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.

After Worlds Collide A By Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie Copyright, 1#*4, by Bdwln Balmer* Philip Wylie WNU Benrica V . SYNOPSIS Under the leadership of Cole Hendron, noted American scientist, over 300 per sons escape In two .Space Ships Just be fore a cosmic collision wiped out the earth, and land on Bronson Beta. Oiant meteors, fragments of the earth's moon, fall in their vicinity, but none of Hendron's colonists is hurt. A river bottom green with vegetation is found, and great forests of dead trees, preserved for a million yehra by the absolute cold of space. AnXalrplane, which disappears almost immediately, files over the camp, making no attempt to communicate with Its people, who realize that they are not alone on\the new planet, and that their visitors ntay be enemies. Tony Drake and Eliot James, • in an exploration airplane flight, come upon a wondrous city, en closed under what seems like half an Iridescent glass bubble six miles wide •nd half a mile hign at its center. CHAPTER IV—Continued i A “They swept It before they left—or died In here,” Eliot replied “They drew their gates and shut out the wind. After ^hey left—or died—what else could disturb it? - But, my G—d. they were neat. No rubbish, no lit ter." \ “And everything locked,” Tony said, having halted to try a door. The order of everything, and the utter stillness, was getting his nerves n^ain. Eliot James had run ahead. "Tables!” he called. “Tables and chairs! This was a restaurant!” His nose was pressed against rhe glass, and Tony swiftly joined him. Within stood rows of metal tables and what were, unquestionably, chairs of metaL All bare; and all. of course, empty. It resembled nothing so much as a restaurant; and looking in, no one from earth could doubt that that was what It had been. \ The place looked Immaculate, as If put In order an hour ago—and then deserted. • . - \ . ar'MrVfcere are they?" Elio't James ap- pehted agala' ( "Oh, Tony. Where did \theySjo?” wege they?" Tony countered. :’s vNpn I want to know. Were they huge ftqts? Were they human- brafned reptllebJ* 'Were they—" “They sat liKcbalrs," said Eliot James. “The) ate St tables. They ran • car thatX^teered ft* pedals and a wheel Their equIpmenK s would fit us; their floors and steps wy? on our scale. Let’s break In here?S. He tried the dodi^, which wa's Sl fitted with a’handle; but this did not ttiVp or budge, however pulled or presi There was no keyhole; no locking'd vice was anywhere apparent; but the door was to be moved no more than those that they' had tried before- Tony looked about. A shudder con vulsed hlnu jj A thousand windows looked down on this stretch of the Silent street; a thousand pairs of eyes once had looked down. It seemed to Tony that they must—they must do If again. * Eyes of what? Huge, sentient, Intelligent insects? Reptiles of some strange, semi-human sort? What lay dead by the tens of thou sands in those silent rooms overhead? Tony was pulling at his pistol Some^ how, It reassured him to hold It in his hand. He reversed It, and beat the butt on the great glass pane behind' which stood the strange metal tables and chairs. The glass did not give way. It twanged, not like glass but like sheet metal—metal utterly transparent. Tony caught (he butt In his palm and pulled the trigger. The shot roared and re-echoed. But the metal pane was not pierced. The bullet he had fired lay at Tony’s feet Hyster ically, be emptied bis pistol. With the last shot, he jerked shout again" and stared up at the rows of windows. Did something up there Not the Caucasian, not the Mon golian; not the Ethiopian, surely; not the Indian. She was of no' race upon earth; but she was human. " “So,” said Eliot James, who first succeeded In speaking, “so they were human 1 By G—d, you feel you’d like to know her.” Tony relaxed his bands, which had clenched. “Where did she live, do you suppose, Eliot? Did she Uve up be hind one of these windows? Let’s go on.” “Why go on?” demanded Eliot James. “We’ve got to get Into one of these buildings somewhere. We might as well begin here." So together they attacked the door; which, like those they had pushed and pulled at before, showed no lock, yet was secure. The door evidently was designed to lift; It should rise and slip Into the metal wall overhanging It; bat no pushing of straining at It. no hammer ing and pounding, could cause it to budge. And the glass in it—the