Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/115

Rh The admirals could no longer control their ships, for it was impossible to see what they were doing amidst the blinding flames and clouds of smoke. Every captain acted for himself, as he thought best. Above, below, and around there was nothing but a mass of floating monsters vomiting flame and smoke, and a vast quantity of wreckage strewn in every direction. The ships floated about seeking and engaging a hostile vessel wherever they could find one.

The hours went slowly by, but still the deadly struggle continued with unabated vigour, for both sides felt that they were contending for the empire of the Universe. The captains still stood at their posts in the midst of the wreckage of what were but a few hours previously such magnificent ships, guiding them with the same calm precision as before. Waves and eddies of vapour, showers of twisted and rent metal, and storms of shot swept around the contending fleets. Whenever a water-tank