Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space

by Jules Verne

  CHAPTER XVII. A SECOND ENIGMA

  Upon re-embarking, the bewildered explorers began to discuss thequestion whether it would not now be desirable to make their way backto Gourbi Island, which was apparently the only spot in their new worldfrom which they could hope to derive their future sustenance. CaptainServadac tried to console himself with the reflection that Gourbi Islandwas, after all, a fragment of a French colony, and as such almost likea bit of his dear France; and the plan of returning thither was on thepoint of being adopted, when Lieutenant Procope remarked that they oughtto remember that they had not hitherto made an entire circuit of the newshores of the sea on which they were sailing.

  "We have," he said, "neither investigated the northern shore from thesite of Cape Antibes to the strait that brought us to Gibraltar, norhave we followed the southern shore that stretches from the strait tothe Gulf of Cabes. It is the old coast, and not the new, that we havebeen tracing; as yet, we cannot say positively that there is no outletto the south; as yet, we cannot assert that no oasis of the Africandesert has escaped the catastrophe. Perhaps, even here in the north,we may find that Italy and Sicily and the larger islands of theMediterranean may still maintain their existence."

  "I entirely concur with you," said Count Timascheff. "I quite think weought to make our survey of the confines of this new basin as completeas possible before we withdraw."

  Servadac, although he acknowledged the justness of these observations,could not help pleading that the explorations might be deferred untilafter a visit had been paid to Gourbi Island.

  "Depend upon it, captain, you are mistaken," replied the lieutenant;"the right thing to do is to use the _Dobryna_ while she is available."

  "Available! What do you mean?" asked the count, somewhat taken bysurprise.

  "I mean," said Procope, "that the farther this Gallia of ours recedesfrom the sun, the lower the temperature will fall. It is likely enough,I think, that before long the sea will be frozen over, and navigationwill be impossible. Already you have learned something of thedifficulties of traversing a field of ice, and I am sure, therefore, youwill acquiesce in my wish to continue our explorations while the wateris still open."

  "No doubt you are right, lieutenant," said the count. "We will continueour search while we can for some remaining fragment of Europe. Whoshall tell whether we may not meet with some more survivors from thecatastrophe, to whom it might be in our power to afford assistance,before we go into our winter quarters?"

  Generous and altogether unselfish as this sentiment really was, it wasobviously to the general interest that they should become acquainted,and if possible establish friendly relations, with any human inhabitantwho might be sharing their own strange destiny in being rolled away upona new planet into the infinitude of space. All difference of race, alldistinction of nationality, must be merged into the one thought that,few as they were, they were the sole surviving representatives of aworld which it seemed exceedingly improbable that they would ever seeagain; and common sense dictated that they were bound to direct alltheir energies to insure that their asteroid should at least have aunited and sympathizing population.

  It was on the 25th of February that the yacht left the little creek inwhich she had taken refuge, and setting off at full steam eastwards,she continued her way along the northern shore. A brisk breeze tended toincrease the keenness of the temperature, the thermometer being, onan average, about two degrees below zero. Salt water freezes only at alower temperature than fresh; the course of the _Dobryna_ was thereforeunimpeded by ice, but it could not be concealed that there was thegreatest necessity to maintain the utmost possible speed.

  The nights continued lovely; the chilled condition of the atmosphereprevented the formation of clouds; the constellations gleamed forthwith unsullied luster; and, much as Lieutenant Procope, from nauticalconsiderations, might regret the absence of the moon, he could not dootherwise than own that the magnificent nights of Gallia were such asmust awaken the enthusiasm of an astronomer. And, as if to compensatefor the loss of the moonlight, the heavens were illuminated by asuperb shower of falling stars, far exceeding, both in number and inbrilliancy, the phenomena which are commonly distinguished as the Augustand November meteors; in fact, Gallia was passing through that meteoricring which is known to lie exterior to the earth's orbit, but almostconcentric with it. The rocky coast, its metallic surface reflecting theglow of the dazzling luminaries, appeared literally stippled with light,whilst the sea, as though spattered with burning hailstones, shone witha phosphorescence that was perfectly splendid. So great, however, wasthe speed at which Gallia was receding from the sun, that this meteoricstorm lasted scarcely more than four and twenty hours.

  Next day the direct progress of the _Dobryna_ was arrested by a longprojection of land, which obliged her to turn southwards, until shereached what formerly would have been the southern extremity of Corsica.Of this, however, there was now no trace; the Strait of Bonifacio hadbeen replaced by a vast expanse of water, which had at first all theappearance of being utterly desert; but on the following morning theexplorers unexpectedly sighted a little island, which, unless it shouldprove, as was only too likely, to be of recent origin they concluded,from its situation, must be a portion of the northernmost territory ofSardinia.

