Jules Verne (18 page)

The young child was delighted. He called his mother with cries of joy,
and triumphantly showed her his discovery.

"Good, my Jack!" replied Mrs. Weldon. "If we were Robinson Crusoes,
destined to live a long time on this shore, we should not forget to
give your name to that grotto!"

The grotto was only from ten to twelve feet long, and as many wide;
but, in little Jack's eyes, it was an enormous cavern. At all events,
it must suffice to contain the shipwrecked ones; and, as Mrs. Weldon
and Nan noted with satisfaction, it was very dry. The moon being then
in her first quarter, they need not fear that those neap-tides would
reach the foot of the cliff, and the grotto in consequence. Then,
nothing more was needed for a few hours' rest.

Ten minutes after everybody was stretched out on a carpet of sea-weed.
Negoro himself thought he must rejoin the little troop and take his
part of the repast, which was going to be made in common. Doubtless he
had not judged it proper to venture alone under the thick forest,
through which the winding river made its way.

It was one o'clock in the afternoon. The preserved meat, the biscuit,
the sweet water, with the addition of a few drops of rum, of which Bat
had saved a quarter cask, made the requisites for this repast. But if
Negoro took part in it, he did not at all mingle in the conversation,
in which were discussed the measures demanded by the situation of the
shipwrecked. All the time, without appearing to do so, he listened to
it, and doubtless profited by what he heard.

During this time Dingo, who had not been forgotten, watched outside the
grotto. They could be at ease. No living being would show himself on
the strand without the faithful animal giving the alarm.

Mrs. Weldon, holding her little Jack, half lying and almost asleep on
her lap, began to speak.

"Dick, my friend," said she, "in the name of all, I thank you for the
devotion that you have shown us till now; but we do not consider you
free yet. You will be our guide on land, as you were our captain at
sea. We place every confidence in you. Speak, then! What must we do?"

Mrs. Weldon, old Nan, Tom and his companions, all had their eyes fixed
on the young novice. Negoro himself looked at him with a singular
persistence. Evidently, what Dick Sand was going to reply interested
him very particularly.

Dick Sand reflected for a few moments. Then:

"Mrs. Weldon," said he, "the important thing is to know, first, where
we are. I believe that our ship can only have made the land on that
portion of the American sea-coast which forms the Peruvian shore. The
winds and currents must have carried her as far as that latitude. But
are we here in some southern province of Peru, that is to say on the
least inhabited part which borders upon the pampas? Maybe so. I would
even willingly believe it, seeing this beach so desolate, and, it must
be, but little frequented. In that case, we might be very far from the
nearest town, which would be unfortunate."

"Well, what is to be done?" repeated Mrs. Weldon.

"My advice," replied Dick Sand, "would be not to leave this shelter
till we know our situation. To-morrow, after a night's rest, two of us
could go to discover it. They would endeavor, without going too far, to
meet some natives, to inform themselves from them, and return to the
grotto. It is not possible that, in a radius of ten or twelve miles, we
find nobody."

"To separate!" said Mrs. Weldon.

"That seems necessary to me," replied the novice. "If no information
can be picked up, if, as is not impossible, the country is absolutely
desolate, well, we shall consider some other way of extricating
ourselves."

"And which of us shall go to explore?" asked Mrs. Weldon, after a
moment's reflection.

"That is yet to be decided," replied Dick Sand. "At all events, I think
that you, Mrs. Weldon, Jack, Mr. Benedict, and Nan, ought not to quit
this grotto. Bat, Hercules, Acteon, and Austin should remain near you,
while Tom and I should go forward. Negoro, doubtless, will prefer to
remain here?" added Dick Sand, looking at the head-cook.

"Probably," replied Negoro, who was not a man to commit himself any
more than that.

"We should take Dingo with us," continued the novice. "He would be
useful to us during our exploration."

Dingo, hearing his name pronounced, reappeared at the entrance of the
grotto, and seemed to approve of Dick Sand's projects by a little bark.

