<p><SPAN name="link2HCH0061" id="link2HCH0061"></SPAN></p>
<h2> Chapter 19 </h2>
<p>The next day, the 8th day of January, after a day and night passed at the
corral, where they left all in order, Cyrus Harding and Ayrton arrived at
Granite House.</p>
<p>The engineer immediately called his companions together, and informed them
of the imminent danger which threatened Lincoln Island, and from which no
human power could deliver them.</p>
<p>"My friends," he said, and his voice betrayed the depth of his emotion,
"our island is not among those which will endure while this earth endures.
It is doomed to more or less speedy destruction, the cause of which it
bears within itself, and from which nothing can save it."</p>
<p>The colonists looked at each other, then at the engineer. They did not
clearly comprehend him.</p>
<p>"Explain yourself, Cyrus!" said Gideon Spilett.</p>
<p>"I will do so," replied Cyrus Harding, "or rather I will simply afford you
the explanation which, during our few minutes of private conversation, was
given me by Captain Nemo."</p>
<p>"Captain Nemo!" exclaimed the colonists.</p>
<p>"Yes, and it was the last service he desired to render us before his
death!"</p>
<p>"The last service!" exclaimed Pencroft, "the last service! You will see
that though he is dead he will render us others yet!"</p>
<p>"But what did the captain say?" inquired the reporter.</p>
<p>"I will tell you, my friends," said the engineer. "Lincoln Island does not
resemble the other islands of the Pacific, and a fact of which Captain
Nemo has made me cognizant must sooner or later bring about the subversion
of its foundation."</p>
<p>"Nonsense! Lincoln Island, it can't be!" cried Pencroft, who, in spite of
the respect he felt for Cyrus Harding, could not prevent a gesture of
incredulity.</p>
<p>"Listen, Pencroft," resumed the engineer, "I will tell you what Captain
Nemo communicated to me, and which I myself confirmed yesterday, during
the exploration of Dakkar Grotto.</p>
<p>"This cavern stretches under the island as far as the volcano, and is only
separated from its central shaft by the wall which terminates it. Now,
this wall is seamed with fissures and clefts which already allow the
sulphurous gases generated in the interior of the volcano to escape."</p>
<p>"Well?" said Pencroft, his brow suddenly contracting.</p>
<p>"Well, then, I saw that these fissures widen under the internal pressure
from within, that the wall of basalt is gradually giving way and that
after a longer or shorter period it will afford a passage to the waters of
the lake which fill the cavern."</p>
<p>"Good!" replied Pencroft, with an attempt at pleasantry. "The sea will
extinguish the volcano, and there will be an end of the matter!"</p>
<p>"Not so!" said Cyrus Harding, "should a day arrive when the sea, rushing
through the wall of the cavern, penetrates by the central shaft into the
interior of the island to the boiling lava, Lincoln Island will that day
be blown into the air—just as would happen to the island of Sicily
were the Mediterranean to precipitate itself into Mount Etna."</p>
<p>The colonists made no answer to these significant words of the engineer.
They now understood the danger by which they were menaced.</p>
<p>It may be added that Cyrus Harding had in no way exaggerated the danger to
be apprehended. Many persons have formed an idea that it would be possible
to extinguish volcanoes, which are almost always situated on the shores of
a sea or lake, by opening a passage for the admission of the water. But
they are not aware that this would be to incur the risk of blowing up a
portion of the globe, like a boiler whose steam is suddenly expanded by
intense heat. The water, rushing into a cavity whose temperature might be
estimated at thousands of degrees, would be converted into steam with a
sudden energy which no enclosure could resist.</p>
<p>It was not therefore doubtful that the island, menaced by a frightful and
approaching convulsion, would endure only so long as the wall of Dakkar
Grotto itself should endure. It was not even a question of months, nor of
weeks, but of days; it might be of hours.</p>
<p>The first sentiment which the colonists felt was that of profound sorrow.
