Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/120

108 fight, but she had been called into action when the numbers of the fleet began to diminish. Captain Mainton stood ready in his metal sphere, with his hands on the levers, and two officers by his side, waiting for the signal to plunge into the turmoil. Alec Brandon was in the middle of the fifth deck, looking through the windows in the sliding doors to see that every man was at his post. The gunners stood ready at their guns with their fingers on the triggers, and behind them their assistants were receiving the shells as they were hoisted up through the floor from the magazines. At last the signal came from the admiral's ship. The Lightning, with the Majestic, the Morning Star, the Flame, and the Terrible were to advance to the support of the seventh division.

Captain Mainton turned a handle. The dull rumbling of the engines was heard through the ship as it leapt forward into the contest. A moment later the thuds of the shot were heard against its side, and