 Chapter 15 of Godfrey Morgan, A Californian Mystery by Jules Verne. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 15. In which there happens what happens at least once in the life of every cruser, real or imaginary. And now the future looked less gloomy, but if tartlet saw in the possession of the instruments, the tools and the weapons, only the means of making their life of isolation a little more agreeable, Godfrey was already thinking of how to escape from Fina Island. Could he not now construct a vessel strong enough to enable them to reach, if not some neighboring land, at least some ship passing within sight of the island? Meanwhile, the weeks which followed were principally spent in carrying out not these ideas but those of tartlet. The wardrobe at Will Tree was now replenished, but it was decided to use it with all the discretion which the uncertainty of the future required. Never to wear any of the clothes, unless necessity compelled him to do so, was the rule to which the professor was forced to submit. What is the good of that? Grumbled he. It is a great deal to stingy, my dear Godfrey. Are we savages that we should go about half naked? I beg your pardon, tartlet, replied Godfrey, we are savages and nothing else. As you please, but you will see that we shall leave the island before we have worn the clothes. I know nothing about it, tartlet, and it is better to have them than to want. But on Sunday now, surely on Sunday, we might dress up a little. Very well on Sundays then and perhaps on public holidays, answered Godfrey, who did not wish to anger his frivolous companion. But as today is Monday, we shall have to wait a whole week before we come out in our best. We need hardly mention that from the moment he arrived on the island Godfrey had not omitted to mark each day as it passed. By the aid of the calendar he found in the box he was able to verify that the day was really Monday. Each performed his daily task according to his ability. It was no longer necessary for them to keep watch by day and night over a fire which they had now the means of relighting. Tartlet therefore abandoned, not without regret, a task which suited him so well. Hence forwards he took charge of the provisioning with yamph and camus-roots of that in short which formed the daily bread of the establishment, so that the professor went every day and collected them up to the lines of shrubs with which the prairie was bordered behind will-tree. It was one or two miles to walk, but he accustomed himself to it. Between miles he occupied his time in collecting oysters or other mollusks of which they consumed a great quantity. Tartret reserved for himself the care of the domestic animals and the poultry. The butchering trade was hardly to his taste, but he soon overcame his repugnance. Thanks to him boiled meats appeared frequently on the table, followed by an occasional joint of roast meat, to afford a sufficiently varied bill of fare. Game abounded in the woods of Fina Island, and Godfrey proposed to begin his shooting when other more pressing cares allowed him time. He thought of making good use of the guns, powder and bullets in his arsenal, but he in the first place wished to complete his preparations. His tools enabled him to make several benches inside an outside will-tree. The stools were cut out roughly with the axe. The table made a little less roughly, became more worthy of the dishes and dinner things with which Professor Bartlett adorned it. The beds were arranged in wooden boxes and their litter of dry grass assumed a more inviting aspect. If mattresses and palliases were still wanting, counterpains at least were not. The various cooking utensils stood no longer on the ground but had their places on planks fixed along the walls. Stores, linen and clothes were carefully put away in cavities hollowed out in the bark of the sequoia. From strong pegs were suspended the arms and instruments forming quite a trophy on the walls. Godfrey was also desirous of putting a door to the house so that the other living creatures, the domestic animals, should not come during the night and trouble their sleep. As he could not cut out boards with his only saw, the hand saw, he used large and thick pieces of bark which he got off very easily. With these he made a door sufficiently massive to close the opening into Will Tree. At the same time he made two little windows, one opposite to the other, so as to let light and air into the room. Shedders allowed him to close them at night. There from the morning to the evening it was no longer necessary to take refuge and flaring resinous torches which filled the dwelling with smoke. What Godfrey would think of to yield them light during the long nights of winter he had as yet no idea. He might take to making candles with the mutton fat, or he might be contented with resinous torches more carefully prepared. We shall see. Another of his anxieties was how to construct a chimney in Will Tree. While the fine weather lasted, the fire outside among the roots of the sequoia sufficed for all the wants of the kitchen. But when the bad weather came and the rain fell in torrents and they would have to battle with the cold whose extreme rigor during a certain time they reasonably feared they would have to have a fire inside their house and the smoke from it must have some vent. This important question therefore had to be settled. One very useful work which Godfrey undertook was to put both banks of the river in communication with each other on the skirt of the sequoia trees. He managed, after some difficulty, to drive a few stakes into the riverbed, and on them he fixed a staging of planks which served for a bridge. They could thus get away to the northern shore without crossing the ford, which led them a couple of miles out of the road. But if Godfrey took all these precautions so as to make existence a little more possible on this lone isle of the Pacific, in case he and his companion were destined to live on it for some time, or perhaps live on it forever, they had no intention of neglecting in any way the chances of rescue. Fina Island was not on the routes taken by the ships. That was only too evident. It offered no port of call nor means of revictualling. There was nothing to encourage ships to take notice of it. At the same time it was not impossible that a warship or a merchant vessel might come in sight. It was advisable, therefore, to find some way of attracting attention and showing that the island was inhabited. With this object Godfrey erected a flagstaff at the end of the cape which ran out to the north, and for a flag he sacrificed a piece of one of the cloths found in the trunk. As he thought that the white color would only be visible in a strong light, he tried to stain his flag with the berries of a sort of shrub, which grew at the foot of the dunes. He obtained a very vivid red, which he could not make indelible, owing to his having no mordant. But he could easily re-dye the cloth when the wind or rain had faded it. These varied employments occupied him up to the 15th of August. For many weeks the sky had been constantly clear, with the exception of two or three storms of extreme violence which had brought down a large quantity of water to be greedily drunk in by the soil. About this time Godfrey began his shooting expeditions, but if he was skillful enough in the use of the gun he could not reckon on tartlet who had yet to fire his first shot. Many days of the week did Godfrey devote to the pursuit of fur and feather, which, without being abundant, were yet plentiful enough for the requirements of will-tree. A few partridges, some of the red-legged variety, and a few snipes came as a welcome variation to the bill of fare. Two or three antelopes fell to the prowess of the young stalker, and although he had nothing to do with their capture, the professor gave them a no less welcome than he did when they appeared as haunches and cutlets. But while he was out shooting Godfrey did not forget to take a more complete survey of the island. He penetrated the depths of the dense forests which occupied the central districts. He ascended the river to its source. He again mounted the summit of the Cone, and redescended by the talus on the eastern shore, which he had not up to then visited. After all these explorations, repeated Godfrey to himself, there can be no doubt that Fina Island has no dangerous animals, neither wild beasts, snakes, nor soryans. I have not caught sight of one. Assuredly, if there had been any, the report of the gun would have woke them up. It is fortunate indeed, if it were to become necessary to fortify will-tree against their attacks, I did not know how we should get on. Then passing on to quite a natural deduction, it must also be concluded, continued he, that the island is not inhabited at all. Either natives or people shipwrecked here would have appeared before now at the sound of the gun. There is however that inexplicable smoke which I twice thought I saw. The fact is that Godfrey had never been able to trace any fire. As for the hot water springs to which he attributed the origin of the vapor he had noticed, Fina Island being in no way volcanic did not appear to contain any, and he had to content himself with thinking that he had twice been the victim of an illusion. Besides, this apparition of the smoke or the vapor was not repeated. When Godfrey the second time ascended the central cone, as also when he again climbed up into will-tree he saw nothing to attract his attention. He ended by forgetting the circumstance altogether. Many weeks passed in different occupations about the tree, and many shooting excursions were undertaken. With every day their mode of life improved. Every Sunday, as had been agreed, Tartlett donned his best clothes. On that day he did nothing but walk about under the big trees and indulge in an occasional tune on the kit. Many were the glissads he performed, giving lessons to himself as his pupil had positively refused to continue his course. What is the good of it, was Godfrey's answer to the entreaties of the professor. Can you imagine Robinson Crusoe taking lessons in dancing and deportment? And why not ask Tartlett seriously? Why should Robinson Crusoe dispense with deportment? Not for the good of others, but of himself. He should acquire refined manners, to which Godfrey made no reply. And as he never came for his lesson, the professor became Professor Emeritus. The thirteenth of September was noted for one of the greatest and cruelest deceptions to which, on a desert island, the unfortunate survivors of a shipwreck could be subjected. Godfrey had never again seen that inexplicable and undiscoverable smoke on the island, but on this day, about three o'clock in the afternoon, his attention was attracted by a long line of vapor about the origin of which he could not be deceived. He had gone for a walk to the end of Flag Point, the name which he had given to the Cape on which he had erected his flagstaff. While