“The very question I was about to put to you, Captain Servadac.”
“Do you mean to say you know nothing of the cause, and can tell me nothing of the extent, of the catastrophe which has transformed this part of Africa into an island?”
“Nothing more than you know yourself.”
“But surely, Count Timascheff, you can inform me whether upon the northern shore of the Mediterranean—”
“Are you certain that this is the Mediterranean?” asked the count significantly, and added, “I have discovered no sign of land.”
The captain stared in silent bewilderment. For some moments he seemed perfectly stupefied; then, recovering himself, he began to overwhelm the count with a torrent of questions. Had he noticed, ever since the 1st of January, that the sun had risen in the west? Had he noticed that the days had been only six hours long, and that the weight of the atmosphere was so much diminished? Had he observed that the moon had quite disappeared, and that the earth had been in imminent hazard of running foul of the planet Venus? Was he aware, in short, that the entire motions of the terrestrial sphere had undergone a complete modification? To all these inquiries, the count responded in the affirmative. He was acquainted with everything that had transpired; but, to Servadac’s increasing astonishment, he could throw no light upon the cause of any of the phenomena.
“On the night of the 31st of December,” he said, “I was proceeding by sea to our appointed place of meeting, when my yacht was suddenly caught on the crest of an enormous wave, and carried to a height which it is beyond my power to estimate. Some mysterious force seemed to have brought about a convulsion of the elements. Our engine was damaged, nay disabled, and we drifted entirely at the mercy of the terrible hurricane that raged during the succeeding days. That the Dobryna escaped at all is little less than a miracle, and I can only attribute her safety to the fact that she occupied the center of the vast cyclone, and consequently did not experience much change of position.”
He paused, and added: “Your island is the first land we have seen.”
“Then let us put out to sea at once and ascertain the extent of the disaster,” cried the captain, eagerly. “You will take me on board, count, will you not?”
“My yacht is at your service, sir, even should you require to make a tour round the world.”