Читать книгу Таинственный остров / The Mysterious Island. Уровень 3 - Жюль Верн, Жуль Верн - Страница 10

The engineer was sleeping. First of all, they carried Cyrus Smith into the main corridor. There they were able to make for him a couch of seaweeds. The supper this evening consisted of the lithodomes.

The next day, the 28th of March, when the engineer awoke, about 8 o’clock, he saw his companions beside him, and, as on the day before, his first words were,

– Island or continent?

It was his one thought.

– Well, Mr. Smith, – answered Pencroff, – we don’t know.

– You haven’t found out yet?

– But we will, – affirmed Pencroff, – when you are able to guide us in this country.

– I believe that I am able to do that now, – answered the engineer, who rose up.

– That is good, – exclaimed the sailor.

– When you were carrying me here yesterday, did I not see a mountain in the west?

– Yes, – said Spilett, – quite a high one.

– All right, – exclaimed the engineer. – Tomorrow we will climb to its summit and determine whether this is an island or a continent.

– But, – asked Spilett, – where has this storm thrown us, Cyrus?

– In truth, I cannot say, – replied the engineer, but the probability is that we are somewhere in the Pacific. When we left Richmond the wind was northeast, and its direction did not vary much. We crossed North and South Carolina[23] , Georgia[24] , the Gulf of Mexico[25] , and the narrow part of Mexico, and a portion of the Pacific Ocean. I estimate the distance less than 6,000 or 7,000 miles. But if this coast belongs to some barren island in the Micronesian Archipelago[26] , perhaps we will never leave it.

– Never? – cried the reporter. – Do you say “never”, my dear Cyrus?

– We will know how to act when we first ascend the mountain, – answered Smith.

– But will you be able, Mr. Smith, to make the climb tomorrow? – asked Herbert.

– I hope so, answered the engineer, – if Pencroff and you, my boy, are good hunters.