Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-09-17

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CHAPTER /.
XII The Pro phecy. Il Il
Professor Desmond, astronomer in
I charge Of the Peak Observatory,
glanced into the redectoscope that
wonderful new instrument for scam
ming the. heavens-then withdrew bis
eye from it and 'stroked the polished
glass gently with a piece OF channels
skin. Then he ;peered again. Just
above the eastern horizon he saw
speck SO minute, that q layman would
not have noticed 1T at all, yet which
caused the scientist to blink and gri-
/. mace. for he knew that in all reason
the speck should not be there, and its
presence on the glass trritated his
professional eye as though It had
been particle of foreign matter on
b his own iris instead. For moment
he watched 1t with q face that second
BY second grew tenser and more
drawn, then springing to his feet he
swung the secondary telescope upon
i 1T On either side OF him and rising
to within few hundred feet of the
observatory we're the crests Of other
/ peaks, towering, ragged. swimming In
the thin afrimore than a dozen thou
sand feet above the level of the sea,
while below was dizzy sweep OF can.
.yon and gorge that at last smoothed
themselves out to the plain upon
which stood the city In the very;
shadow Of the mountains. Tense as
q man stretched upon q rack he
peered through 4 the telescope across
the million miles Of space that inter.
svened between his eye and the speck,
and as he did 80 the sweat began to
burst from his temples In tiny beads.
\ For several minutes he looked, turned
from the glass to the Kaleidoscope
again and then began a series Of rap
i'd computations, finished them. swung
Ito the Iona distance telephone and
4 damned his thumb upon the button
labeled washington A moment
later he was talking to the head de-
,partment direct, his voice calm and
incisive. II ss5{. 4!
Hello, Washington !! This you,
Headmann? This ID Desmond Of the
Peak. There is something coming d.
rectly for us from due east and Just
above my mountain horizon. have
been observing 1t for some moments
Z both In the ref ectoscope and glass
and have made my computations. 1ts
speed is tremendous, Its size small
n would say perhaps q quarter Of the
moon .. It Is not a fragment, but
rather complete body, and to all
appearances Is q small satellite with
q circumference OF say a thousand
4 miles. How Is your eastern weather?
Thick! Then you pro baby will not be
able to get a look at 1t. It Is about
70 million miles away at present and is
coming at the rate Of perhaps two
4 hundred thousand miles an hour. n Un-
less I am greatly In error 1t will
strike the earth somewhere In this
region In about i've hours-say about
nine o'clock tonight. OF course you
understand what that may mean. 1
have nothing more to say at present"
He hung UP the Z receiver without
awaiting reply. sat thought en-
crossed for moment. then put his
finger upon another button.
Hello, Associated Press This Is
Desmond of the Peak Observatory. a
4 short while ago I happened to notice
\ foreign body In the rehectoscope
y that seemed to be approaching US
from q comparatively near distance
( as space distances 60 Immediately
5,Fput the telescope upon it. At that
time, which was but few minutes
ago. 1t was perhaps q million miles
away and appeared to. be q small sat
i elite. Its speed is tremendous w
35comet-likeits size perhaps three
4 hundred miles In diane ter and a thou
sand miles around. am not prepared
at thisg moment to hazard an opinion
as to Its density other than 1t Is un-
\ doubtedly q solid. Furthermore. In all
+ probability ills going to hit us some.
4 where in this region within q few
hours. II leave the information up to
you toiuse or not as you see it, From
the other end Of the wire came the
Sincredulous voice Of Kelly, the man
OF the press. ss,s ...5s
IN g Come now, Professor, that's good.
\ It would make fine scare head, but
you don't want us to put you on rec
ord as saying that, do you :" The
listeners brow corrugated.
Have I been in the habit OF send
Sing out false reports 2" he demanded
Y SHARPLY, and at the tone of his voice
4 Kelly ceased his silent chuckle.
ssrlo, you never gave us anything
before that was not-pardon mem
\ tirely plausible. And OF course we all
know and appreciate your high pro
4 fessional standing. But this thing 10
4 really 30 remarkable, you knowso
very extraordinary! Is 1t not Just
possible that you are mistaken as 9th
s ers have been in this direction time
and again =
II have never prophesied Or believed
4 Ii the probability Of such thing
happening before. But my eyes are
) good, my mind normal. my instru-
ments and mathematics accurate and
cannot doubt such evidence. !
thought you might wish to know about
1t, that's all. Use 1t or not as you see
\ 1T" The voice Of the other came
- n Z +. i