They thought not so much of the peril which menaced themselves personally,
but of the destruction of the island which had sheltered them, which they
had cultivated, which they loved so well, and had hoped to render so
flourishing. So much effort ineffectually expended, so much labor lost.</p>
<p>Pencroft could not prevent a large tear from rolling down his cheek, nor
did he attempt to conceal it.</p>
<p>Some further conversation now took place. The chances yet in favor of the
colonists were discussed; but finally it was agreed that there was not an
hour to be lost, that the building and fitting of the vessel should be
pushed forward with their utmost energy, and that this was the sole chance
of safety for the inhabitants of Lincoln Island.</p>
<p>All hands, therefore, set to work on the vessel. What could it avail to
sow, to reap, to hunt, to increase the stores of Granite House? The
contents of the storehouse and outbuildings contained more than sufficient
to provide the ship for a voyage, however long might be its duration. But
it was imperative that the ship should be ready to receive them before the
inevitable catastrophe should arrive.</p>
<p>Their labors were now carried on with feverish ardor. By the 23rd of
January the vessel was half-decked over. Up to this time no change had
taken place on the summit of the volcano. Vapor and smoke mingled with
flames and incandescent stones were thrown up from the crater. But during
the night of the 23rd, in consequence of the lava attaining the level of
the first stratum of the volcano, the hat-shaped cone which formed over
the latter disappeared. A frightful sound was heard. The colonists at
first thought the island was rent asunder, and rushed out of Granite
House.</p>
<p>This occurred about two o'clock in the morning.</p>
<p>The sky appeared on fire. The superior cone, a mass of rock a thousand
feet in height, and weighing thousands of millions of pounds, had been
thrown down upon the island, making it tremble to its foundation.
Fortunately, this cone inclined to the north, and had fallen upon the
plain of sand and tufa stretching between the volcano and the sea. The
aperture of the crater being thus enlarged projected towards the sky a
glare so intense that by the simple effect of reflection the atmosphere
appeared red-hot. At the same time a torrent of lava, bursting from the
new summit, poured out in long cascades, like water escaping from a vase
too full, and a thousand tongues of fire crept over the sides of the
volcano.</p>
<p>"The corral! the corral!" exclaimed Ayrton.</p>
<p>It was, in fact, towards the corral that the lava was rushing as the new
crater faced the east, and consequently the fertile portions of the
island, the springs of Red Creek and Jacamar Wood, were menaced with
instant destruction.</p>
<p>At Ayrton's cry the colonists rushed to the onagers' stables. The cart was
at once harnessed. All were possessed by the same thought—to hasten
to the corral and set at liberty the animals it enclosed.</p>
<p>Before three in the morning they arrived at the corral. The cries of the
terrified musmons and goats indicated the alarm which possessed them.
Already a torrent of burning matter and liquefied minerals fell from the
side of the mountain upon the meadows as far as the side of the palisade.
The gate was burst open by Ayrton, and the animals, bewildered with
terror, fled in all directions.</p>
<p>An hour afterwards the boiling lava filled the corral, converting into
vapor the water of the little rivulet which ran through it, burning up the
house like dry grass, and leaving not even a post of the palisade to mark
the spot where the corral once stood.</p>
<p>To contend against this disaster would have been folly—nay, madness.
In presence of Nature's grand convulsions man is powerless.</p>
<p>It was now daylight—the 24th of January. Cyrus Harding and his
companions, before returning to Granite House, desired to ascertain the
probable direction this inundation of lava was about to take. The soil
sloped gradually from Mount Franklin to the east coast, and it was to be
feared that, in spite of the thick Jacamar Wood, the torrent would reach
the plateau of Prospect Heights.</p>
<p>"The lake will cover us," said Gideon Spilett.</p>
<p>"I hope so!" was Cyrus Harding's only reply.</p>
<p>The colonists were desirous of reaching the plain upon which the superior
cone of Mount Franklin had fallen, but the lava arrested their progress.
It had followed, on one side, the valley of Red Creek, and on the other
that of Falls River, evaporating those watercourses in its passage. There
was no possibility of crossing the torrent of lava; on the contrary, the
colonists were obliged to retreat before it. The volcano, without its
crown, was no longer recognizable, terminated as it was by a sort of flat
table which replaced the ancient crater. From two openings in its southern
and eastern sides an unceasing flow of lava poured forth, thus forming two
distinct streams. Above the new crater a cloud of smoke and ashes, mingled
with those of the atmosphere, massed over the island. Loud peals of
thunder broke, and could scarcely be distinguished from the rumblings of
the mountain, whose mouth vomited forth ignited rocks, which, hurled to
more than a thousand feet, burst in the air like shells. Flashes of
lightning rivaled in intensity the volcano's eruption.</p>
<p>Towards seven in the morning the position was no longer tenable by the
colonists, who accordingly took shelter in the borders of Jacamar Wood.
