and so the washington government knew where barbicane & co. had commenced business. there could be no doubt as to the authenticity of the telegram. the consul of zanzibar was too cautious a man for his information to be doubted, and it was confirmed by subsequent telegrams. the gigantic works of the north polar practical association were in full swing in the centre of the kilimanjaro region, about three hundred miles from the east coast of africa, a little below the equinoctial line.

how had they come to be installed so secretly in this lost country, at the foot of the famous mountain discovered in 1848 by krapf and rebmann? how had barbicane & co. been able to build their foundries and collect their staff? by what means had they managed to enter into peaceful relations with the savage tribes of the district, and their cruel and grasping chiefs? nobody knew. and as there were only a few days to run before the 22nd, it was not unlikely that nobody would know.

when j. t. maston learnt from evangelina that the 108mystery of kilimanjaro had been cleared up by a telegram from zanzibar,—

“pshaw!” he said, making a wonderful zigzag in the air with his iron hook. “they do not travel yet by telegraph or telephone; and in six days—patarapatanboomboom—all will be ready!”

and any one who heard the secretary of the gun club deliver the sonorous onomatope, like a roar from a columbiad, would have wondered at the amount of vital energy remaining in the old artilleryman.

but there was no doubt that he was right. there was no time to send messengers to the wamasai to arrest impey barbicane. even if the messengers started from egypt, or aden, or massowah, or zanzibar, however quickly they might travel, they would have to contend with the difficulties of the country, with the obstacles unavoidable on a road through a mountainous region, and probably with followers acting under the orders of a sultan as despotic as he was black.

all hope would have to be given up of stopping the operation or arresting the operator.

but, if that was impossible, nothing was easier now than to know the worst that could happen. the firing-point had been revealed, and it was a simple matter of calculation—a complicated calculation evidently, but not beyond the capacities of algebraists in particular and mathematicians in general.

at first the government kept the despatch secret, their object being to be able to indicate when they published it what would be the results of the displacement of the axis with regard to the alteration in the level of the waters. the inhabitants of the world would then know the fate 109that was in store for them, according to the segment of the spheroid on which they resided.

on the 14th of september the telegram was sent to the longitudes office at washington, with instructions to work out the final consequences, ballistic and geographical. the next day but one the information was ready. it was cabled at once to all the governments of the new and old worlds, and having been printed in thousands of newspapers, it was cried in all the great cities by all the newsboys of the globe, as—

“what is going to happen?”

which was the question being asked in every language just then.

and this is the reply as given by the longitudes office.

“important notice.

“the experiment to be attempted by barbicane & co. is as follows:—

“to produce a recoil on the 22nd of september at midnight, local time, by means of a monster cannon throwing a projectile of one hundred and eighty thousand tons.

“if this discharge is effected just below the equator, near the thirty-eighth meridian, at the base of the kilimanjaro chain, and if it is directed towards the south, the mechanical effect on the terrestrial spheroid will be as follows:—

“at once, owing to the shock being combined with the diurnal movement, a new axis will be formed, the old axis being 23° 28′, and the new one being perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic.

“in the north the extremity of the new axis will be situated between greenland and grinnell land, on that 110part of baffin sea cut by the arctic circle. in the south it will be on the antarctic circle to the east of adelaide land.

“as an example of the new meridians, we may mention that passing through dublin in ireland, paris in france, palermo in sicily, obeid in darfur, kilimanjaro, kerguelen island, the new antarctic pole, the society islands in the pacific, vancouver island, and melville peninsula.

“the new equator will pass through the kilimanjaro country, the indian ocean, goa, a little below calcutta, mangala in siam, hong kong, the marshall and walker islands in the pacific, rio janeiro, saint helena, and by st. paul de loanda across africa to kilimanjaro.

“the new equator having been formed by the new axis, it is possible to calculate the results on the ocean levels.

“it is worthy of note that barbicane & co., or rather the directors of the north polar practical association, have evidently been desirous of doing as little damage as possible. had the discharge been effected towards the north, the consequences would have been disastrous for the most civilized portions of the globe; but by firing towards the south the consequences, so far as the submergence of the land is concerned, will only affect the less peopled and wilder countries.

“the globe will, for the purposes of this inquiry, be divided by two great circles, intersecting at right angles at kilimanjaro and the antipodes of that mountain, thus giving four segments, two in the northern hemisphere, and two in the southern hemisphere, separated by lines in which no alteration of level will occur.

