Chapter 24 Chapter two

On October 29th the bark barge was completed.Pencroft, in accordance with his promise, had in five days a canoe constructed of flexible twigs of the kelecumba.There are three seats in this boat, one at the stern, one in the middle to keep the balance of the hull, and one at the bow.In addition, there are two oar racks and a steering scull.It is twelve feet long and weighs less than two hundred catties. Getting it into the water is extremely easy.The flat-bottomed boat was brought to the sea, and placed on the sand in front of the Granite Palace, where it floated when the tide came up.Pencroft jumped into the boat at once, rowed the oars, and praised the boat, saying that it could not have been more suitable for everyone.

Ha ha!cried the sailor, he could not but rejoice at his victory, with which we may sail worldwide?Ji Ding.asked Spilett. No, the whole island.Find some ballast stones.Put up a mast, and Mr. Smith will make us a sail in a few days, and we'll sail with all our might!Mr. Smith, and you, Mr. Spilett, and you, Herbert, and you, Neb, will you try our new ship?come!See if it can lift all five of us! This is indeed necessary to try.Pencroft immediately passed a channel between the rocks, and rolled the barge ashore.They agreed to row along the coast that day as far as the first cape, which is the end of the southern rocks, and make a trial voyage.

As they embarked, Neb called: Your ship is leaking, Pencroft. Never mind, Neb, replied the sailor: the wood will seal itself.In two days there won't be a crack, and by then we'll have less water in the boat than a drunkard's stomach.jump in! They all sat down at once, and Pencroft swung the oars.The weather was fine, and the sea was as calm as a lake.Therefore, it is very safe to sail, as if swimming upstream on the calm river of mercy. Neb held one oar, Herbert the other, and Pencroft rowed in the stern. Sailors crossed the channel first, and rolled the boat to the southern tip of the islet.A light breeze was blowing from the south.Neither in the strait nor on the emerald sea, there were no great waves churning.There were long waves rolling on the surface of the sea, but due to the heavy load on the ship, the people on board hardly felt it at all.They paddled about a mile and a half from shore, intending to get a good look at Mount Franklin.

After seeing this, Pencroft returned to the mouth of the river.The flat-bottomed boat then sailed along the shore, which stretched out to a far-off promontory, and hid the whole of the sloppy moor.This promontory was nearly three miles from the Mercy, a distance which was accounted for by the very winding coast, and they resolved to paddle to the very end, and, if necessary, still farther, in order to get a general view of the land as far as the Cape of the Claw. seaside. Flat-bottomed boats sailed along the winding coast, skirting reefs where the tide was beginning to submerge.The cliffs gradually slope down from the mouth of the river to the cape.It was formed of granite, scattered here and there in scattered heaps, quite different from the cliffs of Prospect Heights, and had a very desolate look, as if someone had quarried a great deal of rock here.This steep two-mile promontory jutting out of the forest, devoid of vegetation, looked like a gigantic arm protruding from a leafy sleeve.

Driven by the oars, the flat-bottomed boat moved forward smoothly.Ji Ding.Holding a pencil in one hand and a notebook in the other, Spilett drew the outline of the coast sharply.Neb, Herbert, and Pencroft, while talking, surveyed their new part of the country; and as the barge advanced south, the north and south parts of Cape Mandible seemed to move, and bound the Bay of Union more closely. Cyrus.Smith didn't say a word, he just watched intently, his eyes were suspicious, as if he was observing a strange place. After advancing for three quarters of an hour, the flat-bottomed boat reached the top of the cape.Pencroft was about to turn the boat, when Herbert stood up suddenly, and pointing to something black, he said:

What is there on the shore over there? Everyone looked in the direction he pointed. Why, said the correspondent, there was something.Like the wreck of a wreck, half sunk in the mud. ah!cried Pencroft, I see! What?asked Neb. Barrel, barrel, maybe full.replied the sailor. Land, Pencroft!Cyrus said. They took a few oars, and the flat-bottomed boat entered a small river, and the occupants jumped ashore. Pencroft guessed correctly.There were two barrels, half buried in the sand, but a large chest was fastened tightly to it.The box was buoyantly supported by wooden barrels, and at first floated on the water, then rested on the beach.

