At Baltimore there was no sign of any disturbance whatsoever. The sky was cloudy, and when the night came it was impossible to see if the apparent movement of the stars had changed—which would, of course, have indicated a change in the Earth’s axis.
What a night did J. T. Maston pass in his retreat, unknown to all save Mrs. Scorbitt! He raged! He raved! He could not keep still. Would that he had been a few days older, to see if the curve of the Sun was modified—an indisputable proof of the success of the operation. On the 23rd the change would not be noticeable, for on that day the Sun invariably rises due east in every country of the globe.
In the morning the Sun rose just as usual.
Major Donellan and his friends were on the terrace of their hotel. They had furnished themselves with instruments of extreme precision, which would show if the Sun described its curve in the plane of the Equator.
There was nothing to show that it did; and a few minutes after it had risen the radiant disc inclined towards the southern hemisphere.
There was no change in its apparent path.
The Major and his colleagues expressed their delight by giving three cheers for the Sun.
The sky was superb, the horizon quite clear from the mists of the night, and never did the glorious orb present himself under greater conditions of splendour before a wondering people.
“And in the very place noted by the laws of astronomy!” said Baldenak.
“Of our old astronomy,” said Karkof, “which these madmen attempted to annihilate!”