“1. the northern hemisphere:—

“the first segment, to the west of kilimanjaro, will 111comprise africa from the congo to egypt, europe from turkey to greenland, america from british columbia to peru and brazil north of san salvador—in fact the whole of the north atlantic and the greater part of the equatorial atlantic.

“the second segment, to the east of kilimanjaro, will comprise the greater part of europe from the black sea to sweden, the russian empire, arabia, almost all india, persia, beloochistan, afghanistan, turkestan, the celestial empire, mongolia, japan, corea, the northern pacific and alaska—and also the polar regions, so regrettably placed in the possession of barbicane & co.

“2. the southern hemisphere:—

“the third segment, to the east of kilimanjaro, will comprise madagascar, kerguelen island, mauritius, and all the islands of the indian ocean, the antarctic ocean to the new pole, the malay peninsula, java, sumatra, borneo, the philippines, australia, new zealand, and all the southern pacific up to the meridian of the society islands.

“the fourth segment, to the west of kilimanjaro, will include africa south of the congo and the mozambique channel, the cape of good hope, the south atlantic, south america below pernambuco and lima, bolivia, brazil, uruguay, the argentine confederation, tierra del fuego, the sandwich and south shetland islands, and a portion of the south pacific.

“such will be the four segments of the globe divided by lines of no alteration in level.

“in each of these four segments there will be a central point where the effect will attain its maximum, either of increase or decrease.

112“this maximum will approach 25,000 feet at each point and at the point the consequences will be most serious.

“in two of the segments situated opposite each other in the northern and southern hemispheres, the sea will retire to flow into the two other segments.

“in the first segment the atlantic ocean will almost entirely empty itself, the point of maximum being about the bermudas, where the bottom will become visible if the depth of the sea in that locality be less than 25,000 feet. consequently, between america and europe, vast territories will be revealed, which the united states, great britain, france, spain and portugal can annex pro rata to their atlantic coast-lines, or otherwise, as they may think fit. but it must be remembered that as the waters are lowered, so will the air be. the coast of europe and america will be lifted to such an extent, that towns placed twenty or even thirty degrees from the point of maximum, will have no more air than is now available at three miles from the surface of the sea. new york, philadelphia, charlestown, panama, lisbon, madrid, paris, london, edinburgh, dublin will be thus elevated, but cairo, constantinople, dantzic, stockholm on one side, and the western coast towns of america on the other, will retain their present level. the bermudas will be in such rarefied air as has hitherto been only experienced by aeronauts, and will become as uninhabitable as the upper peaks of the mountains of tibet.

“similar effects will be experienced in the opposite southern segment comprising the indian ocean, australia, and the pacific. at adelaide and melbourne the level of the sea will sink 25,000 feet below them, and the air will become so pure and rarefied as to be unbreathable.

113“such are the two segments from which the waters will retire. in the sea that will be left there will probably be many new islands, formed by the summits of submarine mountain-chains.

“in the other segments the waters will rise to a corresponding height.

“in the segment north-east of kilimanjaro the maximum will be at yakutsk in siberia. this town will be submersed under 25,000 feet of water—less its actual altitude—and thence thinning out on all sides the flood will spread out over asiatic russia, india, china, japan, and alaska. the ural mountains may possibly appear above the waters as islands. st. petersburg and moscow on one side, calcutta, bangkok, saigon, pekin, hong kong, and tokyo, on the other, will disappear beneath the waves at variable depths, but at depths quite sufficient to drown such of the russians, hindoos, siamese, cochinchinese, chinese, and japanese who have not left the country before the catastrophe.

“in the segment south-west of kilimanjaro the disasters will not be of such magnitude, as the segment is in a great measure covered by the atlantic and pacific, the level of which will rise 25,000 feet above the falkland islands. but nevertheless much territory will disappear, among others all south africa from the gulf of guinea and kilimanjaro to the cape of good hope, all south america south of central brazil and peru, including chili, the argentine republic down to tierra del fuego. the patagonians, however tall they may be, will not escape destruction, as they will not even have the resource of escaping to the cordilleras, not one of whose summits will in those parts rise above sea-level.

114“such will be the results produced by the changes of the level of the waters. and such are the eventualities for which those interested must prepare, unless something happens to prevent the dastardly enterprise of barbicane & co.”