The Mysterious Island. Jules Verne
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terrace composed of volcanic ground with very few trees. They then went toward the east once more, moving on a winding path which made the very steep slopes more practical. Everyone had to carefully choose the spot where he placed his foot. Neb and Harbert were in front, Pencroff was in the rear, and Cyrus and the reporter were between them. The animals which frequented these heights—and there was no lack of their prints—belonged to those species of sure foot and supple backbone, the chamois and the izards. They saw several of them, but this was not the name that Pencroff gave them:
“Sheep!” he shouted.
Everyone stopped fifty feet from a half dozen of these large animals with strong horns curving rearward and flat at the tip, with woolen fleece hidden under long silky buff colored hair. They were not ordinary sheep but a species generally found in the mountainous regions of the temperate zones which Harbert called mouflons.4
“Do they have legs and chops?” asked the sailor.
“Yes,” replied Harbert.
“Well, then they’re sheep,” said Pencroff.
These animals stood still among the basaltic debris and looked astonished as if they were seeing biped humans for the first time. Then their fear suddenly awakened and they disappeared in a bound among the rocks.
“Au revoir! Until we meet again!” Pencroff shouted to them in a tone so comic that Cyrus Smith, Gideon Spilett, Harbert, and Neb laughed.
The climb continued. On certain rock faces, they often saw traces of irregularly striated lava. They had to go around small volcanic areas of hot sulphur vapors which sometimes cut across their route. In several places, sulphur was present in crystalline form among other substances that generally precede lava flows, such as pozzuolanas, highly torrefied whitish cinders made by an infinity of small feldspar crystals.
As they neared the first plateau, formed by the truncated top of the lower cone, the difficulties of the climb became greater. Around four o’clock, they had passed the last zone of trees. There only remained, here and there, some emaciated pines which had managed to resist the strong blasts of the wind at this altitude. Fortunately for the engineer and his companions, the weather was magnificent and calm; a strong breeze at an altitude of 3000 feet would have severely affected their movement. They could feel the purity of the sky overhead through the transparent air. Around them reigned perfect calm. They could no longer see the sun, hidden by the vast screen of the upper cone which masked the western horizon. This enormous shadow, reaching to the shore, would lengthen as the radiant star descended in it daily trajectory. Several wisps of haze rather than clouds began to rise in the east, colored by all the colors of the spectrum under the action of the solar rays.
Only 500 feet separated the explorers from the plateau they wanted to reach in order to establish camp for the night, but these 500 feet were increased to more than 2000 by the zigzags they had to follow. The ground gave way underfoot. The incline was so steep that they slipped on the lava strata when, worn smooth by the wind, it did not offer enough foothold. Evening came on little by little, and it was almost night when Cyrus Smith and his companions, tired from a climb of seven hours, finally reached the plateau of the first cone.
The first order of business was to set up camp and to regain their strength by eating first and then getting some sleep. This second tier of the mountain rose on a base of rocks where they would easily find shelter. Fuel was not abundant; however, they could make a fire with moss and dry brushwood which grew on certain portions of the plateau. While the sailor made his fireplace on rocks which he arranged for this purpose, Neb and Harbert occupied themselves with gathering fuel. They soon returned with a load of brushwood. The flint was struck, the burnt linen caught the sparks of the flint and, with Neb blowing, a crackling fire was soon growing in the shelter of the rocks.
The fire was only intended to combat the night’s temperature, which was a little cold. It was not used to roast the pheasant which Neb saved for the next day. The rest of the capybara and a few dozen pine kernel almonds made up the ingredients of supper. It was not past six thirty when everything was finished.
Cyrus Smith then thought of exploring, in the semi-darkness, this large circular foundation which supported the upper cone of the mountain. Before resting, he wanted to know if this cone could be walked around at its base, just in case its flanks were too steep, making the summit inaccessible. This question preoccupied him because it was possible that on the side toward which the hat inclined, that is to say toward the north, the plateau might not be climbable. On the one hand, if they could not ascend to the summit of the mountain and if, on the other hand, they could not go round the base of the cone, then it would be impossible to examine the western portion of the country and the purpose of the climb would be in part unfulfilled.
The engineer left Pencroff and Neb to organize the sleeping arrangements and Gideon Spilett to note the incidents of the day. Ignoring his fatigue, he began to follow the circular border of the plateau going northward. Harbert went with him.
The night was fine and tranquil and not yet fully dark. Cyrus Smith and the boy walked near each other without speaking. In certain places, the plateau was wide and they proceeded without difficulty. Other places, obstructed by debris, offered only a narrow path so that the two could not walk side by side. After a walk of twenty minutes, Cyrus Smith and Harbert were forced to stop. From this point on, the slopes of the two cones were flush. No shoulder separated the two parts of the mountain. To go around it, along slopes of nearly 70° incline, was impossible.
As they went higher into the crater.
But if the engineer and the boy had to give up the idea of following a circular route, there was nevertheless the possibility that they could climb the cone directly.
In fact, there was before them a deep opening5 in the solid block. It was the flare of the upper crater, the outlet so to speak, by which liquid eruptive material escaped at a time when the volcano was still active. The hardened lava and the encrusted slag formed a sort of natural staircase well designed for a climb, which would facilitate access to the summit of the mountain.
A glance sufficed for Cyrus Smith to recognize the situation. Without hesitation, and followed by the lad, he entered the enormous crevice. It was getting darker.
There was still 1000 feet to climb. Would the walls of the interior of the crater be scalable? They would see. The engineer would continue his climb as long as he could. Fortunately, the incline was gradual and winding, moving in a large spiral path along the interior of the volcano and favoring upward movement.
As to the volcano itself, there was no doubt that it was completely extinct. No smoke escaped from its interior. No flame revealed itself in the deep crevices. Neither growl, nor murmur, nor shudder came forth from this dark pit which perhaps extended to the very bowels of the earth. Even the atmosphere within the crater was not saturated with any sulphurous vapor. The volcano was more than slumbering; it was totally extinct.
Cyrus Smith’s attempt would most likely succeed. Little by little, he and Harbert ascended the inner walls and saw the crater enlarge above their heads. The radius of this circular portion of the sky, surrounded by the borders of the cone, became noticeably larger. With each step that Cyrus Smith and Harbert made, new stars entered their field of view. The magnificent constellations of the southern sky were shining brightly. At the zenith, the splendid Antares of Scorpio6 was sparkling with a pure glare, and not far away was the ß of Centaurus which is thought to be the nearest star to the terrestrial globe. Then as they went higher, Fomalhaut7 of the Southern Fish appeared, the Southern Triangle, and finally near the southern pole of the sky, the sparkling Southern Cross which takes the place of the pole star of the northern hemisphere.
It was nearly eight o’clock when Cyrus Smith and Harbert set foot on the upper crest of the mountain, the summit of the cone. By then it was completely dark and they could not see more than two miles. Did the sea completely surround this unknown land, or was it attached in the west to some continent of the Pacific? They still could not tell. Toward the west, a bank of clouds were clearly discernable on