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

Chapter 156 The Mysterious Island (41)
Yes, the shrinking machine is using this power, it was not running at the time.It can use its high-power rotating spindle to draw the iron wire, and then coil the iron wire.

This process is very difficult to do, it must be extremely meticulous.Prepare a few long and thin iron rods, file the top end with a file, insert it into the large hole of the wire drawing die, turn the main shaft to draw it, roll it up according to the length of 25 to [-] feet, unfold it, and extend it in turn In those little holes!Finally, some forty to fifty feet of wire were made.If they were connected, it could be easily pulled from the "corral" to the "Granite Palace", which was five nautical miles away.

In a few days, this work can be done very well.Even, as soon as the machines started to run there, Cyrus Harding was busy making batteries himself, and let his companions do wire drawing.

In this case, you have to make a DC battery.Generally speaking, the components of new batteries are composed of carbon, zinc and copper.But the engineer had no copper on hand.He'd tried to look for it, but couldn't find it, so he had to leave it alone.There is also the carbon, which is the hard graphite in the converter of the gas plant, which is produced after deoxidation of coal. This requires special equipment, which is not easy to obtain, and the rest is only zinc.We know that the drifting box is lined with a lot of this metal, so it is very suitable for making batteries.

After careful consideration, Cyrus Harding decided that it would be feasible to make a very simple battery.It is similar to Becquerel, a French physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.The one that uses only zinc was developed in 1820.If other substances such as nitric acid and potash were needed, he had plenty of them now.

The engineer made many glass bottles and filled them with nitric acid.He plugged the bottle with a stopper, passed a glass tube through the stopper, and blocked the lower end of the glass tube, which needed to be immersed in nitric acid.A ball of clay wrapped in a cloth acts as a plug, and a potash solution is poured from the upper end of the pipe.This potash solution was prepared by him in advance and obtained after burning various plants.In this way, nitric acid and potash react chemically through the clay.

Cyrus Harding took two tablets of zinc, one of which was dipped in nitric acid, the other in a solution of potash.In this way, the current is generated very quickly.First connect the two zinc pieces with a wire, and the current is passed from the zinc piece in the bottle to the zinc piece in the pipe.Thus, the zinc flakes in the tube become the positive pole, and the zinc flakes in the bottle become the negative pole.Each bottle produces an equal amount of electricity, and together they produce all the electrode phenomena.Such was the simple and ingenious instrument made by Cyrus Harding.This set of instruments enables the establishment of an electrode connection between the "Granite Palace" and the "Corral".

On February 2, along the road to the "corral", the erection of electric poles, which were insulated with glass, began.After a few days, the wires are set up and ready to send electricity at a speed of 6 kilometers per second, and the earth will be responsible for sending it back to the starting point.

Two sets of batteries were made, one for the "Granite Palace" and the other for the "Corral".This will help both parties communicate with each other.

The manufacture of the receiver and transmitter is also very simple.The wires of the two stations are wrapped around a piece of soft iron with a coil wound around it, the electromagnet.In this way, the connection between the two poles is established, and the current will start from the positive pole, pass through the wire, and lead to the electromagnet, and the electromagnet will be temporarily magnetized.The current then returns to the negative pole through ground.As long as the current is interrupted, the electromagnet will demagnetize immediately.Therefore, it is necessary to put a piece of soft iron in front of the electromagnet, and it will be sucked when the current passes through it, and the soft iron piece will fall when the current is interrupted.This gets the running of the iron sheet.Cyrus Harding also easily joined a needle to a piece of iron.This needle drives the disk with the alphabet.In this way, the link between the station and the station is realized.

On the 2th of February, the telegraph and transmitter were installed, and Cyrus Harding began sending an electric current through the wires, asking if all was well in the Corral.After a while, I received a reply from Ayrton.Everyone is very happy with this way of contact.

Pencroft was so delighted that he sent telegrams to the corral every morning and evening, and he answered all questions.

