The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1918-02-07

Office, leaving the second seti lord and
the secretary staring at each other. He
was at the bottom Of the stairway be-
fore they had recovered their self
possession. Then the sea lord s~natched
up his telephone.
A curious haze was creeping up from
the Thames. spreading p~erceptibly
from corner to corner. 1t blotted out
the redness of the evening clouds and
hung overhead like o great, smoky
pail. A newsboy rushed past, shout
ing. Donald saw the contents of the
placard that swung before him. 1t
mentioned a series Of local explosions
which had been occurring along the
east coast Of England.
Donald was trying to locate a hotel.
He CROPPED his way from corner TO
corner, clinglng to the ratings OF areas
and pillars OF houses.
He had reached some open space,
| which he imagined TO be Trafalgar
square, but II was impossible to cross.
Carts, carriages, omnlbuses, stalled by
the fog, doomed up on every side.
Horses stood snorting inyisibly, a few
inches away. Drivers struck out with
their whips promiscuously. Men were
shouting, ome screaming. Panic
had begun. All knew that this was not
one Of those rare black fogs that de-
scend upon London.
Then II was that the news Of the
man-monsters began to filter through
the crowd.
A man announcing himself, through
q megaphone, TO be the police commits
sloner, ordered all to remain still until
star bombs could be set of. Nobody
needed him. and his efforts to stay the
panic were unavalling. The mob had
begun to flow In one direction, sweep
ing all before It.
Donald had been swept along with
II, and then left, stranded and jammed
by the human torrent, into q small re-
cess. In froat Of him he felt a 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 a
mighty explosion, q long volume Of re-
sounding thunder. 1t went rolling
down the river like the discharge of a
thousand cannon.
And then, as a flood from q hose
pipe, a burst OF water from the skies
deluged the city. 1t boiled through the
air With kissing lashes, as II the per
tails OF the armament were broken
open. The ~grinning face Of the noon
broke through the smoky pail. Sud-
denly the stars appeared. And 1t was
calm, clear weather.
A roar Of relief seemed to go up
from the throats OF the multitude. And
very slowly the trufiic began 10 resume
Its course again.
What had happened, as scientists
nfterward surmlsed, was this: The n.y.
drogen. increasing until II attained a
certain chemical relationship to the
oxygen OF the atmosphere, had explod-
ed where 1t was densest, on contact
with 1re. us In n laboratory. But the
explosion instantly generated water
as the two gases met. Hence followed
the deluge.
But rs yet the government was only
dlmly beginning to understand that
this was some unknown natural force
and not a contrivance Of the enemy.
They did not know until Donald pre-
sented himself In the Office Of the sec
ond sea lord ut nine o'clock.
The second SEQ lord grasped him by
the hands.
"There isn't time to say more than
that I apologize" he said. 'The gov
eminent mas been searching Tor you