Read Ebook: Tragic Romances Re-issue of the Shorter Stories of Fiona Macleod; Rearranged with Additional Tales by Sharp William

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Ebook has 303 lines and 14409 words, and 7 pages

First Trial of the Canoe -- A Wreck on the Coast -- Towing -- Flotsam Point -- Inventory of the Case: Tools, Weapons, Instruments, Clothes, Books, Utensils -- What Pencroft misses -- The Gospel -- A Verse from the Sacred Book 11

The Start -- The rising Tide -- Elms and different Plants -- The Jacamar -- Aspect of the Forest -- Gigantic Eucalypti -- The Reason they are called "Fever Trees" -- Troops of Monkeys -- A Waterfall -- The Night Encampment 23

Journey to the Coast -- Troops of Monkeys -- A new River -- The Reason the Tide was not felt -- A woody Shore -- Reptile Promontory -- Herbert envies Gideon Spilett -- Explosion of Bamboos 34

Proposal to return by the Southern Shore -- Configuration of the Coast -- Searching for the supposed Wreck -- A Wreck in the Air -- Discovery of a small Natural Port -- At Midnight on the Banks of the Mercy -- The Canoe Adrift 45

Pencroft's Halloos -- A Night in the Chimneys -- Herbert's Arrows -- The Captain's Project -- An unexpected Explanation -- What has happened in Granite House -- How a new Servant enters the Service of the Colonists 58

Plans -- A Bridge over the Mercy -- Mode adopted for making an Island of Prospect Heights -- The Drawbridge -- Harvest -- The Stream -- The Poultry-yard -- A Pigeon-house -- The two Onagas -- The Cart -- Excursion to Port Balloon 70

Linen -- Shoes of Seal-leather -- Manufacture of Pyroxyle -- Gardening -- Fishing -- Turtle-eggs -- Improvement of Master Jup -- The Corral -- Musmon Hunt -- New Animal and Vegetable Possessions -- Recollections of their Native Land 81

Bad Weather -- The Hydraulic Lift -- Manufacture of Glass-ware -- The Bread-tree -- Frequent Visits to the Corral -- Increase of the Flock -- The Reporter's Question -- Exact Position of Lincoln Island -- Pencroft's Proposal 92

Boat-building -- Second Crop of Corn -- Hunting Koalas -- A new Plant, more Pleasant than Useful -- Whale in Sight -- A Harpoon from the Vineyard -- Cutting up the Whale -- Use for the Bones -- End of the Month of May -- Pencroft has nothing left to wish for 103

Winter -- Felling Wood -- The Mill -- Pencroft's fixed Idea -- The Bones -- To what Use an Albatross may be put -- Fuel for the Future -- Top and Jup -- Storms -- Damage to the Poultry-yard -- Excursion to the Marsh -- Cyrus Harding alone -- Exploring the Well 114

Departure decided upon -- Conjectures -- Preparations -- The three Passengers -- First Night -- Second Night -- Tabor Island -- Searching the Shore -- Searching the Wood -- No one -- Animals -- Plants -- A Dwelling -- Deserted 142

The Inventory -- Night -- A few Letters -- Continuation of the Search -- Plants and Animals -- Herbert in great Danger -- On Board -- The Departure -- Bad Weather -- A Gleam of Reason -- Lost on the Sea -- A timely Light 154

The Return -- Discussion -- Cyrus Harding and the Stranger -- Port Balloon -- The Engineer's Devotion -- A touching Incident -- Tears flow 166

A Mystery to be cleared up -- The Stranger's first Words -- Twelve Years on the Islet -- Avowal which escapes him -- The Disappearance -- Cyrus Harding's Confidence -- Construction of a Mill -- The first Bread -- An Act of Devotion -- Honest Hands 176

Conversation -- Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett -- An Idea of the Engineer's -- The Electric Telegraph -- The Wires -- The Battery -- The Alphabet -- Fine Season -- Prosperity of the Colony -- Photography -- An Appearance of Snow -- Two Years on Lincoln Island 203

