CHAPTER TWENTY.
AN ISOLATED ROCK IN THE PACIFIC--THE LAST REFUGE OF THE COLONISTS OFLINCOLN ISLAND--DEATH THEIR ONLY PROSPECT--UNEXPECTED SUCCOUR--WHY ANDHOW IT ARRIVES--A LAST KINDNESS--AN ISLAND ON TERRA FIRMA--THE TOMB OFCAPTAIN PRINCE DAKKAR NEMO.
An isolated rock, thirty feet in length, twenty in breadth, scarcely tenfrom the water's edge, such was the only solid point which the waves ofthe Pacific had not engulfed.
It was all that remained of the structure of Granite House! The wallhad fallen headlong and been then shattered to fragments, and a few ofthe rocks of the large room were piled one above another to form thispoint. All around had disappeared in the abyss; the inferior cone ofMount Franklin, rent asunder by the explosion; the lava jaws of SharkGulf, the plateau of Prospect Heights, Safety Islet, the granite rocksof Port Balloon, the basalts of Dakkar Grotto, the long SerpentinePeninsula, so distant nevertheless from the centre of the eruption. Allthat could now be seen of Lincoln Island was the narrow rock which nowserved as a refuge to the six colonists and their dog Top.
The animals had also perished in the catastrophe; the birds, as well asthose representing the fauna of the island--all either crushed ordrowned, and the unfortunate Jup himself had, alas! found his death insome crevice of the soil.
If Cyrus Harding, Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Pencroft, Neb, and Ayrton hadsurvived, it was because, assembled under their tent, they had beenhurled into the sea at the instant when the fragments of the islandrained down on every side.
When they reached the surface they could only perceive, at half acable's length, this mass of rocks, towards which they swam and on whichthey found footing.
On this barren rock they had now existed for nine days. A fewprovisions taken from the magazine of Granite House before thecatastrophe, a little fresh water from the rain which had fallen in ahollow of the rock, was all that the unfortunate colonists possessed.Their last hope, the vessel, had been shattered to pieces. They had nomeans of quitting the reef; no fire, nor any means of obtaining it. Itseemed that they must inevitably perish.
This day, the 18th of March, there remained only provisions for twodays, although they limited their consumption to the bare necessaries oflife. All their science and intelligence could avail them nothing intheir present position. They were in the hand of God.
Cyrus Harding was calm, Gideon Spilett more nervous, and Pencroft, aprey to sullen anger, walked to and fro on the rock. Herbert did notfor a moment quit the engineer's side as if demanding from him thatassistance he had no power to give. Neb and Ayrton were resigned totheir fate.
"Ah, what a misfortune! what a misfortune!" often repeated Pencroft."If we had but a walnut-shell to take us to Tabor Island! But we havenothing, nothing!"
"Captain Nemo did right to die," said Neb.
During the five ensuing days Cyrus Harding and his unfortunatecompanions husbanded their provisions with the most extreme care, eatingonly what would prevent them from succumbing to starvation. Theirweakness was extreme. Herbert and Neb began to show symptoms ofdelirium.
Under these circumstances was it possible for them to retain even theshadow of a hope? No! What was their sole remaining chance? That avessel should appear in sight off the rock? But they knew only too wellfrom experience that no ships ever visited this part of the Pacific.Could they calculate that, by a truly providential coincidence, theScotch yacht would arrive precisely at this time in search of Ayrton atTabor Island? It was scarcely probable; and, besides, supposing sheshould come there, as the colonists had not been able to deposit anotice pointing out Ayrton's change of abode, the commander of theyacht, after having explored Tabor Island without result, would againset sail and return to lower latitudes.
No! no hope of being saved could be retained, and a horrible death,death from hunger and thirst, awaited them upon this rock.
Already they were stretched on the rock, inanimate, and no longerconscious of what passed around them. Ayrton alone, by a supremeeffort, from time to time raised his head, and cast a despairing glanceover the desert ocean.
But on the morning of the 24th of March Ayrton's arms were extendedtowards a point in the horizon; he raised himself, at first on hisknees, then upright, and his hand seemed to make a signal.
A sail was in sight off the rock. She was evidently not without anobject. The reef was the mark for which she was making in a directline, under all steam, and the unfortunate colonists might have made herout some hours before if they had had the strength to watch the horizon.
"The _Duncan_!" murmured Ayrton--and fell back without sign of life.
When Cyrus Harding and his companions recovered consciousness, thanks tothe attention lavished upon them, they found themselves in the cabin ofa steamer, without being able to comprehend how they had escaped death.
A word from Ayrton explained everything.
"The _Duncan_!" he murmured.
