CHAPTER VIII. Which leads Godfrey to bitter reflections on the mania for travelling

Godfrey Morgan: a Californian Mystery

by Jules VERNE (1828 - 1905)

This Verne adventure is indeed a mystery and also a satire on the Crusoe genre. Our characters are larger than life, as well they should be - Verne expects Americans to perform epics. Young Godfrey goes to sea for adventure before settling down with his bride to be. His incredibly wealthy uncle sets him aboard one of his steamers which founders some days out, leaving Godfrey and his companion, a dance and comportment instructor, near the shore of a uninhabited island. They set up residence, benefiting from livestock, some supplies and tools which apparently also wash ashore. Later, a canoe full of savages land in order to cook up a prisoner. Godfrey helps the latter escape, and the grateful native becomes a "Friday". While the island initially seems free from any predators, it is not long before Friday saves Godfrey from a bear, a tiger and a poisonous snake. But when swarms of lions, tigers, hyenas and crocodiles attack it is more than they can handle. Where do all the beasts come from? What is the cause of the occasional plume of smoke Godfrey notes on the island? Those are some of the mysteries about which the reader will be enlightened. (A. Banner )

Listen next episodes of Godfrey Morgan: a Californian Mystery:
CHAPTER IX. In which it is shown that Crusoes do not have everything as they wish , CHAPTER X. In which Godfrey does what any other shipwrecked man would have done under the circumstances , CHAPTER XI. In which the question of lodging is solved as well as it could be , CHAPTER XII. Which ends with a thunder-bolt , CHAPTER XIII. In which Godfrey again sees a slight smoke over another part of the Island , CHAPTER XIV. Wherein Godfrey finds some wreckage, to which he and his companion give a hearty welcome , CHAPTER XIX. In which the situation already gravely compromised becomes more and more complicated , CHAPTER XV. In which there happens what happens at least once in the life of every Crusoe, real or imaginary , CHAPTER XVI. In which something happens which cannot fail to surprise the reader , CHAPTER XVII. In which Professor Tartlet's gun really does marvels , CHAPTER XVIII. Which treats of the moral and physical education of a simple native of the Pacific , CHAPTER XX. In which Tartlet reiterates in every key that he would rather be off , CHAPTER XXI. Which ends with quite a surprising reflection by the negro Carefinotu , CHAPTER XXII. Which concludes by explaining what up to now had appeared inexplicable