The Greeley tribune., 1906-03-15

through the hood: Here's the flash
war declared"
The general twitched with sunnress.
ed excitement. For n momant ianyar
he watched the picture in the raf,ec1or
@ "uii ne saw that the fleet had the
Ae"a' ~ Across the Atlantic the in.
a,"tn'Iu ,tita"eous service had carried the de-
clatation of war.
par below him was the chief city of
nus hation, now subdued in the know.
,edse that it and the nation had been
brought to the final test. In the send.
ing station was the man on whom his
n"t'oh hopes depended. He firmly
pressed the button.
III me reflector he saw the enemy's
squadron move. He knew that il had
oceil III readiness to start, and on the
Instant OF the receipt of the tidines
was setting forth. If it came unmo.
iested' as it had every right to expect
II would, there could be but one result
to his nation.
IL seemed an eternity of time as he
watched the reflector.
suddenly one of the ships disap-
peared IN blotch which sent confused
shadowS over the reflector Montrus
treinbled in his excitement.
Inc pictures grew clear for an in.
stant. Then another blur-a quick
succession Of blurs, between which he
could see nothing.
He grew dizzy. and held tightly to
the supports of the reflector to steady
himself. His unblinking eyes were so
held by the grim, silent chaos of de-
stfurtIon portrayed before him, that
the seeing faculty seemed a thing apart
from him and separated completely by
his sia2ed condition.
The tumultuous heaving and blur
ring on the reflector cleared away. 1t
revealed tern and shattered fleet
two-thlrds of the ships had vanished
others beating feebly and
in their last efforts, others slowly
sinking through the air, few trying
to escape from an unseen terror.
General MOntrus, veteran though he
was, shUddered at the horror of the
sight Unseen, unheard, softly through
the thick darkness. the wireless death
had swept that proud aerial fleet out
of existence in one tense instant. And
Atsins, the shock-headed youth, was
the destroyer, sitting calmly up there
in the sending station, with one soiled
hand on the lever of his great, terrible
1t was he who had uti
li2ed the means formerly used to send
to bear intelligence across
boundless areas, which, increased
hundred thousand-fold in voltage, had
now carried absolute destruction.
Still breathing heavily, Montrus
hrew off the hood, coming back to the
utter blackness and the drizzle Of the
night
A bulletin was flashed on the board
which carried the duplicates from
Curtis.
Fleet sone-Vanished in Convul
Actual and Accurate
Disturbance not caused by defects but
by destruction of fleet-Can't explain
it, but America is saved
Montrus turned the wireless televue
on to the sending station, and saw At
sins sitting quietly on a box in one
corner of the little room, Eravely
smoking a short pipe. his shock OF
blonde hair badly rumpled, a smile on
his freckled face "Atsins COM
was trying hard to con-
troll his voice-Atsins. You have saved
us. 1t is all over. Their fleet was an.
1t seemed to the old soldier, veteran
Of a dozen campaigns, absurdly impos
sible that the safety OF great nation
should have been put into the hands
of that srimly boy in blue overalls.
at worked all right, didn't it!' At
sins answered calmly.
"Come over here" hontrus went on
Hurry and come. Tomorrow Con
gress'll be giving you vote OF THANKS
you'll be a bigger man than old Dewey
ever was"
troubled frown came on Atsln's
face. Excuse me. please. general, ne
said. I'm going back to the shop,
I've Just thought Of big improvement
On my concentrator. Good night.