IN WHICH GODFREY DOES WHAT ANY OTHER SHIPWRECKED MAN WOULD HAVE DONE UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES.
The night passed without incident. The two men, quite knocked up with excitement and fatigue1, had slept as peacefully as if they had been in the most comfortable room in the mansion2 in Montgomery Street.
On the morrow, the 27th of June, at the first rays of the rising sun, the crow of the cock awakened3 them.
Godfrey immediately recognized where he was, but Tartlet4 had to rub his eyes and stretch his arms for some time before he did so.
"Is breakfast this morning to resemble dinner yesterday?" was his first observation.
"I am afraid so," answered Godfrey. "But I hope we shall dine better this evening."
The professor could not restrain a significant grimace5. Where were the tea and sandwiches which had hitherto[Pg 105] been brought to him when he awoke? How could he wait till breakfast-time, the bell for which would perhaps never sound, without this preparatory repast?
But it was necessary to make a start. Godfrey felt the responsibility which rested on him, on him alone, for he could in no way depend on his companion. In that empty box which served the professor for a cranium there could be born no practical idea; Godfrey would have to think, contrive6, and decide for both.
His first thought was for Phina, his betrothed7, whom he had so stupidly refused to make his wife; his second for his Uncle Will, whom he had so imprudently left, and then turning to Tartlet,—
"To vary our ordinary," he said, "here are some shell-fish and half a dozen eggs."
"And nothing to cook them with!"
"Nothing!" said Godfrey. "But if the food itself was missing, what would you say then, Tartlet?"
"I should say that nothing was not enough," said Tartlet drily.
Nevertheless, they had to be content with this repast.
The very natural idea occurred to Godfrey to push forward the reconnaissance commenced the previous evening. Above all it was necessary to know as soon as possible in what part of the Pacific Ocean the Dream had been lost, so[Pg 106] as to discover some inhabited place on the shore, where they could either arrange the way of returning home or await the passing of some ship.
Godfrey observed that if he could cross the second line of hills, whose picturesque8 outline was visible beyond the first, that he might perhaps be able to do this. He reckoned that they could get there in an hour or two, and it was to this urgent exploration that he resolved to devote the first hours of the day. He looked round him. The cocks and hens were beginning to peck about among the high vegetation. Agouties, goats, sheep, went and came on the skirt of the forest.
Godfrey did not care to drag all this flock of poultry9 and quadrupeds about with him. But to keep them more safely in this place, it would be necessary to leave Tartlet in charge of them.
Tartlet agreed to remain alone, and for several hours to act as shepherd of the flock.
He made but one observation,—
"If you lose yourself, Godfrey?"
"Have no fear of that," answered the young man, "I have only this forest to cross, and as you will not leave its edge I am certain to find you again."
"Don't forget the telegram to your Uncle Will, and ask him for a good many hundred dollars."
[Pg 107]
"The telegram—or the letter! It is all one!" answered Godfrey, who so long as he had not fixed10 on the position of this land was content to leave Tartlet to his illusions.
Then having shaken hands with the professor, he plunged11 beneath the trees, whose thick branches scarcely allowed the sun's rays to penetrate12. It was their direction, however, which was to guide our young explorer towards the high hill whose curtain hid from his view the whole of the eastern horizon.
Footpath13 there was none. The ground, however, was not free from all imprint14. Godfrey in certain places remarked the tracks of animals. On two or three occasions he even believed he saw some rapid ruminants moving off, either elans, deer, or wapiti, but he recognized no trace of ferocious15 animals such as tigers or jaguars16, whose absence, however, was no cause for regret.
The first floor of the forest, that is to say all that portion of the trees comprised between the first fork and the branches, afforded an asylum17 to a great number of birds—wild pigeons by the hundred beneath the trees, ospreys, grouse18, aracaris with beaks19 like a lobster's claw, and higher, hovering20 above the glades21, two or three of those lammergeiers whose eye resembles a cockade. But none of the birds were of such special kinds that he could therefrom make out the latitude22 of this continent.
[Pg 108]
So it was with the trees of this forest. Almost the same species as those in that part of the United States which comprises Lower California, the Bay of Monterey, and New Mexico.
Arbutus-trees, large-flowered cornels, maples23, birches, oaks, four or five varieties of magnolias and sea-pines, such as are met with in South Carolina, then in the centre of vast clearances24, olive-trees, chestnuts25, and small shrubs26. Tufts of tamarinds, myrtles, and mastic-trees, such as are produced in the temperate27 zone. Generally, there was enough space between the trees to allow him to pass without being obliged to call on fire or the axe28. The sea breeze circulated freely amid the higher branches, and here and there great patches of light shone on the ground.
And so Godfrey went along striking an oblique29 line beneath these large trees. To take any precautions never occurred to him. The desire to reach the heights which bordered the forest on the east entirely30 absorbed him. He sought among the foliage31 for the direction of the solar rays so as to march straight on his goal. He did not even see the guide-birds, so named because they fly before the steps of the traveller, stopping, returning, and darting32 on ahead as if they were showing the way. Nothing could distract him.
