The winter season, so severe in these latitudes1, had come at last. The first frosts had already been felt, and there was every promise of rigorous weather. Godfrey was to be congratulated on having established his fireplace in the tree. It need scarcely be said that the work at the palisade had been completed, and that a sufficiently3 solid door now assured the closure of the fence.
During the six weeks which followed, that is to say, until the middle of December, there had been a good many wretched days on which it was impossible to venture forth4. At the outset there came terrible squalls. They shook the group of sequoias to their very roots. They strewed6 the ground with broken branches, and so furnished an ample reserve for the fire.
Then it was that the inhabitants of Will Tree clothed themselves as warmly as they could. The woollen stuffs[Pg 243] found in the box were used during the few excursions necessary for revictualling, until the weather became so bad that even these were forbidden. All hunting was at an end, and the snow fell in such quantity that Godfrey could have believed himself in the inhospitable latitudes of the Arctic Ocean.
It is well known that Northern America, swept by the Polar winds, with no obstacle to check them, is one of the coldest countries on the globe. The winter there lasts until the month of April. Exceptional precautions have to be taken against it. It was the coming of the winter as it did which gave rise to the thought that Phina Island was situated8 in a higher latitude2 than Godfrey had supposed.
Hence the necessity of making the interior of Will Tree as comfortable as possible. But the suffering from rain and cold was cruel. The reserves of provisions were unfortunately insufficient9, the preserved turtle flesh gradually disappeared. Frequently there had to be sacrificed some of the sheep or goats or agouties, whose numbers had but slightly increased since their arrival in the island.
With these new trials, what sad thoughts haunted Godfrey!
It happened also that for a fortnight he fell into a violent fever. Without the tiny medicine-chest which afforded[Pg 244] the necessary drugs for his treatment, he might never have recovered. Tartlet10 was ill-suited to attend to the petty cares that were necessary during the continuance of the malady11. It was to Carefinotu that he mainly owed his return to health.
But what remembrances and what regrets! Who but himself could he blame for having got into a situation of which he could not even see the end? How many times in his delirium12 did he call Phina, whom he never should see again, and his Uncle Will, from whom he beheld13 himself separated for ever! Ah! he had to alter his opinion of this Crusoe life which his boyish imagination had made his ideal! Now he was contending with reality! He could no longer even hope to return to the domestic hearth14.
So passed this miserable15 December, at the end of which Godfrey began to recover his strength.
As for Tartlet, by special grace, doubtless, he was always well. But what incessant16 lamentations! What endless jeremiads! As the grotto17 of Calypso after the departure of Ulysses, Will Tree "resounded18 no more to his song"—that of his fiddle—for the cold had frozen the strings19!
It should be said too that one of the gravest anxieties of Godfrey was not only the re-appearance of dangerous animals, but the fear of the savages20 returning in great numbers to Phina Island, the situation of which was known to them.[Pg 245] Against such an invasion the palisade was but an insufficient barrier. All things considered, the refuge offered by the high branches of the sequoia5 appeared much safer, and the rendering21 the access less difficult was taken in hand. It would always be easy to defend the narrow orifice by which the top of the trunk was reached.
With the aid of Carefinotu Godfrey began to cut regular ledges22 on each side, like the steps of a staircase, and these, connected by a long cord of vegetable fibre, permitted of rapid ascent23 up the interior.
"Well," said Godfrey, when the work was done, "that gives us a town house below and a country house above!"
"I had rather have a cellar, if it was in Montgomery Street!" answered Tartlet.
Christmas arrived. Christmas kept in such style throughout the United States of America! The New Year's Day, full of memories of childhood, rainy, snowy, cold, and gloomy, began the new year under the most melancholy25 auspices26.
It was six months since the survivors27 of the Dream had remained without communication with the rest of the world.
The commencement of the year was not very cheering. It made Godfrey and his companions anticipate that they would still have many trials to encounter.
[Pg 246]
The snow never ceased falling until January 18th. The flocks had to be let out to pasture to get what feed they could. At the close of the day, a very cold damp night enveloped28 the island, and the space shaded by the sequoias was plunged29 in profound obscurity.
Tartlet and Carefinotu, stretched on their beds inside Will Tree, were trying in vain to sleep. Godfrey, by the struggling light of a torch, was turning over the pages of his Bible.
