rascals; but for that, we must meet them hand to hand. Come now, is
there no way of getting at them?"

"Let us try to enter Granite House by the old opening at the lake,"
replied the engineer.

"Oh!" shouted the sailor, "and I never thought of that."

This was in reality the only way by which to penetrate into Granite
House so as to fight with and drive out the intruders. The opening
was, it is true, closed up with a wall of cemented stones, which it
would be necessary to sacrifice, but that could easily be rebuilt.
Fortunately, Cyrus Harding had not as yet effected his project of
hiding this opening by raising the waters of the lake, for the
operation would then have taken some time.

It was already past twelve o'clock when the colonists, well armed and
provided with picks and spades, left the Chimneys, passed beneath the
windows of Granite House, after telling Top to remain at his post, and
began to ascend the left bank of the Mercy, so as to reach Prospect
Heights.

But they had not made fifty steps in this direction, when they heard
the dog barking furiously.

And all rushed down the bank again.

Arrived at the turning, they saw that the situation had changed.

In fact, the apes, seized with a sudden panic, from some unknown
cause, were trying to escape. Two or three ran and clambered from one
window to another with the agility of acrobats. They were not even
trying to replace the ladder, by which it would have been easy to
descend; perhaps in their terror they had forgotten this way of
escape. The colonists, now being able to take aim without difficulty,
fired. Some, wounded or killed, fell back into the rooms, uttering
piercing cries. The rest, throwing themselves out, were dashed to
pieces in their fall, and in a few minutes, so far as they knew, there
was not a living quadrumana in Granite House.

At this moment the ladder was seen to slip over the threshold, then
unroll and fall to the ground.

"Hullo!" cried the sailor, "this is queer!"

"Very strange!" murmured the engineer, leaping first up the ladder.

"Take care, captain!" cried Pencroft, "perhaps there are still some of
these rascals..."

"We shall soon see," replied the engineer, without stopping however.

All his companions followed him, and in a minute they had arrived at
the threshold. They searched everywhere. There was no one in the rooms
nor in the storehouse, which had been respected by the band of
quadrumana.

"Well now, and