Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/34

22 sizes and shapes, darting hither and thither. Some were of light build, and were principally used for transporting passengers and cargo from one part of the city to another; others were larger, and travelled to different parts of England; while still larger ones did the passenger and goods service to the more distant parts of the earth. Far up among the clouds the gleaming hulls of the huge interstellar ships could be seen returning from their voyages to the planets and more distant stars, and further down were the outward-bound vessels slowly floating into the air from the wharves below. Every now and then some great war-vessel floated slowly over the tops of the buildings, almost brushing the summits of the trees, on its way to the manœuvring-ground, the sunlight glistening on its rows of murderous-looking cannon, and the complicated masses of wires and rods that covered the exterior of the hull. The bustle and noise of a great city ascended from the streets and