Part 15 (1/2)
For so and Gideon Spilett worked together, sometimes chemists, soineer except to hunt with Herbert, for it would not have been prudent to allow the lad to ramble alone in the forest; and it was very necessary to be on their guard As to Neb and Pencroft, one day at the stables and poultry-yard, another at the corral, without reckoning work in Granite House, they were never in want of eer worked alone, and he had resu under the trees in the plateau, neverwith his companions It really seemed as if the society of those who had saved him was insupportable to him!
”But then,” observed Pencroft, ”why did he entreat the help of his fellow-creatures? Why did he throw that paper into the sea?”
”He will tell us why,” invariably replied Cyrus Harding
”When?”
”Perhaps sooner than you think, Pencroft”
And, indeed, the day of confession was near
On the 10th of Dece saw the stranger approaching, who, in a calm voice and humble tone, said to him: ”Sir, I have a request to ineer; ”but first let er reddened, and was on the point of withdrawing Cyrus Harding understood as passing in the ineer would interrogate hi held him back
”Comrade,” said he, ”we are not only your companions but your friends I wish you to believe that, and noill listen to you”
The stranger pressed his hand over his eyes He was seized with a sort of tre able to articulate a word
”Sir,” said he at last, ”I have corant me a favour”
”What is it?”
”You have, four or five miles from here, a corral for your domesticated animals These animals need to be taken care of Will you allow azed at the unfortunateof deep commiseration; then,-- ”My friend,” said he, ”the corral has only stables hardly fit for anih for , ”ill not constrain you in anything You wish to live at the corral, so be it You will, however, be alelcome at Granite House But since you wish to live at the corral illcomfortably established there”
”Never mind that, I shall do very well”
”My friend,” answered Harding, who always intentionally e what it will be best to do in this respect”
”Thank you, sir,” replied the stranger as he withdrew
The engineer then made known to his companions the proposal which had been reed that they should build a wooden house at the corral, which they would make as comfortable as possible
That very day the colonists repaired to the corral with the necessary tools, and a week had not passed before the house was ready to receive its tenant It was built about twenty feet from the sheds, and from there it was easy to overlook the flock of sheep, which then nuhty Some furniture, a bed, table, bench, cupboard, and chest, were un, ammunition, and tools were carried to the corral
The stranger, however, had seen nothing of his neelling, and he had allowed the settlers to work there without hi, doubtless, to put the finishi+ng stroke to his work Indeed, thanks to hi up and ready to be sohen the time caeineer announced to the stranger that his dwelling was ready to receive hio and sleep there that very evening
On this evening the colonists were gathered in the dining-rooht o'clock, the hour at which their co to trouble hi on hiht perhaps be painful to him, they had left him alone, and ascended to Granite House
Now, they had been talking in the rooht knock was heard at the door Aler entered, and without any preaht that you should know my history I will tell it you”
These si and his co, ht to be silent”
”It is my duty to speak”
”Sit down, then”
”No, I will stand”
”We are ready to hear you,” replied Harding
The stranger re in a corner of the room, a little in the shade He was bareheaded, his arms folded across his chest, and it was in this posture that in a hoarse voice, speaking like so recital, which his auditors did not once interrupt--- ”On the 20th of Dece to a Scotch nobleman, Lord Glenarvan, anchored off Cape Bermouilli, on the western coast of Australia, in the thirty-seventh parallel On board this yacht were Lord Glenarvan and his wife, a irl, and a young boy These two last were the children of Captain Grant, whose shi+p, the Britannia, had been lost, crew and cargo, a year before The Duncan was coles, and manned by a crew of fifteen men
”This is the reason the yacht at this time lay off the coast of Australia Six lish, German, and French, had been found in the Irish sea, and picked up by the Duncan This document stated in substance that there still existed three survivors from the wreck of the Britannia, that these survivors were Captain Grant and two of his e on soave the latitude, but of which the longitude, effaced by the sea, was no longer legible
[Illustration: THE STRANGER'S STORY]
”This latitude was 37 11' south, therefore, the longitude being unknown, if they followed the thirty-seventh parallel over continents and seas, they would be certain to reach the spot inhabited by Captain Grant and his two co hesitated to undertake this search, Lord Glenarvan resolved to atte to find the captain He communicated with Mary and Robert Grant, who joined hie, in which the nobleman's family and the captain's children wished to take part; and the Duncan, leaving Glasgow, proceeded towards the Atlantic, passed through the Straits of Magellan, and ascended the Pacific as far as Patagonia, where, according to a previous interpretation of the docu the Indians
”The Duncan diseonia, and sailed to pick theain on the eastern coast at Cape Corrientes Lord Glenarvan traversed Patagonia, following the thirty-seventh parallel, and having found no trace of the captain, he re-embarked on the 13th of Noveh the Ocean
”After having unsuccessfully visited the islands of Tristan d'Acunha and Amsterdam, situated in her course, the Duncan, as I have said, arrived at Cape Bermouilli, on the Australian coast, on the 20th of December, 1854
”It was Lord Glenarvan's intention to traverse Australia as he had traversed America, and he disembarked A fewto an Irishman, who offered hospitality to the travellers Lord Glenarvan ht him to these parts, and asked if he knehether a three-lish vessel, the Britannia, had been lost less than two years before on the west coast of Australia
”The Irishreat surprise of the bystanders, one of his servants came forward and said,-- ”'My lord, praise and thank God! If Captain Grant is still living, he is living on the Australian shores'
”'Who are you?' asked Lord Glenarvan
”'A Scotchman like yourself, my lord,' replied the man; 'I am one of Captain Grant's crew--one of the castaways of the Britannia'
”This man was called Ayrton He was, in fact, the boatswain's mate of the Britannia, as his papers showed But, separated from Captain Grant at the moment when the shi+p struck upon the rocks, he had till then believed that the captain with all his crew had perished, and that he, Ayrton, was the sole survivor of the Britannia
”'Only,' added he, 'it was not on the west coast, but on the east coast of Australia that the vessel was lost; and if Captain Grant is still living, as his docu the natives, and it is on the other coast that he must be looked for'
”This man spoke in a frank voice and with a confident look; his words could not be doubted The Irishman, in whose service he had been for more than a year, answered for his trustworthiness Lord Glenarvan, therefore, believed in the fidelity of this man, and, by his advice, resolved to cross Australia, following the thirty-seventh parallel Lord Glenarvan, his wife, the two children, the les, and a few sailors composed the little band under the coe of the mate, Tom Austin, proceeded to Melbourne, there to await Lord Glenarvan's instructions
”They set out on the 23rd of December, 1854