“Evidently Barbicane is going to give our ball a terrible knock; but what sort of a knock? Everything depends on that! I suppose he is going to play for ‘side,’ as if with a cue at a billiard-ball; but if he hits us ‘square’ he may jolt us out of our orbit, and then the years will dance to a pretty tune. They are going to shift the old axis for a new one, probably above it, but I do not see where they are to get their taking-off place from, or how they are to manage the knock. If there was no rotation, a mere flip would suffice, but they can’t put down that diurnal spin. That is the _canisdentum_.” He meant “the rub,” but that was his way of expressing himself. “Whatever they do,” he continued, “there will be no end of a row before it is over.” Try all he could, the engineer could not discover Barbicane’s plan, which for one reason was much to be regretted, as if it had been known to him he would at once have made the calculations he needed. But all at present was a mystery. And so it happened that on the 29th of December Alcide Pierdeux, “Ingénieur au Corps National des Mines de France,” was hurrying with lengthy strides through the crowded streets of Baltimore. CHAPTER X. A CHANGE IN PUBLIC OPINION. A month had elapsed since the meeting in the rooms of the Gun Club, and a change had taken place in public opinion. The advantages of altering the axis of rotation were being forgotten; and the disadvantages were being enlarged upon. It was impossible that a catastrophe could be avoided, for any change must necessarily be occasioned by a violent shock. What the catastrophe would be no one could say. Was this amelioration of climate desirable? Who would gain by it except the Eskimos, Laps, and Samoyeds, who had nothing to lose? The Major and his allies were indefatigable in their prophecies of evil. “It is evident,” said Karkof “that the projectors will do all they can to protect the United States from the consequences of the shock.” “But can they?” asked Harald. “When you shake a tree all the branches shake.” “And,” said the Dutchman, “when you are hit in the stomach does not your whole body shake?” “That is what that famous clause meant!” said Todrin. “Here are the geographical and meteorological modifications!” “Yes,” said Baldenak. “But suppose the change of axis throws the seas out of their existing basins?” “And if the ocean level is lowered at different points,” said Jansen, “some people may find themselves so high up in the world that communication with them will be impossible!” “If they go up too high they will not be able to breathe!” said Harald. “Would you like to see Baltimore as high as Mont Blanc?” asked Donellan. This modification of the axis was evidently a public danger.