Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Encounter by chance

Selvadak rushed out of the stone house and quickly ran up the rock. There is indeed a ship on the sea about ten kilometers away from the island.However, as the curvature of the earth's surface shrinks, people's field of vision has also been greatly reduced, so this ship can only see the top of its mast exposed in the vast expanse of blue waves. Although the hull cannot be seen, the type of ship it belongs to can be determined from the number of its masts.It was evidently a two-masted schooner.Two hours after Ben-Zoff's sighting of it, the full figure of the ship came into view.

Captain Servadac held up his binoculars and stared at it non-stop. "This is the Dobrina!" he exclaimed suddenly. "The Dobrina?" said Ben, a lady. "Isn't it possible? Why don't you see smoke coming from the chimney?" "It's full of planes," said Servadac. "That's right. Count Ironmashev's brig." Sure enough, the ship was the Dobrina.If the earl was also on board, who would have expected that the two rivals in love would meet unexpectedly here. Needless to say, for Count Ironmashev, who was sailing towards the island, Captain Servadac no longer regarded him as a sworn enemy, but as a ally in trouble.He didn't even think about the duel they had agreed upon, and even the reason for the duel had long since been forgotten.A series of such huge changes had taken place between the heaven and the earth, and his only wish now was to meet him quickly and ask him what was going on.During these twenty-seven days the Dobrina must have traveled along the coast of Algeria, and possibly to ports in Spain, Italy, or France, and must therefore have been able to make a complete survey of the Mediterranean coast—the isle of Gulbi, as well as these Regions are now completely isolated - provide some updates on the changes.In this way, Selvadac can not only have a comprehensive understanding of the scale of the disaster, but also figure out the cause of the disaster.Besides, Count Ironmashev is a very loyal man, and he will definitely take the captain and his orderlies away.

"Where does this ship dock? The mouth of the Sharif no longer exists," asked Ben-Zov. "It won't come ashore," said the captain. "The count will send a boat, and we'll sail across." Because of the headwind, the Dobrina could only move slowly towards this side.The strange thing is that the machines on the ship did not start, and they should have discovered this new island long ago.It is likely that the fuel has been used up and the sails have to be used.Fortunately, although there was a layer of light clouds in the sky, it was still clear, the wind was not strong, and the sea was relatively calm, so the Dobrina was sailing smoothly towards the island.

Servadac had no doubts that the Dobrina would berth here.Count Ironmashev must be bewildered: How could a small island suddenly appear in this part of the African continent?He may also be concerned that there is not a single anchorage around the island.But this kind of worry is unnecessary. Once the sailboat shows signs of being inconvenient to dock, Selvadac will take the initiative to find a berth for it, send a signal to it, and lead it into the port. Sure enough, after a while, Servadac clearly saw Dobrina et al.Heading towards the mouth of the former Sharif River.So he made a prompt decision, rode on his horse, and together with Ben-Zov, quickly ran to the west of the island.

Twenty minutes later, they were there.The two immediately dismounted from their horses and observed the coastal terrain. Servadac soon discovered that there was a small harbor not far from the westernmost end of the island, which could be used by the Dobrina to berth.The harbor is dotted with some large reefs, between which there is a narrow channel.Even if there are strong winds and waves, the harbor will definitely be calm.However, when he carefully observed the rocks on the shore, he suddenly found that there were traces of the tide receding on the rocks, and there were still some dry seaweeds on the traces.

"Strange!" he thought, "does the Mediterranean have tides now?" The ebb and flow of the tide seems to be real, for it leaves a clear mark on the top of the rock.This is another oddity.It is known that the Mediterranean Sea has basically no tides. At the same time, Selkedak also found that after the tide showed its highest water level on the rocks-apparently caused by the appearance of a large planet near the earth on the night of December 31 last year-the tide gradually receded and is now finally restored. It looks like it was before the disaster. Captain Servadac just took note of this strange phenomenon, and all he was concerned about now was the motor sailing ship Dobrina.

The sailboat is only two or three kilometers away from the coast.They must have seen the signal that Servadac was sending them.For they set course a little, and began to lower the mainsail, leaving only the second-sail, mizzen-sail, and jib at the bow, all at the helmsman's hands.At last, the sailboat rounded the headland, and according to the gestures made by Servadac, boldly crossed the channel between the reefs and entered the small harbor.After a few minutes, they tossed the trace and lowered the boat.Earl Iron Mashev immediately boarded the boat and headed straight for Selvadak's station.

The captain hurried forward to meet him. "Monsieur Count," he called.Then, the first thing he said was: "What happened?" The count was a calm man, and his poise was in sharp contrast to the captain's impatience.He first bowed to the captain, and then said in a thick Russian accent: "Captain, before we talk about anything else, let me tell you that I did not expect to have the honor of meeting you here. You were on the mainland when we parted, and now you are on an island..." "I'm not going anywhere, Monsieur Count." "I know that, Captain. Please forgive me for not being able to make an appointment..."