he was looking through his glass, he saw above the horizon a smoke driven by the west wind toward the island. Godfrey's heart beat high. A ship, he exclaimed. But would this ship, this steamer, pass in sight of Fina Island? And if it passed, would it come near enough for the signal thereon to be seen on board? Or would not rather the semi-visible smoke disappear with the vessel toward the northwest or southwest of the horizon? For two hours Godfrey was a prey to alternating emotions more easy to indicate than to describe. The smoke got bigger and bigger. It increased when the steamer restoked her fires and diminished almost a vanishing point as the fuel was consumed. Continually did the vessel visibly approach. About four o'clock her hull had come up on the line between the sky and the sea. She was a large steamer bearing northeast. Godfrey easily made that out. If that direction was maintained she would inevitably approach Fina Island. Godfrey had at first thought of running back to Will Tree to inform Tartlett. What was the use of doing so? The sight of one man making signals could do as much good as that of two. He remained there, his glass at his eye, losing not a single movement of the ship. The steamer kept on her course towards the coast. Her bow steered straight for the cape. By five o'clock the horizon line was already above her hull and her rig was visible. Godfrey could even recognize the colors at her gaff. She carried the United States ensign. But if I could see their flag, cannot they see mine? The wind keeps it out so that they could easily see my flag with their glasses. While I make signals by raising it and lowering it a few times, so as to show that I want to enter into communication with them, yes, I have not an instant to lose. It was a good idea. Godfrey ran to the end of Flag Point and began to haul his flag up and down as if he were saluting. Then he left it at half mast high so as to show, in the way usual with seafaring people, that he required help and sucker. The steamer still approached to within three miles of the shore, but her flag remained immovable at the peak and replied not to that on Flag Point. Godfrey felt his heart sink. He would not be noticed. It was half past six and the sun was about to set. The steamer was now about two miles from the cape, which he was rapidly nearing. At this moment the sun disappeared below the horizon, with the first shadows of night all hope of being seen had to be given up. Godfrey again, with no more success, began to raise and lower his flag. There was no reply. Then he fired his gun two or three times, but the distance was still great and the wind did not set in that direction. No report would be heard on board. The night gradually came on. Soon the steamer's haul grew invisible. Godfrey would not know what to do, thought of setting fire to a group of resinous trees which grew at the back of Flag Point. He lighted a heap of dry leaves with some gunpowder and then set light to the group of pines which flared up like an enormous torch. But no fire on the ship answered to the one on the land, and Godfrey returned sadly to Will Tree, feeling perhaps more desolate than he had ever felt till then. End of Chapter 15. Recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Erie, North Carolina. Chapter 16 of Godfrey Morgan, A Californian Mystery by Jules Verne. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 16, in which something happens which cannot fail to surprise the reader. To Godfrey the blow was serious. Would this unexpected chance which had just escaped him ever offer again? Could he hope so? No. The indifference of the steamer as she passed inside of the island, without even taking a look at it, was obviously shared in by all the vessels venturing in this deserted portion of the Pacific. Why should they put into port more than she had done? The island did not possess a single harbor. Godfrey passed a sorrowful night. Every now and then, jumping up as if he heard a cannon out at sea, he would ask himself if the steamer had not caught sight of the huge fire which still burnt on the coast, and if she were not endeavoring to answer the signal by a gunshot. Godfrey listened. It was only an illusion of his over-excited brain. After the day came he had come to look upon the apparition of the ship as but a dream, which had commenced about three o'clock on the previous afternoon. But no, he was only too certain that a ship had been inside of Fina Island, maybe within two miles of it, and certainly she had not put in. Of this deception Godfrey said not a word to tartlet. What was the good of talking about it? Godfrey's frivolous mind could not see more than twenty-four hours ahead. He was no longer thinking of the chances of escaping from the island which might offer. He no longer imagined that the future had great things in store for them. San Francisco was fading out of his recollection. He had no sweetheart waiting for him, no uncle will to return to. If at this end of the world he could only commence a course of lessons on dancing, his happiness would be complete, where it only would one pupil. If the professor dreamt not of immediate danger, such as to compromise his safety in this island, bare as it was of wild beasts and savages, he was wrong. This very day his optimism was to be put to a rude test. About four o'clock in the afternoon tartlet had gone, according to his custom, to collect some oysters and muscles on that part of the shore behind Flag Point, when Godfrey saw him coming back as fast as his legs would carry him to Will Tree. His hair stood on end round his temples. He looked like a man in flight who dared not turn his head to the right or to the left. "'What is the matter?' shouted Godfrey, not without alarm, running to meet his companion. "'There, there!' answered tartlet, pointing with his finger toward the narrow strip of sea visible to the north between the trees. "'But what is it?' asked Godfrey, whose first movement was to run to the edge of the sequoias. "'A canoe!' "'A canoe?' "'Yes, savages, quite a fleet of savages, cannibals, perhaps.' Godfrey looked in the direction, pointed out. It was not a fleet, as the distracted tartlet had said, but he was only mistaken about the quantity. In fact there was a small vessel gliding through the water, now very calm, about half a mile from the coast, so as to double-flag-point. "'And why should they be cannibals?' asked Godfrey, turning toward the professor. "'Because in crucible islands,' answered tartlet, there are always cannibals who arrive sooner or later. "'Is it not a boat from some merchant ship?' "'From a ship?' "'Yes, from a steamer which passed here yesterday afternoon inside of our island. "'And you said nothing to me about it?' exclaimed tartlet, lifting his hands to the sky. "'What good should I have done?' asked Godfrey. "'Besides, I thought that the vessel had disappeared. But that boat might belong to her, let us go and see.' Godfrey ran rapidly back to Will Tree, and seizing his glass returned to the edge of the trees. He then examined with extreme attention the little vessel, which would ere then have perceived the flag on flag-point as it fluttered in the breeze. The glass fell from his hands. "'Savages, yes, they are really savages,' he exclaimed. Tartlet felt his knees knocked together, and a tremor of fright ran through his body. It was a vessel manned by savages, which Godfrey saw approaching the island. Built like a Polynesian canoe, she carried a large sail of woven bamboo and outrigger on the weatherside, and kept her from capsizing as she healed down to the wind. Godfrey easily distinguished the build of the vessel. She was a proa, and this would indicate that Fina Island was not far from Malaysia. But they were not melees on board. They were half-naked blacks, and there were about a dozen of them. The danger of being found was thus great. Godfrey regretted that he had hoisted the flag, which had not been seen by the ship, but would be seen by these black fellows. To take it down now would be too late. It was in truth very unfortunate. The savages had probably come to the island thinking it was uninhabited, as indeed it had been before the wreck of the dream. But there was the flag indicating the presence of human beings on the coast. How were they to escape them if they landed? Godfrey knew not what to do. Anyhow, his immediate care must be to watch if they said they were on foot on the island. He could think of other things afterwards. If his glass at his eye he followed the proa, he saw it turn the point of the promontory, then run along the shore, and then approach the mouth of the small stream which, two miles up, flowed past Will Tree. If the savages intended to paddle up the river, they would soon reach the group of sequoias, and nothing could hinder them. Godfrey and Tartlet ran rapidly back to their dwelling. First of all set about guarding themselves against surprise, and giving themselves time to prepare their defense. At least that is what Godfrey thought of. The idea of the professor took quite a different turn. Ah, he exclaimed, it is destiny. This is as it was written. We could not escape it. You cannot be a crucer without a canoe coming to your island, without cannibals appearing one day or another. Here we have been for only three months, and there they are already. Assuredly, neither to foe nor to wist exaggerated matters. You can make yourself a crucer, if you like. Worthy Tartlet, folks do not make themselves crucells, they become crucells, and you are not sure that you are wise in comparing your position with that of the heroes of the two English and Swiss romances. The precautions taken by Godfrey as soon as he returned to Will Tree were as follows. The fire burning among the roots of the sequoia was extinguished, and the embers scattered broadcast so as to leave no trace. Cocks, hens, and chickens were already in their house for the night, and the entrance was hidden with shrubs and twigs as much as possible. The other animals, the goats, agudis, and sheep were driven on to the prairie, but it was unlucky that there was no stable to shut them up in. All the instruments and tools were taken into the tree. Nothing was left outside that could indicate the presence or the passage of human beings. Then the door was closely shut after Godfrey and Tartlet had gone in. The door made of the sequoia bark was indistinguishable from the bark of the trunk and might perhaps escape the eyes of the savages who would not look at it very closely. It was the same with the two windows in which the lower boards were shut. Then all light was extinguished in the dwelling and our friends remained in total darkness. How long that night was! Godfrey and Tartlet heard the slightest sounds outside. The creaking of a dry branch, even a puff of wind made them start. They thought they heard someone walking under the trees. It seemed that they were prowling round will-tree. Then Godfrey climbed up to one of the windows, opened