Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

/ .♦f'V IkW . • } •- - ' : - r J - ■ ^ ' " ■— When Worlds Collide CHAPTER VI—Continued The center of the continent of Af rica split In two as if a mighty*cleaver had come down oiNt, and out of the grisly incision. poured an unquench able tumult of the hell that dwells within the earttu Chasms yawned In the ocean floor, swallowing levels of the sea and returning It Instantaneous ly In continents of steam, 'rtie great plateau of Inner Tibet dropped like an express elevator nine hundred feet South America^ Was riven into two islands, one efumding north and south in the shape of a sickle, and the other, roughly circular, composed of all that remained of the high lands of BrazIL ftorth America reeled and shuddered, split snapped, boomed and leaped. The Rocky mountains lost their Immo bility and aanced like waves of wafer. From the place that had been Yellow stone park a mantle of lava was spread over thousands of square miles. The coastal plain along the Pacific dis appeared, and the water moved up to dash Itself in fury against a range of active volcanoes that extends from Nome to Panama. Oases, steam and ashes welled from ten thousands vents Into the earth’s at mosphere. The sun went out, the stars were made Invisible. Blistering heat blew to the ends of the earth. The polar Ice melted and a new raw land emerged, fiery and shattered, mo bile and catastrophic.. Those human things who survived the world’s white-hot throes were sur vivors for the most part through good fortune. Few escaped through design —on the entire planet only a dozen places which had been picked by the geologists as refugees remained hab itable. Upon millions poured oceans of seething magma carrying death more terrible than the death which rolled on the tongue of the great tides. The air which was breathed by other mil lions was suddenly choked with sul phurous fumes and they fell like gassed soldiers, strangling In the streets of their destroyed cities. Live steam, blown with the violence of a hurricane, scalded populous centers and barren steppes Impartially. From a sky that had hitherto deluged man kind only with rain, snow and hall, fell now burning torrents and red-hot sleet. The very earth Itself slowed In Its rotation, sped up again, sucked and dragged through space at the caprice of. the bodies In the sky above. It be came girdled in smoke and steam, and blasts of hot gas; and upon It as Bron son Alpha and Beta drew away, there feir torrential rains which hewed down rich land to the bare rock, which cooled the Issue from the earth to vast metffthc wemis, and which Ity EDWIN BAUMER and PHILIP WYLIE Cbmrrifht by Edwta Balmar * Philip Wytl« WNU Strvlc* quently forced Itself up like the floor of a rapidly decelerated elevator. The lightning came nearer. The thunder was continual, it was hard to hear the voice of one’s nearest neighbor. Tony, with half a dozen others, rushed Into the brightly illuminated women’s dormitory and hurriedly brought from It .into the tumult and rain those who had remained there. • By ten o’clock the violence of the quakes was great enough so that ‘ It was difficult to stand. The people’hud- <Hed like sheep in a storm In the lee of the buildings. Lightning hammered In cessantly on the tall steel tower which surrounded the space-flyer. Tony moved through the assembled people shouting words of encouragement he did not feel. Shortly after eleven an extraordi narily violent stibck lifted one end of the men’s building so that bricks and cement cascaded from Its wall. Tony had the floodlights thrown on the land ing field, and every one migrated thither. Before midnight some caprice of the seismic disturbance snapped off the power. At one o'clock In the morn ing a truck from the kitchen of the dining halls floundered through the mud with sandwiches and coffee. At two o’clock the temperature of the wind dropped, and the wet multitude shivered and chattered with cold. Hall fell In place olf rain. Half an hour later the wind stopped abruptly; It puffed, veered, and came back from the southwest It blew fifty miles an hour, a hundred, and to rise. Several^ had been Injured. Of the old& meq a number were sufferthg perhaps fatally from exposure. Tony found that his limbs would scarcely support him, but after he hajd staggered for some distance througn the murk, his numbed circulation was restored, and his muscles responded. Out of the subsiding maelstrom he collected some thirty or forty persons, most of them men. “Any of you .men working on the power plant?” he shouted. . . . “Right. You two come over here. Now who else here was in the machine shop? Good. You fellows get to work on starting up the lights. They’ll