Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 6.djvu/137

 The orang replied by a little grunt which did not show any anger. "You wish to join the colony?" again asked the sailor. "To enter the service of Captain Cyrus Harding?"

Another respondent grunt was uttered by the ape.

"You will be satisfied with no wages but your food?"

Third affirmative grunt.

"This conversation is slightly monotonous," observed Gideon Spilett.

"So much the better," replied Pencroft; "the best servants are those who talk the least. And then, no wages, do you hear, my boy? We will give you no wages at first, but we will double them if we are pleased with you."

Thus the colony was increased by a new member. As to his name the sailor begged that in memory of another ape he had once known, it should be Jupiter, and Jup for short.

And so, without more ceremony, Master Jup was installed in Granite House.

settlers in Lincoln Island had now regained their dwelling, without having been obliged to reach it by the old opening, and were therefore spared the trouble of mason's work. It was certainly lucky, that at the moment they set out to do so, the apes had been seized with that terror, no less sudden than inexplicable, which had driven them out of Granite House. Had the animals discovered that they were about to be attacked from another direction? This was the only explanation of their sudden retreat.

During the day the bodies of the apes were carried into the wood, where they were buried; then the settlers busied themselves in repairing the disorder caused by the intruders, disorder but not damage, for although they had turned everything topsy-turvy, they had broken nothing. Neb relighted his stove, and the stores in the larder furnished a substantial repast, to which all did ample justice.

Jup was not forgotten, and he ate with relish some stone pine almonds and rhizome roots, with which he was abundantly supplied. Pencroft had unfastened his arms, but