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INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME NINE
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME NINE
Among so many effective and artistic tales, it is difficult to give a preference to one over all the rest. Yet, certainly, even amid Verne’s remarkable works, his “Off on a Comet” must be given high rank. Perhaps this story will be remembered when even “Round the World in Eighty Days” and “Michael Strogoff” have been obliterated by centuries of time. At least, of the many books since written upon the same theme as Verne’s, no one has yet succeeded in equaling or even approaching it. In one way “
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CHAPTER I. A CHALLENGE
CHAPTER I. A CHALLENGE
“Nothing, sir, can induce me to surrender my claim.” “I am sorry, count, but in such a matter your views cannot modify mine.” “But allow me to point out that my seniority unquestionably gives me a prior right.” “Mere seniority, I assert, in an affair of this kind, cannot possibly entitle you to any prior claim whatever.” “Then, captain, no alternative is left but for me to compel you to yield at the sword’s point.” “As you please, count; but neither sword nor pistol can force me to forego my pre
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CHAPTER II. CAPTAIN SERVADAC AND HIS ORDERLY
CHAPTER II. CAPTAIN SERVADAC AND HIS ORDERLY
At the time of which I write, there might be seen in the registers of the Minister of War the following entry: SERVADAC ( Hector ), born at St. Trelody in the district of Lesparre, department of the Gironde, July 19th, 18—. Property: 1200 francs in rentes. Length of service: Fourteen years, three months, and five days. Service: Two years at school at St. Cyr; two years at L’Ecole d’Application; two years in the 8th Regiment of the Line; two years in the 3rd Light Cavalry; seven years in Algeria.
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CHAPTER III. INTERRUPTED EFFUSIONS
CHAPTER III. INTERRUPTED EFFUSIONS
Composed of mud and loose stones, and covered with a thatch of turf and straw, known to the natives by the name of “driss,” the gourbi, though a grade better than the tents of the nomad Arabs, was yet far inferior to any habitation built of brick or stone. It adjoined an old stone hostelry, previously occupied by a detachment of engineers, and which now afforded shelter for Ben Zoof and the two horses. It still contained a considerable number of tools, such as mattocks, shovels, and pick-axes. U
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CHAPTER IV. A CONVULSION OF NATURE
CHAPTER IV. A CONVULSION OF NATURE
Whence came it that at that very moment the horizon underwent so strange and sudden a modification, that the eye of the most practiced mariner could not distinguish between sea and sky? Whence came it that the billows raged and rose to a height hitherto unregistered in the records of science? Whence came it that the elements united in one deafening crash; that the earth groaned as though the whole framework of the globe were ruptured; that the waters roared from their innermost depths; that the
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CHAPTER V. A MYSTERIOUS SEA
CHAPTER V. A MYSTERIOUS SEA
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,
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CHAPTER VI. THE CAPTAIN MAKES AN EXPLORATION
CHAPTER VI. THE CAPTAIN MAKES AN EXPLORATION
Hector Servadac was not the man to remain long unnerved by any untoward event. It was part of his character to discover the why and the wherefore of everything that came under his observation, and he would have faced a cannon ball the more unflinchingly from understanding the dynamic force by which it was propelled. Such being his temperament, it may well be imagined that he was anxious not to remain long in ignorance of the cause of the phenomena which had been so startling in their consequence
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CHAPTER VII. BEN ZOOF WATCHES IN VAIN
CHAPTER VII. BEN ZOOF WATCHES IN VAIN
In a few minutes the governor general and his population were asleep. The gourbi being in ruins, they were obliged to put up with the best accommodation they could find in the adjacent erection. It must be owned that the captain’s slumbers were by no means sound; he was agitated by the consciousness that he had hitherto been unable to account for his strange experiences by any reasonable theory. Though far from being advanced in the knowledge of natural philosophy, he had been instructed, to a c
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CHAPTER VIII. VENUS IN PERILOUS PROXIMITY
CHAPTER VIII. VENUS IN PERILOUS PROXIMITY
The light of the returning sun soon extinguished the glory of the stars, and rendered it necessary for the captain to postpone his observations. He had sought in vain for further trace of the huge disc that had so excited his wonder on the 1st, and it seemed most probable that, in its irregular orbit, it had been carried beyond the range of vision. The weather was still superb. The wind, after veering to the west, had sunk to a perfect calm. Pursuing its inverted course, the sun rose and set wit
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CHAPTER IX. INQUIRIES UNSATISFIED
CHAPTER IX. INQUIRIES UNSATISFIED