Everyone found that the benefits of this contact method are obvious, and it is possible to quickly know whether Ayrton is in the "corral".At the same time, sending him a telegram every day will not make him feel too lonely.Besides, Cyrus Harding took great interest in him, and visited him every week, and Ayrton was a frequent visitor to Granite House, where he was treated with great hospitality.

The peaceful life passed day by day like this.Our material resources, especially vegetables and food, are increasing in both variety and quantity.The plants transplanted from Tabor Island have fully survived, and "Prospect Heights" presents a thriving scene.The fourth wheat harvest was surprisingly bumper.No one thought of counting the grains of wheat to see if they had reached 500 million.Only Pencroft was thinking of it, when Cyrus Harding told him that, even if he could count hundreds of grains in a minute, and eighteen thousand in an hour, these four hundred million grains would require about fifty-five thousand years to complete.Hearing what Cyrus said, the honest and honest sailor no longer persisted.

The weather was fine. Although the temperature was high during the day, at night, the cool sea breeze blew away a lot of heat in the atmosphere, making everyone spend a cool night.Of course there were also a few storms, which, although short in duration, were very violent.In just a few hours, lightning and thunder rang out endlessly, as if they were going to turn the world upside down.

Almost at the same time, this small island can be said to be prosperous.Residents of the poultry farm breed at breakneck speed.By that time the pig had already had cubs, and the wild ass had two mighty little donkeys.It was seen that Neb and Pencroft devoted a great part of their time to the care of these animals, and it was considered necessary to keep their numbers within proper limits.Therefore, people have to eat them too much.The donkeys became everyone's tools, and Jardine Splane and Harbert used to ride them.Under the guidance of journalists, Hubbert has become a good rider.The two wild asses were also harnessed to the cart, sometimes transporting minerals needed by the engineer, and sometimes delivering coal and wood to the "Granite Palace".

It was also during this time that everyone conducted several surveys into the depths of the Far West Forest.The trees are very dense, and the harsh sunlight can hardly shine through the branches and leaves. The temperature in the forest is cool, so the prospectors don't have to worry about the hot weather, and they can go exploring as much as they want.Therefore, they surveyed the entire left bank of the "Grateful River".They found that from the "corral" a road along the left bank led to the mouth of the Falls River.

Because they often encounter some very ferocious wild boars.Therefore, during the survey period, everyone brought their weapons and prepared for possible dangers at any time.

During this time, we also fought a beautiful battle with the jaguar.Jardine Splain hated them so much that he would have wiped them all out.In the face of the jaguar, the reporter is calm and calm; Hubbert is brave and fearless.With the full cooperation of the two sides, coupled with complete armament, no kind of jaguar is their opponent.Therefore, the hall of the "Granite Palace" has been decorated with more than 20 luxurious leopard skins.At this rate, the jaguar will soon be wiped out on the island.This is what hunters strive to achieve.

Engineers also sometimes participate in surveys of unknown areas of the island.He watched very carefully.In fact, what he was looking for was not the traces of animals, but other traces, but he still found nothing suspicious.Top and Jup also accompanied him on the survey, but there was no abnormal behavior.However, the dog barked around the well many times, and the engineer explored the well, but still found nothing.

Still at this stage, with the help of Hubbert, Jardin Splane took several pictures of the island's scenery with the camera found in the box.This is the first time they use this camera.

The camera is also in perfect condition with a high performance lens.In the box, everyone found the materials needed for printing photos, silver nitrate for making negatives sensitive to light, collodion for making negatives, ammonium chloride for impregnating photographic paper, sodium sulfite for fixing, sodium acetate and gold oxide for soaking photographs, etc. , can be said to have everything that one expects to find.There is even photo paper.Before placing the negative in the impression holder, first dip the impression paper in a solution of silver nitrate for a few minutes.

So, for a short time, the reporter and Harpert became skilled photographers again.They took a lot of beautiful landscape photos, including the panorama of the island from "Prospect Heights", and the "Franklin Peak" in the sky; and the mouth of the "Grateful River", which is surrounded by towering rocks, and the scenery is very beautiful. Graceful; and the corrals, and the queer sights of Claw Point and Driftyard Headland, etc.

