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

Chapter 138 The Mysterious Island (23)
The nimble and agile young man rushed forward and jumped onto the bottom few branches. These branches were scattered like a ladder, and he climbed up easily.And so, in a few minutes, he was at the top of a tree jutting out over the great green plain.This green plain is actually made up of circular branches and leaves of the forest.

Observing from the top, the line of sight can cover the entire southern part of the island, from the "claw point" in the southeast to the "snake tail cape" in the southwest, and the towering "Franklin Peak" in the northwest covers a full quarter of the island. One of the horizon.

From his high observation platform, Hubbert could clearly observe parts of the island that had never been surveyed.If there are outsiders, they are likely to be hiding there. It is very likely that those people are still there, and maybe these people really exist.

The young man observed carefully, but there was nothing on the sea.Neither on the horizon nor near the shore of the island was there a single boat.However, it is also possible that a ship with a broken mast is lying on the shore, hidden by dense forests and cannot be seen.

Nothing was found in the middle of the Far West Forest either.The forest is like a solid dome, about several square miles, with dense trees and no open space in the forest.Even following the flow of the "Grateful River" it is impossible to tell where its source is.There may be other westward streams, but there is no way to verify them.

It stands to reason that if Hubbert didn't find any traces of residence, at least he should be able to see a trace of fireworks that could prove the existence of people, right?But the air is pure and transparent, without a trace of smoke.

For a moment, Hubbert seemed to see a wisp of smoke rising from the west, but after careful observation, he found that it was not, but his own hallucination.He looked very carefully, and although he had good eyesight... but no, indeed he found nothing.

Hubbert had no choice but to climb down from the giant tree. The two hunters returned to the "Granite Palace" and told Cyrus Smith what they had done. After hearing this, Cyrus Smith didn't say anything. shook his head.It is clear that an opinion on this matter can only be expressed after a comprehensive survey of the island has been made.

At dawn, on October 10, another thing that is difficult to explain happened.While strolling on the sandy beach two miles from Granite House, Hubbert and Neb accidentally caught a turtle.This is a natural turtle of the Midas variety, with a crystal clear green shell.

Hubbert spotted the turtle trying to crawl back out to sea among the rocks.

"Come here, Neb," he cried. "Come here!"

Neb ran over.

Neb said, "This animal is so beautiful! How shall we catch it?"

Hubbert replied, "Neb, this is too simple. Let us turn it over so that it can't move. Take your spear and listen to me."

The big tortoise seemed to feel the danger, and quickly retracted into its shell and plastron.Its head and claws were hidden in the tortoise shell, motionless like a rock.

With difficulty, Harbert and Neb got the stick under the turtle's plastron, and with some difficulty they turned him over together.A tortoise is three feet long and weighs at least four hundred pounds.

cried Neb, "Good! Brother Pencroft will like it!"

Indeed, old Pencroft would be delighted and delighted.Because this kind of turtle eats eel algae, the meat is extremely delicious.At this time, the tortoise only showed its small flat head.Its temporal cavity is under the cranium, and the back of the head is widened by the large temporal bones.

Neb said: "Now, what should we do with this prey? We can't just drag it back like this!"

Hubbert replied: "It can't turn over, let it stay here first, we will go back and pull the car and then carry it."

"Okay, let's do that."

As a precaution, Hubbert used a little trick to surround the turtle with some large boulders, so that the turtle would be caught in the middle and could not escape.Neb thought it was superfluous.At this time, the sea is ebbing, and a large beach is gradually revealed.Afterwards, the two returned to Granite Palace along the beach.To surprise Pencroft, Harbert made no mention of the handsome turtle they had overturned on the sand.But two hours later, when he and Nabra were about to take the "trophy" back to surprise everyone in the car, they were shocked to find that the "beautiful turtle" had disappeared.

Neb and Hubbert first looked at me and then at you, eyes full of tension.Look around again to confirm that this is indeed the place where the turtles are kept.The lad also found the pebbles he had used to surround the turtles, adding to his suspicions.