Not only did the projectiles begin to rain around them, but the lava,
overflowing the bed of Red Creek, threatened to cut off the road to the
corral. The nearest rows of trees caught fire, and their sap, suddenly
transformed into vapor, caused them to explode with loud reports, while
others, less moist, remained unhurt in the midst of the inundation.</p>
<p>The colonists had again taken the road to the corral. They proceeded but
slowly, frequently looking back; but, in consequence of the inclination of
the soil, the lava gained rapidly in the east, and as its lower waves
became solidified others, at boiling heat, covered them immediately.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the principal stream of Red Creek Valley became more and more
menacing. All this portion of the forest was on fire, and enormous wreaths
of smoke rolled over the trees, whose trunks were already consumed by the
lava.</p>
<p>The colonists halted near the lake, about half a mile from the mouth of
Red Creek. A question of life or death was now to be decided.</p>
<p>Cyrus Harding, accustomed to the consideration of important crises, and
aware that he was addressing men capable of hearing the truth, whatever it
might be, then said,—</p>
<p>"Either the lake will arrest the progress of the lava, and a part of the
island will be preserved from utter destruction, or the stream will
overrun the forests of the Far West, and not a tree or plant will remain
on the surface of the soil. We shall have no prospect but that of
starvation upon these barren rocks—a death which will probably be
anticipated by the explosion of the island."</p>
<p>"In that case," replied Pencroft, folding his arms and stamping his foot,
"what's the use of working any longer on the vessel?"</p>
<p>"Pencroft," answered Cyrus Harding, "we must do our duty to the last!"</p>
<p>At this instant the river of lava, after having broken a passage through
the noble trees it devoured in its course, reached the borders of the
lake. At this point there was an elevation of the soil which, had it been
greater, might have sufficed to arrest the torrent.</p>
<p>"To work!" cried Cyrus Harding.</p>
<p>The engineer's thought was at once understood. It might be possible to
dam, as it were, the torrent, and thus compel it to pour itself into the
lake.</p>
<p>The colonists hastened to the dockyard. They returned with shovels, picks,
axes, and by means of banking the earth with the aid of fallen trees they
succeeded in a few hours in raising an embankment three feet high and some
hundreds of paces in length. It seemed to them, when they had finished, as
if they had scarcely been working more than a few minutes.</p>
<p>It was not a moment too soon. The liquefied substances soon after reached
the bottom of the barrier. The stream of lava swelled like a river about
to overflow its banks, and threatened to demolish the sole obstacle which
could prevent it from overrunning the whole Far West. But the dam held
firm, and after a moment of terrible suspense the torrent precipitated
itself into Grant Lake from a height of twenty feet.</p>
<p>The colonists, without moving or uttering a word, breathlessly regarded
this strife of the two elements.</p>
<p>What a spectacle was this conflict between water and fire! What pen could
describe the marvelous horror of this scene—what pencil could depict
it? The water hissed as it evaporated by contact with the boiling lava.
