Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1913-09-25
CHAPTER /.
The Prophecy.

glanced into the refiectoscope-that
wonderful new instrument for scan
ming the heavens-then withdrew his
eye from 1t and stroked the polished
glass gently with a piece of channels
skin. Then he peered again. Just
above the eastern horizon he saw a
speck so minute that a layman would
not have noticed 1t at all, yet which
caused the scientist to blink and girl
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 1t had
been a particle of foreign matter on
his own iris instead. For q moment
he watched 1t 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 a 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
a 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
Id computations, finished them, swung
to 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 d.
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. its 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 thousand
miles. How Is your eastern weather?
Thick! Then you probably will not be
able to get look at it. 1t is about
a million miles away at present and is
coming at the rate of perhaps two
hundred thousand miles an. hour. I'm
less 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
awaiting a reply, sat thought en-
crossed for a moment, then put his
finger upon another button.
Hello, Associated Press! This is
Desmond of the Peak Observatory
short while ago / happened to notice
a foreign body in the Kaleidoscope
that seemed to be approaching us
from a comparatively near distance
as space distances go. Immediately
put the telescope upon 1t. At that
time, which was but a few minutes
ago, it was perhaps million miles
away and appeared to be small sat
elite. Its speed is tremendous
comet-like-its size perhaps three
hundred miles in diameter and thou
sand miles around. am not prepared
at this moment to hazard an opinion
as to- its density other than it is I'M
doubtedly solid. Furthermore, in all
probability it is going to hit us some
where in this region within a few
hours. / leave the information up to.
you to use or not as you see fit From
the other end of the wire came the
incredulous voice of Kelly, the man
of the press.
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 l been in the habit of send
ing out false reports?" he demanded
sharply, and at the tone of his voice
Kelly ceased his silent chuckle.
mo, you never gave US anything
before that was not--pardon me-en-
tirely plausible. And of course we all
know and appreciate your high pro-
fessional standing. But this thing is
really SO remarkable, sou know-so
very extraordinary! Is it not just
nossible that you are mistaken as 9TH
ers have been in this direction time
and again?"
~ have never prophesied or believed
in the probability of such thing
ba,nening 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
Il that's all. Use 1t or not as you see
~.