e, and it may be supposed that no one
thought of counting whether the four hundred thousand millions of
grains duly appeared in the crop. However, Pencroft had thought of
doing so, but Cyrus Harding having told him that even if he managed to
count three hundred grains a minute, or nine thousand an hour, it
would take him nearly five thousand five hundred years to finish his
task, the honest sailor considered it best to give up the idea.

The weather was splendid, the temperature very warm in the day time;
but in the evening the sea-breezes tempered the heat of the atmosphere
and procured cool nights for the inhabitants of Granite House. There
were, however, a few storms, which, although they were not of long
duration, swept over Lincoln Island with extraordinary fury. The
lightning blazed and the thunder continued to roll for some hours.

At this period the little colony was extremely prosperous.

The tenants of the poultry-yard swarmed, and they lived on the
surplus, but it became necessary to reduce the population to a more
moderate number. The pigs had already produced young, and it may be
understood that their care for those animals absorbed a great part of
Neb and Pencroft's time. The onagas, who had two pretty colts, were
most often mounted by Gideon Spilett and Herbert, who had become an
excellent rider under the reporter's instruction, and they also
harnessed them to the cart either for carrying wood and coal to
Granite House, or different mineral productions required by the
engineer.

Several expeditions were made about this time into the depths of the
Far West Forests. The explorers could venture there without having
anything to fear from the heat, for the sun's rays scarcely penetrated
through the thick foliage spreading above their heads. They thus
visited all the left bank of the Mercy, along which ran the road from
the corral to the mouth of Falls River.

But in these excursions the settlers took care to be well armed, for
they frequently met with savage wild boars, with which they often had
a tussle. They also, during this season, made fierce war against the
jaguars. Gideon Spilett had vowed a special hatred against them, and
his pupil Herbert seconded him well. Armed as they were, they no
longer feared to meet one of those beasts. Herbert's courage was
superb, and the reporter's _sang froid_ astonishing. Already twenty
magnificent skins ornamented the dining-room of Granite House, and if
this conti