"What means all this" he murmured "Laws of gravity disturbed Points of the compass reversed The length of day reduced one half Surely this will indefinitely postpone my meeting with the count Something has happened; Ben Zoof and I cannot both be mad".
The orderly sterling silver dolphin jewelry, meantime, surveyed his master with the greatest equanimity; no phenomenon, however extraordinary, would have drawn from him a single exclamation of surprise "Do you see anyone, Ben Zoof" asked the captain, at last.
"No one, sir; the count has evidently been and gone" "But supposing that to be the case," persisted the captain, "my seconds would have waited, and not seeing me, would have come on towards the gourbi I can only conclude that they have been unable to get here; and as for Count Timascheff--".
Without finishing his sentence Captain Servadac, thinking it just probable that the count, as on the previous evening, might come by water, walked to the ridge of rock that overhung the shore, in order to ascertain if the _Dobryna_ were anywhere in sight But the sea was deserted, and for the first time the captain noticed that, although the wind was calm, the waters were unusually agitated, and seethed and foamed as though they were boiling It was very certain that the yacht would have found a difficulty in holding her own in such a swell Another thing that now struck Servadac was the extraordinary contraction of the horizon Under ordinary circumstances, his elevated position would have allowed him a radius of vision at least five and twenty miles in length; but the terrestrial sphere seemed, in the course of the last few hours, to have become considerably reduced in volume, and he could now see for a distance of only six miles in every direction.
Meantime, with the agility of a monkey, Ben Zoof had clambered to the top of a eucalyptus, and from his lofty perch was surveying the country to the south, as well as towards both Tenes and Mostaganem On descending, be informed the captain that the plain was deserted.