L'île mystérieuse. English

by Jules Verne

  Chapter 18

  Cyrus Harding's project had succeeded, but, according to his usualhabit he showed no satisfaction; with closed lips and a fixed look, heremained motionless. Herbert was in ecstasies, Neb bounded with joy,Pencroft nodded his great head, murmuring these words,--

  "Come, our engineer gets on capitally!"

  The nitro-glycerine had indeed acted powerfully. The opening which ithad made was so large that the volume of water which escaped throughthis new outlet was at least treble that which before passed through theold one. The result was, that a short time after the operation the levelof the lake would be lowered two feet, or more.

  The settlers went to the Chimneys to take some pickaxes, iron-tippedspears, string made of fibers, flint and steel; they then returned tothe plateau, Top accompanying them.

  On the way the sailor could not help saying to the engineer,--

  "Don't you think, captain, that by means of that charming liquid youhave made, one could blow up the whole of our island?"

  "Without any doubt, the island, continents, and the world itself,"replied the engineer. "It is only a question of quantity."

  "Then could you not use this nitro-glycerine for loading firearms?"asked the sailor.

  "No, Pencroft; for it is too explosive a substance. But it would be easyto make some guncotton, or even ordinary powder, as we have azotic acid,saltpeter, sulphur, and coal. Unhappily, it is the guns which we havenot got.

  "Oh, captain," replied the sailor, "with a little determination--"

  Pencroft had erased the word "impossible" from the dictionary of LincolnIsland.

  The settlers, having arrived at Prospect Heights, went immediatelytowards that point of the lake near which was the old opening nowuncovered. This outlet had now become practicable, since the water nolonger rushed through it, and it would doubtless be easy to explore theinterior.

  In a few minutes the settlers had reached the lower point of the lake,and a glance showed them that the object had been attained.

  In fact, in the side of the lake, and now above the surface of thewater, appeared the long-looked-for opening. A narrow ridge, left bareby the retreat of the water, allowed them to approach it. This orificewas nearly twenty feet in width, but scarcely two in height. It was likethe mouth of a drain at the edge of the pavement, and therefore didnot offer an easy passage to the settlers; but Neb and Pencroft, takingtheir pickaxes, soon made it of a suitable height.

  The engineer then approached, and found that the sides of the opening,in its upper part at least, had not a slope of more than from thirty tothirty-five degrees. It was therefore practicable, and, provided thatthe declivity did not increase, it would be easy to descend even to thelevel of the sea. If then, as was probable, some vast cavity existed inthe interior of the granite, it might, perhaps, be of great use.

  "Well, captain, what are we stopping for?" asked the sailor, impatientto enter the narrow passage. "You see Top has got before us!"

  "Very well," replied the engineer. "But we must see our way. Neb, go andcut some resinous branches."

  Neb and Herbert ran to the edge of the lake, shaded with pines and othergreen trees, and soon returned with some branches, which they madeinto torches. The torches were lighted with flint and steel, and CyrusHarding leading, the settlers ventured into the dark passage, which theoverplus of the lake had formerly filled.

  Contrary to what might have been supposed, the diameter of the passageincreased as the explorers proceeded, so that they very soon were ableto stand upright. The granite, worn by the water for an infinite time,was very slippery, and falls were to be dreaded. But the settlers wereall attached to each other by a cord, as is frequently done in ascendingmountains. Happily some projections of the granite, forming regularsteps, made the descent less perilous. Drops, still hanging from therocks, shone here and there under the light of the torches, andthe explorers guessed that the sides were clothed with innumerablestalactites. The engineer examined this black granite. There was not astratum, not a break in it. The mass was compact, and of an extremelyclose grain. The passage dated, then, from the very origin of theisland. It was not the water which little by little had hollowed it.Pluto and not Neptune had bored it with his own hand, and on the walltraces of an eruptive work could be distinguished, which all the washingof the water had not been able totally to efface.

  The settlers descended very slowly. They could not but feel a certainawe, in this venturing into these unknown depths, for the first timevisited by human beings. They did not speak, but they thought; andthe thought came to more than one, that some polypus or othergigantic cephalopod might inhabit the interior cavities, which were incommunication with the sea. However, Top kept at the head of the littleband, and they could rely on the sagacity of the dog, who would not failto give the alarm if there was any need for it.

  After having descended about a hundred feet, following a winding road,Harding who was walking on before, stopped, and his companions came upwith him. The place where they had halted was wider, so as to form acavern of moderate dimensions. Drops of water fell from the vault, butthat did not prove that they oozed through the rock. They were simplythe last traces left by the torrent which had so long thundered throughthis cavity, and the air there was pure though slightly damp, butproducing no mephitic exhalation.

