Em Tradução:A Ilha Misteriosa/Capítulo 1

by Júlio Verne

"Are we rising again?" "No. On the contrary." "Are we descending?" "Worse than that, captain! we are falling!" "For Heaven's sake heave out the ballast!" "There! the last sack is empty!" "Does the balloon rise?" "No!" "I hear a noise like the dashing of waves. The sea is below the car! It cannot be more than 500 feet from us!" "Overboard with every weight! ...everything!"

Estas foram as palavras altos e surpreendentes que ressoou através do ar, acima do vasto deserto de água do Pacífico, aproximadamente 04:00 da noite do dia 23 de março de 1865.

Poucos possivelmente podem ter esquecido a terrível tempestade do nordeste, no meio do equinócio daquele ano. A tempestade assola sem intervalo de 18 a 26 de março. Suas devastações foram terríveis na América, Europa e Ásia, cobrindo uma distância de dezoito milhas e estendendo-se obliquamente à linha da Equador desde o trigésimo-quinto norte paralelo ao quadragésimo Sul paralelo. Cidades foram destronadas, florestas desenraizadas, costas devastadas pelas montanhas de água que se precipita sobre eles, lançar sobre a terra, que as contas publicadas numeradas por centenas de embarcações, bairros inteiros nivelados por trombas que destruíram tudo passaram-se, vários mil pessoas esmagadas na terra ou se afogou no mar; tais foram os traços de sua fúria, deixado por esta tempestade devastadora. Aqueles que tão assustadoramente devastou Havana e Guadalupe, um em 25 de outubro de 1810, o outro no dia 26 de julho de 1825, que ultrapassou em desastres.

Mas enquanto tantas catástrofes foram ocorrendo em terra e no mar, um drama não menos emocionante foi sendo promulgado no ar agitado.

Na verdade, um balão, como uma bola, pode voar ao cume de uma tromba d'água, tivesse tido em movimento circular de uma coluna de ar e tinha atravessado o espaço à taxa de 90 milhas por hora, girando, girando, girando como se tomado por um turbilhão aéreo.

O ponto mais baixo do balão balançou um carro, que contém cinco passageiros, pouco visível no meio do vapor grosso misturado com spray que pairava sobre a superfície do oceano.

Como tinha chegado nesse ponto da tempestade? Em que parte do mundo ele estava? Isso certamente poderia não ter começado durante a tempestade. Mas a tempestade tinha durado cinco dias, e os primeiros sintomas foram manifestados no dia 18. Não pode ser posta em dúvida que o balão veio de muito longe, por isso não poderia ter viajado menos de 2 mil milhas em 24 horas.

De qualquer forma os passageiros, destituídos de todas as marcas em sua orientação, não possuiram o meio de acerto de contas no caminho percorrido desde a sua partida. Foi um fato notável que, embora no meio da tempestade furiosa, não sofreram com isso. Foram jogados sobre e a roda sem sentir a rotação em menor grau, ou sendo sensato, foram removidos de uma posição horizontal.

Seus olhos não poderiam perfurar através da névoa espessa que se reuniram embaixo do carro. Um vapor escuro pairou entre eles. Tal era a densidade da atmosfera que eles não podiam saber se era dia ou noite. Nenhuma luz, nenhum som da terra habitada, nenhum bramido do oceano que poderia ter alcançado, a obscuridade, enquanto suspenso nessas zonas elevadas. Sua descida rápida sozinha tinha informado-los dos perigos que corriam das ondas. No entanto, o balão, aliviado de artigos pesados, tais como munições, armas e provisões, tinha subido para as camadas superiores da atmosfera, a uma altura de 4.500 pés. Os viajantes, após ter descoberto que o mar estendido debaixo deles e pensar os perigos acima menos terrível do que aqueles abaixo, não hesitaram em lançar ao mar até mesmo seus artigos mais úteis, enquanto eles se esforçaram para perder não mais do que líquido, a vida da sua empresa, que sustentou-os acima do abismo.

The night passed in the midst of alarms which would have been death to less energetic souls. Again the day appeared and with it the tempest began to moderate. From the beginning of that day, the 24th of March, it showed symptoms of abating. At dawn, some of the lighter clouds had risen into the more lofty regions of the air. In a few hours the wind had changed from a hurricane to a fresh breeze, that is to say, the rate of the transit of the atmospheric layers was diminished by half. It was still what sailors call "a close-reefed topsail breeze," but the commotion in the elements had none the less considerably diminished.

Towards eleven o'clock, the lower region of the air was sensibly clearer. The atmosphere threw off that chilly dampness which is felt after the passage of a great meteor. The storm did not seem to have gone farther to the west. It appeared to have exhausted itself. Could it have passed away in electric sheets, as is sometimes the case with regard to the typhoons of the Indian Ocean?

But at the same time, it was also evident that the balloon was again slowly descending with a regular movement. It appeared as if it were, little by little, collapsing, and that its case was lengthening and extending, passing from a spherical to an oval form. Towards midday the balloon was hovering above the sea at a height of only 2,000 feet. It contained 50,000 cubic feet of gas, and, thanks to its capacity, it could maintain itself a long time in the air, although it should reach a great altitude or might be thrown into a horizontal position.

Perceiving their danger, the passengers cast away the last articles which still weighed down the car, the few provisions they had kept, everything, even to their pocket-knives, and one of them, having hoisted himself on to the circles which united the cords of the net, tried to secure more firmly the lower point of the balloon.