one of the boards, and anxiously peered into the gloom. Nothing. However, Godfrey at last heard footsteps on the ground. His ear could not deceive him this time. He still looked, but could only see one of the goats come for shelter beneath the trees. Had any of the savages happened to discover the house hidden in the enormous sequoia, Godfrey had made up his mind what to do. He would drag up Tartlet with him by the chimney inside and take refuge in the higher branches, where he would be better able to resist. With guns and revolvers in his possession and ammunition in abundance, he would there have some chance against a dozen savages devoid of firearms. If in the event of there being armed with bows and arrows they attacked from below, it was not likely that they would have the best of it against firearms aimed from above. If on the other hand, they forced the door of the dwelling and tried to reach the branches from the inside, they would find it very difficult to get there owing to the narrow opening which the besieged could easily defend. Godfrey said nothing about this to Tartlet. The poor man had been almost out of his mind with fright since he had seen the proa. The thought that he might be obliged to take refuge in the upper part of a tree, as if in an eagle's nest, would not have soothed him in the least. If it became necessary, Godfrey decided to drag him up before he had time to think about it. The night passed amid these alternations of fear and hope, no attack occurred. The savages had not yet come to the Sequoia group. Perhaps they would wait for the day before venturing to cross the island. That is probably what they will do, said Godfrey, since our flag shows that it is inhabited. But there are only a dozen of them and they will have to be cautious. How are they to know that they have only to deal with a couple of shipwrecked men? No, they will risk nothing except by daylight, at least if they are going to stop. Supposing they go away when the daylight comes, answered Tarlet. Go away? Why should they have come to Fina Island for one night? I do not know, replied the professor, who in his terror could only explain the arrival of the blacks by supposing that they had come to feed on human flesh. Anyhow, continued Godfrey, tomorrow morning if they have not come to Will Tree, we will go out and reconnoiter. We? Yes, we. Nothing would be more imprudent than for us to separate. Who knows whether we may not have to run to the forest in the center of the island and hide there for some days until the departure of the proa. No, we will keep together, Tarlet. Hush, said the professor, in a low voice. I think I hear something outside. Godfrey climbed up again to the window and got down again almost immediately. No, he said, nothing suspicious. It is only our cattle coming back to the wood. Aunted perhaps, exclaimed Tarlet. They seemed very quiet then, replied Godfrey. I fancy they have only come in search of shelter against the morning dew. Ah, murmured Tarlet, in so pitious a tone that Godfrey could hardly help laughing. These things could not happen at your uncle's place in Montgomery Street. They will soon break, said Godfrey after a pause. In an hour's time, if the savages have not appeared, we will leave Will Tree and reconnoiter toward the north of the island. You are able to carry a gun, Tarlet? Carry, yes. And to fire it in a stated direction? I do not know. I have never tried such a thing. And you may be sure, Godfrey, that my bullet will not go. Who knows if the report alone might not frighten the savages? An hour later, it was light enough to see beyond the sequoias. Godfrey then cautiously reopened the shedders. From that, looking to the south, he saw nothing extraordinary. The domestic animals wandered peacefully under the trees and did not appear in the least alarmed. The survey completed, Godfrey carefully shut the window. Through the opening to the north, there was a view up to the shore. Two miles off, even the end of flag point could be seen, but the mouth of the river at the place where the savages had landed the evening before was not visible. Godfrey at first looked around without using his glass so as to examine the environs of Will Tree on this side of Fina Island. All was quite peaceful. Godfrey then, taking his glass, swept round the coast to the promontory at flag point. Perhaps as Tarlet had said, though it was difficult to find the reason, the savages had embarked after a night spent on shore without attempting to see if the island were inhabited. End of chapter 16, recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Airy, North Carolina. Chapter 17 of Godfrey Morgan, a Californian mystery by Jules Verne. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 17, in which Professor Tarlet's gun really does marvels. But Godfrey suddenly uttered an exclamation which made the professor jump. There could be no doubt that the savages knew the island was inhabited, for the flag hitherto hoisted at the extremity of the Cape had been carried away by them and no longer floated on the mast at flag point. The moment had then come to put the project into execution to reconnoitre if the savages were still in the island and to see what they were doing. Let us go, said he to his companion. Go, but, answered Tarlet. Would you rather stay here? With you, Godfrey, yes. No, alone. Alone, never. Come along, then. Tarlet, thoroughly understanding that Godfrey would not alter his decision, resolved to accompany him. He had not courage enough to stay behind the will-tree. Before starting, Godfrey assured himself that the firearms were ready for action. The two guns were loaded, and one passed into the hands of the professor, who seemed as much embarrassed with it as might have been a savage of Pomoto. He also hung one of the hunting knives to his belt to which he had already attached his cartridge pouch. The thought had occurred to him to also take his fiddle, imagining perhaps that they would be sensible to the charm of its squeaking, of which all the talent of a virtuoso could not conceal the harshness. Godfrey had some trouble in getting him to abandon this idea, which was as ridiculous as it was impracticable. It was now six o'clock in the morning. The summits of the sequoias were glowing in the first rays of the sun. Godfrey opened the door. He stepped outside. He scanned the group of trees. Complete solitude. The animals had returned to the prairie. There they were, tranquilly browsing about a quarter of a mile away. Nothing about them denoted the least uneasiness. Godfrey made a sign to Tartlett to join him. The professor, as clumsy as could be in his fighting harness, followed, not without some hesitation. Then Godfrey shut the door and saw that it was well hidden in the bark of the sequoia. Then, having thrown out the foot of the tree a bundle of twigs which he weighted with a few large stones, he set out toward the river, whose banks he intended to descend, if necessary, to its mouth. Tartlett followed him, not without giving before each of his steps an uneasy stare completely round him up to the very limits of the horizon. But the fear of being left alone impelled him to advance. Arrived at the edge of the group of trees, Godfrey stopped. Taking his glasses from their case, he scanned with extreme attention all that part of the coast between the flag-point promontory and the northeast angle of the island. Not a living being showed itself, but a single smoke wreath was rising in the air. The end of the cape was equally deserted, but they would their doubtless fine numberless footprints freshly made. As for the mast, Godfrey had not been deceived. If the staff still rose above the last rock on the cape, it was bereft of its flag. Evidently the savages after coming to the place had gone off with a red cloth which had excited their covetousness and had regained their boat at the mouth of the river. Godfrey then turned off so as to examine the western shore. It was nothing but a vast desert from flag-point right away beyond the curve of Dream Bay. No boat of any kind appeared on the surface of the sea. If the savages had taken to their proa, it only could be concluded that they were hugging the coast sheltered by the rocks and so closely that they could not be seen. However, Godfrey could not and would not remain in doubt. He was determined to ascertain, yes or no, if the proa had definitely left the island. To do this it was necessary to visit the spot where the savages had landed the night before. That is to say, the narrow creek at the mouth of the river. This he immediately attempted. The borders of the small watercourse were shaded by occasional clumps of trees encircled by shrubs for a distance of about two miles. Beyond that, for some five or six hundred yards down to the sea, the river ran between naked banks. This state of affairs enabled him to approach close to the landing place without being perceived. It might be, however, that the savages had ascended the stream. And to be prepared for this eventuality, the advance had to be made with extreme caution. Godfrey, however, thought, not without reason, that at this early hour the savages, fatigued by their long voyage, would not have quitted their anchorage. Perhaps they were still sleeping, either in their canoe or on land, in which case it would be seen if they could not be surprised. This idea was acted upon at once. It was important that they should get on quickly. In such circumstances the advantages generally gained at the outset. The firearms were again examined, the revolvers were carefully looked at, and then Godfrey and Tartlett commenced the descent of the left bank of the river in Indian file. All around was quiet. Flocks of birds flew from one bank to the other, pursuing each other among the higher branches, without showing any uneasiness. Godfrey went first, but it can easily be believed that his companion found the attempt to cover step rather tiring. Moving from one tree to another, they advanced toward the shore without risk of discovery. Here the clumps of bushes hid them from the opposite bank. There even their heads disappeared amid the luxurious vegetation. But no matter where they were, an arrow from a bow or a stone from a sling might at any moment reach them, and so they had to be constantly on their guard. However, in spite of the recommendations which were addressed to him, Tartlett, tripping against an occasional stump, had two or three falls which might have complicated matters. Godfrey was beginning to regret having brought such a clumsy assistant. Indeed the poor man could not be of much help to him. Doubtless he would have been worth more left behind at Will Tree, or, if he would not consent to that, hidden away in some nook in the forest. But it was too late. An hour after he had left the Sequoia group, Godfrey and his companion had come a mile, only a mile, for the path was not easy beneath the high vegetation and between the luxuriant shrubs. Neither one nor the other of our