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

Chapter 64 Captain Grant's Children (64)
Sir Glenarvan stood at the stern of the boat, looking anxiously about, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, Jazz's eyes lit up, he pointed to the sea in front of him, and shouted excitedly:

"My friends, it's a big boat! There's really a big boat out there, so let's row there! Row hard!"

When the four paddlers heard this, they hurriedly increased their paddling strength, rowing the oars with all their might.Paganel quickly sat up, raised the binoculars high, looked towards the black spot in the distance, and shouted loudly:
"Yes, it's a big ship! It's still a big steamboat! It seems to be running towards us at full speed! My friends, try harder!"

The four oars slid rapidly, and the boat moved forward at high speed like an arrow off the string.Although the three canoes that were following were thrown farther away, they still pursued closely.Half an hour passed, and the big ship in front could be clearly seen.

At this moment, Sir Glenarvan's nerves were highly tense, his heart was pounding, and Robert Jr. was in charge of the rudder, and he grabbed Paganel's telescope and observed the big ship ahead.

All of a sudden, Jazz's face became pale, his expression was very tense, and the telescope slipped from his hand.My friends didn't know why this happened, and they were also worried.

"It's the Duncan!" cried Sir Glenarvan. "It's the Duncan, and possibly the exiles!"

"Ah! 'Duncan'!" Meng Geer was as surprised as the others, and shouted loudly and repeatedly.

"Yes! This is a terrible situation! We are enemies on both sides now, and we have to die!" The Jazz sighed helplessly.

The big ship ahead was getting closer and closer, and it was indeed the "Duncan".Now, there are chasing soldiers behind and ferocious pirates in front. Where is there a way out?The four oarsmen didn't row any more, because they knew that it would be useless if they continued to work, and there was really no way out!

Suddenly, a gunshot sounded from the chasing canoe, and it just hit Wilson's wooden oar. Wilson unconsciously rowed a few more times, and the small boat approached some larger boats.

And the "Duncan" was speeding up towards this side, and the distance was only half a nautical mile away.Meng Geer, who had always been strong and brave, had no idea at this time, and didn't know whether to advance or retreat.Mrs. Helen and Miss Grant panicked and could only kneel on the boat, praying to God again and again.

At this critical moment, the Maori sent out a rain of bullets, but unfortunately, they all fell into the sea water around the boat.At this critical moment, there was a sudden sound of a cannon, and a shell flew over the small boat. This was definitely the shell on the "Duncan".Now, there are cannonballs in front and bullets in the back. There is no way to go to heaven and no way to go to earth. John Mengel wanted to cut off the boat with an axe, and sink the man and the boat to the bottom of the sea together, so as not to be humiliated before death.However, at this critical moment, Robert Jr. shouted:

"It's Tom Austin! It's really Tom Austin. I saw him in the big ship, and he saw us; he saw us too, and waved his hat at us, so he saw us too!"

Menger's ax swung directly above his head, and there it froze.

At this time, another shell from the "Duncan" flew out, passed over the skiff, hit the foremost canoe, and chopped it in two in one breath. There was a burst of cheers on the "Duncan", and the Maori who were chasing them immediately turned the bow of the ship in fright and fled towards the coast.

"Tom, hurry up, come and save us!" Meng Geer shouted in surprise and joy.

In the blink of an eye, Sir Glenarvan and his party were saved from danger, and another village was transformed.Everyone was reunited on the "Duncan" again, but it felt like a dream, and they couldn't figure out what was going on.

Misunderstanding
At this time, on the "Duncan", the sailors welcomed the return of the owner.The bagpipes blew melodiously, and the Scottish singing was flying everywhere, as if people were celebrating a festival at Macomlin Hall.

Sir Glenarvan's party and the sailors hugged each other tightly, filled with joy, tears filled their eyes with excitement.Paganel danced with joy, not knowing how to express his excitement of surviving a desperate situation and escaping disaster.He also held up the large binoculars and looked at the two fleeing Maori canoes, feeling indescribably excited.

