Godfrey Morgan: A Californian Mystery - free ebook by Jules Verne

JULES VERNE

AUTHOR'S COPYRIGHT EDITION LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON &amp; COMPANY, Limited ....

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CHAPTER I.

"An island to sell, for cash, to the highest bidder!" said Dean Felporg, the auctioneer, standing behind his rostrum in the room where the conditions of the singular sale were being noisily discussed. "Island for sale! island for sale!" repeated in shrill tones again and again Gingrass, the crier, who was threading his way in and out of the excited crowd closely packed inside the largest saloon in the auction mart at No. 10, Sacramento Street. The crowd consisted not only of a goodly number of A

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CHAPTER II.

A man extraordinarily rich, who counted dollars by the million as other men do by the thousand; such was William W. Kolderup. People said he was richer than the Duke of Westminster, whose income is some $4,000,000 a year, and who can spend his $10,000 a day, or seven dollars every minute; richer than Senator Jones, of Nevada, who has $35,000,000 in the funds; richer than Mr. Mackay himself, whose annual $13,750,000 give him $1560 per hour, or half-a-dollar to spend every second of his life. I do

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CHAPTER III.

William W. Kolderup had returned to his mansion in Montgomery Street. This thoroughfare is the Regent Street, the Broadway, the Boulevard des Italiens of San Francisco. Throughout its length, the great artery which crosses the city parallel with its quays is astir with life and movement; trams there are innumerable; carriages with horses, carriages with mules; men bent on business, hurrying to and fro over its stone pavements, past shops thronged with customers; men bent on pleasure, crowding th

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CHAPTER IV.

If T. Artelett had been a Parisian, his compatriots would not have failed to nickname him Tartlet, but as he had already received this title we do not hesitate to describe him by it. If Tartlet was not a Frenchman he ought to have been one. In his "Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem," Chateaubriand tells of a little man "powdered and frizzed in the old-fashioned style, with a coat of apple green, a waistcoat of drouget, shirt-frill and cuffs of muslin, who scraped a violin and made the Iroquois dan

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CHAPTER V.

Before the long voyage together through life, which men call marriage, Godfrey then was to make the tour of the world—a journey sometimes even more dangerous. But he reckoned on returning improved in every respect; he left a lad, he would return a man. He would have seen, noted, compared. His curiosity would be satisfied. There would only remain for him to settle down quietly, and live happily at home with his wife, whom no temptation would take him from. Was he wrong or right? Was he to learn a

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CHAPTER VI.

The voyage had begun. There had not been much difficulty so far, it must be admitted. Professor Tartlet, with incontestable logic, often repeated,— "Any voyage can begin! But where and how it finishes is the important point." The cabin occupied by Godfrey was below the poop of the Dream and opened on to the dining-saloon. Our young traveller was lodged there as comfortably as possible. He had given Phina's photograph the best place on the best lighted panel of his room. A cot to sleep on, a lava

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CHAPTER VII.

During the following days, the 13th, 14th, and 15th of June, the barometer slowly fell, without an attempt to rise in the slightest degree, and the weather became variable, hovering between rain and wind or storm. The breeze strengthened considerably, and changed to south-westerly. It was a head-wind for the Dream , and the waves had now increased enormously, and lifted her forward. The sails were all furled, and she had to depend on her screw alone; under half steam, however, so as to avoid exc

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CHAPTER VIII.

Three long hours had still to pass before the sun reappeared above the horizon. These were such hours that they might rather be called centuries. The trial was a rough one to begin with, but, we repeat, Godfrey had not come out for a simple promenade. He himself put it very well when he said he had left behind him quite a lifetime of happiness and repose, which he would never find again in his search for adventures. He tried his utmost therefore to rise to the situation. He was, temporarily, und

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CHAPTER IX.

That done, the professor and his pupil rushed into one another's arms. "My dear Godfrey!" exclaimed Tartlet. "My good Tartlet!" replied Godfrey. "At last we are arrived in port!" observed the professor in the tone of a man who had had enough of navigation and its accidents. He called it arriving in port! Godfrey had no desire to contradict him. "Take off your life-belt," he said. "It suffocates you and hampers your movements." "Do you think I can do so without inconvenience?" asked Tartlet. "Wit

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CHAPTER X.

The night passed without incident. The two men, quite knocked up with excitement and fatigue, had slept as peacefully as if they had been in the most comfortable room in the mansion in Montgomery Street. On the morrow, the 27th of June, at the first rays of the rising sun, the crow of the cock awakened them. Godfrey immediately recognized where he was, but Tartlet had to rub his eyes and stretch his arms for some time before he did so. "Is breakfast this morning to resemble dinner yesterday?" wa

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CHAPTER XI.

The day was already far advanced. Godfrey resolved to defer till the morrow the task of proceeding to a new abode. But to the pressing questions which the professor propounded on the results of his exploration he ended by replying that it was an island, Phina Island, on which they both had been cast, and that they must think of the means of living before dreaming of the means of departing. "An island!" exclaimed Tartlet. "Yes! It is an island!" "Which the sea surrounds?" "Naturally." "But what i

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CHAPTER XII.

