Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen

Counting from the polar circle, the "Halle Brena" has traveled nearly 800 nautical miles.Now, the Isle of Beni is in sight!The crew desperately needed rest: in the last few hours, when the sea wind had completely died down, they were exhausted from pulling the brig forward with several small boats.Therefore, the disembarkation was postponed until the next day.I went back to my cabin again. This time, no murmurs or whispers disturbed my sleep.I was on deck just after five o'clock in the morning, and I was one of the first to arrive. It is needless to say that Jem West took all the precautions required of navigating in these dubious waters.The strictest security was enforced on board.The stone cannons were loaded, the rounds and cartridges were carried on deck, the muskets and pistols were ready, and the gangway nets were ready to be drawn. The scene of the "Jennie" being attacked by the islanders of Zhalal Island is still fresh in people's memory.Our brig was within sixty miles of the disaster.

The night passed without incident.When daylight came, there was not a single boat on the sea around the "Halbrena", and there was no trace of an aborigine on the beach.The place seemed uninhabited, and Captain William Guy found no trace of any human beings here.There were no huts on the shore, nor smoke rising from behind the huts.If there is cooking smoke, it means that Baye Island is inhabited. The island I saw was exactly as Arthur Pym had pointed out, a rocky island a mile in circumference, barren of vegetation, without any sign of vegetation. Our brig dropped single anchor a nautical mile north of the island.

Captain Lan Guy told me that there was absolutely no way to go wrong with this position. "Mr. Geolin," he said to me, "do you see this headland to the northeast? . . . " "I see, Captain." "Are rocks piled up like cotton balls?..." "Sure enough, it's exactly the same as what's said in the book." "Well, then, we'll just have to disembark on the headland, Mr. Georin, and maybe we'll find traces of the crew of the 'Jenny' there, if they finally escaped from Zalar Island..." Let me say a few more words about the state of mind of the people on board the Halle Brena.A few chains away lay the isle that Arthur Pym and William Guy set foot on eleven years ago. When the "Jenny" arrived, it was far from a favorable situation: fuel was starting to run low, symptoms of sepsis were already manifesting in the crew.The opposite was the case with our brig: the sailors were all in good health, and it was a pleasure to see them.The later recruits murmured behind their backs, and the old crew showed enthusiasm, hopefulness, and satisfaction at being close to the destination.

As for Captain Lan Guy's thoughts, desires and impatience at this moment, one can imagine... He fixed his eyes on the small island of Beni, wishing he could swallow it up.However, there was another person who stared at Beni Island even more intently, and that was Hunter. Hunter had not slept on deck as usual since breaking down, not even taking a nap of two or three hours.He rested his elbows on the starboard bulwark of the bow, his wide mouth tightly shut, his forehead sunken in a thousand deep wrinkles, and he never left this position.His eyes never left the shore for a moment. Let me remind you again, as a memento.Benny is the name of the partner of the captain of the "Jenny". The first piece of land discovered by the "Jenny" in this part of Antarctica is named after him.

Before leaving the Halle Brenale, Lan Guy had instructed the mate not to let his guard down—not to Jem West at all.If we go out to investigate, probably half a day at most will be enough.If the boat has not been returned by the afternoon, a second boat must be dispatched to look for it. "Watch who we recruit, too," added Captain Lan Guy. "Don't worry, captain," replied the mate, "you need four oars, don't you? Choose four of the new crew. That way there will be four less troublemakers on board." It's a smart idea.Under Hearne's bad influence, discontent was growing among his fellow Falklanders.

The skiff was armed, and the four new crew entered and sat in the bow.At Hunt's request, let him take the helm.Captain Lan Guy, the boatswain, and I, sitting in the stern, fully armed, left the ship for the north of the island. Half an hour later, the headland had been rounded.Up close, the headland doesn't look like a pile of rubbed cotton balls.Then the little bay opened up, in the depths of which the dinghy of the "Jenny" had been docked. Hunter steered us toward Little Bay.Trust his instincts as much as you can.The sharp corners of the rocks emerged from the water from time to time, and Hunter was able to operate them accurately.Really think that he knows the landing place like the back of his hand...

