American library books ยป Fiction ยป The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (web based ebook reader txt) ๐Ÿ“•

Read book online ยซThe Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (web based ebook reader txt) ๐Ÿ“•ยป.   Author   -   Jules Verne



1 ... 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ... 164
Go to page:
Captain Harding and were to bring him back with them!โ€

โ€œYes, indeed!โ€ said Pencroft, โ€œthat was a man of the right sort.โ€

โ€œWas!โ€ exclaimed Herbert, โ€œdo you despair of ever seeing him again?โ€

โ€œGod forbid!โ€ replied the sailor. Their work was soon done, and Pencroft declared himself very well satisfied.

โ€œNow,โ€ said he, โ€œour friends can come back when they like. They will find a good enough shelter.โ€

They now had only to make a fireplace and to prepare the supperโ€”an easy task. Large flat stones were placed on the ground at the opening of the narrow passage which had been kept. This, if the smoke did not take the heat out with it, would be enough to maintain an equal temperature inside. Their wood was stowed away in one of the rooms, and the sailor laid in the fireplace some logs and brushwood. The seaman was busy with this, when Herbert asked him if he had any matches.

โ€œCertainly,โ€ replied Pencroft, โ€œand I may say happily, for without matches or tinder we should be in a fix.โ€

โ€œStill we might get fire as the savages do,โ€ replied Herbert, โ€œby rubbing two bits of dry stick one against the other.โ€

โ€œAll right; try, my boy, and letโ€™s see if you can do anything besides exercising your arms.โ€

โ€œWell, itโ€™s a very simple proceeding, and much used in the islands of the Pacific.โ€

โ€œI donโ€™t deny it,โ€ replied Pencroft, โ€œbut the savages must know how to do it or employ a peculiar wood, for more than once I have tried to get fire in that way, but I could never manage it. I must say I prefer matches. By the bye, where are my matches?โ€

Pencroft searched in his waistcoat for the box, which was always there, for he was a confirmed smoker. He could not find it; he rummaged the pockets of his trousers, but, to his horror, he could nowhere discover the box.

โ€œHereโ€™s a go!โ€ said he, looking at Herbert. โ€œThe box must have fallen out of my pocket and got lost! Surely, Herbert, you must have somethingโ€”a tinder-boxโ€”anything that can possibly make fire!โ€

โ€œNo, I havenโ€™t, Pencroft.โ€

The sailor rushed out, followed by the boy. On the sand, among the rocks, near the riverโ€™s bank, they both searched carefully, but in vain. The box was of copper, and therefore would have been easily seen.

โ€œPencroft,โ€ asked Herbert, โ€œdidnโ€™t you throw it out of the car?โ€

โ€œI knew better than that,โ€ replied the sailor; โ€œbut such a small article could easily disappear in the tumbling about we have gone through. I would rather even have lost my pipe! Confound the box! Where can it be?โ€

โ€œLook here, the tide is going down,โ€ said Herbert; โ€œletโ€™s run to the place where we landed.โ€

It was scarcely probable that they would find the box, which the waves had rolled about among the pebbles, at high tide, but it was as well to try. Herbert and Pencroft walked rapidly to the point where they had landed the day before, about two hundred feet from the cave. They hunted there, among the shingle, in the clefts of the rocks, but found nothing. If the box had fallen at this place it must have been swept away by the waves. As the sea went down, they searched every little crevice with no result. It was a grave loss in their circumstances, and for the time irreparable. Pencroft could not hide his vexation; he looked very anxious, but said not a word. Herbert tried to console him by observing, that if they had found the matches, they would, very likely, have been wetted by the sea and useless.

โ€œNo, my boy,โ€ replied the sailor; โ€œthey were in a copper box which shut very tightly; and now what are we to do?โ€

โ€œWe shall certainly find some way of making a fire,โ€ said Herbert. โ€œCaptain Harding or Mr. Spilett will not be without them.โ€

โ€œYes,โ€ replied Pencroft; โ€œbut in the meantime we are without fire, and our companions will find but a sorry repast on their return.โ€

โ€œBut,โ€ said Herbert quickly, โ€œdo you think it possible that they have no tinder or matches?โ€

โ€œI doubt it,โ€ replied the sailor, shaking his head, โ€œfor neither Neb nor Captain Harding smoke, and I believe that Mr. Spilett would rather keep his note-book than his match-box.โ€

Herbert did not reply. The loss of the box was certainly to be regretted, but the boy was still sure of procuring fire in some way or other. Pencroft, more experienced, did not think so, although he was not a man to trouble himself about a small or great grievance. At any rate, there was only one thing to be doneโ€”to await the return of Neb and the reporter; but they must give up the feast of hard eggs which they had meant to prepare, and a meal of raw flesh was not an agreeable prospect either for themselves or for the others.

Before returning to the cave, the sailor and Herbert, in the event of fire being positively unattainable, collected some more shell-fish, and then silently retraced their steps to their dwelling.

Pencroft, his eyes fixed on the ground, still looked for his box. He even climbed up the left bank of the river from its mouth to the angle where the raft had been moored. He returned to the plateau, went over it in every direction, searched among the high grass on the border of the forest, all in vain.

It was five in the evening when he and Herbert re-entered the cave. It is useless to say that the darkest corners of the passages were ransacked before they were obliged to give it up in despair. Towards six oโ€™clock, when the sun was disappearing behind the high lands of the west, Herbert, who was walking up and down on the strand, signalized the return of Neb and Spilett.

They were returning alone!... The boyโ€™s heart sank; the sailor had not been deceived in his forebodings; the engineer, Cyrus Harding, had not been found!

The reporter, on his arrival, sat down on a rock, without saying anything. Exhausted with fatigue, dying of hunger, he had not strength to utter a word.

As to Neb, his red eyes showed how he had cried, and the tears which he could not restrain told too clearly that he had lost all hope.

The reporter recounted all that they had done in their attempt to recover Cyrus Harding. He and Neb had surveyed the coast for a distance of eight miles and consequently much beyond the place where the balloon had fallen the last time but one, a fall which was followed by the disappearance of the engineer and the dog Top. The shore was solitary; not a vestige of a mark. Not even a pebble recently displaced; not a trace on the sand; not a human footstep on all that part of the beach. It was clear that that portion of the shore had never been visited by a human being. The sea was as deserted as the land, and it was there, a few hundred feet from the coast, that the engineer must have found a tomb.

1 ... 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ... 164
Go to page:

Free e-book: ยซThe Mysterious Island by Jules Verne (web based ebook reader txt) ๐Ÿ“•ยป   -   read online now on website american library books (americanlibrarybooks.com)

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment