"If the attraction of this fragment holds good here, it will hold good all over its surface," proclaimed the professor. "We have no means yet of weighing this torn-away world we are on--this new planet. But it must be of considerable size. Otherwise it would not hang here in space as it does." "And without movement?" cried Jack. "I believe it is circling the earth as the earth circles the sun. We are practically on a second moon--only the fires in the heart of our young planet are not dead." "I should say they were not dead, if that geyser Mr. Roebach opened up is any sign of life," remarked Mark. "You are quite right, my boy," said the professor, cheerfully. "The volcanic disturbance brought about great earthquakes. These, however, were merely warning symptoms. We did not know it, however. Finally the great mass of gas formed beneath the earth's crust somewhere about the Alaskan coast of the Arctic Ocean, we will say, exploded and forced an enormous portion of the crust into the air. "No wonder we lost consciousness," he continued, with enthusiasm. "We were probably traveling faster than human beings ever traveled before. The entire nature of the portion of the earth we stood upon was changing. Our atmosphere was changing. We were shot into the sky and in a flash were beyond the common influence of what we call the law of gravitation." "But what a hole we must have left in that part of the world!" gasped Jack. "Think of it! The seas must have run right into the chasm and made the bottoms of the old seas dry land." "Not at all! Not at all!" returned the professor. "Think what a mighty globe the earth is. Remember that there are valleys miles deep--mountains miles high! There are holes in the ocean which have remained unfathomed to this day! The surface of the earth is very, very rough. What keeps the oceans from overflowing the land and filling all those sinks and valleys that are deeper than the ocean bed? Merely the power of attraction which the earth exercises. "Suppose explorers hurry to the scene of the great earthquake--to the edge of the vast crater which the blowing-out of this portion of the earth has left. What will they find--a hole filled with the waters of the Arctic Ocean?" "And why not?" demanded Jack, stoutly. "Because the evidence of our own eyes assures us that such is not the case," declared the professor, pointing again to the rolling planet they had so strangely left. "The earth is not overbalanced. She still rolls on her proper course, I have no doubt. The breaking away of this island is not a serious matter to the earth as a whole. The contour of the hemispheres is not changed. I showed you how I had traced the outlines of the continent before, even, that I was confident we had been blown off the earth.