Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space

  CHAPTER XV. AN ENIGMA FROM THE SEA

  Lieutenant Procope had been left on board in charge of the _Dobryna_,and on resuming the voyage it was a task of some difficulty to make himunderstand the fact that had just come to light. Some hours were spentin discussion and in attempting to penetrate the mysteries of thesituation.

  There were certain things of which they were perfectly certain. Theycould be under no misapprehension as to the distance they had positivelysailed from Gourbi Island towards the east before their further progresswas arrested by the unknown shore; as nearly as possible that wasfifteen degrees; the length of the narrow strait by which they had madetheir way across that land to regain the open sea was about three milesand a half; thence onward to the island, which they had been assured,on evidence that they could not disbelieve, to be upon the site ofGibraltar, was four degrees; while from Gibraltar to Gourbi Island wasseven degrees or but little more. What was it altogether? Was it notless than thirty degrees? In that latitude, the degree of longituderepresents eight and forty miles. What, then, did it all amount to?Indubitably, to less than 1,400 miles. So brief a voyage would bring the_Dobryna_ once again to her starting-point, or, in other words, wouldenable her to complete the circumnavigation of the globe. How changedthe condition of things! Previously, to sail from Malta to Gibraltar byan eastward course would have involved the passage of the Suez Canal,the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, the Pacific, the Atlantic; but what hadhappened now? Why, Gibraltar had been reached as if it had been just atCorfu, and some three hundred and thirty degrees of the earth's circuithad vanished utterly.

  After allowing for a certain margin of miscalculation, the main factremained undeniable; and the necessary inference that Lieutenant Procopedrew from the round of the earth being completed in 1,400 miles, wasthat the earth's diameter had been reduced by about fifteen sixteenthsof its length.

  "If that be so," observed the count, "it accounts for some of thestrange phenomena we witness. If our world has become so insignificant aspheroid, not only has its gravity diminished, but its rotary speed hasbeen accelerated; and this affords an adequate explanation of our daysand nights being thus curtailed. But how about the new orbit in which weare moving?"

  He paused and pondered, and then looked at Procope as though awaitingfrom him some further elucidation of the difficulty. The lieutenanthesitated. When, in a few moments, he began to speak, Servadac smiledintelligently, anticipating the answer he was about to hear.

  "My conjecture is," said Procope, "that a fragment of considerablemagnitude has been detached from the earth; that it has carried withit an envelope of the earth's atmosphere, and that it is now travelingthrough the solar system in an orbit that does not correspond at allwith the proper orbit of the earth."

  The hypothesis was plausible; but what a multitude of bewilderingspeculations it entailed! If, in truth, a certain mass had been brokenoff from the terrestrial sphere, whither would it wend its way? Whatwould be the measure of the eccentricity of its path? What would be itsperiod round the sun? Might it not, like a comet, be carried away intothe vast infinity of space? or, on the other hand, might it not beattracted to the great central source of light and heat, and be absorbedin it? Did its orbit correspond with the orbit of the ecliptic? and wasthere no chance of its ever uniting again with the globe, from which ithad been torn off by so sudden and violent a disruption?

  A thoughtful silence fell upon them all, which Servadac was the firstto break. "Lieutenant," he said, "your explanation is ingenious, andaccounts for many appearances; but it seems to me that in one point itfails."

  "How so?" replied Procope. "To my mind the theory meets all objections."

  "I think not," Servadac answered. "In one point, at least, it appears tome to break down completely."

  "What is that?" asked the lieutenant.

  "Stop a moment," said the captain. "Let us see that we understand eachother right. Unless I mistake you, your hypothesis is that a fragment ofthe earth, comprising the Mediterranean and its shores from Gibraltarto Malta, has been developed into a new asteroid, which is started on anindependent orbit in the solar regions. Is not that your meaning?"

  "Precisely so," the lieutenant acquiesced.

  "Well, then," continued Servadac, "it seems to me to be at fault in thisrespect: it fails, and fails completely, to account for the geologicalcharacter of the land that we have found now encompassing this sea. Why,if the new land is a fragment of the old--why does it not retain its oldformation? What has become of the granite and the calcareous deposits?How is it that these should all be changed into a mineral concrete withwhich we have no acquaintance?"

  No doubt, it was a serious objection; for, however likely it might bethat a mass of the earth on being detached would be eccentric in itsmovements, there was no probable reason to be alleged why the materialof its substance should undergo so complete a change. There was nothingto account for the fertile shores, rich in vegetation, being transformedinto rocks arid and barren beyond precedent.

