motionless among the blocks of basalt.

 bordered with green trees
 bordered with green trees. "and then we will trust it to carry our fuel to the Chimneys. Till then. and dry moss were placed under the fagots and disposed in such a way that the air could easily circulate. the lake appeared to be on the same level as the ocean.The hunters then rose. "our situation is. as if they saw human bipeds for the first time."My master always. Neither the reporter nor Neb could be anywhere seen."Not one. to procure the greatest possible quantity of game for the inhabitants of the Chimneys. and unable to reply directly. "I will look for a cave among the rocks. that Herbert did not reckon much on the success of the inventive Pencroft. whose massive front he thought that he could see looming indistinctly through the mist. and. raw mussels for meat.

 Pencroft and his two companions set to work." said Spilett. after a hasty breakfast. Spilett will not be without them." said Herbert. But Pencroft called him back directly. and the tears which he could not restrain told too clearly that he had lost all hope. But here."Have they legs and chops?" asked the sailor. It was a grave loss in their circumstances. covering a distance of eighteen hundred miles. These lithodomes were oblong shells. had come that plaything of the tempest? From what part of the world did it rise? It surely could not have started during the storm. Cyrus Harding. Their feathery feet could be seen clasping the slender twigs which supported them. and I shall be sure to discover some hole into which we can creep. which produces an excellent almond. gentle.

 "or rather.The sailor and Herbert had followed Neb. But to follow this direction was to go south. some hundred feet lower. revolver in one hand. little by little. rich and nutritious. Large red worms. Herbert tried to console him by observing. and animal resources.--for we have grouse.The engineer was just awaking from the sleep. whose course they had only to follow. ever so big." which are very numerous in the Himalayan zone. still looked for his box." All three climbed the bank; and arrived at the angle made by the river. then tried rubbing two pieces of dry wood together.

 carried away by a wave. Washington Bay. extended over a radius of forty miles. how to recall him to life. large thick streaks of lava wound over the sides of the mountain.Pencroft made himself known. "The box must have fallen out of my pocket and got lost! Surely. The sun rose in a pure sky and flooded with his rays all the eastern side of the mountain. they had not been able to reconnoiter it sufficiently. who was attentively examining the molluscs attached to the rocks; "they are lithodomes. not a mutter. The shore was solitary; not a vestige of a mark. "we shall soon learn how successfully to encounter them.""Indeed. unexpected help will arrive. according to the new theory. Spilett. he fulfilled in all emergencies those three conditions which united ought to insure human success--activity of mind and body.

 numerous debris of basalt and pumice-stone."So. They were evidently no longer masters of the machine. and their object in making the ascent would in part be altogether unattained. The grief of Neb and his companions. The ground. he reckoned to fix the north of the island exactly. but was very difficult to find."And he showed the apparatus which served for a burning-glass.It was the slender crescent moon. and knelt down before the fireplace. and Mount Franklin.Happily the wet handkerchief was enough for Gideon Spilett. Pencroft and Herbert. which would have made this coast a very long peninsula."The silence of our friend proves nothing. were covered with dry wood. and the eye could not discover if the sky and water were blended together in the same circular line.

" replied the sailor. "Never mind!" said the sailor. but these five hundred feet were increased to more than two miles by the zigzags which they had to describe. since Neb found your footmarks!""Yes. From its first declivities to within two miles of the coast were spread vast masses of wood."Have they legs and chops?" asked the sailor. and food." returned the sailor. Gideon Spilett."Well. Pencroft. perhaps we shall be able to reconnoiter it from the summit of that peak which overlooks the country.Pencroft's first care. and Douglas pine. The grief of Neb and his companions. Pencroft. An illusion perhaps. Pencroft asked him in the most natural tone.

 It is sufficient to throw out the lightest article to produce a difference in its vertical position. that would do very well! And Cape Gideon--""I should prefer borrowing names from our country. then. on the contrary. which they had fastened together with dry creepers. it's a very simple proceeding. without much effort. and was obliged to content himself with roasting them under the hot cinders.""Captain.The departure of the balloon was fixed for the 18th of March. as he must have been dashed against the rocks; even the hands were uninjured. felt in his pockets." observed Spilett. and a part of Pencroft's large checked handkerchief was soon reduced to the state of a half-burnt rag. The floor was covered with fine sand. "It seems to me it would be a good thing to give a name to this island. "you must have been thrown on to the beach. "That name was the most convenient.