  The _Dobryna_ approached the land as nearly as was prudent, the boat waslowered, and in a few minutes the count and Servadac had landed uponthe islet, which was a mere plot of meadow land, not much more thantwo acres in extent, dotted here and there with a few myrtle-bushes andlentisks, interspersed with some ancient olives. Having ascertained, asthey imagined, that the spot was devoid of living creature, they were onthe point of returning to their boat, when their attention was arrestedby a faint bleating, and immediately afterwards a solitary she-goat camebounding towards the shore. The creature had dark, almost black hair,and small curved horns, and was a specimen of that domestic breed which,with considerable justice, has gained for itself the title of "the poorman's cow." So far from being alarmed at the presence of strangers, thegoat ran nimbly towards them, and then, by its movements and plaintivecries, seemed to be enticing them to follow it.

  "Come," said Servadac; "let us see where it will lead us; it is morethan probable it is not alone."

  The count agreed; and the animal, as if comprehending what was said,trotted on gently for about a hundred paces, and stopped in front of akind of cave or burrow that was half concealed by a grove of lentisks.Here a little girl, seven or eight years of age, with rich brown hairand lustrous dark eyes, beautiful as one of Murillo's angels, waspeeping shyly through the branches. Apparently discovering nothingin the aspect of the strangers to excite her apprehensions, the childsuddenly gained confidence, darted forwards with outstretched hands, andin a voice, soft and melodious as the language which she spoke, said inItalian:

  "I like you; you will not hurt me, will you?"

  "Hurt you, my child?" answered Servadac. "No, indeed; we will be yourfriends; we will take care of you."

  And after a few moments' scrutiny of the pretty maiden, he added:

  "Tell us your name, little one."

  "Nina!" was the child's reply.

  "Well, then, Nina, can you tell us where we are?"

  "At Madalena, I think," said the little girl; "at least, I know I wasthere when that dreadful shock came and altered everything."

  The count knew that Madalena was close to Caprera, to the north ofSardinia, which had entirely disappeared in the disaster. By dint of aseries of questions, he gained from the child a very intelligent accountof her experiences. She told him that she had no parents, and had beenemployed in taking care of a flock of goats belonging to one of thelandowners, when one day, all of a sudden, everything around her, exceptthis little piece of land, had been swallowed up, and that she andMarzy, her pet goat, had been left quite alone. She went on to say thatat first she had been very frightened; but when she found that the earthdid not shake any more, she had thanked the great God, and had soon madeherself very
happy living with Marzy. She had enough food, she said, andhad been waiting for a boat to fetch her, and now a boat had come andshe was quite ready to go away; only they must let her goat go with her:they would both like so much to get back to the old farm.

  "Here, at least, is one nice little inhabitant of Gallia," said CaptainServadac, as he caressed the child and conducted her to the boat.

  Half an hour later, both Nina and Marzy were safely quartered on boardthe yacht. It is needless to say that they received the heartiest ofwelcomes. The Russian sailors, ever superstitious, seemed almost toregard the coming of the child as the appearance of an angel; and,incredible as it may seem, more than one of them wondered whether shehad wings, and amongst themselves they commonly referred to her as "thelittle Madonna."

  Soon out of sight of Madalena, the _Dobryna_ for some hours held asoutheasterly course along the shore, which here was fifty leagues inadvance of the former coast-line of Italy, demonstrating that a newcontinent must have been formed, substituted as it were for the oldpeninsula, of which not a vestige could be identified. At a latitudecorresponding with the latitude of Rome, the sea took the form of a deepgulf, extending back far beyond the site of the Eternal City; thecoast making a wide sweep round to the former position of Calabria, andjutting far beyond the outline of "the boot," which Italy resembles.But the beacon of Messina was not to be discerned; no trace, indeed,survived of any portion of Sicily; the very peak of Etna, 11,000 feet asit had reared itself above the level of the sea, had vanished utterly.

  Another sixty leagues to the south, and the _Dobryna_ sighted theentrance of the strait which had afforded her so providential a refugefrom the tempest, and had conducted her to the fragmentary relic ofGibraltar. Hence to the Gulf of Cabes had been already explored, and asit was universally allowed that it was unnecessary to renew the searchin that direction, the lieutenant started off in a transverse course,towards a point hitherto uninvestigated. That point was reached on the3rd of March, and thence the coast was continuously followed, as it ledthrough what had been Tunis, across the province of Constantine, awayto the oasis of Ziban; where, taking a sharp turn, it first reached alatitude of 32 degrees, and then returned again, thus forming a sortof irregular gulf, enclosed by the same unvarying border of mineralconcrete. This colossal boundary then stretched away for nearly 150leagues over the Sahara desert, and, extending to the south of GourbiIsland, occupied what, if Morocco had still existed, would have been itsnatural frontier.

  Adapting her course to these deviations of the coastline, the _Dobryna_was steering northwards, and had barely reached the limit of the bay,when the attention of all on board was arrested by the phenomenon of avolcano, at least 3,000 feet high, its crater crowned with smoke, whichoccasionally was streaked by tongues of flame.

  "A burning mountain!" they exclaimed.

  "Gallia, then, has some internal heat," said Servadac.

  "And why not, captain?" rejoined the lieutenant. "If our asteroid hascarried with it a portion of the old earth's atmosphere, why should itnot likewise retain something of its central fire?"

  "Ah, well!" said the captain, shrugging his shoulders, "I dare saythere is caloric enough in our little world to supply the wants of itspopulation."

