The Mysterious Island Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Captain Grant's Children

Chapter 136 The Mysterious Island (21)
"Don't worry, Pencroft, it won't happen. We don't want to die here at all, and we may get out of here someday."

Jardin Splane said: "But now, we should arrange it according to permanent settlement, and nothing can be stopped halfway."

The conversation is over, and the meal is over.Everyone continued to investigate, and they came to the place where the swamp began.

It was indeed a marsh, about twenty square miles in area, and extended as far as the circular coast where "Lincoln Island" terminated on the southeast.The soil is composed of siliceous clayey silt, mixed with many plant residues.Herbaceous plants such as rushes, yellow-green algae, sedges, and daylilies are all over the ground, like a thick carpet.Many frozen pools glistened in the sun.

They naturally inferred how these pools were formed, and it is impossible for rainwater or surging river water to form these pools.Obviously, the water in the swamp is seeped from the soil.One thing that is still very worrying is that when the weather is hot, the gases emitted by the decay of animals and plants will fill the air, which will cause fever in swamp areas.Everyone also saw a group of birds flying around on the water plants.Marsh hunters and waterfowl hunters are sure to hit the mark.Pintail ducks, mallard ducks, fantail sand pheasants, and green-winged ducks live here in groups.These birds are not very afraid of people, and people can easily get close to them.

The birds are packed so closely together that a single shot from a lead sand gun would surely hit several dozen.But they were content to shoot them with arrows.Although the effect is not great, the silent arrow also has its own advantages. It will not scare the birds away, and they will surely scatter when the gunshot is fired.These ducks have white bodies with a brown stripe, green heads, black, white and orange wings, and flat beaks.Hubbert recognized it as "crested duck".Top also ably assisted in catching these birds, and the swamp was named after the bird, "Duck Swamp."

So we have a rich reserve of waterfowl.Then it will be easy to domesticate several kinds of birds and adapt them to the environment around "Grant Lake", so that it will be convenient for everyone to eat.

About five o'clock in the evening, Cyrus Harding and the rest began to return, and they crossed the "Duck Swamp" and crossed the "Grateful River" by the ice bridge.

It was already eight o'clock in the evening when everyone returned to Granite Palace.

inexplicable buckshot

It was cold until August 8th, but the lowest temperature was only the above-mentioned degree and did not drop any further.When the climate is stable, it doesn't feel too cold, but when the cold wind is howling, no matter how many clothes you wear, you will feel unbearably cold.To Pencroft's regret: "Lincoln Island" did not find bears, but only foxes and seals, and they hoped to get bear skins more.

According to him, "Usually the bears are very warm. They have warm hooded cloaks on them. It would be nice to borrow them for the winter."

Neb replied with a smile: "Pencroft, maybe these bears are not willing to lend you. These beasts are not St. Martin, a French saint. When he saw someone freezing on the side of the road when he was out, he took out his coat." Cut it in half to protect it from the cold.!"

Pencroft retorted in a most imperious tone: "Force them to borrow, Neb, force them to borrow."

However, there are no such terrible carnivores on the island, at least they have not been found so far.

However, Harbert, Pencroft, and the reporter were busy laying traps at the edge of the forest and around Prospect Heights.According to the sailor's opinion, Granite House would treat any animal, rodent or carnivore, who visited these traps and was caught by us.

Digging traps is actually very simple.It's like this: cover the top of the dug hole with branches and grass, put some animal bait at the bottom of the hole, and use the smell of the bait to attract animals, it's that simple.It should also be explained that these pits were not dug without purpose, but were dug in places with more animal footprints after investigation.Because more footprints indicate that animals often pass by here.After the trap is set, they will come to check every day.Three times in the first few days they caught arctic foxes in traps of the kind they had seen on the right bank of the Thanksgiving River.

Pencroft was dissatisfied: "Oh, there are only foxes in this place!" This is what he said when he took the white fox out of the pit for the third time.He was distressed by this, and muttered, "These are useless animals!"

