Kitabı oku: «Таинственный остров / Mysterious Island», sayfa 11
“At least half a mile,” replied Pencroff. “And we are very surprised to find you here. But cannot you remember anything that happened after you were washed away by the sea?”
Cyrus Smith tried to think, but he remembered little. The wave had swept him from the net of the balloon. Then Top had sprung to his rescue. Smith found himself in the midst of the tumultuous sea, more than half a mile from shore. He swum vigorously against the waves, and Top sustained him by his garments; but a strong current seized him, carrying him to the north, and, after struggling for half an hour, he sank, dragging the dog with him into the abyss. From that moment he remembered nothing.
“It’s strange,” said the reporter. “If someone had rescued you from the waves, why should he then have abandoned you?”
“That is inexplicable.”
Towards noon, Pencroff asked Smith if he felt strong enough to be carried. Eight miles had to be travelled, and the wind was still strong, but, fortunately, it had ceased raining. At half past 5 the little party reached the Chimneys.
Chapter IX
The engineer had sunk into a lethargy, the result of the journey. First of all, Cyrus Smith was carried into the main corridor. There they were able to make for him a couch of seaweeds.
The supper that evening consisted of the lithodomes, which Herbert and Neb had gathered from the beach.
The next day, the 28th of March, when the engineer awoke at about 8 o’clock, he saw his companions beside him, and, as on the day before, his first words were “Island or continent?”
It was his one thought.
“Well, Mr. Smith,” answered Pencroff, “we don’t know.”
“You haven’t found out yet?”
“But we will,” affirmed Pencroff, “when you are able to guide us in this country.”
“I believe that I am able to do that now,” answered the engineer, who, without much effort, rose up.
“That is good,” exclaimed the sailor.
“When you were carrying me here yesterday, did I not see a mountain rising in the west?”
“Yes,” said Spilett, “quite a high one.”
“All right,” exclaimed the engineer. “Tomorrow we will climb to its summit and determine whether this is an island or a continent.”
“But,” asked Spilett, “whether it is a continent or an island, where do you think this storm has thrown us, Cyrus?”
“In truth, I cannot say,” replied the engineer, “but the probability is that we are somewhere in the Pacific. When we left Richmond the wind was northeast, and its very violence proves that its direction did not vary much. We crossedNorth and South Carolina38, Georgia39, the Gulf of Mexico40, and the narrow part of Mexico, and a portion of the Pacific Ocean. I do not estimate the distance traversed by the balloon at less than 6,000 or 7,000 miles. But if this coast belongs to some barren island in the Micronesian Archipelago41, perhaps we will never leave it.
“Never?” cried the reporter. “Do you say “never”, my dear Cyrus?”
“We will know how to act when we first ascend the mountain,” answered Smith.
“But will you be able, Mr. Smith, to make the climb tomorrow?” asked Herbert.
“I hope so,” answered the engineer, “if Pencroff and you, my boy, show yourselves to be good hunters.”
