Таинственный остров / The Mysterious Island. Уровень 2

Then he said:

– Tomorrow will be one of the four days in the year when the mean and real time are the same. Tomorrow the sun will pass the meridian. If, therefore, the weather is clear, I think I will be able to tell the longitude of the island.

The next day the engineer began his astronomical observation. He chose a smooth dry place upon the sand. Smith knelt down upon the sand and began to mark the decrease in the length of the shadow. His companions watched the operation with interest.

The shadow diminished little by little.

When it began to lengthen Smith exclaimed:

– We are at least 1,200 miles from Tahiti[43 - Tahiti – Таити] and from the Low Archipelago, fully 1,800 miles from New Zealand[44 - New Zealand – Новая Зеландия], and more than 4,500 miles from the coast of America.

But Cyrus Smith did not remember any island in the Pacific which occupied the position of Lincoln Island.

Chapter XIV

One day the engineer proposed to explore the eastern and western shores of the lake.

The landscape was charming. Smith and his companions moved over this unexplored neighborhood. Bows and arrows and sticks were their sole weapons.

They soon reached the mouth of Red Creek. On this side the bank, clumps of trees, here and there, made a picturesque landscape. The whole extent of the lake was visible. The colonists were following the southern bank of the lake, when Top suddenly stopped. It raised one foot, and looked into the water. Then it barked furiously.

At first neither Smith nor his companions paid any attention to the dog’s actions. But Top’s barking became incessant.

– What is it, Top? – asked the engineer.

The dog bounded towards his master and rushed back to the bank. Then, suddenly, it threw himself into the lake.

– Come back, Top! – cried the engineer.

– What’s going on under there? – asked the sailor. He was examining the surface of the lake.

– Top smelt some animal, – answered Herbert.

– It must be an alligator, – said the reporter.

– I don’t think so, – answered Smith. – Alligators do not live in this latitude.

Smith called the dog again. Suddenly an enormous head emerged from the water.

Herbert recognized it, the comical face, with huge eyes and long silky moustaches. It was a dugong[45 - dugong – дюгонь ( род водных травоядных млекопитающих отряда сирен )].