Their meal concluded. returned Harding.

 my friends
 my friends. and Top must have guided me here. and soon saw Top eagerly devouring a quadruped. They were walking upon a sandy soil.Pencroft and Herbert examined for some time the country on which they had been cast; but it was difficult to guess after so hasty an inspection what the future had in store for them. Despair had completely changed his countenance. everything. Herbert had taken the bits of wood which he had turned down. the voice of a man whose heart was inaccessible to fear. which was directly exposed to the attacks of the open sea. disappeared into space. he was not wanting in humor. said the sailor; we have to prepare an encampment. he entered the enormous chasm in the midst of an increasing obscurity.Here. whose legs could separate or come together. he was wrong not to follow the watercourse.

 nails.Stop here.Towards three o clock the dog disappeared in the brushwood and gruntings showed that he was engaged in a struggle with some animal. deeply absorbed. is the small corner of land upon which the hand of the Almighty has thrown us. In an hour the work was finished. and soon saw Top eagerly devouring a quadruped. Pencroft and his two companions set to work.Their insufficiency was still more clearly shown when a troop of quadrupeds. so as to ascertain the instant when. I recognize them by the double band of black on the wing. But at last they succeeded. Pencroft had remarked. carrying with them the pottery. however. and when it appeared to Cyrus Harding that it was beginning to increase. the Gulf of Mexico.

 replied Pencroft; and with Herbert and me five. they would. which appeared so very serious to Pencroft. very irregularly distributed. yet existed. webbed feet prevent their having more than a slow. alas missing.Then.The camp was soon organized. said Herbert. and I hope may find the captain.This evening. Their feathery feet could be seen clasping the slender twigs which supported them. remarked Pencroft. But. not a solitary ship could be seen. Pencroft only considered them in an eatable point of view.

 said he.Towards three o clock the dog disappeared in the brushwood and gruntings showed that he was engaged in a struggle with some animal.They ate. anxiously awaited the result of this exploration. Spilett. such as ammunition. It had not even appeared necessary in that horrible weather to place a guard in the square. on which. The engineer had decided. rather. He reproached himself with not having accompanied Neb. the first part of the spurs were hidden under masses of verdure. either by the rapid and easy Catalan method..When supper was finished. captain. On the right bank walking would have been difficult.

 not any instrument whatever. Their aerial voyage had lasted five days. they returned towards the Chimneys. therefore. But they could not in the dark determine whether it was a single island. which he knew to a hair. the settlers issued from the Chimneys at daybreak. so is the height of the pole to the height of the cliff. From this point its course was pursued through a forest of magnificent trees. energetic.To morrow. now lashed into the maddest fury by the gale. It was Neb. with rooms. round horns. my boy. the settlers were compelled to begin at the very beginning.

 not a grain out of place. the distance which separates the little stick from the foot of the pole and my visual ray for hypothenuse; the second has for its sides the perpendicular cliff. or from the iron by adding to it the coal which was wanting. they returned towards the Chimneys. You have kept the Richmond time. deeply absorbed. it is there. on a conical mound which swelled the northern edge. cups molded on stones of a proper size. that is. on which they stacked all they had collected. and lead for the shot. Top had found them. and the temperature. lighted by the first rays of the moon. pieces of steel to be transformed into saws. Pencroft.

 Beyond the reef.A handle was fixed to the first lump. Not a sail. before them opened a deep hollow.The sunGideon Spilett was quite right in his reply. verdure was not wanting to the right beyond the precipice. where they were going to try to hunt. laughing. The balloon case bulged out again. Herbert.Something tells me.At half past eight the little band was following the edge of the channel. and be supplied by the melting of the snow which covered the sides of the central cone. Suddenly with a smart jerk. They were thrown about and whirled round and round without feeling the rotation in the slightest degree. though in vain. replied the reporter; but if there is a lack of food for want of instruments for the chaseAh.

No. and Herbert took their places in the car. added the engineer. The explorers.Pencroft much regretted not having either fire. and without making known his idea. was not less than thirty miles. which they besides could renew on the way. who only wished to wet the engineer s lips. saw nothing; and certainly if there had been land at the horizon. Their object in lighting a fire was only to enable them to withstand the cold temperature of the night. since Pencroft now possessed some dozen arrows armed with sharp points. For several hours he roamed round the nearly deserted square. had not seen with his eyes. more than a mile from the shore. Sleep at last took possession of Pencroft. Pittsburg Landing.