be the first thing. Now I want half of you to get beds in shape In the woman's halL” He counted the number he re quired. “If they don’t look safe,” he shouted after the disappearing men, “find a place that Is safe, and put the beds there. We’ll have to have a hos pital." With the remnant of his men he went to the dining halls. One of these- buildings was a complete wreck, but the other still stood. They entered the kitchen. Its floor was knee-deep In mud. He recognized among those still with him Taylor, the student of light, whom, he had sent to Hendron from Chrneil “Take charge In here, will you Taylor? I’ll leave you half these men. The rest of us are going to round up the doctors and get medical sup plies ready. They’ll want coffee out there, and any kind of food that they can eat Immediately." He .saw Tay lor’s mouth smile in assent, and heard Taylor begin to issue Instructions for the lighting of a Are In One of the big stoves. Once again he went outdoors. It was a little lighter. His anxious gaze traveled to the tower that housed the Ark, and from its silhouette be de THE STORY FROM THE BEGINNING « 4 David Ransdell arrives at New York from South Africa, bearing a case containing photographic plates to Dr. Cole Hendron. Tony Drake calls at the Hendron*' apartment. Ransdell arrives and Eve Hendron, with whom Tony is deeply In love, introduces Tony to Ransdell. Newspapers publish a statement by Hendron saying that Professor Bronson has discovered two planets, which have been brought under the attraction of the earth’s sun. The result of the Inevitable collision must be the end of the world. The approaching bodies’ are referred to as Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta. Bronson Beta will pass, but the other will hit the ea-rth and demolish it. To devise means of transferring to Bronson Beta is what is occupying the minds of the members of the League of the Last Days. Hendron plans to build *r. "Space Ship,” with the idea of landing on Bronson Beta. Tony rounds up suitable men and women to build the ship at a cantonment in northern Michigan. Hendron has not been able to And a metal or an alloy which will withstand the heat and pressure of atomio energy to be used in propelling the Space Ship. Tides rush through the streets of New York. Earthquakes change the entire surface of the earth, bringing death to half the world's population. -were ac- companled by lightnings that furnished the Infernal scenery with Incessant Il lumination, and by thunder which blended undetectably with the terres trial din. ’ At Hendron’s camp forty-eight hours In the-Pit were experienced; and yet Hendron’s camp was on one of the safest and least disturbed corners of the world. The first black clouds which Tony bad observed marked the beginning of an electrical storm. The tremor he felt presaged a steady crescendo of eaeth-shakings. He left his hilltop aoon and found that the population of the colony which, an honr before, had then rose from that velocity to an immeasurable degree. Every man and woman was compelled to lie face down on the muddy earth, the i adulations of which Increased. W-» At HendronV Camp Forty-eight Hours in the* Pit Were Experl- enced; and Yet Hendron’s Camp Was One of the Safest and Least Disturbed Corners of the World. _ i ret j red for the night, was again awake. He'met Hendron and several scientists making a last tour of Inspection, and Vy joined them. ’The dormitories,” Hendron said. are presumably quake-proof. I don’t think any force could knock over the buttresses we have put around the projectile." Even as he' spoke, the wind In creased, lightning- stabbed the sky, the radiance of the Bronson Bodies was permanently extinguished, and the gusty wind was transformed to a steady tempest As shock - followed •hock, people began to poor Into the outdoors. ^ 'Tony tried to locate Eve, but was unable to do so In the gathering throng. It was difficult to walk on the wide cleared area between the various build- bias, for the ground underfoot fnr* They lay for an beur or more, shlv^" ering, gasping for breath, hiding their faces. Then a particularly violent shock suddenly separated the lauding field Into two parts, one of which rose eight or nine feet above the other,- leavlng a sharp diminutive precipice across the middle of the field. There was no dawn, no daylight, only a diffused Inadequate grayness. The people lay on the ground, each man wrapped In the terrors of his own soul, with fingers clutching the grass or burled In the earth. And so the day began. The alt' grew perpetually more warm. An augmented fury of the gale brought a faint odor of sulphur. Midday held no respite. It was Im possible to bring up food against the