They once more set out.
The tide began to rise, and urged by the wind it threatened to be unusually high, as it was a spring tide.
Great billows thundered against the reef with such violence that they probably passed entirely over the islet, then quite invisible.
The mole no longer protected the coast, which was directly exposed to the attacks of the open sea.
As soon as the sailor and his companions left the precipice, the wind struck them again with renewed fury.
Though bent under the gale they walked very quickly, following Top, who did not hesitate as to what direction to take.
They ascended towards the north, having on their left an interminable extent of billows, which broke with a deafening noise, and on their right a dark country, the aspect of which it was impossible to guess.
But they felt that it was comparatively flat, for the wind passed completely over them, without being driven back as it was when it came in contact with the cliff.
At four o’clock in the morning, they reckoned that they had cleared about five miles.
The clouds were slightly raised, and the wind, though less damp, was very sharp and cold.
Insufficiently protected by their clothing, Pencroft, Herbert and Spilett suffered cruelly, but not a complaint escaped their lips.
They were determined to follow Top, wherever the intelligent animal wished to lead them.
Towards five o’clock day began to break.
At the zenith, where the fog was less thick, gray shades bordered the clouds; under an opaque belt, a luminous line clearly traced the horizon.
The crests of the billows were tipped with a wild light, and the foam regained its whiteness.
At the same time on the left the hilly parts of the coast could be seen, though very indistinctly.
At six o’clock day had broken.
The clouds rapidly lifted.
The seaman and his companions were then about six miles from the Chimneys.
They were following a very flat shore bounded by a reef of rocks, whose heads scarcely emerged from the sea, for they were in deep water.
On the left, the country appeared to be one vast extent of sandy downs, bristling with thistles.
There was no cliff, and the shore offered no resistance to the ocean but a chain of irregular hillocks.
Here and there grew two or three trees, inclined towards the west, their branches projecting in that direction.
Quite behind, in the southwest, extended the border of the forest.
At this moment, Top became very excited.
He ran forward, then returned, and seemed to entreat them to hasten their steps.
The dog then left the beach, and guided by his wonderful instinct, without showing the least hesitation, went straight in among the downs.
They followed him.
The country appeared an absolute desert.
Not a living creature was to be seen.
The downs, the extent of which was large, were composed of hillocks and even of hills, very irregularly distributed.
They resembled a Switzerland modeled in sand, and only an amazing instinct could have possibly recognized the way.
Five minutes after having left the beach, the reporter and his two companions arrived at a sort of excavation, hollowed out at the back of a high mound.
There Top stopped, and gave a loud, clear bark.
Spilett, Herbert, and Pencroft dashed into the cave.
Neb was there, kneeling beside a body extended on a bed of grass.
The body was that of the engineer, Cyrus Harding.
Chapter 8
Neb did not move.
Pencroft only uttered one word.
“Living?” he cried.
Neb did not reply.
Spilett and the sailor turned pale.
Herbert clasped his hands, and remained motionless.
The poor Negro, absorbed in his grief, evidently had neither seen his companions nor heard the sailor speak.
The reporter knelt down beside the motionless body, and placed his ear to the engineer’s chest, having first torn open his clothes.
A minute—an age!—passed, during which he endeavored to catch the faintest throb of the heart.
Neb had raised himself a little and gazed without seeing.
Despair had completely changed his countenance.
He could scarcely be recognized, exhausted with fatigue, broken with grief.