On the 18th the first rafts were formed, and they arrived at the barrier without accident. In less than three days on the evening of the 25th, 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 princ.i.p.al sequoias which surrounded Will Tree. A capping of strong flexible branches, pointed by the axe, a.s.sured the solidity of the wall.
G.o.dfrey 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 be really at home," replied the professor drily, "until we are in Montgomery Street, with your Uncle Kolderup."
There was no disputing this opinion.
On the 26th 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 G.o.dfrey"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 a.s.sure the closure of Will Tree.
But on the morning of the 27th 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 Phina Island.
About eight o"clock, Carefinotu 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.
G.o.dfrey, 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.
G.o.dfrey, thinking Carefinotu would not have disturbed him unless he had serious reason, took his gla.s.ses with him and climbed up the interior pa.s.sage, and pa.s.sing through the hole, seated himself astride of one of the main branches.
Carefinotu, pointing with his arm towards the rounded angle which Phina Island made to the north-east, showed a column of smoke rising in the air like a long plume.
"Again!" exclaimed G.o.dfrey.
And putting his gla.s.ses in the direction, he a.s.sured 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.
G.o.dfrey turned towards the black.
Carefinotu expressed his surprise, by his looks, his exclamations, in fact by his whole att.i.tude.
a.s.suredly he was no less astounded than G.o.dfrey 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 sh.o.r.e.
"Ah! This time I will find out the fire which produces that smoke!"
exclaimed G.o.dfrey.
And pointing to the north-east angle of the island, and then to the foot of the tree, he gesticulated to Carefinotu that he wished to reach the place without losing an instant.
Carefinotu understood him. He even gave him to understand that he approved of the idea.
"Yes," said G.o.dfrey 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 Carefinotu and he descended to the foot of Will Tree. Then G.o.dfrey, informing Tartlet of what had pa.s.sed 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 tempting suggestion to a man who regarded his legs as the most precious part of his body, and only designed for n.o.ble exercises. And so he replied that he would prefer to remain at Will Tree.
"Very well, we will go alone," answered G.o.dfrey, "but do not expect us until the evening."
So saying, and Carefinotu 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.
G.o.dfrey took his musket and revolver; the black the axe and the hunting-knife which had become his favourite 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 sh.o.r.e where the smoke had been seen rising amongst the rocks.
It was rather more easterly than the place which G.o.dfrey 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 G.o.dfrey 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 kept straight on.
The quarter of a mile was soon traversed, then the last line was climbed, and G.o.dfrey and Carefinotu gained the beach about fifty paces from the rock.
They ran up to it. n.o.body! But this time half-smouldering embers and half-burnt wood proved clearly that the fire had been alight on the spot.
"There has been some one here!" exclaimed G.o.dfrey. "Some one not a moment ago! We must find out who!"
He shouted. No response! Carefinotu gave a terrible yell. No one appeared!
Behold them then hunting amongst the neighbouring 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 sh.o.r.e.
There was neither ancient nor recent camp in existence, not even the traces of the pa.s.sage of a man.
"But," repeated G.o.dfrey, "it was not smoke from a warm spring this time! It was from a fire of wood and gra.s.s, and that fire could not light itself."
Vain was their search. Then about two o"clock G.o.dfrey and Carefinotu, as weary as they were disconcerted at their fruitless endeavours, retook their road to Will Tree.
There was nothing astonishing in G.o.dfrey 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.
Carefinotu 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 Crotalus family!