The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1913-03-06
he had had IN Ills own prophecy and
his greater preparedness for this very


his greater preparedness for this very
thing.
"And what will come next?" asked a
hollow voice. The scientist shrugged
his shoulders.
mo person upon earth can tell. But
you had best be prepared for more
convulsions, perhaps terrific earth.
quakes that may topple over the very
mountains, perhaps violent electrical
disturbances. likely enough winds of
unheard Of velocity-no man can do
more than guess, for no man In the
worlds history ever went through
thing like this. Also 1t is possible
that the approaching body may strike
US almost without further physical
warning, and that we will have but
few seconds Of actual atmospheric or
ground disturbances before we are
buried beneath mountain of organic
matter"
"And what will happen to the earth
ttself?"
Again none can tell. The impact
may crush it's crust and release vast
floods Of molten matter. Or the crust
may remain intact and the smaller
and less dense body--if such be the
case--be smashed to powder upon our
surface 1t even may knock the world
from its course, itself to become lest
projectile whirling through space ard
menace to other worlds. Or our
planet may continue upon it's way un-
! disturbed save for the inevitable de-
struction which must be caused for q
great distance around the region act
ually smitten. It is all but matter
| Of guess work. All"
| Beneath their feet there ran once
more the tremor Of the earth as it vi
brated like the deck Of racing
steamship. To their ears, at first al
most indistinguishable but ever in
creasing In volume until it sounded
like the drone Of great hive Of bees.
came throbbing as Of powerful
steam pump. From several blocks die.
tant where lay the region from which
Desmond had fed came faint yells Of
terror and In nearby stable q horse
screamed horribly. Alan dropping
upon his knees beside the PROSTATE
woman saw some Of his companions
throw themselves upon their faces
with their arms wrapped about their
heads, while others quietly sank to q
kneeling position with hands clasped
and faces lifted. A number OF the men
remained erect, but these stood star
ing upward In dazed manner OF
walked uncertainty about with hands
clenched and faces twitching. Des
mond alone Of all of them stood like 8
statue. his arms folded upon his
breast, his face raised, his whole
poise calm and dignifled. A score o.
yards away Doris stood upright beside
Clay with her hand tightly clutchin{
his sleeve. OF all the women she was
by far the most composed, neither cry
ing aloud nor weeping silently, while
Tolliver was as rigid as the ire.
against which he leaned and half en-
circled with his arm to steady himself
And then from overhead there burs
upon their ears roar low and hoars'
as the voice Of distant but ragin,
sea, q roar that steadily arose to tn
mighty voice of a Niagara or the roa
OF battlefield wherein all human
voices were drowned as the catarac
or battlefield browns the squeak o
mice. The earth rocked as a cradle
and Alan rising with difficulty to hi
feet and starting towards Doris will
wild impulse Of protection was near
ly blown away bodily by gust @
wind that swept by voicelessly in tn,
deafening thunder from above. Recov
ering his balance he pushed his wa!
forward. Tolliver's arm was about be-
now, the ether hugging the tree. an.
by the electric lights Of the stree
Alan could see the strange light which
blazed In the others eyes and In tina
moment would have sworn that Cla!
was insane. Doris, seeing him com
Ing, wrested herself free from the on.
who held her and was blown bodily in
to his arms. Her lips were moving
and he knew that she was trying tt
make herself heard, but not the slight
est sound could he catch from her lips
Closely he clasped her, trying in hi
turn to shout words of encouragement
into her ears.
-A:cttez b,2st1 spinn!cz thc-a 2ho>t
NEARLY blew them apart and they IN
stinctively sank upon the ground side
by side, clutching each other an(
gasping for breath. In a wink the
electric lights went out and all be
came darkness, a cavernous darkness
Oiled with cyclonic winds, earth quiv
erings, throbbings and roar sc
mighty that It seemed to crowd all
space Then the wind ceased ant
from above there sank upon them a
mighty weight, soft and yielding as II
they haG been buried beneath a great
heap Of feathers, weight which new
ertheless seemed about to force the
blood from their nostrils, and beneath
| po1A :,