panel of transparent metal—was not to be broken. Weary and sweating from their straining at It, Tony and Eliot stepped back. Repeatedly, while they had worked at the door, each of them had spun about for a glance over his shoulder. Th^ metal seemed so new—some one must be about this city standing all In such order. - - Now, as the two men from Earth stood side by side staring abouf them, the slightest of sounds reached them; S a door—not the door at which r had pushed and pounded, but a r some twenty steps beyond—be- gan\rfsing. Tony and EUot shrank closer to gether. They pulled out tbelr pistols, which they had reloaded. Up, up steadily, slowly, the metal door was lifted. \ . . “Counterbalanced!” exclaimed Tony to his companion; but bis voice was husky. “It was counterbalanced, of course! Our pounding affected some mechanism Inside!” "They’re human, anyway," whispered Eliot James. “Yes,' 1 said Tony, his eyes fastened on the aperture under the rising door. “See—anything?” “There’s nobody there,” argued Eliot, with himself as much as with his comrade. "They all died—they all died a million years ago." "Yes,” agreed Tony. The door was ceasing to rise; It had reached its limit Bat ha had accomplished nothing with any of them when Eliot came back. |That dosed, Tony,” he reported soberly. Tony started. “You didn't close It?” “No." "All right I” Tony almost yelled. “Go ahead. Say It!" < "Say what?” "What you’re thinking. Remote con trol of some sort! Somebody saw us, opened the door, let us walk in, closed It again.” “Somebody I", said EUot “Let’s be sensible^ ^>ny." “All rl£bt,” said Tony, Jltterlmr “Yon bet . Vt D—n It. look at thm door. Look at It 1 That's opening now 1” For a door, at the farther edga of this room now slowly was rising. “Were you working at It?” EUrt whispered. “Yes.” “Then, that’s It You started an other counterbalance working.” “Sure,” said Tony. “Sure.” They stepped to the opening. Utter darkness dropped below them. There was a shaft, there—a shaft which, un der other clrcuDistances, might hate showed machinery. Now it was empty. : Tony and Eliot James knelt side by side at Its edge. They sho’ .od, and no voice came back to them. \ Tony took a cartridge and dropped Iti- For so long did It fall silently that thejr were sure, as they listened, that it mnsr have struck something which - gave no sound; then they heard it strike. Tony dropped another, and they timed it One more they timed. “Ha)f * h41e below!" said Eliot They stepped back from the shaft’s threshold carefully. “There’s some Control to these d—n doorsAsald Tony, “that probably made l tt It easy to operate them when every thing was working. Yon maybe merely had to stand before them, and some electric gadget would work that's jammed now because the power Isn’t on. .These doors can’t all be to shafts.” About fifteen minuets later, they had opened another that exposed a circular passage, leading both upward and downward. “Ah!" said Eliot. "This is the stuff. No machinery. They probably had It for emergencies.” • • • • ' • • • Tony,' awakening, stretched, rubbed his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling. He still ,dld not fully recollect where r \ ■- L V‘ A They Stopped as If Tl^Cv Wars Struck; and Their Breath Left Them. Breath of Relief, ano\Wonder. They Looked at the Likeness of a Woman 1 She Was a Ybtmg Woman, Strang# and Fascinating. 'V' EUot James jumped mud pointed; and Tony stiffened as he stared. Something fluttered a hundred yards, overhead and farther down the street; something Ught, like . a cloth or a paper. One way, now another, It fluttered as It fell on the still air of that strange sealed city. It reached the street and Jay there, “We’ll go see what that Is,” Tony said to EUot James, wetting his dry Ups so he could speak. Bat before they gained the object, they forgot 1L A window, evidently th* vitrine of a gallery of ait, con fronted them; within the glass was a portrait . Simultaneously, Tony and Eliot saw tt They stopped aa If they were struck; and their breath left them Breath ef relief, and wonder! They looked at the likeness of a (Woman 1 She was a young woman, strange and fascinating. She was not fair; ■or was she dark of akin. Her hair and brews were black—hair amiaged with aa air that might be Indlvldnaf bat which, thede discoverers of her ’ felt wan racial . r Aad of what aacof r -and stopped, leaving the way Into great metal building open. They approached the open doorway together; and