<h2 id="sigil_toc_id_55">CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
<h3 id="sigil_toc_id_56">FOUL WEATHER.</h3>
<p>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Florida; and for a moment day superseded night over a considerable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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<div class="illus"><ANTIMG alt="Illustration: EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSION." id="explosion" src="images/explosion.jpg" /></div>
<div class="caption">EFFECT OF THE EXPLOSION.</div>
<div class="illus"><ANTIMG alt="Illustration: THE DIRECTOR AT HIS POST." id="director" src="images/director.jpg" /></div>
<div class="caption">THE DIRECTOR AT HIS POST.</div>
<p>But an unforeseen phenomenon came in to subject the public
impatience to a severe trial.</p>
<p>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!</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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