Neb said, "Why, can the fellow turn himself over?"

Hubbert replied, "It seems to be." He looked aimlessly at the pebbles that had once protected the turtles and were now scattered on the sand, puzzled.

"And now Pencroft will not be happy!"

Hubbert thought: "This will make it harder for Mr. Smith, because he needs to explain the turtle disappearance!"

"Well, let's not talk about it any more," said Neb, trying to keep the trouble a secret.

Hubbert replied, "No, Neb, I need to tell everyone."

So, the two returned to the "Granite Palace" with an empty cart, which was a waste of time.

When he came to the construction site where the engineers and sailors were working, Hubbert gave a complete account of what had happened.

"Ah! Two stupid fellows! At least fifty bowls of delicious soup have been lost!"

Neb retorted: "But, Pencroft, it is really not our fault that the turtle has gone away, and I have turned him over!"

Pencroft, who was fond of joking, chased after and hit back: "Then you haven't done your research thoroughly!"

Hubert asked loudly: "Not thorough?"

He focuses on the process of securing the turtles with pebbles.

Pencroft rejoined: "It would be a miracle if it worked!"

"Mr. Cyrus," said Harbert, "I don't think a turtle can turn over once it's on its back, especially a big one, can't it?"

Cyrus Harding replied, "It is so, my boy, and you are right."

"Then how could it..."

"How far from the sea did you keep this turtle?" asked the engineer. Now he had stopped working and was engrossed in thinking about it.

"About fifteen feet," replied Hubbert.

"Is the tide low?"

"Mr. Cyrus, yes."

The engineer replied: "That's right. What the turtle cannot do in the sand, it may be able to do in the water. When the tide is high, with the help of the sea water, it will turn over, and then return slowly. Into the sea."

cried Neb, "My God! How stupid we are!"

Pencroft replied as if he knew it long ago: "I was just going to tell you that!"

Cyrus Harding offered an acceptable explanation, but did he really think it correct?It may not seem so.

Stranded boxes

On October 10, the bark boat project ended.Pencroft followed his word, and in five days had a canoe built, the hull of which was woven of the soft branches of the clakimba.Three seats are designed on the boat, one in the front, one in the middle and one in the back, with equal spacing to maintain the balance of the hull. Oars, oar holders and sculls are all available, just like a complete boat.

The boat weighed less than two hundred pounds and was twelve feet long.Operation on the water is very simple.They moved their lightweight canoes to the sand in front of Granite Palace, near the shore.Once the sea tide rises, the boat floats.Pencroft jumped in at once, and rowed the oars, which he found very useful.

The sailor shouted happily: "Wow! You can use this to travel around in the future..."

Jardine Splane snapped back: "The world?"

"No, round the island. Get some stone ballast, put up the mast in the bow, and let Mr. Smith find time to make us a sail, and we'll sail away! Well, Mr. Cyrus, and you, Spline. And you, sir, Harbert, and you, Neb, don't you want to come aboard our new ship? Good God! We'll see if it holds all five of us!"

Indeed, the ability to disembark should be tested, and Pencroft rolled the boat from a narrow passage among the rocks to the edge of the beach.It was therefore decided that the canoe should be sailed that day along the coast to where the rocks terminate on the south side, which is the first headland.

Just as they were about to embark, Neb called out, "Pencroft, you have a lot of water in your boat!"

"Don't worry, Neb," replied the sailor, "the wood is well sealed! In two days' time it will not be so, and we shall not have more water in the cabin of our canoes than a drunkard's stomach. Come aboard!"

So they got into the boat, and Pencroft sailed out to sea.The weather was fine and the sea was calm, and the canoes sailed safely on the sea, as if they were going upstream in the docile "Grateful River".

Neb and Herbert each took an oar, and Pencroft rowed the stern.

After the boat crossed the waterway, it sailed along the headland on the south side of the island.The breeze blew gently, causing ripples in the waterway and the sea, and the canoe moved smoothly.They sailed half a mile from the coast, so that they could see the whole face of "Franklin Peak".

