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

Chapter 39 Captain Grant's Children (39)
As usual, Paganel liked to take Robert Jr. with him, and the two of them stepped into the town for a tour.The two saw that the town had a bank, a court, a church, a school, and a market.There are more than a hundred brick-built houses in the city, all of which are uniform in appearance, and the streets are distributed in parallel. It is a typical British town model, which seems too monotonous, simple and boring.

However, this is a new city.Here, everyone is busy and working hard for life and money.No one on the street noticed the arrival of the two outsiders.

After wandering about the city for an hour, Paganel and Robert Jr. rode across a well-cultivated field and overtook their companions.

The Jazz and his party continued to walk through a grassland, and saw a lot of sheep here, as well as the sheds where some shepherds lived.It can be seen that if you continue to move forward, you will be in a desert area.

The Jazz and his party walked so far without seeing a single local aborigine.Sir Glenarvan wondered at this phenomenon.But Paganel told him that on the 37° line, the aborigines live concentratedly in the plains along the Murray River, which is two hundred miles away.

"It seems that we will reach the goldfields in a short time," Paganel said to the Sir. "It seems that we will be able to successfully cross the rich place of the Alexander Mountains in just two days. In 1852, when thousands of gold diggers flocked, these aborigines were scared away and ran all the way to live in the inland desert areas. Before the evening came, we could walk from the coast to Mexico That railroad on the Leary Creek. To tell the truth, my friends, I've always found that railroad very queer!"

"Why, Paganel?" asked Sir Glenarvan.

"The reason is very simple, because the railway is really uncoordinated! I know that you British people have always been used to doing colonial business overseas. If you hold the World Expo in New Zealand and lay wires, you think you should build a railway in Australia! But from my French point of view, I think that what you British have done has destroyed everything in Australia!"

"You look at the past, not the present," said Captain John Mengel.

"I admit that I don't pay attention to the present. But when your locomotive is driving in the desert area, the rumbling whistle and billowing smoke not only destroy the original beauty of nature, but also scare away platypus, turkey and other animals. Now, the aborigines also follow the example of the Europeans. They take the express train departing at [-]:[-] from Melbourne to Kenton, Castlegate, Ermica, and Sanduster. The British and Americans feel very comfortable It’s normal, but to others, it’s really grotesque! After building this railway, the original poetic and beautiful scenery in nature is gone forever!”

"What poetic and beautiful scenery, even if it is discarded, it will not hurt, as long as human civilization steps into this desert area!" The major retorted Paganel.

During this chat, a siren sounded suddenly, interrupting everyone's argument.The Jazz and his party saw a train coming from the south moving slowly, less than a mile from the railway line, and stopped just at the intersection of the oxcart road and the railway.This railway runs from Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria, to the Murray River. In 1828, Stuart discovered the Murray River, which originated in the Australian Alps, flowed through the northern part of Victoria Province, flowed into Encounter Bay near Adelaide, and finally flowed into the sea; the Murray River has two Tributaries: Both the Lachlan River and the Darling River flow into the riverbed here.On this railway, the areas passed through are rich and affluent places, and there are many livestock stations along the way.The existence of this railway makes it very convenient to go to Melbourne.

Now, the railroad has been built a total of one hundred and five miles.From Melbourne to Sanduster, there are two big battles in Kenton and Castle.From Sanduster, a railroad was to be built to Hermica, seventy miles in length.This Ermika is the capital city of Liverwood, a colony established on the Murray River, this year.

The 37° line is a few miles above Casmen and passes through this railway line; there is a bridge on this railway line, which is very famous, and it is called Camden Bridge, which is erected on a tributary of the Murray River-Lyton The surface of the river.

Ayrton drove the ox cart to the direction of Camden Bridge; the riders also whipped their horses, wanting to witness the majesty of Camden Bridge with their own eyes.

But as they walked, they saw many people running in the direction of Camden Bridge, and they were all herdsmen and residents nearby; they also heard someone shouting from the crowd:

"Quick! Go to the direction of the railway! Go to the side of the railway!"

