Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/166

154 at the great mass on to which they appeared to be falling, shrieking out that they would all be destroyed. The officers tried to restore order, but no one listened to them. The panic was universal.

Larger and larger grew the moons and brighter the light. Now they occupied the whole of the heavens; there was nothing to be seen but mountain and forest rapidly expanding and spreading out before their eyes. The crews howled with terror, but the masses rushed on, irresistible, relentless. The outlying ships were caught up on the rocks and pressed on until they dashed against the others. Then, in a second of time, before anyone could move or speak, the two moons met with a fearful crash. Every ship was ground up, pressed flat, and destroyed. Mountains and hills were broken off and ground to powder; forests of trees were snapped off and torn to matchwood. The heat generated by the impact was intense. Lakes and rivers were immediately evapor-