Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/31

Rh wresting fresh secrets from Nature every day, while its individual members were continually acquiring more possessions and building more imposing palaces. To know at that time meant to possess.

Exulting in their might, the gray-haired scientists steered their vessels through the dark depths of space, while they ransacked worlds for treasures and luxuries; some even towed great masses of valuable rock or precious metal behind their ships. Rare and beautiful plants were uprooted, and strange animals were captured and stowed away in the interior of the ships, and finally deposited in London or the other great cities of the world. Whole families would band together and buy an interstellar ship, and rush out into space to seek for themselves a new country and more splendid fortunes.

There were many deeds of darkness done in those distant regions which no one ever heard of. Rival expeditions did not hesitate to attack one another when 2—2