Читать книгу Таинственный остров / The Mysterious Island. Уровень 3 - Жюль Верн, Жуль Верн - Страница 5

The reporter walked along the coast. Herbert wished to go with him.

– Stay, my boy, – said the sailor. – We must pitch our camp for the night, and try to find something to eat. Our friends will need food when they come back.

– I am ready, Pencroff, – said Herbert.

– Good, said the sailor. – We are tired, cold, and hungry: we need shelter, fire, and food. There is plenty of wood in the forest, and we can get eggs from the nests; but we must find a house.

– Well, – said Herbert, – I will look for a cave in these rocks.

– Right, said Pencroff. – Let us start at once[20] .

They walked along the base of the rocky wall. Then they turned to the south. Pencroff noticed a narrow inlet in the coast. Now it was important to pitch the camp in the neighborhood of fresh water; in that part of the island, too, they could find Smith.

The rock rose 300 feet, smooth and massive. It was a sturdy wall of the hardest granite. About the summit hovered a host of aquatic birds, with long, narrow, pointed beaks.

Meanwhile Herbert soon noticed some rocks. On them lay hosts of bivalves. Herbert called to Pencroff.

– Ah, they are mussels, – said the sailor.

– They are not mussels, – said Herbert, examining the mollusks carefully, – they are lithodomes[21] .

– Can we eat them? – said Pencroff.

– Certainly.

– Then let us eat some lithodomes.

The sailor could rely on Herbert. Pencroff and Herbert made a good meal of them, they tasted like oysters.

Their hunger was allayed for the moment. The thing now was to find fresh water. Two hundred feet further on Pencroff and Herbert reached the inlet, through which a little river was flowing.

– Here is water, – said Pencroff, – and over there is wood. Well, Herbert, now we need the house.

The river water was clear. Pencroff and Herbert went down between the rocks, into sandy corridors.

– This is just what we want, – said Pencroff. – These Chimneys will be our house. But first we must get together some firing.

Herbert and Pencroff left the Chimneys, and walked up the left bank of the river. After a quarter of an hour’s walk, the two reached the elbow which the river made to the left. From this point they saw a forest of magnificent trees.

– Good, – said the sailor, – I do not know the name of these trees, but I know they will help us to make a fire, and that’s important.

It was easy to gather the firewood; plenty of dead branches lay at their feet. This dry wood burn rapidly. But how can two men carry such a load to the Chimneys? Herbert asked the question.

– My boy, – said the sailor, there’s a way to do everything.

– We have the river, – suggested Herbert.

– Exactly, said Pencroff. – The river will be our road and our carrier, too.

They looked at the ocean. The sea was a watery desert. The coast, too, was desolate.

– Something tells me, – said Herbert, – that Mr. Smith is a very energetic man. So he got to the shore; don’t you think so, Pencroff?

The sailor shook his head sadly.

– No doubt, – said he, – our engineer saved himself.

Pencroff and Herbert walked towards the west, they looked at the snowcapped mountain, which rose six or seven miles away. They saw a forest. Then from the edge of this forest to the coast stretched a plateau.

– Are we upon an island? – muttered the sailor.

– It is big enough, – said the boy.

– An island’s an island, – said Pencroff.