Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules Verne
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" True, Mr. Donagan," said Kate. " But what is dangerous for you has no danger for me."
" But Kate," said Gordon, " if you fall into Walston's hands—"
" Well," interrupted Kate, " I shall be where I was before I ran away. That is all! "
" And if this rascal makes away with you, as he very likely will ? " asked Briant.
" I escaped before, and why should I not escape again, particularly as I now know the road to French Den ? And if I could get away with Mr. Evans—after telling him all about you—think what a help he would be to you! "
" If Evans had a chance of escape," said Donagan, " would he not have gone already ? Is there not every reason for his trying to save himself ? "
" Donagan is right," said Gordon. " Evans knows
Walston's secret, and Walston would have no hesitation in killing him as soon as he had no need of his help to guide the boat to the continent. If Evans has not slipped away from his companions by now, it is because he is too well guarded."
" Or that he has already paid with his life for an attempt to escape," said Donagan. " And so, Kate, unless you wish to be recaptured—"
" Do you think I would not do all I could to avoid being caught ? "
" Of course you would," said Briant. " But we will never let you run the risk. No ! We must seek out some less dangerous way of discovering if Walston is still on Charman Island."
Kate's proposal having been rejected, there was no more to do than keep a good look-out. Evidently if Walston was able to leave the island he would do so before the wet season began, so as to reach some country where he and his companions would be welcomed, as all shipwrecked folks are welcomed, no matter whence they may come.
If Walston was in the island he seemed to have no intention of exploring the interior. Frequently, on the dark nights, Briant, Donagan, and Moko had crossed the lake in the yawl, and never had they seen a fire, either on the opposite bank, or beneath the trees down East River.
CHAPTER XV.
The Enemy In Sight
Walston had now been a fortnight on the island, and if he had not repaired his boat, it was because he had not the took to do so.
" That must be the reason," said Donagan; " for the boat was not damaged very much. If our schooner had not suffered more, we should have had her seaworthy in much less time."
But although Walston had not gone, it was not likely that he intended to settle on Charman Island. Had he done so, he would have made several excursions into the interior, and French Den would certainly have been visited by him.
Then Briant told the others what he had seen regarding the land, which could not be very far off to the eastward.
" You have not forgotten," he said, " that when we went to East River I noticed a white patch a little above the horizon, which I could not at all understand."
" Wilcox and I saw nothing like it," said Donagan, " although we did our best—"
" Moko saw it as distinctly as I did," said Briant.
" Well, that may be," said Donagan. " But what makes you think we are near a continent, or a group of islands ? "
" Just this," said Briant. " Yesterday, while I was looking at the horizon in that direction, I saw a light a long way beyond our island, which could only come from a volcano in eruption, and I supposed that there must be some land not far off. Now, the sailors of the Severn must know that, and they would do all they could to get there."
" That is true enough," interrupted Baxter. " They won't get much by stopping here. Evidently the only reason they have not relieved us of their presence is that they have not been able to get their boat made seaworthy."
Briant's news was of the greatest importance to the little colony. It showed for certain that Charman Island was not isolated in the Pacific as they had thought. But the fact that Walston had taken up his quarters at East River seriously complicated matters. He had left the place where he had come ashore, and come a dozen miles nearer the camp. He had only to ascend the river to reach the lake; and he had only to skirt the southern shore of the lake to discover French Den.
To provide against this, Briant had to take every precaution. Henceforth the boys were allowed out only when absolutely necessary. Baxter hid the fence of the enclosure with a curtain of brushwood, and in the same way he concealed the entrances of the hall and store-room. No one was allowed to show himself in the open between the lake and Auckland Hill.
And added to these difficulties there were now other causes of anxiety. Costar was ill of a fever, and in danger of his life. Gordon had to prescribe for him from the schooner's medicine-chest, not without some nervousness that he might make a mistake! Luckily, Kate was quite a mother to the poor, sick boy. She watched over him with a painstaking affection, and nursed him night and day. Thanks chiefly to her, the fever left him, and he soon afterwards quite recovered. During the first fortnight of November there were frequent showers, but on the 17th the barometer rose and steadied, and the warm season set in for good. Trees and shrubs and all the vegetation were soon covered with leaves and flowers. The customary visitors of South Moors returned in great numbers. Donagan was miserable at not being able to go out shooting across the marshes, and poor Wilcox was none the less so at not being able to spread his nets. And not only did the birds swarm on the island, but others were taken in the snares near French Den.
During these long, idle days, many were the hours now passed in the hall. Baxter, who had charge of the log, found not an incident to relate. And in less than four months the third winter would begin for the colonists of Charman Island t
The boys noticed with deep anxiety, how discouragement was seizing upon the most energetic—with the exception of Gordon who was always deep in the details of management.
Even Briant at times despaired, although he did his best to hide it. He tried to encourage his comrades to continue their studies, to resume their debates, and their readings aloud. He reminded them constantly of their country and their friends, averring that one day they would go back. He did all he could to keep up their spirits, but with little success, and his great fear was that despair would overwhelm them.
Nothing of the sort I Events of the greatest importance were at hand which soon gave them quite sufficient excitement.
It was on the 21st of November, about two o'clock in the afternoon, when Donagan was fishing in the lake, that his attention was attracted by the discordant cries of a score of birds hovering over the left bank of the stream. If the birds were not crows—which they somewhat resembled—they evidently belonged to the same species.
Donagan would have taken little notice of their cries had not their behaviour been strange.
They were describing large circles, diminishing in radius as they neared the ground, until in a compact group they swooped down.
Then the noise became greater than ever, but in vain Donagan tried to catch a glimpse of the birds among the thick bushes in which they had disappeared.
The thought occurred to him that the carcase of some animal must be there. Curious to know what was the matter, he returned to French Den and asked Moko to take him over in the boat to the other side of Zealand River.
They pushed off and in ten minutes had slipped in among the vegetation on the bank. At once the birds took to flight, protesting by their screams at being disturbed at their meal.
There lay the body of a young guanaco that had evidently been dead for only a few hours, inasmuch as it was not quite cold.
Donagan and Moko not caring to burden their larder with the remains of the birds' dinner, were about to leave it when it occurred to them to ask why the guanaco