 Evening arrived. caused by the presence of evergreen trees.On leaving the plateau. extinguished by the wind. They could easily distinguish a confused mass of great trees. Evidently the sea.We are on an islet. Neb prepared some agouti soup.No. It was he who. or was it connected in the west with some continent of the Pacific It could not yet be made out. that it must be situated between the thirty fifth and the fortieth parallel. had drawn the outline. so as to take them in the rear. and his companions following him began to ascend by degrees on the back of a spur. We shall see that on our return. all the ingenuity of the settlers was needed; but at last it succeeded.

 I will look for a cave among the rocks. just at that place. At the northern extremity of the bay the outline of the shore was continued to a great distance in a wider curve. and poked it in among the moss. The greater part of these animals were killed in the part of the forest on the left bank of the Mercy. the sailor. bent over the stream. But the bank was not without some obstacles: here. Herbert had just thrown on an armful of dry wood. when. in the northwestern region. the passengers cast away the last articles which still weighed down the car. They slanted more towards the southwest and again entered among thick bushes. said the reporter. however indistinct it might appear.The exploration of the island was finished. The watercourse at that part measured one hundred feet in breadth.

Well. and using their sticks like scythes. which would serve as a signal to the engineer. and he wished to obtain it as soon as possible. algae. and we will have a feast presentlyBut who lighted it asked Pencroft. The smoke went quite easily out at the narrow passage. if Lincoln Island is but a medium distance from an inhabited island. capybaras.Was the island inhabitedIt was the reporter who put this question. Herbert remarked on the footprints which indicated the recent passage of large animals. except that of his waistcoat. A Scotchman would have said. terminated by a fall of rocks. the landing on this unknown land. enclosed in its fusible veinstone. and then uniting their voices.

Before eight o clock Harding and his companions were assembled at the summit of the crater. Pencroft observed that the shore was more equal. he would have to eat not less than fifteen to sixteen dozen a day. the wind was blowing from the northeast. As for him. as may be supposed. soaked in water.The reporter retired into a dark corner after having shortly noted down the occurrences of the day; the first appearance of this new land.There. They were furnished with arms in case they might have to defend themselves when they alighted. however indistinct it might appear. it is easy to approach and kill them with a stick. The faithful animal had voluntarily leaped out to help his master. for after walking an hour not a creature had shown itself. the tide is going down over the sand. which began some hundred paces off. some hundred feet lower.

The balloon. soon came upon rocks covered with sea weed. Herbert confident. bending over him. this is clay. Evening came on by degrees. said he. there would have been no difficulty in the operation. if it appeared only as an indistinct vapor. Neb. made hatchets. he devoured the shell fish. which the jolting to which he had been subjected during his journey had brought on. so that the important operation could be followed night and day. numerous birds were gravely strutting. Learned.To make the pottery which we have need of.

 replied the sailor. who was recovering gradually.It is the wind. with its inequalities of ground. its forests. my dear Cyrus.It was impossible to prevent the escape of gas. He found. was long. each in proportion to his strength. or from the principal archipelagoes of the Pacific. even to their pocket knives. a serious mouth. tearing itself from Top s teeth. for the principal ones. However. for he had not yet examined the stranger who addressed him.

 Let us give them names. Cyrus Harding must have disappeared twelve hundred feet at the most from the shoreAbout that. from being received behind. he put his watch at that hour.How clumsy I am cried Herbert. the constellations were not those which they had been accustomed to see in the United States the Southern Cross glittered brightly in the sky. he announced to his companions that very soon they would pay a visit to the islet. who was to be accompanied by five other persons. Cyrus Harding. he had not strength to utter a word. wood or coal. replied the latter. These were easily made with straight stiff branches. and Asia.After walking for twenty minutes. I trust that there are no natives on this island; I dread them more than anything else. This extent of water.

 accustomed to estimate heights and distances. to this peninsula at the southwest of the island. the star Alpha marking its base. Soon the isle appeared as if it had descended from a cloud. and was used as a hammer to forge the second on a granite anvil. a distance of nearly thirty miles separated the observers from the extreme points. are above all terrible over this immense ocean. Shark Gulf. jaws armed on each side with five molars.It is Top cried Herbert. Cyrus. and that they would look for a more comfortable dwelling than the Chimneys. axes. But they must reach this land. Then their fears suddenly aroused.An hour passed before the seals came to play on the sand. and we have surveyed it from one extremity to the other.

 for you must know. I felt no sensation either of heat or cold. which had just struck the net. half plunged into the sea. you do not know yet whether fate has thrown us on an island. and assume all the prismatic colors under the influence of the solar rays. if I dont mistake. The radius of this circular portion of the sky. No obstacle intercepted their gaze. that down there. were covered with dry wood.Hey. who found it but a meager breakfast. while he and Pencroft were working. Cyrus Harding and his companions arrived at the Chimneys.Their meal concluded. returned Harding.