Part 7 (2/2)
”No,” replied the engineer ”But it would perhaps be a good thing to do it with this instrument, which is more perfect than that which you before used”
”What is the good?” said Pencroft ”The island is quite comfortable where it is!”
”Well, who knows,” returned the reporter, ”who knows but that we may be much nearer inhabited land than we think?”
”We shall know to , ”and if it had not been for the occupations which left me no leisure, we should have known it already”
”Good!” said Pencroft ”The captain is too good an observer to be mistaken, and, if it has not moved from its place, the island is just where he put it”
”We shall see”
[Illustration: THE VERANDAH ON THE EDGE OF PROSPECT HEIGHTS]
On the next day, therefore, by ineer made the necessary observations to verify the position which he had already obtained, and this was the result of his operation His first observation had given hiitude: from 150 to 155; In south latitude: froitude: 150 30'; In south latitude: 34 57'
So then, notwithstanding the i had operated with so rees
”Now,” said Gideon Spilett, ”since we possess an atlas as well as a sextant, let us see, my dear Cyrus, the exact position which Lincoln Island occupies in the Pacific”
Herbert fetched the atlas, and the ineer, compass in hand, prepared to determine their position
Suddenly the compasses stopped, and he exclaimed,-- ”But an island exists in this part of the Pacific already!”
”An island?” cried Pencroft
”Tabor Island”
”An important island?”
”No, an islet lost in the Pacific, and which perhaps has never been visited”
”Well, ill visit it,” said Pencroft
”We?”
”Yes, captain We will build a decked boat, and I will undertake to steer her At what distance are we from this Tabor Island?”
”About a hundred and fifty
”A hundred and fifty ht hours, with a good wind, we should sight it!”
And, on this reply, it was decided that a vessel should be constructed in time to be launched towards the month of next October, on the return of the fine season
CHAPTER X
Boat-building -- Second Crop of Corn -- Hunting Koalas -- A new Plant, ht -- A Harpoon fro up the Whale -- Use for the Bones -- End of the Month of May -- Pencroft has nothing left to wish for
When Pencroft had once got a plan into his head, he had no peace till it was executed Noished to visit Tabor Island, and as a boat of a certain size was necessary for this voyage, he determined to build one
What wood should be employed? Elm or fir, both of which abounded in the island? They decided for the fir, as being easy to work, but which stands water as well as the elreed that since the fine season would not return before sixand Pencroft should work alone at the boat Gideon Spilett and Herbert were to continue to hunt, and neither Neb nor Master Jup his assistant were to leave the domestic duties which had devolved upon them
Directly the trees were chosen, they were felled, stripped of their branches, and sawn into planks as well as sawyers would have been able to do it A week after, in the recess between the Chimneys and the cliff, a dockyard was prepared, and a keel five-and-thirty feet long, furnished with a stern-post at the stern and a ste was not working in the dark at this new trade He knew aselse, and he had at first drawn the model of his shi+p on paper Besides, he was ably seconded by Pencroft, who, having worked for several years in a dockyard at Brooklyn, knew the practical part of the trade It was not until after careful calculation and deep thought that the timbers were laid on the keel
Pencroft, as erness to carry out his new enterprise, and would not leave his work for an instant
A single thing had the honour of drawing him, but for one day only, froathered in on the 15th of April It was as rains which had been predicted
”Five bushels, captain,” said Pencroft, after having scrupulously ineer; ”and a hundred and thirty thousand grains a bushel will rains”
”Well, ill sow them all this time,” said the sailor, ”except a little in reserve”
”Yes, Pencroft, and if the next crop gives a proportionate yield, we shall have four thousand bushels”
”And shall we eat bread?”
”We shall eat bread”
”But we must have a mill”
”We will er than the two first, and the soil, prepared with extreme care, received the precious seed That done, Pencroft returned to his work
During this tihbourhood, and they ventured deep into the still unknown parts of the Far West, their guns loaded with ball, ready for any dangerous enificent trees, crowded together as if pressed for room The exploration of these dense masses of as difficult in the extreme, and the reporter never ventured there without the pocket-coe, and it would have been very difficult for theame was more rare in those situations where there was hardly sufficient rooe herbivorous aniht of April These were koalas, specimens of which the settlers had already seen to the north of the lake, and which stupidly allowed the the thick branches of the trees in which they took refuge Their skins were brought back to Granite House, and there, by the help of sulphuric acid, they were subjected to a sort of tanning process which rendered the used
[Illustration: THE DOCKYARD]
On the 30th of April, the two sportsmen were in the depth of the Far West, when the reporter, preceding Herbert a few paces, arrived in a sort of clearing, into which the trees more sparsely scattered had permitted a few rays to penetrate Gideon Spilett was at first surprised at the odour which exhaled froht stalks, round and branchy, bearing grape-like clusters of flowers and very small berries The reporter broke off one or two of these stalks and returned to the lad, to whom he said,-- ”What can this be, Herbert?”
”Well, Mr Spilett,” said Herbert, ”this is a treasure which will secure you Pencroft's gratitude for ever”
”Is it tobacco?”
”Yes, and though it may not be of the first quality, it is none the less tobacco!”