For some moments he seemed perfectly stupefied; then, recovering himself, he began to overwhelm the count with a torrent of questions.

Had he noticed, ever since the 1st of January, that the sun had risen in the west?
Had he noticed that the days had been only six hours long, and that the weight of the atmosphere was so much diminished?
Had he observed that the moon had quite disappeared, and that the earth had been in imminent hazard of running foul of the planet Venus?
Was he aware, in short, that the entire motions of the terrestrial sphere had undergone a complete modification?
To all these inquiries, the count responded in the affirmative.

He was acquainted with everything that had transpired; but, to Servadac's increasing astonishment, he could throw no light upon the cause of any of the phenomena.
"On the night of the 31st of December," he said, "I was proceeding by sea to our appointed place of meeting, when my yacht was suddenly caught on the crest of an enormous wave, and carried to a height which it is beyond my power to estimate.

Some mysterious force seemed to have brought about a convulsion of the elements.

Our engine was damaged, nay disabled, and we drifted entirely at the mercy of the terrible hurricane that raged during the succeeding days.