Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/79

Rh At noon a very exact observation was made—Longitude, 58° 37' west, latitude 41° 41' 11" north, course, 257 miles.

We had the latitude to a second. When the young engaged couple read the notice they did not look remarkably pleased, and they had good reason to be discontented with the steam.

That night was stormy, the steamship, beaten by the waves, rolled frightfully, without being disabled; the furniture was knocked about with loud crashes, and the crockery began its clatter again. The wind had evidently freshened, and besides this the Great Eastern was now in those coasts where the sea is always rough.

At six o'clock in the morning I dragged myself to the staircase leading onto the upper decks. By clutching at the balusters, and taking advantage of a lurch or two, I succeeded in climbing the steps, and with some difficulty managed to reach the poop. The place was deserted, if one may so qualify a place where was Dr. Pitferge. The worthy man, with his back rounded as a protection against the wind, was leaning against the railing, with his right leg wound tightly round one of the rails. He beckoned for me to go to him—with his head, of course, for he could not spare his hands, which held him up against the violence of the tempest. After several queer movements, twisting myself like an analide, I reached the upper deck, where I buttressed myself, after the doctor's fashion. "We are in for it!" cried he to me; "this will last. Heighho! this Great Eastern! Just at the moment of arrival, a cyclone, a veritable cyclone is commanded on purpose for her."

The Doctor spoke in broken sentences, for the wind cut short his words, but I understood him; the word cyclone carried its explanation with it.

It is well known that these whirlwinds, called hurricanes in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, tornadoes on the coast of Africa, simoons in the desert, and typhoons in the Chinese Sea, are tempests of such formidable power, that they imperil the largest ships.

Now the Great Eastern was caught in a cyclone. How would this giant make head against it?

"Harm will come to her," repeated Dean Pitferge. "Look, how she dives into the billows."

This was, indeed, the exact position of the steamship,