The jazz and his party thought that this chaotic situation must be caused by some major event, possibly a serious disaster.

Sir Glenarvan then urged on the horse, and the other traveling companions rode in pursuit.Not long after, we came to the edge of Camden Bridge.It turned out that the disaster was caused by the derailment of the train. The wreckage of the carriage and locomotive was floating on the river under the bridge. Only the last carriage was lucky enough to stay one meter away from the edge of the abyss.Judging from the wreckage, there must have been a fire on this train, and flames were still burning in the messy pile of wreckage; all around were charred sleepers, blackened axles, badly twisted. Railroad tracks, dilapidated carriages; looking around, the most tragic thing is that there are pools of blood and charred corpses, next to some stumps and arms.It seems that in this accident, how many people were buried in Huangquan!

Glenarvan, Paganel, Menger, and McNabbs walked among the crowd and listened to various discussions of the locals.People have all guesses about the cause of the accident; medical and ambulance personnel are busy on the sidelines.

"The bridge suddenly broke!" said one person.

"How could it be! You know, the bridge was fine. The bridge must have not been closed, but the train has already arrived, so this tragedy happened." Another person said so.

It turns out that Camden Bridge is a veritable swing bridge.When the boats cross the river, the bridge will open; when the train comes, the bridge will close.It is estimated that the bridge guards were negligent and forgot their duties to close the bridge, which is why such a catastrophe happened!This kind of speculation is very reasonable. It can be seen from the locomotive and the carriage that the other half of the bridge is pressed, and the other half is still suspended on the iron cable, but the iron cable is still intact.Therefore, it can be concluded that the tragedy happened because of the dereliction of duty of the bridge guards.

The tragedy occurred on the 37 express train, which departed from the city of Melbourne at 25pm.The train left Castlegate Station and arrived at Camden Bridge about twenty-five minutes later, from which it can be inferred that the disaster should have occurred at three-fifteen in the morning.When the accident happened, all the employees and passengers sitting in the carriage immediately sent a telegram to send out rescue; but all the telegraph poles fell on the ground, and the telegram couldn't get through.It was not until three hours later that Castlegate authorities arrived at the scene of the accident.Colonial Governor Mitchell ordered a police officer to lead a team of police officers, and came to the scene at six o'clock in the morning to organize rescue work.Many local people cooperated with the police officers and participated in the rescue activities, helping to put out the fire on the scene and rescuing many dead and injured.

The bodies were burnt beyond recognition, making it difficult to identify.On this train, no one made it clear how many passengers there were in total.Only ten passengers in the last carriage survived the catastrophe; the local railway department dispatched ambulances to pull the survivors back to Castlegate.

Sir Glenarvan first revealed his identity in England to the governor, and then chatted with the police officer.The police officer was tall and thin, with a stern look.Witnessing the tragedy in front of him, the police officer still had a calm expression on the outside, but he was thinking and deducing the culprit of the tragedy in his heart.When Sir Glenarvan sighed sadly: "What a terrible disaster!" The police officer looked stern and said in a serious tone:
"Sir, this is not just a disaster!"

"Ah! It's not just a disaster, what does it mean?" The knight exclaimed.

"And it was a crime committed by criminals!" the police officer said firmly.

Seeing this, Sir Glenarvan did not continue to ask, but turned to look at the Governor, Mr. Mitchell, and used his eyes to find out his views on the tragedy.

"Sir, the thing is like this. After careful investigation and analysis by the police, we feel that this time it is a heinous crime committed by criminals. The criminals should first rob the luggage on the last car and attack the people on the train. No passengers were killed. There should be five or six of these criminals. The rise of the swing bridge was not due to negligence at work, but someone did it on purpose. Once we find out that the bridge guard suddenly disappeared, we can be sure that he and The criminals colluded together to commit such a vicious crime."

The police officer listened, but shook his head slightly, as if he didn't agree with the governor's conclusion.

