The Winslow mail., 1914-09-26

Something tapped the machine.
1t was time to act The broad ave
nues, the park. the palaces below rush
ed, widening out nearer and nearer to
them.
Ready" said the steersman.
The gaunt face hardened to grim
ness, and with both hands the bomb
throWer lifted the big atomic bomb
from the box and steadied it against
the side. 1t was a black sphere two
feet in diameter Between its handles
was a little celluloid stud, and to this
he bent his head until his lips touched
it. Then he had to bite in order to let
the air in upon the inducive Sure Of
it's accessibility, he craned his neck
over the side Of the aeroplane and
Judged his pace and distance. Then
! very quickly he bent forward. bit the
stud and hoisted the bomb over the
side.
Round" he whispered inaudibly.
The bomb flashed binding scarlet in
midair and fell. descending column
Of blaze eddying spirally in the midst
Of WhirlWind Both the aeroplanes
were tossed like shuttlecocks, hurled
| high and sideways. and the Steersman
with cleaning eyes and set teeth
fought in great banking curves for a
balance. The gaunt man clung tight
! with hands and knees; his nOstrils d1
lated, his teeth biting his lips He was
firmly strapped.
When he could look down again it
was like looking down upon the crater
Of a small Volcano In the open gar
den before the imperial castle a shud-
dering star of evil splendor spurted
and poured up smoke and flame to-
ward them like an accusation. They
were too high to distinguish people
| clearly or mark the bombs effect upon
the building until suddenly the facade
t0ttered and crumbled before the flare
as sugar dissoves in water. The man
stared for a moment, showed all his
long teeth, and then staggered into the
cramped standing position his straps
permitted, hoiSted out and bit another
bomb and sent it down after it's fel-
low.
The explosion came this time more
directly underneath the aeropane and
shot it upward edgeways. The bomb
box tipped to the point of disgorge-
nent, and tl1esbomb thrower was pitch
ed forward upon the third bomb with
bis face close to its celluloid stud. He
cIutched its handles and, with a sud
den gust of determination that the
thing should not escape him, bit it's
stud Before he could hurl it over the
monoplane was slipping Sideways
/ Everything was falling sideways IN
stinctively he gave himself UP to grip
ping, his body holding the bomb in it's
place
Then that bomb had exploded, and
| steerSman, thrower and aeroplane were
/ Just flying rags and spinters Of metal
and drops Of moisture in the air, and a
third column of fire rushed eddying
! down upon the doomed buildings be
low
Never before in the history of war
! fare had there been 4 continuing ex-
! piosive Indeed, UP to the middle of
the twentieth century the only explO
sives known were combustibles whose
I eIpIosiyeness was due entirely to their
| nstantaneousneSs and these atomic
bombs which science burst upon the
world that night were strange even to
! the men who used them. Those used
| by the allies were Jumps of pure caroH
mum. painted on the outside with IN
oXidized cydOnator inducive inclosed
/ helmctically in a case of membranium
A little celIuloid stud between the han
dies by which the bomb was lifted was
arranged so as to be easily torn off
and admit air to the inducive, which
at once became active and set up radio
activity in the outer layer Of the carroll
mum sphere. This liberated fresh in
duciye, and so in a few minutes the
whole bomb was blazing continual ex-
plosi0ns. The central European bombs
were the same, except that they were
larger and had a more complicated ar
rangement for animating the inducive
Always before in the development Of
warfare the shells and rockets fired
had been but momentarily explosive.
they had gone off in an instant once
for all, and if there was nothing living
or valuable within reach of the con
cussion and the flying fragments then
they We're spent and over. But caro-
linum, which belonged to the b group