Chapter 40 Chapter Eighteen

Herbert ran to the door, and saw Ayrton pulling the rope of the lift, and disappearing into the darkness.He went back into the house and cried: Poor man! he will be back.Cyrus.Smith said. Mr. Smith, cried Pencroft, what is the matter?After all, wasn't it true that Ayrton threw the bottle into the sea?So who threw it? Yes, this is indeed a problem! He threw it, replied Neb, but the unfortunate man is half mad. Yes!Herbert said he no longer remembered what he had done. The question has to be explained in this way, my friends, said Smith quickly, and I now understand how Ayrton knew the correct location of Tabor Island. It happened before he was left on the island, so He just knew.

But, said Pencroft, if he had not turned into a beast when he wrote the note, and if he had thrown the bottle into the sea seven or eight years ago, how could it not have been wet? This shows that Ayrton's memory is wrong, Cyrus.Smith replied that he lost his mind later. That is right, said Pencroft, otherwise there would be no explanation. Indeed, it cannot be explained.The engineer said he didn't seem to want to continue the conversation. But is Ayrton telling the truth?asked the sailor. Yes, the correspondent replied, his story was entirely true.I remember very well about Sir Glenarvan's voyage in a pleasure ship, and the results of the voyage, which were published in the newspapers of the time.

Ayrton speaks the truth, added Smith; doubt not, Pencroft, that it will cause him pain.When a man reproaches himself in this way, he always tells the truth! The next day, December 21, the emigrants descended to the beach, climbed up to the plateau, and found that Ayrton was not there.It was late at night when he returned to the corral, and the settlers thought it best not to disturb him.What can't be done with encouragement, time can definitely do it. Herbert, Pencroft, and Neb went on with their usual business.Smith and the correspondent returned to the Grotto for the same day to carry on their original work.

Do you know, dear Cyrus?Ji Ding.Says Spilett, I am not at all satisfied with the explanation you gave yesterday about the bottle!How can you think that the unfortunate man wrote the note and threw the bottle overboard without remembering it? And it cannot be thought that he threw the bottle into the sea, my dear Spilett. then what you want is I thought nothing, knew nothing!Cyrus.Smith interrupted him, and there are so many things I can't explain till now that I'll have to count that as an unexplainable too! Indeed, Cyrus, said Spilett, these things are inexplicable!Will the mysteries of your rescue, the box stranded on the beach, Top's adventures, and finally, the bottle never be answered?

Won't!The engineer quickly said, absolutely not, even if I need to drill down to the bottom of the island, I will find out the truth! Maybe one day, chance will allow us to find the key to unlock this secret! Chance!Spilett!I never believe in chance and mystery.Many incredible things have happened here, but there is always a reason, and I must find out this reason.But for now, we have to work and watch. January is here.Now enter the year 1867.Everyone is hard at work on the summer.For several days, Herbert and Spilett went hunting beyond the corral, and they told everyone that Ayrton had taken up residence in the house reserved for him.He was busy all day tending to the flock entrusted to him, so that the companions did not need to go to the corral every two or three days.However, in order to save Ayrton from being lonely for a long time, the inhabitants still visited him frequently.

Thanks to the engineer and Gideon.Spilett had some doubts in his mind, so it was important to have someone in charge of this part of the island, so that Ayrton could also inform the residents of Granite Palace if something happened. However, there are things that must be told to the engineer as soon as they happen.Besides the problems connected with the mystery of Lincoln Island, there are other possible events which should be made known to the residents as soon as possible, such as sightings of approaching ships, ships in distress on the west coast, and possible pirates coming to the island.

Therefore, Cyrus.Smith decided that Granite Palace and the Corral would be able to communicate at all times. On January 10 he announced his plan to his companions. Well, what are you going to do, Mr. Smith?asked Pencroft, do you wish to install a telegram? Not bad at all.the engineer replied. Is it electric?cried Herbert. Electric, Cyrus.Smith replied that we have all the necessary materials to make batteries, the most difficult thing is to have a tool to pull the wire.However, I think this problem can also be solved. Well, said the sailor, I will be glad that one day everyone will be able to ride on the train!

So they set to work, first doing the most difficult thing, which was to make the wire, because if the wire couldn't be done, it would save the battery and other accessories. As mentioned earlier, the iron quality of Lincoln Island is very good, so it is very suitable for drawing wire.Smith started by making the formwork, a steel plate drilled with conical holes of varying sizes, which would gradually bring the wire to the desired thickness.The engineer intended to use the waterfall as a power source, so he buried a strong frame on the ground only a few feet away from the big waterfall, and fastened the wrought steel plates firmly to the frame.Here the press is, and is idle now, just push the reel with great force, and it will stretch the wire and wind it up.This is a delicate job that requires great care.They made iron rods in advance, filed both ends, and then inserted the iron rods into the largest holes in the formwork. The scrolls were rolled and pulled out, and the lengths were drawn to twenty-five to thirty feet. Loosen it again, and repeat the same operation in the smaller holes one by one.At length the engineer was procured forty or fifty feet of wire, which, by connecting them, could be erected without difficulty from Granite Palace to the corral, five miles away.

