Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/97

Rh of the fleet to the other, giving orders as to formations and asking for any indications of the approach of the enemy. The coloured lights were flashing all over the sky—green, blue, yellow, and red—while the vessels moved this way and that way according to orders. The admirals met and consulted together for a long time, and then the ships were ordered to spread out much further apart. Small squadrons were detached from the main body, with orders to scour space in all directions. The captains had now become exceedingly anxious about their position. The methods of war used by the people of Kairet were but little known to them, and they suspected some secret method of destruction that had not yet been divulged by them. Had they some means of rendering themselves invisible? Would they suddenly fall on the fleet and annihilate it without being seen themselves? Had they slipped past the great Anglo-Saxon fleet and rushed on to annihilate the centre of their power