nt?"

"My own opinion, captain, coincides entirely with yours. I have followed
the plan of explaining all I could to my men on board the _Dobryna_, and
no inconvenience has arisen."

"Well, then, so let it be," said the captain; adding, "It is not likely
that these Spaniards are so ignorant as not to have noticed the change
in the length of the days; neither can they be unaware of the physical
changes that have transpired. They shall certainly be told that we are
being carried away into unknown regions of space, and that this island
is nearly all that remains of the Old World."

"Ha! ha!" laughed Ben Zoof, aloud; "it will be fine sport to watch the
old Jew's face, when he is made to comprehend that he is flying away
millions and millions of leagues from all his debtors."

Isaac Hakkabut was about fifty yards behind, and was consequently unable
to overhear the conversation. He went shambling along, half whimpering
and not unfrequently invoking the God of Israel; but every now and then
a cunning light gleamed from his eyes, and his lips became compressed
with a grim significance.

None of the recent phenomena had escaped his notice, and more than once
he had attempted to entice Ben Zoof into conversation upon the subject;
but the orderly made no secret of his antipathy to him, and generally
replied to his advances either by satire or by banter. He told him that
he had everything to gain under the new system of nights and days, for,
instead of living the Jew's ordinary life of a century, he would
reach to the age of two centuries; and he congratulated him upon the
circumstance of things having become so light, because it would prevent
him feeling the burden of his years. At another time he would declare
that, to an old usurer like him, it could not matter in the least what
had become of the moon, as he could not possibly have advanced any
money upon her. And when Isaac, undaunted by his jeers, persevered in
besetting him with questions, he tried to silence him by saying, "Only
wait till the governor general comes; he is a shrewd fellow, and will
tell you all about it."

"But will he protect my property?" poor Isaac would ask tremulously.

"To be sure he will! He would confiscate it all rather than that you
should be robbed of it."

With this Job's comfort the Jew had been obliged to content himself as
best he could, and to await the promised arrival of the governor.

When Servadac and his companions reached the s