Chapter 17 Chapter 2 Across the Lake

Eight days later, the children entered 1861.In the southern hemisphere, New Years comes at the height of summer. It's been almost 10 months since the children were killed and stranded on the island 1,800 miles off New Zealand.During this time, their situation gradually improved.Now it seems that at least the necessities of life are guaranteed. But this is an island that no one knows about after all!Can outside help -- the only assistance they're expecting -- come before the summer is over?Will the colony's teenager endure a second harsh Antarctic winter?So far, no disease has occurred, and children, big and small, are still safe and sound.Because of Gordon's prudence, although there were occasional mumbles about his sternness.As long as they think about the future, children can't help worrying.

Bryant had been thinking about leaving Charman Island.But they had only one small sailboat.How could they have dared to take the risk of a long voyage if the islands were not part of the Pacific Islands?Even if two or three of the most daring lads dared to seek land eastward, how remote was the chance of them ever reaching it!So, can they build a ship big enough to carry them?Of course not!It was something beyond their capabilities, because Bryant was thinking of a ship that could carry all of them. They can only wait and make themselves more comfortable in the French den.This summer, they have to fully prepare for winter, so at least next summer, they can complete the expedition to the island.

They set to work resolutely.They have learned from experience how cold the winters can be here, and the harsh weather can force them to stay in the lobby for weeks or even months.Their first priority now is to prepare themselves against their two greatest fears - hunger and cold. Fighting the bitter cold of Frenchman's Cave is just a matter of fuel.Fall may be short, but until it's over, Gordon will stock up on enough firewood to keep the stove burning day and night.But how do animals in captivity and birds in bird cages survive the winter?It would not be proper to keep them in a storage room.It is also unwise from a hygiene point of view.It was then necessary to modify the barn to make it more habitable for the animals, along with a warming fireplace to keep the temperature tolerable.For the first few months of the new year, Baxter, Sauvis, and Moko have been busy with this.

Faced with the equally important problem of stocking the French caves with food for the long winters, Donagan and his companions had done a great deal.Every day, they went to check the traps and nets. No matter what they caught, as long as they were not for daily consumption, Moko would make them into meat or bacon and store them with all his heart. But now, too, an expedition is urgently needed.The purpose of this trip is not to explore all the unknown places on Charman Island, but the part east of Family Lake.Will there be forests, swamps, or sand dunes in these places?Will it be possible to utilize resources?

One day, Bryant had a conversation with Gordon.He approached this question from a new angle. "While Bowden's map may be quite right," he said, "we should go and explore the East ourselves. We have telescopes, Bowden doesn't. Can't we find continents that Bowden didn't? He's on the map To paint Charman Isle as an isolated island may not be the case." "It's the same idea," Gordon said, "that you're unhappy because you can't get out of here." "Yes, from the bottom of my heart, and I'm sure you feel the same way. Shouldn't we go home as soon as possible?"

"Okay!" Gordon said. "We're organizing an expedition." "An expedition that everyone joins?" "No, I'd like to send only six or seven." "There are too many. If there are too many people, they can only go along the north or south side of the lake. God knows what kind of difficulties they may encounter?" "What do you suggest?" "I suggest crossing the lake in a small sailing boat. That way, it only takes two or three people." "Then who is in charge of steering the schooner?" "Moko," said Bryant, "he knows how to sail a boat, and I know a little too, and when the wind blows we sail, otherwise we paddle. That makes it easy to cross the five or six miles of the lake." To the creek. From the map, the creek runs through the forest, and we can follow the river down to the mouth."

"Okay, I agree with your idea. But who's going with Moko?" "I'm going, because I didn't take part in the expedition to the north, and it's my turn to be useful." "Use it!" retorted Gordon. "Have you not done it? Haven't you done less than the others?" "Okay, we all did our jobs," Bryant said, "and that's it, okay?" "Okay, but who else would you send with you? I don't think Donagan can, because you don't get along." "Oh, I'm all for it," Bryant said. "Donagan's a nice guy. He's brave and smart. If he wasn't so jealous, he'd be a wonderful company. Besides, when He'll change his mind one day when he understands that I don't actually want to dominate anyone. I'm sure we'll be best friends in the world. However, I'm thinking of bringing another expedition partner."

"Who?" "My brother Jack," Bryant said, "I'm getting more and more worried about him. He's obviously done something wrong and won't tell me. Maybe when he's alone with me." "That's right, Bryant. Get Jack on and get ready right away." "It won't take long," Bryant replied. "We'll be back in two or three days." Others soon learned of the planned expedition.Donagan was annoyed that he hadn't let himself go.He went to Gordon.Gordon explained that only two or three people were needed for the expedition, and that Bryant had come up with the idea, so naturally he had to go.

