Chapter 31

CHAPTER 9

The weather changed during the first week of March. There had been a full
moon at the commencement of the month, and the heat was excessive. The
atmosphere was felt to be full of electricity, and a period of some length
of tempestuous weather was to be feared.

Indeed, on the 2nd, peals of thunder were heard, the wind blew from the
east, and hail rattled against the facade of Granite House like volleys of
grape-shot. The door and windows were immediately closed, or everything in
the rooms would have been drenched. On seeing these hailstones, some of
which were the size of a pigeon's egg, Pencroft's first thought was that
his cornfield was in serious danger.

He directly rushed to his field, where little green heads were already
appearing, and by means of a great cloth, he managed to protect his crop.

This bad weather lasted a week, during which time the thunder rolled
without cessation in the depths of the sky.

The colonists, not having any pressing work out of doors, profited by the
bad weather to work at the interior of Granite House, the arrangement of
which was becoming more complete from day to day. The engineer made a
turning-lathe, with which he turned several articles both for the toilet
and the kitchen, particularly buttons, the want of which was greatly felt.
A gunrack had been made for the firearms, which were kept with extreme
care, and neither tables nor cupboards were left incomplete. They sawed,
they planed, they filed, they turned; and during the whole of this bad
season, nothing was heard but the grinding of tools or the humming of the
turning-lathe which responded to the growling of the thunder.

Master Jup had not been forgotten, and he occupied a room at the back,
near the storeroom, a sort of cabin with a cot always full of good litter,
which perfectly suited his taste.

"With good old Jup there is never any quarreling," often repeated
Pencroft, "never any improper reply. What a servant, Neb, what a servant!"

Of course Jup was now well used to service. He brushed their clothes, he
turned the spit, he waited at table, he swept the rooms, he gathered wood,
and he performed another admirable piece of service which delighted
Pencroft--he never went to sleep without first coming to tuck up the worthy
sailor in his bed.

As to the health of the members of the colony, bipeds or bimana,
quadrumana or quadrupeds, it left nothing to be desired. With their life in
the open air, on this salubrious soil, under that temperate zone, working
both with head and hands, they could not suppose that illness would ever
attack them.

All were indeed wonderfully well. Herbert had already grown two inches in
the year. His figure was forming and becoming