第73章

A visit was also paid to the Chimneys, and the settlers could not but congratulate themselves on not having been living there during the hurricane.The sea had left unquestionable traces of its ravages.Sweeping over the islet, it had furiously assailed the passages, half filling them with sand, while thick beds of seaweed covered the rocks.While Neb, Herbert, and Pencroft hunted or collected wood, Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett busied themselves in putting the Chimneys to rights, and they found the forge and the bellows almost unhurt, protected as they had been from the first by the heaps of sand.

The store of fuel had not been made uselessly.The settlers had not done with the rigorous cold.It is known that, in the Northern Hemisphere, the month of February is principally distinguished by rapid fallings of the temperature.It is the same in the Southern Hemisphere, and the end of the month of August, which is the February of North America, does not escape this climatic law.

About the 25th, after another change from snow to rain, the wind shifted to the southeast, and the cold became, suddenly, very severe.According to the engineer's calculation, the mercurial column of a Fahrenheit thermometer would not have marked less than eight degrees below zero, and this intense cold, rendered still more painful by a sharp gale, lasted for several days.The colonists were again shut up in Granite House, and as it was necessary to hermetically seal all the openings of the facade, only leaving a narrow passage for renewing the air, the consumption of candles was considerable.To economize them, the cavern was often only lighted by the blazing hearths, on which fuel was not spared.Several times, one or other of the settlers descended to the beach in the midst of ice which the waves heaped up at each tide, but they soon climbed up again to Granite House, and it was not without pain and difficulty that their hands could hold to the rounds of the ladder.In consequence of the intense cold, their fingers felt as if burned when they touched the rounds.To occupy the leisure hours, which the tenants of Granite House now had at their disposal, Cyrus Harding undertook an operation which could be performed indoors.

We know that the settlers had no other sugar at their disposal than the liquid substance which they drew from the maple, by making deep incisions in the tree.They contented themselves with collecting this liquor in jars and employing it in this state for different culinary purposes, and the more so, as on growing old, this liquid began to become white and to be of a syrupy consistence.

But there was something better to be made of it, and one day Cyrus Harding announced that they were going to turn into refiners.

"Refiners!" replied Pencroft."That is rather a warm trade, I think.""Very warm," answered the engineer.

"Then it will be seasonable!" said the sailor.

This word refining need not awake in the mind thoughts of an elaborate manufactory with apparatus and numerous workmen.No! to crystallize this liquor, only an extremely easy operation is required.Placed on the fire in large earthen pots, it was simply subjected to evaporation, and soon a scum arose to its surface.As soon as this began to thicken, Neb carefully removed it with a wooden spatula; this accelerated the evaporation, and at the same time prevented it from contracting an empyreumatic flavor.

After boiling for several hours on a hot fire, which did as much good to the operators as the substance operated upon, the latter was transformed into a thick syrup.This syrup was poured into clay molds, previously fabricated in the kitchen stove, and to which they had given various shapes.The next day this syrup had become cold, and formed cakes and tablets.This was sugar of rather a reddish color, but nearly transparent and of a delicious taste.

The cold continued to the middle of September, and the prisoners in Granite House began to find their captivity rather tedious.Nearly every day they attempted sorties which they could not prolong.They constantly worked at the improvement of their dwelling.They talked while working.

Harding instructed his companions in many things, principally explaining to them the practical applications of science.The colonists had no library at their disposal; but the engineer was a book which was always at hand, always open at the page which one wanted, a book which answered all their questions, and which they often consulted.The time thus passed away pleasantly, these brave men not appearing to have any fears for the future.

However, all were anxious to see, if not the fine season, at least the cessation of the insupportable cold.If only they had been clothed in a way to meet it, how many excursions they would have attempted, either to the downs or to Tadorn's Fens! Game would have been easily approached, and the chase would certainly have been most productive.But Cyrus Harding considered it of importance that no one should injure his health, for he had need of all his hands, and his advice was followed.

But it must be said, that the one who was most impatient of this imprisonment, after Pencroft perhaps, was Top.The faithful dog found Granite House very narrow.He ran backwards and forwards from one room to another, showing in his way how weary he was of being shut up.Harding often remarked that when he approached the dark well which communicated with the sea, and of which the orifice opened at the back of the storeroom, Top uttered singular growlings.He ran round and round this hole, which had been covered with a wooden lid.Sometimes even he tried to put his paws under the lid, as if he wished to raise it.He then yelped in a peculiar way, which showed at once anger and uneasiness.

The engineer observed this maneuver several times.