  The lieutenant felt the difficulty, and owned himself unprepared to giveat once an adequate solution; nevertheless, he declined to renounce histheory. He asserted that the arguments in favor of it carried convictionto his mind, and that he entertained no doubt but that, in the course oftime, all apparently antagonistic circumstances would be explained so asto become consistent with the view he took. He was careful, however,to make it understood that with respect to the original cause ofthe disruption he had no theory to offer; and although he knew whatexpansion might be the result of subterranean forces, he did not ventureto say that he considered it sufficient to produce so tremendous aneffect. The origin of the catastrophe was a problem still to be solved.

  "Ah! well," said Servadac, "I don't know that it matters much where ournew little planet comes from, or what it is made of, if only it carriesFrance along with it."

  "And Russia," added the count.

  "And Russia, of course," said Servadac, with a polite bow.

  There was, however, not much room for this sanguine expectation, for ifa new asteroid had thus been brought into existence, it must be a sphereof extremely limited dimensions, and there could be little chance thatit embraced more than the merest fraction of either France or Russia. Asto England, the total cessation of all telegraphic communication betweenher shores and Gibraltar was a virtual proof that England was beyond itscompass.

  And what was the true measurement of the new little world? At GourbiIsland the days and nights were of equal length, and this seemed toindicate that it was situated on the equator; hence the distance bywhich the two poles stood apart would be half what had been reckonedwould be the distance completed by the _Dobryna_ in her circuit. Thatdistance had been already estimated to be something under 1,400 miles,so that the Arctic Pole of their recently fashioned world must be about350 miles to the north, and the Antarctic about 350 miles to the southof the island. Compare these calculations with the map, and it is atonce apparent that the northernmost limit barely touched the coast ofProvence, while the southernmost reached to about lat. 20 degreesN., and fell in the heart of the desert. The practical test of theseconclusions would be made by future investigation, but meanwhilethe fact appeared very much to strengthen the presumption that, ifLieutenant Procope had not arrived at the whole truth, he had made aconsiderable advance towards it.

  The weather, ever since the storm that had driven the _Dobryna_ into thecreek, had been magnificent. The wind continued favorable, and now underboth steam and canvas, she made a rapid progress towards the north,a direction in which she was free to go in consequence of the totaldisappearance of the Spanish coast, from Gibraltar right away toAlicante. Malaga, Almeria, Cape Gata, Carthagena. Cape Palos--all weregone. The sea was rolling over the southern extent of the peninsula, sothat the yacht advanced to the latitude of Seville before it sighted anyland at all, and then, not shores such as the shores of Andalusia, buta bluff and precipitous cliff, in its geological features resemblingexactly the stern and barren rock that
she had coasted beyond the siteof Malta. Here the sea made a decided indentation on the coast; it ranup in an acute-angled triangle till its apex coincided with the veryspot upon which Madrid had stood. But as hitherto the sea had encroachedupon the land, the land in its turn now encroached upon the sea; for afrowning headland stood out far into the basin of the Mediterranean,and formed a promontory stretching out beyond the proper places ofthe Balearic Isles. Curiosity was all alive. There was the intensestinterest awakened to determine whether no vestige could be traced ofMajorca, Minorca, or any of the group, and it was during a deviationfrom the direct course for the purpose of a more thorough scrutiny, thatone of the sailors raised a thrill of general excitement by shouting, "Abottle in the sea!"

  Here, then, at length was a communication from the outer world. Surelynow they would find a document which would throw some light upon all themysteries that had happened? Had not the day now dawned that should settheir speculations all at rest?

  It was the morning of the 21st of February. The count, the captain,the lieutenant, everybody hurried to the forecastle; the schooner wasdexterously put about, and all was eager impatience until the supposedbottle was hauled on deck.

  It was not, however, a bottle; it proved to be a round leathertelescope-case, about a foot long, and the first thing to do beforeinvestigating its contents was to make a careful examination of itsexterior. The lid was fastened on by wax, and so securely that it wouldtake a long immersion before any water could penetrate; there was nomaker's name to be deciphered; but impressed very plainly with a seal onthe wax were the two initials "P. R."

  When the scrutiny of the outside was finished, the wax was removed andthe cover opened, and the lieutenant drew out a slip of ruled paper,evidently torn from a common note-book. The paper had an inscriptionwritten in four lines, which were remarkable for the profusion of notesof admiration and interrogation with which they were interspersed:

  "Gallia??? _Ab sole_, au 15 fev. 59,000,000 l.! Chemin parcouru de janv. a fev. 82,000,000 l.!! _Va bene! All right!!_ Parfait!!!"

  There was a general sigh of disappointment. They turned the paper overand over, and handed it from one to another. "What does it all mean?"exclaimed the count.