"The _Duncan_!" exclaimed Cyrus Harding. And raising his hand toHeaven, he said, "Oh! Almighty God! mercifully hast Thou preserved us!"
It was, in fact, the _Duncan_, Lord Glenarvan's yacht, now commanded byRobert, son of Captain Grant, who had been despatched to Tabor Island tofind Ayrton, and bring him back to his native land after twelve years ofexpiation.
The colonists were not only saved, but already on the way to theirnative country.
"Captain Grant," asked Cyrus Harding, "who can have suggested to you theidea, after having left Tabor Island, where you did not find Ayrton, ofcoming a hundred miles farther north-east?"
"Captain Harding," replied Robert Grant, "it was in order to find, notonly Ayrton, but yourself and your companions."
"My companions and myself?"
"Doubtless, at Lincoln Island."
"At Lincoln Island!" exclaimed in a breath Gideon Spilett, Herbert, Neb,and Pencroft, in the highest degree astonished.
"How could you be aware of the existence of Lincoln Island?" inquiredCyrus Harding, "it is not even named in the charts."
"I knew of it from a document left by you on Tabor Island," answeredRobert Grant.
"A document?" cried Gideon Spilett.
"Without doubt, and here it is," answered Robert Grant, producing apaper which indicated the longitude and latitude of Lincoln Island, "thepresent residence of Ayrton and five American colonists."
"It is Captain Nemo!" cried Cyrus Harding, after having read the notice,and recognised that the handwriting was similar to that of the paperfound at the corral.
"Ah!" said Pencroft, "it was then he who took our _Bonadventure_ andhazarded himself alone to go to Tabor Island!"
"In order to leave this notice," added Herbert.
"I was then right in saying," exclaimed the sailor, "that even after hisdeath the captain would render us a last service."
"My friends," said Cyrus Harding, in a voice of the profoundest emotion,"may the God of mercy have had pity on the soul of Captain Nemo, ourbenefactor!"
The colonists uncovered themselves at these last words of Cyrus Harding,and murmured the name of Captain Nemo.
Then Ayrton, approaching the engineer, said simply, "Where should thiscoffer be deposited?"
It was the coffer which Ayrton had saved at the risk of his life, at thevery instant that the island had been engulfed, and which he nowfaithfully handed to the engineer.
"Ayrton! Ayrton!" said Cyrus Harding, deeply touched. Then, addressingRobert Grant, "Sir," he added, "you left behind you a criminal; you findin his place a man who has become honest by penitence, and whose hand Iam proud to clasp in mine."
Robert Grant was now made acquainted with the strange history of CaptainNemo and the colonists of Lincoln Island. Then, observations beingtaken of what remained of this shoal, which must henceforward figure onthe charts of the Pacific, the order was given to make all sail.
A few weeks afterwards the colonists landed in America, and found theircountry once more at peace after the terrible conflict in which rightand justice had triumphed.
Of
the treasures contained in the coffer left by Captain Nemo to thecolonists of Lincoln Island, the larger portion was employed in thepurchase of a vast territory in the State of Iowa. One pearl alone, thefinest, was reserved from the treasure and sent to Lady Glenarvan in thename of the castaways restored to their country by the _Duncan_.
There, upon this domain, the colonists invited to labour, that is tosay, to wealth and happiness, all those to whom they had hoped to offerthe hospitality of Lincoln Island. There was founded a vast colony towhich they gave the name of that island sunk beneath the waters of thePacific. A river was there called the Mercy, a mountain took the nameof Mount Franklin, a small lake was named Lake Grant, and the forestsbecame the forests of the Far West. It might have been an island onterra firma.
There, under the intelligent hands of the engineer and his companions,everything prospered. Not one of the former colonists of Lincoln Islandwas absent, for they had sworn to live always together. Neb was withhis master; Ayrton was there ready to sacrifice himself for all;Pencroft was more a farmer than he had even been a sailor; Herbert, whocompleted his studies under the superintendence of Cyrus Harding; andGideon Spilett, who founded the _New Lincoln Herald_, the best-informedjournal in the world.
There Cyrus Harding and his companions received at intervals visits fromLord and Lady Glenarvan, Captain John Mangles and his wife, the sisterof Robert Grant, Robert Grant himself, Major McNab, and all those whohad taken part in the history both of Captain Grant and Captain Nemo.
There, to conclude, all were happy, united in the present as they hadbeen in the past; but never could they forget that island upon whichthey had arrived poor and friendless, that island which, during fouryears, had supplied all their wants, and of which there remained but afragment of granite washed by the waves of the Pacific, the tomb of himwho had borne the name of Captain Nemo.
FINIS.
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