friends had seen anything suspicious. Hereabouts the trees thinned out for about a hundred yards or less. The river ran between naked banks, the country round was barer. Godfrey stopped. He carefully observed the prairie to the right and left of the stream. Still there was nothing to disquiet him, nothing to indicate the approach of savages. It is true that as they could not but believe the island inhabited, they would not advance without precaution. In fact, they would be as careful in ascending the little river as Godfrey was in descending it. It was to be supposed, therefore, that if they were prowling about the neighborhood, they would also profit by the shelter of the trees or the high bushes of mastics and myrtles, which formed such an excellent screen. It was a curious, though very natural, circumstance that the farther they advanced, tartlet perceiving no enemy, little by little lost his terror and began to speak with scorn of those cannibal laughing stocks. Godfrey, on the contrary, became more anxious, and it was with greater precaution than ever that he crossed the open space and regained the shadow of the trees. Another hour led them to the place where the banks, beginning to feel the effects of the sea's vicinity, were only bordered with stunted shrubs or sparse grasses. Under these circumstances it was difficult to keep hidden or rather impossible to proceed without crawling along the ground. This is what Godfrey did, and also what he advised tartlet to do. There are not any savages. There are not any cannibals. They have all gone, said the professor. There are, answered Godfrey quickly in a low voice. They ought to be here, down tartlet, get down, be ready to fire, but don't do so till I tell you. Godfrey had said these words in such a tone of authority that the professor, feeling his limbs give way under him, had no difficulty in at once assuming the required position. And he did well. In fact, it was not without reason that Godfrey had spoken as he had. From the spot which they then occupied, they could see neither the shore nor the place where the river entered the sea. The small spur of hills shut out the view about a hundred yards ahead, but above this, near the horizon, a dense smoke was rising straight in the air. Godfrey stretched at full length in the grass with his finger on the trigger of his musket kept looking toward the coast. This smoke, he said, is it not of the same kind that I have already seen twice before? Should I conclude that savages have previously landed on the north and south of the island, and that the smoke came from fires lighted by them? But no, that is not possible, for I found no cinders, nor traces of a fireplace, nor embers. This time I'll know the reason of it. And by a clever reptilian movement, which tartly imitated as well as he could, he managed, without showing his head above the grass, to reach the bend of the river. Thence he could command at his ease every part of the bank through which the river ran. An exclamation could not but escape him. His hand touched the professor's shoulder to prevent any movement of his. Useless to go further, Godfrey saw what he had come to see. A large fire of wood was lighted on the beach, among the lower rocks, and from it a canopy of smoke rose slowly to the sky. Around the fire, feeding it with fresh armfuls of wood, of which they had made a heap, went and came the savages, who had landed the evening before. Their canoe was moored to a large stone, and, lifted by the rising tide, oscillated on the ripples of the shore. Godfrey could distinguish all that was passing on the sands without using his glasses. He was not more than two hundred yards from the fire, and he could even hear it crackling. He immediately perceived that he need fear no surprise from the rear, for all the blacks he had counted in the proa were in the group. Ten out of the twelve were occupied in looking after the fire, and sticking stakes in the ground, with the evident intention of rigging up a spit in the Polynesian manner. An eleventh, who appeared to be the chief, was walking along the beach and constantly turning his glances toward the interior of the island, as if he were afraid of an attack. Godfrey recognized as a piece of finery on his shoulders the red stuff of his flag. The twelfth savage was stretched on the ground, tied tightly to a post. Godfrey recognized at once the fate in store for the wretched man. The spit was for him, the fire was to roast him at. Partlett had not been mistaken when the previous evening he had spoken of these folk as being cannibals. It must be admitted that neither was he mistaken in saying that the adventures of crusows, real or imaginary, were all copied one from the other. Most certainly Godfrey and he did then find themselves in the same position as the hero of Daniel Defoe when the savages landed on his island. They were to assist without doubt at the same scene of cannibalism. Godfrey decided to act as this hero did. He would not permit the massacre of the prisoner for which the stomachs of the cannibals were waiting. He was well armed, his two muskets, four shots, his two revolvers, a dozen shots, could easily settle these eleven rascals, whom the mere report of one of the firearms might perhaps be sufficient to scatter. Having taken his decision he coolly waited for the moment to interfere like a thunder clap. He had not long to wait. Twenty minutes had barely elapsed when the sheaf approached the fire. Then by a gesture he pointed out the prisoner to the savages who were expecting his orders. Godfrey rose. Partlett, without knowing why, followed the example. He did not even comprehend where his companion was going, for he had said nothing to him of his plans. Godfrey imagined, evidently, that at sight of him the savages would make some movement, perhaps to rush to their boat, perhaps to rush at him. They did nothing. It did not even seem as though they saw him. But at this moment the chief made a significant gesture. Three of his companions went towards the prisoner, unloosed him, and forced him near the fire. He was still a young man who, feeling that his last hour had come, resisted with all his might. Assuredly, if he could, he would sell his life dearly. He began by throwing off the savages who held him. But he was soon knocked down, and the chief, seizing a sort of stone axe, jumped forward to beat in his head. Godfrey uttered a cry followed by a report. A bullet whistled through the air, and it seemed as though the chief were immortally wounded, for he fell on the ground. At the report, the savages, surprised as though they had never heard the sound of firearms, stopped. At the sight of Godfrey, those who held the prisoner instantly released him. Immediately the poor fellow arose, and ran toward the place where he perceived his unexpected liberator. At this moment a second report was heard. It was Tartlett, who, without looking, for the excellent man kept his eyes shut, had just fired, and the stock of the musk on his right shoulder delivered the hardest knock, which had ever been received by the Professor of Dancing and Deportment. But what a chance it was! A second savage fell close to his chief. The rout at once began. Perhaps the savages thought they had to do with a numerous troop of natives whom they could not resist. Perhaps they were simply terrified at the sight of the two white men who seemed to keep the lightning in their pockets. There they were, seizing the two who were wounded, carrying them off, rushing to the proa, driving it by their paddles out of the little creek, hoisting their sail, steering before the wind, making for flag-point promontory, and doubling it in hot haste. Godfrey had no thought of pursuing them. What was the good of killing them? They had saved the victim. They had put them to flight. That was the important point. This had been done in such a way that the cannibals would never dare return to Fina Island. All was then for the best. They had only to rejoice in their victory, in which Tartlett did not hesitate to claim the greatest share. Meanwhile the prisoner had come to his rescuer. For an instant he stopped, with a fear inspired in him by superior beings. But almost immediately he resumed his course. When he arrived before the two whites, he bowed to the ground. Then, catching hold of Godfrey's foot, he placed it on his head in sign of servitude. One would almost have thought that this Polynesian savage had also read Robinson Crusoe. End of Chapter 17. Recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Erie, North Carolina. Chapter 18 of Godfrey Morgan, A Californian Mystery, by Jules Verne. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 18, which treats of the moral and physical education of a simple native of the Pacific. Godfrey at once raised the poor fellow who lay prostrate before him. He looked in his face. He was a man of 35 or more, wearing only a rag round his loins. In his features, as in the shape of his head, there could be recognized the type of the African Negro. It was not possible to confound him with the debased wretches of the Polynesian islands, who, with their depressed crania and elongated arms, approached so strangely to the monkey. Now, as he was a Negro from Sudan or Abyssinia, who had fallen into the hands of the natives of an archipelago of the Pacific, it might be that he could speak English or one or two words of the European languages. Which Godfrey understood. But it was soon apparent that the unhappy man only used an idiom that was absolutely incomprehensible, probably the language of the Aborigines, among whom he had doubtless arrived, when very young. In fact, Godfrey had immediately interrogated him in English and had obtained no reply. He then made him understand by signs, not without difficulty, that he would like to know his name. After many fruitless essays, the Negro, who had a very intelligent and even honest face, replied to the demand which was made of him in a single word. Caraphanotu. Caraphanotu, exclaimed Tarlet, do you hear the name? I propose that we call him Wednesday, for today is Wednesday, and that is what they always do in these Crusoe Islands? Is he to be allowed to call himself Caraphanotu? If that is his name, said Godfrey, why should he not keep it? And at the moment he felt a hand placed on his chest, while all the black's physiognomy seemed to ask him what his name was. Godfrey answered he. The black endeavored to say the word, but although Godfrey repeated it several times, he could not succeed in pronouncing it in an intelligible fashion. Then he turned toward the professor, as if to know his name. Tarlet was the reply of that individual in a most amiable tone. Tarlet repeated Caraphanotu. And it seemed as though this assemblage of syllables was more agreeable to his vocal chords, for he pronounced it distinctly. The professor appeared to be extremely flattered. In truth he had reason to be. Then Godfrey, wishing to put the intelligence of the black to some