  "Something mysterious here!" said Servadac. "But yet," he continued,after a pause, "one thing is tolerably certain: on the 15th, six daysago, someone was alive to write it."

  "Yes; I presume there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of the date,"assented the count.

  To this strange conglomeration of French, English, Italian, and Latin,there was no signature attached; nor was there anything to give aclue as to the locality in which it had been committed to the waves.A telescope-case would probably be the property of some one on boarda ship; and the figures obviously referred to the astronomical wondersthat had been experienced.

  To these general observations Captain Servadac objected that he thoughtit unlikely that any one on board a ship would use a telescope-case forthis purpose, but would be sure to use a bottle as being more secure;and, accordingly, he should rather be inclined to believe that themessage had been set afloat by some _savant_ left alone, perchance, uponsome isolated coast.

  "But, however interesting it might be," observed the count, "to knowthe author of the lines, to us it is of far greater moment to ascertaintheir meaning."

  And taking up the paper again, he said, "Perhaps we might analyze itword by word, and from its detached parts gather some clue to its senseas a whole."

  "What can be the meaning of all that cluster of interrogations afterGallia?" asked Servadac.

  Lieutenant Procope, who had hitherto not spoken, now broke his silenceby saying, "I beg, gentlemen, to submit my opinion that this documentgoes very far to confirm my hypothesis that a fragment of the earth hasbeen precipitated into space."

  Captain Servadac hesitated, and then replied, "Even if it does, I do notsee how it accounts in the least for the geological character of the newasteroid."

  "But will you allow me for one minute to take my supposition forgranted?" said Procope. "If a new little planet has been formed, as Iimagine, by disintegration from the old, I should conjecture that Galliais the name assigned to it by the writer of this paper. The very notesof interrogation are significant that he was in doubt what he shouldwrite."

  "You would presume that he was a Frenchman?" asked the count.

  "I should think so," replied the lieutenant.

  "Not much doubt about that," said Servadac; "it is all in French,except a few scattered words of English, Latin, and Italian, inserted toattract attention. He could not tell into whose hands the message wouldfall first."

  "Well, then," said Count Timascheff, "we seem to have found a name forthe new world we occupy."

  "But what I was going especially to observe," continued the lieutenant,"is that the distance, 59,000,000 leagues, represents precisely thedistance we ourselves were from the sun on the 15th. It was on that daywe crossed the orbit of Mars."

  "Yes, true," assented the others.

  "And the next line," said the lieutenant, after reading it aloud,"apparently registers the distance traversed by Gallia, the new littleplanet, in her own orbit. Her speed, of course, we know by Kepler'slaws, would vary according to her distance from the sun, and if shewere--as I conjecture from the temperature at that date--on the 15th ofJanuary at her perihelion, she would be traveling twice as fast as theearth, which moves at the rate of between 50,000 and 60,000 miles anhour."

  "You think, then," said Servadac, with a smile, "you have determinedthe perihelion of our orbit; but how about the aphelion? Can you form ajudgment as to what distance we are likely to be carried?"

  "You are asking too much," remonstrated the count.

  "I confess," said the lieutenant, "that just at present I am not able toclear away the uncertainty of the future; but I feel confident that bycareful observation at various points we shall arrive at conclusionswhich not only will determine our path, but perhaps may clear up themystery about our geological structure."

  "Allow me to ask," said Count Timascheff, "whether such a new asteroidwould not be subject to ordinary mechanical laws, and whether, oncestarted, it would not have an orbit that must be immutable?"

  "Decidedly it would, so long as it was undisturbed by the attractionof some considerable body; but we must recollect that, compared to thegreat planets, Gallia must be almost infinitesimally small, and so mightbe attracted by a force that is irresistible."

  "Altogether, then," said Servadac, "we seem to have settled it to ourentire satisfaction that we must be the population of a young littleworld called Gallia. Perhaps some day we may have the honor of beingregistered among the minor planets."

  "No chance of that," quickly rejoined Lieutenant Procope. "Those minorplanets all are known to rotate in a narrow zone between the orbits ofMars and Jupiter; in their perihelia they cannot approximate the sun aswe have done; we shall not be classed with them."

  "Our lack of instruments," said the count, "is much to be deplored; itbaffles our investigations in every way."

  "Ah, never mind! Keep up your courage, count!" said Servadac, cheerily.

  And Lieutenant Procope renewed his assurances that he entertained goodhopes that every perplexity would soon be solved.

  "I suppose," remarked the count, "that we cannot attribute muchimportance to the last line: _'Va bene! All right!!_ Parfait!!!'"

  The captain answered, "At least, it shows that whoever wrote it had nomurmuring or complaint to make, but was quite content with the new orderof things."