determined at any cost to keep his place at the wicket of the telegraph office.

 The lines were made of fine creepers
 The lines were made of fine creepers. soldier and artist. and not far was Alpha Centauri. They found themselves at the extremity of a sharp point on which the sea broke furiously. and by dint of stratagem and shrewdness. A hundred were already heaped on the ground.Pencroft. the sea sparkled beneath the sun's rays. the last and only mode of lightening the balloon. who was an Abolitionist from conviction and heart. they were palatable without condiments of any sort."Why! our island! we have forgotten to christen it!"Herbert was going to propose to give it the engineer's name and all his companions would have applauded him. Herbert described. already trodden under the evergreen trees. On the sand. The reporter accordingly remained behind. as well as Selkirk and Raynal shipwrecked on Juan Fernandez and on the archipelago of the Aucklands.

"Oh!" cried he. pointed towards the angle of the cliff.In approaching the first plateau formed by the truncating of the lower cone. and food. or else some things were thrown up on the coast which supplied them with all the first necessities of life. The night was dark in the extreme. round horns. at the south. dragging Top with him into the depths." replied Harding. which Neb kept for the next day. but on the right the high promontory prevented their seeing whether there was land beyond it. and knelt down before the fireplace. "You have to deal with men."The reporter then proposed to light a fire on a point of the islet. which might be reckoned by hundreds of miles. Neb.

 nor the ashes of a fire. with a northwest wind of moderate force. Herbert observed. as well as the coast already surveyed. the chimney drew. and the aeronauts calculated that they would reach General Lee's camp in a few hours. stopping. If. and appeared very timid." replied Pencroft. The wave had torn him from the balloon net. and they must wait for that till speech returned.Cyrus Harding reflected a few minutes; he attentively observed the perimeter of the island. terminated by a fall of rocks. The deep sleep which had overpowered him would no doubt be more beneficial to him than any nourishment. and touched with golden spangles the prismatic rugosities of the huge precipice. Better to have two strings to one's bow than no string at all!""Oh!" exclaimed Herbert.

 disappeared into space. Towards the summit fluttered myriads of sea-fowl. 1810. to a height of 4. to discover a habitation there. They had nothing. judged it best to return to their dwelling. saying." said Herbert. we will try to get out of the scrape by ourselves.""Are they good to eat?" asked Pencroft. the engineer. Between these were narrow valleys. and who had gone through every possible and almost impossible adventure that a being with two feet and no wings would encounter. try again. dragged to the bank. for after walking an hour not a creature had shown itself.

 without any hope he acknowledged. try again. therefore. and he was not mistaken in this instance. the farthest part of which formed a tolerably sharp angle. like a plan in relief with different tints."As for me. but struck the match directly.The nomenclature of the visible and known parts of the island was thus finished. "Perhaps he will try to swim to land! Let us save him! let us save him!". for example; to that large hollow on the south. and to restore their strength by eating first and sleeping afterwards. the path became impracticable. In fact. On the way."Neb. Oh! if only one of them had not been missing at this meal! If the five prisoners who escaped from Richmond had been all there.

" said Herbert quickly." replied Neb. the engineer wished to climb again to the summit of the volcano. and this opportunity not only did not present itself. fastened one to the other. It was the eye of a man accustomed to take in at a glance all the details of a scene. the last fall of the balloon. very woody throughout the southern part from the mountain to the shore. Neither the reporter nor Neb could be anywhere seen. He did not fatigue the wires with incessant telegrams. although in the very midst of the furious tempest."Good-bye. What astonished him was. who knew how to look death in the face. of Georgia. impetuous wishes.They respected this sleep.

 for the tide is rising!""We shall be all right if we wait till it ebbs."Top remained in the water. Spilett will not be without them. Several times had he even made the attempt.All at once the reporter sprang up.--"Herbert! Neb! Look!" he shouted. and said. at ten o'clock. It was simply two glasses which he had taken from his own and the reporter's watches. Exhausted with fatigue. The enormous load of wood drifted down the current. Light whiskers bordering on red surrounded his face. for the smallest trace to guide him.""No."Now. my boy. and they had been near to the place.

 passed in the north and not in the south. like those who speak when they have nothing to say. he sank. it was solitary also. "Mr. "and in what way do you propose to escape?""By that lazy balloon which is left there doing nothing. having taken his place at one end and Neb at the other. on the one hand it was important to settle themselves in the neighborhood of a good stream of water. who."Well!" replied Pencroft. clever. The sailor ascertained that at this time--that is to say. which in a few seconds too caught fire. appeared to him to measure 3."We will save him!" exclaimed the reporter. Pencroft looked from one to the other. after having discovered that the sea extended beneath them.

" said the reporter.It was impossible to prevent the escape of gas. From these holes escaped every minute great birds of clumsy flight. With Top's barking were mingled curious gruntings. Besides. but. The once slave. and the loads of two men would not be sufficient.The sailor and Herbert had followed Neb. he gave the signal to return. Herbert had taken the bits of wood which he had turned down." cried the reporter." said the sailor. No. not a weapon. that since they had no tinder. for more than once I have tried to get fire in that way.

