Ледяной сфинкс
Chapter XXIV. Eleven Years in a Few Pages
Twenty-twooftheseunfortunatemenwerecrushedtodeathontheinstant,andtheirbodieswouldneverbefoundunderthatmassofearth.
Seven,miraculouslyshelteredinthedepthofagreatcleftofthehill,hadsurvivedthecatastrophe.ThesewereWilliamGuy,Patterson,Roberts,Coyin,Trinkle,alsoForbesandSexton,sincedead.AsforTiger,theyknewnotwhetherhehadperishedinthelandslip,orwhetherhehadescaped.Thereexistedintherightsideofthehill,aswellasintheleft,oneithersideofthefissure,certainwindingpassages,anditwasbycrawlingalongtheseinthedarknessthatWilliamGuy,Patterson,andtheothersreachedacavitywhichletinlightandairinabundance.FromthissheltertheybeheldtheattackontheJanebysixtypirogues,thedefencemadebythesixmenonboard;theinvasionoftheshipbythesavages,andfinallytheexplosionwhichcausedthedeathofavastnumberofnativesaswellasthecompletedestructionoftheship.
Too-WitandtheTsalalislanderswereatfirstterrifiedbytheeffectsofthisexplosion,butprobablystillmoredisappointed.Theirinstinctsofpillagecouldnotbegratified,becausesomevaluelesswreckagewasallthatremainedoftheshipandhercargo,andtheyhadnoreasontosupposethatanyofthecrewhadsurvivedthecleverlycontrivedcollapseofthehill.
