“Constant ever I will be, Constant....” His next thought was to wonder what had happened; and in order to find an answer, he pushed aside the broken thatch, so that his head appeared above the _debris_. “The gourbi leveled to the ground!” he exclaimed, “surely a waterspout has passed along the coast.” He felt all over his body to perceive what injuries he had sustained, but not a sprain nor a scratch could he discover. “Where are you, Ben Zoof?” he shouted. “Here, sir!” and with military promptitude a second head protruded from the rubbish. “Have you any notion what has happened, Ben Zoof?” “I’ve a notion, captain, that it’s all up with us.” “Nonsense, Ben Zoof; it is nothing but a waterspout!” “Very good, sir,” was the philosophical reply, immediately followed by the query, “Any bones broken, sir?” “None whatever,” said the captain. Both men were soon on their feet, and began to make a vigorous clearance of the ruins, beneath which they found that their arms, cooking utensils, and other property, had sustained little injury. “By-the-by, what o’clock is it?” asked the captain. “It must be eight o’clock, at least,” said Ben Zoof, looking at the sun, which was a considerable height above the horizon. “It is almost time for us to start.” “To start! what for?” “To keep your appointment with Count Timascheff.” “By Jove! I had forgotten all about it!” exclaimed Servadac. Then looking at his watch, he cried, “What are you thinking of, Ben Zoof? It is scarcely two o’clock.” “Two in the morning, or two in the afternoon?” asked Ben Zoof, again regarding the sun. Servadac raised his watch to his ear. “It is going,” said he; “but, by all the wines of Medoc, I am puzzled. Don’t you see the sun is in the west? It must be near setting.” “Setting, captain! Why, it is rising finely, like a conscript at the sound of the reveille. It is considerably higher since we have been talking.” Incredible as it might appear, the fact was undeniable that the sun was rising over the Shelif from that quarter of the horizon behind which it usually sank for the latter portion of its daily round. They were utterly bewildered. Some mysterious phenomenon must not only have altered the position of the sun in the sidereal system, but must even have brought about an important modification of the earth’s rotation on her axis. Captain Servadac consoled himself with the prospect of reading an explanation of the mystery in next week’s newspapers, and turned his attention to what was to him of more immediate importance. “Come, let us be off,” said he to his orderly; “though heaven and earth be topsy-turvy, I must be at my post this morning.” “To do Count Timascheff the honor of running him through the body,” added Ben Zoof.