gale. Impossible even to stand. The sulphurous odors and the heat In creased. The driven rain SFemed hot Toward what would have been after noon, and In the absolute darkness, there was a sudden abatement; and the wind, while It stllLblew strong, al lowed the shaken populace to rise and to stare- through the Impenetrable murk. Fifty or more of the men made a rush for the dining halls. They found them, and were surprised that they ha<Tnot collapsed. The low hills around had furnished them with* pro tection. There was no time to prepare food. Snatching what they could, and- loading themselves with containers of drinking water, they fought their way back to the field. There, like animals, the people drank and ate, finishing In time only to throw themselves once again on the bare ground under the renewed fury of the storm.- Night came again. The sulphur In the air, the fumes and gases, the beat and smoke and dust, tfhe hot ralu, al most extinguished their frantically de fended lives. The dust and rain com bined with the wind to make a diagonal downfall of fdetld qoud which blistered them and covered "the earth. The respite brought by the second morning was comparative rather than real. The wind abated; the torrential rain became Intermittent; and the visi bility returned, though no one coul^ have told whether It was early morn ing or twilight Tony rose to Ms feet the Instant the wind slacked. Through all the long and terrible hours he had been absent from Eve. It would have been utterly unthinkable to attempt to locate her In the midst of that sound and fury. He found, however, that there was no use In looking for her Immediately. So heavy had been the downpour of rain and ashes from -the sky. that It not only reduced the field to a quagmire, but it covered the human beings who bad lain there with a thick chocolate- colored coating, so that as one by one the people arose to sitting and stand ing postures, be found it difficult even to distinguish mau from woman. He was compelled to put Eve from his mind. It was necessary to think of all and not one. Many of those wholiad been In the field were unable duced that U was at least superficial ly intact. The shouting he had done liad already rendered him hoarse, for the air was still sulphurous. It Irri tated the nose and throat, and pro- "duced nr~every~~OTr6~ t dry frequent cough. Besides the Irritating vapors In the air, there was heat, not the heat expected any day In July, but such heat as surrounds a blast fur nace—a sullen withering beat which blanched the skin, parched the Ups and was unrelieved by the rivulets of perspiration that covered the body. Tony went back alone to the flying field. It was a little lighter. Mist mo tions were visible In the sky, and threads of vapor were flung over the Stygian landscape by the wind. Peo pie were returning from what had been the flying field to the partial wreck at the camps. In twos anfi threes, many of them limping, some of them being carried. He founjj ,Eve at last, just as he reached the^edge of the flying field.. She was helping two other girls, who Were trying to carry a third. She recognized him and called to him. “Are you all right. Eve?” His soul was In his rasping voice. He came close to her. He looked Into her eyes. She nodded, first to him and then toward the unconscious girl She put her lips close to his ear, for she could speak only In a whisper: “Give us a hand, Tony. This girl fainted." He picked up the girl, and they fol lowed him through the slough to the main hall of the women’s dormitory. Beds were being carried there, and many of them were already filled! Some one had found candles and stuck them In window sills so that the room was lighted. Already two men who were doctors were examining the ar rivals. Tony recognized one of the men a«~ Dodson whefr be heard the boom of his voice: “Get hot water here, lota of It, boiling water. Don’t anybody touch those bandages. Every thing has to be sterilized. See if you can find anybody who knows anything about nursing. Get the rest of the doctors.” . . . - ^ Somehow Dodson haif 'already man aged to wash, and his heavy-Jowled face radiated power and confidence. Tony went outdoors again. - A gong boomed Id the kitchen, and he remem- beared his thirst and hunger. Around* a caldron of coffee and a heap of sand wiches, which were replenished as fast as they disappeared, were grouped at least two hundred people. Tony stood In the line which passed the caldron, and was banded a cup of coffee and a sandwich. The coffee tasted muddy. The sandwiches had a flavor not un like the noxlons odor in the air. Tony’s craving was for water, but he realized that for the time being all liquids would have to be boiled. Wltb his