowed a week to pass without going tosee him, and Ayrton came from time to time to Granite House, where healways found a cordial welcome.
The fine season passed away in the midst of the usual work. Theresources of the colony, particularly in vegetables and corn,increased from day to day; and the plants brought from Tabor Islandhad succeeded perfectly.
THE ENGINEER AT WORK]
The plateau of Prospect Heights presented an encouraging aspect. Thefourth harvest had been admirable, and it may be supposed that no onethought of counting whether the four hundred thousand millions ofgrains duly appeared in the crop. However, Pencroft had thought ofdoing so, but Cyrus Harding having told him that even if he managed tocount three hundred grains a minute, or nine thousand an hour, itwould take him nearly five thousand five hundred years to finish histask, the honest sailor considered it best to give up the idea.
The weather was splendid, the temperature very warm in the day time;but in the evening the sea-breezes tempered the heat of the atmosphereand procured cool nights for the inhabitants of Granite House. Therewere, however, a few storms, which, although they were not of longduration, swept over Lincoln Island with extraordinary fury. Thelightning blazed and the thunder continued to roll for some hours.
At this period the little colony was extremely prosperous.
The tenants of the poultry-yard swarmed, and they lived on thesurplus, but it became necessary to reduce the population to a moremoderate number. The pigs had already produced young, and it may beunderstood that their care for those animals absorbed a great part ofNeb and Pencroft's time. The onagas, who had two pretty colts, weremost often mounted by Gideon Spilett and Herbert, who had become anexcellent rider under the reporter's instruction, and they alsoharnessed them to the cart either for carrying wood and coal toGranite House, or different mineral productions required by theengineer.
Several expeditions were made about this time into the depths of theFar West Forests. The explorers could venture there without havinganything to fear from the heat, for the sun's rays scarcely penetratedthrough the thick foliage spreading above their heads. They thusvisited all the left bank of the Mercy, along which ran the road fromthe corral to the mouth of Falls River.
But in these excursions the settlers took care to be well armed, forthey frequently met with savage wild boars, with which they often hada tussle. They also, during this season, made fierce war against thejaguars. Gideon Spilett had vowed a special hatred against them, andhis pupil Herbert seconded him well. Armed as they were, they nolonger feared to meet one of those beasts. Herbert's courage wassuperb, and the reporter's _sang froid_ astonishing. Already twentymagnificent skins ornamented the dining-room of Granite House, and ifthis continued, the jaguar race would soon be extinct in the island,the object aimed at by the hunters.
The engineer sometimes took part in the expeditions made to theunknown parts of the island, which he surveyed with great attention.It was for other traces than those of animals that he searched thethickest of the vast forest, but nothing suspicious ever appeared.Neither Top nor Jup, who accompanied him, ever betrayed by theirbehaviour that there was anything strange there, and yet more thanonce again the dog barked at the mouth of the well, which the engineerhad before explored without result.
At this time Gideon Spilett, aided by Herbert, took several views ofthe most picturesque parts of the island, by means of the photographicapparatus found in the cases, and of which they had not as yet madeany use.
This apparatus, provided with a powerful object-glass, was verycomplete. Substances necessary for the photographic reproduction,collodion for preparing the glass plate, nitrate of silver to renderit sensitive, hyposulphate of soda to fix the prints obtained,chloride of ammonium in which to soak the paper destined to give thepositive proof, acetate of soda and chloride of gold in which toimmerse the paper, nothing was wanting. Even the papers were there,all prepared, and before laying in the printing-frame upon thenegatives, it was sufficient to soak them for a few minutes in thesolution of nitrate of silver.
The reporter and his assistant became in a short time very skilfuloperators, and they obtained fine views of the country, such as theisland, taken from Prospect Heights with Mount Franklin in thedistance, the mouth of the Mercy, so picturesquely framed in highrocks, the glade and the corral, with the spurs of the mountain in thebackground, the curious development of Claw Cape, Flotsam Point, etc.
Nor did the photographers forget to take the portraits of all theinhabitants of the island, leaving out no one.
"It multiplies us," said Pencroft.
And the sailor was enchanted to see his own countenance, faithfullyreproduced, ornamenting the walls of Granite House, and he stopped aswillingly before this exhibition as he would have done before therichest shop-windows in Broadway.
But it must be acknowledged
that the most successful portrait wasincontestably that of Master Jup. Master Jup had sat with a gravitynot to be described, and his portrait was lifelike!
"He looks as if he was just going to grin!" exclaimed Pencroft.
And if Master Jup had not been satisfied, he would have been verydifficult to please, but he was quite contented, and contemplated hisown countenance with a sentimental air which expressed some smallamount of conceit.
The summer heat ended with the month of March. The weather wassometimes rainy, but still warm. The month of March, which correspondsto the September of northern latitudes, was not so fine as might havebeen hoped. Perhaps it announced an early and rigorous winter.
It might have been supposed one morning--the 21st--that the first snowhad already made its appearance. In fact Herbert, looking early fromone of the windows of Granite House, exclaimed,--
"Hallo! the islet is covered with snow!"
"Snow at this time?" answered the reporter, joining the boy.
Their companions were soon beside them, but could only ascertain onething, that not only the islet, but all the beach below Granite House,was covered with one uniform sheet of white.
"It must be snow!" said Pencroft.
"Or rather it's very like it!" replied Neb.
"But the thermometer marks fifty-eight degrees!" observed GideonSpilett.
Cyrus Harding gazed at the sheet of white without saying anything, forhe really did not know how to explain this phenomenon, at this time ofyear and in such a temperature.
"By Jove!" exclaimed Pencroft, "all our plants will be frozen!"
And the sailor was about to descend, when he was preceded by thenimble Jup, who slid down to the sand.
JUP SITTING FOR HIS PORTRAIT]
But the orang had not touched the ground, when the snowy sheet aroseand dispersed in the air in such innumerable flakes that the light ofthe sun was obscured for some minutes.
"Birds!" cried Herbert.
They were indeed swarms of sea-birds, with dazzling white plumage.They had perched by thousands on the islet and on the shore, and theydisappeared in the distance, leaving the colonists amazed as if theyhad been present at some transformation scene, in which summersucceeded winter at the touch of a fairy's wand. Unfortunately thechange had been so sudden that neither the reporter nor the lad hadbeen able to bring down one of these birds, of which they could notrecognise the species.
A few days after came the 26th of March, the day on which, two yearsbefore, the castaways from the air had been thrown upon LincolnIsland.
THE SNOWY SHEET AROSE AND DISPERSED IN THE AIR]