style="font-size:15px;"> They saw some mountain pheasants. Some crows and magpies flew about. The colonists had nothing but stones and sticks. Suddenly some kangaroos leaped away through the underbrush.
– Can you eat them? – said Pencroff.
– They make a delicious stew, – said the reporter.
The sailor with Neb and Herbert rushed after the kangaroos. Soon they came back.
– You see, Mr. Smith, – said Pencroff, – we need guns. Will it be possible to make them?
– Perhaps, – replied the engineer; – but first we will make bows and arrows.
Top rushed hither and thither. About 3 o’clock Top disappeared into the bushes, from which came grunts and growls. Neb rushed in. Top was greedily devouring an animal. It was an agouti[41], an American hare with long ears.
– Hurrah! – cried Pencroff, – the roast is here; now we can go back to the house.
The lake 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. It lay among the trees. To the north the curve of the lake was concave. The waters of the lake were fresh and limpid, somewhat dark, and were evidently full of fish.
– How beautiful this lake is! – said Spilett. – We can live on its banks.
– We will live there! – answered Smith.
The colonists went down. After a two miles’ walk they came upon the thick turf of the plateau, and saw before them the infinite ocean. 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 broiled the agouti. Smith drew from his pocket some minerals, and said quietly,
– My friends, this is iron ore, this a pyrite, this is clay, this is limestone, this is charcoal.
Chapter XIII
First, it was necessary to make an oven.
– Why oven? – asked Pencroff.
– To make the pottery, – replied Smith.
– And how will we make an oven?
– With bricks.
– And how will we make the bricks?
– With the clay.
– I need a knife! – cried the sailor, – I can make a bow and arrows.
– A knife. Something that will cut, – said the engineer. – Come here, Top, – he called.
The dog bounded to his master, and Smith took off its collar. He broke it into halves, and said:
– Here are two knives, Pencroff.
Top’s collar was made from steel. They will sharpen it!
The engineer decided to return to the western bank of the lake, where he saw the clay. They crossed Prospect Plateau, and after a walk, they arrived at a glade. On the way, Herbert discovered a tree from which the South American Indians make bows. The ground was composed of that clay which is used for bricks and tiles. The labor was not difficult. It was only necessary to clean the clay of sand, mould the bricks, and then bake them before a wood fire.
During the two days they hunted in the neighborhood, very successfully. Pencroff had dozens of arrows with very sharp points. Top brought a porcupine, it had perfect quills[42]. The men fastened those quills to the ends of the arrows. Soon they got enough food.
By the 9th of April the engineer had about enough bricks. They, therefore, began at once the construction of an oven. Five days later, the oven was supplied with coal. The colonists moulded pots and mugs, plates and jars, tubs and vessels. Their form was rude and defective, but they finally had real kitchen utensils.
The work lasted until the 15th of April. The colonists became potters. This evening the colonists were seating in the central chamber. Neb prepared some agouti soup. Before going to sleep, the party went to the beach. It was 8 o’clock, and the night was magnificent. The moon was shining above the constellations. For some moments the engineer gazed at it attentively. Then he said:
– Tomorrow will be one of the four days in the year when the mean and real time are the same. Tomorrow the sun will pass the meridian. If, therefore, the weather is clear, I think I will be able to tell the longitude of the island.
The next day the engineer began his astronomical observation. He chose a smooth dry place upon the sand. Smith knelt down upon the sand and began to mark the decrease in the length of the shadow. His companions watched the operation with interest.
The shadow diminished little by little. When it began to lengthen Smith exclaimed:
– We are at least 1,200 miles from Tahiti[43] and from the Low Archipelago, fully 1,800 miles from New Zealand[44], and more than 4,500 miles from the coast of America.
But Cyrus Smith did not remember any island in the Pacific which occupied the position of Lincoln Island.
Chapter XIV
One day the engineer proposed to explore the eastern and western shores of the lake. The landscape was charming. Smith and his companions moved over this unexplored neighborhood. Bows and arrows and sticks were their sole weapons.
They soon reached the mouth of Red Creek. On this side the bank, clumps of trees, here and there, made a picturesque landscape. The whole extent of the lake was visible. The colonists were following the southern bank of the lake, when Top suddenly stopped. It raised one foot, and looked into the water. Then it barked furiously.
At first neither Smith nor his companions paid any attention to the dog’s actions. But Top’s barking became incessant.
– What is it, Top? – asked the engineer.
The dog bounded towards his master and rushed back to the bank. Then, suddenly, it threw himself into the lake.
– Come back, Top! – cried the engineer.
– What’s going on under there? – asked the sailor. He was examining the surface of the lake.
– Top smelt some animal, – answered Herbert.
– It must be an alligator, – said the reporter.
– I don’t think so, – answered Smith. – Alligators do not live in this latitude.
Smith called the dog again. Suddenly an enormous head emerged from the water.
Herbert recognized it, the comical face, with huge eyes and long silky moustaches. It was a dugong[45]. The huge monster caught the dog. The dog disappeared under the water.
A
agouti – агути (
quill –
Tahiti – Таити
New Zealand – Новая Зеландия
dugong – дюгонь (