profit, tried to make him understand that he wished to know the name of the island. He pointed with his hand to the woods and prairies and hills, and then the shore which bound them, and then the horizon of the sea, and he interrogated him with a look. Caraphanotu did not at first understand what was meant, and imitating the gesture of Godfrey, he also turned and ran his eyes over the space. Arneka said he at length. Arneka replied Godfrey, striking the soil with his foot so as to accentuate his demand. Arneka repeated the negro. This told Godfrey nothing, neither the geographical name borne by the island, nor its position in the Pacific. He could not remember such a name. It was probably a native one little known to geographers. However, Caraphanotu did not cease from looking at the two white men, not without some stupor, going from one to the other as if he wished to fix in his mind the differences which characterized them. The smile on his mouth disclosed abundant teeth of magnificent whiteness, which Tarlet did not examine without a certain reserve. If those teeth, he said, have never eaten human flesh, may my fiddle burst up in my hand. Anyhow, Tarlet answered Godfrey, our new companion no longer looks like the poor beggar they were going to cook and feed on, that is the main point. What particularly attracted the attention of Caraphanotu were the weapons carried by Godfrey and Tarlet, as much the musket in the hand as the revolver in the belt. Godfrey easily understood this sentiment of curiosity. It was evident that the savage had never seen a firearm. He said to himself that this was one of those iron tubes which had launched the thunderbolt that had delivered him. There could be no doubt of it. Godfrey, wishing to give him, not without reason, a high idea of the power of the whites, loaded his gun and then, showing to Caraphanotu a red-legged cartridge that was flying across the prairie, about a hundred yards away, he shouldered it quickly and fired. The bird fell. At the report the black gave a prodigious leap, which Tarlet could not but admire from a choreographic point of view. Then repressing his fear and seeing the bird with broken wing running through the grass, he started off and, swift as a greyhound, ran towards it, and with many a caper, half of joy, half of stupefaction, brought it back to his master. Tarlet then thought of displaying to Caraphanotu that the great spirit had also favored him with the power of the lightning, and perceiving a kingfisher, tranquilly seated on an old stump near the river, was bringing the stock up to his cheek when Godfrey stopped him. With no, don't fire, Tarlet. Why not? Suppose that by some mishap you were not to hit the bird. Think how we should fall in the estimation of the nigger. Then why should I not hit him? replied Tarlet with some acerbity. Did I not, during the battle, at more than a hundred paces, the very first time I handled a gun, hit one of the cannibals full in the chest? You touched him evidently, said Godfrey, for he fell, but take my advice, Tarlet, and in the common interest do not tempt fortune twice. The professor, slightly annoyed, allowed himself to be convinced. He threw the gun onto his shoulder with a swagger, and both our heroes, followed by Karafinotu, returned to Will Tree. There the new guest of Fina Island met with quite a surprise in the habitation so happily contrived in the lower part of the Sequoia. First, he had to be shown by using them while he looked on the use of the tools, instruments, and utensils. It was obvious that Karafinotu belonged to, or had lived amongst, savages in the lowest rank of the human scale, for fire itself seemed to be unknown to him. He could not understand why the pot did not take fire when they put it on the blazing wood. He would have hurried away from it, to the greatest pleasure of Tarlet, who was watching the different phases of the cooking of the soup. At a mirror which was held out to him, he betrayed consummate astonishment. He turned round and turned it round to see if he himself were not behind it. The fellow is hardly a monkey, exclaimed the professor with a disdainful grimace. No, Tarlet, answered Godfrey, he is more than a monkey, for his looks behind the mirror show good reasoning power. Well, I will admit that he is not a monkey, said Tarlet, shaking his head as if only half convinced. But we shall see if such a being can be of any good to us. I am sure he will be, replied Godfrey. In any case, Karafinotu showed himself quite at home with the food placed before him. He first tore it apart, then tasted it. Then I believed that the whole breakfast of which they partook, the agouti soup, the partridge killed by Godfrey, and the shoulder of mutton with camus and yamp roots, would hardly have suffice to calm the hunger which devoured him. The poor fellow has got a good appetite, said Godfrey. Yes, responded Tarlet, and we shall have to keep a watch on his cannibal instinct. Well, Tarlet, we shall make him get over the taste of human flesh if he ever had it. I would not swear that, replied the professor. It appears that once they have required this taste. While they were talking, Karafinotu was listening with extreme attention. His eyes sparkled with intelligence. One could see that he understood what was being said in his presence. He then spoke with extreme volubility, that it was only a succession of anumatakuyas devoid of sense, of harsh interjections with A and O predominant, as in the majority of Polynesian idioms. Whatever the negro was, he was a new companion. He might become a devoted servant, which the most unexpected chance had sent to the hosts of Will Tree. He was powerful, adroit, active. No work came amiss to him. He showed a real aptitude to imitate what he saw being done. It wasn't this way that Godfrey proceeded with his education. The care of the domestic animals, the collection of the roots and fruits, the cutting up of the sheep or agoutis, which were to serve for food for the day, the fabrication of a sort of cider they extracted from the wild manzanilla apples, he acquitted himself well in all these tasks after having seen them done. Whatever Tarlet thought, Godfrey felt no distrust in the savage and never seemed to regret having come across him. What disquieted him was the possible return of the cannibals, who now knew the situation of Fina Island. From the first, a bed had been reserved for Karafinotu in the room at Will Tree. But generally, unless it was raining, he preferred to sleep outside in some hole in the tree, as though he were on guard over the house. During the fortnight which followed his arrival on the island, Karafinotu many times accompanied Godfrey on his shooting excursions. His surprise was always extreme when he saw the game fall hit at such a distance. But in his character of retriever, he showed a dash and daring which no obstacles, hedge or bush or stream, could stop. Gradually, Godfrey became greatly attached to this negro. There was only one part of his progress in which Karafinotu showed refractoriness. That was in learning the English language. Do what he might, he could not be prevailed upon to pronounce the most ordinary words, which Godfrey, and particularly Professor Tarlet, tried to teach him. So the time passed. But if the present was fairly supportable, thanks to a happy accident, if no immediate danger menace them, Godfrey could not help asking himself if they were ever to leave this island, by what means they were to rejoin their country. Not a day passed, but he thought of Uncle Will and his betrothed. It was not without secret apprehension that he saw the bad season approaching, which would put between his friends and him a barrier still more impassable. On the 27th of September a circumstance occurred deserving a note. If it gave more work to Godfrey and his two companions, it at least assured them of an abundant reserve of food. Godfrey and Karafinotu were busyed in collecting the mollusks at the extreme end of Dream Bay, and they perceived out at sea an innumerable quantity of small moving islets which the rising tide was bringing gently to shore. It was a sort of floating archipelago on the surface of which there walked or flew a few of those seabirds with great expanse of wing known as seahawks. What then were those masses which floated landwards, rising and falling with the undulations of the waves? Godfrey did not know what to think. When Karafinotu threw himself down on his stomach and then, drawing his head back into his shoulders, folded beneath him his arms and legs, and began to imitate the movements of an animal crawling slowly along the ground. Godfrey looked at him without understanding these extraordinary gymnastics, then suddenly, Turtles, he exclaimed. Karafinotu was right. There was quite a square mile of myriads of Turtles swimming on the surface of the water. About a hundred fathoms from the shore, the greater part of them dived and disappeared, and the seahawks, finding their footing gone, flew up into the air in large spirals, but luckily about a hundred of the amphibians came to the beach. Godfrey and the Negro had quickly run down in front of these creatures, each of which measured at the least from three to four feet in diameter. Now, the only way of preventing Turtles from regaining the sea is to turn them on their backs, and it was in this rough work that Godfrey and Karafinotu employed themselves, not without great fatigue. The following days were spent in collecting the booty. The flesh of the turtle, which is excellent, either fresh or preserved, could perhaps be kept for a time in both forms. In preparation for the winter, Godfrey had the greater part salted in such a way as to serve for the needs of each day. But for some time the table was supplied with turtle soup, on which tartlet was not the only one to regale himself. Barring this incident, the monotony of existence was in no way ruffled. Every day the same hours were devoted to the same work. Would not the life become still more depressing when the winter season would oblige Godfrey and his companions to shut themselves up in will-tree? Godfrey could not think of it without anxiety. But what could he do? Meanwhile he continued the exploration of the island, and all the time not occupied with more pressing tasks, he spent in roaming about with his gun. Generally Karafinotu accompanied him, tartlet remaining behind at the dwelling. Decidedly he was no hunter, although his first shot had been a master's stroke. Now on one of these occasions an unexpected incident happened, of a nature to gravely compromise the future safety of the inmates of will-tree. Godfrey and the Black had gone out hunting in the central forest at the foot of the hill, which formed the principal ridge of Fina Island. Since the morning they had seen nothing pass but two or three antelopes through the high underwood, but had too great a distance for them to fire with any chance of hitting them. As Godfrey was not in search of game for dinner, and did not seek to destroy for destruction's sake, he resigned himself to return empty-handed. If he regretted doing so it was not so much for the meat of the antelope as for the skin of which he intended to make good use. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon. He and his companion, after lunch, were no more fortunate than before. They were preparing to return to will-tree for dinner when, just as they cleared the edge of the wood, Karafonotu made a bound, then precipitating himself on Godfrey, he seized him by the shoulders and dragged him along with such vigor that resistance was impossible. After going about twenty yards they stopped. Godfrey took breath and turning toward Karafonotu interrogated him with a look. The black, exceedingly frightened stretched out his hand toward an animal which was standing motionless about fifty yards off. It was a grizzly bear whose paws held the trunk of a tree and who was swaying his big head up and down as if he were going to rush at the two hunters. Immediately without pausing to think, Godfrey loaded his gun and fired before Karafonotu could hinder him. Was the enormous plantigrade hit by the bullet? Probably. Was he killed? They could not be sure, but his paws unclasped and he rolled at the foot of the tree. Delay was dangerous, a struggle with so formidable an animal might have the worst results. In the forests of California the pursuit of the grizzly is fraught with the greatest danger even to professional hunters of the beast. And so the black seized Godfrey by the arms to drag him away in the direction of Will Tree. And Godfrey, understanding that he could not be too cautious, made no resistance. End of chapter 18, recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Airy, North Carolina. Chapter 19 of Godfrey Morgan, A Californian Mystery by Jules Verne. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 19, in which the situation already gravely compromised, becomes more and more complicated. The presence of a formidable wild beast in Fina Island was, it must be confessed, calculated to make our friends think the worst of the ill fortune which had fallen on them. Godfrey, perhaps he was wrong, did not consider that he ought to hide from tartlet what had passed. A bear screamed the professor, looking round him with a bewildered glare, as if the environs of Will Tree were being assailed by a herd of wild beasts. Why a bear? Up to now we had not even got a bear in our island. If there is one, there may be many, and even numbers of other ferocious beasts, jaguars, panthers, tigers, hyenas, lions. Tartlet already beheld Fina Island, given over to quite a menagerie, escaped from their cages. Godfrey answered that there was no need for him to exaggerate. He had seen one bear that was certain. Why one of these animals had never been seen before in his wanderings on the island he could not explain, and it was indeed inexplicable. But to conclude from this that wild animals of all kinds were prowling in the woods and prairies was to go too far. Nevertheless, they would have to be cautious and never go out unarmed. Unhappy tartlet, from this day there commenced for him an existence of anxieties, emotions, alarms, and irrational terrors, which gave him nostalgia for his native land in a most acute form. No, repeated he. No! If there are animals, I have had enough of it, and I want to get off. He had not the power. Godfrey and his companions then had henceforth to be on their guard. An attack might take place not only on the shore side or the prairie side, but even in the group of sequoias. This is why serious measures were taken to put the habitation in a state to repel a sudden attack. The door was strengthened so as to resist the clutches of a wild beast. As for the domestic animals, Godfrey would have built a stable to shut them up in, at least at night, but it was not easy to do so. He contented himself at present with making a sort of enclosure of branches, not far from will-tree, which could keep them as in a fold. But the enclosure was not solid enough nor high enough to hinder a bear or a hyena from upsetting it or getting over it. Notwithstanding the remonstrances made to him, Karafonotu persisted in watching outside during the night, and Godfrey hoped thus to receive warning of a direct attack. Decidedly Karafonotu endangered his life in thus constituting himself the guardian of will-tree, but he had understood that he could thus be of service to his liberators, and he persisted, in spite of all Godfrey said to him, in watching as usual over the general safety. A week passed without any of these formidable visitors appearing in the neighborhood. Godfrey did not go very far from the dwelling, unless there was a necessity for his doing so. While the sheep and goats grazed on the neighboring prairie, they were never allowed out of sight. Generally Karafonotu acted as shepherd. He did not take a gun, for he did not seem to understand the management of firearms, but one of the hunting knives hung from his belt, and he carried an axe in his right hand. Thus armed the act of Negro would not have hesitated to throw himself before a tiger or any animal of the worst description. However, as neither a bear nor any of his co-geners had appeared since the last encounter, Godfrey began to gather confidence. He gradually resumed his hunting expeditions, but without pushing far into the interior of the island. Frequently the black accompanied him. Tarlet, safe in will, Tree would not risk himself in the open, not even if he had the chance of giving a dancing lesson. Sometimes Godfrey would go alone, and then the professor had a companion to whose instruction he obstinately devoted himself. Yes, Tarlet had at first thought of teaching Karafonotu the most ordinary words in the English language, but he had to give this up as the Negro seemed to lack the necessary phonetic apparatus for that kind of pronunciation. Then, had Tarlet said, if I cannot be his professor, I will be his pupil. And he was who attempted to learn the idiom spoken by Karafonotu. Godfrey had warned him that the accomplishment would be of little use. Tarlet was not dissuaded. He tried to get Karafonotu to name the objects he pointed at with his hand. In truth, Tarlet must have got on excellently, for at the end of fifteen days he actually knew fifteen words. He knew that Karafonotu said, Bersai for fire, Arador for the sky, Marvera for the sea, Dura for a tree, and etc. He was as proud of this as if he had taken the first prize for Polynesian at some examination. It was then with a feeling of gratitude that he wished to make some recognition of what had been done for him, and instead of torturing the Negro with English words, he resolved on teaching him deportment and the true principles of European choreography. At this Godfrey could not restrain his peals of laughter. After all, it would pass the time away, and on Sunday, when there was nothing else to do, he willingly assisted at the course of lectures delivered by the celebrated professor Tarlet of San Francisco. Indeed, we ought to have seen them, the unhappy Karafonotu perspired profusely as he went through the elementary exercises. He was docile and willing nevertheless, but like all his fellows his shoulders did not set back, nor did his chest throw out, nor did his knees or his feet point apart. To make a vestress or a saint Leon of a savage of this sort, the professor pursued his task in quite a fury. Karafonotu, tortured as he was, showed no lack of zeal. What he suffered, even to get his feet into the first position, can be imagined, and when he passed to the second and then to the third it was still more agonizing. Now look at me, you blockhead, exclaimed Tarlet, who added example to precept. Put your feet out, further out, the heel of one to the heel of the other. Open your knees. You duffer. Put back your shoulders, you idiot. Stick up your head, round your elbows. But you ask what is impossible, said Godfrey. Nothing is impossible to an intelligent man, was Tarlet's invariable response. But his build won't allow of it. Well, his build must allow of it. He will have to do it sooner or later, for the savage must at least know how to present himself properly in a drawing room. But, Tarlet, he will never have the opportunity of appearing in a drawing room. Eh, how do you know that, Godfrey? replied the professor, drawing himself up. Do you know what the future may bring forth? This was the last word in all discussions with Tarlet. And then the professor, taking his kit, would, with the bow, extract from it some squeaky little air to the delight of Karafinotu. It required but this to excite him. Oblivious of choreographic rules, what leaps, what contortions, what capers. And Tarlet, in a reverie, as he saw this child of Polynesia, so demean himself, inquired if these steps, perhaps a little too characteristic, were not natural to the human being, although outside all the principles of his art. But we must leave the professor of dancing and deportment to his philosophical meditations and return to questions at once more practical and pressing. During his last excursions into the plain, either by himself or with Karafinotu, Godfrey had seen no wild animal. He had even come upon no traces of such, the river to which they would come to drink or no footprint on its banks. During the night there were no howlings nor suspicious noises. Besides, the domestic animals continued to give no signs of uneasiness. This is singular, said Godfrey, several times. But I was not mistaken. Karafinotu certainly was not. It was really a bear that he showed me. It was really a bear that I shot. Supposing I killed him. Was he the last representative of the plantar grades on the island? It was quite inexplicable. Besides, if Godfrey had killed this bear, he would have found the body where he had shot it. Now they searched for it in vain. Were they to believe, then, that the animal mortally wounded had died far off in some den? It was possible, after all. But then at this place, at the foot of this tree, there would have been traces of blood and there were none. Whatever it is, thought Godfrey, it does not much matter, and we must keep our guard. With the first days of November it could be said that the wet season had commenced in this unknown latitude. Cold rains fell for many hours. Later on, probably, they would experience those interminable showers which do not cease for weeks at a time, and are characteristic of the rainy period of winter in these latitudes. Godfrey had then to contrive a fireplace in the interior of Will Tree, an indispensable fireplace that would serve as well to warm the dwelling during the winter months as to cook their food in shelter from the rain and tempest. The hearth could at any time be placed in a corner of the chamber between big stones. Some placed on the ground and others built up around them. But the question was how to get the smoke out, or to leave it to escape by the long chimney which ran down