About ten o'clock a distant noise, which came nearer and nearer, was heard outside away towards the north. There could be no mistake. It was the wild beasts prowling in the neighbourhood, and, alarming to relate, the howling of the tiger and of the hyæna, and the roaring of the panther and the lion were this time blended in one formidable concert.
Godfrey, Tartlet, and the negro sat up, each a prey30 to indescribable anguish31. If at this unaccountable invasion of ferocious32 animals Carefinotu shared the alarm of his companions, his astonishment33 was quite equal to his fright.
During two mortal hours all three kept on the alert. The howlings sounded at times close by; then they suddenly ceased, as if the beasts, not knowing the country, were roaming about all over it. Perhaps then Will Tree would escape an attack!
[Pg 247]
"It doesn't matter if it does," thought Godfrey. "If we do not destroy these animals to the very last one, there will be no safety for us in the island!"
A little after midnight the roaring began again in full strength at a moderate distance away. Impossible now to doubt but that the howling army was approaching Will Tree!
Yes! It was only too certain! But whence came these wild animals? They could not have recently landed on Phina Island! They must have been there then before Godfrey's arrival! But how was it that all of them had remained hidden during his walks and hunting excursions, as well across the centre as in the most out-of-the-way parts to the south? For Godfrey had never found a trace of them. Where was the mysterious den7 which vomited35 forth lions, hyænas, panthers, tigers? Amongst all the unaccountable things up to now this was indeed the most unaccountable.
Carefinotu could not believe what he heard. We have said that his astonishment was extreme. By the light of the fire which illuminated36 the interior of Will Tree there could be seen on his black face the strangest of grimaces37.
Tartlet in the corner, groaned38 and lamented39, and moaned again. He would have asked Godfrey all about it, but Godfrey was not in the humour to reply. He had a[Pg 248] presentiment40 of a very great danger, he was seeking for a way to retreat from it.
Once or twice Carefinotu and he went out to the centre of the palisade. They wished to see that the door was firmly and strongly shut.
Suddenly an avalanche41 of animals appeared with a huge tumult42 along the front of Will Tree.
It was only the goats and sheep and agouties. Terrified at the howling of the wild beasts, and scenting43 their approach, they had fled from their pasturage to take shelter behind the palisade.
"We must open the door!" exclaimed Godfrey.
Carefinotu nodded his head. He did not want to know the language to understand what Godfrey meant.
The door was opened, and the frightened flock rushed into the enclosure.
But at that instant there appeared through the opening a gleaming of eyes in the depths of the darkness which the shadow of the sequoias rendered still more profound.
There was no time to close the enclosure!
To jump at Godfrey, seize him in spite of himself, push him into the dwelling44 and slam the door, was done by Carefinotu like a flash of lightning.
New roarings indicated that three or four wild beasts had just cleared the palisade.
[Pg 249]
Then these horrible roarings were mingled45 with quite a concert of bleatings and groanings of terror. The domestic flock were taken as in a trap and delivered over to the clutches of the assailants.
Godfrey and Carefinotu, who had climbed up to the two small windows in the bark of the sequoia, endeavoured to see what was passing in the gloom.
Evidently the wild animals—tigers or lions, panthers or hyænas, they did not know which yet—had thrown themselves on the flock and begun their slaughter46.
At this moment, Tartlet, in a paroxysm of blind terror, seized one of the muskets47, and would have taken a chance shot out of one of the windows.
Godfrey stopped him.
"No!" said he. "In this darkness our shots will be lost, and we must not waste our ammunition48! Wait for daylight!"
He was right. The bullets would just as likely have struck the domestic as the wild animals—more likely in fact, for the former were the most numerous. To save them was now impossible. Once they were sacrificed, the wild beasts, thoroughly49 gorged50, might quit the enclosure before sunrise. They would then see how to act to guard against a fresh invasion.
It was most important too, during the dark night, to[Pg 250] avoid as much as possible revealing to these animals the presence of human beings, whom they might prefer to the flock. Perhaps they would thus avoid a direct attack against Will Tree.
As Tartlet was incapable51 of understanding either this reasoning or any other, Godfrey contented
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