The lieutenant paused to allow time for reflection, and added:
"Moreover, I have every reason to believe that we are not so near the sun
as we have been. The temperature has been gradually diminishing;
the heat upon Gourbi Island is not greater now than we might ordinarily
expect to find in Algeria. At the same time, we have the problem
still unsolved that the Mediterranean has evidently been transported
to the equatorial zone."

Both the count and the captain expressed themselves reassured by
his representations, and observed that they must now do all in their
power to discover what had become of the vast continent of Africa,
of which, they were hitherto failing so completely to find a vestige.

Twenty-four hours after leaving the island, the _Dobryna_ had passed over
the sites where Tenes, Cherchil, Koleah, and Sidi-Feruch once had been,
but of these towns not one appeared within range of the telescope.
Ocean reigned supreme. Lieutenant Procope was absolutely certain that
he had not mistaken his direction; the compass showed that the wind had
never shifted from the west, and this, with the rate of speed as estimated
by the log, combined to assure him that at this date, the 2d of February,
the schooner was in lat. 36 degrees 49 min N. and long. 3 degrees 25 min E.,
the very spot which ought to have been occupied by the Algerian capital.
But Algiers, like all the other coast-towns, had apparently been absorbed
into the bowels of the earth.

Captain Servadac, with clenched teeth and knitted brow, stood sternly,
almost fiercely, regarding the boundless waste of water.
His pulse beat fast as he recalled the friends and comrades
with whom he had spent the last few years in that vanished city.