Recollections of their Native Land -- Probable Future -- Project for surveying the Coasts of the Island -- Departure on the 16th of April -- Sea-view of Reptile End -- The basaltic Rocks of the Western Coast -- Bad Weather -- Night comes on -- New Incident 216

A Night at Sea -- Shark Gulf -- Confidences -- Preparations for Winter -- Forwardness of the Bad Season -- Severe Cold -- Work in the Interior -- In Six Months -- A Photographic Negative -- Unexpected Incident 226

PAGE TURNING A TURTLE 9 FLOTSAM AND JETSAM 15 UNPACKING THE MARVELLOUS CHEST 17 PENCROFT'S SUPERSTITION 21 IS IT TOBACCO? 27 THE HALT FOR BREAKFAST 29 DENIZENS OF THE FOREST 37 THE SEA 39 AT THAT MOMENT A SHOT STRUCK THE JAGUAR BETWEEN THE EYES AND IT FELL DEAD 43 "NOW THERE'S SOMETHING TO EXPLAIN THE BULLET!" EXCLAIMED PENCROFT 51 A WRECK IN THE AIR 53 THERE WAS NO LONGER A LADDER! 57 THE INVADERS OF GRANITE HOUSE 63 CAPTURING THE ORANG 67 ENGAGING THE NEW SERVANT 69 BUILDING THE BRIDGE 73 PENCROFT'S SCARECROWS 77 THE SETTLERS' NEW SHIRTS 83 JUP PASSED MOST OF HIS TIME IN THE KITCHEN, TRYING TO IMITATE NEB 87 PENCROFT TO THE RESCUE 93 THE GLASS-BLOWERS 97 THE VERANDAH ON THE EDGE OF PROSPECT HEIGHTS 101 THE DOCKYARD 105 A VALUABLE PRIZE 109 PENCROFT HAS NOTHING LEFT TO WISH FOR 113 THE MESSENGER 119 WINTER EVENINGS IN GRANITE HOUSE 121 HE SAW NOTHING SUSPICIOUS 125 TOP VISITING THE INVALID 133 THE TRIAL TRIP 137 "LUFF, PENCROFT, LUFF!" 141 THE DEPARTURE 145 NEARING THE ISLAND 149 A HUT! 153 HERBERT IN DANGER 159 A LIGHT! A LIGHT! 165 "POOR FELLOW," MURMURED THE ENGINEER 169 THE EXPERIMENT 175 "WHO ARE YOU?" HE ASKED IN A HOLLOW VOICE 177 THE STRANGER 179 NOW FOR A GOOD WIND 187 HE SEIZED THE JAGUAR'S THROAT WITH ONE POWERFUL HAND 189 THE STRANGER'S STORY 195 "HERE IS MY HAND," SAID THE ENGINEER 201 THE ENGINEER AT WORK 209 JUP SITTING FOR HIS PORTRAIT 213 THE SNOWY SHEET AROSE AND DISPERSED IN THE AIR 215 ANOTHER MYSTERY 225 RETURNING FROM A SPORTING EXCURSION 233 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVE 235

THE ABANDONED

Conversation on the Subject of the Bullet -- Construction of a Canoe -- Hunting -- At the Top of a Kauri -- Nothing to attest the Presence of Man -- Neb and Herbert's Prize -- Turning a Turtle -- The Turtle disappears -- Cyrus Harding's Explanation.

It was now exactly seven months since the balloon voyagers had been thrown on Lincoln Island. During that time, notwithstanding the researches they had made, no human being had been discovered. No smoke even had betrayed the presence of man on the surface of the island. No vestiges of his handiwork showed that either at an early or at a late period had man lived there. Not only did it now appear to be uninhabited by any but themselves, but the colonists were compelled to believe that it never had been inhabited. And now, all this scaffolding of reasonings fell before a simple ball of metal, found in the body of an inoffensive rodent! In fact, this bullet must have issued from a firearm, and who but a human being could have used such a weapon?

When Pencroft had placed the bullet on the table, his companions looked at it with intense astonishment. All the consequences likely to result from this incident, notwithstanding its apparent insignificance, immediately took possession of their minds. The sudden apparition of a supernatural being could not have startled them more completely.

