Chapter 29 Chapter VII

The residents of Lincoln Island, who were not forced to open their old openings to enter their houses, have now returned home by the old way, saving them the trouble of working as plasterers.It was indeed their luck that, just as they were about to open the opening, the apes were suddenly and inexplicably frightened, and escaped of their own accord from the Granite Palace.Did the monkeys find that they were going to shift positions to attack themselves?This is the only reason for their retreat. They took the corpse of the ape to the jungle by day, buried it, and then they busied themselves with restoring order to what had been disturbed by these invaders. It was chaos, not destruction, for though they had turned the house upside down, It didn't damage anything.Neb lit the fire again, but the pantry was well stocked, and everyone had a good meal.

They did not forget Japp, either, and gave him lots of pine nuts and tubers, which he ate with great relish.Pencroft loosened the restraints on his forelegs, but he thought it better to bind his hind legs, until he was more obedient. After dinner, and before going to bed, Smith and his companions sat around the table to discuss plans that needed to be carried out quickly.The most important and urgent problem was to build a bridge over the River of Mercy to establish communication between the south shore of the desert island and Granite Palace; These two programs can help them solve their current serious dressing problem.When the bridge was built, it would be easy to bring the balloons, and then they could get cloth, and the animals in the pens could furnish them with fur for winter clothing.

Cyrus.Smith intended to place the enclosure near the headwaters of the Red River, where there is plenty of fresh pasture for the ruminants.There's a trampled road from Prospect Heights to the headwaters of the Red River; and if there's a better wagon than the old one, and especially if they can get some beasts to pull it, it'll be very easy to get stuff up here. up. Neb put a particular question upon them. He thought it was all right for the pens to be so far from Granite Palace, but not so far from the poultry-yard.Of course, the birds must be nearer to the kitchen, and there seemed to be no more suitable place to establish such a poultry farm than on the shore of the lake near the original entrance of the cave.

There, not only birds in general, but also waterfowl can be bred; first of all they domesticate the quail they caught during the previous hunting. The next day, November 3rd, the new bridge-building began, and everyone was to take part in this important work.The inhabitants are now suddenly turned into carpenters, carrying saws, axes and hammers, walking down the river bank. Suddenly Pencroft said: Thanks to little Japp who returned the ladder to us yesterday, but when we go out today, will he have a bad idea to take the ladder up again? We tied the underside of the ladder tightly.Cyrus.Smith replied.

They nailed two stakes firmly into the sand to fasten the ladder.Then he climbed up to the left bank of the Mercy River and quickly came to the corner of the river mouth. They stopped to consider whether a bridge could be built here.The location seemed appropriate. It is only three and a half miles from here to Balloon Harbor, discovered the day before on the southern coast, and a road suitable for carts can easily be made between the bridge and Balloon Harbor, so that there is a very convenient road between Granite Palace and the southern part of the desert island. traffic line. Cyrus.Smith proposed to his partners a plan to isolate the whole of Prospect Heights, so that neither beasts nor apes could get here.Thus the Granite Palace, the Grottoes, the Poultry-yards, and the whole upper half of the cultivated plateau were spared from their ravages.The plan could not have been easier to carry out, and the engineer set out to work on it.

The three sides of the plateau are already surrounded by water, some are excavated by man, some are natural.To the northwest is the shore of Grant Lake from the entrance of the passage to the drainage gap on the shore. In the north, from the gap on the shore of the lake to the sea, there is a new waterway. This waterway is at the upper and lower ends of the source of the waterfall. It passes through the highlands and the shore to create a riverbed. As long as the riverbed of this small river is dug a little deeper, The beasts can be kept out, and the whole of the east, from the mouth of the above-mentioned little river to the mouth of the Mercy, is protected by the sea.

Finally, to the south is the section of the Mercy River from the mouth to the corner (where the bridge is planned). Now only the west side of the plateau remained passable, a distance of about a mile from the bend of the river to the southern point of Lake Grant.But the easiest way is to dig a wide and deep ditch, which can be filled with lake water, and once the lake is too full, it can quickly flow to the Mercy River through the ditch.After the sudden discharge of the lake, the level of the lake must have been lowered; Cyrus.Smith has confirmed that the Red River has enough water to carry out the plan.

