The Mysterious Island (38 page)

The settlers hunted too the turtles which frequented the shores of
Cape Mandible. At this place the beach was covered with little mounds,
concealing perfectly spherical turtles' eggs, with white hard shells,
the albumen of which does not coagulate as that of birds' eggs. They
were hatched by the sun, and their number was naturally considerable, as
each turtle can lay annually two hundred and fifty.

"A regular egg-field," observed Gideon Spilett, "and we have nothing to
do but to pick them up."

But not being contented with simply the produce, they made chase after
the producers, the result of which was that they were able to bring back
to Granite House a dozen of these chelonians, which were really valuable
from an alimentary point of view. The turtle soup, flavored with
aromatic herbs, often gained well-merited praises for its preparer, Neb.

We must here mention another fortunate circumstance by which new stores
for the winter were laid in. Shoals of salmon entered the Mercy, and
ascended the country for several miles. It was the time at which the
females, going to find suitable places in which to spawn, precede the
males and make a great noise through the fresh water. A thousand of
these fish, which measured about two feet and a half in length, came up
the river, and a large quantity were retained by fixing dams across
the stream. More than a hundred were thus taken, which were salted and
stored for the time when winter, freezing up the streams, would render
fishing impracticable. By this time the intelligent Jup was raised
to the duty of valet. He had been dressed in a jacket, white linen
breeches, and an apron, the pockets of which were his delight. The
clever orang had been marvelously trained by Neb, and any one would have
said that the Negro and the ape understood each other when they talked
together. Jup had besides a real affection for Neb, and Neb returned
it. When his services were not required, either for carrying wood or for
climbing to the top of some tree, Jup passed the greatest part of his
time in the kitchen, where he endeavored to imitate Neb in all that he
saw him do. The black showed the greatest patience and even extreme
zeal in instructing his pupil, and the pupil exhibited remarkable
intelligence in profiting by the lessons he received from his master.

Judge then of the pleasure Master Jup gave to the inhabitants of Granite
House when, without their having had any idea of it, he appeared one
day, napkin on his arm, ready to wait at table. Quick, attentive, he
acquitted himself perfectly, changing the plates, bringing dishes,
pouring out water, all with a gravity which gave intense amusement to
the settlers, and which enraptured Pencroft.

"Jup, some soup!"

"Jup, a little agouti!"

"Jup, a plate!"

"Jup! Good Jup! Honest Jup!"

Nothing was heard but that, and Jup without ever being disconcerted,
replied to every one, watched for everything, and he shook his head in a
knowing way when Pencroft, referring to his joke of the first day, said
to him,—

"Decidedly, Jup, your wages must be doubled."

It is useless to say that the orang was now thoroughly domesticated at
Granite House, and that he often accompanied his masters to the forest
without showing any wish to leave them. It was most amusing to see him
walking with a stick which Pencroft had given him, and which he carried
on his shoulder like a gun. If they wished to gather some fruit from
the summit of a tree, how quickly he climbed for it. If the wheel of the
cart stuck in the mud, with what energy did Jup with a single heave of
his shoulder put it right again.

"What a jolly fellow he is!" cried Pencroft often. "If he was as
mischievous as he is good, there would be no doing anything with him!"

It was towards the end of January the colonists began their labors in
the center of the island. It had been decided that a corral should be
established near the sources of the Red Creek, at the foot of Mount
Franklin, destined to contain the ruminants, whose presence would have
been troublesome at Granite House, and especially for the musmons, who
were to supply the wool for the settlers' winter garments.

Each morning, the colony, sometimes entire, but more often represented
only by Harding, Herbert, and Pencroft, proceeded to the sources of the
Creek, a distance of not more than five miles, by the newly beaten road
to which the name of Corral Road had been given.

There a site was chosen, at the back of the southern ridge of the
mountain. It was a meadow land, dotted here and there with clumps of
trees, and watered by a little stream, which sprung from the slopes
which closed it in on one side. The grass was fresh, and it was not
too much shaded by the trees which grew about it. This meadow was to
be surrounded by a palisade, high enough to prevent even the most agile
animals from leaping over. This enclosure would be large enough to
contain a hundred musmons and wild goats, with all the young ones they
might produce.

The perimeter of the corral was then traced by the engineer, and
they would then have proceeded to fell the trees necessary for the
construction of the palisade, but as the opening up of the road had
already necessitated the sacrifice of a considerable number, those were
brought and supplied a hundred stakes, which were firmly fixed in the
ground.

The construction of this corral did not take less than three weeks,
for besides the palisade, Cyrus Harding built large sheds, in which the
animals could take shelter. These buildings had also to be made very
strong, for musmons are powerful animals, and their first fury was to be
feared. The stakes, sharpened at their upper end and hardened by fire,
had been fixed by means of cross-bars, and at regular distances props
assured the solidity of the whole.

The corral finished, a raid had to be made on the pastures frequented
by the ruminants. This was done on the 7th of February, on a beautiful
summer's day, and every one took part in it. The onagers, already well
trained, were ridden by Spilett and Herbert, and were of great use.

The maneuver consisted simply in surrounding the musmons and goats, and
gradually narrowing the circle around them. Cyrus Harding, Pencroft,
Neb, and Jup, posted themselves in different parts of the wood, while
the two cavaliers and Top galloped in a radius of half a mile round the
corral.

The musmons were very numerous in this part of the island. These fine
animals were as large as deer; their horns were stronger than those of
the ram, and their gray-colored fleece was mixed with long hair.

This hunting day was very fatiguing. Such going and coming, and running
and riding and shouting! Of a hundred musmons which had been surrounded,
more than two-thirds escaped, but at last, thirty of these animals and
ten wild goats were gradually driven back towards the corral, the open
door of which appearing to offer a means of escape, they rushed in and
were prisoners.

