Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/187

Rh hundreds of people. The affrighted Anglo-Saxons gazed in horror at the ghastly remains of what were but a few moments before living beings. These accidents told them what they must expect when the outer lines of defence had given way, and the Sirian fleets were free to come and shell them in their homes. It was with a sickly sensation of an unknown horror that they gazed night after night at the far-off defenders of their homes, still keeping up a losing contest on the rocky deserts of the moon.

At last it was announced that the third line of defence had given way, and but one fleet interposed between London and the victorious hosts of Kairet. Some days were passed in suspense and anxiety, and then, in the middle of the night, long flashes of fire some miles from the surface of the earth announced that the fourth and last line of defence was being attacked. Hither and thither the flashes and streams of fire darted across the sky, now over-