Таємничий острів

           "Pencroft,"repliedtheengineer,placinghishandonthesailor’sshoulder,"ifanymisfortunehappenstoyou,ortothislad,whomchancehasmadeourchild,doyouthinkwecouldeverceasetoblameourselves?"

           "CaptainHarding,"repliedPencroft,withunshakenconfidence,"weshallnotcauseyouthatsorrow.Besides,wewillspeakfurtherofthisvoyage,whenthetimecomestomakeit.AndIfancy,whenyouhaveseenourtight-riggedlittlecraft,whenyouhaveobservedhowshebehavesatsea,whenwesailroundourisland,forwewilldosotogether—Ifancy,Isay,thatyouwillnolongerhesitatetoletmego.Idon’tconcealfromyouthatyourboatwillbeamasterpiece."

           "Say‘our’boat,atleast,Pencroft,"repliedtheengineer,disarmedforthemoment.Theconversationendedthus,toberesumedlateron,withoutconvincingeitherthesailorortheengineer.

           ThefirstsnowfelltowardstheendofthemonthofJune.Thecorralhadpreviouslybeenlargelysuppliedwithstores,sothatdailyvisitstoitwerenotrequisite;butitwasdecidedthatmorethanaweekshouldneverbeallowedtopasswithoutsomeonegoingtoit.

           Trapswereagainset,andthemachinesmanufacturedbyHardingweretried.Thebentwhalebones,imprisonedinacaseofice,andcoveredwithathickouterlayeroffat,wereplacedontheborderoftheforestataspotwhereanimalsusuallypassedontheirwaytothelake.

           Totheengineer’sgreatsatisfaction,thisinvention,copiedfromtheAleutianfishermen,succeededperfectly.