  "Well, my dear Cyrus," said Gideon Spilett, "here is a very secureretreat, well hid in the depths of the rock, but it is, however,uninhabitable."

  "Why uninhabitable?" asked the sailor.

  "Because it is too small and too dark."

  "Couldn't we enlarge it, hollow it out, make openings to let in lightand air?" replied Pencroft, who now thought nothing impossible.

  "Let us go on with our exploration," said Cyrus Harding. "Perhaps lowerdown, nature will have spared us this labor."

  "We have only gone a third of the way," observed Herbert.

  "Nearly a third," replied Harding, "for we have descended a hundred feetfrom the opening, and it is not impossible that a hundred feet fartherdown--"

  "Where is Top?" asked Neb, interrupting his master.

  They searched the cavern, but the dog was not there.

  "Most likely he has gone on," said Pencroft.

  "Let us join him," replied Harding.

  The descent was continued. The engineer carefully observed all thedeviations of the passage, and notwithstanding so many detours, hecould easily have given an account of its general direction, which wenttowards the sea.

  The settlers had gone some fifty feet farther, when their attention wasattracted by distant sounds which came up from the depths. They stoppedand listened. These sounds, carried through the passage as through anacoustic tube, came clearly to the ear.

  "That is Top barking!" cried Herbert.

  "Yes," replied Pencroft, "and our brave dog is barking furiously!"

  "We have our iron-tipped spears," said Cyrus Harding. "Keep on yourguard, and forward!"

  "It is becoming more and more interesting," murmured Gideon Spilett inthe sailor's ear, who nodded. Harding and his companions rushed to thehelp of their dog. Top's barking became more and more perceptible,and it seemed strangely fierce. Was he engaged in a struggle with someanimal whose retreat he had disturbed? Without thinking of the dangerto which they might be exposed, the explorers were now impelled by anirresistible curiosity, and in a few minutes, sixteen feet lower theyrejoined Top.

  There the passage ended in a vast and magnificent cavern.

  Top was running backwards and forwards, barking furiously. Pencroft andNeb, waving their torches, threw the light into every crevice; andat the same time, Harding, Gideon Spilett, and Herbert, their spearsraised, were ready for any emergency which might arise. The enormouscavern was empty. The settlers explored it in every direction. There wasnothing there, not an animal, not a human being; and yet Top continuedto bark. Neither caresses nor threats could make him be silent.

  "There must be a place somewhere, by which the waters of the lakereached the sea," sa
id the engineer.

  "Of course," replied Pencroft, "and we must take care not to tumble intoa hole."

  "Go, Top, go!" cried Harding.

  The dog, excited by his master's words, ran towards the extremity of thecavern, and there redoubled his barking.

  They followed him, and by the light of the torches, perceived the mouthof a regular well in the granite. It was by this that the water escaped;and this time it was not an oblique and practicable passage, but aperpendicular well, into which it was impossible to venture.

  The torches were held over the opening: nothing could be seen. Hardingtook a lighted branch, and threw it into the abyss. The blazing resin,whose illuminating power increased still more by the rapidity of itsfall, lighted up the interior of the well, but yet nothing appeared. Theflame then went out with a slight hiss, which showed that it had reachedthe water, that is to say, the level of the sea.

  The engineer, calculating the time employed in its fall, was able tocalculate the depth of the well, which was found to be about ninetyfeet.

  The floor of the cavern must thus be situated ninety feet above thelevel of the sea.

  "Here is our dwelling," said Cyrus Harding.

  "But it was occupied by some creature," replied Gideon Spilett, whosecuriosity was not yet satisfied.

  "Well, the creature, amphibious or otherwise, has made off through thisopening," replied the engineer, "and has left the place for us."

  "Never mind," added the sailor, "I should like very much to be Top justfor a quarter of an hour, for he doesn't bark for nothing!"

  Cyrus Harding looked at his dog, and those of his companions who werenear him might have heard him murmur these words,--

  "Yes, I believe that Top knows more than we do about a great manythings."

  However, the wishes of the settlers were for the most part satisfied.Chance, aided by the marvelous sagacity of their leader, had done themgreat service. They had now at their disposal a vast cavern, the sizeof which could not be properly calculated by the feeble light of theirtorches, but it would certainly be easy to divide it into rooms, bymeans of brick partitions, or to use it, if not as a house, at least asa spacious apartment. The water which had left it could not return. Theplace was free.