Moko was especially pleased when he heard that he was going from chef to helm.The person who took over his work was none other than Sovis.Sovis couldn't hold back a burst of joy at the thought of being able to make food her own way without having to listen to other people's instructions.Jack also seemed very happy to be out of the French cave for a day or two. The little sailboat is ready.It is equipped with a small sail.Moko rolled it up on the mast, two guns, three pistols, a lot of ammunition, three traveling bags, food, a cloak against the rain, two oars, and two spares.These things are the equipment needed for this expedition.There is, of course, a reproduction of Bowden's map, with newly named places added.

At 8 a.m. on February 4, Bryant, Jack, and Moko said goodbye to their companions and boarded the boat.The weather was fine, with a light breeze from the southwest, and the sails were up.Moko took the helm and Bryant watched the sheet.A gust of wind blows, creating ripples on the surface of the lake.The farther the small sailboat goes, the more you can feel the waves.In less than half an hour, Gordon and his companions were no longer seen by those in the schooner. Moko sat in the back of the skiff, Bryant in front, and Jack under the mast.An hour later, the top of the Oakland Hills was barely visible on the horizon.Although it is reasonable that the other side of the lake is not too far away, they just can't see the end of the lake in the distance.As usual with bad luck, the breeze died away as the sun began to burn.By noon, there was a strong wind blowing on the lake from time to time.