"Monsieur Count," said the captain loudly, "we will talk about that later, if you like." "Everything is as ordered." "I also follow your opinion in everything. However, please allow me to ask you the question just now: What happened?" "I was going to ask you for advice, Captain." "What, you don't know anything?" "I don't know anything." "This part of the African continent was turned into an island overnight. You have nothing to tell me about that?" "No." "How big is the impact of this disaster?"

"I, like you, Captain, know nothing." "But you can always say something about the northern coast of the Mediterranean..." "Is this sea still the Mediterranean Sea?" Earl Iron Mashev interrupted the captain's words and asked a strange question. "You should know this question better than me, because you are from the sea." "I haven't been anywhere along the coast." "You haven't stopped anywhere?" "No. I haven't even seen a piece of land." The captain looked at the count in surprise, and then said:

"However, Mr. Earl, you should find that from January 1st, East and West have been completely reversed." "Exactly." "There are only six hours of day and night." "yes." "Gravity has been greatly reduced." "Not bad." "The moon has gone to nowhere." "That's right." "We almost collided with Venus." "You're absolutely right." "As a result, the Earth's rotation and revolution have changed." "That's right." "Monsieur Count," continued the captain, "forgive me for my insolence. I thought that all I knew was nothing, and I should like to ask you for advice." "I don't know anything more, Captain," said the Count. "I have only one thing to add. On the night of December 31st last year, I came to meet you in a boat. I didn't want the sea to be rough suddenly. The crests and troughs were violently tossed. We were bewildered by this strange phenomenon, and no one could tell what happened. Then the machine broke down, and there were days of violent wind and rain. We had to drift with the wind. It was a surprise that the Dobrina was able to withstand the rough sea. I think the reason was that it was in the center of the hurricane and was less affected by the waves. .So, we didn't see a piece of land, only your small island is the first piece of land we saw." "In this case, Monsieur Count, we must go back to the sea and find out how far the disaster has spread." "I think so too." "May I take a place in your ship, Mr. Count." "Of course, Captain. We can travel the world if we want." "I figured a trip around the Mediterranean would be enough." "Who can say that traveling around the Mediterranean is not traveling around the world?" said the count, shaking his head. Selvadak was silent, lost in thought. This is the only way to do it now. Let's go to see the situation on the coast of Africa first, and go to Algiers to learn about the news from all over the world.If the southern shore of the Mediterranean is no more, go north and see what is happening in the countries of Europe. However, the departure can only be started after the machine on the Dobrina has been rectified.Several pipes in the boiler were cracked, and warm water kept pouring into the furnace, making it impossible to raise the fire.If you only rely on sails, you are afraid of bad weather and encounter headwinds.In that case, the boat's speed would be too slow and too difficult.The Dobruna is a relatively large ship that can go directly to the Middle East; the coal stored in the coal bunker is enough for two months, so it can be used for a long voyage without the need to find a port to refuel. Therefore, the boiler must be repaired to play the role of the machine. Fortunately there were some spare iron pipes on the Dobrina, and the bad ones were replaced, and the problem was quickly fixed.In this way, on the third day after they arrived on the island, the boiler could be fired. Servadac took advantage of the earl's stay at Gulby Island to introduce him to the situation on the island.The two of them rode their horses for a circle along the coast.Their only thought now is to go to places other than the small island to find out the real reason that caused the vicissitudes of life in the northern part of the African continent. While the Dobrina was preparing to set sail on January 31, nothing new occurred between heaven and earth.It was just a month-long high temperature, which has now dropped slightly.Could it be that the earth orbiting the sun has embarked on a new orbit at this time?It looks like this issue will take a few days to figure out. The weather has been fine, though the sky has been clouded at times and the air pressure has dropped slightly.But the problem is not big, and the Dobrina can still leave on time. The question now was whether the husband should leave the island with the captain.Unfortunately, for various reasons, he had to stay.First of all, the two horses could not get on board, because there were no special stables on board, and Ben-Zov was unwilling to leave the two beloved horses anyway.Secondly, strangers may come to the island at any time, and the place cannot be left unattended.Those cattle and sheep can't just be thrown away. In case of accidents, these cattle and sheep will be indispensable food for the survivors.In view of the above reasons, Motoichi Zoff decided to stay on his own, and the captain had no choice but to agree, although he was a little reluctant in his heart.But Ben-Zov would not encounter any danger if he stayed on the island.Once they find out the situation outside, they will come back to pick him up. On January 31, Ben Yizoff bid farewell to the captain with a reluctant farewell mood.Before leaving, the captain told him a few words.He also begged the captain, in case he ever passed Montmartre, to see if his beloved hometown was safe and sound.While speaking, the Dobruna had turned on its propellers and left the narrow harbor; in a blink of an eye, it disappeared into the vast sea.