Chapter XI

A half hour later they walked back to the camp. The land was an island, and tomorrow they would consider what to do.

The next day, March 30, after a hurried breakfast, they started out for the summit of the volcano. All desired to see the isle on which perhaps they were to spend their lives. It was about 7 o’clock in the morning when they left the camp.

“Bah!” said Pencroff, “we got out of Richmond without the permission of the authorities, and it will be strange if we can’t get away some time from this place!”

It was a superb day, and the southern side of the mountain was bathed in sunlight. The crater was a huge shaft gradually opening to a height of 1,000 feet above the plateau. The interior of the crater was easily scaled. They saw on the way traces of ancient lava. As to the volcano chimney, its depth could not be estimated by the eye, for it was lost in obscurity. Before 8 o’clock, the party was standing at the summit of the crater.

“The sea! The sea everywhere!” was the universal exclamation. There it lay, an immense sheet of water around them on every side. Nothing appeared to the horizon-line, a radius of more than fifty miles. Not a sail was in sight. Around the island stretched a desert infinity of ocean.

Silent and motionless, they surveyed every point of the horizon. Then they looked down upon their island, and the silence was broken by Spilett:

“How large do you think this island is?”

“It seemed small enough in the midst of the infinite ocean.”

“My friends,” said Smith, “if I am not mistaken, the coast of the island is more than 100 miles around.”

If Smith was right, the island would be about the size of Malta; but it was more irregular than it. The eastern coast, upon which the castaways had landed, was a decided curve, embracing a large bay. On the northeast, two other capes shut in the bay, and between them lay a narrow gulf. From northeast to northwest the coast was round and flat, like the skull of a wild beast; then came a sort of indeterminate hump, whose centre was occupied by the volcanic mountain. From this point the coast ran directly north and south. For twothirds of its length it was bordered by a narrow creek; then it finished in along cue, like the tail of a gigantic alligator. The narrowest part of the island, between the Chimneys and the creek, on the west, was ten miles wide, but its greatest length was not less than thirty miles.

The southern part, from the shore to the mountain, was covered with woods; the northern part was arid and sandy. Between the volcano and the eastern coast there was a lake, surrounded by evergreens.

“So, then, it is a fresh water lake?” asked Pencroff.

“Yes, of course,” said the engineer.

“I can see a little river flowing into it,” said Herbert, pointing to a narrow brook.

The volcano did not occupy the centre of the island. It rose in the northwest, and seemed to indicate the dividing line of the two zones. On the southwest, south, and southeast, the beginnings of the spurs were lost in masses of verdure.

They remained for an hour at the summit of the mountain. The island lay stretched before them like a plan in relief, with its different tints, green for the forests, yellow for the sands, blue for the water. They understood the configuration of the entire island, but there remained a great question: was the island inhabited? It was the reporter who put this question. Nowhere could they perceive the handiwork of man; no late settlement on the beach, not even a lonely cabin or a fisherman’s hut. No smoke rising on the air.

The exploration of the island was finished, its configuration determined, a map of it drawn, its size calculated. They had only now to descend the declivities of the mountain, and to examine into the animal, vegetable, and mineral resources of the land. But before giving the signal of departure, Cyrus Smith, in a calm, grave voice, addressed his companions.

“Look, my friends, upon this little corner of the earth. Here, perhaps, we may long dwell.”

“Mr. Smith,” said the sailor, “we will make a little America here. We will build cities, lay railroads, establish telegraphs. We should not consider ourselves any longer as castaways, but as colonists. Well, let’s start for the Chimneys!”

“One minute, my friends,” said the engineer; “let’s name the island, as well as the capes, promontories, and water-courses, which we see before us.”

“Yes,” said Smith, “for instance, let us call the great bay to the east Union Bay, the southern indentation Washington Bay, the mountain on which we are standing Mount Franklin, the lake beneath our feet Lake Grant. These names will recall our country and the great citizens who have honored it. What will you say, my friends?”

The engineer’s proposal was unanimously applauded. Spilett put down the names over the proper places, and the geographical nomenclature of the island was complete.

“Now,” said the reporter, “to that peninsula projecting from the southwest I propose to give the name of Serpentine Peninsula, and to call the twisted curve at the termination of it Reptile End, for it is just like a snake’s tail.”

“And the other extremity of the island,” said Herbert, “the gulf so like an open pair of jaws, let us call it Shark Gulf.”

“Good enough,” said Pencroff, “and we may complete the figure by calling the two capes North Mandible and South Mandible. Now we must name the southwestern extremity of the island.

“Claw Cape,” suggested Neb.

The river with fresh water they called the Mercy. The islet on which they first set foot, was Safety Island; the plateau at the top of the high granite wall above the Chimneys, from which the whole sweep of the bay was visible, Prospect Plateau; and, finally, that mass of impenetrable woods which covered Serpentine Peninsula, the Forests of the Far West.

All was settled, and the colonists were about to descend the mountain, when Pencroff cried:

“Why, what idiots we are!”

“Why so?” said Spilett, who had closed his note-book.

“We have forgotten to name our island!”

Cyrus Smith said quietly:

“Let us give it the name of a great citizen, my friends, of the defender of American unity! Let us call it Lincoln Island!”