together, neither In ad vance or in the rear of the other; they entered It pistols In hands. That was wholly Irrational;"and both knew It; but neither could help himself. So, side by side, revolvers ready, they entered the door of the Million Years Dead. The walls of the hall In which they found themielves were vermilion. There was no furniture; no covering upon the floor. Perhaps there never had been one; the floor was smooth and even and of agreeable texture. It was not wood nor metal, but of some composition. An open doorway In vited to an apartment beyond; and side by side, but with their pistols less at alert, EUot an<f Tony stepped into this. Bat this room also was empty. Tony and EUot James went on. * '“How do you feel?" demanded Tony, after they had entered the fifth great room In gay colors, with marvelous decoration, but- empty. • “Feel?" repeated EUot *11 feels to me that we're In a building that never waa used. Into which they never moved." “Perhaps,” said Tony, “that goes for the whole city.” - “Too soon to say, much too soon to say. Bow do you go op, d’yon sup pose?” “Elevators hehlhd Otis of these “Quite a while” doors, probably. No sign of stairs. “How do yon open the doors? How. about the ons„we opened r said EUot “la tt stlU .up. d’yon suppose?" - “Wtaat’d lower itr “What Ufted It?”' returned Eliot “Til go back and look. Want to go with mar he was, but be realized that be was lying on a couch of soft, agreeable aterlal Thejn he saw EUot James, Ihytrousers and shirt but without his coak seated at a table, writing. And Tony x, remembdred. EUot apd he were In the Sealed City—the amazing, stupendous metrop olis of the dlher "People, the People a Million Years Dead. The amazement\of their two days of exploration passed through Tony’s mind like reviewing %a dream; but they remained reality; for Instead of becoming dimmer and ditnmer as he sought to recall them, they- became only sharper and clearer. Moreover, here before him in a heap upon one of the tables of the Other People were the objects—some of them understand able, more of them utterly incompre henslble as to their purpose or utility —which they had collected to carry with them back to Cole Hendron and the camp. EUot was writing so intently and absorbedly that be did not know that Tony was awake, and Tony lay quiet, watching his companion attempting to deal through words with the wonders they had encountered. What could a man say that would be adequate?^ Eliot halted his writing and arose; and glancing at Tony, saw he was awake. ^ “Bella" ’Hello. How long you been up?” S "You would be," complained Tony admiringly. It had been late In the long night, and both 'had been utterly exhausted when they lay down to sleep. “It’s the .third day, Isn’t It? We ought to go beck now." “Yes," agreed iBUoL ”1 suppose sa — — But how can we?" “No: PU stay here and try some of Teny waa sitting np. >How can we ton^r’ ha agreed ‘ “But also, hew can we stay—without letting Cole Hendron and the rest of them know?" “We can come back, of coarse," Eliot James reluctantly assented. “Or we may find another city or something else.” ^ “By ‘something else,’ do yon mesa the place where ‘they’ aU went, Tony? G—d, Tony, doesn’t It get you? Where did they go? Not one of them—nor the bones of one of them! And aU this left In order." \ He stood at the table and sifted In his fingers the kernels of a strange grain. * Not wheat, nor corn, not rice nor barley nor rye; bat a starchy kernel. They both had tasted 1L “There’s mill Iona-of bushels of this. Tony. Should we say ’bushels’ or, like the Bible, ‘measures?* Well we know there’s millions of measures of this that we’ve already found. If ifs food —and what else could It be—we’ve solved our problem of provender In definitely. And It’s foolish to have Our people Improvising shelter and> equipment when all we have to do Is to move Into—this. Here’s equipment we never dreamed of!” “Yes," sai l Tony. “Yes.” But he remembered that contest that already had divided the camp. Did the eml- grants irom the earth dare to move into the city when found? Also, could the people from the earth sustain thepiselvet on this grain or other sup- pliea left by the vanished people? Though the kernels might have been preserved through the epoch "of utter cold, had x the vitamins—essential to life—remafned? But that was a matter for the ex perts of the camp to test and to de cide. Tony could, not doubt his duty to report the tremendous