s, they could not even gather the means of subsistence!

"It is enough to break one's heart!" said Gideon Spilett, one day.

"Yes, Spilett," answered the engineer. "May God grant us the time to
complete this vessel, now our sole refuge!"

"Do not you think, Cyrus, that the violence of the eruption has somewhat
lessened? The volcano still vomits forth lava, but somewhat less
abundantly, if I mistake not."

"It matters little," answered Cyrus Harding. "The fire is still burning
in the interior of the mountain, and the sea may break in at any moment.
We are in the condition of passengers whose ship is devoured by a
conflagration which they cannot extinguish, and who know that sooner or
later the flames must reach the powder-magazine. To work, Spilett, to
work, and let us not lose an hour!"

During eight days more, that is to say until the 7th of February, the
lava continued to flow, but the eruption was confined within the
previous limits. Cyrus Harding feared above all lest the liquefied
matter should overflow the shore, for in that event the dockyard could
not escape. Moreover, about this time the colonists felt in the frame
of the island vibrations which alarmed them to the highest degree.

It was the 20th of February. Yet another month must elapse before the
vessel would be ready for sea. Would the island hold together till
then? The intention of Pencroft and Cyrus Harding was to launch the
vessel as soon as the hull should be complete. The deck, the
upper-works, the interior woodwork and the rigging, might be finished
afterwards, but the essential point was that the colonists should have
an assured refuge away from the island. Perhaps it might be even better
to conduct the vessel to Port Balloon, that is to say, as far as
possible from the centre of eruption, for at the mouth of the Mercy,
between the islet and the wall of granite, it would run the risk of
being crushed in the event of any convulsion. All the exertions of the
voyagers were therefore concentrated upon the completion of the hull.

Thus the 3rd of March arrived, and they might calculate upon launching
the vessel in ten days.

Hope revived in the hearts of the colonists, who had, in this fourth
year of their sojourn on Lincoln Island, suffered so many trials. Even
Pencroft lost in some measure the sombre taciturnity occasioned by the
devastation and ruin of his domain. His hopes, it is true, were
concentrated upon his vessel.

"We