Adrift in Pacific and Other Great Adventures – 17 Titles in One Volume (Illustrated Edition). Jules VerneЧитать онлайн книгу.
Ice was formed in the stream, but only in thin flakes, which broke or melted at the least shock. In spite of every effort to keep warm, no one was comfortable on the raft. Among the youngsters, Jenkins and Iverson were in a very bad humour, and complained bitterly at having had to leave the schooner; and Briant had to take them in hand and talk them to sleep.
At length, in the afternoon of the next day, with the aid of the tide, which lasted till half-past three in the afternoon, the raft arrived in sight of the lake, and was run aground in front of the entrance to French Den.
CHAPTER VII.
The Colony
The boys had often looked along the cliffs in the hope of finding another cave. If they had discovered one, they would have used it as a general store for what had now to be left out in the open. But the search had been in vain, and they had had to return to the scheme of enlarging their dwelling-place by digging into the walls.
There was no difficulty in doing tins in the soft limestone, and the work would give them something to do during the winter, and could be finished by the return of the fine season.
There was no need to take to blasting. The tools they had were sufficient for them to cut the hole for the chimney of the stove to be run out of, and Baxter had already been able, with some difficulty it is true, to enlarge the opening into the cave, so as to fit it with one of the doors from the schooner; and right and left of the door two holes had been cut in the wall, admitting light and air.
The bad weather had set in a week ago. Violent storms had swept across the island, but the cave had not had to face them owing to its lying north and south. The rain and snow passed away over the crest of the cliff. The sportsmen had to leave the game alone in the vicinity of the lake, and the wild ducks, snipe, lapwing, rail, coot, and white pigeon remained undisturbed. The lake and the river had not yet been frozen, but it only required a quiet night when the first dry cold would succeed the storm for them to be covered with ice.
The work of enlarging the cave could thus be conveniently begun, and a start was made on the 27th of May.
The right wall was first attacked.
" If we dig on the slant," said Briant, " we may come out by the lake-side, and so get a second entrance. That would give us a better look-out, and if the bad weather kept us in on one side, we might get out on the other."
This would in every way be an advantage, and there seemed to be no reason why the plan should not succeed.
Only forty or fifty feet separated the cave from the eastern face, and a gallery could easily be driven in the right direction, by compass, care being taken to avoid a fall or founder. Baxter's plan was to begin with a narrow tunnel, and then enlarge it till it was of the required size. The two rooms of the cave could then be united by a passage, which could be closed at both ends, and one or two galleries driven right and left of it to give additional room. The plan was evidently a good one, it allowed of the rock being dug into with care, so that any sudden inrush of water could be satisfactorily dealt with, and the digging stopped if necessary.
For three days, from the 27th to the 30th May, the work went on favourably. The soft limestone could be cut with a knife; woodwork had to be used to support the roof of the gallery, but that was easily managed. The rubbish was taken outside, so as not to litter the floor of the cave. There was not room enough for all hands to work at once, so the boys took it in turns. When the rain and snow ceased, Gordon and the elder boys took the raft to pieces, so that the deck and frame could be used up in another way. And they overhauled the things stowed away against the cliff which the tarpaulins did not cover satisfactorily.
The work of boring advanced gradually, not without many a stoppage to sound and make sure that progress was safe. Four or five feet had been dug out, when, in the afternoon of the 30th, something very unexpected happened.
Briant, on his knees in the hole, like a hewer in a coal-mine, thought he heard a slight noise in the interior of the rock.
He stopped his picking and listened. Again the sound reached his ear.
To get out of the hole, and tell Gordon and Baxter, who were standing at the entrance, was the work of an instant.
" It is an illusion," said Gordon. " You imagined you heard it."
" Take my place, then put your ear to the wall and listen."
Gordon got into the hole, and stayed there a few minutes.
" You are right," said he, " I hear a sort of distant growling."
Baxter went in, and confirmed this.
" What can it be ? " he asked.
" I cannot think," said Gordon, " We must tell Donagan and the others."
" Not the youngsters," said Briant, " it would give them a scare."
But as they all came in to dinner at the moment, the secret could not be kept.
Donagan, Wilcox, Webb, and Garnett, one after the other, went into the cavity and listened. But the sound had ceased, probably, for they heard nothing, and concluded that their comrades had been mistaken.
Mistake or no mistake, it was resolved to continue the work, and as soon as the meal was over, the digging recommenced. During the afternoon no noise was heard, but about nine o'clock in the evening the growling was distinctly heard through the rock.
Fan ran into the hole, and immediately came out again with unmistakable signs of anger, her coat bristling, her lips showing her teeth, and barking loudly, as if in reply to the growling in the rock.
And then the alarm, mingled with surprise, that the smaller boys had hitherto felt, gave place to fear. In vain Briant tried to soothe Dole, Costar, and even
Jenkins and Iverson, until he at last got them to bed and to sleep.
Gordon and the others continued to discuss this strange affair. Every now and then the growling would be heard, and Fan would reply to it with a loud bark. Fatigue at last overcame them, and they went to bed, leaving Briant and Moko to watch; and till daylight silence reigned in French Den.
All were up early next morning. Baxter and Donagan crawled to the end of the hole. No sound could be heard. The dog ran to and fro without showing any uneasiness, and made no attempt to dash herself against the wall as she had done the night before.
" Let us work," said Briant.
" Yes," replied Baxter. " There will always be time to leave off if we hear any noise."
" Is it not possible," said Donagan, " that the growling was simply a spring in the rock ! "
" Then we should hear it now," said Wilcox, " and we don't."
" That is so," said Gordon. " I think it more likely to have come from the wind in some crack leading down from the top of the cliff."
" Let us go up on the top and see," said Service.
This was agreed to.
About fifty yards away there was a winding path to the summit of the hill. In a few minutes Baxter and two or three others were walking up it over French Den. Their journey was useless. The ridge was clothed with short close herbage, and had no opening by which a current of air or a stream of water could find its way in. And when the boys got down again they knew no more than the youngsters.
The work of digging the hole was continued to the end of the day. There was none of the noise of the evening before, but Baxter examined the wall, and found that it sounded hollow. Was the tunnel going to end in a cave ? Was it in this cave that the mysterious sound had arisen ? As may be imagined, the boys worked hard and the day was one of the most tiring they had yet experienced. Nevertheless it would have passed without adventure, had not Gordon noticed that the dog had disappeared.
Generally, at meal-times, Fan was to be found near