Since the novice had made this proposition, Mrs. Weldon remained
pensive. Her repugnance to the idea of a separation, even short, was
very serious. Might it not happen that the shipwreck of the "Pilgrim"
would soon be known to the Indian tribes who frequented the sea-shore,
either to the north or to the south, and in case some plunderers of the
wrecks thrown on the shore should present themselves, was it not better
for all to be united to repulse them?

That objection, made to the novice's proposition, truly merited a
discussion.

It fell, however, before Dick Sand's arguments, who observed that the
Indians ought not to be confounded with the savages of Africa or
Polynesia, and any aggression on their part was probably not to be
feared. But to entangle themselves in this country without even knowing
to what province of South America it belonged, nor at what distance the
nearest town of that province was situated, was to expose themselves to
many fatigues. Doubtless separation might have its inconveniences, but
far less than marching blindly into the midst of a forest which
appeared to stretch as far as the base of the mountains.

"Besides," repeated Dick Sand, persistently, "I cannot admit that this
separation will be of long duration, and I even affirm that it will not
be so. After two days, at the most, if Tom and I have come across
neither habitation nor inhabitant, we shall return to the grotto. But
that is too improbable, and we shall not have advanced twenty miles
into the interior of the country before we shall evidently be satisfied
about its geographical situation. I may be mistaken in my calculation,
after all, because the means of fixing it astronomically have failed
me, and it is not impossible for us to be in a higher or lower
latitude."

"Yes—you are certainly right, my child," replied Mrs. Weldon, in great
anxiety.

"And you, Mr. Benedict," asked Dick Sand, "what do you think of this
project?"

"I?" replied Cousin Benedict.

"Yes; what is your advice?"

"I have no advice," replied Cousin Benedict. "I find everything
proposed, good, and I shall do everything that you wish. Do you wish to
remain here one day or two? that suits me, and I shall employ my time
in studying this shore from a purely entomological point of view."

"Do, then, according to your wish," said Mrs. Weldon to Dick Sand. "We
shall remain here, and you shall depart with old Tom."

"That is agreed upon," said Cousin Benedict, in the most tranquil
manner in the world. "As for me, I am going to pay a visit to the
insects of the country."

"Do not go far away, Mr. Benedict," said the novice. "We urge you
strongly not to do it."

"Do not be uneasy, my boy."

"And above all, do not bring back too many musquitoes," added old Tom.

A few moments after, the entomologist, his precious tin box strapped to
his shoulders, left the grotto.

Almost at the same time Negoro abandoned it also. It appeared quite
natural to that man to, be always occupied with himself. But, while
Cousin Benedict clambered up the slopes of the cliff to go to explore
the border of the forest, he, turning round toward the river, went away
with slow steps and disappeared, a second time ascending the steep bank.

Jack slept all the time. Mrs. Weldon, leaving him on Nan's knees, then
descended toward the strand. Dick Sand and his companions followed her.
The question was, to see if the state of the sea then would permit them
to go as far as the "Pilgrim's" hull, where there were still many
objects which might be useful to the little troop.

The rocks on which the schooner had been wrecked were now dry. In the
midst of the
débris
of all kinds stood the ship's carcass, which the
high sea had partly covered again. That astonished Dick Sand, for he
knew that the tides are only very moderate on the American sea-shore of
the Pacific. But, after all, this phenomenon might be explained by the
fury of the wind which beat the coast.

On seeing their ship again, Mrs. Weldon and her companions experienced
a painful impression. It was there that they had lived for long days,
there that they had suffered. The aspect of that poor ship, half
broken, having neither mast nor sails, lying on her side like a being
deprived of life, sadly grieved their hearts. But they must visit this
hull, before the sea should come to finish demolishing it.

Dick Sand and the blacks could easily make their way into the interior,
after having hoisted themselves on deck by means of the ropes which
hung over the "Pilgrim's" side. While Tom, Hercules, Bat, and Austin
employed themselves in taking from the storeroom all that might be
useful, as much eatables as liquids, the novice made his way into the
arsenal. Thanks to God, the water had not invaded this part of the
ship, whose rear had remained out of the water after the stranding.

