Laura by George Sand

Author:George Sand [George Sand]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781908968685
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 2012-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

IV

WHEN HE AWOKE ME, I was very surprised not to find any of my companions around me.

I no longer had need of them, he told me calmly, I sent them away.

Sent them away? I cried out, stunned. But where to? How? By what means?

What does it matter to you? he replied with a snigger; surely you cannot be interested in those coarse, voracious and stupid individuals?

Yes indeed, as much as and more, to be sure, than in faithful and submissive domestic animals. Those ten men and the two we lost when we landed here were the elite of our troop; they showed great courage and patience. I was beginning to understand their language, to become accustomed to their costumes, and even those of them who scarcely had human faces harboured truly human feelings. Tell me, Uncle, where have you sent them? This land is doubtless an Eden where they can wander with nothing to fear.

This land, replied Nasias, is an Eden that I am in no way planning to share with beings that are unworthy of possessing it. Those brutes would not have lived here three days without bringing us into conflict with all the animal forces of nature. I have sent them away; accept that you will never see them again, nor their canoes, their companions, their sledges and their dogs. Here and over all the sea that encloses us we are absolute monarchs. It falls to us alone to find a way of leaving when it so pleases us. There is no hurry, we are quite comfortable here. Get up, take a bath in this charming stream, which murmurs two paces from you, gather your meal from the first branch you find, and let us think about exploring our island, for it is indeed an island set apart from any visible continent and hollowed out like a cup, as I told you; only, there is a prodigiously tall volcano in the middle; but it is a natural beacon of electric light and nothing more.

All objections, all recriminations, were perfectly useless. I was alone in this unknown world with a man who was stronger, more intelligent, more implacable and more of a believer than I was. I must not fight him, but equal him, if that were possible for me to do.

I cast a last glance behind me, and, climbing up onto a promontory, I looked again at the place where we had landed. Either the sea had turned them to dust, or Nasias had saved and hidden them, but there was no trace of our vessels. As for the men, what had become of them? Even the imprint of their footsteps in the sand had been wiped away. I looked down at my feet, and saw light pools of blood; my hands were impregnated with it. I shivered and asked myself if, like my unfortunate companions from the Tantalus, I had not taken part in some frightful scene of delirium and carnage.

Nasias, who was watching me, began to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.