Violent as the commotion had been, that portion of the Algerian coast which is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, and on the west by the right bank of the Shelif, appeared to have suffered little change. It is true that indentations were perceptible in the fertile plain, and the surface of the sea was ruffled with an agitation that was quite unusual; but the rugged outline of the cliff was the same as heretofore, and the aspect of the entire scene appeared unaltered. The stone hostelry, with the exception of some deep clefts in its walls, had sustained little injury; but the gourbi, like a house of cards destroyed by an infant's breath, had completely subsided, and its two inmates lay motionless, buried under the sunken thatch.
It was two hours after the catastrophe that Captain Servadac regained consciousness; he had some trouble to collect his thoughts, and the first sounds that escaped his lips were the concluding words of the rondo which had been so ruthlessly interrupted;
"Constant ever I will be,
Constant...."
His next thought was to wonder what had happened; and in order to find an answer, he pushed aside the broken thatch, so that his head appeared above thedebris."The gourbi leveled to the ground!" he exclaimed,"surely a waterspout has passed along the coast."
He felt all over his body to perceive what injuries he had sustained, but not a sprain nor a scratch could he discover."Where are you, Ben Zoof?" he shouted.
"Here, sir!" and with military promptitude a second head protruded from the rubbish.
"Have you any notion what has happened, Ben Zoof?"
"I've a notion, captain, that it's all up with us."
"Nonsense, Ben Zoof; it is nothing but a waterspout!"
"Very good, sir," was the philosophical reply, immediately followed by the query,"Any bones broken, sir?"
"None whatever," said the captain.
Both men were soon on their feet, and began to make a vigorous clearance of the ruins, beneath which they found that their arms, cooking utensils, and other property, had sustained little injury.
"By-the-by, what o'clock is it?" asked the captain.
"It must be eight o'clock, at least," said Ben Zoof, looking at the sun, which was a considerable height above the horizon."It is almost time for us to start."
"To start! what for?"
"To keep your appointment with Count Timascheff."
"By Jove! I had forgotten all about it!" exclaimed Servadac. Then looking at his watch, he cried,"What are you thinking of, Ben Zoof? It is scarcely two o'clock."
"Two in the morning, or two in the afternoon?" asked Ben Zoof, again regarding the sun.
Servadac raised his watch to his ear."It is going," said he;"but, by all the wines of Medoc, I am puzzled. Don't you see the sun is in the west? It must be near setting."
"Setting, captain! Why, it is rising finely, like a conscript at the sound of the reveille. It is considerably higher since we have been talking."
Incredible as it might appear, the fact was undeniable that the sun was rising over the Shelif from that quarter of the horizon behind which it usually sank for the latter portion of its daily round. They were utterly bewildered. Some mysterious phenomenon must not only have altered the position of the sun in the sidereal system, but must even have brought about an important modification of the earth's rotation on her axis.