Well, there have been shipwrecks on desert islands.Herbert said. It is clear.replied Spilett. But what's in the box?Pencroft could not help asking, what is in the box?It's locked, it doesn't matter, break it open!well use stone The sailor raised a heavy stone and was about to break one side of the box, but the engineer caught his hand. Pencroft, said he, can you bear another hour? Think, Mr. Smith, maybe there's what we need in here! We will take it out, Pencroft, said the engineer, but leave it to me, and don't destroy the box, we may need it.We shall take it back to Granite Palace, where it can be easily opened without breaking it.This box is easy to carry, since it has floated here, let it float to the mouth of the river.

You are right, Mr. Smith, and I was wrong again, but one cannot help himself sometimes.said the sailor. The engineer was right.Indeed, since two empty barrels were needed to float the box, it was undoubtedly heavy, and the whole contents of the box would not be able to carry it in the flat-bottomed boat.Therefore, it is best to pull it on the water to the beach in front of Granite Palace. Where did this box come from?This is an important question.Cyrus.Smith and his companions surveyed the surroundings attentively, and inspected the shore a few hundred paces away, but could find no other relics of the wrecked ship.Herbert and Neb climbed up a high rock to look down upon the sea, and saw no solitary boat with its mast broken, nor any vessel under sail.

But it is certain that there have been ships in distress.Maybe it has something to do with the gunshot incident too?Maybe some people landed elsewhere on the desert island.Maybe they're still here.They all naturally thought of one thing, that is: these strangers could not be pirates, because the box was obviously made in Europe and America. Everyone gathered around this surprisingly large box.The chest was of oak, closed tightly, and covered with a thick hide, fastened to it with brass nails.Two huge wooden barrels were sealed, and they made a hollow sound when knocked on.The two casks were fastened fast to either side of the chest with a knot so artful that no one but a sailor could have tied it, Pencroft said, when he saw it; Being on the sand, rather than crashing into the rocks, suffices to say.After careful observation, they all agreed that the box had not been in the water for a long time, and had even come ashore recently.The seawater didn't seem to seep into it yet, so the contents of the box were naturally not damaged.

Apparently a dismasted ship had thrown the box while floating near a desert island, and the crew hoped it would reach land where it might be retrieved later, and so carefully floated it in this way of. We hauled the box from the water back to Granite Palace, where the engineer said we could take an inventory of its contents.In the future, if we find anyone who survived a hypothetical crash, we'll return the box to them.if you can't find it Even if it is ours!cried Pencroft, but what is in it! The sea was already approaching the box, and the rising tide was evidently about to float it up.They untied a rope to tie the buoyant device to the back of the gondola.Then Pencroft and Neb broke up the sand with their oars, to make the box easier to move, and the barge, dragging it, soon rounded the Relic Point, from which the box was named.