Cyrus.After Smith installed the machinery, he immediately handed over the work of pulling the wires to his partners and went to make the batteries himself; within a few days, the work of pulling the wires was completed. Now it is necessary to make a DC battery.As you know, modern batteries are generally made of carbon rods, zinc and copper.The engineer had no copper at all, and he had searched all over Lincoln Island and could not find it, so he had to use it.Carbon sticks, which are graphite obtained in stills after dehydrogenation of coal in a gas factory, can be made; however, to obtain graphite, a special equipment must be made with great effort.As for zinc, as you may recall, the box you picked up in the relics corner was lined with this metal, and it is no longer suitable for making batteries.

Cyrus.After Smith thought about it maturely, he decided to imitate Becquerel's invention in 1820 as much as possible to manufacture a very simple battery that only needs zinc.The other stuff, nitric acid and potash, the engineers already had. This kind of battery is formed by the interaction of nitric acid and potassium alkali. Its structure is as follows: engineers use many glass bottles to fill nitric acid.The bottle was plugged with a stopper, through which a glass tube was inserted, with a small hole at the lower end of the tube, which was tightly bound on the outside by a cloth bag filled with clay. The tube was intended to be immersed in nitric acid.The engineer burned various plants to ashes in advance to make a potash solution, and then poured the solution from the upper end of the pipe, so that nitric acid and potash could interact through the clay.