It won't take long to explore the island.It only took Captain William Guy a few hours to travel all over the island.Any trace, as long as it exists, cannot escape our search. We disembarked in the depths of the cove, where the rocks on the shore were covered with thin lichens.The tide has ebbed, exposing the sandy bottom, similar to a beach.Large black rocks are dotted all over, like huge nail heads. Captain Lan Guy directed my attention to observe that this sandy carpet was covered with a multitude of long strips of molluscs, ranging from three to eighteen inches in length, and from one to eight inches in width.Some lie on their sides; others crawl in search of sunlight and devour microorganisms.Corals are formed by such microorganisms.Sure enough, in two or three places I observed several branch-tips, which were forming corals.

"This mollusc," Captain Lan Guy told me, "is what is called a sea cucumber, and the Chinese appreciate it very much. The reason I call your attention to this, Mr. Georin, is because the 'Jenny' The original purpose of coming to this sea area was to buy sea cucumbers. You probably haven’t forgotten that my brother once negotiated with the leader of Zalal Island, ‘Too Smart’, and built a warehouse on the shore in order to submit hundreds of tons of this mollusc , three people should be responsible for processing the products. During this period, the brig continued its expedition of great geographical discoveries... Finally, under what circumstances, the 'Jenny' was attacked and the ship was destroyed, you probably remember... ..."

yes!All these details are still fresh in my memory.I even remember Arthur Pym's detailed description of sea cucumbers.This is what Cuvier called gastropods.It is quite similar to a kind of worm, a kind of caterpillar, which has no shell and no legs, only elastic links.After the mollusk is picked up from the sand, it is split lengthwise, the intestines are removed, cleaned, boiled, buried in the soil for a few hours, and left to dry in the sun.Once dried and barreled, it is shipped to China.Sea cucumbers, like another bird's nest considered a tonic, are worth a fortune in the markets of the Tianzi Empire.Goods of the first quality fetched ninety dollars a load--that's £133.50--and not only in Canton, but in Singapore, Batavia, and Manila as well.

As soon as we stepped onto the rocks on the shore, two men were left to guard the boat.Captain Lan Guy, the boatswain, Hunter, and I, accompanied by two others, set off in the direction of the center of Beni Isle. Hunter walked ahead and remained silent.I talked sometimes with Captain Lan Guy and the boatswain.Hunter seemed to be our guide.I can't help but make a few comments on this point. None of this matters.The most important thing is not to return to the ship until a comprehensive reconnaissance is completed. The land we step on is extremely dry, not suitable for growing any crops, and it is impossible to provide a source of food for people—even savages cannot live here.

