Part 23

The colonists of Lincoln Island had thus regained their dwelling without being obliged to follow the old drain, which spared them masonry work. It was truly fortunate that, at the moment they were preparing to do so, the band of monkeys had been seized by a terror as sudden as it was inexplicable, which had driven them from Granite House. Had these animals then foreseen that a serious assault was about to be made upon them by another route? That was almost the only way to interpret their retreat.

During the last hours of that day, the monkeys' corpses were carried into the woods, where they were buried; then the colonists set about repairing the disorder caused by the intruders—disorder, not damage, for if they had overturned the furniture in the rooms, at least they had broken nothing.

Nab relit his furnaces, and the larder's reserves provided a substantial meal, to which all did ample justice.

Jup was not forgotten, and he ate with appetite some stone-pine almonds and rhizome roots, with which he was abundantly supplied. Pencroff had untied his arms, but judged it proper to leave his legs fettered until such time as he could count on his resignation.

Then, before retiring, Cyrus Smith and his companions, seated around the table, discussed some projects whose execution was urgent.

The most important and pressing were the building of a bridge over the Mercy, to put the southern part of the island in communication with Granite House, and then the founding of a corral intended for the lodging of mouflons or other wool-bearing animals that it was fitting to capture.

As may be seen, these two projects tended to resolve the question of clothing, which was then the most serious. Indeed, the bridge would make easy the transport of the balloon's envelope, which would provide linen, and the corral was to furnish the wool harvest, which would provide winter garments.

As for this corral, it was Cyrus Smith's intention to establish it at the very sources of Red Creek, where the ruminants would find pastures that would procure them fresh and abundant nourishment. Already the road between the Grand View plateau and the sources was partly cleared, and with a wagon better conditioned than the first, the haulage would be easier, especially if they managed to capture some beast of burden.

But if there was no objection to the corral being distant from Granite House, it would not have been the same for the poultry yard, upon which Nab drew the colonists' attention. It was necessary, in fact, that the fowls be within reach of the head cook, and no location seemed more favorable for the establishment of said poultry yard than that portion of the lake's shores bordering the old drain. The waterfowl would thrive there as well as the others, and the pair of tinamous, taken on the last excursion, was to serve for a first attempt at domestication.

The next day—November 3—the new works were begun with the construction of the bridge, and all hands were required for this important task.

Saws, axes, chisels, hammers were loaded onto the colonists' shoulders, who, transformed into carpenters, descended to the beach.

There, Pencroff made a remark:

"And if, during our absence, master Jup were to take a fancy to withdraw that ladder he so gallantly sent back to us yesterday?"

"Let us secure it by its lower end," replied Cyrus Smith.

Which was done by means of two stakes, firmly driven into the sand. Then the colonists, going up the left bank of the Mercy, soon arrived at the bend formed by the river.

There they stopped, in order to examine whether the bridge should not be thrown at this spot. The spot seemed suitable. Indeed, from this point to Balloon Harbor, discovered the day before on the southern coast, there was only a distance of three and a half miles, and from the bridge to the harbor it would be easy to clear a carriage road, which would render communications easy between Granite House and the south of the island.

Cyrus Smith then made known to his companions a project at once very simple to execute and very advantageous, which he had been meditating for some time.

It was to completely isolate the Grand View plateau, in order to put it beyond any attack by quadrupeds or quadrumanes. In this way, Granite House, the Chimneys, the poultry yard and the whole upper part of the plateau, destined for sowing, would be protected against the depredations of animals.

Nothing was easier to execute than this project, and here is how the engineer counted on proceeding.

The plateau was already defended on three sides by waterways, whether artificial or natural: to the northwest, by the shore of Lake Grant, from the angle resting on the mouth of the old drain to the cut made in the east shore of the lake for the escape of waters; to the north, from this cut to the sea, by the new watercourse which had dug itself a bed on the plateau and on the beach, above and below the fall, and it sufficed, in fact, to deepen the bed of this creek to make its crossing impracticable to animals; along the whole eastern edge, by the sea itself, from the mouth of said creek to the mouth of the Mercy; to the south, finally, from this mouth to the bend of the Mercy where the bridge was to be established.

There remained, then, the western part of the plateau, comprised between the bend of the river and the south angle of the lake, over a distance of less than a mile, which was open to all comers. But nothing was easier than to dig a ditch, wide and deep, which would be filled by the lake's waters, and whose overflow would throw itself by a second fall into the bed of the Mercy. The level of the lake would lower a little, no doubt, as a result of this new outpouring of its waters, but Cyrus Smith had recognized that the flow of Red Creek was considerable enough to permit the execution of his project.