In short, the result was satisfactory, and the settlers had no reason to
complain. There was no doubt that the flock would prosper, and that at
no distant time not only wool but hides would be abundant.

That evening the hunters returned to Granite House quite exhausted.
However, notwithstanding their fatigue, they returned the next day
to visit the corral. The prisoners had been trying to overthrow the
palisade, but of course had not succeeded, and were not long in becoming
more tranquil.

During the month of February, no event of any importance occurred. The
daily labors were pursued methodically, and, as well as improving the
roads to the corral and to Port Balloon, a third was commenced, which,
starting from the enclosure, proceeded towards the western coast. The
yet unknown portion of Lincoln Island was that of the wood-covered
Serpentine Peninsula, which sheltered the wild beasts, from which Gideon
Spilett was so anxious to clear their domain.

Before the cold season should appear the most assiduous care was given
to the cultivation of the wild plants which had been transplanted from
the forest to Prospect Heights. Herbert never returned from an excursion
without bringing home some useful vegetable. One day, it was some
specimens of the chicory tribe, the seeds of which by pressure yield an
excellent oil; another, it was some common sorrel, whose antiscorbutic
qualities were not to be despised; then, some of those precious tubers,
which have at all times been cultivated in South America, potatoes, of
which more than two hundred species are now known. The kitchen garden,
now well stocked and carefully defended from the birds, was divided
into small beds, where grew lettuces, kidney potatoes, sorrel, turnips,
radishes, and other coneiferae. The soil on the plateau was particularly
fertile, and it was hoped that the harvests would be abundant.

They had also a variety of different beverages, and so long as they did
not demand wine, the most hard to please would have had no reason to
complain. To the Oswego tea, and the fermented liquor extracted from the
roots of the dragonnier, Harding had added a regular beer, made from
the young shoots of the spruce-fir, which, after having been boiled
and fermented, made that agreeable drink called by the Anglo-Americans
spring-beer.

Towards the end of the summer, the poultry-yard was possessed of
a couple of fine bustards, which belonged to the houbara species,
characterized by a sort of feathery mantle; a dozen shovelers, whose
upper mandible was prolonged on each side by a membraneous appendage;
and also some magnificent cocks, similar to the Mozambique cocks,
the comb, caruncle, and epidermis being black. So far, everything had
succeeded, thanks to the activity of these courageous and intelligent
men. Nature did much for them, doubtless; but faithful to the great
precept, they made a right use of what a bountiful Providence gave them.

After the heat of these warm summer days, in the evening when their work
was finished and the sea-breeze began to blow, they liked to sit on the
edge of Prospect Heights, in a sort of veranda, covered with creepers,
which Neb had made with his own hands. There they talked, they
instructed each other, they made plans, and the rough good-humor of
the sailor always amused this little world, in which the most perfect
harmony had never ceased to reign.

They often spoke of their country, of their dear and great America. What
was the result of the War of Secession? It could not have been greatly
prolonged. Richmond had doubtless soon fallen into the hands of General
Grant. The taking of the capital of the Confederates must have been the
last action of this terrible struggle. Now the North had triumphed in
the good cause, how welcome would have been a newspaper to the exiles in
Lincoln Island! For eleven months all communication between them and the
rest of their fellow-creatures had been interrupted, and in a short time
the 24th of March would arrive, the anniversary of the day on which
the balloon had thrown them on this unknown coast. They were then mere
castaways, not even knowing how they should preserve their miserable
lives from the fury of the elements! And now, thanks to the knowledge of
their captain, and their own intelligence, they were regular colonists,
furnished with arms, tools, and instruments; they had been able to turn
to their profit the animals, plants, and minerals of the island, that is
to say, the three kingdoms of Nature.

Yes; they often talked of all these things and formed still more plans.

As to Cyrus Harding he was for the most part silent, and listened to
his companions more often than he spoke to them. Sometimes he smiled
at Herbert's ideas or Pencroft's nonsense, but always and everywhere he
pondered over those inexplicable facts, that strange enigma, of which
the secret still escaped him!

The weather changed during the first week of March. There had been a
full moon at the commencement of the month, and the heat was excessive.
The atmosphere was felt to be full of electricity, and a period of some
length of tempestuous weather was to be feared.

Indeed, on the 2nd, peals of thunder were heard, the wind blew from the
east, and hail rattled against the facade of Granite House like
volleys of grape-shot. The door and windows were immediately closed,
or everything in the rooms would have been drenched. On seeing these
hailstones, some of which were the size of a pigeon's egg, Pencroft's
first thought was that his cornfield was in serious danger.

He directly rushed to his field, where little green heads were already
appearing, and by means of a great cloth, he managed to protect his
crop.

This bad weather lasted a week, during which time the thunder rolled
without cessation in the depths of the sky.

The colonists, not having any pressing work out of doors, profited
by the bad weather to work at the interior of Granite House, the
arrangement of which was becoming more complete from day to day. The
engineer made a turning-lathe, with which he turned several articles
both for the toilet and the kitchen, particularly buttons, the want of
which was greatly felt. A gunrack had been made for the firearms, which
were kept with extreme care, and neither tables nor cupboards were left
incomplete. They sawed, they planed, they filed, they turned; and during
the whole of this bad season, nothing was heard but the grinding
of tools or the humming of the turning-lathe which responded to the
growling of the thunder.

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 good
litter, which perfectly suited his taste.

"With good old Jup there is never any quarreling," often repeated
Pencroft, "never any improper reply. What a servant, Neb, what a
servant!"

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, he gathered
wood, and he performed another admirable piece of service which
delighted Pencroft—he never went to sleep without first coming to tuck
up the worthy sailor in his bed.