  Count Timascheff interrupted the silence that followed this conversationby saying, "And now, gentlemen, as our course has brought us on ourway once more towards Gibraltar, what do you say to our renewing ouracquaintance with the Englishmen? They will be interested in the resultof our voyage."

  "For my part," said Servadac, "I have no desire that way. They knowwhere to find Gourbi Island; they can betake themselves thither justwhen they please. They have plenty of provisions. If the water freezes,120 leagues is no very great distance. The reception they gave us wasnot so cordial that we need put ourselves out of the way to repeat ourvisit."

  "What you say is too true," replied the count. "I hope we shall showthem better manners when they condescend to visit us."

  "Ay," said Servadac, "we must remember that we are all one people now;no longer Russian, French, or English. Nationality is extinct."

  "I am sadly afraid, however," continued the count, "that an Englishmanwill be an Englishman ever."

  "Yes," said the captain, "that is always their failing."

  And thus all further thought of making their way again to the littlegarrison of Gibraltar was abandoned.

  But even if their spirit of courtesy had disposed them to renew theiracquaintance with the British officers, there were two circumstancesthat just then would have rendered such a proposal very unadvisable. Inthe first place, Lieutenant Procope was convinced that it could not bemuch longer now before the sea would be entirely frozen; and, besidesthis, the consumption of their coal, through the speed they hadmaintained, had been so great that there was only too much reasonto fear that fuel would fail them. Anyhow, the strictest economy wasnecessary, and it was accordingly resolved that the voyage should not bemuch prolonged. Beyond the volcanic peak, moreover, the waters seemed toexpand into a boundless ocean, and it might be a thing full of risk tobe frozen up while the yacht was so inadequately provisioned. Takingall these things into account, it was agreed that further investigationsshould be deferred to a more favorable season, and that, without delay,the _Dobryna_ should return to Gourbi Island.

  This decision was especially welcome to Hector Servadac, who, throughoutthe whole of the last five weeks, had been agitated by much anxiousthought on account of the faithful servant he had left behind.

  The transit from the volcano to the island was not long, and was markedby only one noticeable incident. This was the finding of a secondmysterious document, in character precisely similar to what they hadfound before. The writer of it was evidently engaged upon a calculation,probably continued from day to day, as to the motions of the planetGallia upon its orbit, and committing the results of his reckonings tothe waves as the channel of communication.

  Instead of being enclosed in a telescope-case, it was this time securedin a preserved-meat tin, hermetically sealed, and stamped with the sameinitials on the wax that fastened it. The greatest care was used inopening it, and it was found to contain the following message:

  "Gallia Ab sole, au 1 mars, dist. 78,000,000 l.! Chemin parcouru de fev.a mars: 59,000,000 1.! _Va bene! All right! Nil desperandum!_

  "Enchante!"

  "Another enigma!" exclaimed Servadac; "and still no intelligiblesignature, and no address. No clearing up of the mystery!"

  "I have no doubt, in my own mind," said the count, "that it is one of aseries. It seems to me probable that they are being sent broadcast uponthe sea."

  "I wonder where the hare-brained _savant_ that writes them can beliving?" observed Servadac.

  "Very likely he may have met with the fate of AEsop's abstractedastronomer, who found himself at the bottom of a well."

  "Ay; but where _is_ that well?" demanded the captain.

  This was a question which the count was incapable of settling; and theycould only speculate afresh as to whether the author of the riddles wasdwelling upon some solitary island, or, like themselves, was navigatingthe waters of the new Mediterranean. But they could detect nothing toguide them to a definite decision.

  After thoughtfully regarding the document for some time. LieutenantProcope proceeded to observe that he believed the paper might beconsidered as genuine, and accordingly, taking its statements asreliable, he deduced two important conclusions: first, that whereas,in the month of January, the distance traveled by the planet(hypothetically called Gallia) had been recorded as 82,000,000 leagues,the distance traveled in February was only 59,000,000 leagues--adifference of 23,000,000 leagues in one month; secondly, that thedistance of the planet from the sun, which on the 15th of February hadbeen 59,000,000 leagues, was on the 1st of March 78,000,000 leagues--anincrease of 19,000,000 leagues in a fortnight. Thus, in proportion asGallia receded from the sun, so did the rate of speed diminish by whichshe traveled along her orbit; facts to be observed in perfect conformit
ywith the known laws of celestial mechanism.

  "And your inference?" asked the count.

  "My inference," replied the lieutenant, "is a confirmation of my surmisethat we are following an orbit decidedly elliptical, although we havenot yet the material to determine its eccentricity."

  "As the writer adheres to the appellation of Gallia, do you not think,"asked the count, "that we might call these new waters the Gallian Sea?"

  "There can be no reason to the contrary, count," replied the lieutenant;"and as such I will insert it upon my new chart."

  "Our friend," said Servadac, "seems to be more and more gratifiedwith the condition of things; not only has he adopted our motto, '_Nildesperandum!_' but see how enthusiastically he has wound up with his'_Enchante!_'"

  The conversation dropped.

  A few hours later the man on watch announced that Gourbi Island was insight.