Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/184

172 the terror, for many began to dread lest the moon should be hurled down to the earth amidst the wreck and din of war. There was no time for thinking now, for events began to follow one another in a terribly rapid succession. A message was sent to the War Bureau stating that the ships which formed the second line of defence were so few and so heavily outnumbered that they must retreat to the moon, and a groan went to the ends of the earth when the people saw the tide of battle, destruction, and death rolling ever nearer and nearer towards them.

But no one gave way. Not a man abandoned the idea of self-defence to the very last. More dockyards and magazines were constructed deep down underground, and the machinery and munitions of war were removed to them from the old ones. Tunnels were excavated under the earth for the purpose of transport. The newly-constructed fleets were hidden away in safe places till they were ready to issue forth