"Thus," added the engineer, "the Grand View plateau will be a true island, being surrounded by water on all sides, and it will communicate with the rest of our domain only by the bridge we are about to throw over the Mercy, the two culverts already established above and below the fall, and finally two other culverts to be built, one over the ditch I propose to dig, and the other on the left bank of the Mercy. Now, if these bridge and culverts can be raised at will, the Grand View plateau will be safe from any surprise."

Cyrus Smith, in order to make himself better understood by his companions, had drawn a map of the plateau, and his project was immediately grasped in its entirety. A unanimous opinion therefore approved it, and Pencroff, brandishing his carpenter's ax, cried:

"To the bridge, first!"

It was the most urgent work. Trees were chosen, felled, stripped of branches, cut into joists, planks and boards. This bridge, fixed in the part resting on the right bank of the Mercy, was to be movable in the part connecting to the left bank, so as to be raised by means of counterweights, like certain lock bridges.

As may be understood, this was a considerable work, and if it was skillfully conducted, at least it demanded a certain time, for the Mercy was about eighty feet wide. It was necessary, then, to drive piles into the riverbed, in order to support the fixed deck of the bridge, and to set up a pile-driver to act on the heads of piles, which were thus to form two arches and allow the bridge to support heavy loads.

Very happily there was no lack either of tools to work the wood, nor of ironwork to consolidate it, nor of the ingenuity of a man who understood these works marvelously, nor finally of the zeal of his companions, who, for seven months, had necessarily acquired great dexterity of hand.

And it must be said, Gideon Spilett was not the most clumsy and vied in skill with the sailor himself, "who would never have expected so much of a mere journalist!"

The construction of the Mercy bridge lasted three weeks, which were very seriously occupied. They lunched on the very site of the works, and, the weather being magnificent then, they returned only to sup at Granite House.

During this period, it could be observed that master Jup was easily acclimating and familiarizing himself with his new masters, whom he always regarded with an extremely curious eye. However, as a precaution, Pencroff did not yet leave him complete freedom of movement, wishing, with reason, to wait until the limits of the plateau had been made impassable as a result of the planned works. Top and Jup were on the best of terms and willingly played together, but Jup did everything gravely.

On November 20, the bridge was finished. Its movable part, balanced by counterweights, tilted easily, and only a slight effort was needed to raise it; between its hinge and the last crossbeam on which it came to rest when closed, there existed a gap of twenty feet, which was sufficiently wide that animals could not cross it.

It was then a question of going to fetch the envelope of the aerostat, which the colonists were eager to put in complete safety; but to transport it, there was necessity to drive a wagon to Balloon Harbor, and, consequently, necessity to clear a road through the thick masses of the Far-West. That required a certain time. So Nab and Pencroff first pushed a reconnaissance as far as the harbor, and as they ascertained that the "stock of canvas" was suffering no harm in the cave where it had been stored, it was decided that the works relating to the Grand View plateau would be pursued without interruption.

"That," observed Pencroff, "will allow us to establish our poultry yard in better conditions, since we shall have to fear neither the visit of foxes nor the aggression of other harmful beasts."

"Not to mention," added Nab, "that we shall be able to clear the plateau, transplant the wild plants there..."

"And prepare our second wheat field!" cried the sailor in a triumphant tone.

For indeed the first wheat field, sown uniquely from a single grain, had prospered admirably, thanks to Pencroff's care. It had produced the ten ears announced by the engineer, and, each ear bearing eighty grains, the colony found itself in possession of eight hundred grains—in six months—which promised a double harvest each year.

These eight hundred grains, minus some fifty, which were reserved by prudence, were then to be sown in a new field, and with no less care than the single grain.

The field was prepared, then surrounded by a strong palisade, high and pointed, which quadrupeds would have very difficultly crossed. As for the birds, screaming whirligigs and frightening dummies, due to Pencroff's fanciful imagination, sufficed to keep them away. The seven hundred fifty grains were then deposited in small, very regular furrows, and nature had to do the rest.

On November 21, Cyrus Smith began to trace the ditch which was to close the plateau to the west, from the south angle of Lake Grant to the bend of the Mercy. There were two to three feet of vegetable earth there, and, below, the granite. It was necessary, then, to manufacture anew some nitro-glycerine, and the nitro-glycerine did its customary effect. In less than fifteen days, a ditch twelve feet wide, six feet deep, was dug in the hard soil of the plateau. A new cut was, by the same means, made in the rocky edge of the lake, and the waters precipitated themselves into this new bed, forming a small watercourse to which was given the name of "Glycerine Creek" and which became a tributary of the Mercy. As the engineer had announced, the level of the lake lowered, but in an almost imperceptible manner. Finally, to complete the enclosure, the bed of the beach brook was considerably widened, and the sands were maintained by means of a double palisade.