In this way, the engineer said, Prospect Heights would be an official island with water all around it, and the only way to connect with the rest of our island was through bridges, one of which we planned to build on the River of Mercy; Two little bridges, one over and one under the falls, are ready; and finally we shall have two more bridges, one over the canal I plan to build, and the other to the left bank of the Mercy.If these bridges could be hoisted at will, Prospect Heights would be as safe as a rock. In order to make partners understand more clearly, Cyrus.Smith drew a detailed map of Prospect Heights.The picture made his plan clear to everyone, and everyone agreed with it.Pencroft swung his ax and cried:

Let's build the bridge first! Bridge repair is the most urgent project at present.They felled selected trees, removed branches, and fashioned beams, brackets, and planks.This bridge is fixed at one end on the right bank of the Mercy River, but movable at one end on the left bank, and can be hoisted with a counterweight like some canal suspension bridges. The work was of course quite difficult, and although well directed, it took a considerable amount of time, for the River of Mercy is here eighty feet wide.Some bridge piles must be driven in the river bed to support the bridge deck, and in order to drive the piles, a pile driver must be installed.The pilings should form two bow structures that allow the bridge body to bear the weight.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of woodworking tools, metal installation tools and professionals in this field, and the enthusiasm of the partners is also very high.After seven months of practical training, they already have a high degree of skill in using tools.It must be said, Keating.Spilett was also very skilled, and his dexterity was almost equal to that of a sailor. Pencroft thought: How can a reporter do this! It took three weeks of hard and regular labor to complete the bridge over the Mercy River.They even ate breakfast on the construction site, and because of the fine weather, they returned to Granite Palace only for dinner.

