What was he to do? asked poor Neb.  Personally he had nothing to fear, for the convicts could not reach him in Granite House.  But the buildings, the plantations, all their arrangements at the mercy of the pirates!  Would it not be best to let Cyrus Harding judge of what he ought to do, and to warn him, at least, of the danger which threatened him?

Neb then thought of employing Jup, and confiding a note to him.  He knew the orang’s great intelligence, which had been often put to the proof.  Jup understood the word corral, which had been frequently pronounced before him, and it may be remembered, too, that he had often driven the cart thither in company with Pencroft.  Day had not yet dawned.  The active orang would know how to pass unperceived through the woods, of which the convicts, besides, would think he was a native.

Neb did not hesitate.  He wrote the note, he tied it to Jup’s neck, he brought the ape to the door of Granite House, from which he let down a long cord to the ground; then, several times he repeated these words,—­

“Jup Jup! corral, corral!”

The creature understood, seized the cord, glided rapidly down the beach, and disappeared in the darkness without the convicts’ attention having been in the least excited.

“You did well, Neb,” said Harding, “but perhaps in not warning us you would have done still better!”

And, in speaking thus, Cyrus Harding thought of Herbert, whose recovery the removal had so seriously checked.

Neb ended his account.  The convicts had not appeared at all on the beach.  Not knowing the number of the island’s inhabitants, they might suppose that Granite House was defended by a large party.  They must have remembered that during the attack by the brig numerous shot had been fired both from the lower and upper rocks, and no doubt they did not wish to expose themselves.  But the plateau of Prospect Heights was open to them, and not covered by the fire of Granite House.  They gave themselves up, therefore, to their instinct of destruction,—­plundering, burning, devastating everything,—­and only retiring half an hour before the arrival of the colonists, whom they believed still confined in the corral.

On their retreat, Neb hurried out.  He climbed the plateau at the risk of being perceived and fired at, tried to extinguish the fire which was consuming the buildings of the poultry-yard, and had struggled, though in vain, against it until the cart appeared at the edge of the wood.

Such had been these serious events.  The presence of the convicts constituted a permanent source of danger to the settlers in Lincoln Island, until then so happy, and who might now expect still greater misfortunes.

Spilett remained in Granite House with Herbert and Pencroft, while Cyrus Harding, accompanied by Neb, proceeded to judge for himself of the extent of the disaster.