Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/65

Rh or two other officers, entered this sphere and was hermetically sealed up in it. As two or more solid sheets of metal had to be pierced before they could be touched, the commanding officers and the important machinery which they controlled were comparatively safe while the rest of the vessel was being battered to pieces.

The exteriors of the vessels bristled with masses of bars, rods, wheels, and rolled-up torpedo-nets which could be let down to ward off the much-dreaded torpedoes. Besides these there were numerous signal-lights, searchlights, and a few masts to which the ensigns were fastened. There was a kind of deck on the top of the outside, surrounded by a slight railing, to be used only when the ship happened to be in an atmosphere that was fit to breathe. Here there was also an ingenious arrangement consisting of lock-gates and large flexible tubes by which communication could be effected with other vessels when they were in space. These could also be