ng, so far as the air-ship itself was concerned, no more trace than if she had soared

those who had formed her crew during the ill-fated voyage on which she had disappeared into the unknown. The earth had

when the snows thawed on the mountains of Norway, and the bodies of eight Aerians who had formed her crew on her last fatal voyage were discovered by a couple of foresters in a melting snowdri

be drawn from such a[76] conclusion was that at last some power, silent, mysterious, and intangible, had come into existence prepared to dispute th

tion. It was quite beyond their power to conceal the fact that their flagship had either deserted or been captured, incredible as either alternative seemed. The Central Council therefore wisely accepted the situation,

eir journey from London had gone on board the Ithuriel for a trip to the clouds. But this led to nothing. Who was to recognise the daughter of the Tsar and the la

e more-could by any possible means have overcome the ten Aerians, armed as they were with their terrible death-power,

l round the world, and for the first time since the days of the Terror the "Earth Folk" began to think of t

discover the lost air-ship, and also conditionally declaring a war of extermination on any Power or nation which either concealed the whereabouts of the Ithuriel or gave any assistance

the fact that this mysterious power, which had come unseen into existence and had snatched the finest vessel in the Aerian navy from the possession of the Council with such d

the world and convulse human society throughout its whole extent. The general sense of peace and security in which men had lived for four generations wa

girdle of aerial cruisers, ready to give instantaneous warning of the first reappearance of the lost Ithuriel; but nothing

ration of the Festival of Deliverance, the civilised world was started out of the sense of security into which i

STERY OF

rance of Thr

at the three transports, Massilia, Ceres, and Astr?a, belonging respec

f her. The second was reported from Cape Verd Station on her voyage from Cape Town to Marseilles, and there all trace of her is lost, as she never reached the Canary Station. The third was last heard of from Station No. 2 in th

s of enormous value both in money and material, can only be described as a calamity of world-wide importance. Unhapp

presented the latest triumphs of modern shipbuilding. All were over forty thousand tons in measurement

kill triumphed over the now conquered elements. Added to this, no storms of even ordinary violence have occurred along their

ts. Until we receive news of the result of their investigation it will be well to refrain from further comment on this mysterious misfortune which has suddenly and unexpectedly fallen upon the world, and in

of the mysterious loss of the three transports sent through the world of the twenty-first century. Not only was it the first event of the kind that had occurred within the memory o

ment when day after day passed and no tidings were received of the three submarine squadrons, consisting of three vessels each, which had been sent to in

quadron after squadron of submarine cruisers which plunged into the abysses of the sea to discover and attack the mysterious enemy of mankind that lay hidden in the depths, and

he trade of the world was speedily set at rest by a discovery made in the spring of the year 2032 by a party o

essel had been torn asunder by some explosive of tremendous power, and, more than this, her hold had been rifled of all its treasure and the most valuable portions of its ca

or reached in his hiding-place, wherever it might be, beneath the surface of the waters. Thousands of lives had been sacri

the ocean depths in all directions with no further result than the swift and silent annihilation of vessel after vessel b

r with ten almost identical vessels and had raised the strength of their navy to two hundred and fifty vessels, one hundred of which were kept in readiness in Aeria,

my which at the period at which this portion of the narrative opens was as supreme throughout the realm of the waters as the Aerians were in the air. To the me

ought peace on earth after the Armageddon of 1904 had been undone. All over the world, not even excepting in Aeria, men live

ed itself stronger than they were. Communication between continent and continent had almost ceased, save where the Aerian

a swift decadence into the worst forms of unbridled democracy. Men's m

and their leaders. Sovereigns and presidents were little better than popular puppets existing on sufferance. In short, all that Paul Roman

early that the time must come when this mysterious enemy would emerge from the waters and attempt the conquest of the land, and for three years past he

acy, the Moslem monarch was preparing to take advantage of the issue of events

. At midnight a blaze of light was seen far up in the sky over the city of Aeria. A moment later[82] something that must have been a small b

ttle roll of parchment addressed to the President. It w

rnold, Presid

lel of south latitude and the 120th meridian of west longitude in the South Pacific. They have served my turn, and I have done with them. Perhaps

manoff.