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

Chapter 25 Captain Grant's Children (25)
Sir Glenarvan said at once, "Quick, grab my saddle!"

"Thank you, sir," said Austin, "don't worry, my arms are strong."

"Little Robert, how is your horse now?" Sir asked little Robert at once.

"Sir, he swims like a fish and does well!"

"Be careful!" The major exhorted loudly.

As soon as the major's words fell, the monstrous flood had already rushed to his head.It was a monstrous wave, forty feet in height, which rumbled louder than thunder, and came upon the stragglers.This line of troops was immediately swept into the vortex of the foam splashing flood, including people and horses, and disappeared.These poor people and horses were engulfed in the flood water, turned up and down, and spun back and forth in the water.After the huge flood peak passed, the people who fell into the water floated up again.Everyone counted the number of people among each other, but fortunately there were not many of them.It's a pity that among the horses, only "Taojia" is still there, and Takafu is sitting on it steadily, and the rest of the horses are gone.

"Hold on, hold on! Hold on!" Sir Glenarvan kept on shouting, clutching Paganel with one hand, and paddling furiously with the other.

"Okay! I'm okay, actually I don't hate this..."

What doesn't he hate?No one knows!Because he just uttered this half sentence, he choked up a big mouthful of water and choked down the next sentence.The major was still the same as usual, unhurried, unhurried, and very regular, paddling the water evenly with left and right strokes.And the other two sailors, like dragons in the water, showed their abilities to the fullest.Little Robert was young, but he had quick eyesight and quick hands. He grabbed "Taojia" by the mane and let the horse swim with him. "Taojia" cut through the waves in the flood, firmly followed the torrent rushing towards the big tree, and finally arrived around the big tree.

Only twenty yards from the big tree.It didn't take long for everyone to grab the branches.How lucky!Without this life-saving tree, the group of travelers would have been buried in the waves of the flood.

The flood submerged the trunk of the big tree, and the branches stuck to the water and stretched in all directions.Along the branches, the travelers climbed to the trunk with ease.

Takafu let go of "Taojia", first sent little Robert to the tree, and then pulled the rest of the companions who fell into the water to the tree one by one.However, when all this was done, "Taojia" was swept away by the flood and drifted far away.Everyone saw that "Taojia" turned its head vigorously, neighed loudly, and was calling for its master Takaf at the top of its lungs.

"Why did you abandon such a fine horse?" Paganel blamed Tarcaf.

"Why did I abandon this partner?" Takaf was dissatisfied with such a question, and replied loudly.

As soon as the words fell, there was only a plop, and Takaf immediately jumped into the torrent.Then about ten yards from the life-saving tree, its head emerged.It didn't take long for everyone to see him wrapping his arms around "Taojia"'s neck tightly, and then he and his horse were drifting towards the vast north sky.

perched on a tree
The tree in which Sir Glenarvan and his party lived was resembling a walnut tree in appearance.The crown of the tree is round, with glossy leaves on top and bottom; although it is very similar to a walnut tree, it is actually not a walnut tree, but a big tree called "Ombi".On the Argentine plains, this "ombi" tree has always existed alone.The trunk is tall and thick, the roots are developed, and the main root is deeply rooted into the ground, and the auxiliary roots extend in all directions, firmly holding the trunk, so it can resist floods and any strong winds.

Now this big "Ombi" tree has a trunk as high as hundreds of feet, and its canopy covers at least 120 square meters.The trunk and branches are coiled up layer upon layer toward the sky.Hundreds of layers of dense leaves, like a wide giant parasol, resist the penetration of heavy rain.On this big tree, there is also a branch that grows horizontally, and the branches and leaves on it hang down on the water.The whole big tree is like a green island in the sea, and the branches across the water are the capes extending to the sea.The canopy is not all dense leaves, there are countless spaces; around these umbrella-shaped branches, there are many gaps for air circulation, and there are shady shelters here and there; Brings fresh light to the shady trees.

