Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/113

became a mist of vapour from the effect of the terrible rays. Sometimes the rays from different ships clashed together in space, producing blinding sheets of light. Every now and then there was a terrific explosion, when a shell found its way to the magazine of a large battleship, and in a second the vast fabric disappeared, leaving nothing but a cloud of smoke, while its fragments were sent flying to the uttermost ends of space. These explosions were often as destructive to friend as to foe, for no one could tell where the vast fragments would be likely to be thrown. Thousands of shells would be hurled in every direction, exploding whenever they came in contact with a solid body, and filling the space around with blinding flashes of light and dense clouds of smoke. The rams were used whenever there was an opportunity, and then the destruction became appalling. The great battleships dashed into one another with a force that nothing could resist, the ram being frequently vaporized