The box was heavy, and the empty bucket barely kept it above the water.The sailor was constantly worried that the box would break free and sink to the bottom of the sea, but fortunately his fears did not materialize.Within an hour and a half of their departure they sailed three miles and landed under Granite Palace. So they hauled the barge and the box up to the sand.It was low tide at this time, and they were soon high on the beach without water.Neb hurried home, and fetched some useful implements to enable the box to be opened without any damage, and they were ready to take stock.Pencroft looked cheerful. The sailors began to unload the two casks, which were intact and serviceable.Then he went to the lock with a chisel and a hammer.The lid is open.The inside of the box was lined with a layer of zinc, apparently to protect the contents from moisture. ah!cried Neb, maybe it's the cans! I hope not.said the correspondent. If the sailor whispered. What?Neb overheard and asked. there is nothing! The sailor tore off the zinc, threw it over the case, and took out the various things one by one and laid them on the sand.Pencroft cheered every time something new was produced, Herbert clapped his hands, and Neb danced like a negro.Herbert was overjoyed to find a book; Neb took the cooker and kissed it. In short, they took it for granted that they were satisfied, because there were tools, weapons, instruments, clothes, and books in the box;A list of all items that Spilett wrote down in his notebook: Tools Three multi-cut knives, two woodcutter axes, two carpenter's axes, three planes, two adzes, one pickaxe, six chisels, two files, three hammers, three screwdrivers , two drilling awls, ten bags of nails and screws, three saws of different sizes, and twenty-two boxes of needles. Weapons Two flintlock guns, two firing pin guns, two breech-loading carbine, five sharp knives, four sabers, two barrels of gunpowder (25 catties per barrel), and twelve boxes of detonators. Instruments A sextant, a pair of binoculars, a long telescope, a box of plotting instruments, a nautical compass, a Fahrenheit thermometer, an aneroid barometer, a camera equipped with photographic equipment, objective lenses, and photosensitive plates , medicines and other boxes. Clothes Two dozen shirts (made of a wool-like fabric, but apparently a vegetable fibre), three dozen stockings (also of the same material). Utensils One iron soup pot, six small copper pots with handles, three iron plates, ten steel spoons and ten steel forks, two kettles, one portable stove, six table knives. Books include a "Bible" ("Old and New Testaments"), a map, a "Dictionary of Polynesian Idioms", a "Dictionary of Natural Sciences" (including six books in total), and three books. The order is equal to five hundred sheets. 】Blank paper, two blank paper notebooks. It must be admitted, the correspondent said after the counting, that the owner of this box was a man of experience!Tools, weapons, instruments, clothes, utensils, books, everything!He simply expected to be in danger, so he made preparations in advance. It really has everything.Cyrus.Smith said thoughtfully. Be sure, added Herbert, that the chest and its owner's ship were not pirates'! Pencroft said: Unless the owner of the box is captured by pirates This is impossible, the correspondent replied, probably a European and American ship was blown here by a storm, and the passengers intended to keep the necessities at least, so they prepared this box and threw it overboard. Do you agree with that view, Mr. Smith?Herbert said. Yes, boy, replied the engineer, probably so.In times of distress, or knowing that they will be, they may gather together all the most useful things, and put them in chests, hoping to find them afterwards on the shore. Is it necessary to put away even the box of photographic equipment?cried the sailor suspiciously. As for photographic equipment, replied Smith, I don't quite know what to keep it for, any extra clothes or gunpowder would be much more valuable to us and any victims! Are there marks and clues on these instruments, implements, and books to know their origin?Ji Ding.asked Spilett. This is verifiable.Everything, especially books, utensils and weapons, is carefully inspected.But these weapons and instruments are different from ordinary ones, and they don't have the brand name of the manufacturer.Moreover, they were as good as new, as if they had not been used at all, and the tools and utensils had the same character; everything was new.This shows that these things are not thrown into the box casually, on the contrary, they are selected after careful consideration.Besides, there is one more thing that suffices to illustrate the point, and that is that these things are protected from moisture by a zinc skin, and metal welding is impossible if one is in a hurry. The "Dictionary of Natural Sciences" and "Dictionary of Polynesian Idioms" are both in English, but there is neither the name of the publisher nor the date of publication. The same is true of the quarto English Bible, which is printed in a peculiar way, and which is recognizably of regular use. The map was a very fine work, with sub-maps of the countries of the world and several plane maps of the globe according to the Mercator projection, the technical terms were in French but there was also no date of publication and no name of the publisher. Therefore, in so many different things, they could not find the slightest clue.It was certain that the ship had recently sailed off the coast of the vicinity, but nothing could be said to further ascertain to what country it belonged. No matter where the chest came from, it added wealth to the inhabitants of Lincoln Island.Hitherto they had created everything for themselves by means of the products of nature, and by virtue of their wisdom they had overcome difficulties.However, now that these industrial products have been produced out of thin air, it seems that God intends to reward them, so they all thank God unanimously. There was one among them who was not satisfied, and that was Pencroft.There seemed to be something missing in the box that he valued so much; when they got to the bottom of the box, his cheering gradually became less enthusiastic, and when the inventory was over, he could only hear him muttering: All good, but lo and behold, there's nothing I want in the box! When Neb heard this, he said: Why, Pencroft, what more do you want? Half a catty of tobacco, replied Pencroft gravely, with which I shall be perfectly satisfied! After listening to the sailor's words, everyone couldn't help laughing out loud. The discovery of the chests made it all the more necessary to search the island thoroughly.They agreed to set out at first light next morning and sail up the Mercy to the west coast.It should be taken into account that, should the wrecks land, they may have no means of subsistence, and that assistance must therefore be sought without delay. Before dark, they moved all kinds of things into the Granite Palace, and put them in an orderly manner in the hall. October 29th was Sunday, and before going to bed, Herbert asked the engineer to read a Gospel to everyone. good.Cyrus.Smith replied. He took up the Bible, and was about to open it, when Pencroft stopped him and said: Mr. Smith, I am a little superstitious. You can turn to a page at random and read the line you see first to see if it matches what happened to us. Cyrus.After listening to the sailor's words, Smith smiled slightly, and he flipped through it according to the sailor's intention, and it happened that there was a bookmark sandwiched between this page. He noticed right away that near the eighth verse of the seventh chapter of Matthew there was a pencil drawing of a red cross.He read the line: Whoever asks, receives.whoever seeks shall find it.