When these travelers who fell into the water climbed onto the big tree, they startled a group of birds on the tree, and hurriedly flew to the upper branches and leaves of the tree; treasure tree.In fact, the birds on this "Ombi" tree also fled here for refuge.These birds are very numerous, and fly to and fro in nests among the branches.Among these birds, there are starlings, black ibis, "Ithaca" birds, "Siglo" birds, and the colorful "Picaphro" birds that belong to hummingbirds, etc. There are a lot of them.When these birds fly up, they are extraordinarily gorgeous like flowers blown down by the wind.

Sir Glenarvan and his party lived in this "Ombie" tree in this way.The petite and nimble little Robert and the tall and strong Wilson climbed to the highest point of the branches immediately after they climbed the tree.When they peered out of the green vault, and looked around, they saw a vast ocean.The big trees were surrounded by flood waters.Looking left and right, there is only the "Ombi" tree trembling from the flood, standing alone in the vast ocean flood.On the water, only a few uprooted trees floated; these trees, in the rapids, rushed down the current in a rampage.Floating on the surface of the water were some drowned livestock, the roof of thatched huts, messy branches... and a big tree floating up and down, rushing down from south to north.A brood of black-spotted tigers was lying on the tree, roaring in despair.Suddenly, when Wilson looked into the distance, he saw a faint black spot floating in the distance, which caught his attention.He held his breath, observed carefully, and found that it was "Taojia" and his master Takaf, who slowly disappeared in the distant sky.

"Ah! My good friend, Tarcafe!" Little Robert couldn't help stretching out his arms, shouting to the distant sky.

"Don't worry, boy, neither he nor the horse will drown!" said Wilson. "Now, let's go down and be with everybody!"

It was not long before Robert Jr. and Wilson climbed nimbly through the triple branches to the top of the trunk.Sir Glenarvan, Paganel, the Major, Austin, and Mulady were all in the tree, riding, sitting, or lying down, resting as they pleased.Wilson briefly reported everything he saw to everyone.Everyone's opinion is consistent with Wilson's, Takaf will not be drowned, but in the future it is not known whether "Taojia" will save Takaf or Takaf will save "Taojia".It's just that the current situation of these few people is more embarrassing and dangerous than that of Takaf.Although this strong tree will not be washed down by the torrent of the flood for the time being, but looking at the rising trend of the flood, I am very worried that the top of the whole tree will be submerged.Moreover, the terrain in this area is very low, like a large sunken reservoir, maybe this happens!Sir Glenarvan was more careful.When he climbed the tree, he used a knife to carve the height of the water level, which was helpful for observing whether the water level was rising or falling.They also noticed that the water level seemed to have stabilized at this time, and did not continue to rise, and seemed to have reached the highest flood peak!As a result, the trembling hearts of the travelers calmed down a little.

"Now, what should we do?" Sir Glenarvan asked for advice.

"You don't need to ask! Make a nest in a tree!" Paganel interjected without losing his wit.

"Ah! Make a nest?" Little Robert was very surprised and asked curiously.

"Yes, my child! We have not lived the lives of fishes, but now live the lives of birds in the trees!"

"Yes, that's the best!" continued Sir Glenarvan, "but once the nest is ready, who will feed us like the mother bird?"

"Me," replied the major sharply.

They immediately looked towards the major, and saw him leaning leisurely on a limp branch, and handing them a wet bag.

"Ah! Wonderful! Major MacNabbs!" cried Sir Glenarvan. "You are very good! You are so well prepared!"

"One cannot be drowned! Nor can one be starved to death!" After hearing these praises, the major still said calmly.

"Actually, I thought of that too, but it's a pity that carelessness has delayed me!" Paganel said with regret.

"What's in this bag?" Austin asked.

"The food for two days is enough for seven people."

"That's great," said Sir Glenarvan, "I just hope that the flood will recede within 24 hours!"

