FOUL WEATHER.
At the moment when that pyramid of fire rose to a prodigious height into
the air, the glare of the flame lit up the whole of Florida; and for a
moment day superseded night over a considerable extent of the country.
This immense canopy of fire was perceived at a distance of 100 miles
out at sea, and more than one ship's captain entered in his log the
appearance of this gigantic meteor.
The discharge of the Columbiad was accompanied by a perfect earthquake.
Florida was shaken to its very depths. The gases of the powder, expanded
by heat, forced back the atmospheric strata with tremendous violence,
and this artificial hurricane rushed like a waterspout through the air.
Not a single spectator remained on his feet! Men, women, children, all
lay prostrate like ears of corn under a tempest. There ensued a terrible
tumult; a large number of persons were seriously injured. J. T. Maston,
who, despite of all dictates of prudence had kept in advance of the mass,
was pitched back 120 feet, shooting like a projectile over the heads of
his fellow-citizens. Three hundred thousand persons remained deaf for a
time, and as though struck stupefied.
As soon as the first effects were over, the injured, the deaf, and lastly,
the crowd in general, woke up with frenzied cries. "Hurrah for Ardan!
Hurrah for Barbicane! Hurrah for Nicholl!" rose to the skies. Thousands
of persons, noses in air, armed with telescopes and race-glasses, were
questioning space, forgetting all contusions and emotions in the one idea
of watching for the projectile. They looked in vain! It was no longer to
be seen, and they were obliged to wait for telegrams from Long's Peak.
The Director of the Cambridge Observatory was at his post on the Rocky
Mountains; and to him, as a skilful and persevering astronomer, all
observations had been confided.
Illustration: EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSION.
Illustration: THE DIRECTOR AT HIS POST.
But an unforeseen phenomenon came in to subject the public impatience to
a severe trial.
The weather, hitherto so fine, suddenly changed; the sky became heavy with
clouds. It could not have been otherwise after the terrible derangement
of the atmospheric strata, and the dispersion of the enormous quantity
of vapour arising from the combustion of 200,000 lbs. of
pyroxyle!
On the morrow the horizon was covered with clouds—a thick and
impenetrable curtain between earth and sky, which unhappily extended as
far as the Rocky Mountains. It was a fatality! But since man had chosen
so to disturb the atmosphere, he was bound to accept the consequences of
his experiment.
Supposing, now, that the experiment had succeeded, the travellers having
started on the 1st of December, at 10h. 46m. 40s. p.m., were due on
the 4th at 0h. p.m. at their destination. So that up to that time it
would have been very difficult after all to have observed, under such
conditions, a body so small as the shell. Therefore they waited with what
patience they might.
From the 4th to the 6th of December inclusive, the weather remaining much
the same in America, the great European instruments of Herschel, Rosse,
and Foucault, were constantly directed towards the moon, for the weather
was then magnificent; but the comparative weakness of their glasses
prevented any trustworthy observations being made.
On the 7th the sky seemed to lighten. They were in hopes now, but their
hope was of but short duration, and at night again thick clouds hid the
starry vault from all eyes.
Matters were now becoming serious, when on the 9th, the sun reappeared
for an instant, as if for the purpose of teasing the Americans. It was
received with hisses; and wounded, no doubt, by such a reception, showed
itself very sparing of its rays.
On the 10th, no change! J. T. Maston went nearly mad, and great fears
were entertained regarding the brain of this worthy individual, which
had hitherto been so well preserved within his gutta-percha cranium.
But on the 11th one of those inexplicable tempests peculiar to those
intertropical regions was let loose in the atmosphere. A terrific east
wind swept away the groups of clouds which had been so long gathering,
and at night the semi-disc of the orb of night rode majestically amidst
the soft constellations of the sky.