Then Pencroft turned the bow, and sailed back to the mouth of the river.So the canoe began to sail along the coast.The circular coast extends all the way to the headland at the end, and the place covered by the coast is the whole "Crown Duck Marsh".

The winding coastline lengthens the distance of this headland.It is three nautical miles from the "Grateful River".It was decided to drive a little further past the end, and return after a hasty survey of the coast to Cape Claw.

The boat then sailed along the seashore.Because there are many reefs near the shore, the rising tide has begun to submerge them.In order to prevent hitting the rocks, the boat sails at most two chains and one chain offshore, one tenth of a nautical mile, about 185.2 meters.the sea area.The cliffs gradually begin to descend from the estuary to the headland.It was formed of irregular piles of granite, quite different from the parapets that made up Prospect Heights, and it had a jagged appearance, and in places it looked as if a cartload of rocks had been dug out.A sharp point stretched two nautical miles before the forest, where nothing grew on it, as if a giant's arm had just been stretched out of its green sleeve.

The boat sailed with ease.With a notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other, Jardine Splane traced the outline of the coast in bold strokes.Pencroft, Neb, and Harbert were chatting and observing this part of the field.This part of the field is foreign to them.

As the boat moved southward, the two Jawbone Capes seemed to move, and to encircle the United States Bay more closely.

Cyrus Harding just watched in silence, without saying a word.His eyes were full of suspicion, giving the impression that he seemed to have discovered something suspicious.

At this time, after sailing for a quarter of an hour, the canoe was almost at the end of the headland, and Pencroft was just about to cross it, when Hubbert suddenly stood up, pointed to something black and said:

"I noticed something on the beach over there, but didn't know what it was."

All eyes are focused on where it points.

The reporter said: "That's true, there is something. It's like a drifting object, half buried in the sand, half exposed."

"Ah, I see what it is!" exclaimed Pencroft.

Neb hurriedly asked, "What is it?"

The sailor replied: "It is some small wooden barrels, and these small wooden barrels still seem to be full!"

Cyrus Harding ordered: "Pencroft, come ashore!"

After a few paddles, the canoe docked in the depths of a small bay, and the big guy jumped onto the sand.

Pencroft was not mistaken, for two small casks, half buried in the ground, were at the same time fastened securely to a large chest, which seemed to have been kept afloat on the surface of the sea, and was afterwards Stranded on the coast.

"Does that mean there was a shipwreck near the island?" asked Hubbert.

Jardin Splane replied, "It seems so."

cried Pencroft, looking eager, as was his temper.He said anxiously: "What's in this box? What's in this box? It's tightly sealed. You need to find something to break the lid! Well, let's use a stone."

The sailor picked up a big stone, and was about to throw it at the box, when the engineer stopped him, and said, "Pencroft, can you change your impatience? Even if you can bear it for an hour?"

"But, come to think of it, Mr. Cyrus, there may be everything we need in it!"

The engineer replied: "Pencroft, we will know this sooner or later. Please believe me, don't rush to smash this box now. We need it when we need it. Let us transport it back to Granite Palace! Well, we can figure out a way to open it without smashing it. It's purely for traveling, and if it goes all the way here, it's sure to go all the way to the mouth of the river."

The sailor replied: "You are right, Mr. Cyrus, but not everyone can restrain themselves!"

An engineer is wise and his opinion is actionable.Indeed, the box looked heavy, and the canoe might not be able to hold its contents.However, since two empty barrels have been taking it on a "tour", it can also be dragged to the coast of "Granite Palace" in this way.

What is urgent to find out now is, where did this drift come from?Cyrus Harding and his companions looked round meticulously, scanning the shore for a space of several hundred paces, but they found nothing else.Observed the sea again.Hubbert and Neb landed on a standing rock, and the sea was empty, and there was nothing, neither a broken ship that could not sail, nor a ship that was sailing away.