"My opinion, do you really disagree?"

"I don't agree with the collusion between bridge guards and criminals!"

"But, Mr. Constable, you have seen it too. How could the Aboriginal people on the upper Murray River turn the switch of the swing bridge and turn that bridge without the help of bridge guards? These jobs are beyond the reach of laymen. Yes!"

"That's right!"

"Also, at [-]:[-] last night, a boat passed by the river under the bridge. At that time, the owner of the boat said that after the boat passed, the swing bridge closed again smoothly."

"Well, indeed!"

"According to all the facts, this tragedy was caused by the collusion between the bridge guards and the aborigines."

The police officer was still shaking his head.

"Mr. Constable, your point is that these were not done by Aboriginal people?"

"Yes, of course not!"

"If not the Aboriginal people, who else would do this kind of thing?"

Presently, half a mile up the river came the din of a crowd.I saw that the crowd gathered more and more together, and more and more people gathered, surging towards the Camden Bridge.Before long, this group of people came to the bridge.Then the crowd parted ways, and two people were carrying a dead body. The police officer saw that it was the bridge guard of the bridge.The body was cold all over, and a knife was stuck in the chest.The discovery of the body fully proved that the police officer's judgment was correct.It seems that this tragedy has nothing to do with the local indigenous people.

"It seems that the people who do this criminal business like this thing very much," said the police officer, pointing to a pair of handcuffs.The handcuffs are made of a pair of iron rings with a lock in the middle.

"Not long ago, I will give this 'bracelet' as a New Year's gift to these gangsters!" The police officer said firmly again.

"You suspect that this tragedy is..."

"Must be 'those fellows who ride His Majesty's ship and don't like paying for it'!"

"Ah! So, the exiles did something bad!?" Paganel also exclaimed.

"I have always believed that the province of Victoria does not allow exiles to enter the country." Sir Glenarvan said.

"Hmph! You know, of course we don't allow it, but they like to stay here. If my analysis is correct, these exiles should come from Perth or go to Perth. I dare to prove it !"

Mr. Mitchell kept nodding, expressing his agreement with Mr. Police Officer's analysis and reasoning.After a while, a large force of ox carts drove to the intersection of the road and the railway.Sir Glenarvan did not want these ladies to see the bloody scene under the bridge, so he said goodbye to the governor and the constable.After that, he gently told his companion to leave quickly with him.

When the Sir walked to the ox cart, he only told Mrs. Helen that there had been some accidents on the train ahead, but he didn't mention the exiles, let alone the truth of the matter.He felt that these facts would be told to Ayrton slowly later.

When Jazz and his party crossed the railway 800 meters above the Camden Bridge, they still walked eastward in the original direction.

Little Aboriginal Geography

When Jazz and his party walked two miles along the railway, they saw a hilly area.Here, the bullock cart quickly entered a winding and narrow valley.There are many trees in this valley, which is delightful, and the distribution of forests is not connected into a large area.Among the dense trees, there are still shrubs standing tall, and the soft branches hanging down are like the green water in the river, flying in the air, it is really beautiful!

Jazz and his party stopped here.Under their feet is a piece of green and lush grass, spreading like a carpet at the bottom of the valley.Some ridges above the ground cut the green grass into pieces, making the grass look like a chessboard.

"These shaded trees should be used to cover the cemetery." Paganel observed the surrounding environment and knew that this place should be the grave of the aborigines.He said to his companion, no matter how you look at it, this should be the grave of the aborigines; it’s just that the shade of green trees, the grass everywhere, and the chirping of birds make people feel the desolation and solemnity of the cemetery.Coupled with the invasion of the aborigines by the white people, the aborigines had to leave the cemetery where their ancestors lay for generations. These cemeteries were trampled by cattle and sheep. Now the trees are sparse and some graves have been leveled. , Changed the appearance of the aboriginal cemetery in the past. "

Paganel and Robert the Younger, two traveling companions, an older and a younger, were riding on horseback along the path between the tombs, chatting as they went.Paganel felt that he had learned a lot from talking to this child.Sir Glenarvan at the back stopped when he saw them walking a few hundred meters; then he got off his horse and bent over to look at the ground, as if he was viewing a rare object.