Fast as his legs could carry him, Servadac had made his way to the top of the cliff. It was quite true that a vessel was in sight, hardly more than six miles from the shore; but owing to the increase in the earth’s convexity, and the consequent limitation of the range of vision, the rigging of the topmasts alone was visible above the water. This was enough, however, to indicate that the ship was a schooner—an impression that was confirmed when, two hours later, she came entirely in sight. “The D
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CHAPTER X. A SEARCH FOR ALGERIA
CHAPTER X. A SEARCH FOR ALGERIA
The Dobryna , a strong craft of 200 tons burden, had been built in the famous shipbuilding yards in the Isle of Wight. Her sea going qualities were excellent, and would have amply sufficed for a circumnavigation of the globe. Count Timascheff was himself no sailor, but had the greatest confidence in leaving the command of his yacht in the hands of Lieutenant Procope, a man of about thirty years of age, and an excellent seaman. Born on the count’s estates, the son of a serf who had been emancipat
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CHAPTER XI. AN ISLAND TOMB
CHAPTER XI. AN ISLAND TOMB
No longer, then, could there be any doubt as to the annihilation of a considerable portion of the colony. Not merely had there been a submersion of the land, but the impression was more and more confirmed that the very bowels of the earth must have yawned and closed again upon a large territory. Of the rocky substratum of the province it became more evident than ever that not a trace remained, and a new soil of unknown formation had certainly taken the place of the old sandy sea-bottom. As it al
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CHAPTER XII. AT THE MERCY OF THE WINDS
CHAPTER XII. AT THE MERCY OF THE WINDS
As the affrighted cormorants had winged their flight towards the south, there sprang up a sanguine hope on board the schooner that land might be discovered in that direction. Thither, accordingly, it was determined to proceed, and in a few hours after quitting the island of the tomb, the Dobryna was traversing the shallow waters that now covered the peninsula of Dakhul, which had separated the Bay of Tunis from the Gulf of Hammamet. For two days she continued an undeviating course, and after a f
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CHAPTER XIII. A ROYAL SALUTE
CHAPTER XIII. A ROYAL SALUTE
“Then I take your bishop, major,” said Colonel Murphy, as he made a move that he had taken since the previous evening to consider. “I was afraid you would,” replied Major Oliphant, looking intently at the chess-board. Such was the way in which a long silence was broken on the morning of the 17th of February by the old calendar. Another day elapsed before another move was made. It was a protracted game; it had, in fact, already lasted some months—the players being so deliberate, and so fearful of
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CHAPTER XIV. SENSITIVE NATIONALITY
CHAPTER XIV. SENSITIVE NATIONALITY
When the schooner had approached the island, the Englishmen were able to make out the name “ Dobryna ” painted on the aft-board. A sinuous irregularity of the coast had formed a kind of cove, which, though hardly spacious enough for a few fishing-smacks, would afford the yacht a temporary anchorage, so long as the wind did not blow violently from either west or south. Into this cove the Dobryna was duly signaled, and as soon as she was safely moored, she lowered her four-oar, and Count Timaschef
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CHAPTER XV. AN ENIGMA FROM THE SEA
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 him understand the fact that had just come to light. Some hours were spent in discussion and in attempting to penetrate the mysteries of the situation. There were certain things of which they were perfectly certain. They could be under no misapprehension as to the distance they had positively sailed from Gourbi Island towards the east before their further progr
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CHAPTER XVI. THE RESIDUUM OF A CONTINENT
CHAPTER XVI. THE RESIDUUM OF A CONTINENT
Almost unconsciously, the voyagers in the Dobryna fell into the habit of using Gallia as the name of the new world in which they became aware they must be making an extraordinary excursion through the realms of space. Nothing, however, was allowed to divert them from their ostensible object of making a survey of the coast of the Mediterranean, and accordingly they persevered in following that singular boundary which had revealed itself to their extreme astonishment. Having rounded the great prom
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CHAPTER XVII. A SECOND ENIGMA
CHAPTER XVII. A SECOND ENIGMA
Upon re-embarking, the bewildered explorers began to discuss the question whether it would not now be desirable to make their way back to Gourbi Island, which was apparently the only spot in their new world from which they could hope to derive their future sustenance. Captain Servadac tried to console himself with the reflection that Gourbi Island was, after all, a fragment of a French colony, and as such almost like a bit of his dear France; and the plan of returning thither was on the point of
