However, it was not Neb’s speech which interrupted the conversation, but Top’s barking, which broke out again with that strange intonation which had before perplexed the engineer.  At the same time Top began to run round the mouth of the well, which opened at the extremity of the interior passage.

“What can Top be barking in that way for?” asked Pencroft.

“And Jup be growling like that?” added Herbert.

In fact the orang, joining the dog, gave unequivocal signs of agitation, and, singular to say, the two animals appeared more uneasy than angry.

“It is evident,” said Gideon Spilett, “that this well is in direct communication with the sea, and that some marine animal comes from time to time to breathe at the bottom.”

“That’s evident,” replied the sailor, “and there can be no other explanation to give.  Quiet there, Top!” added Pencroft, turning to the dog, “and you, Jup, be off to your room!”

The ape and the dog were silent.  Jup went off to bed, but Top remained in the room, and continued to utter low growls at intervals during the rest of the evening.  There was no further talk on the subject, but the incident, however, clouded the brow of the engineer.

During the remainder of the month of July there was alternate rain and frost.  The temperature was not so low as during the preceding winter, and its maximum did not exceed eight degrees Fahrenheit.  But although this winter was less cold, it was more troubled by storms and squalls; the sea besides often endangered the safety of the Chimneys.  At times it almost seemed as if an under-current raised these monstrous billows which thundered against the wall of Granite House.

When the settlers, leaning from their windows, gazed on the huge watery masses breaking beneath their eyes, they could not but admire the magnificent spectacle of the ocean in its impotent fury.  The waves rebounded in dazzling foam, the beach entirely disapppearing under the raging flood, and the cliff appearing to emerge from the sea itself, the spray rising to a height of more than a hundred feet.

During these storms it was difficult and even dangerous to venture out, owing to the frequently falling trees; however, the colonists never allowed a week to pass without having paid a visit to the corral.  Happily, this enclosure, sheltered by the southeastern spur of Mount Franklin, did not greatly suffer from the violence of the hurricanes, which spared its trees, sheds, and palisades; but the poultry-yard on Prospect Heights, being directly exposed to the gusts of wind from the east, suffered considerable damage.  The pigeon-house was twice unroofed and the paling blown down.  All this required to be remade more solidly than before, for, as may be clearly seen, Lincoln Island was situated in one of the most dangerous parts of the Pacific.  It really appeared as if it formed the central point of vast cyclones, which beat it perpetually as the whip does the top, only here it was the top which was motionless and the whip which moved.  During the first week of the month of August the weather became more moderate, and the atmosphere recovered the calm which it appeared to have lost forever.  With the calm the cold again became intense, and the thermometer fell to eight degrees Fahrenheit, below zero.