With the first fortnight of December, these works were definitively completed, and the Grand View plateau, that is to say a sort of irregular pentagon having a perimeter of about four miles, surrounded by a liquid belt, was absolutely safe from any aggression.

During this month of December, the heat was very strong. However the colonists would not suspend the execution of their projects, and, as it became urgent to organize the poultry yard, they proceeded to its organization.

Needless to say that, since the complete closing of the plateau, master Jup had been set at liberty. He no longer left his masters and manifested no desire to escape. He was a gentle animal, very vigorous nevertheless, and of surprising agility. Ah! when it was a matter of climbing the ladder of Granite House, none could rival him. He was already employed at some tasks: he dragged loads of wood and carted the stones which had been extracted from the bed of Glycerine Creek.

"He is not yet a mason, but he is already a monkey!" said Harbert playfully, alluding to that nickname of "monkey" which masons give their apprentices. And if ever a name was justified, it was surely that one!

The poultry yard occupied an area of two hundred square yards, which was chosen on the southeast shore of the lake.

It was surrounded by a palisade, and different shelters were constructed for the animals that were to populate it. These were huts of branches, divided into compartments, which soon awaited nothing more than their guests.

The first were the pair of tinamous, who soon gave numerous little ones. They had for companions half a dozen ducks, accustomed to the lake shores. Some belonged to that Chinese species, whose wings open like a fan, and who, by the brilliance and vivacity of their plumage, rival the golden pheasants. A few days later, Harbert seized a pair of gallinaceous birds with rounded tail made of long feathers, magnificent "alectors," who soon tamed. As for the pelicans, kingfishers, and coots, they came of themselves to the shore of the poultry yard, and all this little world, after some disputes, cooing, cheeping, clucking, ended by understanding one another, and increased in a proportion reassuring for the future food supply of the colony.

Cyrus Smith, wishing also to complete his work, established a dovecote in an angle of the poultry yard.

There were lodged a dozen of those pigeons that frequented the high rocks of the plateau. These birds easily accustomed themselves to returning each evening to their new dwelling, and showed more propensity to domesticate than the ringdoves their congeners, who, moreover, reproduce only in the wild state. Finally, the moment had come to utilize, for the making of linen, the envelope of the aerostat, for, as to keeping it in that form and risking oneself in a hot-air balloon to leave the island, above a sea well-nigh limitless, that would have been admissible only for people who lacked everything, and Cyrus Smith, a practical mind, could not think of it.

It was then a matter of bringing the envelope back to Granite House, and the colonists occupied themselves with making their heavy wagon more manageable and lighter. But if the vehicle was not lacking, the motor was still to be found! Did there not exist in the island some ruminant of indigenous species that could replace horse, donkey, ox or cow? That was the question.

"Truly," said Pencroff, "a beast of burden would be very useful to us, while waiting for Mr. Cyrus to kindly construct a steam wagon, or even a locomotive, for certainly, one day, we shall have a railroad from Granite House to Balloon Harbor, with a branch line to Mount Franklin!"

And the honest sailor, in speaking thus, believed what he said! Oh! Imagination, when faith meddles with it!

But, to exaggerate nothing, a simple attachable quadruped would have well suited Pencroff, and as providence had a weakness for him, it did not let him languish. One day, December 23, Nab was heard crying and Top barking at once with all their might. The colonists, occupied at the Chimneys, hurried there immediately, fearing some unfortunate incident. What did they see? Two fine animals of large size, who had imprudently ventured onto the plateau, whose culverts had not been closed. They would have been said to be two horses, or at least two donkeys, male and female, fine forms, isabella coat, white legs and tail, striped with black bands on the head, neck and trunk. They advanced tranquilly, showing no uneasiness, and regarded with a lively eye these men, in whom they could not yet recognize masters.

"They are onaggas!" cried Harbert, "quadrupeds holding the middle between the zebra and the quagga!"

"Why not donkeys?" asked Nab.

"Because they have not long ears and their forms are more graceful!"

"Donkeys or horses," retorted Pencroff, "they are 'motors,' as Mr. Smith would say, and, as such, good to capture!"

The sailor, without frightening the two animals, slipping between the grasses to the culvert of Glycerine Creek, made it tilt, and the onaggas were prisoners.

Now, would they be seized by violence and submitted to forced domestication? No.

It was decided that, for some days, they would be left to go and come freely on the plateau, where the grass was abundant, and immediately the engineer had built near the poultry yard a stable, in which the onaggas were to find, with good litter, a refuge during the night.

Thus this magnificent pair was left entirely free in its movements, and the colonists even avoided frightening it by approaching.