the center of the Sequoia, proved impracticable. Godfrey thought of using as a pipe some of those long stout bamboos which grew on certain parts of the riverbank. It should be said that on this occasion he was greatly assisted by Karafinotu. The Negro, without effort, understood what Godfrey required. He it was who accompanied him for a couple of miles from Will Tree to select the larger bamboos. He it was who helped him build his hearth. The stones were placed on the ground opposite to the door. The bamboos emptied of their pith and bored through at the knots afforded when joined one to another a tube of sufficient length which ran out through an aperture made for it in the Sequoia bark and which served every purpose, provided it did not catch fire. Godfrey soon had the satisfaction of seeing a good fire burning without filling the interior of Will Tree with smoke. He was quite right in hastening on these preparations, for from the third to the tenth of November the rain never ceased pouring down. It would have been impossible to keep a fire going in the open air. During these miserable days they had to keep indoors and did not venture out except when the flocks and poultry urgently required them to do so. Under these circumstances the reserve of camus roots began to fail, and these were what took the place of bread and of which the want would be immediately felt. Godfrey then one day the tenth of November informed tartlet that as soon as the weather began to mend a little he and Karafonotu would go out and collect some. Tartlet, who was never in a hurry to run a couple of miles across a soaking prairie, decided to remain at home during Godfrey's absence. In the evening this guy began to clear of the heavy clouds which the west wind had been accumulating since the commencement of the month. The rain gradually ceased, the sun gave forth a few crepuscular rays. It was to be hoped that the morning would yield a lull in the storm of which it was advisable to make the most. Tomorrow, said Godfrey, I will go out and Karafonotu will go with me. Agreed, answered tartlet. The evening came and when supper was finished and the sky cleared of clouds permitted a few brilliant stars to appear, the black wished to take up his accustomed place outside, which he had had to abandon during the preceding rainy nights. Godfrey tried to make him understand that he had better remain indoors, that there was no necessity to keep a watch as no wild animal had been noticed, but Karafonotu was obstinate. He therefore had to have his way. The morning was as Godfrey had foreseen. No rain had fallen since the previous evening, and when he stepped forth from Will Tree the first rays of the sun were lightly gilding the thick dome of the sequoias. Karafonotu was at his post where he had passed the night. He was waiting. Immediately, well armed and provided with large sacks, the two bid farewell to tartlet and started for the river which they intended ascending along the left bank up to the Camus bushes. An hour afterwards they arrived there without meeting with any unpleasant adventure. The roots were rapidly torn up and a large quantity obtained so as to fill the sacks. This took three hours so that it was about eleven o'clock in the morning when Godfrey and his companions set out on their return to Will Tree. Walking close together, keeping a sharp lookout, for they could not talk to each other, they had reached a bend in the small river where there were a few large trees grown like a natural cradle across the stream when Godfrey suddenly stopped. This time it was he who showed to Karafonotu a motionless animal at the foot of a tree whose eyes were gleaming with a singular light. A tiger, he exclaimed. He was not mistaken. It was a real tiger of large stature resting on its hind legs with its forepaws on the trunk of a tree and ready to spring. In a moment Godfrey had dropped his sack of roots. The loaded gun passed into his right hand. He cocked it, presented it, aimed it, and fired. Harrah! Harrah! he exclaimed. This time there was no room for doubt. The tiger, struck by the bullet, had bounded backwards, but perhaps he was not mortally wounded. Perhaps rendered still more furious by his wound he would spring onto them. Godfrey held his gun pointed and threatened the animal with his second barrel. But before Godfrey could stop him Karafonotu had rushed at the place where the tiger had disappeared, his hunting knife in his hand. Godfrey shouted for him to stop, to come back. It was in vain. The black resolved even at the risk of his life to finish the animal, which perhaps was only wounded and did not or would not hear. Godfrey rushed after him. When he reached the bank he saw Karafonotu struggling with the tiger, holding him by the throat and at last stabbing him to the heart with a powerful blow. The tiger then rolled into the river, of which the waters, swollen by the rains, carried it away with the quickness of a torrent. The corpse which floated only for an instant was swiftly borne off toward the sea. A bear, a tiger! There could be no doubt that the island did contain formidable beasts of prey. Godfrey, after rejoining Karafonotu, found that in the struggle the black had only received a few scratches. Then deeply anxious about the future, he retook the road to Will Tree. End of chapter 19, recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Erie, North Carolina. Chapter 20 of Godfrey Morgan, A Californian Mystery by Jules Verne This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter 20, in which Tartlett reiterates in every key that he would rather be off. When Tartlett learned that there were not only bears in the island, but tigers too, his lamentations again arose. Now he would never dare to go out. The wild beasts would end by discovering the road to Will Tree. There was no longer any safety anywhere. In his alarm the professor wanted for his protection quite a fortification. Yes, stone walls with scarps and counter-scarps, curtains and bastions, and ramparts. For what was the use of a shelter under a group of sequoias? Above all things he would at all risks like to be off. So would I, answered Godfrey, quietly. In fact, the conditions under which the castaways on Fina Island had lived up to now were no longer the same. To struggle to the end, to struggle for the necessaries of life, they had been able, thanks to fortunate circumstances. Against the bad season, against winter and its menaces, they knew how to act. But to have to defend themselves against wild animals whose attack was possible every minute was another thing altogether, and in fact they could not do it. The situation, already complicated, had become very serious. For it had become intolerable. But, repeated Godfrey to himself, without cessation, how is it that for four months we did not see a single beast of prey in the island? And why, during the last fortnight, have we had to encounter a bear and tiger? What shall we say to that? The fact might be inexplicable, but it was nonetheless real. Godfrey, whose coolness and courage increased as difficulties grew, was not cast down. If dangerous animals menaced their little colony, it was better to put themselves on guard against their attacks, and that without delay. But what was to be done? It was at the outset decided that excursions into the woods or to the seashore should be rarer, and that they should never go out unless well armed, and only when it was absolutely necessary for their wants. We had been lucky enough in our two encounters, said Godfrey frequently, but there may come a time when we may not shoot so straight. So there is no necessity for us to run into danger. At the same time, they had not only to settle about the excursions, but to protect will-tree. Not only the dwelling, but the annexes, the poultry roost, and the folds for the animals, where the wild beasts could easily cause irreparable disaster. Godfrey thought then, if not a fortifying will-tree, according to the famous plans of Tartlett, at least of connecting the four or five large sequoias which surrounded it. If he could devise a high and strong palisade from one tree to another, they would be in comparative security at any rate from a surprise. It was practicable, Godfrey concluded so after an examination of the ground, but it would cost a good deal of labor. To reduce this as much as possible, he thought of erecting the palisade around a perimeter of only some 300 feet. We can judge from this the number of trees he had to select, cut down, carry, and trim until the enclosure was complete. Godfrey did not quail before his task. He imparted his projects to Tartlett, who approved them and promised his active cooperation. But what was more important, he made his plans understood to caravanotu, who was always ready to come to his assistance. They set to work without delay. There was, at a bend in the stream, about a mile from will-tree, a small wood of stone pines of medium height, whose trunks, in default of beams and planks, without wanting to be squared, would, by being placed close together, form a solid palisade. It was to this wood that, at dawn on the 12th of November, Godfrey and his two companions repaired, though well-armed they advanced with great care. You can have too much of this sort of thing, murmured Tartlett, whom these new difficulties had rendered still more discontented. I would rather be off. But Godfrey did not take the trouble to reply to him. On this occasion his tastes were not being consulted. His intelligence even was not being appealed to. It was the assistance of his arms that the common interest demanded. In short, he had to resign himself to his vocation of beast of burden. No unpleasant accident happened in the mile which separated the wood from will-tree. In vain they had carefully beaten the underwood and swept the horizon all around them. The domestic animals they had left out at pasture gave no sign of alarm. The birds continued their frolics with no more anxiety than usual. Work immediately began. Godfrey, very properly, did not want to begin carrying until all the trees he wanted had been felled. They could work at them in greater safety on the spot. Karafonotu was of great service during this Toilson task. He had become very clever in the use of the axe and saw. His strength even allowed him to continue at work when Godfrey was obliged to rest for a minute or so, and when tartlet with bruised hands and aching limbs had not even strength left to lift his fiddle. However, although the unfortunate professor of dancing and deportment had been transformed into a woodcutter, Godfrey had reserved for him the least fatiguing part, that is, the clearing off of the smaller branches. In spite of this, if tartlet had only been paid half a dollar a day, he would have stolen four-fifths of his salary. For six days from the twelfth to the seventeenth of November these labors continued. Our friends went off in the morning at dawn, they took their food with them, and they did not