The vapor whirled in the air to an immeasurable height, as if the valves
of an immense boiler had been suddenly opened. But, however considerable
might be the volume of water contained in the lake, it must eventually be
absorbed, because it was not replenished, while the stream of lava, fed
from an inexhaustible source, rolled on without ceasing new waves of
incandescent matter.</p>
<p>The first waves of lava which fell in the lake immediately solidified and
accumulated so as speedily to emerge from it. Upon their surface fell
other waves, which in their turn became stone, but a step nearer the
center of the lake. In this manner was formed a pier which threatened to
gradually fill up the lake, which could not overflow, the water displaced
by the lava being evaporated. The hissing of the water rent the air with a
deafening sound, and the vapor, blown by the wind, fell in rain upon the
sea. The pier became longer and longer, and the blocks of lava piled
themselves one on another. Where formerly stretched the calm waters of the
lake now appeared an enormous mass of smoking rocks, as if an upheaving of
the soil had formed immense shoals. Imagine the waters of the lake aroused
by a hurricane, then suddenly solidified by an intense frost, and some
conception may be formed of the aspect of the lake three hours after the
eruption of this irresistible torrent of lava.</p>
<p>This time water would be vanquished by fire.</p>
<p>Nevertheless it was a fortunate circumstance for the colonists that the
effusion of lava should have been in the direction of Lake Grant. They had
before them some days' respite. The plateau of Prospect Heights, Granite
House, and the dockyard were for the moment preserved. And these few days
it was necessary to employ in planking and carefully calking the vessel,
and launching her. The colonists would then take refuge on board the
vessel, content to rig her after she should be afloat on the waters. With
the danger of an explosion which threatened to destroy the island there
could be no security on shore. The walls of Granite House, once so sure a
retreat, might at any moment fall in upon them.</p>
<p>During the six following days, from the 25th to the 30th of January, the
colonists accomplished as much of the construction of their vessel as
twenty men could have done. They hardly allowed themselves a moment's
repose, and the glare of the flames which shot from the crater enabled
them to work night and day. The flow of lava continued, but perhaps less
abundantly. This was fortunate, for Lake Grant was almost entirely choked
up, and if more lava should accumulate it would inevitably spread over the
plateau of Prospect Heights, and thence upon the beach.</p>
<p>But if the island was thus partially protected on this side, it was not so
with the western part.</p>
<p>In fact, the second stream of lava, which had followed the valley of Falls
River, a valley of great extent, the land on both sides of the creek being
flat, met with no obstacle. The burning liquid had then spread through the
forest of the Far West. At this period of the year, when the trees were
dried up by a tropical heat, the forest caught fire instantaneously, in
such a manner that the conflagration extended itself both by the trunks of
the trees and by their higher branches, whose interlacement favored its
progress. It even appeared that the current of flame spread more rapidly
among the summits of the trees than the current of lava at their bases.</p>
<p>Thus it happened that the wild animals, jaguars, wild boars, capybaras,
koalas, and game of every kind, mad with terror, had fled to the banks of
the Mercy and to the Tadorn Marsh, beyond the road to Port Balloon. But
the colonists were too much occupied with their task to pay any attention
to even the most formidable of these animals. They had abandoned Granite
House, and would not even take shelter at the Chimneys, but encamped under
a tent, near the mouth of the Mercy.</p>
<p>Each day Cyrus Harding and Gideon Spilett ascended the plateau of Prospect
Heights. Sometimes Herbert accompanied them, but never Pencroft, who could
not bear to look upon the prospect of the island now so utterly
devastated.</p>
<p>It was, in truth, a heart-rending spectacle. All the wooded part of the
island was now completely bare. One single clump of green trees raised
their heads at the extremity of Serpentine Peninsula. Here and there were
a few grotesque blackened and branchless stumps. The side of the
devastated forest was even more barren than Tadorn Marsh. The eruption of
lava had been complete. Where formerly sprang up that charming verdure,
the soil was now nothing but a savage mass of volcanic tufa. In the
valleys of the Falls and Mercy rivers no drop of water now flowed towards
the sea, and should Lake Grant be entirely dried up, the colonists would
have no means of quenching their thirst. But, fortunately the lava had
spared the southern corner of the lake, containing all that remained of
the drinking water of the island. Towards the northwest stood out the
rugged and well-defined outlines of the sides of the volcano, like a
gigantic claw hovering over the island. What a sad and fearful sight, and
how painful to the colonists, who, from a fertile domain covered with
forests, irrigated by watercourses, and enriched by the produce of their
toils, found themselves, as it were, transported to a desolate rock, upon
which, but for their reserves of provisions, they could not even gather
the means of subsistence!</p>
<p>"It is enough to break one's heart!" said Gideon Spilett, one day.</p>
<p>"Yes, Spilett," answered the engineer. "May God grant us the time to
complete this vessel, now our sole refuge!"</p>
<p>"Do not you think, Cyrus, that the violence of the eruption has somewhat
lessened? The volcano still vomits forth lava, but somewhat less
abundantly, if I mistake not."</p>
<p>"It matters little," answered Cyrus Harding. "The fire is still burning in
the interior of the mountain, and the sea may break in at any moment. We
are in the condition of passengers whose ship is devoured by a
conflagration which they cannot extinguish, and who know that sooner or
later the flames must reach the powder-magazine. To work, Spilett, to
work, and let us not lose an hour!"</p>
<p>During eight days more, that is to say until the 7th of February, the lava
continued to flow, but the eruption was confined within the previous
limits. Cyrus Harding feared above all lest the liquefied matter should
overflow the shore, for in that event the dockyard could not escape.
