Part 16 (1/2)
”It was he,” answered Neb, ”only the unhappy man was half er conscious of what he was doing”
”It can only be explained in that way,quickly, ”and I understand no Ayrton was able to point out exactly the situation of Tabor Island, since the events which had preceded his being left on the Island had made it known to him”
”However,” observed Pencroft, ”if he was not yet a brute when he wrote that docuo, how is it that the paper has not been injured by da, ”that Ayrton was deprived of intelligence at a more recent time than he thinks”
”Of course it must be so,” replied Pencroft, ”without that the fact would be unaccountable”
”Unaccountable indeed,” answered the engineer, who did not appear desirous to prolong the conversation
”But has Ayrton told the truth?” asked the sailor
”Yes,” replied the reporter ”The story which he has told is true in every point I remember quite well the account in the newspapers of the yacht expedition undertaken by Lord Glenarvan, and its result”
”Ayrton has told the truth,” added Harding ”Do not doubt it, Pencroft, for it was painful to him People tell the truth when they accuse themselves like that!”
The next day--the 21st of Dece cli of Ayrton He had reached his house in the corral during the night, and the settlers judged it best not to agitate him by their presence Time would doubtless perform what sympathy had been unable to accomplish
Herbert, Pencroft, and Neb resumed their ordinary occupations On this day the sa and the reporter to the workshop at the Chimneys
”Do you know, my dear Cyrus,” said Gideon Spilett, ”that the explanation you gave yesterday on the subject of the bottle has not satisfied me at all! How can it be supposed that the unfortunate man was able to write that docuhtest recollection of it?”
”Nor was it he who threw it in, my dear Spilett”
”You think then”
”I think nothing, I know nothing!” interrupted Cyrus Harding ”I a those which I have not been able to explain to this day!”
”Indeed, Cyrus,” said Spilett, ”these things are incredible! Your rescue, the case stranded on the sand, Top's adventure, and lastly this bottle Shall we never have the answer to these enigineer quickly, ”yes, even if I have to penetrate into the bowels of this island!”
”Chance will perhaps give us the key to this mystery!”
”Chance! Spilett! I do not believe in chance, any more than I believe inunaccountable which has happened here, and that reason I shall discover But in the meantime we must work and observe”
The month of January arrived The year 1867 commenced The su the days which followed, Herbert and Spilett having gone in the direction of the corral, ascertained that Ayrton had taken possession of the habitation which had been prepared for him He busied himself with the numerous flock confided to his care, and spared his co every two or three days to visit the corral Nevertheless, in order not to leave Ayrton in solitude for too long a time, the settlers often paid him a visit
It was not unimportant either, in consequence of soineer and Gideon Spilett, that this part of the island should be subject to a surveillance of some sort, and that Ayrton, if any incident occurred unexpectedly, should not neglect to inform the inhabitants of Granite House of it
Nevertheless itwould occur which it would be necessary to bring rapidly to the engineer's knowledge Independently of facts bearing on the ht happen, which would call for the pro of a vessel, a wreck on the western coast, the possible arrival of pirates, etc
Therefore Cyrus Harding resolved to put the corral in instantaneous communication with Granite House
It was on the 10th of January that he made known his project to his coe that, captain?” asked Pencroft ”Do you by chance happen to think of establishi+ng a telegraph?”
”Exactly so,” answered the engineer
”Electric?” cried Herbert
”Electric,” replied Cyrus Harding ”We have all the necessarywill be to stretch the wires, but by e it”
”Well, after that,” returned the sailor, ”I shall never despair of seeing ourselves so on a railway!”