Nothing grows here except a kind of prickly cactus.The requirements of the most widely adaptable ruminants may not be satisfied, so how can people live?If William Guy and his companions, having nowhere to hide after the wreck of the Jenny, had fled to this island, starvation would have destroyed the last of their lives. There is a small circular hill in the center of the island.Standing on the hill, you can have a panoramic view of the whole island.Everything I saw was deserted... maybe there were human footprints somewhere, the ashes of the stove, the collapsed thatched hut?In short, is there any physical evidence that the few people on the "Jenny" may have been preserved? ... With a strong desire to investigate carefully, we decided to start from the depths of the small bay where the boat docked, and patrol around the coast... After coming down from the hill, Hunter walked ahead again, as if it had been agreed in advance that he would lead us.He walked towards the southernmost tip of the island, and we followed him. At the end, Hunter looked around and bent down.Among the rocks he showed us a half-rotted piece of wood. "I remember! . . . " cried I. "Arthur Pym mentions this piece of wood, which seems to be from the stem of a boat, with carvings on it . . . " "My brother thinks that pattern is a turtle..." added Captain Lan Guy. "Yes," I interjected, "but, according to Arthur Pym, the resemblance is far-fetched. It doesn't matter. Since the timber is still in the place indicated in the book, it can be concluded that , since the 'Jennie' has been moored here, no crew has set foot on Beni Island. I think it is a waste of time to look for any traces here, and our attention should be concentrated on Zalar Island... " "Yes! . . . on Zalar Island!" Captain Lan Guy replied. We turned back toward the bay and followed the rocky edge near the tidal flood.In several places the rudimentary forms of coral appeared.As for sea cucumbers, there are so many of them that our brig can return with a full load. Hunter said nothing, lowered his eyes, and kept walking forward. We looked into the distance and saw only the vast sea, boundless.To the north, the mast of the "Halle Brena" was exposed, shaking slightly as the ship swayed.To the south, nothing that looked like land appeared.In any case it was impossible for us to make out Zalar Island in this direction.The island lies south of the 30-minute curvature, and is still thirty miles away. The island has been traveled all around, and the only thing left is to return to the boat and prepare to leave for Zhalal Island without hesitation. We return along the east coast beach.Hunter walked ahead, about a dozen steps away from us.Suddenly he stopped.This time, he greeted us with a hasty gesture. We quickly came to him. When he saw the board just now, he didn't show the slightest expression of surprise.This time, he knelt in front of a board discarded on the sand, but his expression changed completely.The wooden board had been damaged by moths, and he stroked it with a pair of big hands, touching it carefully, as if he wanted to feel its unevenness, and to find any meaningful imprints on the surface of the wooden board... This plank, five or six feet long by six inches wide, of oak heart, was estimated to have been of a ship of considerable size--a ship of several hundred tons, perhaps.The wind and rain have covered it with thick dirt, and the original black paint is no longer visible.More particularly, it appears to be from the stern nameplate of a large ship. The boatswain pointed this out. "Yes... yes..." Captain Lan Gay said yes again and again, "It's a part of the stern ship's name plate!" Hunter kept kneeling on the ground, nodding his head from time to time to express his agreement. "But," I answered, "this plank can only have been cast upon the Isle of Beni after a shipwreck... must have met it at sea against the current, and then..." "If this is..." cried Captain Lan Guy. The two of us agreed and thought of going to one place. Hunt showed us seven or eight letters written on the board--not painted on it, but debossed and palpable with the fingers.When we saw each other, we were shocked, dumbfounded, and the excitement in our hearts could not be described in words... The letters on the wooden board are easily identifiable, and they are two nouns, arranged in two lines: ANLIEPOLJANE LlVERPOOL! Liverpool's "Jenny"! ...the brig commanded by Captain William Guy! ... What does it matter that time has erased the rest of the alphabet? ... Wouldn't the remaining letters suffice for the ship's name and port of registry? ...the Jenny of Liverpool! ... Captain Lan Guy held the plank in his hands, pressed his lips to it, and big tears rolled down his eyes... This is the wreckage of the "Jenny", thrown around by the explosion, and brought all the way to this beach by the countercurrent or ice! ... I said nothing, and let Captain Lan Guy calm himself down. As for Hunter, I have never seen his eyes shine so brightly—his falcon eyes are shining, looking at the southern sky... Captain Lan Guy rose to his feet. Hunter was still silent, he carried the plank on his shoulders, and we continued on our way... At the end of a