Cyrus Harding did not hesitate to give utterance to the suggestions which this fact, at once surprising and unexpected, could not fail to raise in his mind. He took the bullet, turned it over and over, rolled it between his finger and thumb; then, turning to Pencroft, he asked,--

"Are you sure that the peccary wounded by this bullet was not more than three months old?"

"Not more, captain," replied Pencroft. "It was still sucking its mother when I found it in the trap."

"Well," said the engineer, "that proves that within three months a gun-shot was fired in Lincoln Island."

"And that a bullet," added Gideon Spilett, "wounded, though not mortally, this little animal."

"That is unquestionable," said Cyrus Harding, "and these are the deductions which must be drawn from this incident: that the island was inhabited before our arrival, or that men have landed here within three months. Did these men arrive here voluntarily or involuntarily, by disembarking on the shore or by being wrecked? This point can only be cleared up later. As to what they were, Europeans or Malays, enemies or friends of our race, we cannot possibly guess; and if they still inhabit the island, or if they have left it, we know not. But these questions are of too much importance to be allowed to remain long unsettled."

"In fact, the contrary would be very astonishing," said Herbert.

"But it would be much more astonishing, I should think," observed the reporter, "that this peccary should have been born with a bullet in its inside!"

"At least," said Neb seriously, "if Pencroft has not had--"

"Look here, Neb," burst out Pencroft. "Do you think I could have a bullet in my jaw for five or six months without finding it out? Where could it be hidden?" he asked opening his mouth to show the two-and-thirty teeth with which it was furnished. "Look well, Neb, and if you find one hollow tooth in this set, I will let you pull out half a dozen!"

"Neb's supposition is certainly inadmissible," replied Harding, who, notwithstanding the gravity of his thoughts, could not restrain a smile. "It is certain that a gun has been fired in the island, within three months at most. But I am inclined to think that the people who landed on this coast were only here a very short time ago, or that they just touched here; for if, when we surveyed the island from the summit of Mount Franklin, it had been inhabited, we should have seen them or we should have been seen ourselves. It is therefore probable that within only a few weeks castaways have been thrown by a storm on some part of the coast. However that may be, it is of consequence to us to have this point settled."

"I think that we should act with caution," said the reporter.

"Such is my advice," replied Cyrus Harding, "for it is to be feared that Malay pirates have landed on the island!"

"Captain," asked the sailor, "would it not be a good plan, before setting out, to build a canoe in which we could either ascend the river, or, if we liked, coast round the island? It will not do to be unprovided."

"Your idea is good, Pencroft," replied the engineer, "but we cannot wait for that. It would take at least a month to build a boat."

"Yes, a real boat," replied the sailor; "but we do not want one for a sea voyage, and in five days at the most, I will undertake to construct a canoe fit to navigate the Mercy."

"Five days," cried Neb, "to build a boat?"

"Yes, Neb; a boat in the Indian fashion."

"Of wood?" asked the negro, looking still unconvinced.

"Of wood," replied Pencroft, "or rather of bark. I repeat, captain, that in five days the work will be finished!"

"In five days, then, be it," replied the engineer.

"But till that time we must be very watchful," said Herbert.

"Very watchful indeed, my friends," replied Harding; "and I beg you to confine your hunting excursions to the neighbourhood of Granite House."

The dinner ended less gaily than Pencroft had hoped.

So, then, the island was, or had been, inhabited by others than the settlers. Proved as it was by the incident of the bullet, it was hereafter an unquestionable fact, and such a discovery could not but cause great uneasiness amongst the colonists.

Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett, before sleeping, conversed long about the matter. They asked themselves if by chance this incident might not have some connection with the inexplicable way in which the engineer had been saved, and the other peculiar circumstances which had struck them at different times. However Cyrus Harding, after having discussed the pros and cons of the question, ended by saying,--

"In short, would you like to know my opinion, my dear Spilett?"

"Yes, Cyrus."

"Well, then, it is this: however minutely we explore the island, we shall find nothing."

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