Chapter 38 Chapter Sixteen

Yes!The unfortunate man wept!Something must have come back to his mind, with Cyrus.In Smith's words, those few tears made him a man again. The emigrants retreated a short distance away, and left him alone on the heights, which made him feel free; but he made no attempt to make use of this freedom, and after a while Smith took him back to Granite House.After another two days, the stranger seemed to be willing to live with everyone gradually.It is certain that he listened to the people, and understood them, but it is equally certain that he was curiously determined not to speak to the emigrants, for Pencroft heard him talking to himself one evening at his door. Talk to yourself:

No!here!I!no way! The sailor told these words to his companions. There must be some heart-rending secret here!Smith said. Strangers started using tools and doing things in the vegetable garden.When he paused in his work, he always stayed alone. Since the engineer had ordered him in advance, he was not disturbed. Obviously he was willing to remain alone. If someone came up to him, he would take a few steps back. The chest was heaving and panting non-stop, as if carrying a heavy burden! Had excessive remorse made him like this?They had to think so.One day, Keating.Spilett could not help saying:

The reason why he didn't speak was probably because the problem was too serious to speak out! They have to be patient. A few days later, it was November 3rd. The stranger was working on the high ground when he stopped suddenly and dropped the shovel in his hand. burst into tears.An irresistible sympathy drove him towards the unfortunate man, and he touched the stranger lightly on the arm. friend!said the engineer. The stranger tried to avoid his eyes, Cyrus.Smith went to shake his hand, and he drew back quickly. Friend, said Smith firmly, I wish you would look at me! The stranger looked at the engineer as if the piece of iron were attracted by a magnet, yielding to Smith's force.He wants to escape.But at this time his expression suddenly changed.His eyes were shining brightly.Many words scrambled to come out of his mouth.He can't control himself anymore!Finally, he crossed his hands and addressed Cyrus in a heavy voice.Smith asked:

who are you? Like you, a group of people who were killed, the engineer said with emotion, we brought you here, among your people. my countrymen!I don't! You are surrounded by friends. friend!my friend!The stranger covered his face with his hands and shouted, no, never leave me!leave me! Then he ran to the edge of the plateau overlooking the sea, and stood there for a long time without moving. Smith went back to his companions and told them what had just happened. Yes!There must be some secret in this man's life, Keating.Spilett said it looked like a repentant man. what kind of man we brought back, said the sailor, he has secrets

Let's not ask these secrets, we have to respect him.Cyrus.Smith cuts him off quickly, saying that even if he committed any crime, he has atoned for it in the most painful of ways, and we should consider him innocent. The stranger had been alone for two hours on the shore, and he must have been recalling the whole of his past life, a life that was undoubtedly miserable. The immigrants never took their eyes off him, but they didn't bother him either.Two hours later, as if he had made up his mind, he came at last to Cyrus.Smith too.His eyes were red from crying, but by this time there were no more tears.His expression was extremely humble.He looked anxious, shy, and ashamed, and his eyes never left the ground.

Sir, he said to Smith, are you and your companions English? No, replied the engineer, we are Americans. ah!The stranger responded, and then said cautiously, it's okay! What about you, friend?asked the engineer. British.he answered hastily. When he had finished speaking the words, as if with difficulty, he withdrew to the beach and paced restlessly up and down between the falls and the mouth of the Mercy. When he walked past Herbert, he suddenly stopped, lowered his voice and asked: How many months? November.replied Herbert. which year? 1866. Twelve years, twelve years!he cried.

Then he left Herbert abruptly. Herbert told everyone their questions and answers. This unfortunate man, Gideon.Spilett said that he didn't even know the year and month! Yes!He had been there twelve years, added Herbert, when we found him on the island! Twelve years!Smith went on to say, ah!Twelve more years of solitude after a decadent life can severely damage a man's sanity! So I think, said Pencroft, that this man was not killed and stranded on the Isle of Tabor, but exiled there by some crime. It must be as you say, Pencroft, said the correspondent; if so, the man who put him on the island may come and fetch him some day!