When the sailors on the ship saw that the knights and his party were pale and ragged, they knew that they had suffered all kinds of hardships and tribulations, so they stopped their celebratory cheers.The sailors were also curious. Compared with three months ago, their appearance was so different that they couldn't be recognized at first glance.

But at this time, Sir Glenarvan had forgotten about sleepiness and hunger, and he only wanted to know one question, why did the "Duncan" come here?
Specifically, he couldn't understand why the "Duncan" came to the east coast of New Zealand and why it wasn't framed by Ben Joyce.Is it really God's blessing, God's help?With all kinds of doubts, the visiting travelers chattered and talked, which made John Austin not know who to answer the question for a while.After much deliberation, he felt that the most important thing was to answer Sir Glenarvan's question.

"Now, where are those damned exiles?" Sir Glenarvan asked.

"Ah! The exile..." This question puzzled Tom Austin, who didn't know how to speak.

"It's the exiles who robbed..."

"Ah! Robbery? What kind of ship was robbed?" Austin became more and more confused.

"Yes! To rob our ship, to claim the Duncan; Ben Joyce, who came aboard."

"What Ben Joyce, I've never seen it."

"Ah! Never seen it?" Austin's reply puzzled Sir Glenarvan even more, and so did the other visitors. "Forget it, Tom, now tell me why the 'Duncan' sailed to the east coast of New Zealand?"

"All this is Your Excellency's instruction!" Austin said in bewilderment.

"Ah! What are my instructions?" Sir Glenarvan was even more confused.

"Yes, sir! Didn't you write me a letter on January 1 asking me to do what it said!"

"Quickly, take out the letter and have a look!"

The bewildered Sir and the visiting companions were all stunned for a moment, staring blankly at Tom Austin.It seems that the letter on the Snowy River in Australia did come to the "Duncan".

"Being more and more confused!" Sir Glenarvan became more and more dazed. "Tom, tell me now, did you really accept my letter?"

"Yes, I received it!"

"Get it in Melbourne?"

"Yes, it was in Melbourne; we happened to have the boat fixed."

"But what about letters?"

"Sir, you did not write that letter yourself, but you signed it!"

"Yes! Yes! Was that letter sent by an exile named Ben Joyce?"

"No, it was brought by a sailor named Ayrton, who used to be a sailor on the Britannia."

"Yes, it is Ayrton. He and Ben Joyce are the same person. By the way, let's not talk about that before what is written in the letter?"

"You communicated that I should leave Melbourne immediately, and proceed to--"

"To the east coast of Australia!" blurted out Sir Glenarvan, but Tom was confused.

"Isn't it the east coast of Australia?" Tom said in a daze. "Didn't the letter say to go to the east coast of New Zealand?"

"No, it's the east coast of Australia. Tom, the letter is about the east coast of Australia!" The companions said in unison.

This shocked Tom so much that he almost fainted.Since everyone said that, did they really miss it?How could such a big mistake be made?
"Tom, don't worry too much. Maybe it's God's help. If you really go..." Madam Helen comforted her.

"My dear madam, it is not so, it is really impossible! I will never read the letter by mistake! That Ayrton also read the letter, as I read it; I sailed to the east coast of Australia!"

"Ah! Ayrton?" Sir Glenarvan couldn't believe his hearing.

"That's right! At that time, he insisted that the address of the letter was wrong, and he kept saying that you were at Dufu Bay, waiting for my boat to pick you up."

"Tom, is that letter still there?" The major thought it was too strange, and asked hastily.

"Oh! yes! Mr. MacNabbs; I'll bring it to you now," said Tom, running across the cabin.

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, stunned, and really didn't know what to say.The major alone clasped his hands and said to Paganel with a smile:
"Paganel, in my opinion, you have been careless this time."

"It was carelessness, a big mistake!" Paganel felt a little guilty, and lowered his head in embarrassment.

After a while, Tom came out with a letter written by Paganel.

"Your Excellency, please look carefully." Tom panted.

Sir Glenarvan then unfolded the letter, and read aloud:

Tom Austin is hereby ordered to sail the "Duncan" to the east coast of New Zealand at 37° south latitude! ...