Several times, however, the onaggas appeared to feel the need to leave this plateau, too restricted for them, accustomed to wide spaces and deep forests. They were seen, then, to follow the belt of water which opposed them an impassable barrier, to utter some shrill brays, then to gallop through the grasses, and, calm returned, they remained for whole hours considering those great woods that were closed to them without return!

However, harnesses and traces of vegetable fibers had been made, and a few days after the capture of the onaggas, not only was the wagon ready to be harnessed, but a straight road, or rather a clearing, had been made through the forest of the Far-West, from the bend of the Mercy to Balloon Harbor. One could therefore drive the wagon there, and it was toward the end of December that the onaggas were tried for the first time.

Pencroff had already sufficiently coaxed these animals for them to come eat in his hand, and they let themselves be approached without difficulty, but, once harnessed, they reared, and they had much trouble containing them. However they were not to be long in bending to this new service, for the onagga, less rebellious than the zebra, is frequently harnessed in the mountainous parts of southern Africa, and one has even been able to acclimatize it in Europe under relatively cold zones.

That day, the whole colony, except Pencroff, who marched at the head of his beasts, mounted the wagon and took the road to Balloon Harbor. If they were jolted on that barely sketched road, that goes without saying; but the vehicle arrived without mishap, and, the same day, they could load the envelope and the various tackle of the aerostat.

At eight in the evening, the wagon, having recrossed the Mercy bridge, descended the left bank of the river and stopped on the beach. The onaggas were unharnessed, then led back to their stable, and Pencroff, before falling asleep, uttered a sigh of satisfaction which made the echoes of Granite House resound noisily.

CHAPTER VIII

The first week of January was devoted to the making of the linen necessary to the colony. The needles found in the case functioned between vigorous fingers, if not delicate, and it may be affirmed that what was sewn was solidly sewn.

Thread did not fail, thanks to the idea Cyrus Smith had of reusing that which had already served to sew the bands of the aerostat. These long bands were unstitched with admirable patience by Gideon Spilett and Harbert, for Pencroff had had to renounce this work, which irritated him excessively; but when it came to sewing, he had no equal. No one is ignorant, in fact, that sailors have a remarkable aptitude for the seamstress's trade.

The canvases composing the envelope of the aerostat were then degreased by means of soda and potash obtained by incineration of plants, so that the cotton, freed of its varnish, recovered its natural suppleness and elasticity; then, submitted to the decolorizing action of the atmosphere, it acquired a perfect whiteness. Some dozens of shirts and socks—the latter not knitted, of course, but made of sewn canvas—were thus prepared. What joy it was for the colonists to finally don white linen—linen very coarse no doubt, but they were not at the point of worrying about so little—and to lie between sheets, which made the beds of Granite House quite serious beds.

It was also toward this time that shoes of seal leather were made, which opportunely replaced the shoes and boots brought from America. It may be affirmed that these new shoes were wide and long and never constrained the foot of the walkers!

With the beginning of the year 1866, the heats were persistent, but the hunt under the woods did not idle. Agoutis, peccaries, capybaras, kangaroos, fur and feather game literally swarmed, and Gideon Spilett and Harbert were too good marksmen to henceforth waste a single shot.

Cyrus Smith still recommended them to spare the ammunition, and he took measures to replace the powder and lead which had been found in the case, and which he wished to reserve for the future.

Did he know, indeed, where chance might one day throw him and his own, in the case where they should leave their domain? It was necessary, then, to provide for all the necessities of the unknown, and to spare the ammunition, substituting for it other easily renewable substances.

To replace the lead, of which Cyrus Smith had encountered no trace in the island, he employed without too much disadvantage some iron shot, which was easy to manufacture. These grains not having the weight of lead grains, he had to make them larger, and each charge contained fewer of them, but the skill of the hunters supplied this defect. As for powder, Cyrus Smith could have made some, for he had at his disposal saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal; but this preparation demands extreme care, and, without special tooling, it is difficult to produce it in good quality.

Cyrus Smith preferred, then, to manufacture pyroxylin, that is to say fulmi-cotton, a substance in which cotton is not indispensable, for there enters only as cellulose. Now, cellulose is none other than the elementary tissue of vegetables, and it is found almost in a state of purity, not only in cotton, but in the textile fibers of hemp and flax, in paper, old linen, elder pith, etc. Now, precisely, elders abounded in the island, toward the mouth of Red Creek, and the colonists already employed in guise of coffee the berries of these shrubs, which belong to the family of caprifoliaceae.

Thus, this elder pith, that is to say cellulose, it sufficed to gather it, and, as for the other substance necessary to the manufacture of pyroxylin, it was only fuming nitric acid.

Now, Cyrus Smith, having sulfuric acid at his disposal, had already been able easily to produce nitric acid, by attacking the saltpeter furnished him by nature.

“Stories of the world, in your language.”