return to Will Tree until evening. The sky was not very clear. Heavy clouds frequently accumulated over it. It was harvest weather with alternating showers and sunshine, and during the showers the woodcutters would take shelter under the trees and resume their tasks when the rain had ceased. On the eighteenth all the trees, topped and cleared of branches, were lying on the ground, ready for transport to Will Tree. During this time no wild beast had appeared in the neighborhood of the river. The question was, were there any more in the island, or had the bear and the tiger been, a most improbable event, the last of their species? Whatever it was, Godfrey had no intention of abandoning his project of the solid palisade, so as to be prepared against a surprise from savages or bears or tigers. Besides, the worst was over, and there only remained to take the wood where it was wanted. We say the worst was over, though the carriage promised to be somewhat laborious. If it were not so, it was because Godfrey had had a very practical idea, which materially lightened the task. This was to make use of the current of the river, which the flood occasioned by the recent rains had rendered very rapid, to transport the wood. Small rafts could be formed, and they would quietly float down to the sequoias, where a bar formed by the small bridge would stop them. From thence to Will Tree was only about fifty-five paces. If any of them showed particular satisfaction at this mode of procedure, it was tartlet. On the eighteenth the first rafts were formed, and they arrived at the barrier without accident. In less than three days on the evening of the twenty-fifth, the palisade had been all sent down to its destination. On the morrow, the first trunks, sunk two feet in the soil, began to rise in such a manner as to connect the principal sequoias, which surrounded Will Tree. A capping of strong flexible branches pointed by the axe assured the solidity of the wall. Godfrey saw the work progress with extreme satisfaction, and delayed not until it was finished. Once the palisade is done, he said to tartlet, we shall be really at home. We shall not really be at home, replied the professor dryly, until we are in Montgomery Street with your Uncle Calderup. There was no disputing this opinion. On the twenty-sixth of November the palisade was three parts done. It comprised among the sequoias attached one to another, that in which the poultry had established themselves, and Godfrey's intention was to build a stable inside it. In three or four days the fence was finished. There only remained to fit in a solid door, which would assure the closure of Will Tree. But on the morning of the twenty-seventh of November the work was interrupted by an event which we had better explain with some detail, for it was one of those unaccountable things peculiar to Fina Island. About eight o'clock Karafonotu had climbed up to the fork of the sequoia, so as to more carefully close the hole by which the cold and rain penetrated, when he uttered a singular cry. Godfrey, who was at work at the palisade, raised his head and saw the black with expressive gestures, motioning to him to join him without delay. Godfrey, thinking Karafonotu would not have disturbed him unless he had serious reason, took his glasses with him, and climbed up the interior passage, and, passing through the hole, seated himself astride one of the main branches. Karafonotu, pointing with his arm towards the rounded angle which Fina Island made to the northeast, showed a column of smoke rising in the air like a long plume. Again exclaimed Godfrey, and putting his glasses in the direction he assured himself that this time there was no possible error, that it must escape from some important fire which he could distinctly see must be about five miles off. Godfrey turned toward the black. Karafonotu expressed his surprise by his looks, his exclamations, in fact by his whole attitude. Assuredly he was no less astounded than Godfrey at this apparition. Besides, in the offing there was no ship, not a vessel native or other, nothing which showed that a landing had recently been made on the shore. Ah, this time I will find out the fire which produces that smoke, exclaimed Godfrey, and pointing to the northeast angle of the island and then to the foot of the tree, he gesticulated to Karafonotu that he wished to reach the place without losing an instant. Karafonotu understood him, he even gave him to understand that he approved of the idea. Yes, said Godfrey to himself, if there is a human being there we must know who he is and whence he comes. We must know why he hides himself, it will be for the safety of all. A moment afterwards Karafonotu and he descended to the foot of Will Tree, then Godfrey, informing tartlet of what had passed and what he was going to do, proposed for him to accompany them to the north coast. A dozen miles to traverse in one day was not a very tenting suggestion to a man who regarded his legs as the most precious part of his body and only designed for noble exercises and so he replied that he would prefer to remain at Will Tree. Very well, we will go alone, answered Godfrey, but do not expect us until the evening. So saying, and Karafonotu and he carrying some provisions for lunch on the road, they set out, after taking leave of the professor, whose private opinion it was that they would find nothing and that all their fatigue would be useless. Godfrey took his musket and revolver, the black, the axe and the hunting knife which had become his favorite weapon. They crossed the plank bridge to the right bank of the river and then struck off across the prairie to the point on the shore where the smoke had been seen rising amongst the rocks. It was rather more easterly than the place which Godfrey had uselessly visited on his second exploration. They progressed rapidly, not without a sharp look-out that the wood was clear and that the bushes and underwood did not hide some animal whose attack might be formidable. Nothing disquieting occurred. At noon, after having had some food, without however stopping for an instant, they reached the first line of rocks which bordered the beach. The smoke, still visible, was rising about a quarter of a mile ahead. They had only to keep straight on to reach their goal. They hastened their steps but took precautions so as to surprise and not be surprised. Two minutes afterwards the smoke disappeared as if the fire had been suddenly extinguished. But Godfrey had noted with exactness the spot whence it arose. It was at the point of a strangely formed rock, a sort of truncated pyramid easily recognizable. Showing this to his companion he crept straight on. The quarter of a mile was soon traversed, then the last line was climbed and Godfrey and Karafonotu gained the beach, about fifty paces from the rock. They ran up to it. Nobody, but this time half-smoldering embers and half-burnt wood, proved clearly that the fire had been a light on this spot. There has been someone here, exclaimed Godfrey, someone not a moment ago. We must find out who. He shouted. No response. Karafonotu gave a terrible yell. No one appeared. Behold them then, hunting amongst the neighboring rocks, searching a cavern, a grotto, which might serve as a refuge for a shipwrecked man, an aboriginal, a savage. It was in vain that they ransacked the slightest recesses of the shore. There was neither ancient nor recent camp in existence, not even the traces of the passage of a man. But, repeated Godfrey, it was not smoke from a warm spring this time, it was from a fire of wood and grass, and that fire could not light itself. Vane was their search, and then about two o'clock Godfrey and Karafonotu, as weary as they were disconcerted at their fruitless endeavors, retook their road to Willtree. There was nothing astonishing in Godfrey being deep in thought. It seemed to him that the island was now under the empire of some occult power. The reappearance of this fire, the presence of wild animals, did not all this denote some extraordinary complication? And was there not cause for his being confirmed in this idea, when an hour after he had regained the prairie, he heard a singular noise, a sort of hard jingling. Karafonotu pushed him aside at the same instant as a serpent glided beneath the herbage and was about to strike at him. Snakes now, snakes in the island after the bears and the tigers, he exclaimed. Yes, it was one of those reptiles well known by the noise they make, a rattlesnake of the most venomous species, a giant of the Crotellus family. Karafonotu threw himself between Godfrey and the reptile, which hurried off under a thick bush, but the negro pursued it and smashed in its head with a blow of the axe. When Godfrey rejoined him, the two halves of the reptile were writhing on the bloodstained soil. Then other serpents, not less dangerous, appeared in great abundance on this part of the prairie, which was separated by the stream from Willtree. Was it then a sudden invasion of reptiles? Was Fina Island going to become the rival of ancient Tenos, whose formidable Alphidians rendered it famous in antiquity and which gave its name to the viper? Come on, come on, explained Godfrey, motioning to Karafonotu to quicken the pace. He was uneasy. Strange presentiments agitated him without his being able to control them. Under their influence, fearing some approaching misfortune, he had hastened his return to Willtree. But matters became serious when he reached the planks across the river. Screens of terror resounded from beneath the sequoias, cries for help and a tone of agony, which it was impossible to mistake. It is tartlet, exclaimed Godfrey. The unfortunate man has been attacked. Quick, quick! Once over the bridge, about twenty paces further on, tartlet was perceived running as fast as his legs would carry him. An enormous crocodile had come out of the river and was pursuing him with his jaws wide open. The poor man, distracted, mad with fright, instead of turning to the right or the left, was keeping in a straight line and so running the risk of being caught. Suddenly he stumbled, he fell, he was lost. Godfrey halted. In the presence of this imminent danger, his coolness never foresook him for an instant. He brought his gun to his shoulder and aimed at the crocodile. The well-aimed bullet struck the monster in it, made a bound to one side, and fell motionless on the ground. Terefinotu rushed toward tartlet and lifted him up. Tartlet had escaped with a fright. But what a fright! It was six o'clock in the evening. A moment afterwards Godfrey and his two companions had reached Will Tree. How bitter were their reflections during their evening repast. What long sleepless hours were in store for the inhabitants of Fina Island on whom misfortunes were now crowding. As for the Professor, in his anguish he could only repeat the words which expressed the whole of his thoughts. I had much rather be off. End of Chapter 20 Recording by Arnold Banner, Mount Airy, North Carolina