Таинственный остров / Mysterious Island

The sky overhead was extremely bright and clear. A perfect calm reigned around them. The sun was hidden by the upper mountain, which cast its shadow westward to the edge of the sea.

There were only 500 feet between the explorers and the plateau where they meant to encamp for the night. Little by little the evening set in, and it was almost night when the party, tired out by a seven hours’ climb, arrived at the top of the first cone.

Now they must pitch their camp, and think of supper and sleep. The sailor built up a fireplace with huge stones, while Neb and Herbert went after the combustibles[46 - went after the combustibles – отправились за дровами].

They soon came back with a load of thistles.

The night was beautiful and still; and not yet very dark. They walked together in silence. Sometimes the plateau was wide and easy, sometimes very encumbered with rubbish. There were yet 1,000 feet to climb. Fortunately, the long and sinuous declivities described a winding staircase, and greatly helped their ascent.

The volcano was not only quiet, but extinct.

It was nearly 8 o’clock when they set foot on the summit[47 - set foot on the summit – вышли на вершину] of the cone. The darkness was by this time complete, and they could hardly see a couple of miles around them. Was the land an island, or the eastern extremity of a continent? They could not yet discover. At one point of the horizon suddenly appeared a vague light, which slowly sank as the clouds mounted to the zenith.

The line of the horizon was now cloudless, and as the moon touched it, the engineer seized the boy’s hand.

“An island!” said he.

Chapter XI

A half hour later they walked back to the camp. The land was an island, and tomorrow they would consider what to do.

The next day, March 30, after a hurried breakfast, they started out for the summit of the volcano. All desired to see the isle on which perhaps they were to spend their lives.

It was about 7 o’clock in the morning when they left the camp.

“Bah!” said Pencroff, “we got out of Richmond without the permission of the authorities, and it will be strange if we can’t get away some time from this place!”

It was a superb day, and the southern side of the mountain was bathed in sunlight. The crater was a huge shaft gradually opening to a height of 1,000 feet above the plateau. The interior of the crater was easily scaled.