Jardine Splane corrected, "Not necessarily, maybe they'll come in handy."

"What is the use?"

"Isn't it good to use it as bait to lure other animals!"

The reporter was right. Since then, the bait in the trap has been replaced by a fox carcass.

The best tool for catching rabbits is a cover, so the sailors made some covers out of white rattan fiber, and the utilization rate of the covers is really high, and they can catch some rabbits in the rabbit forest almost every day.Although he ate rabbit meat every day, Neb tried every means to cook it differently, so everyone still liked it very much.

However, once or twice during the second week of August, it was not the white fox that was sent to everyone in the trap, but other animals that were beneficial to everyone.They had seen some wild boars on the north side of the lake.It was unnecessary for Pencroft to ask whether the animals could be eaten.This is so obvious since they are very similar to European or American pigs.

Then said Herbert to him, "I will tell you, Pencroft, that this is not a pig."

"Young man, don't tell me that, let me think it's a pig," replied the sailor, leaning over the trap, and grabbing the animals by the tails, trying to pull one of them out of it.

"what?"

"Because I'm happy if it's a pig!"

"Pencroft, does that mean you like pigs very much?"

The sailor replied: "I like the pig very much, and I like its feet even more. If it had eight feet instead of four, I would like it many times over!"

In fact, this animal is a snail, which is a kind of Surico. There are four kinds of this family, and it also belongs to the "Dayasu" category.Their fur is dark in color, and they lack canine tusks compared to their genus counterparts.It is by these characteristics that they are identified.Xihou is a herd animal, and there should be many hidden in the island's forest.They were edible from head to toe, and Pencroft was satisfied.

Around August 8, the weather suddenly changed, and the wind direction suddenly changed to northwesterly.The temperature suddenly dropped a few degrees, and the water vapor in the air condensed into pure white snow and fell down.The small island is decorated to be covered in silver, which is extraordinarily enchanting and has a new look.The snow fell non-stop for several days, and the snow was two feet thick.

The cold wind blew harder.From the heights of the "Granite Palace", the sound of rumbling sea water hitting the reef can be heard.At some corners, the air vortex formed by the strong wind makes the snowflakes whirl and rise into a tall rotating column, just like the water column on the sea surface that is blasted by the cannon of the sea ship and constantly rotates at the base.Fortunately, the hurricane came from the northwest and hit the back of the island. The "Granite Palace" was not attacked by the frontal wind because it was facing east.But the raging blizzard was as terrifying as it was in the polar regions.

Cyrus Harding and his companions could not go out even if they wanted to, and for five consecutive days, from the 8th to the 20th of August, they were unable to take a step from the door.You can only listen to the blizzard raging in the Central and South American forest in the "Granite Palace". It is estimated that the forest will be destroyed to a large extent.Many trees must have been uprooted, yet Pencroft was somewhat relieved to think that no more laborious felling was necessary.

He said humorously: "The wind has become a woodcutter, let it do its work." Besides, no one can stop it.

How thankful the masters of Granite House were to have this impregnable hiding-place!Cyrus Harding should be indebted as well, but the cave is a masterpiece of nature, and he is only the discoverer.The caves gave everyone a great sense of security. No matter how big the snowstorm was, they could not hurt them here. If they were living in the brick and wood houses built by "Looking Heights", they would definitely be destroyed by the hurricane. Unbelievable.The same is true for the "chimney", just from the huge crashing sound of the waves, it can be known that it is absolutely uninhabitable.But here, in the "Granite Palace" in the middle of the highlands, there is nothing to worry about despite the howling wind and snow outside, and the stormy waves.

In the past few days when the big guys stay at home, it's not just playing and wasting time.There are many processed wood boards in the warehouse, so they made some tables and chairs successively as furniture.There is an endless amount of wood, so there is no need to consider saving materials, and every piece of furniture is very strong.Although these furniture look a bit crude and heavy, they may not be called furniture, but they are also the pride of Neb and Pencroft, even the famous French furniture craftsmen in Boule.They are also reluctant to exchange the furniture they make.