"Ah! the east coast of New Zealand?" exclaimed Paganel.

He immediately snatched the letter, blinked desperately, put his glasses on the bridge of his nose, and read the letter carefully.

"Ouch! God! It really says to New Zealand!" He said angrily, and the letter slipped from his fingers.

At this moment, Paganel felt a hand resting on his shoulder, and suddenly raised his head, seeing the major smiling slightly.

"You can do it! My good friend Paganel; now, you are the greatest luck not to sail our 'Duncan' to Indochina!" The major said humorously, which made Paganel I am even more ashamed.

As soon as the words were finished, everyone laughed wildly, and Paganel was even more embarrassed. He really wanted to have a crack in the ground through which he could get in.He seemed to be going crazy, pulling his hair, slapping his face, pacing up and down, walking from one end to the other, not knowing what he wanted to do.Finally, I went to the deck, accidentally tripped my foot on a bundle of cables, and almost fell to the ground.

Suddenly, there was a bang, and everyone thought that something unexpected happened again, and they all jumped up in fright.But on closer inspection, it turned out that the cannon on the foredeck had been fired inadvertently; this was when Paganel accidentally tripped on the ground and happened to hold the cannon rope that held the cannon.These cannons were all loaded with shells, and when the rope was pulled, a shell flew straight out and exploded to the surface of the sea.And Paganel, shaken by the cannon, rolled over the deck, onto the midship, and finally into the sailor's cabin.At this time, more than a dozen sailors rushed over and immediately lifted him up.At this time, Mr. Paganel's body was limp, as if it had been broken in two.Everyone hurriedly called him, but he never answered.Then, everyone carried him into the cabin in one breath.

Seeing this, the major, like an experienced surgeon, offered to undress him and examine his body for injuries.At this time, Paganel, who had been half-dead all this time, sat up straight as if he had been shocked by an electric shock.

"Don't take it off! Don't take it off!" Paganel said loudly, tightly maintaining his rags, like a mental patient.

"Paganel, you should take it off!" insisted the major.

"Don't dare, don't take it off, I just won't take it off!"

"Then I'll check, your whole body..."

"It doesn't need to be checked!"

"If the bone is broken..."

"It won't break!" At this point, Paganel jumped up, "If it breaks, I'll ask a carpenter to connect it up for me, and that's enough!"

"What? Let the carpenter pick it up! What the hell?"

"It's to pick up the pillars on the middle cabin! Because when I fell, I just broke that pillar!"

When he said this, everyone laughed, and laughed more happily than before.But this let everyone know that there was nothing serious about Paganel's fall, so he was relieved.

Sir Glenarvan saw that he was safe and sound, so he let go of his hanging heart, but he urgently asked the source of the matter:
"Now, tell the truth, Paganel, what happened? You were so careless that you wrote 'New Zealand' for 'Australia'? Still, we are very grateful for your carelessness! Or,' The Duncan' was hijacked by villains and we were captured by the Maori!"

"It's actually very simple," Paganel said nonchalantly, "it's just..."

When he said this, he stopped, looked at little Robert and Mary, and continued after a while:
"My dear Sir Glenarvan, if I say it, I can only blame myself for being too careless. It seems that I will hardly get rid of this defect in my life, and I really can't get rid of it until I die..."

"Unless you peel off your skin!" the major said jokingly.

"Peel off my skin? What do you mean?" Paganel said angrily.

"Paganel, what do you mean, what do I mean!" the major said calmly.

After that, no one spoke.

Now, everyone knows why the "Duncan" ran to the east coast of New Zealand.But now everyone is hungry and just wants to eat and rest.

After Miss Mary, Paganel, the major, and Robert Jr. had all rested in the cabin, Sir Glenarvan and John Mengel returned to the deck again and called Tom Austin.

"My dear Tom, tell me now," asked Sir Glenarvan, "that you are surprised to see this letter from me ordering you to sail to the coast of New Zealand?"

"Your Excellency, of course I found it incredible! I wondered at the time, why did I go to New Zealand all of a sudden? But I have always obeyed orders, so I sailed here without hesitation; what I was most afraid of at the time was to make my own decisions. If you disobey the command and cause a big mess, that's fine! Captain, if it were you, you would do the same!"

