Читать книгу The Evacuation of England: The Twist in the Gulf Stream онлайн

21 страница из 55

“I suppose,” queried Leacraft, “that we are to be informed to-night whether the Canal from the scientific point of view is a safe investment?”

“Perhaps,” doubtfully returned the doctor. “You see, it’s this way. In the spring of the year that saw the outpouring of lava that invaded the villages of southern Italy, San Francisco suffered from a serious earthquake that ruptured the public structures of the city, dislocated miles of railroad tracks, ruined the beautiful Stanford University, shook out the fronts of buildings, and precipitated a fire that all but wiped out the Queen City of the Pacific coast. It has been feared that some such seismic terror might demolish the superb structures of the canal, and we are to learn to-night whether these earth movements threaten the new waterway at the isthmus.”

“I have reason to believe,” rejoined Leacraft, “that this canal has been itself a source of political disturbance, and that it is likely to effect convulsions in your body politic as dangerous in a social way as those which brought about the financial and physical upset at San Francisco.”