The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-04-19
CHAPTER /.
The Prophecy.

The Prophecy.
Professor Desmond, astronomer IN
charge of the Peak Observatory,
glanced into the rehectoscope-that
wonderful new instrument for scam
niug the heavens-then withdrew his
eye from it and stroked the polished
glass gently with a piece of chamois
skin. Then he peered again. Just
above the eastern horizon he saw
speck so minute that layman would
not have noticed it 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 irritated his
professional eye as though it had
been a particle of foreign matter on
his own iris instead. For a moment
he watched it with a face that second
by second grew tenser and more
drawn, then springing to his feet he
swung the secondary telescope upon
1t. On either side of him and rising
to within a few hundred feet of the
observatory were the crests of other
peaks, towering, ragged, swimming in
the thin air more 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
man stretched upon a rack he
peered through the telescope across
the million miles of space that inter
Vened between his eye and the speck,
and as he did so 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
d computations, finished them, swung
10 the long distance telephone and
jammed his thumb upon the button
labeled Washington" A moment
later he was talking to the head de-
partment direct, his voice calm and
incisive.
Hello. Washington! This you,
Headmann? This is Desmond of the
| Peak. There is something coming di-
/ rectly for us from due east and just
/ above my mountain horizon / have
! been observing it for some moments
/ both in the Kaleidoscope and glass
/ and have made my computations It's
/ speed is tremendous, it's size small
/ ! would say perhaps a quarter of the
/ moons. 1t is not a fragment, but
/ rather a complete body, and to all
/ appearances is a small satellite with
| circumference of say a thousand
miles. How is your eastern weather
| Thick! Then you probably will not be
/ able to get a look at it, 1t is about
million miles away at present and Is
i coming at the rate of perhaps two
hundred thousand miles an hour. Tn
less l am greatly in error it will
strike the earth somewhere in this
region in about five hours-say about
} nine o'clock tonight. OF course you
understand what that may mean.
} have nothing more to say at present
he hung up the receiver without
J awaiting a reply, sat thought en-
crossed for moment, then put hi:
. finger upon another button
Hello, Associated Press! This /,
| v. Z
short while ago l happened to motto,
foreign body in the ref1ectoscop,
that seemed to be approaching u
, from a comparatively near distanc
as space distances go. | immediately
> put the telescope upon it. At tha
time, which was but few minute
ago, it was perhaps a million mile
away and appeared to be small sal
elite. Its speed is tremendous
comet-like-it size perhaps thre
hundred miles in diameter and a thoy
sand miles around. am not prepare
at this moment to hazard an opinio
as to its density other than it is III
doubtedly solid Furthermore. in a
probability it is going to hit US som,
where in this region within a fe,
. hours. / leave the information up I
n you to use or not as you see fit" FroI
, the other end of the wire came tn
incredulous voice of Kelly, the ma
r of the press.
Come now, Professor, that's goot
1t would make fine scare head, bl
you don't want us to put you on re
ord as saying that, do your Th
listeners brow corrugated.
Have / been in the habit of sen
u ing out false reports?" he demandf
E, sharply, and at the tone of his voic
Kelly ceased his silent ehuckle
ID mo, you never gave US anythir
before that was not-pardon me-e
"a tirely plausible. And of course we {
= know and appreciate your high Or
~ fessionaI standing But this thing
:, = really so remarkable, you know
III very extraordinary! Is it not ju
al possible that you are mistaken as OF
ers have been in this direction tin
10 and again?"
ls Il have never prophesied or believ
in the probability of such a thi
ps happening before. But my eyes a
n good, my mind normal, my insu
ments and mathematics accurate a
cannot doxbt such evidence.
~ thought you might wish to know abo
~ it. that's all. Use it or not as you 5
10 fit" The voice of the other cal
I'd quickly back, the newspaper maj
instinct now dominant
/ I'm 1IT