Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/168

156 the land. Men and women perished by thousands. They lay panting on the ground or hiding in cellars and caves while the great fire-cloud moved slowly over their heads, burning, killing, and destroying. Then it vanished for a while, and they went about their ordinary occupations till it rose again above the horizon ready to burn afresh. For weeks this continued, while the waters were evaporated and the ground was burnt with the frightful heat. But at last the excessive heat was dissipated, and the cloud gradually contracted, only giving out a mild warmth. The times and tides of Jupiter, however, were altogether set wrong by the catastrophe, and the orbit of the planet itself was altered by the displacement of the two moons. The headquarters of the Anglo-Saxon fleet that had been established there had to be removed to Mars.

Telegraphic accounts of what had occurred were sent as soon as possible