Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/112

100 then hastened to make up for his bad fortune by bravery and strategy. Line after line of ships advanced against the Sirians until nearly every ship was engaged. The ships moved hither and thither, singly, in lines, and by divisions, pounding away at their adversaries. As soon a ship was reduced to a helpless condition, the torpedo-boats swarmed around it, forcing their terrible explosives into its yawning rents, until it was literally torn to pieces and disembowelled, the massive machinery floating about in space with its wheels still whirling. Sometimes the sides of a ship would be seen to melt and run down as a liquid under the rays which were directed upon them by the anticohesion apparatus, the liquefied metal falling down like rain on to the ships below. Then the sides would become too thin to withstand the strain, and would be blown outwards by the pressure of the air within, scattering the softened and liquid metal far and wide. The torpedo-boats frequently melted and