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Updated: May 19, 2025
It is true that, as Gideon Spilett observed, any remains of it might have drifted out to sea, and they must not take it for granted that because they could find no traces of it, a ship had not been castaway on the coast. The reporter's argument was just, and besides, the incident of the bullet proved that a shot must have been fired in Lincoln Island within three months.
Five minutes after leaving the cart, Gideon Spilett and Pencroft arrived at the edge of the wood before the clearing beyond which rose the palisade. They stopped. A few straggling beams still fell on the field clear of trees. Thirty feet distant was the gate of the corral, which appeared to be closed.
"Bows and arrows were sufficient for centuries to stain the earth with blood. Powder is but a thing of yesterday, and war is as old as the human race unhappily." "Faith, that's true, Mr. Spilett," replied the sailor, "and I always speak too quickly. You must excuse me!" Meanwhile, Herbert constant to his favorite science, Natural History, reverted to the kangaroos, saying,
Two of the settlers were to watch together, and every two hours it was agreed that they should be relieved by their comrades. And so, notwithstanding his wish to the contrary, Herbert was exempted from guard. Pencroft and Gideon Spilett in one party, the engineer and Neb in another, mounted guard in turns over the camp. The night, however, was but of few hours.
"At any rate," said Gideon Spilett, "whether rock or explosion, you will agree, Pencroft, that it occurred just in the nick of time!" "Yes! yes!" replied the sailor, "but that is not the question. I ask Captain Harding if he sees anything supernatural in all this." "I cannot say, Pencroft," said the engineer. "That is all the answer I can make." A reply which did not satisfy Pencroft at all.
"Masons, no, but chemists," replied the engineer. "Yes," added the reporter, "we are going to blow up the island " "Blow up the island?" cried Pencroft. "Part of it, at least," replied Spilett. "Listen to me, my friends," said the engineer. And he made known to them the result of his observations.
The weather was fine. The sun's bright rays glanced through the trees. "Are the guns ready?" asked Cyrus Harding. They were. The engineer and Pencroft, each armed with a double-barreled gun, and Gideon Spilett carrying his rifle, had nothing to do but start. "Are you comfortable, Herbert?" asked the engineer. "Ah, captain," replied the lad, "don't be uneasy, I shall not die on the road!"
The island was spread out under their eyes like a map, and they had only to give names to all its angles and points. Gideon Spilett would write them down, and the geographical nomenclature of the island would be definitely adopted. First, they named the two bays and the mountain, Union Bay, Washington Bay, and Mount Franklin, as the engineer had suggested.
When the cart reached the palisade, it stopped. Neb remained at the onagas' heads to hold them. The engineer, the reporter, Herbert, and Pencroft, proceeded to the door, in order to ascertain if it was barricaded inside. It was open! "What do you say now?" asked the engineer, turning to the sailor and Spilett. Both were stupefied. "I can swear," said Pencroft, "that this gate was shut just now!"
"What year?" "Twelve years! twelve years!" he exclaimed. Then he left him abruptly. Herbert reported to the colonists the questions and answers which had been made. "This unfortunate man," observed Gideon Spilett, "was no longer acquainted with either months or years!" "Yes!" added Herbert, "and he had been twelve years already on the islet when we found him there!"
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