Page:Robert William Cole - The Struggle for Empire; A Story of the Year 2236 (1900).djvu/37

and spoke into a telephone that was attached to the instrument. In a few seconds there came an answering ring, and then she turned a handle that was fastened on to one of the reflectors. A picture immediately began to form on the screen, and grew brighter until every detail depicted on it appeared to be quite real. It represented a young man of twenty-five or thereabouts, clad in naval uniform, and seated at a table covered with a mass of papers, which he was busily engaged in examining. This was Lieutenant Alec Brandon, of the first-class interstellar war-ship Lightning. He was a rising young officer of great abilities, who was expected soon to obtain his captaincy. This fact and some minor achievements that he had wrought in the field of science made him very acceptable to Dr. Houghton, who had consented to his engagement with his daughter. As soon as the picture was quite perfect, he looked up from his papers in the direction