first sip of coffee he realized that brandy had been added tojt He wet bis burning throat and swallowed bis sandwich In three mouthfuls, and Joined the line again. ths oppressiveness was departing tad the temperature had lowered percepti bly. He was this for the first time to hear the contersatlon of people around Uni. He saw Peter Vanderbilt sitting pathetically on • log, a cup of coffee la one baud, a sandwich in the otiier, and his bedraggled handkerchief spread over his knees for s napkin. The ele gant Vanderbilt’s mustache Was clogged with mud. His hair was . a cake of mud. Hla shoes were gobs of mud. One ot his pant legs had been torn off at the knee. Hla shirt-tails had escaped hla belt, and yet aa Tony approached him, hla urbanity was un ruffled. „ v - Vahderbllt rose. “Tony, my friend,” be exclaimed. “What a masquerade I What a disguise! I recognized yon only by the gauge In phlch heaven made yoiir shoulders. Sit down. Join me in a spot of lunch.” vv Tony sat on the log. “I’ll have « snack with you,” he replied. "Then I must get back to work.” The quondam Beau Brummel of Fifth avenue nodded understanding!!. “Work 1 I never saw so many people who were so avid for work, and yet there’a something exalting about It. And the storm was certainly impres sive. I admit that I was Impressed. In fact, I proclaim that I was Im pressed. Yet Its whole moral was fu tility." • —“FnfUltyr rr—— “Oh, don’t think that for a minute 1 was being philosophical I was thinking of the many years I had spent as a lad In learning geography, and how nseless all that knowledge was to me now. I should Imagine that the geography I learned at twelve was now completely out of date." Tony nodded to the man on the log. “So I should Imagine. Ton’ll excuse me, but I’m needed." Peter Vanderbilt smiled and without a word rose and followed the younger man. They found Hendron emerging from the great hangar. He seized Tony’s shoulder the minute his eyes lighted upou him. c “Tony, son, havo you seen Eve?" “Yes. She’s all right She’s work ing over at the emergency hospital” Behind Hendron stood a number of men. He turned to them. “You go ahead and inspect the machine shop: I’ll Join you In a minute.” He then noticed that Tony had a companion. “Hello. Vanderbilt Glad to see you’re safe.” And again he spoke to Tony. "What was the extent of the Injury to personnel?” .Tony shook his head. “I don’t know yet." Vanderbilt spoke. “I Just came from the field hospital before I had my coffee. I was making a private check up. So far as Is known, no one here was killed. There are three cases of collapse that may develop Into pneu monia, several minor cases of shock, two broken legs, one broken arm, a sprained ankle; and there are forty or fifty people with more or lest minor CHAPTER VII Tony’s senses reasserted themselves. He realized that the wind was dying, scratches and abrasions: Tii kit less than seventy-five were reported so far ” ^ / ... Hendron’s head bobbed again. He sighed with relief. “Good God, I’m thankful 1”- He rubbed his hand across his face. “Did yon men say something about coffee?” “With brandy in It," Tony said. Vanderbilt took Hendron’s arm. “May I escort you? You're a bit rocky, I guess.’’ “Just s bit. . Brandy, eh? Good." Before he walked sway, he spoke to Tony. “Listen, son—” The use of that word rocked Tony’s heart “This was much more than I had hntlclpated, much worse. But the ship Is safe, although one aide was dented against Its cradle! That’s about all Tvs got to get some rest now. Pm just a few minutes away from unconsciousness, i want yon to take over things, If you think yon can stand up for another twelve hours." “I’m in the pink,” Tony answered. “Good. You’re In charge, then. Have me waked in twelve houra.” Tony began the rounds again. In the hall of the women’s dormitory, Dodson and Smith jwere 'hard at work. Their patients sat or lay In bed. Eve, together wltb a dozen other women, was acting as nurse. She had changed her clothes, and washed. She smiled at him across the room, and he told her that her father was asleep. . ^ Tony went next to the machine anop. A shift of men-was at work clearing away the Infiltrated dustkipn the en gines .an^Jthe ^ .tfe^t Md pound over the floors. Another group of men lay v In deep sleep wherever there whs room enough to recline. One of ths workers explained: “Nobody around here can work for long without a little sleep, so we’re going in ons- hour shifts. Sleep an hout clean an hourT Ia that all right, Mr Drake?" “That’s fine,” Tony said. —* At the power house a voice balled him. "You’re Just In time, Mr. Drake.” “What for?” “Come In.” Tony entered the power house. * The man conducted him to a walled panel and pointed to a switch. “Pull