Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

The cormorants they alarmed in the tomb flew southward, which indicates that there may be land not far to the south.Those on board the Toronto Liner had high hopes for that. A few hours after leaving the island, they came to a new body of water.The water here is very shallow, and it turned out to be the Dagur peninsula between the Gulf of Tunis and the Gulf of Hammamet. They spent two days in this area looking for Tunisia's Sahel coast.But failed, and later reached the 34th Parallel where Gabes Bay is located. The estuary of the Grand Canal that connected the Sahara Lake with the sea, which existed intact six weeks ago, has disappeared. Looking westward, there is endless rolling sea water.

On February 11, the people on the Dobrina finally cheered: "Land!" But logically speaking, there should be no land here. It couldn't be the flat, sandy coast of Tunisia that's hard to see in the distance.The coast of Tunisia should appear about two degrees further south. This new piece of land is undulating, stretching from west to east, and stretching to the distant sky in the south.On the left side of the land, the original Gabes Bay is divided into two, and the Galbi Island at the end of the bay no longer exists. This landmass was carefully marked on nautical charts, and it was agreed that the Sahara Lake had been partially filled by it.

"So," said Captain Servadac, "we have settled for the past few days where the land has become the sea, and now the sea has become the land!" "Also," said Second Officer Prokop, "the Maltese barques and dhows that frequently ply this coast are gone." "The question now," said Count Timashev, "is to decide at once whether we should go east or west along this coast." "I propose to go west, Monsieur Count." French officer Servadac said excitedly. Izoff will come aboard. We can go as far as Gibraltar, and we may get news of Europe there."

"Captain Servadac," said Count Ironmashev in his usual respectful tone, "do as you please. Prokop, tell them to steer the ship west." "My lord, I have an idea," said Prokop after a moment's consideration. "Go ahead." "Now the wind is blowing from the west, and the wind is increasing. Of course, we can drive the machine against the wind, but it will not be very smooth. If we drive eastward to ride the wind and waves at full speed, we can reach the coast of Egypt in a few days. In News about Europe is also available in Alexandria or elsewhere."

"What do you think, Captain." The count turned to Servadac. Although the Servada party was eager to learn about Oran and see Ben-Zoff in passing, it felt that Prokop's views were also very reasonable.Now that the westerly wind is blowing stronger and stronger, the Dobrina will be traveling against the wind, and its speed will be very slow. If it goes downwind, it will soon reach the coast of Egypt. The Dobrina then turned around and headed east.The wind was getting stronger and stronger, but fortunately the surging waves were traveling in exactly the same direction as the Dobrina, so there was no major hindrance.

Over the past two weeks, the temperature has gradually dropped to around 15°C to 20°C.The reason for this is undoubtedly due to the fact that the earth is moving away from the sun along the new orbit.After the earth approached the sun and crossed the orbit of Venus, it gradually moved away from the sun, and now it has exceeded the shortest distance it originally kept from the sun. On February 1, the distance between it and the sun was more than 150 million kilometers, and it seemed to return to its original position.Since that day, the distance has increased by about a third.This can be seen not only from a drop in temperature, but also from a dramatic change in the shape of the sun.The sun seen on the earth now is exactly the same size as the sun seen on Mars.Therefore, it can be considered that the earth has entered the orbit of Mars, and the structure of Mars is basically the same as that of the earth.So the conclusion can only be: the new orbit of the earth in the solar system is a very flat ellipse.

The people on the Dobrina were not very worried about the anomalies in the motion of the Earth in space.What they are concerned about now is the scale of this great change on the surface of the earth. The Dobrina sailed along this strange coast, keeping a distance of two nautical miles.Seriously, it is very dangerous for any ship to sail in this area. There's nowhere to dock here.The huge waves rushing from the depths of the sea violently hit the shore, and there are stone walls composed of steep cliffs more than 100 meters high on the coast.The surface of the stone wall is extremely smooth, and there is no place to stand on it.The top of the hanging rock is as sharp as a bamboo shoot, straight into the sky, like a huge stone forest.

Most people are surprised that these rocks seem to have just formed.Years of wind knife and rain arrows do not seem to have left any traces on these rocks.They stand under the blue sky and look so pure.Every huge stone block is as if it has just been taken out of a furnace. It is extremely smooth, bright, and dazzling. It looks like it was smelted from the metal sand brought up by the probe from the bottom of the sea. In addition, generally speaking, rocks anywhere on the earth have fine lines formed by long-term erosion of rainwater on the surface, and some plants with strong vitality grow on them.But the rock surface here has no steel grains, but is bare, with no plants on it.This is really a lifeless, lifeless world with no birds in it.

Every day, a large number of seabirds, such as seagulls and albatrosses, fly to the Dobrina for food.Day or night, they perched on the side of the ship, and there was no way to drive them away.As long as someone throws a little food on the deck, they will immediately fly over and grab it in an instant.It is no wonder that this area of ​​the coast is barren and barren. Such was the sight of the coast which the Dobrina passed for several days.but.The outline of the coast sometimes changes, and its foreground often presents the same complete shape within a few kilometers, which is very distinct and prominent, as if it is a work of magic.Immediately afterwards, there are criss-crossed prismatic pillars.But there is no sandy beach, pebble beach, and reef belt that is common in the offshore under the cliff.Only occasionally one or two small bays can be seen, but there is absolutely no place where boats can replenish fresh water.In short, as far as the eye can see, there are cliffs everywhere.