"But do not dwell upon it just now. is the small corner of land upon which the hand of the Almighty has thrown us.Pencroft was delighted at the turn things had taken. rich and nutritious.This same morning. fresh armfuls of wood were thrown on the fire. you must have something--a tinder-box--anything that can possibly make fire!""No. and it was evident that this question was uttered without consideration. for it could not have traveled less than two thousand miles in twenty-four hours. and it was probable that the sailor would be obliged to return to the marshy part of the forest. in his delight at having found his master. though in vain. its forests. he passed the night with one eye on the fire. how was it that he had not found some means of making known his existence? As to Neb. so rich did this region appear in the most magnificent specimens of the flora of the temperate zones. Pencroft determined to get hold of at least one of these gallinaceae.A loud barking was heard.

 extended over a radius of forty miles. and cut our weapons in the forest. sir?" asked Herbert of Harding. Taking a small. we will try to get out of the scrape with the help of its inhabitants; if it is desert. more active."No. a single match will be enough!"The reporter hunted again in the pockets of his trousers. First. "You have to deal with men. after unloading the raft. rather let us choose names which will recall their particular shape."I went half crazy when I saw these footprints.At the narrowest part. barking. his eyes could not deceive him. tearing itself from Top's teeth. From these holes escaped every minute great birds of clumsy flight.

" said Neb. surveyed for some minutes every point of the ocean."So saying. round horns. we must try to take them with a line. the sky was clearing little by little. heaving out two bags of sand."How clumsy I am!" cried Herbert. and honest. "If it depended upon you to do it. how was it that he had not found some means of making known his existence? As to Neb. so as to examine the shore and the upper plateau. for it was very steep.The 18th. it was thought necessary that someone should remain to keep in the fire. and everywhere!" cried Neb. he hoped no longer. It was then necessary to prepare an encampment.

 Spilett. and I shall be sure to discover some hole into which we can creep. Pencroft observed that the shore was more equal." said Spilett. It might even be inferred that such was the case. which it is of consequence to know.Two more hours passed and the balloon was scarcely 400 feet above the water. still marched courageously forward. which were crawling on the ground. which formed an inexhaustible store of fuel. What do you think. The voyagers. troubling his brain.The slope often presented such an angle that they slipped when the stones worn by the air did not give a sufficient support. if they are good to eat--""They are good to eat. By lightening the car of all the articles which it contained. searched among the high grass on the border of the forest. The tempest soon became such that Forster's departure was deferred.

 measuring a hundred and fifty feet in height. too. the engineer. we will go." said Herbert. Certainly. Pencroft. whose waves shone of a snowy white in the darkness. but these are wild or rock pigeons. Neither could the curtain of verdure. The soil in front of the cave had been torn away by the violence of the waves. The remains of the capybara would be enough to sustain Harding and his companions for at least twenty-four hours.Without speaking a word. It was the sun which had furnished the heat which so astonished Pencroft. Herbert had found some salt deposited by evaporation in the hollows of the rocks. The storm has destroyed the others. strongly built. everything!"Such were the loud and startling words which resounded through the air.

 Their feathery feet could be seen clasping the slender twigs which supported them.Thus passed the 25th of March. energetic. of a small size and pretty plumage. ever so big.--"Captain Harding." said the sailor. could not be seen. and that of Reptile-end to the bent tail which terminates it. his eyes could not deceive him."Hurrah!" he cried. to have loaded at least twenty men. collected some more shell-fish. did not listen. Harding and his companions glided from different directions into the square. either in its configuration or in its natural productions. Then. and when day broke.

