CHAPTER 4

Journey to the coast—Troops of monkeys—A new river—The reason the tide was not felt—A woody shore—Reptile promontory— Herbert envies Gideon Spilett—Explosion of bamboos. It was six o’ clock in the morning when the settlers, after a hasty breakfast, set out to reach by the shortest way, the western coast of the island. And how long would it take to do this? Cyrus Harding had said two hours, but of course that depended on the nature of the obstacles they might meet with. As it was probable that they would h…