Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/109

enough to break through the strong lines of defence which were by this time formed about the orbit of Neptune. The fleet put about and made for the spot where the fight had commenced, but they did not get there for some days. While they were dashing along, one ship was struck by a wandering projectile that had been thrown hundreds of thousands of miles from the field of battle, and serious damage was done to it. At last they reached what was, as nearly as they could judge, the place where they had left the main body of the fleet; but there was nothing to be seen of either of the contending armaments. They scoured space in all directions. Sometimes the needles moved, indicating the approach of a mass of solid matter, but it only turned out to be the disfigured wreckage of what was formerly a magnificent war-ship. Some of these wrecks belonged to the Anglo-Saxon, others to the Sirian fleet. Sometimes they saw the disfigured and mangled bodies of

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