After traveling along this coast for about 400 kilometers, the Dobrina suddenly turned around and couldn't move on.Second Officer Prokop, who had been concentrating on marking this new coast on the map, found that the coast stretched from south to north again.Does the Mediterranean Sea end at twelve degrees east longitude?Will this new coast stretch all the way to Sicily, Italy?This problem can be figured out very quickly.If this is the case, the Mediterranean Sea, which is surrounded by the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, will be reduced by half. In order to make this new coast clearer, the Dobrina turned again and headed north towards the coast of Europe.For thousands of years, the island of Malta has been successively occupied by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Sicilians, Romans, Vandals, Greeks, Arabs and knights of Rhodes. If you can survive the sea, you only need to walk a few hundred kilometers north to discover this ancient island.

But the island no longer exists. On February 14, at the original location of the island of Malta, what the probe brought back from the seabed were still metal powders of unknown nature. "It seems that the area affected by this disaster is not limited to the African continent." Count Timashev said. "That's right." Prokop said, "We have no way of determining the extent of the disaster area. Sir, what are your plans now? Where should the Dobrina go?" "Go to Sicily, go to Italy, go to France," cried Captain Servadac, "go wherever possible, in order to find out..." "Aren't we the only survivors on Earth!" the Earl continued his words, with a very heavy tone. Servadac said no more, his premonition was as gloomy as the count's.So he continued to advance, and the location of the island of Malta was soon left behind. This coastline stretches from south to north, so that it is impossible to see the Gulf of Silt, which leads to Egypt.It became clear that it was impossible to reach the coast of Greece and the ports of the Ottoman Empire by sea.It is therefore impossible to hope to reach the southern frontiers of Russia through the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles, the Sea of ​​Marmara, the Bosphorus, and the Black Sea. In order to reach Europe, the Dobrina now has only one way to go, and that is to find the northern coast of the Mediterranean from the west. On February 16, they embarked on a new journey.But God seemed to be against them on purpose, and a violent storm blew up on the sea.The Dobrina, which is only about 200 tons, is in danger of capsizing at any time. Prokop's second mate was very worried.He had already ordered the sails to be lowered, the masts to be lowered, and the wind and waves to be fought at full speed, but it was still to no avail.The turbulent waves suddenly lifted the Dobrina high, and then pushed it into a huge trough.The propeller is often out of the water, idling there, unable to function.Although people drove the machine to the maximum, they couldn't resist the huge wind and waves. There is no sheltered port anywhere.The coast is full of cliffs and there is nowhere to stop.Prokop prepared for the worst, and had no choice but to force the Dobrina to dock.But what would become of them, even if they landed on this impenetrable shore?The coast is full of desolation and there is no life. Once their food is exhausted, how will they survive?On the other side of the coast, whether there will be a new world with a unique hole in the sky, the hope is very slim. They worked together to fight bravely and calmly against the wind and waves.The sailors all firmly believed in the command of the second officer.The engine was in danger of stalling due to overwork.The propeller no longer works.The jib, which was designed to handle the storm, could not be hoisted now, as it would be torn apart by the hurricane.The boat lost control and was pushed towards the shore by wind and waves. The situation is extremely critical, and everyone stands on the deck.The coast is close at hand, and the Dobrina is rushing towards the shore rapidly, and there is no way to stop it. "My lord," Prokop's second mate said to Count Ironmashev, "human strength is limited and cannot prevent the Dobrina from rushing ashore." "Have you done everything you can?" asked the count calmly. "At the end of the day," replied Prokop, "our ship will be smashed to pieces on the shore in an hour." "We have to wait for God to save us!" said the count loudly. "God can only be saved if God lets these cliffs make way for us." "May Almighty God bless us," said the count, taking off his hat, and praying devoutly. The others followed suit and prayed silently. Seeing that a catastrophe was inevitable, Prokop had to take various measures to minimize the loss.He also thought that it was necessary to keep those who survived from starving to death in this barren land, so he asked people to carry boxes of grain and buckets of fresh water to the deck, and tied them with ropes and some empty buckets. , making it afloat after the ship hits and sinks.In short, he took all the steps a man could take after living at sea for many years. He had lost all hope that the Dobrina would be saved.This endless cliff was like a thick stone wall, and there was no place for the Dobrina to hide.There was now only one possibility for the Dobrina to be saved: either a sudden change in the wind would send her adrift out to sea, or, as Prokop said, a miracle on the coast would make way for her. But the direction of the wind has not changed, and does not appear to change. The Dobrina was now only a nautical mile from shore.The rocks on the shore seemed to be getting taller and taller, as if they were rushing towards them.In a blink of an eye, it was only 600 meters away from the coast.The moment of life and death has come! "Farewell, Count." Servadac stretched out his hand to Ironmashv and said to him. "God is waving to us, Captain." The count said, pointing to the sky. A huge wave came, and the Dobrina was held up high, and it was about to hit the cliff directly. Just at this critical moment, there was a scream from the protrusion: "Quick! Men, get the spinnaker and jib up! Starboard!" Here is Prokop, standing at the prow, giving orders to the sailors.The order came very suddenly, but everyone quickly followed his instructions.Then he trotted aft to take the helm himself. What is he doing?Evidently, he was correcting the course of the Dobrina. "Look out!" he cried again. "Watch the lower right corners of the sails." Prolonged cheers rang out on the Dobrina... A gap about ten meters wide appeared on the coast, and on both sides of the gap were towering stone walls.There is no such thing as a road to heaven.Even if this is not a waterway, it is still a safe haven, so the Dobrina, supported by Prokop's calm fingers, quickly drove in with the help of the wind...