第38章

They now began the descent of the mountain.Climbing down the crater, they went round the cone and reached their encampment of the previous night.

Pencroft thought it must be breakfast-time, and the watches of the reporter and engineer were therefore consulted to find out the hour.

That of Gideon Spilett had been preserved from the sea-water, as he had been thrown at once on the sand out of reach of the waves.It was an instrument of excellent quality, a perfect pocket chronometer, which the reporter had not forgotten to wind up carefully every day.

As to the engineer's watch, it, of course, had stopped during the time which he had passed on the downs.

The engineer now wound it up, and ascertaining by the height of the sun that it must be about nine o'clock in the morning, he put his watch at that hour.

"No, my dear Spilett, wait.You have kept the Richmond time, have you not?""Yes, Cyrus."

"Consequently, your watch is set by the meridian of that town, which is almost that of Washington?""Undoubtedly."

"Very well, keep it thus.Content yourself with winding it up very, exactly, but do not touch the hands.This may be of use to us.

"What will be the good of that?" thought the sailor.

They ate, and so heartily, that the store of game and almonds was totally exhausted.But Pencroft was not at all uneasy, they would supply themselves on the way.Top, whose share had been very much to his taste, would know how to find some fresh game among the brushwood.Moreover, the sailor thought of simply asking the engineer to manufacture some powder and one or two fowling-pieces; he supposed there would be no difficulty in that.

On leaving the plateau, the captain proposed to his companions to return to the Chimneys by a new way.He wished to reconnoiter Lake Grant, so magnificently framed in trees.They therefore followed the crest of one of the spurs, between which the creek that supplied the lake probably had its source.In talking, the settlers already employed the names which they had just chosen, which singularly facilitated the exchange of their ideas.

Herbert and Pencroft--the one young and the other very boyish--were enchanted, and while walking, the sailor said,"Hey, Herbert! how capital it sounds! It will be impossible to lose ourselves, my boy, since, whether we follow the way to Lake Grant, or whether we join the Mercy through the woods of the Far West, we shall be certain to arrive at Prospect Heights, and, consequently, at Union Bay!"It had been agreed, that without forming a compact band, the settlers should not stray away from each other.It was very certain that the thick forests of the island were inhabited by dangerous animals, and it was prudent to be on their guard.In general, Pencroft, Herbert, and Neb walked first, preceded by Top, who poked his nose into every bush.The reporter and the engineer went together, Gideon Spilett ready to note every incident, the engineer silent for the most part, and only stepping aside to pick up one thing or another, a mineral or vegetable substance, which he put into his pocket, without making any remark.

"What can he be picking up?" muttered Pencroft."I have looked in vain for anything that's worth the trouble of stooping for."Towards ten o'clock the little band descended the last declivities of Mount Franklin.As yet the ground was scantily strewn with bushes and trees.They were walking over yellowish calcinated earth, forming a plain of nearly a mile long, which extended to the edge of the wood.Great blocks of that basalt, which, according to Bischof, takes three hundred and fifty millions of years to cool, strewed the plain, very confused in some places.

However, there were here no traces of lava, which was spread more particularly over the northern slopes.

Cyrus Harding expected to reach, without incident, the course of the creek, which he supposed flowed under the trees at the border of the plain, when he saw Herbert running hastily back, while Neb and the sailor were hiding behind the rocks.

"What's the matter, my boy?" asked Spilett.

"Smoke," replied Herbert."We have seen smoke among the rocks, a hundred paces from us.""Men in this place?" cried the reporter.

"We must avoid showing ourselves before knowing with whom we have to deal," replied Cyrus Harding."I trust that there are no natives on this island; I dread them more than anything else.Where is Top?""Top is on before."

"And he doesn't bark?"

"No."

"That is strange.However, we must try to call him back."In a few moments, the engineer, Gideon Spilett, and Herbert had rejoined their two companions, and like them, they kept out of sight behind the heaps of basalt.

From thence they clearly saw smoke of a yellowish color rising in the air.

Top was recalled by a slight whistle from his master, and the latter, signing to his companions to wait for him, glided away among the rocks.The colonists, motionless, anxiously awaited the result of this exploration, when a shout from the engineer made them hasten forward.They soon joined him, and were at once struck with a disagreeable odor which impregnated the atmosphere.

The odor, easily recognized, was enough for the engineer to guess what the smoke was which at first, not without cause, had startled him.

"This fue," said he, "or rather, this smoke is produced by nature alone.

There is a sulphur spring there, which will cure all our sore throats.""Captain!" cried Pencroft."What a pity that I haven't got a cold!"The settlers then directed their steps towards the place from which the smoke escaped.They there saw a sulphur spring which flowed abundantly between the rocks, and its waters discharged a strong sulphuric acid odor, after having absorbed the oxygen of the air.