It must be acknowledged that Godfrey was in a fair way to become a new man in this completely novel position to one so frivolous, so light-minded, and so thoughtless. He had hitherto only had to allow himself to live. Never had care for the morrow disquieted his rest. In the opulent mansion in Montgomery Street, where he slept his ten hours without a break, not the fall of a rose leaf had ever troubled his slumbers. It was so no longer. On this unknown land he found himself thoroughly shut off f

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CHAPTER XIII.

That was a storm which came just when it was wanted! Godfrey and Tartlet had not, like Prometheus, to venture into space to bring down the celestial fire! "It was," said Tartlet, "as if the sky had been obliging enough to send it down to them on a lightning flash." With them now remained the task of keeping it! "No! we must not let it go out!" Godfrey had said. "Not until the wood fails us to feed it!" had responded Tartlet, whose satisfaction showed itself in little cries of joy. "Yes! but who

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CHAPTER XIV.

To put up with what you cannot avoid is a philosophical principle, that may not perhaps lead you to the accomplishment of great deeds, but is assuredly eminently practical. On this principle Godfrey had resolved to act for the future. If he had to live in this island, the wisest thing for him to do was to live there as comfortably as possible until an opportunity offered for him to leave it. And so, without delay, he set to work to get the interior of Will Tree into some order. Cleanliness was o

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CHAPTER XV.

And now the future looked less gloomy. But if Tartlet saw in the possession of the instruments, the tools, and the weapons only the means of making their life of isolation a little more agreeable, Godfrey was already thinking of how to escape from Phina Island. Could he not now construct a vessel strong enough to enable them to reach if not some neighbouring land, at least some ship passing within sight of the island? Meanwhile the weeks which followed were principally spent in carrying out not

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CHAPTER XVI.

To Godfrey the blow was serious. Would this unexpected chance which had just escaped him ever offer again? Could he hope so? No! The indifference of the steamer as she passed in sight of the island, without even taking a look at it, was obviously shared in by all the vessels venturing in this deserted portion of the Pacific. Why should they put into port more than she had done? The island did not possess a single harbour. Godfrey passed a sorrowful night. Every now and then jumping up as if he h

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CHAPTER XVII.

But Godfrey suddenly uttered an exclamation which made the professor jump. There could be no doubt that the savages knew the island was inhabited, for the flag hitherto hoisted at the extremity of the cape had been carried away by them and no longer floated on the mast at Flag Point. The moment had then come to put the project into execution, to reconnoitre if the savages were still in the island, and to see what they were doing. "Let us go," said he to his companion. "Go! But—" answered Tartlet

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CHAPTER XVIII.

Godfrey at once raised the poor fellow, who lay prostrate before him. He looked in his face. He was a man of thirty-five or more, wearing only a rag round his loins. In his features, as in the shape of his head, there could be recognized the type of the African negro. It was not possible to confound him with the debased wretches of the Polynesian islands, who, with their depressed crania and elongated arms, approach so strangely to the monkey. Now, as he was a negro from Soudan or Abyssinia who

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CHAPTER XIX.

The presence of a formidable wild beast in Phina Island was, it must be confessed, calculated to make our friends think the worst of the ill-fortune which had fallen on them. Godfrey—perhaps he was wrong—did not consider that he ought to hide from Tartlet what had passed. "A bear!" screamed the professor, looking round him with a bewildered glare as if the environs of Will Tree were being assailed by a herd of wild beasts. "Why, a bear? Up to now we had not even got a bear in our island! If ther

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CHAPTER XX.

When Tartlet learnt that there were not only bears in the island, but tigers too, his lamentations again arose. Now he would never dare to go out! The wild beasts would end by discovering the road to Will Tree! There was no longer any safety anywhere! In his alarm the professor wanted for his protection quite a fortification! Yes! Stone walls with scarps and counterscarps, curtains and bastions, and ramparts, for what was the use of a shelter under a group of sequoias? Above all things, he would

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CHAPTER XXI.

The winter season, so severe in these latitudes, had come at last. The first frosts had already been felt, and there was every promise of rigorous weather. Godfrey was to be congratulated on having established his fireplace in the tree. It need scarcely be said that the work at the palisade had been completed, and that a sufficiently solid door now assured the closure of the fence. During the six weeks which followed, that is to say, until the middle of December, there had been a good many wretc

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CHAPTER XXII.

At that instant, and before Godfrey could reply, the report of fire-arms was heard not far from Will Tree. At the same time one of those rain storms, regular cataracts in their fury, fell in a torrential shower just as the flames devouring the lower branches were threatening to seize upon the trees against which Will Tree was resting. What was Godfrey to think after this series of inexplicable events? Carefinotu speaking English like a cockney, calling him by his name, announcing the early arriv

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