Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/100

in the distance, showed that they had become engaged with the enemy; but this was only the merest skirmish compared with what was to follow. In a short time the whole of the space in front of the Anglo-Saxon fleet as far as the eye could reach was filled with a blaze of light that rendered the stars quite invisible. Beams of light of all colours flashed hither and thither, while the long flashes that came from the guns looked like distant lightning. But whatever was going on in front, or whatever giant forces were being called into play, not a sound was heard by the crews of the Anglo-Saxon fleet, and no one could make out what was happening on account of the inextricable confusion of lights. But by degrees the individual ships became visible. The lights moved hither and thither, sometimes being extinguished, then suddenly reappearing again. At last, by executing a neat manœuvre, the whole fleet appeared drawn up in battle array a few miles in front of