Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/182

170 set up deep underground and in the hearts of mountains, so that the building could be carried on if the earth happened to be invaded. The entrances to these were guarded by numerous forts cut out of the sides of the rock and faced with metal plates, so that any hostile vessels which might come near could be pierced through and through by the heavy cannon with which they were armed. Forts bristling with every terrible weapon that science had invented for the purpose of offence grew up all round London. Levies of officers and men were made, and retired veterans were called out and distributed among the new ships. By degrees, the panic caused by the first disaster wore away, and an enthusiasm for resistance to the utmost spread all over the globe. The great Anglo-Saxon Empire was determined not to perish without struggling to the last gasp. If it fell, there should be mourning and woe all through the victorious Empire of Kairet.