Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-05

line topping the horizon. It could be
nothing other than fleet OF war.
Whose or whittier bound we could
not even conjecture. When they had
come close enough to make us out at
all Kantos Kan's operator received o
radio-aerogram, which he Immediately
handed to my companion. He read the
thing and handed 1t to me:
kantos Kan-Surrender in the name OF
the teddak of Helium, for you cannot es
cape. Eat ARRAS
The therns must have caught and
translated the message almost as soon
as did we, for they Immediately re
newed hos:ilities when they realized
that we were soon to be set upon by
other enemies.
Before Eat Arras had approached
near enough TO fire shot we were
again hotly engaged with the thern
fleet, and as soon as he drew near he
too, commenced to pour terrific fusil.
lade of heavy shot into us. Ship after
ship reeled and staggered into useless
ness bereath the pitiless fire that We
were undergoing.
The thing could not last much longer
| ordered the transports to, descend
again into the gardens of the therns.
,, "Wreak your vengeance to the ut.
most" was my message to the greer
allies. "for by night there will be none
left to avenge your wrongs"
Presently 1 saw the ten battleships
| that had been ordered to hold the
shaft of Omean. They were returning
at full speed, firing their stern bat
teries almost continuously
There could be but one explanation
They were being pursued by another
hostile fleet. Well. the situation could
be no worse. The expedition already
was doomed.
No man that had embarked upon II
would return across that dreary ice
cap. How 1 wished that I might face
Eat Arras with my long sword for just
an instant before 1 died! 1t was he
who had caused our failure.
As 1 watched the oncoming ten
saw their pursuers race swiftly into
sight. 1t was another great fleet. Fol-
a moment I could not believe my eyes
but finally l was forced TO admit that
the most fatal calamity had overtaken
the expedition, for the feet saw was
none other than the feet of the BlacB
Pirates that should have been so safe
| ly bottled up in Omean.
What n series Of misfortunes and
disasters! What awful fate hovered
over ME that l should have been sc
terribly thwarted at every angle Of
my search for my lost love! Could it
be possible that the curse of Issus was
| upon me; that there was, indeed, some
malign divinity in that hideous car
| cass?
would not believe 1t, and, throwing
back my shoulders, ran TO the deck
! below to join my men in repelling
| boarders from one of the thern craft
that had grappled us broadside. In
the wild lust of hand to hand combat
my old hopefulness returned, and as
thern after thern went down beneath
my blade l could almost feel that we
should win success in the end even
J from apparent failure.
My presence among the men so
! greatly inspirited them that they fell
| upon the luckless whites with such
ferocity that within a few moments
we had turned the tables upon them,
| and n second later as we swarmed
their own decks l had the satisfaction
| of seeing their commander take the
long leap from the bows of his vessel
| in token of surrender and defeat.
Then Joined Kantos Kan. He had
been watching what had taken place
on the deck below, and 1t seemed to
have given him a new thought. Imme-
dlately he passed an order to one of
his officers, and presently the colors
| of the Prince of Helium broke from
every point of the flagship.
] A great cheer arose from the men
of our own ship, cheer that was TAX
en- up by every other vessel of our ex-
pedition as they in turn broke my
colors from their upper works.
Then Kantos Kan sprang his coup.
A signal legible to every sailor of all
the fleets engaged in that fierce strug-
gle was strung aloft upon the flagship.
Men of Helium for the Prince of
Hellum against all his enemies" II
read.
Presently my colors broke from one
Of Eat Arras' ships; then from another
and another. On some we could see
fierce battles waging between the 70
dangan soldiery and the Heliumetic
crews. but eventually the colors of the
Prince of Helium foated above every
ship that had followed Eat Arras upon
our trail. Only his flagship few them
| not.
/ Eat Arras had brought 5000 ships.
The sky was black with the three enor-
nous fleets. 1t was Helium against
/ the field now, and the fight had set
tied to countless individual duels.
/ There could be little or no maneuver-
ing of fleets in that crowded, fire split
! sky.
(To Be Coutinued)