Off on a Comet, Jules Verne [10 ebook reader .txt] 📗
- Author: Jules Verne
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and in believing that the smoke had given place to an eruption of flame.
When Servadac gave him a chance of speaking, he said, “The more I consider
it, captain, the more I am satisfied that your conjecture is correct.
Beyond a doubt, what we see is the volcano, and to-morrow we will not fail
to visit it.”
On returning to the gourbi, they communicated their discovery to
Count Timascheff only, deeming any further publication of it to be premature.
The count at once placed his yacht at their disposal, and expressed
his intention of accompanying them.
“The yacht, I think,” said Procope, “had better remain where she is;
the weather is beautifully calm, and the steam-launch will answer
our purpose better; at any rate, it will convey us much closer
to shore than the schooner.”
The count replied that the lieutenant was by all means to use
his own discretion, and they all retired for the night.
Like many other modern pleasure-yachts, the Dobryna, in addition
to her four-oar, was fitted with a fast-going little steam-launch,
its screw being propelled, on the Oriolle system, by means of a boiler,
small but very effective. Early next morning, this handy little craft
was sufficiently freighted with coal (of which there was still about ten
tons on board the Dobryna), and manned by nobody except the captain,
the count, and the lieutenant, left the harbor of the Shelif, much to the
bewilderment of Ben Zoof, who had not yet been admitted into the secret.
The orderly, however, consoled himself with the reflection that he had
been temporarily invested with the full powers of governor general,
an office of which he was not a little proud.
The eighteen miles between the island and the headland
were made in something less than three hours.
The volcanic eruption was manifestly very considerable,
the entire summit of the promontory being enveloped in flames.
To produce so large a combustion either the oxygen of Gallia’s
atmosphere had been brought into contact with the explosive gases
contained beneath her soil, or perhaps, still more probable,
the volcano, like those in the moon, was fed by an internal
supply of oxygen of her own.
It took more than half an hour to settle on a suitable landing-place.
At length, a small semi-circular creek was discovered among the rocks,
which appeared advantageous, because, if circumstances should so require,
it would form a safe anchorage for both the Dobryna and the Hansa.
The launch securely moored, the passengers landed on the side of
the promontory opposite to that on which a torrent of burning lava
was descending to the sea. With much satisfaction they experienced,
as they approached the mountain, a sensible difference in the temperature,
and their spirits could not do otherwise than rise at the prospect of having
their hopes confirmed, that a deliverance from the threatened calamity
had so opportunely been found. On they went, up the steep acclivity,
scrambling over its rugged projections, scaling the irregularities of its
gigantic strata, bounding from point to point with the agility of chamois,
but never alighting on anything except on the accumulation of the same
hexagonal prisms with which they had now become so familiar.
Their exertions were happily rewarded. Behind a huge pyramidal rock they
found a hole in the mountain-side, like the mouth of a great tunnel.
Climbing up to this orifice, which was more than sixty feet above the level
of the sea, they ascertained that it opened into a long dark gallery.
They entered and groped their way cautiously along the sides.
A continuous rumbling, that increased as they advanced, made them
aware that they must be approaching the central funnel of the volcano;
their only fear was lest some insuperable wall of rock should suddenly
bar their further progress.
Servadac was some distance ahead.
“Come on!” he cried cheerily, his voice ringing through the darkness,
“come on! Our fire is lighted! no stint of fuel! Nature provides that!
Let us make haste and warm ourselves!”
Inspired by his confidence, the count and the lieutenant
advanced bravely along the unseen and winding path.
The temperature was now at least fifteen degrees above zero,
and the walls of the gallery were beginning to feel quite
warm to the touch, an indication, not to be overlooked,
that the substance of which the rock was composed was metallic
in its nature, and capable of conducting heat.
“Follow me!” shouted Servadac again; “we shall soon find a regular stove!”
Onwards they made their way, until at last a sharp turn brought them
into a sudden flood of light. The tunnel had opened into a vast cavern,
and the gloom was exchanged for an illumination that was perfectly dazzling.
Although the temperature was high, it was not in any way intolerable.
One glance was sufficient to satisfy the explorers that
the grateful light and heat of this huge excavation were to be
attributed to a torrent of lava that was rolling downwards
to the sea, completely subtending the aperture of the cave.
Not inaptly might the scene be compared to the celebrated
Grotto of the Winds at the rear of the central fall of Niagara,
only with the exception that here, instead of a curtain
of rushing water, it was a curtain of roaring flame that hung
before the cavern’s mouth.
“Heaven be praised!” cried Servadac, with glad emotion; “here is
all that we hoped for, and more besides!”
WINTER QUARTERS
The habitation that had now revealed itself, well lighted and thoroughly warm,
was indeed marvelous. Not only would it afford ample accommodation for
Hector Servadac and “his subjects,” as Ben Zoof delighted to call them,
but it would provide shelter for the two horses, and for a considerable
number of domestic animals.