  Two difficulties remained; firstly, the possibility of lighting thisexcavation in the midst of solid rock; secondly, the necessity ofrendering the means of access more easy. It was useless to think oflighting it from above, because of the enormous thickness of the granitewhich composed the ceiling; but perhaps the outer wall next the seamight be pierced. Cyrus Harding, during the descent, had roughlycalculated its obliqueness, and consequently the length of the passage,and was therefore led to believe that the outer wall could not be verythick. If light was thus obtained, so would a means of access, forit would be as easy to pierce a door as windows, and to establish anexterior ladder.

  Harding made known his ideas to his companions.

  "Then, captain, let us set to work!" replied Pencroft. "I have mypickaxe, and I shall soon make my way through this wall. Where shall Istrike?"

  "Here," replied the engineer, showing the sturdy sailor a considerablerecess in the side, which would much diminish the thickness.

  Pencroft attacked the granite, and for half an hour, by the light of thetorches, he made the splinters fly around him. Neb relieved him, thenSpilett took Neb's place.

  This work had lasted two hours, and they began to fear that at this spotthe wall would not yield to the pickaxe, when at a last blow given byGideon Spilett, the instrument, passing through the rock, fell outside.

  "Hurrah! hurrah!" cried Pencroft.

  The wall only measured there three feet in thickness.

  Harding applied his eye to the aperture, which overlooked the groundfrom a height of eighty feet. Before him was extended the sea-coast, theislet, and beyond the open sea.

  Floods of light entered by this hole, inundating the splendid cavern andproducing a magic effect! On its left side it did not measure more thanthirty feet in height and breadth, but on the right it was enormous, andits vaulted roof rose to a height of more than eighty feet.

  In some places granite pillars, irregularly disposed, supported thevaulted roof, as those in the nave of a cathedral, here forming lateralpiers, there elliptical arches, adorned with pointed moldings, losingthemselves in dark bays, amid the fantastic arches of which glimpsescould be caught in the shade, covered with a profusion of projectionsformed like so many pendants. This cavern was a picturesque mixture ofall the styles of Byzantine, Roman, or Gothic architecture ever producedby the hand of man. And yet this was only the work of nature. She alonehad hollowed this fairy Alhambra in a mass of granite.

  The settlers were overwhelmed with admiration. Where they had onlyexpected to find a narrow cavity, they had found a sort of marvelouspalace, and Neb had taken off his hat, as if he had been transportedinto a temple!

  Cries of admiration issued from every mouth. Hurrahs resounded, and theecho was repeated again and again till it died away in the dark naves.

  "Ah, my friends!" exclaimed Cyrus Harding, "when we have lighted theinterior of this place, and have arranged our rooms and storehouses inthe left part, we shall still have this splendid cavern, which we willmake our study and our museum!"

  "And we will call it?--" asked Herbert.

  "Granite House," replied Harding; a name which his companions againsaluted with a cheer.

  The torches were now almost consumed, and as they were obliged to returnby the passage to reach the summit of the plateau, it was decided to putoff the work necessary for the arrangement of their new dwelling tillthe next day.

  Before departing, Cyrus Harding leaned once more over the dark well,which descended perpendicularly to the level of the sea. He listenedattentively. No noise was heard, not even that of the water, which theundulations of the surge must sometimes agitate in its depths. A flamingbranch was again thrown in. The sides of the well were lighted up for aninstant, but as at the first time, nothing suspicious was seen.

  If some marine monster had been surprised unawares by the retreat of thewater, he would by this time have regained the sea by the subterraneanpassage, before the new opening had been offered to him.

  Meanwhile, the engineer was standing motionless, his eyes fixed on thegulf, without uttering a word.

  The sailor approached him, and touching his arm, "Captain!" said he.

  "What do you want, my friend?" asked the engineer, as if he had returnedfrom the land of dreams.

  "The torches will soon go out."

  "Forward!" replied Cyrus Harding.

  The little band left the cavern and began to ascend through the darkpassage. Top closed the rear, still growling every now and then. Theascent was painful enough. The settlers rested a few minutes in theupper grotto, which made a sort of landing-place halfway up the longgranite staircase. Then they began to climb again.

  Soon fresher air was felt. The drops of water, dried by evaporation, nolonger sparkled on the walls. The flaring torches began to grow dim. Theone which Neb carried went out, and if they did not wish to find theirway in the dark, they must hasten.

  This was done, and a little before four o'clock, at the moment when thesailor's torch went out in its turn, Cyrus Harding and his companionspassed out of the passage.