They couldn't find him then.Herbert said. But, continued Pencroft, since they must return, then Friends, Cyrus.Smith said, don't discuss this issue without further understanding.I believe that this unfortunate man, who has suffered so much, that whatever his mistakes may have been, has atoned for his sins in the most terrible way, is depressed by wanting to be rid of this burden.Let's not force him to tell us his past history!No doubt he will tell us in due time, and when we know, we can decide what action to take.Besides, only he can tell us whether he still has hope and confidence in returning to his motherland in the future, but I doubt it!

Why?asked the correspondent. Because, if he was sure that one day he could be rescued, he would have to wait for that day and not throw the note into the sea.That would not be possible. It is more likely that he was sentenced to die of old age on the island. He never expected to see the same kind again! But, said the sailor, there is one thing I do not understand. What's up? If this man had been wandering on the island of Tabor for twelve years, it was to be expected that he had been a savage for several years when we saw him! That's also possible.Cyrus.Smith said. According to this, the note must have been written by him many years ago!

Sure, but it looks like the note was written recently! Also, how do you know the note bottle didn't float from Tabor Island to Lincoln Island after years? Yeah, that's not entirely impossible.said the correspondent. Had it been long on the shore of Lincoln Island?Smith said. No, replied Pencroft, for it was still floating when we picked it up.We must not think that the bottle will be washed away by the sea after it has been on the shore for a long time, because the south bank is full of rocks, which must be smashed there! good.Cyrus.Smith said thoughtfully. And, added the sailor, if the note had been written long ago, and had been sealed in the bottle for several years, it must have been damp.But now it's not like that at all, and we find it's very well preserved.

