The roaring of the wind was now so loud that we could not hear each other's voices, unless we shouted. The trembling and swaying of the earth was becoming more pronounced every minute, and some of the people actually became seasick.
Jim and I lay flat on our faces on the highest point we could reach. The swaying of the earth had made even my stomach feel a little uneasy. My scientific ardor was momentarily dampened by my physical discomfort. Therefore Jim got the first glimpse of what was happening.
"Good Lord, look!" he suddenly exclaimed in an awed voice.
I raised my head and then rubbed my eyes. The whole central Greenland plateau seemed to be rapidly sinking, and all around the horizon great mountain ranges were lifting themselves toward the sky. We were lying on a rock, two infinitely small insects, watching a new continent being born.
As far as scientists have since been able to determine, the central Greenland plateau was not lowered, but the effect was caused by the entire surrounding region being forced out of the ocean high into the air. Then we did not know what was happening. It was at least a week later before the first trip in a plane showed us that the entire ocean floor, extending from Labrador to Norway and northward to the pole, had been elevated to an average height of ten thousand feet above sea level. The continent thus formed is the seat of present day civilization.
The swaying of the earth gradually ceased and all went back to the town. Again we took hope that the worst was over and we were going to survive. This time, our faith seems to have been justified. The final upheaval was a successful effort of the mass of the earth to attain a position of equilibrium. Five years have passed, and there have been no evidences of further convulsions.
We have organized our life on the assumption that terrestrial conditions are now reasonably stable. Our country is a great island extending from the region of the former Ural mountains to the former Hudson Bay. It includes northern Russia, Finland, northern Norway and Sweden, Iceland and Greenland and part of Canada. It extends northward to the pole and it is bounded on all sides by the great mountain ranges which rose from the sea.
Our civilization is largely English speaking, and the seat of government is Upernavik in Greenland. Our population is small, considering the geographical extent of the country, and we are encouraging in every way the production of large families.
The catastrophe which destroyed our old world was so overwhelming that it is impossible to grieve over the smaller things that we have lost. We are all working cheerfully to build a better world.
The world we are living in is a very interesting one. Even the most adventurous among us have learned little about it as yet. The entire Pacific region has never been visited since the moon crashed. Jim and I often speculate about the conditions on the other side of the earth. We are having a huge metallic dirigible constructed, and when it is completed we intend to go on an exploring expedition. We expect to be the first to look upon the destroyed world.