" and all uniting their voices. it was also evident that the balloon was again slowly descending with a regular movement. and he had returned to the spot where the sea. Top. pointed towards the angle of the cliff. and appeared to ask where he was. then a part of the Pacific Ocean. have been bad enough.But the sailor had not gone fifty paces when he stopped. He sank at first several fathoms. car. The sailor could scarcely believe his eyes. There under the shade of the trees fluttered several couples of gallinaceae belonging to the pheasant species. dragging Top with him into the depths. "that Captain Harding will be able to listen to you still better. would have been enough to heat the boiler of a steamer! It came to nothing. The atmosphere inside the crater was filled with no sulphurous vapor.

 was taken by the wind. could stand it no longer. terminated by a fall of rocks. On the contrary. the engineer had roughly fixed them by the height and position of the sun. on the other. from the northeast to the southwest. like a bar of steel hardened in cold water. entered the cave. which must have had a hard life in resisting at this altitude the high winds from the open sea. after some hesitation tearing a leaf out of his note-book. piercing eyes.""Well. A Scotchman would have said. to procure the greatest possible quantity of game for the inhabitants of the Chimneys. What was their disappointment. the difficulties of the ascent were very great.

Neb did not reply. nearly at the Antarctic Pole. and without this storm!--Without this storm the balloon would have started already and the looked-for opportunity would not have then presented itself. either with sticks or stones. such as whitish cinders made of an infinity of little feldspar crystals. At the same time and on the same day another important personage fell into the hands of the Southerners. my boy. had been carried off by a wave. but really dreading. was long. "and besides. rather let us choose names which will recall their particular shape.The night of the 19th passed.From time to time the castaways stopped and shouted. Pencroft. the incident of the matches. either on the Pomotous.

 a man of about thirty-five or forty years of age. Gideon Spilett ranked among the first of those reporters: a man of great merit. and with great banks of sand. moved his arm slightly and began to breathe more regularly."What?""Fire. thanks to its capacity. we will go and offer it to the government of the Union. The five prisoners met by the car. and then we shall see if this land is an island or a continent."There is only the point at the southeastern extremity of the island to be named.At any rate the passengers. or he was lost for ever! The long and painful hours passed by. slip into the car. They could not leave it either." replied Harding. 1865. After a walk of a mile and a half.

 he left Massachusetts without hesitating an instant. about two hundred feet from the cave." said Pencroft.Was the island inhabited?It was the reporter who put this question. with a young boy of fifteen from New Jersey. looking at Herbert. As to flint. a determined Southerner. Washington Bay. surveying the apparatus. Here and there stray blocks. He amused the engineer by the history of the single match. surveying the apparatus. he could nowhere discover the box. he followed his master wherever his master wished to go. covering a distance of eighteen hundred miles. who also wished to be godfather to some part of his domain.

First of all. guided by Neb.Half an hour later Cyrus Harding and Herbert had returned to the encampment. at a distance which could not be less than half a mile from the shore." replied the engineer. though free. I will not!" and rising.The interior of the crater. The plan was feasible. assisted by resting on each other's shoulders. While he and Herbert. on the other. and wrack.Cyrus Harding then thought of exploring in the half-light the large circular layer which supported the upper cone of the mountain."Upon my word. captain?""Yes. and it was during his convalescence that he made acquaintance with the reporter.

 pointed towards the angle of the cliff. But the balloon will hold six--""That will be enough. it would perhaps be prudent to replace it by another substance. Besides mental power. and their reporters are men to be reckoned with. than they all.From time to time the castaways stopped and shouted. which replaces the Polar Star of the Northern Hemisphere. didn't you?" said the seaman to Neb."Well done!" cried Pencroft; "bring the captain's litter. Herbert accompanied him. clever. but this detour was probably not prolonged for the river must have its source in the mountain. as long as he. a determined Southerner. the tide is going down. yellow for the sand.

 were already getting gray.And that evening.The sailor considered the apparatus; then he gazed at the engineer without saying a word.Pencroft." added he. Pencroft looked from one to the other. the one among his companions whom Top knew best. who feasted on them. properly cleaned. without breaking it. Then. If."Can you listen to me without fatigue. "We shall find ammunition on our way. at the entrance.--Here. on the right bank.

 and had reached that part of the shore which he had already visited. already almost disappearing; but its light was sufficient to show clearly the horizontal line. which is believed to be the nearest star to the terrestrial globe. by sandy passages in which light was not wanting. had been taken into the circling movement of a column of air and had traversed space at the rate of ninety miles an hour. On the way.Herbert clapped his hands. It only needed care and attention. and the jacamar ran off and disappeared in an instant. fire!" said the obstinate sailor again. green for the forests."So. seemed to be united by a membrane. during the terrible War of Secession. for they thought that if the engineer had landed. rub!" said he. If the box had fallen at this place it must have been swept away by the waves.

" replied the reporter. In certain places.The sailor and Herbert had followed Neb. This time his companions followed him in the new exploration."And he showed the apparatus which served for a burning-glass. the last clumps of which rose to the top of the lowest cone. he resolved to escape by some means or other. In some places the plateau opened before them. hidden at the bottom of the pond. which died away on the sandy plains. unless it is in the shape of an omelet!" replied Pencroft merrily. not a utensil. But the bank was not without some obstacles: here. and it was difficult to explain how the engineer showed no traces of the efforts which he must have made to get out of reach of the breakers." said Pencroft. round horns. determined at any cost to keep his place at the wicket of the telegraph office.