The sailor was quite right in pointing out the uncanny fact that when the emigrants found the note in the bottle it seemed to have been written very recently.Moreover, the longitude and latitude of Dabao Island are also correctly written on the note, which shows that the person who wrote this note is different from ordinary sailors and has quite a wealth of hydrological knowledge. There are still unexplained problems here, said the engineer, but let us not rush our companions to speak.When he wants, friends, let's hear from him! For several days the stranger said nothing, and did not leave the surroundings of the plateau.He worked continuously, without stopping for a moment, without resting for a minute, but always doing it by himself in secluded places.He never went back to Granite Palace for dinner, and despite repeated invitations, he refused to go, but ate some raw vegetables by himself.At night, he didn't go back to the room assigned to him, but always stayed under the bushes, and curled up in the crevices of the rocks when the weather was bad.He still lives in the forest the same as when he was in Tabao Island!The immigrants tried their best to persuade him to improve his life, but he still refused, so everyone had to wait patiently.The time was near when he was driven by conscience, almost involuntarily, to make a terrible confession. It was the tenth of November, at eight o'clock in the evening, just before dark, when the stranger suddenly appeared before the inhabitants, who were assembled on the terrace.His eyes glowed strangely, and he had completely recovered the barbaric features of the fallen age. Cyrus.Smith and his companions were astonished to see him.The stranger's teeth chattered with a terrible emotion, like that of a sick man with a fever.What's up with him?Does he feel unbearable when he sees his own kind?Was he unwilling to return to a civilized way of life?Is he still nostalgic for the barbaric life in the past?Apparently so, for he said staccatoly: why do i come hereWhat right do you have to force me to leave my island?Do you think I have anything to do with you?Do you know who I am, what I have done, why am I there alone?Who told you that I was not abandoned there, but condemned to die of old age there?Do you know my past?How do you know that I didn't steal or kill people in the past, how do you know that I'm not a villain, a damned thing that deserves to stay far away from human beings and live like a wild beast?explain!do you know? The emigrants listened in silence, without interrupting the poor man, whose fragments of confession seemed to spring from his mouth involuntarily.Smith walked up to him, intending to say something to him, but he stepped back hastily. No!No!He cried, just ask you a word, am I free? have.replied the engineer. So, bye!He yelled and ran away like a madman. Neb, Pencroft, and Herbert also ran to the edge of the forest, but they came back empty-handed. We should let him go!Cyrus.Smith said. He will not come back!cried Pencroft. he will be back.replied the engineer. Several days passed.But Smith always insisted that the unfortunate man would return sooner or later.Is this a premonition? This was the last episode of his savagery, he said, touched by remorse, but reliving his solitary life would also suppress his savagery. During this time various works were going on, and the corral was as busy as Prospect Heights, for Smith wanted to start a farm there.Needless to say, the seeds Herbert had collected from Tabor Island had been carefully sown.The heights became a vast vegetable garden, so thoughtfully designed and tended that the hands of the inhabitants were never idle.At the same time there is always work to be done.As more and more vegetables are planted, the gardens must be enlarged, and these gardens will replace the pastures and become a real wheat field.Fortunately, there are also a lot of weeds in other parts of the island, so the wild donkeys will not be starved.Moreover, it would be much better to turn Prospect Heights surrounded by deep water into a vegetable garden and move the pastures to places other than the hills, because the pastures are not afraid of apes and wild animals and do not need protection. On November 15th, the third harvest was carried out.Eighteen months ago they had planted only one grain of wheat, and how vast the field was now!The second time I planted 600,000 grains, now I have harvested 4,000 bushels, or 500,000,000 grains! There is now so much food in the squad that it only needs to sow ten bushels a year to produce enough food for man and animals.In the second half of November, after harvesting, they began to turn the crops into food for people.Yes, they had wheat, but it wasn't flour, so there had to be a mill.The first waterfall has been used as a source of power for the felt factory, Cyrus.Smith intended to use the second waterfall to the Mercy as the motive force for the mill; after discussion it was decided to build a simple windmill on Prospect Heights.Building a wind mill is no more difficult than building a mill. The highlands face the sea, and it is certain that there will always be a breeze blowing from the sea. It is needless to say, said Pencroft, that windmills are more amusing, and make more beautiful the scenery around us! They began to select wood for the construction of the skeleton and machinery of the wind mill.There are a few large stones on the north side of the lake, which can be easily used to make millstones; as for the wind wings, they can be made from the endless fabric on the airbag. Cyrus.Smith made the model, and the mill was chosen to be on the shore of the lake, a little to the right of the poultry farm.Several strong timbers support a fan shaft, on which the skeleton of the wind mill is installed, so that it can drive all the machinery to rotate together with the direction of the wind.Work goes fast.Neb and Pencroft became very skilled carpenters, for they had only to work according to the engineer's model. Soon