Kitabı oku: «Таинственный остров / Mysterious Island», sayfa 4
The storm burst upon them with frightful violence. The engineer did not dare to descend during the night. It was not until five days later that the breaking of the clouds enabled them to see the vast sea extending below them.
So of these five men, who started on the 20th of March, four were thrown, four days later, on a desert coast, more than 6,000 miles from this country. And the one who was missing was their leader, Cyrus Smith.
Chapter III
The engineer had been swept away by a wave. His dog had disappeared at the same time. The faithful animal tried to rescue its master.
“Forward!” cried the reporter, and all four, forgetting weakness and fatigue, began their search. Poor Neb wept with grief and despair. But Smith’s companions hoped to find him.
“Look for him!” cried Neb.
“Yes, Neb, and we will find him,” replied Spilett.
“Alive?”
“Alive!”
“Can he swim?” demanded Pencroff.
“Oh, yes”, responded Neb. “And, besides, Top is with him.”
The sailor, looking at the roaring sea, shook his head.
It was nearly 6 o’clock. The fog had risen and made the night very dark. The men went northward along the shore of that land upon which chance had thrown them. A land unknown, whose geographical situation they could not guess. They walked upon a sandy soil, mixed with stones. The little party was searching all the windings of the shore.
After a walk of twenty minutes the four men were suddenly stopped by a rock. They found themselves upon the extremity of a sharp point upon which the sea broke with fury.
“This is a promontory,” said the sailor, “we must turn back.”
“But if he is there!” cried Neb, pointing towards the ocean.
“Well, let us call again.”
And all together, uniting their voices, they uttered a vigorous cry, but without response. They waited, and tried once more. And again there was no answer.
Then they turned back, following the opposite side of the promontory over ground equally sandy and rocky. However, Pencroff observed that the shore was bold there, and the birds were less numerous.
But by following this direction they were walking towards the south, which was going away from that place where Smith had landed. Soon they found themselves again arrested by the sea, upon a high promontory of slippery rocks.
“We are on an island,” exclaimed Pencroff.
The words of the sailor were true. The castaways had been thrown, not upon a continent, but upon an island not more than two miles long.
This desert isle, covered with stones, without vegetation, desolate refuge of sea-birds, did it belong to a more important archipelago? They could not tell. It was necessary to wait until the next day to search for the engineer; who, alas! had made no cry to signal his presence.
“The silence of Cyrus proves nothing,” said the reporter. “He may be wounded, and unable to reply, but we will not despair.”
The reporter then offered to light a fire upon the point of the island, which would serve as a signal for the engineer. But they searched in vain for wood or dry branches. Sand and stones were all they found.
One can understand the grief of Neb and his companions, who were strongly attached to their comrade. It was too evident that they could not help him now, and that they must wait till day. Either the engineer had escaped, and was already safe upon the land, or he was lost forever. The hours were long and dreadful, the cold was intense. But the castaways did not think of sleep. They moved back and forth upon that arid island, constantly returning to the northern end, where they would be closest to the place of the catastrophe. They listened, they shouted, they tried to catch some call.
Once the cry of Neb was answered by an echo; and Herbert said:
“That proves that there is land not far to the west.”
The sailor nodded; he knew his eyes could not deceive him. He thought he had seen land, and it must be there. Meanwhile the sky was clearing slowly.
The night passed; and towards 5 o’clock in the morning the heavens began to brighten, though the horizon remained obscure.
