The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-07

and welding the weapons OF the genii.
And now the air was filed With incessant
flashes. while the whistling sound of the
Jets OF liquid fire arose TO harsh and con-
tInuous screech. Dreadful sounds of an
guish could be heard below, where the fire,
missing its aerial targets, fell to earth on
man and beast
The scene was brilliantly Illuminated BY
the blazing forests and prairies ignited by
the flery RAIN, and in this uncanny light
the faces of the thousands of gazing Chi
nese soldiery, upturned to the skv. looked
white and CHASTITY. Many fiery jets
shot near the car containing Ki-Tsin and
his party, and the intense glow OF their
near passage was plainly perceptiple. Still
the contest ragged. and still in the unearthly
glare Yih-Hun could be seen standing cool,
alert. unframed between heaven and
earth. breathing flame like the tabled
dragon OF his native land.
But although Yih-Hun was as yet I'M
harmed it was plainly evident to the breath
less spectators in the second balloon that he
was making losing fight. The Chinese
camp had already recovered FRONT its panic,
and the dark forms of other balloons bear
ing whang-hos could be seen rising to assist
In the pursuit. To add to the horror OF the
situation. something about the mechanism
OF Yih.Hun's engine seemed to have be-
come disarranged. as his fire suddenly
ceased. and he could be seen anxionsly
working over the discharging levers of the
weapon. AT the same Time freshening
breeze, which did not as yet affect the
aereostats of the fugitives, was now bring
ing Voices balloon rapidly towards
them. The Tartar general evidently COM
pretended the situation fully, rs he
ceased his own fire and, with a
grin of devilish maliguity, waited
until he should be within a certain and
deadly range of his opponent. Swiftly,
steadily. on the growing breeze, his air
ship approached the iugi,ives. Yi-Hun
could be seen working with the energy of
despair on the mechanism of his weapon,
but apparently with no avail. And now
the interval between him and the Tartar
general had narrowed to 500 yards. With
affected deliberation Voice trains tie
dischsrging tube on the young nobeman's
balloon; pauses to make an allowance for
the DETECTION o. the wind; looks at the
gauge OF the Ke-Li motor; pauses again;
examines the chemical gauge; changes the
elevation of the tube slightly; places his
In the second balloon Mauna Qua is
shuddering in her lovers arms, her face
hidden in his bosom The old nobleman
is standing erect, rigid, with folded arms,
and the expression of statue of bronze
Eaines has turned his eyes from the inn
pending tragedy. There is no sense::of fear
in his soul. They are doomed. II is inev-
liable, and there is strange. dreamy
II II.
dying with her he loves.
Suddenly there is cry from the men in
the forward part of the balloon: "What
is that? Do you soc that?" Before this
cry can be fully comprehended there is
broad sheet OF vivid lightning, which
makes the conAagration of the forest
below look dim; there is burst of
thunder that shakes the earth and
makes the adjacent buttes and
mountains ring again; there is
long, ringing. blood-curdling scream,
suggestive both of fierceness and despair,
like the shrek of a demon returned to
hell, and the air-ship of Voice, struck to
its center by an electric bolt. which liber-
ates its imprisoned fires and ignites its
huge reservoir of gas, bursts with a report
that Is heard for score of leagues, and
with a flash of such awful, unearthly, in
describabe brilliancy that the eyes. stabbed
by its fearful intensity, are blinded for
long months after. No fragment of Wo-
Lee fails to the earth. He is consumed to
ashes in mid-air.
As soon as the dazzled eyes of the fugi-
tives were again capable of vision, an i'm
mense dark object of strange shape was
seen darling swiftly to the westward
toward the other pursuing balloons of the
Chinese.
fTa ne HonS;nu<%l