Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/162

150 sphere spread in all directions, hurling itself on to the enemy. But the latter was on the alert. Some ships sprang through the invisible circle and went plunging into the space beyond. Some charged the opposing ships broadside and pushed them far away, rending and tearing up their armour sheathing. But others were beaten back by the invisible force, and rolled over and over, pitching and tossing, to their former positions, while the gunners held on to whatever they could lay hold of to avoid having their brains dashed out against the guns.

But the charmed circle was broken at last. The ships that had got through quickly reversed their engines, and came charging back on to the Sirians. The shock was awful. Numbers of ships were pierced right through by the rams and converted into hopeless wrecks; others had just time to turn round a little so that they received the rams on their least vulnerable parts; but in spite of this they