Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/93

Rh the present. The story shall unfold itself in due course.

By the middle of the next day everyone was on board again. The Admiral-in-Chief gave the signal, and for the second time the numberless vessels rose into the air with their human freight and palpitating machinery. There was a waving of cocked hats and the clash of swords. The air shook with the roar of a thousand guns as the forts saluted the departing fleet. Then sheets of flame leapt from the sides of every war-ship, and there was a terrible crash of thunder as the fleet returned the salute.

A few hours later not a speck was visible in the blue sky of Neptune, and there was not a trace left of the mighty host that had vanished into the depths of space. 6