her down;” Tony palled. At once all over ths cantonment obscurity was annihilated by the radiance of countless electric lights. The electrician who had sucu- moned Tony grinned. “We’re using a little emergency engine, and only about a quarter of the lights of ths lines are operating. That’s all we’ve had Urns to put In order, but it’s better than this d—h’ gloom." TO BE CONTINUED. . Blend Chimney Color Frequently, s chimney seems to cut a house In parts. It Is Important, la painting a small dwelling In an a£ tractive color scheme, to make ths chimney an Integral part of the pi* lore. It may be painted with either stucco or concrete paint Vv Copra la Food, Currency and Chlsf Article of Trade. Prepared by National Oeosraphle Socloty. Washington. D. • C.—WNU SenrtcS. T O THE natives of Ontong Java, • group of Isles lying in the is land-besprinkled sea off the northwest coast of New •Outuea, coconuts are synonymous with money, for copra (dried coconut meats) serves as currency. Five pieces of tobacco represent one hundred copra; a bolt of calico, a number of thousand copra according to its quality, and so on. The growing coconuts on the palms are spoken of aa “green," although they may be either green or yellow In color. At this stage they are full of the de licious sweet milk, thirst-quenching as lemonade, and the flesh they contain la very thin. ' When the nuts are ripe, the flesh Is of maximum thickness, and they fall to the ground. Then they! are gath ered and the thick busks are removed, the nuts emerging, as they are sold in European and American shops. They are split In halves, the milk being now more or less sour, and are placed open end downward on the drying frame, a stand supported on legs about 4 feet high. Mats are put over the nuts, and a fire lighted beneath the frame la allowed to burn for about 12 hours. The dried flesh then Is readily removed from the shell with the aid of a porpoise bone or sharpened stick. This operation over, the dried flesh, or copra, aa it Is called, la taken to the -trading station In baskets and exchanged for goods! When a ship calls, the copra la put Into bags and weighed and then carried by natives Into flat-bottomed punts, which are. towed off to the ship by a motor launch. . The copra goes to Tulagt, on Florida Island of the Solomon group, where It Is trans-shipped to Sydney. The oil ex- rnclM from copra is used In uiaktng- soaps, candles, and butter substitutes; the pulp becomes cattle feed. The other and far less Important Item of exchange at Ontong Java Is trochus shell This shell Uke ths co pra, Is shipped. It usually finds Its wsy to Japan or Belgium, where It la cut and polished Into “pearl” buttons. The cone-shaped, reddish shell (some times the red shows outside if tho but ton has been Imperfectly cut) Is washed up Into shallow water of the reefs where It Is collected by the na tives, who dive for It If necessary. Trepang and Ivory Nuts. The lagoon abounds with beche de mer, the t re pang or aea slug, a food delicacy of^the East It la collected by Japanese, who come out from Tu- lagl In special lingers. From dinghies they look out* for ths slugs below. When s'' suitable specimen Is sighted, the diver goes over the side, sinks about a fathom, then transfixes his prey with the end. of a sort of weighted harpoon, which he might be said to let fall upon it The sings are cleaned, boiled, and dried. A fall cargo for a lugger, about five tons, usually takes threef months to collect Although, of course, the price varies, It Is normally $4,000 to $6,000. f Ivory nuts, the products of a grace ful palm, are used chiefly for making buttons, knife handles and similar ar ticles. The nuts are crushed and the objects molded from the paste made from them. A native- home on the i*i«fv1s is rec tangular. It baa a framework of polea, tied In position with rope made from the fiber of the coconut bask. No noils are used. The peaked roof Is thatched with pandanus-palm leaf, the lerfves hent over and made fast to a stick about 4 or 6 feet long. These sticks, tied to the roof poles so that they over lap, make a virtually rain proof root The walls of the house are made of mats of plaited coconut leaf tied to the upright sticks. The floor is also covered with these mats. Natives use these mats as beds. Other mats are used for blankets, and pieces of wood as pillows. < In the native bonse^ one end serres as the kitchen and storeroom;--Ip the middle of the floor Is tie hearth, actual ly s hole Id the ground with piles of coral stones alongside. Around tbs walls are plied, in separate places, ths fuel of coconut bnaks and shells, ths nets,'lines and other fishing tackle, co conuts to bs used later for food, and other odds and ends. Hanging ‘from the wall are a wooden dish and n pestle used In the preparation of food. There Is also n stool carved from n •olid log. Clean, Charming Natives. The natives are £ dean, friendly, 4nd altogether charming people. -Fond of swimming, they always baths at least ones a day. They are well-built and ; handsome, many renehlac. 