Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/194

182 into the Thames, blocking up its bed with their ruins. And still the deadly hail kept falling, pitiless, irresistible. After two hours there was scarcely a building left untouched.

The guns at the forts returned the fire, but they did little damage on account of the continual movements of the fleets. Waves of Ednogen were sent up into the air and produced vivid flashes of light, but they did not do much harm to the enemy. The apparatus which produced them was soon destroyed by a few well-directed shells, and the guns ceased to fire when the gunners saw that they could do nothing to stop the ruin.

The air soon became so thick with dust and smoke that the hostile fleets had to cease firing for awhile until the light breeze that was blowing had cleared it away. Then they descended much lower, and carefully levelled their guns at every building that was left entire, until it was beaten down to the ground. They fired shells on