His state of mind was intelligible33. Before an hour had[Pg 109] elapsed his fate would be settled! Before an hour he would know if it were possible to reach some inhabited portion of the continent.
Already Godfrey, reasoning on what had been the route followed and the way made by the Dream during a navigation of seventeen days, had concluded that it could only be on the Japanese or Chinese coast that the ship had gone down.
Besides the position of the sun, always in the south, rendered it quite certain that the Dream had not crossed the line.
Two hours after he had started Godfrey reckoned the distance he had travelled at about five miles, considering several circuits which he had had to make owing to the density34 of the forest. The second group of hills could not be far away.
Already the trees were getting farther apart from each other, forming isolated35 groups, and the rays of light penetrated36 more easily through the lofty branches. The ground began slightly to slope, and then abruptly37 to rise.
Although he was somewhat fatigued38, Godfrey had enough will not to slacken his pace. He would doubtless have run had it not been for the steepness of the earlier ascents39.
He had soon got high enough to overlook the general[Pg 110] mass of the verdant41 dome42 which stretched away behind him, and whence several heads of trees here and there emerged.
But Godfrey did not dream of looking back. His eyes never quitted the line of the denuded43 ridge44, which showed itself about 400 or 500 feet before and above him. That was the barrier which all the time hid him from the eastern horizon.
A tiny cone45, obliquely46 truncated47, overlooked this rugged48 line and joined on with its gentle slope to the sinuous49 crest50 of the hills.
"There! there!" said Godfrey, "that is the point I must reach! The top of that cone! And from there what shall I see?—A town?—A village?—A desert?"
Highly excited, Godfrey mounted the hill, keeping his elbows at his chest to restrain the beating of his heart. His panting tired him, but he had not the patience to stop so as to recover himself. Were he to have fallen half fainting on the summit of the cone which shot up about 100 feet above his head, he would not have lost a minute in hastening towards it.
A few minutes more and he would be there. The ascent40 seemed to him steep enough on his side, an angle perhaps of thirty or thirty-five degrees. He helped himself up with hands and feet; he seized on the tufts of slender herbs on[Pg 111] the hill-side, and on a few meagre shrubs, mastics and myrtles, which stretched away up to the top.
A last effort was made! His head rose above the platform of the cone, and then, lying on his stomach, his eyes gazed at the eastern horizon.
It was the sea which formed it. Twenty miles off it united with the line of the sky!
He turned round.
Still sea—west of him, south of him, north of him! The immense ocean surrounding him on all sides!
"An island!"
As he uttered the word Godfrey felt his heart shrink. The thought had not occurred to him that he was on an island. And yet such was the case! The terrestrial chain which should have attached him to the continent was abruptly broken. He felt as though he had been a sleeping man in a drifted boat, who awoke with neither oar51 nor sail to help him back to shore.
But Godfrey was soon himself again. His part was taken, to accept the situation. If the chances of safety did not come from without, it was for him to contrive them.
He set to work at first then as exactly as possible to ascertain52 the disposition53 of this island which his view embraced over its whole length. He estimated that it ought to measure about sixty miles round, being, as far as[Pg 112] he could see, about twenty miles long from south to north, and twelve miles wide from east to west.
Its central part was screened by the green depths of forest which extended up to the ridge dominated by the cone, whose slope died away on the shore.
All the rest was prairie, with clumps54 of trees, or beach with rocks, whose outer ring was capriciously tapered55 off in the form of capes56 and promontories57. A few creeks58 cut out the coast, but could only afford refuge for two or three fishing-boats.
The bay at the bottom of which the Dream lay shipwrecked was the only one of any size, and that extended over some seven or eight miles. An open roadstead, no vessel59 would have found it a safe shelter, at least unless the wind was blowing from the east.
But what was this island? To what geographical60 group did it belong? Did it form part of an archipelago, or was it alone in this portion of the Pacific?
In any case, no other island, large or small, high or low, appeared within the range of vision.
Godfrey rose and gazed round the horizon. Nothing was to be seen along the circular line where sea and sky ran into each other. If, then, there existed to windward or to leeward61 any island or coast of a continent, it could only be at a considerable distance.
[Pg 113]
Godfrey called up all his geographical reminiscences, in order to discover what island of the Pacific this could be. In reasoning it out he came to this conclusion.
The Dream for seventeen days had steered62 very nearly south-west. Now with a speed of from 150 to 180 miles every four-and-twenty hours, she ought to have covered nearly fifty degrees. Now it was obvious that she had not crossed the equator.
The situation of the island, or of the group to which it belonged, would therefore have to be looked for in that part of the ocean comprised between the 160th and 170th degrees of west longitude63.
In this portion of the Pacific it seemed to Godfrey that the map showed no other archipelago than that of the Sandwich Islands, but outside this archipelago were there not any isolated islands whose names escaped him and which were dotted here and there over the sea up to the coast of the Celestial64 Empire?
It was not of much consequence. There existed no means of his going in search of another spot on the ocean which might prove more hospitable65.