What is certain, however, is that there have been shipwrecks nearby.Thinking deeper, maybe this incident is related to the lead bullet incident?Perhaps some stranger had come ashore in another part of the island?Maybe they're still there?But everyone can naturally think through the drifting objects that these strangers will be Malay pirates, because the drifting objects are not American products but European products.

Everyone came to the box again.The chest was three feet wide and five feet long, made of oak, firmly closed, covered with a thick sheet of hide, and fastened with brass nails.The two wooden barrels are all sealed, and you can feel that there is nothing inside when you knock it. The side of the box is tied with a strong rope and tied with a knot.Pencroft saw at once that it was a sailor's knot.The box was largely intact, suggesting it was stranded on the sand and had not touched the reef.Careful inspection also confirmed that it had not been in the water long, and that it had only recently reached the shore.There does not appear to be seawater seeping into the box, and the contents of the box do not appear to have been damaged.

Apparently, the crate was thrown from a broken ship and floated towards the island. The passengers on the ship did not want it to sink to the bottom of the sea, but floated to the shore, thinking that they would come back to find it later, so activated Floating device, so that the box floats lightly.

The engineer said, "We're going to drag this drifting thing all the way to the 'Granite Palace', and then we'll open the box and check the contents of the box. In case we find any survivors of the ship on the island in the future, we will return the original .if we can't find someone..."

cried Pencroft: "Give it to us, then! But, my God, what's in that box?"

The rising tide had begun to beat up the flotsam, which was bound to rise at full tide.Undo part of the rope to tie the bucket to tie the float to the boat.Then Pencroft and Neb dug the sand down with their oars, to facilitate the removal of the box.After a while the box, being dragged by the boat, began round the cape.And from now on, this place will be called "Flotsam Cape".The box is very heavy to drag, and the wooden barrel can hardly make the box float on the water.Therefore, the sailors are always worried that the box will break free from the boat and fall to the bottom of the sea.But his worry was unnecessary, and it didn't happen.

An hour and a half after departure—the time required to traverse the three nautical miles—the boat docked at Granite Palace.

At this time, the sea water was ebbing, and a large area of ​​the beach was exposed, becoming a waterless zone, and the boat and drifting objects were dragged onto this sandy land.In order not to damage the box as much as possible, Neb brought tools to pry open the box, and then they proceeded to count the items in the box.Pencroft was overwhelmed with emotion, and could hardly conceal it.

The sailor undid the two casks, which were still intact and usable, and need not be described here.After prying open the lock with a nail picker, the box cover is lifted thereupon.There is also a layer of zinc lining inside the box to completely wrap the items. Obviously, this is used to waterproof, ensuring that the items packed in the box will not get wet under any circumstances.

Neb yelled, "Oh! It's a can!"

The reporter replied: "Hopefully not."

The sailor whispered: "If there is..."

Neb heard what the sailor said, and asked, "What can there be?"

"There will be nothing!"

Cut open the zinc waterproof layer and roll it up on the side of the box, so various items were taken out and placed on the sand one by one.Pencroft gave a yelp of joy at each item taken out, Harbert clapped excitedly, Neb danced happily... he was black.Among the items in that pile were books that excited Harbert and kitchen items that Neb loved so much!Neb couldn't get enough of these kitchen utensils.Other things also satisfied the big guy, because the box contained a wide variety of instruments, tools, books, clothes, etc. The following is the list of items that Jardin Splane wrote down in his notebook:

Tools: two files, three augers, two boxes of sewing needles, two cross-axes, two carpentry drills, three multi-faceted knives, two woodcutters, three planes, three hammers, six cold Chisel, ten packs of nails and screws, a carpenter's chisel with two ends, three saws of various sizes, and two carpenter's axes.

Weapons: Twelve boxes of thunderbolts, two firing pin guns, two flintlock guns, two carbines, four fighting sabers, five broadswords, two kegs of gunpowder each containing about 25 pounds.

(End of this chapter)