Part 1 (1/2)
ABANDONED
BY JULES VERNE
CHAPTER I
Conversation on the Subject of the Bullet -- Construction of a Canoe -- Hunting -- At the Top of a Kauri -- Nothing to attest the Presence of Man -- Neb and Herbert's Prize -- Turning a Turtle -- The Turtle disappears -- Cyrus Harding's Explanation
It was now exactly seven ers had been thrown on Lincoln Island During that ti the researches they hadhad been discovered No smoke even had betrayed the presence of es of his handiwork showed that either at an early or at a late period had man lived there Not only did it now appear to be uninhabited by any but themselves, but the colonists were compelled to believe that it never had been inhabited And now, all this scaffolding of reasonings fell before a simple ball of metal, found in the body of an inoffensive rodent! In fact, this bulletcould have used such a weapon?
When Pencroft had placed the bullet on the table, his companions looked at it with intense astonishment All the consequences likely to result fronificance, immediately took possession of theircould not have startled theive utterance to the suggestions which this fact, at once surprising and unexpected, could not fail to raise in his mind He took the bullet, turned it over and over, rolled it between his finger and thu to Pencroft, he asked,-- ”Are you sure that the peccary wounded by this bullet was not more than three months old?”
”Notits mother when I found it in the trap”
”Well,” said the engineer, ”that proves that within three un-shot was fired in Lincoln Island”
”And that a bullet,” added Gideon Spilett, ”wounded, though not mortally, this little ani, ”and these are the deductions which must be drawn from this incident: that the island was inhabited before our arrival, or that men have landed here within three months Did theseon the shore or by being wrecked? This point can only be cleared up later As to what they were, Europeans or Malays, eneuess; and if they still inhabit the island, or if they have left it, we know not But these questions are of toounsettled”
”No! a hundred ti up from the table ”There are no other men than ourselves on Lincoln Island! By e, and if it had been inhabited, we should have seen so before this!”
”In fact, the contrary would be very astonishi+ng,” said Herbert
”But it would be , I should think,” observed the reporter, ”that this peccary should have been born with a bullet in its inside!”
”At least,” said Neb seriously, ”if Pencroft has not had--”
”Look here, Neb,” burst out Pencroft ”Do you think I could have a bullet init out? Where could it be hidden?” he asked opening his mouth to show the two-and-thirty teeth hich it was furnished ”Look well, Neb, and if you find one hollow tooth in this set, I will let you pull out half a dozen!”
”Neb's supposition is certainly inadravity of his thoughts, could not restrain a sun has been fired in the island, within three months at most But I am inclined to think that the people who landed on this coast were only here a very short tio, or that they just touched here; for if, e surveyed the island from the summit of Mount Franklin, it had been inhabited, we should have seen them or we should have been seen ourselves It is therefore probable that within only a feeeks castaways have been thrown by a storm on some part of the coast However that may be, it is of consequence to us to have this point settled”
”I think that we should act with caution,” said the reporter
”Such is , ”for it is to be feared that Malay pirates have landed on the island!”
”Captain,” asked the sailor, ”would it not be a good plan, before setting out, to build a canoe in which we could either ascend the river, or, if we liked, coast round the island? It will not do to be unprovided”
”Your idea is good, Pencroft,” replied the engineer, ”but we cannot wait for that It would take at least a month to build a boat”
”Yes, a real boat,” replied the sailor; ”but we do not want one for a sea voyage, and in five days at the ate the Mercy”
”Five days,” cried Neb, ”to build a boat?”
”Yes, Neb; a boat in the Indian fashi+on”
”Of wood?” asked the negro, looking still unconvinced
”Of wood,” replied Pencroft, ”or rather of bark I repeat, captain, that in five days the ill be finished!”
”In five days, then, be it,” replied the engineer
”But till that time we must be very watchful,” said Herbert
”Very watchful indeed,you to confine your hunting excursions to the neighbourhood of Granite House”
The dinner ended less gaily than Pencroft had hoped
So, then, the island was, or had been, inhabited by others than the settlers Proved as it was by the incident of the bullet, it was hereafter an unquestionable fact, and such a discovery could not but cause great uneasiness a and Gideon Spilett, before sleeping, conversed long about the ht not have soineer had been saved, and the other peculiar circumstances which had struck the discussed the pros and cons of the question, ended by saying,-- ”In short, would you like to know my opinion, my dear Spilett?”
”Yes, Cyrus”
”Well, then, it is this: however ”
The next day Pencroft set to work He did not , but simply a flat-botto the Mercy--above all, for approaching its source, where the water would naturally be shallow Pieces of bark, fastened one to the other, would forht boat; and in case of natural obstacles, which would render a portage necessary, it would be easily carried Pencroft intended to secure the pieces of bark by ht
It was first necessary to select the trees which would afford a strong and supple bark for the work Now the last store birch trees, the bark of which would be perfectly suited for their purpose Soround, and they had only to be barked, which was theto the imperfect tools which the settlers possessed However, they overcame all difficulties
Whilst the sailor, seconded by the engineer, thus occupied hi an hour, Gideon Spilett and Herbert were not idle They were made purveyors to the colony The reporter could not but ad the bow and spear Herbert also showed great courage and much of that presence ofof bravery” These two co's recoo beyond a radius of two miles round Granite House; but the borders of the forest furnished a sufficient tribute of agouties, capybaras, kangaroos, peccaries, etc; and if the result fro the cold, still the warren yielded its accustoht have fed all the colony in Lincoln Island
Often during these excursions, Herbert talked with Gideon Spilett on the incident of the bullet, and the deductions which the engineer drew from it, and one day--it was the 26th of October--he said,-- ”But, Mr Spilett, do you not think it very extraordinary that, if any castaways have landed on the island, they have not yet shown the if they are still here,” replied the reporter, ”but not astonishi+ng at all if they are here no longer!”
”So you think that these people have already quitted the island?” returned Herbert
”It is ed, and above all, if they were still here, some accident would have at last betrayed their presence”
”But if they were able to go away,” observed the lad, ”they could not have been castaways”
”No, Herbert; or, at least, they hat ht be called provisional castaways It is very possible that a stor their vessel, and that, the store one thing,” said Herbert, ”it is that Captain Harding appears rather to fear than desire the presence of hus on our island”
”In short,” responded the reporter, ”there are only Malays who frequent these seas, and those fellows are ruffians which it is best to avoid”
”It is not impossible, Mr Spilett,” said Herbert, ”that so”
”I do not say no, my boy A deserted camp, the ashes of a fire, would put us on the track, and this is ill look for in our next expedition”
The day on which the hunters spoke thus, they were in a part of the forest near the Mercy, re others, rose, to a height of nearly 200 feet above the ground, some of those superb coniferae, to which, in New Zealand, the natives give the name of Kauris