During this period, little Japp gradually became familiar with its new owners, and it always watched their every move with curiosity.But Pencroft, for the sake of prudence, did not yet completely free it from its bonds, and rightly considered that he must wait until the planned work on the Highland Boundary had been completed before he would be allowed to go free.Top and Japp got on very well, and they were happy to play together, but Japp was serious in everything he did. On November 20, the bridge was completed.The movable part of the bridge body is easy to hang due to the function of the counterweight. As long as you use a little effort, you can raise it, the hinge and the last crossbar (use it to support the bridge when it falls) Twenty feet apart, no animal could jump over. Now the residents are talking about moving the balloon. They are eager to put it in a safe place, but if they want to move it, they must pull the cart to Balloon Harbor. To pull the cart, they must be in the Far West Forest opened up a way.This takes a considerable amount of time.Neb and Pencroft inspected the Port of Balloons, and when they came back they said that the cloth hidden in the hole in the stone was indestructible, and it was decided not to stop the work on Prospect Heights. Pencroft said: Since there is no fear of foxes and other wild animals coming here, we can open a poultry farm with peace of mind. Then, Neb added, we could carve out a plateau, and transplant wild plants there. Ready for our second wheat field!exclaimed the sailor triumphantly. Indeed, the only crop in the first field of wheat grew well under Pencroft's careful attention.The engineer said it would yield ten ears of corn, and now they have produced eighty grains in each ear, and in six months they have eight hundred grains, so that they can reap twice a year. The eight hundred grains, except fifty which were put aside for treasury, were intended to be planted in a newly cleared field, and they resolved to tend them with the same care as they had tended the single plant. After the preparation of the plowing land was done, they built a strong fence around it. The fence was not only high, but the tops were sharpened, so it was difficult for ordinary animals to jump in.As for the flying birds, Pencroft's ingenuity contrived to frighten them away with a few mannequins made of boards and a rattling windmill.They planted the seven hundred and fifty grains in neat rows, and left them to nature. November twenty-first, Cyrus.Smith began work on the canal which was to separate the Highlands from the west side, that is, from the southern point of Lake Grant to the bend of the Mercy.The ground here is humus two or three feet deep, and the granite rock is underneath, so some more nitroglycerin has to be made.The nitroglycerin worked as usual.In less than two weeks a trench twelve feet wide and six feet deep was dug in the hard ground of the plateau.In the same way they dug a ditch in the rocky shore, and drew water from the lake, forming a little river, which they named Glycerin, and which became a tributary of the Mercy.As the engineer had said beforehand, the level of the lake fell, but very little.In order to surround the highlands with rivers, they appropriately widened the riverbed on the beach and separated the sand with wooden piles. By the middle of December these works were completed, and Prospect Heights was an irregular pentagon nearly four miles in circumference, with running water running like a belt around it and now quite impervious to thieves. In December, the weather is hot.But the inhabitants continued to work, and as they were anxious to establish a poultry farm, they set about at once. Since the isolation of the Highlands was completed, it is needless to say that Japp was free again.It has not left its master, and has no intention of fleeing at all.It's gentle, powerful, and surprisingly agile.You see, it climbs the ladder of Granite Palace like no one else.After people's upbringing, it has been able to pull wood and transport the stones in the Glycerin River into carts. It is not yet a plasterer, but it is already a monkey!Herbert jokingly said that the nickname monkey was originally used by masons to call their apprentices.This nickname can be said to be more appropriate. The poultry farm covers two hundred square yards, on the southeast shore of Lake Grant.It is enclosed by a palisade, and contains various shelters for the breeding of flying birds.These huts are constructed of branches, divided into many single rooms, ready to accommodate new guests. The first occupants were the pair of quail, which soon hatched many chicks; and with them were a dozen ducks, which are accustomed to dwelling on Grant's Lake.Some of them are of the Chinese species, which spread their wings like a fan, and have plumage as splendid as that of the golden pheasant.A few days later, Herbert had a pair of quail hens, with their long, flared tails; a beautiful wild pigeon, which was quickly tamed.As for the gannets, fish dogs, and big breams, they all came to the bank of the poultry farm by themselves, and after a little chirping and noise, this small group settled down safely, and their numbers increased tremendously. Hurry up, the team won't have to worry about running out of food. Cyrus.For perfection, Smith built another loft in the corner of the poultry yard.He kept a dozen pigeons that used to come up to the rocks in the Highlands.They got used to each other very quickly, leaving early and returning late every day. Compared with the turtle doves of the same kind, they were much easier to raise. It's finally time to make shirts and other stuff out of balloons.As for keeping the balloon in its original shape, inflating it enough, and venturing across the boundless sea to return home, only those who cannot survive may have such intentions, and the practical Cyrus.Smith didn't even think about it. The bladders of the balloons had to be transported to Granite Palace, and all contrived to make their carts light and manageable.Although they have a car, there is no way to solve the power problem of pulling the car. Is there no animal on a desert island that can take the place of a horse, donkey, or ox?this is a problem. Of course, said Pencroft, cattle are still very useful to us at present, and Mr. Smith will build steam trains, and even locomotives in the future. The simple sailor believes everything he says.You see: what power there is when belief is added to fantasy! In all fairness, all that Pencroft could do could be done with an animal that drew the cart.Indeed, God especially loved him and did not disappoint him. On the 23rd of December Neb and Top suddenly began to shout, and it was evident that they were all trying to shout.The residents were busy in the grotto, thinking something happened, they ran out quickly. what did they seeIt turned out that two large and tame animals had ventured into the high ground recklessly while the bridge was passing.One might take them for horses, or at least asses, a male and a female, well-proportioned, pale gray, with snow-white legs and tails, and black stripes on the head, neck, and body.They walked steadily forward, not panicking at all, and stared at people who they didn't know now were their future masters. It's a wild donkey!cried Herbert. A cross between a quagga and a zebra! Isn't it a donkey?asked Neb. Because their ears are not long, they are more beautiful than donkeys! Be it the donkey or the horse, interrupted Pencroft, it is the motive force that Mr. Smith speaks of, and it must be caught! The sailors crept quietly out of the grass to the bridge over the Glycerin River, drew up the planks, and the two wild asses became captives. Do they need to be seized by force now, and forced to drive them? No, they decided to let the wild donkeys be free for a few days on the high ground, anyway, there is a lot of pasture here; the engineer immediately set about building a barn next to the poultry yard, Prepare the feed for the wild donkeys inside, and lay hay on it so that they can spend the night inside. When the work was done, they let the beautiful beasts have complete freedom of movement, even avoiding them so as not to startle them.Several times the wild ass expressed his impatience at staying here for a long time, and was eager to get away from the highlands, for beasts are accustomed to living in fields and forests.The residents saw wild donkeys wandering along the river that blocked them everywhere, uttering a short cry, jumping in the grass for a while, and finally settled down, sometimes they still stared blankly at the jungle.They will never be able to revisit the old place again! During this time, they made another set of harnesses out of plant fibers.A few days after the arrival of the wild donkey, not only the cart was ready, but a straight road was opened in the Far West Forest. To put it more correctly, it was a side road from the corner of the Mercy River to Balloon Harbor, and the cart could drive past.At the end of December, they test-drive wild donkeys for the first time. Pencroft had been able to make the animals eat from what he held, and they would not run away when he approached them, but when harnessed they stood upright and were difficult to restrain.They soon resigned themselves to this new errand, however, for the wild ass, less obdurate than the zebra, is often used for power in the mountains of South Africa, and is well adapted even in the cooler parts of Europe. On this day, the whole team got into the cart, and Pencroft led the animals alone, and walked along the road to the Balloon Harbor. Of course, bumps are inevitable on this bumpy road, but the cart arrived at the balloon port without incident, and the balloon's airbag and rope were quickly installed. At eight o'clock that evening the wagon came back, crossed the bridge over the Mercy, went down the left bank, and stopped on the beach.They unleashed the wild asses and led them to the barn.Before going to sleep, Pencroft gave a roar of excitement, and the whole Granite Palace shook.