It must be acknowledged that Godfrey was in a fair way to become a new man in this completely novel position to one so frivolous1, so light-minded, and so thoughtless. He had hitherto only had to allow himself to live. Never had care for the morrow disquieted2 his rest. In the opulent mansion3 in Montgomery Street, where he slept his ten hours without a break, not the fall of a rose leaf had ever troubled his slumbers4.
It was so no longer. On this unknown land he found himself thoroughly5 shut off from the rest of the world, left entirely6 to his own resources, obliged to face the necessities of life under conditions in which a man even much more practical might have been in great difficulty. Doubtless when it was found that the Dream did not return, a search for him would be made. But what were these two? Less than a needle in a hayrick[Pg 130] or a sand-grain on the sea-bottom! The incalculable fortune of Uncle Kolderup could not do everything.
When Godfrey had found his fairly acceptable shelter, his sleep in it was by no means undisturbed. His brain travelled as it had never done before. Ideas of all kinds were associated together: those of the past which he bitterly regretted, those of the present of which he sought the realization7, those of the future which disquieted him more than all!
But in these rough trials, the reason and, in consequence, the reasoning which naturally flows from it, were little by little freed from the limbo8 in which they had hitherto slept. Godfrey was resolved to strive against his ill-luck, and to do all he could to get out of his difficulties. If he escaped, the lesson would certainly not be lost on him for the future.
At daybreak he was astir, with the intention of proceeding9 to a more complete installation. The question of food, above all that of fire, which was connected with it, occupied the first place; then there were tools or arms to make, clothes to procure10, unless they were anxious of soon appearing attired11 in Polynesian costume.
Tartlet12 still slumbered13. You could not see him in the shadow, but you could hear him. That poor man, spared from the wreck14, remained as frivolous at forty-five as his[Pg 131] pupil had formerly15 been. He was a gain in no sense. He even might be considered an incubus16, for he had to be cared for in all ways. But he was a companion!
He was worth more in that than the most intelligent dog, although he was probably of less use! He was a creature able to talk—although only at random17; to converse—if the matter were never serious; to complain—and this he did most frequently! As it was, Godfrey was able to hear a human voice. That was worth more than the parrot's in Robinson Crusoe! Even with a Tartlet he would not be alone, and nothing was so disheartening as the thought of absolute solitude18.
"Crusoe before Friday, Crusoe after Friday; what a difference!" thought he.
However, on this morning, that of June 29th, Godfrey was not sorry to be alone, so as to put into execution his project of exploring the group of sequoias. Perhaps he would be fortunate enough to discover some fruit, some edible20 root, which he could bring back—to the extreme satisfaction of the professor. And so he left Tartlet to his dreams, and set out.
A light fog still shrouded21 the shore and the sea, but already it had commenced to lift in the north and east under the influence of the solar rays, which little by little were condensing it. The day promised to be fine. Godfrey,[Pg 132] after having cut himself a substantial walking-stick, went for two miles along that part of the beach which he did not know, and whose return formed the outstretched point of Phina Island.
There he made a first meal of shell-fish, mussels, clams22, and especially some capital little oysters23 which he found in great abundance.
"If it comes to the worst," he said to himself, "we need never die of hunger! Here are thousands of dozens of oysters to satisfy the calls of the most imperious stomach! If Tartlet complains, it is because he does not like mollusks! Well, he will have to like them!"
Decidedly, if the oyster24 did not absolutely replace bread and meat, it furnished an aliment in no whit26 less nutritive and in a condition capable of being absorbed in large quantities. But as this mollusk25 is of very easy digestion27, it is somewhat dangerous in its use, to say nothing of its abuse.
This breakfast ended, Godfrey again seized his stick, and struck off obliquely28 towards the south-east, so as to walk up the right bank of the stream. In this direction, he would cross the prairie up to the groups of trees observed the night before beyond the long lines of shrubs29 and underwood, which he wished to carefully examine.
Godfrey then advanced in this direction for about two[Pg 133] miles. He followed the bank of the stream, carpeted with short herbage and smooth as velvet31. Flocks of aquatic32 birds noisily flew round this being, who, new to them, had come to trouble their domain33. Fish of many kinds were seen darting34 about in the limpid35 waters of the brook36, here abouts some four or five yards wide.
It was evident that there would be no difficulty in catching37 these fish, but how to cook them? Always this insoluble question!
Fortunately, when Godfrey reached the first line of shrubs he recognized two sorts of fruits or roots. One sort had to pass through the fiery38 trial before being eaten, the other was edible in its natural state. Of these two vegetables the American Indians make constant use.
The first was a shrub30 of the kind called "camas," which thrives even in lands unfit for culture. With these onion-like roots, should it not be found preferable to treat them as potatoes, there is made a sort of flour very rich and glutinous39. But either way, they have to be subjected to a certain cooking, or drying.
The other bush produces a species of bulb of oblong form, bearing the indigenous40 name of "yamph," and if it possesses less nutritive principles than the camas, it is much the better for one thing,—it can be eaten raw.
Godfrey, highly pleased at his discovery, at once satisfied[Pg 134] his hunger on a few of these excellent roots, and not forgetting Tartlet's breakfast, collected a large bundle, and throwing it over his shoulder, retook the road to Will Tree.
That he was well received on his arrival with the crop of yamphs need not be insisted on. The professor greedily regaled himself, and his pupil had to caution him to be moderate.
"Ah!" he said. "We have got some roots to-day. Who knows whether we shall have any to-morrow?"
"Without any doubt," replied Godfrey, "to-morrow and the day after, and always. There is only the trouble of going and fetching them."
"Well, Godfrey, and the camas?"
"Of the camas we will make flour and bread when we have got a fire."
"Fire!" exclaimed the professor, shaking his head. "Fire! And how shall we make it?"
"I don't know yet, but somehow or other we will get at it."
"May Heaven hear you, my dear Godfrey! And when I think that there are so many fellows in this world who have only got to rub a bit of wood on the sole of their boot to get it, it annoys me! No! Never would I have believed that ill-luck would have reduced me to this state![Pg 135] You need not take three steps down Montgomery Street, before you will meet with a gentleman, cigar in mouth, who thinks it a pleasure to give you a light, and here—"
"Here we are not in San Francisco, Tartlet, nor in Montgomery Street, and I think it would be wiser for us not to reckon on the kindness of those we meet!"
"But, why is cooking necessary for bread and meat? Why did not nature make us so that we might live upon nothing?"
"That will come, perhaps!" answered Godfrey with a good-humoured smile.
"Do you think so?"
"I think that our scientists are probably working out the subject."
"Is it possible! And how do they start on their research as to this new mode of alimentation?"
"On this line of reasoning," answered Godfrey, "as the functions of digestion and respiration41 are connected, the endeavour is to substitute one for the other. Hence the day when chemistry has made the aliments necessary for the food of man capable of assimilation by respiration, the problem will be solved. There is nothing wanted beyond rendering42 the air nutritious
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