第65章

The winter season set in with the month of June, which corresponds with the month of December in the Northern Hemisphere.It began with showers and squalls, which succeeded each other without intermission.The tenants of Granite House could appreciate the advantages of a dwelling which sheltered them from the inclement weather.The Chimneys would have been quite insufficient to protect them against the rigor of winter, and it was to be feared that the high tides would make another irruption.Cyrus Harding had taken precautions against this contingency, so as to preserve as much as possible the forge and furnace which were established there.

During the whole of the month of June the time was employed in different occupations, which excluded neither hunting nor fishing, the larder being, therefore, abundantly supplied.Pencroft, so soon as he had leisure, proposed to set some traps, from which he expected great results.He soon made some snares with creepers, by the aid of which the warren henceforth every day furnished its quota of rodents.Neb employed nearly all his time in salting or smoking meat, which insured their always having plenty of provisions.The question of clothes was now seriously discussed, the settlers having no other garments than those they wore when the balloon threw them on the island.These clothes were warm and good; they had taken great care of them as well as of their linen, and they were perfectly whole, but they would soon need to be replaced.Moreover, if the winter was severe, the settlers would suffer greatly from cold.

On this subject the ingenuity of Harding was at fault.They must provide for their most pressing wants, settle their dwelling, and lay in a store of food; thus the cold might come upon them before the question of clothes had been settled.They must therefore make up their minds to pass this first winter without additional clothing.When the fine season came round again, they would regularly hunt those musmons which had been seen on the expedition to Mount Franklin, and the wool once collected, the engineer would know how to make it into strong warm stuff....How? He would consider.

"Well, we are free to roast ourselves at Granite House!" said Pencroft.

"There are heaps of fuel, and no reason for sparing it.""Besides," added Gideon Spilett, "Lincoln Island is not situated under a very high latitude, and probably the winters here are not severe.Did you not say, Cyrus, that this thirty-fifth parallel corresponded to that of Spain in the other hemisphere?""Doubtless," replied the engineer, "but some winters in Spain are very cold! No want of snow and ice; and perhaps Lincoln Island is just as rigourously tried.However, it is an island, and as such, I hope that the temperature will be more moderate.""Why, captain?" asked Herbert.

"Because the sea, my boy, may be considered as an immense reservoir, in which is stored the heat of the summer.When winter comes, it restores this heat, which insures for the regions near the ocean a medium temperature, less high in summer, but less low in winter.""We shall prove that," replied Pencroft."But I don't want to bother myself about whether it will be cold or not.One thing is certain, that is that the days are already short, and the evenings long.Suppose we talk about the question of light.""Nothing is easier," replied Harding.

"To talk about?" asked the sailor.

"To settle."

"And when shall we begin?"

"To-morrow, by having a seal hunt."

"To make candles?"

"Yes."

Such was the engineer's project; and it was quite feasible, since he had lime and sulphuric acid, while the amphibians of the islet would furnish the fat necessary for the manufacture.

They were now at the 4th of June.It was Whit Sunday and they agreed to observe this feast.All work was suspended, and prayers were offered to Heaven.But these prayers were now thanksgivings.The settlers in Lincoln Island were no longer the miserable castaways thrown on the islet.They asked for nothing more--they gave thanks.The next day, the 5th of June, in rather uncertain weather, they set out for the islet.They had to profit by the low tide to cross the Channel, and it was agreed that they would construct, for this purpose, as well as they could, a boat which would render communication so much easier, and would also permit them to ascend the Mercy, at the time of their grand exploration of the southwest of the island, which was put off till the first fine days.

The seals were numerous, and the hunters, armed with their iron-tipped spears, easily killed half-a-dozen.Neb and Pencroft skinned them, and only brought back to Granite House their fat and skin, this skin being intended for the manufacture of boots.

The result of the hunt was this: nearly three hundred pounds of fat, all to be employed in the fabrication of candles.

The operation was extremely simple, and if it did not yield absolutely perfect results, they were at least very useful.Cyrus Harding would only have had at his disposal sulphuric acid, but by heating this acid with the neutral fatty bodies he could separate the glycerine; then from this new combination, he easily separated the olein, the margarin, and the stearin, by employing boiling water.But to simplify the operation, he preferred to saponify the fat by means of lime.By this he obtained a calcareous soap, easy to decompose by sulphuric acid, which precipitated the lime into the state of sulphate, and liberated the fatty acids.

From these three acids-oleic, margaric, and stearic-the first, being liquid, was driven out by a sufficient pressure.As to the two others, they formed the very substance of which the candles were to be molded.