"Well," said Godfrey to himself, "if I don't know the name of this island, I'll call it Phina Island, in memory of her I ought never to have left to run about the world, and perhaps the name will bring us some luck."
[Pg 114]
Godfrey then occupied himself in trying to ascertain if the island was inhabited in the part which he had not yet been able to visit.
From the top of the cone he saw nothing which betrayed the presence of aborigines, neither habitations on the prairie nor houses on the skirt of the trees, not even a fisherman's hut on the shore.
But if the island was deserted66, the sea which surrounded it was none the less so, for not a ship showed itself within the limits of what, from the height of the cone, was a considerable circuit.
Godfrey having finished his exploration had now only to get down to the foot of the hill and retake the road through the forest so as to rejoin Tartlet. But before he did so his eyes were attracted by a sort of cluster of trees of huge stature67, which rose on the boundary of the prairie towards the north. It was a gigantic group, it exceeded by a head all those which Godfrey had previously68 seen.
"Perhaps," he said, "it would be better to take up our quarters over there, more especially as if I am not mistaken I can see a stream which should rise in the central chain and flow across the prairie."
This was to be looked into on the morrow.
Towards the south the aspect of the island was slightly different. Forests and prairies rapidly gave place to the[Pg 115] yellow carpet of the beach, and in places the shore was bounded with picturesque rocks.
But what was Godfrey's surprise, when he thought he saw a light smoke, which rose in the air beyond this rocky barrier.
"Are there any of our companions?" he exclaimed. "But no, it is not possible! Why should they have got so far from the bay since yesterday, and round so many miles of reef? Is it a village of fishermen, or the encampment of some indigenous69 tribe?"
Godfrey watched it with the closest attention. Was this gentle vapour which the breeze softly blew towards the west a smoke? Could he be mistaken? Anyhow it quickly vanished, a few minutes afterwards nothing could be seen of it.
It was a false hope.
Godfrey took a last look in its direction, and then seeing nothing, glided70 down the slope, and again plunged beneath the trees.
An hour later he had traversed the forest and found himself on its skirt.
There Tartlet awaited him with his two-footed and four-footed flock. And how was the obstinate71 professor occupying himself? In the same way. A bit of wood was in his right hand another piece in his left, and he still[Pg 116] continued his efforts to set them alight. He rubbed and rubbed with a constancy worthy72 of a better fate.
"Well," he shouted as he perceived Godfrey some distance off—"and the telegraph office?"
"It is not open!" answered Godfrey, who dared not yet tell him anything of the situation.
"And the post?"
"It is shut! But let us have something to eat!—I am dying with hunger! We can talk presently."
And this morning Godfrey and his companion had again to content themselves with a too meagre repast of raw eggs and shell-fish.
"Wholesome73 diet!" repeated Godfrey to Tartlet, who was hardly of that opinion and picked his food with considerable care.
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1
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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3
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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tartlet
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| n.小形的果子馅饼 | |
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grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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7
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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8
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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11
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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12
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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13
footpath
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| n.小路，人行道 | |
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14
imprint
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| n.印痕，痕迹；深刻的印象；vt.压印，牢记 | |
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15
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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jaguars
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| n.（中、南美洲的）美洲虎( jaguar的名词复数 ) | |
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17
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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18
grouse
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| n.松鸡；v.牢骚，诉苦 | |
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beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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21
glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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22
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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23
maples
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| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
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clearances
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| 清除( clearance的名词复数 )； 许可； （录用或准许接触机密以前的）审查许可； 净空 | |
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25
chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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27
temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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28
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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oblique
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| adj.斜的，倾斜的，无诚意的，不坦率的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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32
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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density
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| n.密集，密度，浓度 | |
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isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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ascents
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| n.上升( ascent的名词复数 )；（身份、地位等的）提高；上坡路；攀登 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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verdant
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| adj.翠绿的，青翠的，生疏的，不老练的 | |
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dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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43
denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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44
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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45
cone
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| n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果 | |
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46
obliquely
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| adv.斜； 倾斜； 间接； 不光明正大 | |
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truncated
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| adj.切去顶端的，缩短了的，被删节的v.截面的( truncate的过去式和过去分词 )；截头的；缩短了的；截去顶端或末端 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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49
sinuous
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| adj.蜿蜒的，迂回的 | |
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50
crest
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| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
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51
oar
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| n.桨，橹，划手；v.划行 | |
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52
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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53
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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54
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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55
tapered
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| adj. 锥形的，尖削的，楔形的，渐缩的，斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词 | |
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capes
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| 碎谷； 斗篷( cape的名词复数 )； 披肩； 海角； 岬 | |
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promontories
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| n.岬，隆起，海角( promontory的名词复数 ) | |
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creeks
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| n.小湾( creek的名词复数 )；小港；小河；小溪 | |
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59
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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61
leeward
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| adj.背风的；下风的 | |
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62
steered
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| v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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63
longitude
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| n.经线，经度 | |
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64
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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65
hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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70
glided
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| v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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71
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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72
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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