Chapter 20

CHAPTER 20

The winter season set in with the month of June, which corresponds with the
month of December in the Northern Hemisphere. It began with showers and
squalls, which succeeded each other without intermission. The tenants of
Granite House could appreciate the advantages of a dwelling which sheltered
them from the inclement weather. The Chimneys would have been quite
insufficient to protect them against the rigor of winter, and it was to be
feared that the high tides would make another irruption. Cyrus Harding had
taken precautions against this contingency, so as to preserve as much as
possible the forge and furnace which were established there.

During the whole of the month of June the time was employed in different
occupations, which excluded neither hunting nor fishing, the larder being,
therefore, abundantly supplied. Pencroft, so soon as he had leisure,
proposed to set some traps, from which he expected great results. He soon
made some snares with creepers, by the aid of which the warren henceforth
every day furnished its quota of rodents. Neb employed nearly all his time
in salting or smoking meat, which insured their always having plenty of
provisions. The question of clothes was now seriously discussed, the
settlers having no other garments than those they wore when the balloon
threw them on the island. These clothes were warm and good; they had taken
great care of them as well as of their linen, and they were perfectly
whole, but they would soon need to be replaced. Moreover, if the winter was
severe, the settlers would suffer greatly from cold.

On this subject the ingenuity of Harding was at fault. They must provide
for their most pressing wants, settle their dwelling, and lay in a store of
food; thus the cold might come upon them before the question of clothes had
been settled. They must therefore make up their minds to pass this first
winter without additional clothing. When the fine season came round again,
they would regularly hunt those musmons which had been seen on the
expedition to Mount Franklin, and the wool once collected, the engineer
would know how to make it into strong warm stuff.... How? He would
consider.

"Well, we are free to roast ourselves at Granite House!" said Pencroft.
"There are heaps of fuel, and no reason for sparing it."

"Besides," added Gideon Spilett, "Lincoln Island is not situated under a
very high latitude, and probably the winters here are not severe. Did you
not say, Cyrus, that this thirty-fifth parallel corresponded to that of
Spain in the other hemisphere?"

"Doubtless," replied the engineer, "but some winters in Spain are very
cold! No want of snow and ice; and perhaps Lincoln Island is just as
rigourously tried. However, it is