Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/30

18 science of war was steadily improved by the Anglo-Saxons. Hundreds of interstellar war-vessels were constructed and fitted with the most terrible destroying weapons, after the manner of the ironclads of olden time. These were always kept patrolling the regions of space, and were frequently exercised together in fleets, so that the men might be kept in good practice in case they should be needed for actual service. Besides these formidable fleets, numerous forts were excavated in the sides of mountains all over the world, and some half-million soldiers were kept under arms, so that there might be some means of defence should the earth, by an accident to the fleets, happen to be invaded by a hostile power. The people of Kairet made preparations of a similar nature, and the two powers copied improvements from one another until at last the means of destruction and self-defence had reached the highest perfection.

And so the Anglo-Saxon race went on