"Yes, yes, of course!" said John Mengle, nodding his head hastily, as soon as he saw Tom say this to him.

"Why did you wonder then?" said Sir Glenarvan.

"That's what I thought at the time. Maybe this was the reason for looking for Captain Harry Grant. I thought at the time, maybe you had other arrangements, so you came to New Zealand by boat, and hoped that I would pick you up there. At that time , when I left Melbourne, I kept the destination very secret. When the ship sailed into the depths of the sea and the Australian mainland could not be seen, I told the crew. I still remember that time, it caused a commotion , I also felt in a dilemma at the time.”

"Tom, tell me about the commotion?"

"On the second day of sailing, when Ayrton, the messenger, heard that he was sailing to New Zealand, he--"

"Ah! Ayrton is still on board?"

"Your Excellency, yes, it's still there..."

"Ayrton is still on the 'Duncan'!" said Sir Glenarvan, looking at John Mungle.

"God has eyes!" Menger went on.

At this time, scenes of evils in Ayrton, Australia, appeared in front of the eyes of the Sir and the young captain: Sir Glenarvan was shot, Muradi was in danger of life, and the difficulties encountered in the swamp of the Snowy River... ...this is a real bad guy!This one bastard!Now it has finally come down to us!

"What about the others?" Sir Glenarvan asked Tom impatiently.

"Now he is being held in a cabin below the deck, and I will send people to closely guard him!"

"Why did you lock him up?"

"Because when he saw us sailing towards New Zealand, he lost his temper and rushed straight up, forcing me to change the course of the voyage. He first threatened me, but when I refused to listen, he planned a riot by the sailors. How could this be possible! Therefore I ordered people to lock him up!"

"Then?"

"After that, he was locked up like this. He was very honest at the time, and he didn't dare to come out rashly."

"Tom, this is really good!"

At this moment, Sir Glenarvan and Captain Mengel were invited to the upper cabin and entered the square hall without saying a word about Ayrton.After everyone had a delicious meal, they were all refreshed and went to the deck.Afterwards, Sir Glenarvan announced the great news to all, and ordered the villain to be taken to the deck.

"Dear Edward, I really don't want to participate in the interrogation! When I see that guy, I feel disgusted, and I will recall the sad past." Madam Helen said.

"Dear Helen, this is a questioning. You'd better stay here and take a look, so that this gangster can see clearly that we are safe and alive now! His plot has failed!" Sir persuaded Mrs. Helen said .

Mrs. Helen nodded quickly, she also wanted to see the fate of this gangster with her own eyes.She and Miss Mary Grant sat down beside Sir Glenarvan.Major, Paganel, Robert Jr., John, Mulady, Wilson, and Aubine were on both sides of the Jazz.These people who were almost killed by this gangster are now waiting for this bastard to appear with firm and holy expressions.The sailors on the other "Duncan" didn't know what happened, so they didn't dare to make a sound.

"Send up Ayrton now!" cried Sir Glenarvan.

Interrogation of Ayrton

When Ayrton was escorted up, his steps were steady, his eyes were dull, his lips were tightly closed, his fists were clenched, and he looked neither humble nor overbearing, and he didn't care.He stood in front of Jazz and the others coldly, folded his arms and said nothing.

"We meet again, Mr. Ayrton!" Sir Glenarvan said sarcastically, "this 'Duncan' is the 'Duncan' you planned to give to Ben Joyce, but I didn't expect Let's meet again here!"

After hearing this, Ayrton's expressionless face flushed red, he shook his fist, and curled his lips.I don't know if this blush is because of his confession?Or the shame felt because the plot failed.

Ayrton stood silent, waiting for Sir Glenarvan's answer.

"Ayrton, tell me now! Do you really have nothing to say?" Sir urged.

Ayrton frowned.He originally thought that he would become the owner of this boat, but now he has become a prisoner; what else can he say besides remorse?

However, after a short pause, he said as if nothing had happened, without caring:

(End of this chapter)