The night passed without incident. The two men, quite knocked up with excitement and fatigue1, had slept as peacefully as if they had been in the most comfortable room in the mansion2 in Montgomery Street.
On the morrow, the 27th of June, at the first rays of the rising sun, the crow of the cock awakened3 them.
Godfrey immediately recognized where he was, but Tartlet4 had to rub his eyes and stretch his arms for some time before he did so.
"Is breakfast this morning to resemble dinner yesterday?" was his first observation.
"I am afraid so," answered Godfrey. "But I hope we shall dine better this evening."
The professor could not restrain a significant grimace5. Where were the tea and sandwiches which had hitherto[Pg 105] been brought to him when he awoke? How could he wait till breakfast-time, the bell for which would perhaps never sound, without this preparatory repast?
But it was necessary to make a start. Godfrey felt the responsibility which rested on him, on him alone, for he could in no way depend on his companion. In that empty box which served the professor for a cranium there could be born no practical idea; Godfrey would have to think, contrive6, and decide for both.
His first thought was for Phina, his betrothed7, whom he had so stupidly refused to make his wife; his second for his Uncle Will, whom he had so imprudently left, and then turning to Tartlet,—
"To vary our ordinary," he said, "here are some shell-fish and half a dozen eggs."
"And nothing to cook them with!"
"Nothing!" said Godfrey. "But if the food itself was missing, what would you say then, Tartlet?"
"I should say that nothing was not enough," said Tartlet drily.
Nevertheless, they had to be content with this repast.
The very natural idea occurred to Godfrey to push forward the reconnaissance commenced the previous evening. Above all it was necessary to know as soon as possible in what part of the Pacific Ocean the Dream had been lost, so[Pg 106] as to discover some inhabited place on the shore, where they could either arrange the way of returning home or await the passing of some ship.
Godfrey observed that if he could cross the second line of hills, whose picturesque8 outline was visible beyond the first, that he might perhaps be able to do this. He reckoned that they could get there in an hour or two, and it was to this urgent exploration that he resolved to devote the first hours of the day. He looked round him. The cocks and hens were beginning to peck about among the high vegetation. Agouties, goats, sheep, went and came on the skirt of the forest.
Godfrey did not care to drag all this flock of poultry9 and quadrupeds about with him. But to keep them more safely in this place, it would be necessary to leave Tartlet in charge of them.
Tartlet agreed to remain alone, and for several hours to act as shepherd of the flock.
He made but one observation,—
"If you lose yourself, Godfrey?"
"Have no fear of that," answered the young man, "I have only this forest to cross, and as you will not leave its edge I am certain to find you again."
"Don't forget the telegram to your Uncle Will, and ask him for a good many hundred dollars."
[Pg 107]
"The telegram—or the letter! It is all one!" answered Godfrey, who so long as he had not fixed10 on the position of this land was content to leave Tartlet to his illusions.
Then having shaken hands with the professor, he plunged11 beneath the trees, whose thick branches scarcely allowed the sun's rays to penetrate12. It was their direction, however, which was to guide our young explorer towards the high hill whose curtain hid from his view the whole of the eastern horizon.
Footpath13 there was none. The ground, however, was not free from all imprint14. Godfrey in certain places remarked the tracks of animals. On two or three occasions he even believed he saw some rapid ruminants moving off, either elans, deer, or wapiti, but he recognized no trace of ferocious15 animals such as tigers or jaguars16, whose absence, however, was no cause for regret.
The first floor of the forest, that is to say all that portion of the trees comprised between the first fork and the branches, afforded an asylum17 to a great number of birds—wild pigeons by the hundred beneath the trees, ospreys, grouse18, aracaris with beaks19 like a lobster's claw, and higher, hovering20 above the glades21, two or three of those lammergeiers whose eye resembles a cockade. But none of the birds were of such special kinds that he could therefrom make out the latitude22 of this continent.
[Pg 108]
So it was with the trees of this forest. Almost the same species as those in that part of the United States which comprises Lower California, the Bay of Monterey, and New Mexico.
Arbutus-trees, large-flowered cornels, maples23, birches, oaks, four or five varieties of magnolias and sea-pines, such as are met with in South Carolina, then in the centre of vast clearances24, olive-trees, chestnuts25, and small shrubs26. Tufts of tamarinds, myrtles, and mastic-trees, such as are produced in the temperate27 zone. Generally, there was enough space between the trees to allow him to pass without being obliged to call on fire or the axe28. The sea breeze circulated freely amid the higher branches, and here and there great patches of light shone on the ground.
And so Godfrey went along striking an oblique29 line beneath these large trees. To take any precautions never occurred to him. The desire to reach the heights which bordered the forest on the east entirely30 absorbed him. He sought among the foliage31 for the direction of the solar rays so as to march straight on his goal. He did not even see the guide-birds, so named because they fly before the steps of the traveller, stopping, returning, and darting32 on ahead as if they were showing the way. Nothing could distract him.
His state of mind was intelligible33. Before an hour had[Pg 109] elapsed his fate would be settled! Before an hour he would know if it were possible to reach some inhabited portion of the continent.
Already Godfrey, reasoning on what had been the route followed and the way made by the Dream during a navigation of seventeen days, had concluded that it could only be on the Japanese or Chinese coast that the ship had gone down.
Besides the position of the sun, always in the south, rendered it quite certain that the Dream had not crossed the line.
Two hours after he had started Godfrey reckoned the distance he had travelled at about five miles, considering several circuits which he had had to make owing to the density34 of the forest. The second group of hills could not be far away.
Already the trees were getting farther apart from each other, forming isolated35 groups, and the rays of light penetrated36 more easily through the lofty branches. The ground began slightly to slope, and then abruptly37 to rise.
Although he was somewhat fatigued38, Godfrey had enough will not to slacken his pace. He would doubtless have run had it not been for the steepness of the earlier ascents39.
He had soon got high enough to overlook the general[Pg 110] mass of the verdant41 dome
Join or Log In!
You need to log in to continue reading
