Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1917-11-01

| 49, q ~
| "You Must Stop This War at Once"
save the human race. It is a matter
| of hours, perhaps. Even now these
| monsters may be speeding southwark"
The second sea lord had been unable
! to interpoSe a word by reason of the
! torrent Of impaSsiOned speech that
| poured from DOnald'S lips. At first he
| listened in amaZement at what he CON
sidered an impudent hoax; then in
anger; then. after 4 brief glance at
Donald's face, with absolute passiyity.
81 thank you, Mr. Paget," he said.
rising, when Donald had ended. ''Y0u
have done notable work. and England
Will not forget it. And now, sir, you
must be conducted to the prime min
lister at once that you may apprise
him of these startling events"
He touched his bell, and his secre-
tary, a dapper, alert little man, at once
| appeared. Excuse me one moment,
| please" said the second sea lord to
! Donald.
! He whispered with thes secretary,
| whom Donald perceived to glance
! toward him in rather apprehensive
| manner. The secretary came forward
making a preposterously low bow.
81 will conduct you to the prime min
lister az once, Mr.. Paget" he said. "No
! time must be lost. : am going 60 have
Il taxjcab called
|. Donald addressed the second sea
lord again.
q understand" he said, controlling
| himself with an effort of will. every
well, my lord I shall say no more at
this time. On you will rest the respon
sibiity. And you will repent this Bit.
| terly within 4 day or two
And he walked quietly out OF the
office, leaving the second sea lord and
the secretary staring at each other. He
was ut the bottom OF the stairway be-
fore they had recovered their self
possession. Then the sea lord snatched
up his telephone.
A curious haze was creeping up from
the Thames, spreading perceptibly
from corner to corner. 1t bIOtted out
the rednesS Of the evening clouds and
hung overhead like a great, smoky
pail A newsboy rushed past, shout
ing. Donald saw the contents Of the
placard that swung before him. 1t
mentioned series of local explosions
! which had been occurring along the
east coast of England.
Donald was trying to locate hotel,
He CROPPED his way from corner to
corner. clinging TO the ratings of areas
and pillars of houses.
He had reached some open space,
which he imagined to be Trafalgar
square, but it was impossible to cross
Carts, carriages, OmnibuSes, stalled by
the fog, doomed up on every side.
Horses stood snOrting invisibly, a few
inches away. Drivers struck out with
their whips promiscuously. Men were
shouting, women screaming. Panic
had begun. All knew that this was not
one of those rare black fogs that de-
scend upon London.
Then it was that the news of the
man-monsterS began to filter through
the crowd.
A man announcing himself, through
Il megaphOne, to be the police commits
SiOner. ordered all to remain still until
star bombs could be set off. Nobody
needed him, and his efforts to stay the
panic were unavailing. The mob had
begun to flow in one direction, sweep
ing all before it.
| Donald had been swept along with
1t, and then left, stranded and damned
by the human torrent, into a small re-
cess. In front of him he felt q parapet.
He tore himself away and was lost
in the crowd. Donald hoisted himself
to the parapet, scrambled to the outer
coping and chung there The shrieking
mob rushed past and never touched
him. Then there came the sound of q
mighty explosion, a long volume Of re-
sounding thunder. 1t went rolling
down the river like the discharge Of a
thousand cannon.
And then, as a food from a hose
pipe a burst of water from the skies
deluged the city. It boiled through the
air with kissing lashes, as if the pOr-
tails of the armament were broken
open. The grinning face of the moon
broke through the smoky pail. Sud
denly the stars appeared. And it was
calm. clear weather.
\ roar of relief seemed to go UP
from the threats of the multitude, md
very slowly the traffic began to resume
. its course again.
What had happened, as scientists
afterward surmised, was this: The by
drogen, increasing until it attained a
certain chemical relationship to the
oxygen of the atmosphere, had explod'
: ed where it was densest, on contact
with fire, as in a laboratory. But the
, explosion instantly generated water
: as the two gases met. Hence followed
, the deluge.
But as yet the governm