The next day, the 20th of October, at seven o’clock in the morning, after a voyage of four days, the "Bonadventure" gently glided up to the beach at the mouth of the Mercy.
Cyrus Harding and Neb, who had become very uneasy at the bad weather and the prolonged absence of their companions, had climbed at daybreak to the plateau of Prospect Heights, and they had at last caught sight of the vessel which had been so long in returning.
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“谢天谢地!他们到底回来了!”赛勒斯·史密斯大声说。
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"God be praised! there they are!" exclaimed Cyrus Harding.
As to Neb in his joy, he began to dance, to twirl round, clapping his hands and shouting, "Oh! my master!" A more touching pantomime than the finest discourse.
The engineer’s first idea, on counting the people on the deck of the "Bonadventure," was that Pencroft had not found the castaway of Tabor Island, or at any rate that the unfortunate man had refused to leave his island and change one prison for another.
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果然,乘风破浪号的甲板上只有潘克洛夫、吉丁·史佩莱和赫伯特三个人。
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Indeed Pencroft, Gideon Spilett, and Herbert were alone on the deck of the "Bonadventure."
The moment the vessel touched, the engineer and Neb were waiting on the beach, and before the passengers had time to leap on to the sand, Harding said: "We have been very uneasy at your delay, my friends! Did you meet with any accident?"
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“没有,”吉丁·史佩莱答道;“相反的,一切都很顺利。经过的情况我们全都要告诉你们的。”
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"No," replied Gideon Spilett; "on the contrary, everything went wonderfully well. We will tell you all about it."
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“可是,”工程师说,“你们的搜索却没有成功,去的时候是三个人,回来还是三个人!”
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"However," returned the engineer, "your search has been unsuccessful, since you are only three, just as you went!"
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“对不起,史密斯先生,”水手说,“我们是四个人。”
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"Excuse me, captain," replied the sailor, "we are four."
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“你们找到遇难的人了吗?”
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"You have found the castaway?"
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“是的。”
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"Yes."
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“你们把他带回来了吗?”
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"And you have brought him?"
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“是的。”
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"Yes."
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“活的吗?”
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"Living?"
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“是的。”
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"Yes."
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“他在哪儿?是什么人?”
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"Where is he? Who is he?"
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“他是,”通讯记者答道,“说得更正确些,他过去是一个人!赛勒斯,我们所能答复你的只能是这样!”
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"He is," replied the reporter, "or rather he was a man! There, Cyrus, that is all we can tell you!"
The engineer was then informed of all that had passed during the voyage, and under what conditions the search had been conducted; how the only dwelling in the island had long been abandoned; how at last a castaway had been captured, who appeared no longer to belong to the human species.
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“问题就在这儿,”潘克洛夫接着说,“我不知道我们该不该把他带回来。”
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"And that’s just the point," added Pencroft, "I don’t know if we have done right to bring him here."
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“当然应该,潘克洛夫。”工程师很快地说。
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"Certainly you have, Pencroft," replied the engineer quickly.
"That is possible at present," replied Cyrus Harding, "but only a few months ago the wretched creature was a man like you and me. And who knows what will become of the survivor of us after a long solitude on this island? It is a great misfortune to be alone, my friends; and it must be believed that solitude can quickly destroy reason, since you have found this poor creature in such a state!"
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“可是,史密斯先生,”赫伯特问道,“你怎么会认为这个不幸的人是最近几个月才变得这么野蛮的呢?”
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"But, captain," asked Herbert, "what leads you to think that the brutishness of the unfortunate man began only a few months back?"
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“因为我们发现的那张纸条是最近才写的,”工程师答道,“而写这张纸条的又只能是这个遇难的人。”
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"Because the document we found had been recently written," answered the engineer, "and the castaway alone can have written it."
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“也可能是这个人的一个已经死了的伙伴写的。”吉丁·史佩莱说。
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"Always supposing," observed Gideon Spilett, "that it had not been written by a companion of this man, since dead."
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“那是不可能的,亲爱的史佩莱。”
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"That is impossible, my dear Spilett."
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“为什么?”通讯记者问道。
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"Why so?" asked the reporter.
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“如果是那样的话,纸条上就会提到有两个遇难的人了。”史密斯答道,“可是它只提到一个人。”
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"Because the document would then have spoken of two castaways," replied Harding, "and it mentioned only one."
Herbert then in a few words related the incidents of the voyage, and dwelt on the curious fact of the sort of passing gleam in the prisoner’s mind, when for an instant in the height of the storm he had become a sailor.
"Well, Herbert," replied the engineer, "you are right to attach great importance to this fact. The unfortunate man cannot be incurable, and despair has made him what he is; but here he will find his fellow-men, and since there is still a soul in him, this soul we shall save!"
The castaway of Tabor Island, to the great pity of the engineer and the great astonishment of Neb, was then brought from the cabin which he occupied in the fore part of the "Bonadventure"; when once on land he manifested a wish to run away.
But Cyrus Harding approaching, placed his hand on his shoulder with a gesture full of authority, and looked at him with infinite tenderness. Immediately the unhappy man, submitting to a superior will, gradually became calm, his eyes fell, his head bent, and he made no more resistance.
Cyrus Harding had attentively observed him. To judge by his appearance this miserable being had no longer anything human about him, and yet Harding, as had the reporter already, observed in his look an indefinable trace of intelligence.
It was decided that the castaway, or rather the stranger as he was thenceforth termed by his companions, should live in one of the rooms of Granite House, from which, however, he could not escape. He was led there without difficulty, and with careful attention, it might, perhaps, be hoped that some day he would be a companion to the settlers in Lincoln Island.
Cyrus Harding, during breakfast, which Neb had hastened to prepare, as the reporter, Herbert, and Pencroft were dying of hunger, heard in detail all the incidents which had marked the voyage of exploration to the islet. He agreed with his friends on this point, that the stranger must be either English or American, the name Britannia leading them to suppose this, and, besides, through the bushy beard, and under the shaggy, matted hair, the engineer thought he could recognize the characteristic features of the Anglo-Saxon.
"But, by the bye," said Gideon Spilett, addressing Herbert, "you never told us how you met this savage, and we know nothing, except that you would have been strangled, if we had not happened to come up in time to help you!"
"Upon my word," answered Herbert, "it is rather difficult to say how it happened. I was, I think, occupied in collecting my plants, when I heard a noise like an avalanche falling from a very tall tree. I scarcely had time to look round. This unfortunate man, who was without doubt concealed in a tree, rushed upon me in less time than I take to tell you about it, and unless Mr. Spilett and Pencroft--"
"My boy!" said Cyrus Harding, "you ran a great danger, but, perhaps, without that, the poor creature would have still hidden himself from your search, and we should not have had a new companion."
The capture of pigs, made on the islet, was looked upon as being very profitable to Lincoln Island, and the animals were led to the sty, where they soon became at home.
The two barrels, containing the powder and shot, as well as the box of caps, were very welcome. It was agreed to establish a small powder- magazine, either outside Granite House or in the Upper Cavern, where there would be no fear of explosion. However, the use of pyroxyle was to be continued, for this substance giving excellent results, there was no reason for substituting ordinary powder.