"It's a shame," Bryant said, "that the previous breeze is gone." "It's only worse when there's a headwind!" Moko replied. "You're quite a philosopher," Bryant said. "I don't understand what you mean," Moko said, "but I'll make good use of the present." "Well, that's exactly what philosophy is about." "Then let's cheer for philosophy! We must paddle now, and strive to reach the other side of the lake before dark. If it doesn't work, we have to give up." "Okay, Moko. I'll take this oar, you take the other, and let Jack steer!" "As long as Jack has the right direction, we will follow the best route." "As long as you tell me what to do," Jack said, "I'll do my best." Moko put away the canvas that had stopped swinging long ago, and now the breeze had disappeared.After the three of them ate some dry food, then Moko sat in the bow, Jack held the tiller, and the small sailboat began to sail northeast.Navigation routes are controlled by a compass.Soon the boat sailed into the middle of the vast water, as if sailing in the sea, and the lake was surrounded by the outline of the sky.Jack watched anxiously across the lake from the Frenchman's Den. About three o'clock Moko, after looking through the telescope for a while, reported that he had seen signs of land.After a while, Bryant also said he was right. At 4 o'clock they saw the tops of trees emerging from the other side of the low lake.Bryant used to be able to see the woods from Mihaidian.So the only highland on Charman Island is the Oakland Hills. The boat is about 2.5 to 3 miles from the east shore of the lake.Bryant and Moko rowed the boat at a leisurely pace.Because the sun is very hot, they are already exhausted.The calm lake is like a huge mirror, from time to time you can see the crystal clear bottom of the lake.The bottom of the lake is as deep as 12 to 15 feet. The bottom is covered with various aquatic plants, and countless fish swim among the aquatic plants. Nearly six o'clock, the boat approached the lake at the foot of the river bank.Above the banks stretched clumps of green oak and maritime pines.Since the banks were too high for the children to get on, they had to drive another half mile north along the lake. "This is the river on the map," Bryant said, pointing to the openness of the river bank. "That's where the water in the lake comes out." "Yes," Moko said, "I think we ought to give the river a name." "Well," Bryant agreed, "since it flows east, let's call it the 'East River'!" "That's it!" Moko said. "Now we just need to get into the river and go down the river." "Let's do this tomorrow, Moko! We'd better camp here. We'll set out to explore the banks of the river tomorrow morning." "Are we going ashore?" Jack asked. "Go ashore, of course," Bryant said, "and camp under the trees." After the boys drove the boat into the creek, they climbed up to the bank.They tied the boat to a tree stump with ropes.Bring out the weapons and food on board.They lit a pile of dry wood under a great green oak tree, ate biscuits and cold meat, and fell asleep soundly. "Hey, wake up, we're leaving," Bryant said.He woke up at 6 o'clock the next morning.Soon, the three of them boarded the boat again and drove towards the depths of the river. The current in the river is turbulent.Because the tide had gone out half an hour ago, there was no need for oars now.Bryant and Jack sat in the stern and Moco sat in the bow with an oar to keep the boat in the middle of the river. "If the East River was only six miles long, there's a good chance we'd only need one high tide to go down the river to the sea because the East River is much more turbulent than the Zeeland River," Moko said. "I hope so," agreed Bryant. "I'm afraid we'll have to wait for two high tides when we get back." "Very likely," replied Moko, "we'll return at the next high tide, if you like." "Okay," Bryant said, "as soon as we figure out there's no land to the east." Moko estimated that the boat was drifting at about three miles an hour.According to the direction indicated by the compass, the East River flows straight to the northeast.The East River is narrower than the Zealand River.The river is not wide, only 30 feet wide.Bryant's only concern was the rapids and rapids they would encounter during the voyage, but they should have plenty of time to deal with these obstacles. The boys sailed into the woods.The vegetation here is very dense, somewhat similar to the trees in the trap woods.Instead, here are mainly some green oaks, cork trees, pines and firs. Although Bryant did not have Gordon's botanical knowledge, he was able to identify a tree species he had seen in New Zealand.The tree, whose branches extend in an umbrella shape up to sixty feet in the air, bears cone-shaped fruits three or four inches long, pointed upward, and covered with shiny scales. "It's a stone pine," Bryant said. Moko replied, "If it is stone pine, we can stay for a few minutes, maybe we will gain something." They paddled casually a few times with their oars, and the boat approached the left bank of the river.Bryant and Jack jumped ashore.A few minutes later, they returned to the boat with a large pile of stone pine cones.These stone pine nuts contain an oval-shaped stone covered with a thin skin that tastes a bit like a hazelnut.This was a major discovery for the hungry ones in the French den.In fact, Bryant told Gordon about it when he returned.Gordon said the fruit was valuable because the fruit could be used to refine oil. It was necessary for them to find out whether there were as many animals living in this wood as in the woods on the other side of the lake.Bryant watched with wide eyes.He saw many fleeing ostriches, a herd of vicunas.A pair of wild llamas also escaped with incredible speed.There are also many birds.If Donagan had been there, he would have fired a shot or two.But Bryant refrained from firing because the boat was too full. When it was almost 11 o'clock, the woods seemed to open up, and sparse open spaces could be seen everywhere.There was a salty smell in the breeze, which showed that they were approaching the sea.A few minutes later a straight line of blue appeared beyond a grove of tall green oaks.That is the horizon. The boat was still drifting down with the tide, but at a much slower pace than at the beginning.The tide is barely receding now, and the East River is nearly 50 feet wide. They reached the rock formations on the beach.Moko steered the boat close to the left bank, and then he took the multiclaw ashore and nailed it deep into the ground. The topography here is in stark contrast to the other side of the island.The water potential of the bay here is very deep, unlike the wrecked beach, which has a wide sandy beach and rows of reefs, and there are no towering cliffs, but they still found a group of rocks, with at least 20 caves in the rock group. I didn't expect such good living conditions on the island.If the sailboat had landed here, it might have been able to drift on, and they sailed the small sailboats into the small harbors at the mouth of the river, where there was often water even after the tide was out. Bryant looked out to the middle of the ocean, where the horizon was between the tips of sandy headlands on the left and right, about 15 miles apart.No doubt the long bay was as deserted as ever.They could not see a single ship.Both land and sea are uninhabited scenes.Moko had always been good at making out the misty mountains in the distance, but now he