The photographers took pictures of all the inhabitants of the island one by one, not one less.These photos were printed and hung on the wall.

Pencroft was very happy to see his own picture, and often stood in front of everyone's pictures to admire them, just like standing in front of the most luxurious window on Broadway to admire those pictures of stars."We have been copied," said Pencroft excitedly.

It is worth mentioning that Jupu's photo is recognized by everyone as the most successful photo taken.Master Zhupu poses in a serious and serious pose, and its image is very realistic!

"Master Jupp looks like he's going to make a face!" cried Pencroft.

If Master Jupu is not satisfied with this photo, it means that its standard is ridiculously high.However, it seems that it is very satisfied, and it often looks at its own image with affection, and its expression looks so proud.

With the arrival of March, summer comes to an end.Occasional rain, but still hot.March on the island is equivalent to September in the northern hemisphere.The weather in March this year has not been that good, which may indicate that winter is coming early and it will be very cold.

One morning, on the 21st, they woke up to find the first snow falling on "Lincoln Island".

It happened as follows: Early in the morning, Harbert looked out of the window of Granite House, and suddenly exclaimed:
"Look! There is snow on the island!"

The reporter came over and asked, "Why does it snow this season?"

Everyone hastened to them at the cry, and they saw that not only the island, but the whole sandy beach below Granite House, were covered with snow.

"What snow!" said Pencroft.

"Or it really looks like snow," said Pencroft.

Jardine Splane said: "But the thermometer reads 58 degrees which is 14 degrees above zero. Ah! How is that possible?" Cyrus Harding looked at the great white in silence, for he did not know the meaning of this How to explain the phenomenon.How can it snow at this temperature in this season?He couldn't explain it either.

Pencroft cried anxiously: "It's broken! Our crops are going to freeze!"

Just as the sailors were about to go down, the nimble Jupp was ahead and slipped down along the rope.But before Zhu Pu touched the ground, the large snow suddenly rose into the air and scattered into countless white flocs, covering the sunlight in an instant, and the sky and the earth became dark.

"It's a bird!" cried Hubbert.

It turned out that this was a white seagull, its feathers were as white as snow.They fell white all over the islet and the coast, and now they were lost in the distance again.The scene was extremely spectacular, and everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, dumbfounded, and everyone seemed to be dreaming, experiencing winter and summer in an instant.It was a great pity that neither the reporter nor the boy had been able to catch one, so suddenly that things had changed, so that they had no way of knowing the species of the sea-gull.

A few days later, it will be March 3, and they have lived on "Lincoln Island" for two full years!
who lit the fire
It's been two full years!We have not had any contact with the outside world for two years.They were abandoned on this isolated island, as if they were living on a tiny planet far away from the earth, and no news from the civilized world could come in!

What is the situation in their country now?The motherland is always in their hearts.Had they been divided by the Civil War when they left their country, are they still being ravaged by the Confederate rebellion?Thinking of this, they felt a great pain; and they talked of it so often, but with such confidence that, for the honor of the United States of America, the North would defeat the South!

In the past two years, I have not seen a single sail in the distance from "Lincoln Island".It is certain that "Lincoln Island" is out of the route, it is not even seen on the map, and no one knows it.Looking around, there is nothing on the sea, and it looks extremely desolate.It seems that if you want to return to the motherland, everyone can only rely on themselves.

Of course there is still a chance of rescue.One day in early April, everyone gathered in the great hall of the Granite Palace, talking about outlying islands.

At that time, everyone was talking about the American issue, so they mentioned their hometown. They all felt that there was almost no hope of seeing their hometown.

Jardin Splane said: "It seems that there is only one way for us to leave 'Lincoln Island', and it is the only way, and that is to build a big ship that can sail hundreds of miles at sea. I think that if a small boat can be built, then There must be no problem with the big ship!"

Hubbert said: "Tapor Island can go, and Pamotu Islands can certainly go."