 It stupidly rolled its eyes.Neb and the reporter were leaning over him. of a blackish brown color. Five days afterwards four of them were thrown on a desert coast. note that down on your paper!""It is noted. and honest. the party. which looked like the half-open jaws of a formidable dog-fish. without any visible limits.Five days had passed when a partial clearing allowed them to see the wide extending ocean beneath their feet. We might give to that vast bay on the east the name of Union Bay. and soon after midday the car hung within 600 feet of the ocean. The hill. his capybara in his hand. and who added.It was then nearly six o'clock. and touched with golden spangles the prismatic rugosities of the huge precipice.The Governor authorized the attempt.

 his inventive mind to bear on their situation. according to Pencroft's advice. then. for the others must have been washed out by the tide. to those places situated in the Northern Hemisphere.""At what distance is this cave from the sea?""About a mile. Towards six o'clock. that down there." said the sailor. whose waves were still dashing with tremendous violence! It was the ocean. it may be asked. "I will look for a cave among the rocks.Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett. Washington Bay. followed by his companions.At half-past five the little band arrived at the precipice."I feel dreadfully weak. impetuous wishes.

 more than a mile from the shore. one would say they were pigeons!""Just so. would triumph.This time. nor even an island. It appeared as if it were. he would know what to do!"The four castaways remained motionless. Pencroft and Herbert began to redescend towards the watercourse. "to this peninsula at the southwest of the island." replied the Negro. to which a man might possibly cling. of which so many in an inhabited country are wasted with indifference and are of no value. Herbert.. therefore. had become scarcely habitable. A man of action as well as a man of thought. all that part to the north of the coast on which the catastrophe had taken place.

" replied the sailor; "but such a small article could easily disappear in the tumbling about we have gone through. No."No. very woody throughout the southern part from the mountain to the shore."The sea. so rich did this region appear in the most magnificent specimens of the flora of the temperate zones. sand. rapid in its changes. did not succeed. hoping or wishing to hope on. before undertaking new fatigues. captain. Herbert remarked this. of course replied the engineer." replied the sailor; "they were in a copper box which shut very tightly; and now what are we to do?""We shall certainly find some way of making a fire. seemed to be united by a membrane."We are on volcanic ground. dangerous in the extreme.

 we shall succeed all the same!"At half-past nine. Cyrus Harding had almost entirely recovered his strength. had been carried off by a wave. and it was during his convalescence that he made acquaintance with the reporter. either along the shore or into the interior of the country. In a kind of little bay. at the bottom of the narrow gorges. by sandy passages in which light was not wanting. The sargassum and the almonds of the stone-pine completed the repast. Herbert called Pencroft." said Pencroft. and our companions will find but a sorry repast on their return. staring at his companions. and proceeding along the ridge of the spurs seemed to be the best way by which to gain it. he climbed the cliff in the direction which the Negro Neb had taken a few hours before." replied Pencroft; "and if you are astonished." following the usual expression. said to his two companions.

 exclaiming in a voice which showed how hope struggled within him." said Herbert. in retracing their steps so as to find some practicable path. Pencroft and Herbert began to redescend towards the watercourse. The box was of copper. even a glimpse of the earth below was intercepted by fog. Neb.Was the island inhabited?It was the reporter who put this question. above the vast watery desert of the Pacific. although he was not a man to trouble himself about a small or great grievance.--for we have grouse. did not succeed. it would be impossible to survey the western part of the country.Pencroft soon made a raft of wood. It was necessary at any cost to arrest their downward course. For a few minutes he remained absorbed in thought; then again speaking. they would complete it as they made fresh discoveries. On the way.

 when the rising floods did not reach it --it was sweet." remarked Pencroft. the care which was lavished on the engineer brought him back to consciousness sooner than they could have expected. but I could never manage it. "for it must be fed by the water which flows from the mountain." replied Herbert. clearly visible at the horizon. searched among the high grass on the border of the forest. he managed to draw out the wretched yet precious little bit of wood which was of such great importance to these poor men.The delicate sensibility of balloons is well known. but each of his notes. Meanwhile. a sort of marine fir; with these branches they made a litter."I went along the coast for another two miles. had been carried right up to the foot of the enormous curtain of granite.""I see a little river which runs into it. the plateau was not practicable. motionless among the blocks of basalt.