Five days had passed when a partial clearing allowed them to see the wide extending ocean beneath their feet, now lashed into the maddest fury by the gale.

Our readers will recollect what befell these five daring individuals who set out on their hazardous expedition in the balloon on the 20th of March.  Five days afterwards four of them were thrown on a desert coast, seven thousand miles from their country!  But one of their number was missing, the man who was to be their guide, their leading spirit, the engineer, Captain Harding!  The instant they had recovered their feet, they all hurried to the beach in the hopes of rendering him assistance.

Chapter 3

The engineer, the meshes of the net having given way, had been carried off by a wave.  His dog also had disappeared.  The faithful animal had voluntarily leaped out to help his master.  “Forward,” cried the reporter; and all four, Spilett, Herbert, Pencroft, and Neb, forgetting their fatigue, began their search.  Poor Neb shed bitter tears, giving way to despair at the thought of having lost the only being he loved on earth.

Only two minutes had passed from the time when Cyrus Harding disappeared to the moment when his companions set foot on the ground.  They had hopes therefore of arriving in time to save him.  “Let us look for him! let us look for him!” cried Neb.

“Yes, Neb,” replied Gideon Spilett, “and we will find him too!”

“Living, I trust!”

“Still living!”

“Can he swim?” asked Pencroft.

“Yes,” replied Neb, “and besides, Top is there.”

The sailor, observing the heavy surf on the shore, shook his head.

The engineer had disappeared to the north of the shore, and nearly half a mile from the place where the castaways had landed.  The nearest point of the beach he could reach was thus fully that distance off.

It was then nearly six o’clock.  A thick fog made the night very dark.  The castaways proceeded toward the north of the land on which chance had thrown them, an unknown region, the geographical situation of which they could not even guess.  They were walking upon a sandy soil, mingled with stones, which appeared destitute of any sort of vegetation.  The ground, very unequal and rough, was in some places perfectly riddled with holes, making walking extremely painful.  From these holes escaped every minute great birds of clumsy flight, which flew in all directions.  Others, more active, rose in flocks and passed in clouds over their heads.  The sailor thought he recognized gulls and cormorants, whose shrill cries rose above the roaring of the sea.

From time to time the castaways stopped and shouted, then listened for some response from the ocean, for they thought that if the engineer had landed, and they had been near to the place, they would have heard the barking of the dog Top, even should Harding himself have been unable to give any sign of existence.  They stopped to listen, but no sound arose above the roaring of the waves and the dashing of the surf.  The little band then continued their march forward, searching into every hollow of the shore.