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He was not in the least overawed by the hostile glances of the statesmen. On the contrary, his lips perceptibly curled, in a half-disdainful smile, as he took the big hand which the President extended to him. As soon as Cosmo Versal had sunk into the embrace of a large easy chair, the President opened the subject.
As they turned away, talking in awed voices, they felt, as never before, that the world had shrunk to the dimensions of the Ark, and that Cosmo Versal was its dictator. That same afternoon Cosmo arranged one of his "conferences," and nobody dared to be absent, although all minds were yet too much excited to follow the discussions which few could understand.
But in no instance did they make it clear to anybody precisely what were the laws that they invoked, or how it happened that Cosmo Versal had been able to predict so many strange things which everybody knew really had come to pass, such as the sudden storms and the great darkness. We are still, it must not be forgotten, dealing with a time anterior to the rising of the sea.
Accordingly, there were many hours every day when no curiosity-seekers were in sight of the ark, and at night the neighborhood was deserted; and this state of affairs continued until the sudden panic which led to the attack that has been described. Cosmo Versal, of course, had every reason to conceal the fact that he was carefully selecting his company.
Cosmo Versal and the captain resumed their accustomed places on the bridge, where they talked over the affair, and Cosmo explained his plans for the morrow. "I'll give him his trial, as I promised," Cosmo said in conclusion, "and you'll see what it will be. Mutiny aboard this Ark!" And he struck the rail a violent blow with his fist.
Presently their attention was arrested by some moving objects, and at a second glance they perceived that these were human beings. "Good Heaven!" exclaimed Cosmo Versal. "There are survivors here. They have climbed the mountains, and found shelter among the rocks. I should not have thought it possible." "And there are women among them," said Captain Arms, lowering his telescope.
Why, if quality will travel the road this way, incognito, how can they expect to be known and treated as quality? 'Tis no fault of mine. Why didn't you find out sooner who they were, Mr. Newington? What else, in the 'versal world have you to do, but to go basking about in the yards and places with your tankard in your hand, from morning till night?
Scenes not altogether unlike this occurred in the other great learned societies astronomical, meteorological, and geological. The official representatives of science were virtually unanimous in condemnation of Cosmo Versal, and in persistent assertion that nothing that had occurred was inexplicable by known laws.
They just made out the words, "Sheer off!" when the Ark, with a groaning sound, took ground, and they were almost precipitated over the rail of the bridge. "Aground again, by !" exclaimed Captain Arms, instantly signaling all astern. "I told you not to go fooling round a volcano." "This beats me!" cried Cosmo Versal. "I wonder if the island has begun to rise."
In some the darkness had not been complete, but everywhere it was accompanied by extraordinary humidity, and occasionally by brief but torrential rains. The terror had been universal, and all believed that it was the third sign predicted by Cosmo Versal. Of course, the latter was interviewed, and he gave out a characteristic manifesto.