Moreover, about this time the colonists felt in the frame of the island
vibrations which alarmed them to the highest degree.</p>
<p>It was the 20th of February. Yet another month must elapse before the
vessel would be ready for sea. Would the island hold together till then?
The intention of Pencroft and Cyrus Harding was to launch the vessel as
soon as the hull should be complete. The deck, the upperworks, the
interior woodwork and the rigging might be finished afterwards, but the
essential point was that the colonists should have an assured refuge away
from the island. Perhaps it might be even better to conduct the vessel to
Port Balloon, that is to say, as far as possible from the center of
eruption, for at the mouth of the Mercy, between the islet and the wall of
granite, it would run the risk of being crushed in the event of any
convulsion. All the exertions of the voyagers were therefore concentrated
upon the completion of the hull.</p>
<p>Thus the 3rd of March arrived, and they might calculate upon launching the
vessel in ten days.</p>
<p>Hope revived in the hearts of the colonists, who had, in this fourth year
of their sojourn on Lincoln island, suffered so many trials. Even Pencroft
lost in some measure the somber taciturnity occasioned by the devastation
and ruin of his domain. His hopes, it is true, were concentrated upon his
vessel.</p>
<p>"We shall finish it," he said to the engineer, "we shall finish it,
captain, and it is time, for the season is advancing and the equinox will
soon be here. Well, if necessary, we must put in to Tabor island to spend
the winter. But think of Tabor island after Lincoln Island. Ah, how
unfortunate! Who could have believed it possible?"</p>
<p>"Let us get on," was the engineer's invariable reply.</p>
<p>And they worked away without losing a moment.</p>
<p>"Master," asked Neb, a few days later, "do you think all this could have
happened if Captain Nemo had been still alive?"</p>
<p>"Certainly, Neb," answered Cyrus Harding.</p>
<p>"I, for one, don't believe it!" whispered Pencroft to Neb.</p>
<p>"Nor I!" answered Neb seriously.</p>
<p>During the first week of March appearances again became menacing.
Thousands of threads like glass, formed of fluid lava, fell like rain upon
the island. The crater was again boiling with lava which overflowed the
back of the volcano. The torrent flowed along the surface of the hardened
tufa, and destroyed the few meager skeletons of trees which had withstood
the first eruption. The stream, flowing this time towards the southwest
shore of Lake Grant, stretched beyond Creek Glycerine, and invaded the
plateau of Prospect Heights. This last blow to the work of the colonists
was terrible. The mill, the buildings of the inner court, the stables,
were all destroyed. The affrighted poultry fled in all directions. Top and
Jup showed signs of the greatest alarm, as if their instinct warned them
of an impending catastrophe. A large number of the animals of the island
had perished in the first eruption. Those which survived found no refuge
but Tadorn Marsh, save a few to which the plateau of Prospect Heights
afforded asylum. But even this last retreat was now closed to them, and
the lava-torrent, flowing over the edge of the granite wall, began to pour
down upon the beach its cataracts of fire. The sublime horror of this
spectacle passed all description. During the night it could only be
compared to a Niagara of molten fluid, with its incandescent vapors above
and its boiling masses below.</p>
<p>The colonists were driven to their last entrenchment, and although the
upper seams of the vessel were not yet calked, they decided to launch her
at once.</p>
<p>Pencroft and Ayrton therefore set about the necessary preparations for the
launching, which was to take place the morning of the next day, the 9th of
March.</p>
<p>But during the night of the 8th an enormous column of vapor escaping from
the crater rose with frightful explosions to a height of more than three
thousand feet. The wall of Dakkar Grotto had evidently given way under the
pressure of gases, and the sea, rushing through the central shalt into the
igneous gulf, was at once converted into vapor. But the crater could not
afford a sufficient outlet for this vapor. An explosion, which might have
been heard at a distance of a hundred miles, shook the air. Fragments of
mountains fell into the Pacific, and, in a few minutes, the ocean rolled
over the spot where Lincoln island once stood.</p>
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