"If he is dead," added Pencroft, in a peculiar tone.
"Do you hope, then, Pencroft, that the villians have spared him?" asked Gideon Spilett.
"Yes, if they had any interest in doing so."
"What! you suppose that Ayrton, finding his old companions, forgetting all that he owes us———"
"Who knows?" answered the sailor, though he did not hazard this shameful supposition without hesitating.
"Pencroft," said Harding, taking the sailor's arm, "that is a wicked idea of yours, and you will distress me much if you persist in it. I will answer for Ayrton's fidelity."
"And I also," added the reporter quickly.
"Yes, yes, captain, I was wrong," replied Pencroft, "it was a wicked idea, and nothing justifies it. But what can I do? I'm not in my senses. This imprisonment worries me horribly, and I have never felt so restless."
"Be patient, Pencroft," replied the engineer. "How long will it be, my dear Spilett, before you think Herbert may be carried to Granite House?"
"That is difficult to say, Cyrus," answered the reporter, "for any imprudence might involve terrible consequences. But his convalescence is progressing, and if he continues to gain strength, in eight days from now—well, we shall see."
Eight days! That would put off the return to Granite House until the first days of December. At this time two months of spring had already passed. The weather was fine, but the heat began to be great. The forests of the island were in full leaf, and the time was approaching when the usual crops ought to be gathered. The return to the plateau of Prospect Heights would, therefore, be followed by extensive agricultural labors, interrupted only by the projected expedition through the island. It can, therefore, be well understood how injurious their seclusion seemed to the colonists.
They were compelled to bow before necessity, but they did not do so without impatience. Once or twice the reporter ventured out into the road and made the tour of the palisade. Top accompanied him, and Gideon Spilett, his gun cocked, was ready for any emergency.
He met with no misadventure and found no suspicious traces. His dog would have warned him of any danger, and, as Top did not bark, it might be concluded that there
