Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/208

196 pellers revolved, and they rushed on to find and destroy another ship. They demolished thus in a few minutes whole fleets that were bombarding cities, hurling them down on to the ruins they had made. For a long time the Sirians could not understand what made their ships sink to the earth one after another. At last they obtained an inkling of the truth, but they could do nothing to avert the evil, for they did not know the nature of the secret. Their victorious fleets gradually melted away by tens and by hundreds, until there was not a tenth of their number left. In the pride of their victory they were gradually being consumed by a new implement of destruction that the conquered had devised. Their splendid fleets soon vanished, and nothing was left of them but a few wandering war-ships, that tried to hide away among the smoking ruins of the cities and towns they had wrecked. The great transports, that had been waiting for the battleships to clear the ground before