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CHAPTER XVIII. AN UNEXPECTED POPULATION
CHAPTER XVIII. AN UNEXPECTED POPULATION
The Dobryna was now back again at the island. Her cruise had lasted from the 31st of January to the 5th of March, a period of thirty-five days (for it was leap year), corresponding to seventy days as accomplished by the new little world. Many a time during his absence Hector Servadac had wondered how his present vicissitudes would end, and he had felt some misgivings as to whether he should ever again set foot upon the island, and see his faithful orderly, so that it was not without emotion that
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CHAPTER XIX. GALLIA’S GOVERNOR GENERAL
CHAPTER XIX. GALLIA’S GOVERNOR GENERAL
The Spaniards who had arrived on board the Hansa consisted of nine men and a lad of twelve years of age, named Pablo. They all received Captain Servadac, whom Ben Zoof introduced as the governor general, with due respect, and returned quickly to their separate tasks. The captain and his friends, followed at some distance by the eager Jew, soon left the glade and directed their steps towards the coast where the Hansa was moored. As they went they discussed their situation. As far as they had asce
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CHAPTER XX. A LIGHT ON THE HORIZON
CHAPTER XX. A LIGHT ON THE HORIZON
On the following day, without giving himself any further concern about the Jew’s incredulity, the captain gave orders for the Hansa to be shifted round to the harbor of the Shelif. Hakkabut raised no objection, not only because he was aware that the move insured the immediate safety of his tartan, but because he was secretly entertaining the hope that he might entice away two or three of the Dobryna’s crew and make his escape to Algiers or some other port. Operations now commenced for preparing
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CHAPTER XXI. WINTER QUARTERS
CHAPTER XXI. WINTER QUARTERS
The habitation that had now revealed itself, well lighted and thoroughly warm, was indeed marvelous. Not only would it afford ample accommodation for Hector Servadac and “his subjects,” as Ben Zoof delighted to call them, but it would provide shelter for the two horses, and for a considerable number of domestic animals. This enormous cavern was neither more or less than the common junction of nearly twenty tunnels (similar to that which had been traversed by the explorers), forming ramifications
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CHAPTER XXII. A FROZEN OCEAN
CHAPTER XXII. A FROZEN OCEAN
The moon! She had disappeared for weeks; was she now returning? Had she been faithless to the earth? and had she now approached to be a satellite of the new-born world? “Impossible!” said Lieutenant Procope; “the earth is millions and millions of leagues away, and it is not probable that the moon has ceased to revolve about her.” “Why not?” remonstrated Servadac. “It would not be more strange than the other phenomena which we have lately witnessed. Why should not the moon have fallen within the
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CHAPTER XXIII. A CARRIER-PIGEON
CHAPTER XXIII. A CARRIER-PIGEON
When, three hours after sunset, on the 23d of March, the Gallian moon rose upon the western horizon, it was observed that she had entered upon her last quarter. She had taken only four days to pass from syzygy to quadrature, and it was consequently evident that she would be visible for little more than a week at a time, and that her lunation would be accomplished within sixteen days. The lunar months, like the solar days, had been diminished by one-half. Three days later the moon was in conjunct
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CHAPTER XXIV. A SLEDGE-RIDE
CHAPTER XXIV. A SLEDGE-RIDE
Formentera was at once recognized by Servadac and the count as the name of one of the smallest of the Balearic Islands. It was more than probable that the unknown writer had thence sent out the mysterious documents, and from the message just come to hand by the carrier-pigeon, it appeared all but certain that at the beginning of April, a fortnight back, he had still been there. In one important particular the present communication differed from those that had preceded it: it was written entirely
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CHAPTER I. THE ASTRONOMER
CHAPTER I. THE ASTRONOMER
By the return of the expedition, conveying its contribution from Formentera, the known population of Gallia was raised to a total of thirty-six. On learning the details of his friends’ discoveries, Count Timascheff did not hesitate in believing that the exhausted individual who was lying before him was the author alike of the two unsigned documents picked up at sea, and of the third statement so recently brought to hand by the carrier-pigeon. Manifestly, he had arrived at some knowledge of Galli
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CHAPTER II. A REVELATION
CHAPTER II. A REVELATION
To the general population of the colony the arrival of the stranger was a matter of small interest. The Spaniards were naturally too indolent to be affected in any way by an incident that concerned themselves so remotely; while the Russians felt themselves simply reliant on their master, and as long as they were with him were careless as to where or how they spent their days. Everything went on with them in an accustomed routine; and they lay down night after night, and awoke to their avocations
