Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/90

78 rapidly larger. Then it became a huge ball on which continents, seas, islands, rivers, and mountain ranges could easily be seen. The propelling power was shut off on board all the ships, and the engines were reversed. A few days later the whole of the fleet plunged into the atmosphere of Neptune at a speed of some hundreds of miles an hour.

As soon as the speed was low enough, the hatchways were opened and the men were allowed to go out on to the outer deck. Many of the vessels bore on their exteriors the ghastly traces of the collision. Arms, legs, strips of skin, and heads, often so burnt and bruised as to be hardly recognisable, were hanging on to the torpedo-nets or wedged up between the rods and wires. These were quickly removed, and the blood was washed away from the windows and the other parts of the hulls where it had been splashed. The masts were set up and flags run up on to them, so that the fleets might have as fine an appearance as