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.
Captain Servadac consoled himself with the prospect of reading an explanation of the mystery in next week's newspapers, and turned his attention to what was to him of more immediate importance.

"Come, let us be off," said he to his orderly; "though heaven and earth be topsy-turvy, I must be at my post this morning." "To do Count Timascheff the honor of running him through the body," added Ben Zoof.
If Servadac and his orderly had been less preoccupied, they would have noticed that a variety of other physical changes besides the apparent alteration in the movement of the sun had been evolved during the atmospheric disturbances of that New Year's night.

As they descended the steep footpath leading from the cliff towards the Shelif, they were unconscious that their respiration became forced and rapid, like that of a mountaineer when he has reached an altitude where the air has become less charged with oxygen.

They were also unconscious that their voices were thin and feeble; either they must themselves have become rather deaf, or it was evident that the air had become less capable of transmitting sound.
The weather, which on the previous evening had been very foggy, had entirely changed.

The sky had assumed a singular tint, and was soon covered with lowering clouds that completely hid the sun.