This enormous cavern was neither more or less than the common junction
of nearly twenty tunnels (similar to that which had been traversed by
the explorers), forming ramifications in the solid rock, and the pores,
as it were, by which the internal heat exuded from the heart of the mountain.
Here, as long as the volcano retained its activity, every living
creature on the new asteroid might brave the most rigorous of climates;
and as Count Timascheff justly remarked, since it was the only burning
mountain they had sighted, it was most probably the sole outlet for Gallia’s
subterranean fires, and consequently the eruption might continue unchanged
for ages to come.
But not a day, not an hour, was to be lost now.
The steam-launch returned to Gourbi Island, and preparations
were forthwith taken in hand for conveying man and beast,
corn and fodder, across to the volcanic headland.
Loud and hearty were the acclamations of the little colony,
especially of the Spaniards, and great was the relief of Nina,
when Servadac announced to them the discovery of their future domicile;
and with requickened energies they labored hard at packing,
anxious to reach their genial winter quarters without delay.
For three successive days the Dobryna, laden to her very gunwale,
made a transit to and fro. Ben Zoof was left upon the island
to superintend the stowage of the freight, whilst Servadac found
abundant occupation in overlooking its disposal within the recesses
of the mountain. First of all, the large store of corn and fodder,
the produce of the recent harvest, was landed and deposited in one
of the vaults; then, on the 15th, about fifty head of live cattle—
bullocks, cows, sheep, and pigs—were conveyed to their rocky stalls.
These were saved for the sake of preserving the several breeds,
the bulk of the island cattle being slaughtered, as the extreme
severity of the climate insured all meat remaining fresh for almost
an indefinite period. The winter which they were expecting would
probably be of unprecedented length; it was quite likely that it
would exceed the six months’ duration by which many arctic explorers
have been tried; but the population of Gallia had no anxiety in
the matter of provisions—their stock was far more than adequate;
while as for drink, as long as they were satisfied with pure water,
a frozen sea would afford them an inexhaustible reservoir.
The need for haste in forwarding their preparations became more
and more manifest; the sea threatened to be un-navigable very soon,
as ice was already forming which the noonday sun was unable to melt.
And if haste were necessary, so also were care, ingenuity, and forethought.
It was indispensable that the space at their command should be
properly utilized, and yet that the several portions of the store
should all be readily accessible.
On further investigation an unexpected number of galleries
was discovered, so that, in fact, the interior of the mountain
was like a vast bee-hive perforated with innumerable cells;
and in compliment to the little Italian it was unanimously voted
by the colony that their new home should be called “Nina’s Hive.”
The first care of Captain Servadac was to ascertain how he could
make the best possible use of the heat which nature had
provided for them so opportunely and with so lavish a hand.
By opening fresh vents in the solid rock (which by the action
of the heat was here capable of fissure) the stream
of burning lava was diverted into several new channels,
where it could be available for daily use; and thus Mochel,
the Dobryna’s cook, was furnished with an admirable kitchen,
provided with a permanent stove, where he was duly installed
with all his culinary apparatus.
“What a saving of expense it would be,” exclaimed Ben Zoof, “if every
household could be furnished with its own private volcano!”
The large cavern at the general junction of the galleries was fitted up
as a drawing-room, and arranged with all the best furniture both of the gourbi
and of the cabin of the Dobryna. Hither was also brought the schooner’s
library, containing a good variety of French and Russian books; lamps were
suspended over the different tables; and the walls of the apartment were
tapestried with the sails and adorned with the flags belonging to the yacht.
The curtain of fire extending over the opening of the cavern provided it,
as already stated, with light and heat.
The torrent of lava fell into a small rock-bound basin that had no apparent
communication with the sea, and was evidently the aperture of a deep abyss,
of which the waters, heated by the descent of the eruptive matter,
would no doubt retain their liquid condition long after the Gallian Sea
had become a sheet of ice.
A small excavation to the left of the common hall was allotted
for the special use of Servadac and the count; another on
the right was appropriated to the lieutenant and Ben Zoof;
whilst a third recess, immediately at the back, made a convenient
little chamber for Nina. The Spaniards and the Russian sailors
took up their sleeping-quarters in the adjacent galleries,
and found the temperature quite comfortable.
Such were the internal arrangements of Nina’s Hive, the refuge
where the little colony were full of hope that they would be able
to brave the rigors of the stern winter-time that lay before them—
a winter-time during which Gallia might possibly be projected even
to the orbit of Jupiter, where the temperature would not exceed
one twenty-fifth of the normal winter temperature of the earth.
The only discontented spirit was Isaac Hakkabut. Throughout all
the preparations which roused even the Spaniards to activity, the Jew,
still incredulous and deaf to every representation of the true state
of things, insisted upon remaining in the creek at Gourbi Island;
nothing could induce him to leave his tartan, where, like a miser,
he would keep guard over his precious cargo,
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