Chapter XII

The colonists of Lincoln Island walked around the verge of the crater. Half an hour afterwards they were again upon the lower plateau. Pencroff thought it was breakfast time.

As they were leaving the plateau, Smith proposed to his companions to take a new road back to the Chimneys. He wished to explore Lake Grant, which lay surrounded so beautifully with trees. The colonists employed in conversation only the proper names which they had just devised, and found that they could express themselves much more easily. Herbert and Pencroff, one of whom was young and the other something of a child, were delighted, and the sailor said as they walked along:

“Well, Herbert, this is jolly! We can’t lose ourselves now, my boy, since, whether we follow Lake Grant or get to the Mercy through the woods of the Far West, we must come to Prospect Plateau, and so to Union Bay.”

Pencroff, Herbert, and Neb walked in front, preceded by Top, who poked his nose into every corner. The reporter and engineer walked together, the former ready to note down every incident, the latter seldom speaking, and picking up sometimes one thing, sometimes another, vegetable or mineral, which he put in his pocket without saying a word.

About 10 o’clock the little company descended the last declivities of Mount Franklin. A few bushes and trees were scattered over the ground. They were walking on a yellowish soil, forming a plain about a mile long, which extended to the border of the wood. Smith thought they should soon reach the creek, when he saw Herbert running back.

“What’s the matter, my boy?” said Spilett.

“Smoke,” answered Herbert. “We saw smoke ascending from among the rocks, a hundred steps in front.”

“Men in this region!” cried the reporter.

“We must not show ourselves till we know with whom we have to deal,” answered Smith. “Where is Top?”

“Top is on ahead.”

“And has not barked?”

“No.”

“That is strange. Still, let us try to call him back.”

In a few moments the three had rejoined their companions. They saw, very evidently, a yellowish smoke curling into the air. Top was recalled by a low whistle from his master.

“Nature is responsible for that smoke,” said Smith, “It is nothing but a sulphur spring, which will be good for our sore throats.”

“Good!” said Pencroff; “what a pity I don't have not a cold!”

The colonists walked towards the smoke. There they beheld a spring of sulphate of soda, which flowed in currents among the rocks, and whose waters, absorbing the oxygen of the air, gave off a lively odor. Smith dipped his hand into the spring and found it oily.

The colonists walked towards the thick border of the forest, a few hundred paces distant. There they saw a brook with bright limpid waters between high, reddish banks, whose color betrayed the presence of oxide of iron. They instantly named the water course Red Creek. It was nothing but a large mountain brook, deep and clear. It was a mile and a half long; its breadth varied from thirty to forty feet. Its water was fresh.

Happily, there was neither wild beast nor savage native, but merely mountain pheasants. Crows and magpies, which flew about, were beyond reach. The colonists had nothing but stones and sticks, very insufficient weapons. Suddenly a troop of quadrupeds leaped away through the underbrush.

“Kangaroos!” cried Herbert.

“Can you eat them?” said Pencroff.

“They make a delicious stew,” said the reporter.

The sailor with Neb and Herbert rushed after the kangaroos. Smith tried in vain to recall them. After five minutes’ chase, they gave it up, out of breath.

“You see, Mr. Smith,” said Pencroff, “we need guns. Will it be possible to make them?”

“Perhaps,” replied the engineer; “but we will begin by making bows and arrows.”

“Bows and arrows!” said Pencroff, with a contemptuous look. “They are for children!”

“Don’t be so proud, my friend,” said the reporter. “Bows and arrows were sufficient for many centuries for the warfare of mankind. Powder is an invention of yesterday.”

“That’s true, Mr. Spilett,” said the sailor. “I always speak before I think. Forgive me.”

Top, who felt his dinner, rushed hither and thither. About 3 o’clock he disappeared into the rushes, from which came grunts and growls. Neb rushed in, and found Top greedily devouring an animal. Neb reappeared in triumph with a rodent in each hand. It was a sort of agouti, true American hare, with long ears.

“Hurrah!” cried Pencroff, “the roast is here; now we can go back to the house.”

The journey was resumed. As the party emerged from a massive thicket of trees, the lake suddenly appeared before them. They were now on its left bank, and a picturesque region opened to their view. The smooth sheet of water, about seven miles in circumference and 250 acres in extent, lay sleeping among the trees. Towards the east, across the intermittent screen of verdure, appeared a shining horizon of the sea. To the north the curve of the lake concaved. Numerous aquatic birds frequented its banks. The waters of the lake were fresh and limpid, somewhat dark, and from the concentric circles on its surface, were evidently full of fish.

“How beautiful this lake is!” said Spilett. “We could live on its banks.”

“We will live there!” answered Smith.

The colonists went down towards the angle formed at the south by the junction of the banks. After a two miles’ walk they came upon the thick turf of the plateau, and saw before them the infinite ocean. To get back to the Chimneys they had to walk across the plateau for a mile to the elbow formed by the first bend of the Mercy. It was now half past 4. The party reached the Chimneys by the left bank of the Mercy. Then the fire was lighted, and Neb and Pencroff skilfully broiled the agouti, to which the hungry explorers did great honor. When the meal was over, Smith drew from his pocket little specimens of various kinds of minerals, and said quietly,

“My friends, this is iron ore, this pyrites, this clay, this limestone, this charcoal.”