"Well, my boy," replied the engineer, "this is a valuable discovery, since our wheat harvest is not yet ripe; I hope that you are not mistaken!"Herbert was not mistaken: he broke the stem of a cycas, which was composed of a glandulous tissue, containing a quantity of floury pith, traversed with woody fiber, separated by rings of the same substance, arranged concentrically.With this fecula was mingled a mucilaginous juice of disagreeable flavor, but which it would be easy to get rid of by pressure.This cellular substance was regular flour of a superior quality, extremely nourishing; its exportation was formerly forbidden by the Japanese laws.
Cyrus Harding and Herbert, after having examined that part of the Far West where the cycas grew, took their bearings, and returned to Granite House, where they made known their discovery.
The next day the settlers went to collect some, and returned to Granite House with an ample supply of cycas stems.The engineer constructed a press, with which to extract the mucilaginous juice mingled with the fecula, and he obtained a large quantity of flour, which Neb soon transformed into cakes and puddings.This was not quite real wheaten bread, but it was very like it.
Now, too, the onager, the goats, and the sheep in the corral furnished daily the milk necessary to the colony.The cart, or rather a sort of light carriole which had replaced it, made frequent journeys to the corral, and when it was Pencroft's turn to go he took Jup, and let him drive, and Jup, cracking his whip, acquitted himself with his customary intelligence.
Everything prospered, as well in the corral as in Granite House, and certainly the settlers, if it had not been that they were so far from their native land, had no reason to complain.They were so well suited to this life, and were, besides, so accustomed to the island, that they could not have left its hospitable soil without regret!
And yet so deeply is the love of his country implanted in the heart of man, that if a ship had unexpectedly come in sight of the island, the colonists would have made signals, would have attracted her attention, and would have departed!
It was the 1st of April, a Sunday, Easter Day, which Harding and his companions sanctified by rest and prayer.The day was fine, such as an October day in the Northern Hemisphere might be.
All, towards the evening after dinner, were seated under the veranda on the edge of Prospect Heights, and they were watching the darkness creeping up from the horizon.Some cups of the infusion of elder-berries, which took the place of coffee, had been served by Neb.They were speaking of the island and of its isolated situation in the Pacific, which led Gideon Spilett to say,--"My dear Cyrus, have you ever, since you possessed the ***tant found in the case, again taken the position of our island?""No," replied the engineer.
"But it would perhaps be a good thing to do it with this instrument, which is more perfect than that which you before used.""What is the good?" said Pencroft."The island is quite comfortable where it is!""Well, who knows," returned the reporter, "who knows but that we may be much nearer inhabited land than we think?""We shall know to-morrow," replied Cyrus Harding, "and if it had not been for the occupations which left me no leisure, we should have known it already.""Good!" said Pencroft."The captain is too good an observer to be mistaken, and, if it has not moved from its place, the island is just where he put it.""We shall see."
On the next day, therefore, by means of the ***tant, the engineer made the necessary observations to verify the position which he had already obtained, and this was the result of his operation.His first observation had given him the situation of Lincoln Island,--In west longitude: from 1500 to 1550;
In south latitude: from 300 to 350
The second gave exactly:
In longitude: 1500 30'
In south latitude: 340 57'
So then, notwithstanding the imperfection of his apparatus, Cyrus Harding had operated with so much skill that his error did not exceed five degrees.
"Now," said Gideon Spilett, "since we possess an atlas as well as a ***tant, let us see, my dear Cyrus, the exact position which Lincoln Island occupies in the Pacific."Herbert fetched the atlas, and the map of the Pacific was opened, and the engineer, compass in hand, prepared to determine their position.
Suddenly the compasses stopped, and he exclaimed,"But an island exists in this part of the Pacific already!""An island?" cried Pencroft.
"Tabor Island."
"An important island?"
"No, an islet lost in the Pacific, and which perhaps has never been visited.""Well, we will visit it," said Pencroft.
"We?"
"Yes, captain.We will build a decked boat, and I will undertake to steer her.At what distance are we from this Tabor Island?""About a hundred and fifty miles to the northeast," replied Harding.
"A hundred and fifty miles! And what's that?" returned Pencroft."In forty-eight hours, with a good wind, we should sight it!"And, on this reply, it was decided that a vessel should be constructed in time to be launched towards the month of next October, on the return of the fine season.