"It might as well be that we can find our way back to land within twenty-four hours," interposed Paganel.

"Therefore, what we need to do urgently is to solve the problem of breakfast," said Sir Glenarvan.

"I think the first thing that needs to be done is to dry the clothes!" The major interrupted and put forward his own opinion.

"Where's the fire here?" Wilson asked.

"There's no fire around here, we can make our own!" Paganel added.

"Where is the fire?"

"Right on top of the trunk of this tree!"

"What shall we light the fire with?"

"You can use dead branches and dead leaves, this tree is everywhere."

"But we still can't make a fire!" continued Sir Glenarvan, "because the tinder we're holding is soaked and turned into a sponge!"

"We can't use tinder!" Paganel added. "Look, I have a telescope, and I can gather the sun's rays on it, and I can start a fire. All we need to do now is, find some dry moss. Now, who will find some firewood?"

"Let me do it!" said Robert Jr., volunteering to undertake the task.

As soon as he finished speaking, the child jumped up the tree like a cat, and got into the depths of the leaves after a while.Wilson followed closely behind him.After the two left, Paganel found some dried moss with his own hands.The sun was shining brightly at this time, and he easily gathered enough sunlight with a telescope to ignite the dried moss.Afterwards, these dry mosses were put on the branches of the main trunk of the "Ombie" tree, and then spread a layer of wet leaves on the ground to hold them down, so that it became a natural stove; protection, and there is no need to worry about causing a fire.In a little while Robert Jr. and Wilson came back with a great bundle of dry sticks, and laid them down on the lighted moss.Paganel then climbed to the branch above the "stove", spread his long legs apart like an Arab, squatted together, fanned the wind with the "canopy" he was wearing, and lit the fire.It didn't take long for the dry branches to catch fire.Everyone saw the flames jumping up quickly on this temporary "stove".So, everyone gathered around the fire, drying their wet clothes.After that, we started to eat breakfast.Because of thinking about the days to come and the limited amount of dry food they brought, each person could only eat a certain amount, and it was unknown whether the flood would recede soon as Sir Glenarvan hoped.Moreover, this "ombi" tree does not bear any fruit.However, very fortunately, there are many nests made of birds on this tree, and there are many fresh eggs in them; if you are too hungry, you can kill the birds and get the eggs to eat.So you don't have to worry about food issues.

However, in the current situation, they can only plan to live in trees for a long time.Moreover, even the problem of sleeping must be considered, and it is also necessary to consider making yourself sleep more comfortably.

"In this tree, set the kitchen and dining room downstairs, let's set the bedroom upstairs!" Paganel said wittily, "The house on this tree is very big, and it doesn't charge rent. Our beds should be more spacious! Look, there are many vines growing on the top of this big tree, which are actually natural nets. After we fixed these vines, they became natural hammocks Yes! In order to prevent wild beasts from attacking, we can take turns to be on duty. Although we are not many in number now, there is no need to be afraid, and we can completely resist wild beasts or Indian attacks by uniting!"

"It's a pity that there are no weapons!" Austin said.

"I've got a pistol here!" said Sir Glenarvan.

"I have a pistol, too," added Robert Jr.

"It's not enough to have a pistol. We also need ammunition. Mr. Paganel still wants to find some way to make ammunition!" Austin continued.

"There's no need to make ammunition!" Major McNabbs said, and then he took out a bag of ammunition that was well preserved.

"Major, where did you get this bag of ammunition?" Paganel asked in surprise.

"Takaf handed it to me before diving. He estimated that we needed it, so he handed the ammunition to me before he left."

"Tarcave is really a Patagonian with a chivalrous heart!" Sir Glenarvan praised sincerely after hearing this.

"That's right!" Austin continued, "I think all Patagonians can have the character of Tarcaf, and the Patagonian nation is extraordinary."

"By the way, there's Toka!" interjected Paganel. "I think that's a fine horse, and an excellent representative of the Patagonians. I don't think it will be long before we will saw them."

