Таємничий острів

           Somelargestones,foundatthenorthofthelake,couldbeeasilytransformedintomillstones,andastothesails,theinexhaustiblecaseoftheballoonfurnishedthenecessarymaterial.

           CyrusHardingmadehismodel,andthesiteofthemillwaschosenalittletotherightofthepoultry-yard,neartheshoreofthelake.Theframewastorestonapivotsupportedwithstrongtimbers,sothatitcouldturnwithallthemachineryitcontainedaccordingasthewindrequiredit.Theworkadvancedrapidly.NebandPencrofthadbecomeveryskilfulcarpenters,andhadnothingtodobuttocopythemodelsprovidedbytheengineer.

           Soonasortofcylindricalbox,inshapelikeapepper-pot,withapointedroof,roseonthespotchosen.Thefourframeswhichformedthesailshadbeenfirmlyfixedinthecenterbeam,soastoformacertainanglewithit,andsecuredwithironclamps.Astothedifferentpartsoftheinternalmechanism,theboxdestinedtocontainthetwomillstones,thefixedstoneandthemovingstone,thehopper,asortoflargesquaretrough,wideatthetop,narrowatthebottom,whichwouldallowthegraintofallonthestones,theoscillatingspoutintendedtoregulatethepassingofthegrain,andlastlytheboltingmachine,whichbytheoperationofsifting,separatesthebranfromtheflour,weremadewithoutdifficulty.Thetoolsweregood,andtheworknotdifficult,forinreality,themachineryofamillisverysimple.Thiswasonlyaquestionoftime.

           Everyonehadworkedattheconstructionofthemill,andonthe1stofDecemberitwasfinished.