In a blink of an eye, these joiners became bamboo craftsmen again.Although they are inexperienced in this field, they can do a good job.They found that in the direction of the sand spit protruding from the lake to the north, there was a lush willow forest with many purple-red willow trees growing.In order to use these willows, some of them were harvested by Pencroft and Neb before the rainy season, and they were treated as necessary, and they are now in use.At the beginning, the weaving was not very good, but everyone was smart, capable and ingenious. While exchanging skills, they recalled the patterns they had seen together and competed with each other, so they weaved baskets and baskets of different sizes and styles.This also adds a lot of daily necessities for them.These wicker supplies were stored in the storehouse, and Neb put his collection of roots, dracaena tubers, and pine nuts into these special baskets.

The last week of August, the weather changed again.The temperature dropped slightly and the snowstorm stopped.The big guy finally had a chance to go out, and everyone rushed outside happily.There was already two feet of snow on the beach, but it was easier to walk in the hardened snow.Cyrus Harding climbed Prospect Heights with his companions.

The whole world has changed!Those lush and green trees, especially the tall and straight green coniferous trees, are also covered in white. From the "Franklin" peak to the forest, coast, grassland, river, lake, and beach, the sky and the earth are covered with white. The water of the "Grateful River" has frozen, and the water under the ice has formed a vault of ice.Whenever the tide rises or falls, the vaults crumble, rip, and rumble.There were many birds flying around the frozen lake, puffins and sand pheasants, pintails and ducks, probably in the thousands.The whole rock is covered with ice, and the waterfall slopes down from the middle of the rock to the edge of "Prospect Heights", as if the waterfall flows from a grotesque gutter spout, which is very Renaissance. An artist's imaginative engraved artwork.It is not yet known what kind of damage the hurricane has caused to the forest. We will not know until the endless snow melts.

Jardine Splane, Pencroft, and Harbert took the opportunity to inspect their trap.Snow covered the ground, and they found it with great difficulty.They also have to be on guard so they don't fall in.Once you fall into the trap you dug yourself, how dangerous and shameful it is, isn't it like throwing yourself into a trap!However, they did not let this disappointment happen in the end. The trap was found, but there was no change. No animal fell into it, but there were footprints all over the trap. From these clear paw prints, Hubbert thought It is concluded that there are feline carnivores who have stayed here.This proves that the engineer was right: there are dangerous beasts on the island.Maybe these beasts are usually active in the lush Far West forest, and now they are so hungry that they will not hesitate to come to "Looking Heights" for adventure.It is also possible that they smelled the owner of the "Granite Palace"?

"So, what kind of felines are these?"

Hubbert replied: "It should be a tiger."

"I thought these beasts were only found in the tropics."

The young man replied: "In the New World, they can be seen from Mexico to the Pampas grasslands of Buenos Aires. However, the latitude of 'Lincoln Island' is about the same as that of the provinces along the Rio de la Plata. So it's not surprising there are a few tigers."

"Then we must be more careful," replied Pencroft.

Gradually, the temperature began to rise.Affected by the temperature, the snow finally melted.It just happened to rain again, which is really timely rain!It promotes the melting of snow, and the snow layer disappears quickly.Although the weather is still bad, everyone still reserves and replenishes various items.For plants, there are dracaena tubers, pine nuts, maple roots and sap; for animals, there are agouti and kangaroos, and rabbits in the rabbit forest.They went to the forest several times for this purpose, and they saw that the latest hurricane had blown down many trees.The sailor and Neb also pulled the four-wheeled wagon to the coal seam, thinking about bringing back a few tons of fuel.On the way they saw the chimneys above the pottery kilns, the tops of which had been knocked off at least six feet by the wind.

Coal and wood stocks were replenished.They also used the water of the "Grateful River" that became unimpeded again to discharge it many times.We also know that the severe cold season is not so easy to end.

