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.
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.
A change of 23° 28′ would produce a considerable displacement in the seas, owing to the flattening at the Poles. The Earth was thus threatened with similar disasters to those that, it is believed, have recently occurred in Mars. There entire continents, among others Libya and Schiaparelli, have been submerged, as shown by the faint blue replacing the faint red. Lake Moeris has disappeared. North and south there have been changes, and the oceans have withdrawn from many localities they formerly occupied. If a few charitable souls have been much affected at the “floods in Mars”—almost as much as to open subscriptions for the sufferers—what would they do for the floods on the Earth?