"How far is this from the Atlantic coast?" asked the major.

"Look, it's only forty miles at most," Paganel continued. "I'm taking my leave now, everyone. I'm going to look for an observation point in the trees and observe carefully with a telescope. If there is anything I will tell you good news."

As soon as the words fell, Paganel quickly climbed onto the branch.Not long after, his figure disappeared among the dense leaves.The other companions were busy making their own "beds"; that is, looking for a more suitable tree branch, and tied a few canes to the tree branch, so this sleeping hammock was created.

After making the beds, everyone climbed to the "stove" under the tree and chatted heartily around the "stove".No one talked about the embarrassing situation in front of them.Because of the current situation, there is no other way but to watch quietly and be patient.The topic everyone was talking about was still around the purpose of this trip - to find Captain Grant.You know, as long as the flood recedes, they will be able to return to the "Duncan" in a few days.However, the purpose of traveling to the American continent this time was still not achieved!Without finding Captain Grant, they had no choice but to board the "Duncan" and return to England. All hopes were lost!But if they didn't do that, where would they go to find Captain Grant?How sad it would be for Mrs. Helen and Miss Grant if they knew the news!

"Oh, my poor sister Mary!" exclaimed little Robert mournfully, "we are hopeless!"

Sir Glenarvan was about to speak, but he could not find a word to comfort him.Moreover, what problems can these three words of comforting words solve?

"How strange!" Sir Glenarvan was a little puzzled. "This 37° south latitude does exist! And in those three letters, it clearly stated the location of Captain Grant's wreck, The place of capture! All this is the most obvious, there is really nothing wrong with it!"

"Your Excellency, your analysis is correct! But it is a fact that we did not find them!" Austin added.

"It's all very annoying and discouraging!" said Sir Glenarvan despondently.

"It's okay to be upset and distressed! But you shouldn't be discouraged!" Major McNabbs said in a calm tone, "I think the numbers in the letter are very reliable. So we should use these numbers to keep going. Go track and search to the end!"

"What do you mean?" Sir Glenarvan asked the major. "What do you think we have to do at present?"

"Dear Edward, in fact, what we are doing is very simple, but very logical!" The major still said calmly, "After we return to the 'Duncan', we should sail along the 37° line, Keep going east. Go as far as our starting point!"

"Well, my dear MacNabbs, don't you think I haven't thought of that?" said Sir Glenarvan. "I've thought of it a thousand times, but is there any chance of success? If we Keep going, and you will be far away from the Patagonia that Captain Harry Grant wrote in his letter!"

"Since we have investigated, the ship 'Britannia' is neither on the Atlantic coast nor the Pacific coast, so there is no need for us to return to the Pampas area!" Major McNabbs retorted.

Sir Glenarvan was silent.

"Since in the letter, the 37° is what he specified! We will continue to search along this line, and there is hope! Even if the hope is very slim, it is still worth a try!" Mike said Booth continued.

"It's a matter of course..." Jazz replied in response.

"My friends!" said the major, turning to the others, "do you agree with me?"

"Yes, I totally agree!" Austin, Wilson, and Muradi all echoed.

"Well, my friends, listen to me now!" continued Sir Glenarvan, taking up the subject, "listen now, too, little Robert, for everything is at stake! I must do my best to I must find Captain Grant. This is my obligation and responsibility! If necessary, I will dedicate my life to complete this mission. You know, Captain Grant is an excellent person. He has always served the Scottish people I am working hard for the interests of the people of Scotland, so I am looking for him back on behalf of the Scottish people. Even if the possibility of this hope is very small, I will continue to search; even if it circles the earth along the 37° line, it is necessary! But now the most The tricky question is, do we still need to look in America at all?"

This question is very important, and everyone was unable to answer it for a while, and fell into silent thinking.

"What do you think?" Sir asked the major.

(End of this chapter)