fr:Hector Servadac - Chapitre IX
CHAPTER IX.INQUIRIES UNSATISFIED.
as his legs could carry him, Servadac had made his
way to the top of the cliff. It was quite true that a vessel
was in sight, hardly more than six miles from the shore; but owing to the increase in the earth's convexity, and the consequent limitation of the range of vision, the rigging of the topmasts alone was visible above the water. This was enough, however, to indicate that the ship was a schooner—an impression that was confirmed when, two hours later, she came entirely in sight.
“The Dobryna!” exclaimed Servadac, keeping his eye
unmoved at his telescope.
“Impossible, sir!” rejoined Ben Zoof; “there are no
signs of smoke.”
“The Dobryna!” repeated the captain, positively. “She
is under sail, but that schooner is Count Timascheff's
yacht.”
He was right. If the count were on board, a strange
fatality was bringing him to the presence of his rival. But
no longer now could Servadac regard him in the lights
of an adversary; circumstances had changed, and all
animosity was absorbed in the eagerness with which he
hailed the prospect of obtaining some information about
the recent startling and inexplicable events. During the
twenty-seven days that she had been absent, the Dobryna, he conjectured, would have explored the Mediterranean,
would very probably have visited Spain, France, or Italy, and accordingly would convey to Gourbi Island some intelligence from one or other of those countries. He reckoned, therefore, not only upon ascertaining the extent of the late catastrophe, but upon learning its cause. Count Timascheff was, no doubt, magnanimously coming to the rescue of himself and his orderly.
The wind being adverse, the Dobryna did not make
very rapid progress; but as the weather, in spite of a few
clouds, remained calm, and the sea was quite smooth, she
was enabled to hold a steady course. It seemed unaccountable
that she should not use her engine, as whoever
was on board would be naturally impatient to reconnoitre
the new island, which must just have come within their
view. The probability that suggested itself was that the
schooner's fuel was exhausted.
Servadac took it for granted that the Dobryna was
endeavouring to put in. It occurred to him, however, that
the count, on discovering an island where he had expected
to find the mainland of Africa, would not unlikely be at a
loss for a place of anchorage. The yacht was evidently
making her way in the direction of the former mouth of
the Shelif, and the captain was struck with the idea that
he would do well to investigate whether there was any
suitable mooring towards which he might signal her. Zephyr and Galette were soon saddled, and in twenty minutes had carried their riders to the western extremity of the island, where they both dismounted and began to explore the coast.
They were not long in ascertaining that on the farther
side of the point there was a small well-sheltered creek
of sufficient depth to accommodate a vessel of moderate
tonnage. A narrow channel formed a passage through
the ridge of rocks that protected it from the open sea, and
which, even in the roughest weather, would ensure the
calmness of its waters.
Whilst examining the rocky shore, the captain observed, to his great surprise, long and well-defined rows of seaweed,
which undoubtedly betokened that there had been a very
considerable ebb and flow of the waters—a thing unknown
in the Mediterranean, where there is scarcely any perceptible
tide. What, however, seemed most remarkable, was the manifest evidence that ever since the highest flood (which was caused, in all probability, by the proximity of the body of which the huge disc had been so conspicuous on the night of the 31st of December) the phenomenon had been gradually lessening, and in fact was now reduced to the normal limits which had characterized it before the convulsion.