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CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSOR’S EXPERIENCES
CHAPTER III. THE PROFESSOR’S EXPERIENCES
“Yes, my comet!” repeated the professor, and from time to time he knitted his brows, and looked around him with a defiant air, as though he could not get rid of the impression that someone was laying an unwarranted claim to its proprietorship, or that the individuals before him were intruders upon his own proper domain. But for a considerable while, Servadac, the count, and the lieutenant remained silent and sunk in thought. Here then, at last, was the unriddling of the enigma they had been so l
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CHAPTER IV. A REVISED CALENDAR
CHAPTER IV. A REVISED CALENDAR
All previous hypotheses, then, were now forgotten in the presence of the one great fact that Gallia was a comet and gravitating through remote solar regions. Captain Servadac became aware that the huge disc that had been looming through the clouds after the shock was the form of the retreating earth, to the proximity of which the one high tide they had experienced was also to be attributed. As to the fulfillment of the professor’s prediction of an ultimate return to the terrestrial sphere, that
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CHAPTER V. WANTED: A STEELYARD
CHAPTER V. WANTED: A STEELYARD
Under the still diminishing influence of the sun’s attraction, but without let or hindrance, Gallia continued its interplanetary course, accompanied by Nerina, its captured satellite, which performed its fortnightly revolutions with unvarying regularity. Meanwhile, the question beyond all others important was ever recurring to the minds of Servadac and his two companions: were the astronomer’s calculations correct, and was there a sound foundation for his prediction that the comet would again to
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CHAPTER VI. MONEY AT A PREMIUM
CHAPTER VI. MONEY AT A PREMIUM
“Who’s there? I have nothing here for anyone. Go away!” Such was the inhospitable greeting with which Isaac Hakkabut received his visitors. “Hakkabut! do you take us for thieves?” asked Servadac, in tones of stern displeasure. “Oh, your Excellency, my lord, I did not know that it was you,” whined the Jew, but without emerging any farther from his cabin. “Now, old Hakkabut, come out of your shell! Come and show the governor proper respect, when he gives you the honor of his company,” cried Ben Zo
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CHAPTER VII. GALLIA WEIGHED
CHAPTER VII. GALLIA WEIGHED
A quarter of an hour later, the visitors to the Hansa had reassembled in the common hall of Nina’s Hive. “Now, gentlemen, we can proceed,” said the professor. “May I request that this table may be cleared?” Ben Zoof removed the various articles that were lying on the table, and the coins which had just been borrowed from the Jew were placed upon it in three piles, according to their value. The professor commenced. “Since none of you gentlemen, at the time of the shock, took the precaution to sav
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CHAPTER VIII. JUPITER SOMEWHAT CLOSE
CHAPTER VIII. JUPITER SOMEWHAT CLOSE
Except as to the time the comet would take to revolve round the sun, it must be confessed that all the professor’s calculations had comparatively little interest for anyone but himself, and he was consequently left very much to pursue his studies in solitude. The following day was the 1st of August, or, according to Rosette, the 63rd of April. In the course of this month Gallia would travel 16,500,000 leagues, attaining at the end a distance of 197,000,000 leagues from the sun. This would leave
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CHAPTER IX MARKET PRICES IN GALLIA
CHAPTER IX MARKET PRICES IN GALLIA
“All right!” said Servadac, convinced by the professor’s ill humor that the danger was past; “no doubt we are in for a two years’ excursion, but fifteen months more will take us back to the earth!” “And we shall see Montmartre again!” exclaimed Ben Zoof, in excited tones that betrayed his delight in the anticipation. To use a nautical expression, they had safely “rounded the point,” and they had to be congratulated on their successful navigation; for if, under the influence of Jupiter’s attracti
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CHAPTER X. FAR INTO SPACE
CHAPTER X. FAR INTO SPACE
A month passed away. Gallia continued its course, bearing its little population onwards, so far removed from the ordinary influence of human passions that it might almost be said that its sole ostensible vice was represented by the greed and avarice of the miserable Jew. After all, they were but making a voyage—a strange, yet a transient, excursion through solar regions hitherto untraversed; but if the professor’s calculations were correct—and why should they be doubted?—their little vessel was
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CHAPTER XI. A FETE DAY
CHAPTER XI. A FETE DAY