As far as navigation is concerned, Pencroft's point of view prevails.At this moment, Pencroft replied: "I don't say that I can't, although I have no objection, but the near voyage is different from the long voyage! Although our small boat was threatened by the wind and waves on the way to Tabor Island, we can It is certain that the safe havens over there are not far away. However, it takes [-] nautical miles, which is a long journey, and the nearest land to us is at least this far away!"

The reporter asked: "If you have to go, don't you want to take the risk?"

The sailor replied: "Mr. Splain, if you want, I will do it, and you know that I am not a timid person!"

Neb said, "You know, we've got another sailor."

"Who is it?" asked Pencroft.

"Ayrton!"

"That's right," said Hubbert.

"It would be very nice if he would agree to come," said Pencroft.

The reporter said: "Good! If Ayrton is still living on Tabor Island, and Sir Glenarvan's yacht has arrived there again, can Ayrton refuse to leave?"

Cyrus Harding said: "Have you forgotten, my friends? Ayrton was out of his wits during his last years at Tabor Island. But the point is whether the return of the Scotch ship will be listed Our chances of being rescued. I think Sir Glenarvan had promised Ayrton to fetch him again from Tabor Isle, and that Sir Glenarvan would come when he thought his sins atoned. of."

The reporter said: "Yes, what I want to say is that he should come soon, because Ayrton has been left on the island for 12 years!"

Pencroft replied: "Yes! I quite agree with the idea, but where can he land? It will be on Tabor Island, not 'Lincoln Island.'"

Hubbert replied: "Of course it will be Tabor Island. There is no sign of 'Lincoln Island' on the map."

The engineer took over and said, "Guys, it seems we need to find a way to let the people who land on Tabor Island know that Ayrton and we are on "Lincoln Island"."

The reporter replied: "Yes, it must be like this. The simplest thing is to leave a letter in the cabin where Captain Grant and Ayrton lived. The letter must explain the location of our island and must let Grena Ser Van and his crew see, so they will come to us."

Sailor said: "It's a pity that we didn't think of doing this the last time we went to Tabor Island."

Hubbert replied: "How could we have thought of this? At that time we didn't know about Ayrton's experience, let alone that they would come to pick him up, and when we knew, the sailing season had already passed, it was impossible Back to Tabor Island."

"Yes," replied Cyrus Harding, "it is too late, and we shall have to wait till next spring."

"But Sir Glenarvan is coming at precisely this hour?" said Pencroft.

The engineer replied: "Impossible, Sir Glenarvan will not come to these distant seas in winter time, that would be too risky. It may be that within five months after we took Ayrton, he has gone Having crossed Tabor Island, and gone away, he may come again. So when spring comes, and the weather clears, we will go to Tabor Island, and leave a letter there."

Neb said: "Alas, if the 'Lincoln' really went to Tabor Island during these few months, that would be bad luck!"

Cyrus Harding replied, "I hope it is not so. This is our best chance of leaving the island. I hope God will keep it for us!"

The reporter said: "I think, anyway, if Sir Glenarvan did go there, they will definitely leave some traces. If we go to Tabor Island again, we will know what to do."

The engineer said: "Friends, it must be the case. Therefore, since we have this opportunity to return to China, we should not worry. If this opportunity is lost, we will think of other ways."

"However, if we did manage to get out of 'Lincoln Island,' it certainly wasn't because it wasn't a good place," Pencroft said.

"Pencroft is right," replied the engineer, "because here we cannot have all that a man is most dear to the world: family, friends, and homeland!"

That's the end of the subject, the question is not now to build a big ship, or go to the northern archipelago, or sail west to New Zealand.So everyone is busy with their own work again, to prepare for the third winter.

They also agreed to take a boat trip around the island before winter came.We have not yet been able to make a comprehensive survey of the coast, and the situation along the western and northern coasts, from the mouth of the Falls River to Cape Jawbone, is not fully understood.Nor is it clear what happens to the coves that form between them, such as those that resemble shark jaws.

(End of this chapter)