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Updated: May 20, 2025
But, very fortunately, these fears were not realised. The wind shifted to the south-east, and there the beach of Granite House was completely covered by Flotsam Point. Pencroft and Ayrton, the most zealous workmen at the new vessel, pursued their labour as long as they could.
"A castaway!" exclaimed Pencroft; "left on this Tabor Island not two hundred miles from us! Ah, Captain Harding, you won't now oppose my going." "No, Pencroft," replied Cyrus Harding; "and you shall set out as soon as possible." "To-morrow?" "To-morrow!" The engineer still held in his hand the paper which he had taken from the bottle. He contemplated it for some instants, then resumed,
And I fancy, when you have seen our tight-rigged little craft, when you have observed how she behaves at sea, when we sail round our island, for we will do so together I fancy, I say, that you will no longer hesitate to let me go. I don't conceal from you that your boat will be a masterpiece." "Say 'our' boat, at least, Pencroft," replied the engineer, disarmed for the moment.
Under the trees, thanks to the thickness of their foliage, the obscurity rendered any object invisible beyond a radius of from thirty to forty feet. The reporter and Pencroft, halting at any suspicious sound, advanced with great caution. They walked a little distance apart from each other so as to offer a less mark for a shot. And, to tell the truth, they expected every moment to hear a report.
A ray glanced on the table placed near the bed. Suddenly Pencroft, uttering a cry, pointed to the table. On it lay a little oblong box, of which the cover bore these words: "SULPHATE OF QUININE." Gideon Spilett took the box and opened it. It contained nearly two hundred grains of a white powder, a few particles of which he carried to his lips.
Now it happens that it is during the winter of the southern countries that it is at its most distant point from the sun, and consequently, in a situation for those regions to feel the greatest cold. Nothing can be done to prevent that, and men, Pencroft, however learned they may be, can never change anything of the cosmographical order established by God Himself."
"Indeed," said the sailor, "already it is something to be able to say where one is going, and where one has come from. At least, it looks like somewhere." "The Chimneys, for example," said Herbert. "Exactly!" replied Pencroft. "That name was the most convenient, and it came to me quite of myself. Shall we keep the name of the Chimneys for our first encampment, captain?"
"Oh!" said Pencroft, "that isn't a man to be troubled by a stream like Creek Glycerine! He could cross it directly, at a single bound!" "We shall soon see," Harding contented himself with replying, his eyes not quitting those of his patient. The latter was then led towards the mouth of the Mercy, and all climbing the left bank of the river, reached Prospect Heights.
"Pencroft," said Cyrus Harding, "will you take my shoe and see if it fits exactly to the footprints?" The sailor did as the engineer requested. While he and Herbert, guided by Neb, went to the place where the footprints were to be found, Cyrus remarked to the reporter, "It is a most extraordinary thing!" "Perfectly inexplicable!" replied Gideon Spilett.
Pencroft thus obtained bows of tolerable strength, for which he only wanted arrows. These were easily made with straight stiff branches, without knots, but the points with which they must be armed, that is to say, a substance to serve in lieu of iron, could not be met with so easily. But Pencroft said, that having done his part of the work, chance would do the rest.
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