The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-04-22

buried beneath a mountain OF organic
matter"
"And what win happen TO the earth /
itself?"
again none can tell The impact /
may crush its crust and release vast /
foods 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 a lost /
projectile whirling through space and /
a menace to other worlds. Or our /
planet may continue upon its way IN
/ disturbed save for the inevitable de- /
struction which must be caused for a
great distance around the region act
ually smitten. II is all but a 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 a racing
/ steamship. To their ears, at first al
most indistinguishable but ever in
| creasing in volume until it sounded
| like the drone of a great hive of bees,
/ came a throbbing as of a powerful
! steam pump. From several blocks dis
/ tant where lay the region from which
/ Desmond had fed came faint yells of
/ terror and in a nearby stable a 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
kneeling position with hands clasped
and faces lifted. A number of the men
remained erect, but these stood star
/ ing upward in a dazed manner or
/ walked uncertainty about with hands
| clenched and faces twitching Des-
| mond alone of all of them stood like a
| statue, his arms folded upon his
breast, his face raised, his whole
| poise calm and dignifed. A score of
! yards away Doris stood upright beside
Clay with her hand tightly clutching
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 tree
against which he leaned and half en-
circled with his arm to steady himself
And then from overhead there burst
upon their ears a roar low and hoarse
as the voice of a distant but raging
sea, roar that steadily arose to the
mighty voice of Niagara or the roar
of a battlefield wherein all human
voices were drowned as the cataract
or battlefield browns the squeak of
nice. The earth rocked as a cradle,
and Alan rising with difficulty to his
feet and starting towards Doris with
wild impulse of protection was near
ly blown away bodily by a gust of
wind that swept by voicelessly in the
deafening thunder from above Recov-
ering his balance he pushed his way
forward. Tolliver's arm was about her
now, the otker hugging the tree, and
by the electric lights of the street
Alan could see the strange light which
blazed in the others eyes and in that
moment would have sworn that Clay
was insane. Doris, seeing him com
| ing, wTested herself free from the one
who held her and was blown bodily in
to his arms. Her lips were moving
|
make herself heard. but not the slight
est sound could he catch from her lips
Closely he clasped her, trying in his
turn to shout words of encouragement
into her ears.
Another blast, spinning them about,
nearly blew them apart and they in
stinctiVely sank upon the ground side
by side, clutching each other and
gasping for breath. In a wink the
electric lights went out and all be-
came darkness, a cayernous darkness
filled with cyclonic winds, earth quiz
erings, throbbings ana roar so
mighty that it seemed TO crowd all
space Then the wind ceased and
from above there sank upon them a
4 mighty weight, soft and yielding as #
thvy had been buried beneath q great
heap of feathers, q weight which new
ertheless seemed about TO force the
blood from their nostriis, and beneath
: it both man and woman felt their
= senses reel. Then as the darkness OF
oblivion came settling upon their
brains the pressure gradually grew
less, vanished altogether and they
found themselves struggling for
breath in an absence of air where a
moment before their lives were being
crushed out by its terrific compress
sion. Gasping like fish upon bank
they threw themselves upon their
faces as they fought vainly for breath
until with myriads OF lights flashing
before their eyes consciousness left
, them and they lay motionless.