The temperature continued to decrease; the mercurial thermometer, which freezes at 42 degrees below zero, was no longer of service, and the spirit thermometer of the Dobryna had been brought into use. This now registered 53 degrees below freezing-point. In the creek, where the two vessels had been moored for the winter, the elevation of the ice, in anticipation of which Lieutenant Procope had taken the precautionary measure of beveling, was going on slowly but irresistibly, and the tartan was up
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CHAPTER XII. THE BOWELS OF THE COMET
CHAPTER XII. THE BOWELS OF THE COMET
The whole night was spent in speculating, with gloomy forebodings, upon the chances of the future. The temperature of the hall, now entirely exposed to the outer air, was rapidly falling, and would quickly become unendurable. Far too intense was the cold to allow anyone to remain at the opening, and the moisture on the walls soon resolved itself into icicles. But the mountain was like the body of a dying man, that retains awhile a certain amount of heat at the heart after the extremities have be
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CHAPTER XIII. DREARY MONTHS
CHAPTER XIII. DREARY MONTHS
Henceforth, then, with a velocity ever increasing, Gallia would re-approach the sun. Except the thirteen Englishmen who had been left at Gibraltar, every living creature had taken refuge in the dark abyss of the volcano’s crater. And with those Englishmen, how had it fared? “Far better than with ourselves,” was the sentiment that would have been universally accepted in Nina’s Hive. And there was every reason to conjecture that so it was. The party at Gibraltar, they all agreed, would not, like t
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CHAPTER XIV. THE PROFESSOR PERPLEXED
CHAPTER XIV. THE PROFESSOR PERPLEXED
Another month passed away, and it was now September, but it was still impossible to leave the warmth of the subterranean retreat for the more airy and commodious quarters of the Hive, where “the bees” would certainly have been frozen to death in their cells. It was altogether quite as much a matter of congratulation as of regret that the volcano showed no symptoms of resuming its activity; for although a return of the eruption might have rendered their former resort again habitable, any sudden o
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CHAPTER XV. A JOURNEY AND A DISAPPOINTMENT
CHAPTER XV. A JOURNEY AND A DISAPPOINTMENT
It was as the professor had said. From the day that Isaac Hakkabut had entered upon his mercantile career, his dealings had all been carried on by a system of false weight. That deceitful steelyard had been the mainspring of his fortune. But when it had become his lot to be the purchaser instead of the vendor, his spirit had groaned within him at being compelled to reap the fruits of his own dishonesty. No one who had studied his character could be much surprised at the confession that was extor
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CHAPTER XVI. A BOLD PROPOSITION
CHAPTER XVI. A BOLD PROPOSITION
On his return Servadac communicated to the count the result of his expedition, and, though perfectly silent on the subject of his personal project, did not conceal the fact that the Spaniards, without the smallest right, had sold Ceuta to the English. Having refused to quit their post, the Englishmen had virtually excluded themselves from any further consideration; they had had their warning, and must now take the consequences of their own incredulity. Although it had proved that not a single cr
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CHAPTER XVII. THE VENTURE MADE
CHAPTER XVII. THE VENTURE MADE
What would be the consequences of this sudden and complete disruption, Servadac and his people hardly dared to think. The first change that came under their observation was the rapidity of the sun’s appearances and disappearances, forcing them to the conviction that although the comet still rotated on its axis from east to west, yet the period of its rotation had been diminished by about one-half. Only six hours instead of twelve elapsed between sunrise and sunrise; three hours after rising in t
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CHAPTER XVIII. SUSPENSE
CHAPTER XVIII. SUSPENSE
When the balloon had reached an elevation of about 2,500 yards, Lieutenant Procope determined to maintain it at that level. A wire-work stove, suspended below the casing, and filled with lighted hay, served to keep the air in the interior at a proper temperature. Beneath their feet was extended the basin of the Gallian Sea. An inconsiderable speck to the north marked the site of Gourbi Island. Ceuta and Gibraltar, which might have been expected in the west, had utterly disappeared. On the south
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CHAPTER XIX. BACK AGAIN
CHAPTER XIX. BACK AGAIN
“In Algeria, captain?” “Yes, Ben Zoof, in Algeria; and not far from Mostaganem.” Such were the first words which, after their return to consciousness, were exchanged between Servadac and his orderly. They had resided so long in the province that they could not for a moment be mistaken as to their whereabouts, and although they were incapable of clearing up the mysteries that shrouded the miracle, yet they were convinced at the first glance that they had been returned to the earth at the very ide
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