It was, however, evident to the voyagers that the gas was failing, and that the balloon could no longer be sustained in the higher regions. They must infallibly perish!

There was not a continent, nor even an island, visible beneath them. The watery expanse did not present a single speck of land, not a solid surface upon which their anchor could hold.

It was the open sea, whose waves were still dashing with tremendous violence! It was the ocean, without any visible limits, even for those whose gaze, from their commanding position, extended over a radius of forty miles. The vast liquid plain, lashed without mercy by the storm, appeared as if covered with herds of furious chargers, whose white and disheveled crests were streaming in the wind. No land was in sight, not a solitary ship could be seen. It was necessary at any cost to arrest their downward course, and to prevent the balloon from being engulfed in the waves. The voyagers directed all their energies to this urgent work. But, notwithstanding their efforts, the balloon still fell, and at the same time shifted with the greatest rapidity, following the direction of the wind, that is to say, from the northeast to the southwest.

Frightful indeed was the situation of these unfortunate men. They were evidently no longer masters of the machine. All their attempts were useless. The case of the balloon collapsed more and more. The gas escaped without any possibility of retaining it. Their descent was visibly accelerated, and soon after midday the car hung within 600 feet of the ocean.

It was impossible to prevent the escape of gas, which rushed through a large rent in the silk. By lightening the car of all the articles which it contained, the passengers had been able to prolong their suspension in the air for a few hours. But the inevitable catastrophe could only be retarded, and if land did not appear before night, voyagers, car, and balloon must to a certainty vanish beneath the waves.

They now resorted to the only remaining expedient. They were truly dauntless men, who knew how to look death in the face. Not a single murmur escaped from their lips. They were determined to struggle to the last minute, to do anything to retard their fall. The car was only a sort of willow basket, unable to float, and there was not the slightest possibility of maintaining it on the surface of the sea.

Two more hours passed and the balloon was scarcely 400 feet above the water.

At that moment a loud voice, the voice of a man whose heart was inaccessible to fear, was heard. To this voice responded others not less determined. "Is everything thrown out?" "No, here are still 2,000 dollars in gold." A heavy bag immediately plunged into the sea. "Does the balloon rise?" "A little, but it will not be long before it falls again." "What still remains to be thrown out?" "Nothing." "Yes! the car!" "Let us catch hold of the net, and into the sea with the car."

This was, in fact, the last and only mode of lightening the balloon. The ropes which held the car were cut, and the balloon, after its fall, mounted 2,000 feet. The five voyagers had hoisted themselves into the net, and clung to the meshes, gazing at the abyss.

The delicate sensibility of balloons is well known. It is sufficient to throw out the lightest article to produce a difference in its vertical position. The apparatus in the air is like a balance of mathematical precision. It can be thus easily understood that when it is lightened of any considerable weight its movement will be impetuous and sudden. So it happened on this occasion. But after being suspended for an instant aloft, the balloon began to redescend, the gas escaping by the rent which it was impossible to repair.

The men had done all that men could do. No human efforts could save them now.

They must trust to the mercy of Him who rules the elements.

At four o'clock the balloon was only 500 feet above the surface of the water.

A loud barking was heard. A dog accompanied the voyagers, and was held pressed close to his master in the meshes of the net.

"Top has seen something," cried one of the men. Then immediately a loud voice shouted,--

"Land! land!" The balloon, which the wind still drove towards the southwest, had since daybreak gone a considerable distance, which might be reckoned by hundreds of miles, and a tolerably high land had, in fact, appeared in that direction. But this land was still thirty miles off. It would not take less than an hour to get to it, and then there was the chance of falling to leeward.

An hour! Might not the balloon before that be emptied of all the fluid it yet retained?

Such was the terrible question! The voyagers could distinctly see that solid spot which they must reach at any cost. They were ignorant of what it was, whether an island or a continent, for they did not know to what part of the world the hurricane had driven them. But they must reach this land, whether inhabited or desolate, whether hospitable or not.

It was evident that the balloon could no longer support itself! Several times already had the crests of the enormous billows licked the bottom of the net, making it still heavier, and the balloon only half rose, like a bird with a wounded wing. Half an hour later the land was not more than a mile off, but the balloon, exhausted, flabby, hanging in great folds, had gas in its upper part alone. The voyagers, clinging to the net, were still too heavy for it, and soon, half plunged into the sea, they were beaten by the furious waves. The balloon-case bulged out again, and the wind, taking it, drove it along like a vessel. Might it not possibly thus reach the land?

But, when only two fathoms off, terrible cries resounded from four pairs of lungs at once. The balloon, which had appeared as if it would never again rise, suddenly made an unexpected bound, after having been struck by a tremendous sea. As if it had been at that instant relieved of a new part of its weight, it mounted to a height of 1,500 feet, and here it met a current of wind, which instead of taking it directly to the coast, carried it in a nearly parallel direction.

At last, two minutes later, it reproached obliquely, and finally fell on a sandy beach, out of the reach of the waves.

The voyagers, aiding each other, managed to disengage themselves from the meshes of the net. The balloon, relieved of their weight, was taken by the wind, and like a wounded bird which revives for an instant, disappeared into space.

But the car had contained five passengers, with a dog, and the balloon only left four on the shore.

The missing person had evidently been swept off by the sea, which had just struck the net, and it was owing to this circumstance that the lightened balloon rose the last time, and then soon after reached the land. Scarcely had the four castaways set foot on firm ground, than they all, thinking of the absent one, simultaneously exclaimed, "Perhaps he will try to swim to land! Let us save him! let us save him!"