The Winslow mail., 1914-09-26
Copyright, 1914, by ri. G. Wells.

to the sontb ana as he drew near his
destination the growing of cocks
4 The sky above the indistinct horizons
Of his cloud sea was at first starry
and then paler, with light that crept
from north to east as the dawn came
OH The Milky way was invisible in
the blue ana the lesser stars vanished.
The face Of the adventurer at the steer
ing wheel darEly visible ever and
aeain by the oval greenish glow of
tae compass face, had something Of
that firm beauty which all concen-
trated purpose gives, aud something Of
the happiness of an idiot child that has
+ 1T last get hold Of the matches. His
companion, less imaginative type,
sat with his legs spread wide over the
long. coffin shaped box which con
tanned in lis compartments the three
atomic bombs, the new bombs that
would continue to explode indefinitely
and which no one so far had ever seen
il action Hitherto caroinum, their
essential substance had been tested
oaly in almost indnitesimal quantities
within steel chambers embedded in
lead Beyond the thought Of great de-
etruction slumberng in the black
/ spheres between his legs, and a keen
resolve to follow out very exactly the
/ instructions that had been given him,
tle mlHs $ mind W3s blank. His aQui
line profile against the starlight eX-
pressed nothing bat a profound gloom
The sky below grew clearer as the
central European capital was ap
I preached.
50 far they had been singularly lucky
and had been chaIjenged by no aero
+ planes ut all. The frontier scouts they
mast have passed in the night; prob
/ ably these were mostly under the
clouds The world was wide, and
( they had had luck in not coming close
t. ANY soaring sentinel Their machine
was painted a pale gray that lay al
most inyisibly over the cloud levels be
l0W. But now the east was flushing
4 with tie near ascent OF the sun. Ber-
lin was but a score of miles ahead, ana
the uck Of the Frenchmen held By
/ impercentible degrees the clouds below
j dissolved
Away to the northeastWard in a
cloudiess pool Of gathering light and
with all its nocturnal iluminations
stiil blazing was Berlin. The left fin
ger of the steersman verified roads and
onen spaces below upon the mica GOV
cred square Of map that was fastened
hy his wheel, There, in a series of
l0keiike expansions was the Hayel
away to the right over by those for
cStS must be Smndau There the river
gnlit about the Botsdam island, and
right ahead was Cbarottenburg, cleft
Inv great thoroUghfare that fell like
an Indicating beam Of light straight to
fhe imperial headquarters. There plain
enough, was the Tbiergarten; beyond
rose the imperial palace, and to the
right those taII buildings, those cluster
iug bedaeged, hemusted roofs. must be
tie offices il which the central Euro
Iean staff was housed. 1t was all cold
lg clear and colorcss in the dawn
He looked up suddenly as hamming
sound grow out of Hothing and became
swiftly io}jder Nearly overhead Ger
man acr0pMe WAS ciViiug down from
an immense height to challenge him.
lie made "a gesture with his left arm
10 tine gloomy man behind and then
stripped his litte wheel with both
bands. crouohed over it and twisted his
eek to look upward He was atten-
tive tighty struu@ but quite contemp-
taoUs Of their ability to hurt him. No
German alive he was assured could
uutAy him. or. indeed. any one Of the
best Frcachmen He imagined they
might strike at MIN as hawk strikes,
Mt they were ren coming down out
# The bitter cold up there, III a hun.
T, Spirit,eaS morning mood They
came SIonting down ljEe sword
s~Em@ by lazy mn, and NOS SO rap
5iy, hut that he WAS able to slip away
tram under them and get between
them and HeriN They began chal-
ienaing him in German with a mega
phone when they were still perhaps
q mile away. The words came TO him
r3nl up into mere blob of hoarse
solnd Then gathering alarm from
his 9ua siimca. they cave chase and
swept down Il hundred yards above
hIa Perhaps aud a couple of hundred
behind They were beginning TO un-
dsrsand what he was lie ceased to
" itch Them and concentrated himself
on Tie ci1y ahead, and for time the
two aor0pIaues raced.
a bullet came tearing through the
air by him as though some one was