Then, Cyrus.Smith used two more zinc sheets, one dipped in nitric acid and the other in potash solution, with a metal wire connecting the two zinc sheets.Immediately an electric current is produced, and the current is passed from the zinc flakes in the bottle to the zinc flakes in the tube.The zinc sheet in the tube becomes the anode, and the zinc sheet in the bottle becomes the cathode of the battery. The current generated by each battery is added together, and it is enough for the telegraph.This is Cyrus.Smith's ingenious, simple invention, which allowed for a telegraph link between Granite Palace and the Corral. On February 6, the erection of poles with glass insulators for pulling the wires began on the road leading to the corral.A few days later, the wires were set up and ready to deliver a current of 100,000 kilometers per second, and the ground served as a return circuit for this current. The engineer made a total of two sets of batteries, one set was placed in the Granite Palace and the other was placed in the corral; because in this way, the Granite Palace could be notified if there was an emergency in the corral, and the corral could be notified if there was an emergency in the Granite Palace, which was of great benefit. As for the receiver and transmitter, they were very simple to make.The wires for the two places are wound separately on a magnet, which is a piece of soft iron with wires wound around it.In this way, electricity can be passed between the two poles; the current starts from the anode, passes through the wire, and when it passes the magnet, the magnet is temporarily magnetized, and then the current returns from the ground to the cathode.If the circuit is interrupted, the magnet will lose its magnetism immediately.Just put a piece of soft iron in front of the magnet, it will be attracted when the circuit is connected, and it will fall when the circuit is interrupted.Smith completed the movable device of the iron plate, and the rest of the work was simple, as long as a letter was written on a disc, and a pointer was installed on the iron plate, the two power stations could be connected. On February 12, everything was ready.Smith sent a telegram that day, asking if all was well in the corral, and in a few moments a satisfactory answer came from Ayrton.Pencroft was so wild with joy that he telegraphed to the corral every morning and evening thereafter, and each time received a reply. This method of communication had two advantages: first, they would know whether Ayrton was in the corral, and secondly, so that Ayrton was not quite alone.That's it, Cyrus.Smith still went to see him every week, and Ayrton used to come to Granite House, and he was received warmly every time he came. The good season is spent in the routine.The team's resources, especially vegetables and food, are increasing day by day, and the plants brought back from Tabo Island are growing well. Prospect Heights also presents a thriving scene on the high ground.The fourth autumn wheat harvest was another bumper harvest. It is conceivable that no one would calculate whether the harvested wheat would be enough for 400 billion grains.Although Pencroft once had this intention, but Cyrus.Smith told him that even if he could count three hundred per minute and nine thousand per hour, he would need almost five thousand and five hundred years to complete the work, and the good sailor thought it best to give up the idea. The weather was fine, very hot during the day, but in the evening, because the sea breeze adjusted the temperature of the atmosphere, the residents of Granite Palace felt very cool.During this period, there were also several storms, although they did not last long, but they were so fierce that the whole Lincoln Island was overwhelmed by the wind and rain.Lightning flashes and thunder rumbles, often lasting several hours. During this period, the island was very prosperous. The dwellings in the poultry farms are full, and the inhabitants feed on the surplus population, which must be reduced to a modest figure.The pigs had had their piglets, and Neb and Pencroft, it may be imagined, spent some time in their care.Ji Ding.Spilett and Herbert often rode wild asses, and now they have added a pair of beautiful little donkeys to go out. Under the guidance of the correspondent, Herbert became an excellent rider. From time to time, firewood and coal were transported to the Granite Palace, and various minerals needed by engineers were transported from time to time. During this time they made several expeditions into the forests of the Far West.Explorers don't have to worry about getting hot when they go there, because it is difficult for the sun to penetrate the dense branches and leaves above their heads.They inspected the entire left bank of the Mercy, along the road from the corral to the mouth of the Falls. The inhabitants were always fully armed during these expeditions, for they had often encountered ferocious wild boars, and had fought them more than once.They also had some serious battles with the jaguars this season.Ji Ding.Spilett hated the jaguar; his pupil Herbert was his great helper.Since they are often armed, they are not afraid to encounter such beasts.Herbert was fearless, and the correspondent was astonishingly calm. In the dining room of Granite Palace, twenty colorful animal skins had already been hung. If this continued, the hunters would soon be able to achieve their goal. The jaguar on the island is extinct. Sometimes the engineer also goes on expeditions to strange parts of this part of the island, which he observes very carefully.In the depths of this vast and boundless dense forest, what he noticed were not animal traces, but some other traces, but he never found anything suspicious.He was accompanied by Top and Jup, neither of whom expressed any sign of finding anything strange.Top snarled more than once at the mouth of the well, but the engineer had explored the well without success. The photographic equipment in the box has never been used. During this period, Gidding.Spilett, with the help of Herbert, used it to take many photographs in the best places on the desert island. The objective lens of the camera has a strong ability to expand, and it is a sophisticated instrument.In addition, all the necessary printing equipment, Clodine for coating the base, silver nitrate to sensitize the base, sodium sulfite for fixing, chlorinated acetic acid for wet printing paper, sodium acetate and silver chloride for impregnating printing paper None are missing.There is even printing paper, and everything is ready. Before putting the negatives in the printing cartridge, the printing paper must be dipped in the silver nitrate solution for a few minutes. The correspondent and his assistant soon became skilled photographers, taking pictures of landscapes such as the panorama of the island from Prospect Heights with Mount Franklin in the distance, the rocky Mercy Estuary with the mountains in the background Glades and corrals, the grotesque terrain of Claw and Relic, and more. The photographers did not forget to take pictures of the entire population of the island, and they did not miss a single one. Photography doubles us.said Pencroft. The picture of the sailor hung on the wall of the Granite Palace, and it was very realistic.He stood in front of the photo, looked at himself, and was fascinated by joy, as if he was in front of the most luxurious window on Broadway, and he was reluctant to leave. It must be admitted, however, that the most successful photograph was, without a doubt, that of Japp.It sat so solemnly that it was indescribable, and it looked like it was alive when photographed! It looks like it's about to make a face!cried Pencroft. If Little Japp was not satisfied, he would be too fastidious; but he was satisfied, and there was something vain in his air of pomp. With the arrival of March, the hot summer ends.It rains more often, but it's still hot.March here is equivalent to September in the northern hemisphere, and the weather is not as good as expected.Perhaps this means that the severe cold is coming sooner. On the early morning of the 21st, people almost thought they had seen the first snow.So it happened that Herbert looked out of a window in Granite Palace early in the morning, and suddenly cried out: look!The island is covered with snowflakes! It's snowing at this time?The correspondent asked while walking towards the boy. The companions followed, and they could only be sure of one thing: not only the island, but the entire beach below Granite Palace was a vast expanse of white. It must be snow!said Pencroft. It really looks like snow!said Neb. But now there are fifty-eight degrees on the thermometer (fourteen degrees Celsius)!Ji Ding.Spilett said. Cyrus.Smith stared at the snow-white area without saying a word. In this season, the temperature is so high. He really didn't know how to explain this phenomenon. Oh!cried Pencroft, what we plant will freeze to death! As the sailor was about to go down, the nimble Japp was ahead of him, gliding onto the sand. However, before the orangutan touched the ground, the snow flew up into the air, and the snowflakes were scattered everywhere. Within a few minutes, even the sunlight was blocked. bird!cried Herbert. It turned out to be really a large group of seagulls, they were covered with dazzling white feathers.Thousands of these birds inhabit the islands and coasts, until they have disappeared into the distance, the immigrants are still dumbfounded, the surrounding scene seems to have suddenly changed from cold winter to hot summer at the touch of a witch's wand .Unfortunately, the change was so sudden that neither the correspondent nor the boy had time to shoot one of these birds, so they had no way of knowing what species they were. A few days later it was the twenty-sixth of March, the day on which, two years before, the victims had been thrown from the heights on Lincoln Island.