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Whence came it that at that very moment the horizon underwent so strange
and sudden a modification, that the eye of the most practiced mariner could not
distinguish between sea and sky?
Whence came it that the billows raged and rose to a height hitherto
unregistered in the records of science?
Whence came it that the elements united in one deafening crash; that the
earth groaned as though the whole framework of the globe were ruptured; that
the waters roared from their innermost depths; that the air shrieked with all
the fury of a cyclone?
Whence came it that a radiance, intenser than the effulgence 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?
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