They also made a point of checking out the "chimney," which they were thankful they had left during the storm. The "chimney" has clearly been damaged by sea water.The sea breeze whipped up the sea water and violently attacked the aisle, causing most of the aisle to be clogged with silt, and the rocks were already covered with a thick layer of seaweed.While Neb, Herbert, and Pencroft were away hunting or storing fuel, Cyrus Harding and Jardin Splane were busy cleaning the "chimneys."Since they piled the iron-smelting furnace with sand and protected it in advance, the iron-smelting furnace was almost intact.

It is not superfluous to replenish fuel reserves.We are still suffering from severe cold.You must understand that the weather in the northern hemisphere in February still cools down significantly.The same is generally true of the southern hemisphere, which is similar to the climate in North America from February to the end of August, and should follow this climate law.

Around the 25th, another round of snow and rain alternated, the wind direction began to change, and a southeasterly wind blew.The weather suddenly changed and became extremely cold.According to the engineer's estimation, if there is a Fahrenheit thermometer at this time, the temperature pointed by the mercury column will not be 8 degrees below the freezing point of minus 22.22 degrees Celsius.above.The severe cold intensified, and the wind was so cold that it was almost unbearable.The bad weather lasted for several days.Everyone had to hide in the "Granite Palace".Since all the openings in the front were tightly blocked, leaving only a small opening for ventilation, the candle was consumed quickly.In order to save money, it happens that fuel cannot be saved, so everyone uses the flame of the stove for lighting.On several occasions they went to the beach together and spent a while among the ice floes that piled up at high tide, but they soon returned to Granite House.They cling to the steps and struggle to climb up, feeling both pain and effort.Coupled with the cold weather, the cold and hard steps made their fingers feel tingling.

The owners of "Granite House" began to close their doors again, so there was free time.Looking for something to do, Cyrus Harding planned an activity that could be done indoors.

It is already known that instead of sugar, people use the liquid extracted from the maple tree, and there is no other sugar to use. They cut a deep hole in the maple tree, and then let the liquid of the tree flow into the pot, and the liquid After being preserved for a period of time, it is as viscous as sugar and has a certain degree of sweetness, so it can be used in various cooking.This was the best practice at the time.

But there is a better way.Cyrus Harding announced one day that they were going to be sugar refiners instead.

Pencroft replied: "Sugar refiner! I think it's a hot job?"

The engineer replied: "Yes, it's hot!"

"That's just right!" said the sailor.

I don't want the word "sugar refining" to evoke the memory of cumbersome factories in everyone's mind.In that kind of factory, there are complicated equipment and detailed division of labor.Not so here.This liquid can be crystallized through an extremely simple process of purification.Large clay pots are filled with the liquid and placed on the fire.This allows some of the liquid to evaporate and start to foam up on the surface.As it slowly thickened, Neb stirred it carefully with a wooden knife, which not only evaporated quickly, but also prevented the sugar from burning and sticking to the clay pot.

First steamed and boiled for a few hours—beneficial to both the operator and the substance being manipulated—it becomes a viscous syrup.The syrup is poured into pre-prepared clay molds of different shapes.The next day, the syrup condenses into lumps and flakes, which are red and transparent, attractive and delicious.

The severe cold lasted until around mid-September, and everyone seemed to be imprisoned in the "Granite Palace".It's just that the imprisonment period has been a bit long, and everyone is beginning to get tired of it.They tried to go out several times almost every day, but each time they were only out for a short while and then hurried back.So, they put their energy on the interior decoration.Everyone chats and works.Cyrus Harding taught the big guys all about it, with an emphasis on the practical application of science.Although everyone has no books to read, engineers are an encyclopedia.Everyone can find the page they need in him, which can solve all problems for everyone, so everyone often reads it.The days are spent meaningfully like this.These brave individuals seem hopeful for the future.

(End of this chapter)