They then set to work, beginning with the , for, if they failed in that, it would be useless to manufacture the battery and other accessories
The iron of Lincoln Island, as has been said, was of excellent quality, and consequently very fit for being drawn out Harding co a draw-plate, that is to say, a plate of steel, pierced with conical holes of different sizes, which would successively bring the wire to the wished-for tenacity This piece of steel, after having been tempered, was fixed in as firround, only a few feet froineer intended to utilise In fact, as the fulling-h not then in use, its beam moved with extre it round itself It was a delicate operation, and requiredthin rods, the ends of which were sharpened with the file, having been introduced into the largest hole of the draw-plate, was drawn out by the beath of twenty-five or thirty feet, then unrolled, and the sah the holes of a less size Finally, the engineer obtained wires froether and stretched over the distance of five miles, which separated the corral from the bounds of Granite House
It did not take more than a few days to perform this work, and indeed as soon as theleft his companions to follow the trade of wire-drawers, and occupied hi his battery
It was necessary to obtain a battery with a constant current It is known that the eleenerally composed of retort coal, zinc, and copper Copper was absolutely wanting to the engineer, who, notwithstanding all his researches, had never been able to find any trace of it in Lincoln Island, and was therefore obliged to do without it Retort coal, that is to say, the hard graphyte which is found in the retorts of gas enised, could have been obtained, but it would have been necessary to establish a special apparatus, involving great labour As to zinc, it may be remembered that the case found at Flotsam Point was lined with this metal, which could not be better utilised than for this purpose
Cyrus Harding, after mature consideration, decided toas nearly as possible that invented by Becquerel in 1820, and in which zinc only is employed The other substances, azotic acid and potash, were all at his disposal
The way in which the battery was composed was as follows, and the results were to be attained by the reaction of acid and potash on each other A nulass bottles were ineer corked thelass tube, bored at its lower extreed into the acid byInto this tube, through its upper extremity, he poured a solution of potash, previously obtained by burning and reducing to ashes various plants, and in this way the acid and potash could act on each other through the clay
Cyrus Harding then took two slips of zinc, one of which was plunged into azotic acid, the other into a solution of potash A current was immediately produced, which was transmitted from the slip of zinc in the bottle to that in the tube, and the two slips having been connected by a metallic wire the slip in the tube becaative pole of the apparatus Each bottle, therefore, produced as many currents as united would be sufficient to produce all the phenoenious and very si, an apparatus which would allow theraphic communication between Granite House and the corral
On the 6th of February was co the road to the corral, of posts, furnished with glass insulators, and intended to support the wire A few days after, the as extended, ready to produce the electric current at a rate of twenty thousand miles a second
Two batteries had been manufactured, one for Granite House, the other for the corral; for if it was necessary the corral should be able to coht also be useful that Granite House should be able to communicate with the corral
As to the receiver and manipulator, they were very sinet, that is to say, round a piece of soft iron surrounded with a wire The communication was thus established between the two poles, the current, starting froh the h the earth to the negative pole If the current was interrupted the netised It was sufficient to place a plate of soft iron before the e of the current, would fall back when the current was interrupted Thiscould easily fasten to it a needle arranged on a dial, bearing the letters of the alphabet, and in this way communicate froed by the 12th of February On this day, Harding, having sent the current through the wire, asked if all was going on well at the corral, and received in a few moments a satisfactory reply fro and evening he sent a telegram to the corral, which always received an answer
This es; firstly, because it enabled them to ascertain that Ayrton was at the corral, and secondly, that he was thus not left co never allowed a week to pass without going to see him, and Ayrton came from time to time to Granite House, where he always found a cordial welcome
The fine season passed away in the midst of the usual work The resources of the colony, particularly in vegetables and corn, increased froht from Tabor Island had succeeded perfectly
[Illustration: THE ENGINEER AT WORK]
The plateau of Prospect Heights presented an encouraging aspect The fourth harvest had been adht of counting whether the four hundred thousand rains duly appeared in the crop However, Pencroft had thought of doing so, but Cyrus Harding having told hirains a minute, or nine thousand an hour, it would take him nearly five thousand five hundred years to finish his task, the honest sailor considered it best to give up the idea
The weather was splendid, the te the sea-breezes tehts for the inhabitants of Granite House There were, however, a few stor duration, swept over Lincoln Island with extraordinary fury The lightning blazed and the thunder continued to roll for some hours
At this period the little colony was extremely prosperous
The tenants of the poultry-yard swarmed, and they lived on the surplus, but it became necessary to reduce the population to a , and it may be understood that their care for those anireat part of Neb and Pencroft's tias, who had two pretty colts, were most often mounted by Gideon Spilett and Herbert, who had become an excellent rider under the reporter's instruction, and they also harnessed the wood and coal to Granite House, or different ineer