This ended the conversation.  Breakfast was finished, the exploration was continued, and the settlers arrived at the border of the marshy region.  It was a marsh of which the extent, to the rounded coast which terminated the island at the southeast, was about twenty square miles.  The soil was formed of clayey flint-earth, mingled with vegetable matter, such as the remains of rushes, reeds, grass, etc.  Here and there beds of grass, thick as a carpet, covered it.  In many places icy pools sparkled in the sun.  Neither rain nor any river, increased by a sudden swelling, could supply these ponds.  They therefore naturally concluded that the marsh was fed by the infiltrations of the soil and it was really so.  It was also to be feared that during the heat miasmas would arise, which might produce fevers.

Above the aquatic plants, on the surface of the stagnant water, fluttered numbers of birds.  Wild duck, teal, snipe lived there in flocks, and those fearless birds allowed themselves to be easily approached.

One shot from a gun would certainly have brought down some dozen of the birds, they were so close together.  The explorers were, however, obliged to content themselves with bows and arrows.  The result was less, but the silent arrow had the advantage of not frightening the birds, while the noise of firearms would have dispersed them to all parts of the marsh.  The hunters were satisfied, for this time, with a dozen ducks, which had white bodies with a band of cinnamon, a green head, wings black, white, and red, and flattened beak.  Herbert called them tadorns.  Top helped in the capture of these birds, whose name was given to this marshy part of the island.  The settlers had here an abundant reserve of aquatic game.  At some future time they meant to explore it more carefully, and it was probable that some of the birds there might be domesticated, or at least brought to the shores of the lake, so that they would be more within their reach.

About five o’clock in the evening Cyrus Harding and his companions retraced their steps to their dwelling by traversing Tadorn’s Fens, and crossed the Mercy on the ice-bridge.

At eight in the evening they all entered Granite House.

Chapter 22

This intense cold lasted till the 15th of August, without, however, passing the degree of Fahrenheit already mentioned.  When the atmosphere was calm, the low temperature was easily borne, but when the wind blew, the poor settlers, insufficiently clothed, felt it severely.  Pencroft regretted that Lincoln Island was not the home of a few families of bears rather than of so many foxes and seals.

“Bears,” said he, “are generally very well dressed, and I ask no more than to borrow for the winter the warm cloaks which they have on their backs.”

“But,” replied Neb, laughing, “perhaps the bears would not consent to give you their cloaks, Pencroft.  These beasts are not St. Martins.”