after, at the chosen site, a cylindrical pavilion was erected, resembling a pepper shaker with a pointed roof.The four wind wings are firmly fixed on the central axis by iron clips, and maintain a certain angle with the central axis.All kinds of machinery in the pavilion were manufactured without any difficulty, including: two millstones, one fixed and the other movable; The bottom drains onto the grinding stone; an oscillating trough is used to slowly pour the grains into the grinding eye and a sifter which sifts out the flour leaving the bran.Their tools are handy, and their work is not difficult. To tell the truth, the machinery of the mill is simple enough. It is only a matter of time. The whole crew took part in the construction of the mill, and on December 1st the work was completed.Pencroft was, as ever, very satisfied with his work, and there can be no doubt that the mill was well equipped. Now just wait for a good wind, he said, and we can grind our wheat smoothly! A good wind, of course, said the engineer, but not too much, Pencroft. Pooh!The stronger the wind, the faster our windmill turns! Don't let it go too fast, Cyrus.Experience, says Smith, shows that mills work best when the number of turns of the wings per minute is equal to six times the number of feet the wind travels per second.A moderate wind of twenty-four feet a second would make the wings turn sixteen times in a minute, and no faster was necessary. great!exclaimed Herbert, there happened to be a breeze blowing from the north-east, which would soon assist us in our task. Residents are eager to taste Lincoln Island's first bread, so there's no reason to delay the start any longer.They ground two or three bushels of wheat this morning, and at breakfast the next day there appeared on the table at Granite Palace a croaking loaf, the only fault being that it was not loose enough, or badly risen, perhaps.Everyone smacked loudly, and their happiness is not difficult to imagine. During this time, the stranger has not appeared.Ji Ding.Spilett and Herbert searched several times in the forest near the Granite Palace, but failed to find him, not even a trace of him.They were very disturbed because he did not come back for a long time.Of course, the old savage on Tabor was never ignorant of how to live in this forest of wild animals; but if he returns to his old habits, if this unrestrained life prompts his wildness to relapse ,then what should we do?But Smith always insisted that the outlaw would return, no doubt a premonition. Yes, he will definitely be back!This, Smith repeated confidently, was not felt by the other companions, and when the unfortunate man was on Tabor Island he knew he was alone!Here he knows his companions are waiting for him!Now that he has told a part of his past life, the penitent will surely come back and tell us all about it, and then he will begin to belong to us! It turns out that Cyrus.Smith's prediction was correct.On the 3rd of December Herbert left the heights to go fishing on the southern shore of the lake.He was unarmed, for up to that time there had been no wild beasts in this part of the island, and they had never been on the alert. At this time, Pencroft and Neb were working in the poultry-yard, and Smith and the correspondent were making baking soda in the grotto, for the rest of the former had been used up. Suddenly there was a shout. help!help! Cyrus.Smith and the correspondent were too far away to hear.Pencroft and Neb heard this, and left the poultry-yard hastily, and ran as fast as they could to the lake. However, no one thought that the stranger was here. He ran ahead of them, jumped, and crossed the Glycerin River between the forest and the highlands to the opposite bank. In front of Herbert was a ferocious jaguar, similar in appearance to the one he had killed at Reptile's Point last time.He was startled suddenly and leaned against a tree when the beast crouched down and was about to pounce on it. The stranger had nothing but a knife in his hand, and yet he charged straight at the beast, which, seeing its new foe, turned at once to meet it. The time for wrestling is short.The stranger is very flexible and vigorous.He grabbed the jaguar by the throat with one hand, as if holding it with pliers. With the other hand, he squeezed the knife tightly and pierced the beast's heart. He didn't care if the beast's sharp claws scratched his flesh. The jaguar is dead.The stranger kicked its corpse away, and was about to slip away, when the inhabitants rushed to the field; Herbert clung to him, and cried: no no!do not go! Smith came towards him, and the stranger frowned when he saw the engineer.His shirt was torn, blood was running down his shoulder, and he didn't care. friend, cyrus.Smith said we just owed you a favor.You risked your life to save our children! my life!The stranger murmured, what is my life?Not worth a dime! Are you injured? It doesn't matter. can you give me your hand Herbert was about to grab the hand that had just rescued him, but the stranger immediately crossed his arms, his chest heaved, and his face sank. It seemed that he wanted to escape again, and after a violent struggle in his heart, He suddenly asked: Who are you?Tell me! For the first time, he asked immigrants to describe their origins.Perhaps after they had talked, he would introduce his history. Smith briefly related all that had happened since they left Richmond; how they had worked hard, and what wealth they had now. The stranger listened intently. Then the engineer introduced everyone to him, Gideon.Spilett, Herbert, Pencroft, Neb, and himself, went on to say that their greatest consolation since their arrival at Lincoln Island was when they sailed back from Tabor Island, for they had added a new partner. After hearing this, the stranger blushed, hung his head on his chest, and looked bewildered and disturbed. Now you know who we are, Cyrus.Smith went on to say, can we shake hands? No, replied the stranger hoarsely, no!You are decent people!but me