5 feat 6 Inches In height and soma 6 feet or more. Their complexion, of n light coffee color. Is similar to that of the Hawaiiana. , • Boys from about fourteen years of age to tlrenty wear their hair cut fair ly close. From then until they are married men with small families, they allow It to gruw long. They resume hair-cutting at the beginning of middle age and continue the practice until they are old. For mature men, custom favors a rather dose crop over moat 4 of the head, with a bushy tuft left at each aide. There are. however, many exceptions to this rule. Girls wear their hair In the two tufts until they become mothers, and from then on keep their beads fairly closely shaved—a style discouraging to llco. Tho hair Is usually black, though at tho ends It may bleach to a reddish brown, and It may be straight wavy, or, in a few cases, distinctly woolly. Hands and feet of both men and % women are frajliently small and often delicately Shaped, but the Instep Is rarely high and some natives are al- - most flat-footed. However, the legs*^ are straight and beautiful, and many of the men have a grace and beauty that might he the envy of an andent Greek. Virtually every woman wean as a skirt a fathom of canvas, kept In place by a belt of woven panda nos leaf or plaited human hair. The upper part of the body la left bare. For a man's attire a strip of calico passing around the waist and between the legs and tied back and front suffices. Children of both sexes go naked MU they are about deven or twelve. — \ Elaborate Tattooing. \ Both men and women are tattooed. The decoration Is begun In early child- hood and with the forehead and nose. . The forehead pattern reaembieb aa open book. At the age of twelve or so, when the girls first wear skirts per manently, they receive suits of tat tooing from waist to knee that look from a distance Uke close-fitting^ fig ured black bloomers. * Only on dose Inspection can the actual pattern be discerned. The pattern is made up of fish and geometrical designs. As ths girt grows elder, fish are added around the hips and on the stomach. Later still when she becomes pregnant for ths first time, the tattooing Is finished by the cover ing of the breasts, chest back, inns, and even the cheeks and chin linen of the face wltb fish design. . .. / Upon first acquaintance, tho tattoo ing makes all women look alike and all seem equally hideout; but one soon falls to notice It at all despite the fact that the qarklngs are a deep, greeny black. One soon learns to distinguish individuals. TBe ipen have far less tattoo ths women. Except on the f« and nose, they have none nntU are about twenty years of age. Then two broad bands are added, extending from*.the shoulder around the' back to the thighs and In front terminating In two arrows on the chest The arm la tattooed either with fish or n geo metrical design. A row of dots jnst below the eye gives exactly the effect that a woman seeks when she darkens her lids; It makes the eyes stand out and appear to be much larger than they are. . When • man la the father of n family, he may have a few fish Added on his back and hips and thighs; hot many forego this right Coconut Palm Most Useful It would bs Impossible to fiod any other single tree wJUch serv.es such n variety of ends as the coconut palm, especially on Leuaulua Island. It given food and drink—the latter particularly. . Important on smaller Islands where there are no water holes. Visitors have gone for ten days with nothing to drink but coconut milk. Alno, It furnishes, besides the copra of com merce, s strongly slcohoUc toddy and a sticky sirup resembling treacle The husks and shells provide fuel and the dried spsthe Is excellent Un der. The shells serve as plates, spoons and .water bottles. The wats for walla and for beds are made from tho leaves; the dried leaves, tied Into bundles, give light as torches and fiaren The spinas of the leaves are mads into brooms, and the central stalk provides a wank timber which is put to n number of uses. Tbs outer skin of this stalk In useful where • strong, tough rope Is required, as la lashing the gunwale of the panoe to tbs dngout log. The rope made from the bosk fiber serves all general purposes from house ties to fish line. A conns covering nl ths base of the lest which at n first glance looks like a roughly woven fnb- ' rie, is mads Into strainers and Mown ; ’