of the Northern Lights, overspread the firmament, and momentarily
dimmed the splendor of the brightest stars?

Whence came it that the Mediterranean, one instant emptied of its waters,
was the next flooded with a foaming surge?

Whence came it that in the space of a few seconds the moon's disc reached
a magnitude as though it were but a tenth part of its ordinary distance
from the earth?

Whence came it that a new blazing spheroid, hitherto unknown to astronomy,
now appeared suddenly in the firmament, though it were but to lose itself
immediately behind masses of accumulated cloud?

What phenomenon was this that had produced a cataclysm so tremendous
in effect upon earth, sky, and sea?

Was it possible that a single human being could have survived
the convulsion? and if so, could he explain its mystery?



CHAPTER V

A MYSTERIOUS SEA


Violent as the commotion had been, that portion of the Algerian coast
which is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean, and on the west
by the right bank of the Shelif, appeared to have suffered little change.