Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/76

64 news came. Intense anxiety began to be felt everywhere. What had happened to the fleet? Where was it? What was it doing? Had it reached Kairet? Was it victorious? Such were the questions that were asked everywhere and from morning to night. At last, about eighteen months after the fleet had departed, an answer came. It was flashed from planet to planet until it reached the earth, where it sent a thrill of horror and desolation through the length and breadth of the land.