couldn't see much, even with a telescope. It appears that the east side of Charman Island is as off the beaten track as the west side.No wonder Baoding's map indicated that there was no land to the east.On a whim, Bryant named the place "Deception Bay." "Well," he said, "if we're going back, it won't be this way!" "I think it's time for me to eat," Moko suggested. "Okay!" Bryant agreed, "but hurry up. When are we going to swim against the current?" "If you want to get back on this high tide, you should start now." "It's impossible. I have to find a higher place and take a good look around the horizon." "Then we'll have to wait until the next high tide. It won't be until 10 o'clock tonight." "Are you afraid of sailing at night?" Bryant asked. "I am not afraid!" replied Moko. "There will be no danger. For the moonlight at night, and the river being very straight, we need only row with one oar. We will row as long as we can." Go down. If the current is too strong, we'll go ashore and wait until daylight to go on." "That's the only way to do it," Bryant decided. "We still have 12 hours, and we have to make full use of these 12 hours to complete this expedition." Then they began to survey the coast in this area.The woods stretched down from the edge of the rock.The birds were as plentiful here as at Frenchman's Cave, and Bryant managed to shoot two geese for dinner. The main feature of this coast is the clusters of granite, which look like the forest of monuments in southern Brittany, France.The shapes of these granites are not artificial. Within half a mile, Bryant found 12 shelters and storage rooms.These burrows were sufficient for every need of their little colony. Bryant couldn't help thinking about why Bao Ding didn't move to the island.He had obviously been here, because even the route to get here was accurately marked on the map.But he left no trace here, probably because he had already made his home in the French Den before he came to the east of the island.Later he also found that this coast was not safe from sea storms, so he thought it best to stay where it was. At 2 o'clock, the sun was just passing overhead.This is the best time to take a closer look at the waters.Bryant, Jack, and Moko start climbing up a rock that looks like a grizzly bear.The rock was about 100 feet from where the boat was moored, and they climbed to the top without much difficulty. They stood on the rocks and looked around the island.The family lake on the west side has been blocked by a green forest; the south side is a yellow sand dune with a piece of dark green fir that grows on the dry plain in the northern hemisphere; the north side is the end of the bay, which is a low-lying area The headland extends into an infinitely wide sandy plain.In short, in the whole of Charman Island, only the center of the island has fertile soil, because there is fresh water flowing into the sea, and vegetation grows around the lake. Bryant held the telescope and looked west. The western horizon could be seen at a glance, and the land within a radius of seven or eight miles could be clearly seen. But there was nothing to be found in the west, only the sea and the sky lined with water and sky. Bryant, Jack and Moko watched for over an hour.Just as they were about to go down to the beach, Moko suddenly pointed to the northeast and asked: "what is that?" Bryant looked in that direction with binoculars in hand. There was a cloud of white dots on the horizon.Had it not been for the clear weather, they would have mistaken it for clouds.Bryant looked at it with a telescope for a long time, but the white dot was always still, and the shape did not change at all. "I don't know what that is," he said. "If it's a mountain, it doesn't look like a mountain." After a few minutes, the sun fell further west, and the white spot disappeared.According to Jack and Moko, the white dot was either a mountain peak or the light refracted by the water. The three of them quickly returned to the mouth of the East River, where their boat was parked.Jack gathered some dry wood under the tree, and then Jack lit a big fire while Moco roasted the geese and birds. At seven o'clock, Jack and Bryant were walking on the beach, waiting for the tide to rise.Moko ran to the river bank again to look for stone pine trees, and he really wanted to pick some stone pine fruits. When Moko returned to the mouth of the river, night gradually fell.Although the afterglow of the setting sun is still faintly visible in the distant sea, the beach has long been shrouded in twilight. When Moko returned to the boat, Bryant and his brother hadn't returned.As they did not go too far, Moko was not worried about them at all. Suddenly, Moko was surprised to hear a violent cry, followed by a loud shout.This time he heard clearly, it was Bryant's voice. Are his brothers in danger?Moko ran to the beach without hesitation, and quickly circled the rocks surrounding the small port. Suddenly, the voice he heard made him stop. Moko was seeing Jack kneeling in front of Bryant!Jack seemed to be begging him for his forgiveness!What Moko heard just now turned out to be Jack's crying. Moko originally wanted to turn back, but it was too late.He happened to overhear everything that happened.He knew what Jack had done, and Jack had just confessed.He also knew why Bryant berated him so loudly just now. "You idiot! It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" "Forgive me! Forgive me!" "No wonder you don't hang out with the others! It's because you're afraid of them! They don't know about it! Didn't realize you didn't tell anyone!" Had he known this was the case, Moko would rather not know these secrets.But now that he is in front of Bryant, it is not acceptable to deliberately pretend not to know.After a while, he found Bryant alone beside the boat and said, "I just overheard." "What!" Bryant exclaimed. "You know that's what Jack did?" "Yes, you should forgive him." "But will the others forgive him?" "It's hard to tell," said Moko. "Anyway, you'd better not let them know about it. I won't tell anyone, and you can rest assured of that." "Ah! How kind of you!" Bryant said, squeezing his hand tightly. There were still two hours before leaving the boat, during which time Bryant and Jack hadn't spoken a word.Jack sat alone at the foot of a nearby rock.Because he just confessed to the wrong thing he did, and he is currently heartbroken. At about 10 o'clock, the sea water began to rise.The boys immediately got into the boat.With the claw anchor out of the ground, the boat moved forward with the tide. Soon after the sun set, the moon rose.This enabled them to sail until half past twelve.When the tide began to ebb, they took out their oars and rowed.For an hour they rowed against the current, and the boat made less than a mile. Bryant decided to stop the boat and wait for daylight.By then the tide would be high again and they would be able to sail again.At about 6 o'clock in the morning, they continued sailing again. At 9 o'clock, the boat sailed into the family lake.At this moment Moko raised the canvas again.With the breeze blowing, the boat headed straight for the Frenchman's Cave. Throughout the unusual voyage, Bryant and Jack barely spoke.At about 6 o'clock in the evening, Garnett, who was fishing on the river bank, watched happily as the boat came back.A few minutes later, the boat docked.Gordon was pleased to welcome the three partners back to the voyage smoothly.