At that date he had not yet crossed the equator to carry heat and light into the northern hemisphere, but he was approaching it.

He fell, then, almost perpendicularly to that circular line where the sea and the sky meet.
Twilight was short, darkness fell promptly--which confirmed the novice in the thought that he had landed on a point of the coast situated between the tropic of Capricorn and the equator.
Mrs.Weldon, Dick Sand, and the blacks then returned to the grotto, where they must take some hours' rest.
"The night will still be stormy," observed Tom, pointing to the horizon laden with heavy clouds.
"Yes," replied Dick Sand, "there is a strong breeze blowing up.

But what matter, at present?
Our poor ship is lost, and the tempest can no longer reach us ?" "God's will be done!" said Mrs.Weldon.
It was agreed that during that night, which would be very dark, each of the blacks would watch turn about at the entrance to the grotto.

They could, besides, count upon Dingo to keep a careful watch.
They then perceived that Cousin Benedict had not returned.
Hercules called him with all the strength of his powerful lungs, and almost immediately they saw the entomologist coming down the slopes of the cliff, at the risk of breaking his neck.
Cousin Benedict was literally furious.

He had not found a single new insect in the forest--no, not one--which was fit to figure in his collection.