After that, Ayrton also drove the ox cart to the place where Paganel and Robert Jr. stayed.It didn't take long for the companions to understand the reason for stopping.It turned out that there was a little aborigine sleeping on the grass, a boy about eight years old, wearing European clothes.I saw the boy with curly hair, dark skin, flat nose, thick lips, and long arms, lying soundly asleep under the shade of a tree.It can be seen at a glance that this is an authentic inland little aborigine.However, this child appeared to be quite intelligent, and unlike the general uncivilized aborigines, he should be an educated child.

When Mrs. Helen saw the aborigine's child, she felt compassionate and compassionate, and got out of the bullock cart. Afterwards, everyone also formed a circle, but the boy was still asleep and did not wake up.

"The child is all alone, poor, and has he lost his way here?" said Miss Mary Grant.

"I think this may be the cemetery of this child's relatives. He may have come here from a long way to visit the graves of his relatives." Madam Helen reasoned.

"But, we really can't abandon him here..." Before little Robert could finish his sentence, the child moved to the right.But he only moved a little bit, but he didn't wake up. After turning over, he continued to sleep soundly.At this time, everyone saw that there was a small sign on the child's back, which read:

Trina

to Otyuka
Flight attendant Smith is here to take care of

fare has been paid
After everyone finished watching, they cried out in surprise.

"That's what these Englishmen like to do!" cried Paganel indignantly. "Sending children like parcels in the mail. I've heard of such things before, but I didn't quite believe them, and now I'm completely ignorant." Believe it!"

"This unfortunate child! Did he get on the train that had an accident at Camden Bridge just now? Maybe his parents have died, and now he can only live alone in the world." Madam Helen sighed in a loving tone. .

"Not so, I suppose. For the little plate on his back proves that he was traveling alone," said Captain John Mengel.

"Oh! the boy is awake!" said Miss Mary Grant.

Everyone saw that the boy slowly opened his eyes.But seeing that the sunlight in front of him was too strong, he immediately closed his eyes again.Mrs. Helen walked up and immediately grabbed his two little hands. At this moment, the child stood up and looked at the adult in front of him in horror, his face turned pale with fright.However, when he saw Mrs. Helen, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Son, can you speak English?" Mrs. Helen asked kindly.

"Well, English, I can speak it and understand it!" The boy replied in English; with a strong accent, it sounded like a Frenchman speaking English.

"Son, what's your name?" Madam Helen asked.

"My name is Trina!"

"Oh boy, I remember 'trina' means 'bark' in Australian, right?" Paganel said.

Trina nodded slightly, then turned to look at Madam Helen.

"Son, where do you come from?" asked Mrs. Helen.

"Come from Melbourne by train to Sanduster."

"Is it the train that crashed on Camden Bridge just now?" asked Sir Glenarvan.

"Yes, sir!"

"Did you take the train alone?"

"Yes, I was alone on the train. Reverend Buckton in the church put me in the care of Mr. Smith on the train, but Mr. Smith fell to his death."

"On the train, do you have any other acquaintances?"

"My dear sir, I have no acquaintances."

"My child, why did you leave Camden Bridge and enter this desolate and remote place alone?" Mrs. Helen asked with doubts but with great concern.

"Oh, I want to go back to my hometown, Claran, and visit my relatives at home."

"Is your family a native of Australia?" Meng Ge asked.

"Australians from this part of Clarends."

"You still have your parents!" Little Robert asked.

"Brother, yes." After Trina finished speaking, he held Robert Jr.'s hands affectionately.

Little Robert was very happy when he heard the other party call him "brother".He hugged the little boy tightly and kissed him.The two boys became instant friends.

(End of this chapter)