There Dick Sand found four guns in good condition, excellent Remingtons
from Purdy & Co.'s factory, as well as a hundred cartridges, carefully
shut up in their cartridge-boxes. There was material to arm his little
band, and put it in a state of defense, if, contrary to all
expectation, the Indians attacked him on the way.

The novice did not neglect to take a pocket-lantern; but the ship's
charts, laid in a forward quarter and damaged by the water, were beyond
use.

There were also in the "Pilgrim's" arsenal some of those solid
cutlasses which serve to cut up whales. Dick Sand chose six, destined
to complete the arming of his companions, and he did not forget to
bring an inoffensive child's gun, which belonged to little Jack.

As to the other objects still held by the ship, they had either been
dispersed, or they could no longer be used. Besides, it was useless to
overburden themselves for the few days the journey would last. In food,
in arms, in munitions, they were more than provided for. Meanwhile,
Dick Sand, by Mrs. Weldon's advice, did not neglect to take all the
money which he found on board—about five hundred dollars.

That was a small sum, indeed! Mrs. Weldon had carried a larger amount
herself and she did not find it again.

Who, then, except Negoro, had been able to visit the ship before them
and to lay hands on Captain Hull's and Mrs. Weldon's reserve? No one
but he, surely, could be suspected. However, Dick Sand hesitated a
moment. All that he knew and all that he saw of him was that everything
was to be feared from that concentrated nature, from whom the
misfortunes of others could snatch a smile. Yes, Negoro was an evil
being, but must they conclude from that that he was a criminal? It was
painful to Dick Sand's character to go as far as that. And, meanwhile,
could suspicion rest on any other? No, those honest negroes had not
left the grotto for an instant, while Negoro had wandered over the
beach. He alone must be guilty. Dick Sand then resolved to question
Negoro, and, if necessary, have him searched when he returned. He
wished to know decidedly what to believe.

The sun was then going down to the horizon. At that date he had not yet
crossed the equator to carry heat and light into the northern
hemisphere, but he was approaching it. He fell, then, almost
perpendicularly to that circular line where the sea and the sky meet.
Twilight was short, darkness fell promptly—which confirmed the novice
in the thought that he had landed on a point of the coast situated
between the tropic of Capricorn and the equator.

Mrs. Weldon, Dick Sand, and the blacks then returned to the grotto,
where they must take some hours' rest.

"The night will still be stormy," observed Tom, pointing to the horizon
laden with heavy clouds.

"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "there is a strong breeze blowing up. But
what matter, at present? Our poor ship is lost, and the tempest can no
longer reach us?"

"God's will be done!" said Mrs. Weldon.

It was agreed that during that night, which would be very dark, each of
the blacks would watch turn about at the entrance to the grotto. They
could, besides, count upon Dingo to keep a careful watch.

They then perceived that Cousin Benedict had not returned.

Hercules called him with all the strength of his powerful lungs, and
almost immediately they saw the entomologist coming down the slopes of
the cliff, at the risk of breaking his neck.

Cousin Benedict was literally furious. He had not found a single new
insect in the forest—no, not one—which was fit to figure in his
collection. Scorpions, scolopendras, and other myriapodes, as many as
he could wish, and even more, were discovered. And we know that Cousin
Benedict did not interest himself in myriapodes.

"It was not worth the trouble," added he, "to travel five or six
thousand miles, to have braved the tempest, to be wrecked on the coast,
and not meet one of those American hexapodes, which do honor to an
entomological museum! No; the game was not worth the candle!"

As a conclusion, Cousin Benedict asked to go away. He did not wish to
remain another hour on that detested shore.

Mrs. Weldon calmed her large child. They made him hope that he would be
more fortunate the next day, and all went to lie down in the grotto, to
sleep there till sunrise, when Tom observed that Negoro had not yet
returned, though night had arrived.

"Where can he be?" asked Mrs. Weldon.

"What matter!" said Bat.

"On the contrary, it does matter," replied Mrs. Weldon. "I should
prefer having that man still near us."