week around the island, we rested a bit in the depths of the bay where we left two sailors to guard the boat.Around 2:30 in the afternoon, we returned to the boat. Captain Lan Guy intended to remain at this anchorage until the next day, in the hope of a northerly or easterly wind.I hope so.Otherwise, it would be unimaginable to use a small boat to tow the "Halbrena" all the way to Zalal Island!Although the current, especially when the tide is high, is in this direction, I am afraid that two days will not be enough to cover the thirty-odd nautical miles. So we postponed our departure until sunrise.At about three o'clock in the middle of the night, a slight breeze started to blow.There was hope at last that the brig would reach the final destination of the voyage without long delay.Captain Lan Guy held the plank in his hand... At 6:30 in the morning on December 22, the "Halle Brena" was ready for everything, heading directly to the south, and left the anchorage on the small island of Beni.It is certain that we have gathered new and positive evidence of the disaster at Zalal Island. The sea wind that propels us forward, the wind is weak, and the deflated sail frequently beats the mast.Fortunately, sounding of water mounds showed that the current was extending southwards and remained unbent.The speed of progress was quite slow, and Captain Lan Gaye feared that he might not be able to identify the position of Zalar Island within thirty-six hours. On this day, I observed the sea very carefully, and I felt that it was not as blue as Arthur Pym described it. We never encountered any of the prickly clumps with red berries collected on board the Jenny.There is another animal, three feet long and six inches high, with short limbs and long coral-colored claws on its feet, a snow-white body as soft as silk, a mouse-like tail, a cat-like head, and drooping ears similar to those of a cat. Dog with bright red teeth.We haven't seen a single Antarctic monster like this.Many similar details, I have always thought it quite suspicious, I am afraid it is purely due to the instinct of too rich imagination! I sat in the stern, holding a book by Edgar Allan Poe, reading it carefully.At the same time, it's not that I didn't fail to notice that when Hunter was on duty in the deckroom, he kept watching me with an unusually persistent expression. I happened to be at the end of Chapter 17, where Arthur Pym admits that he was responsible for these "tragic and bloody events" because they were "the consequences of his advice."Indeed, it was he who made Captain William Guy from hesitation to determination, and he urged Captain William Guy to "take advantage of this attractive opportunity to solve this great problem of the Antarctic Continent!" While admitting his responsibility, On the one hand, don't you still boast about "a tool for making a great discovery"?Didn't he say, "There were many exciting mysteries that occupied his attention. From a scientific point of view, he somehow contributed to the unraveling of one of them"? ... On this day, a large number of whales played in the ocean that "Halle Brena" passed.Countless albatrosses flitted through the air, always heading south.Not a single piece of ice floe was to be seen.On the far horizon, not even the shimmering reflection of the ice sheet can be seen. The sea breeze has no tendency to intensify, and the sun is covered by clouds and fog. It was five o'clock in the afternoon when the last outline of Beni Island disappeared.It's only been a short walk since early in the morning! ... Hourly observations of the compass show negligible changes in indications—confirming what the book says.The boatswain used a long line of two hundred fathoms, and several soundings failed to reach the bottom.Fortunately the current was in such a direction that the brig could slowly head southward at half a nautical mile an hour. Just after six o'clock, the sun disappeared behind the dark fog and continued to draw its long downward spiral. The sea breeze had subsided and was almost imperceptible.We are restless and suffer from this torture.What if the delay continues, and if the wind changes occasionally?The sea here is estimated to be unable to escape the storm at all.A gust of wind would blow and throw the brig north.In that way, Hearne and his companions would "take advantage" and justify their accusation to some extent. In the second half of the night, the wind increased, and the speed of the "Halle Brena" could increase to about twelve knots. The next day, December 24th, we were at latitude 83° 2' and longitude 43° 5'. The "Halbrena" is only eighteen minutes away from the position of Zalar Island—less than one-third of a degree, that is, less than twenty nautical miles... Unfortunately, at noon, the wind died down again.Relying on the power of the water, we finally arrived at Zhalal Island at 6:45 in the evening. As soon as the anchor is dropped, the alert is high, the shells are loaded, the long guns are at hand, and the gangway nets are in place. The "Halle Brena" is not in danger of being attacked by surprise.Every eye on board was on alert—especially Hunter, whose eyes never left the horizon of this Antarctic region for a minute.