discovery. “We’ll leave today, Tony,” Eliot pleaded, “but not until latet. Let’s look about once more.” And Tony agreed! for he too could not bear yet to abaodou the amaze ments of the Sealed City. It was later than they had planned when at last “Itbey had loaded, their ship with the objects—comprehensi ble and Incomprehensible—which th®y had chosen to carry back to Hendron and his comrades. “Let’s not fly back to the camp by the path we came,” 1 said Eliot James. “No,” agreed Tony. “Let’s loop to the south before we cut back to the seacoast.” Toward morning they were planning to alight and rest before continuing their adventures, when suddenly they were transfixed. Not In rhe east, where the first gray bars of the rising sun might be expected to appear, but ahead of them, to the south, a single finger of Ught pointed upwgrd to the shy—the only light except their owr^, and except the weird Inhuman illum ination of the great domed city, which they had seen on the surface of the planet.; , Tony turned to James: “What do you think It is?” “It looks like a searchlight pointed straight up in the air.” “There seems to be a ridge between us and where It comes from.” Tony made a gesture which outlined the process of landing the plane, and James nodded. Now the plane was skimming low over the empty desert, and in the light of their abruptly swltched-on beacon, they could make out, racing beneath them, a flat aridity. There was no choice of spots oh which to land. The thunder of the' tubes had been cut off as Tony turned a switch, and big voice sounded vefy loud when he said: “How about itr* “Let ’er go!” James answered, and an Instant later they wlere racing over the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust that had been undisturbed for mil lennia. They stopped. They stepped out The night around (hem was warm and clear. Its distant darknesses were weaving with the perpetual aurora of Bronson Beta. Far ahead of the waste In which the*plane lay, the sin gle finger of light pointed unwavering ly toward the stars. “Shall we wait for day?” Tony asked. ;r \ Eliot James looked at the Illuminat ed dial of his wrist-watch. “It’ll be several hours in coming yet," he said after a pause. Tony was staring at the light *T should say, from the way it spreads, It -must come together in some sort of lens or reflector a couple of hundred feet below the other side of the ridge. If there’s anybody around the base of It 1 don’t think they saw or heard os coming. If they saw anything. It could easily tie mistaken for s meteor. 1 wonder—have we got time to get then and back before It’s light?" ^Meaning the top of the ridge?" “Exactly.” James squinted at the barren black edge of land traced upon the brief width of the light beam. “Plenty." Tony made no further comment, bat started walking through the night They walked for half an hour before the flat plain, the arid waste, began to rise Presently the apward pitch became steep, and they realized that they were traversing a series of bare nndnlant ledges. They went more cautiously^then. In their Imaginings and their * fears, not daring to nsa flashlights, but feeling for each step sometimes even moving upward with the aid of their bandar A breexe fanned their faces. They stepped up over the 'IsAt rocky sur face, and unconsciously moving on tip toe, crossed It so they could look Into the valley beyond.. .'Because neither of them was coa ventlonally religious, because, both of them were thunderstruck by what they saw, they cursed, fluently and albUantiy, In the night on the rldga TO B« CONTINUED. Mosqvltoes’ Eggs MeaqeflO'eggs may hatch oat four or Avo years after they have baaa laid IMPROVED UNIFORM INTERNATIONAL uncayi chooi Lesson tr **v. r ». nr*water, d. d, - , Mamtor of Faculty. Moody Blblo Institute of Chicago. ■. Woo torn Ncwspupor Union. Lesson for May 12 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH LESSON. TEXT—Ephealana 4:l-t, 11-14: Acta 1:41-46. GOLDEN TEXT—So we. being many, •ra one body In Christ, and every onp^ member* on* of another.—Unmans 13:5. PRIMARY TOPIG—Goins to God'* House. JUNIOR TOPIC—What a Ch irch la. INTERMEDIATE ANt> SENIOR TOP IC—What the Church Is For TOUNp PEOPLE AND ADULT TOP IC—The Nature and Work of the Church. I. What It Is (Eph. 3:!i 0). It is the body of redeetmul men and women of Jews and Gentiles railed out from the world, regenerated a«id united tp 5 Jesus Christ as head and to each other tty the Holy Spirit (I (’or. 12:13). 1. It jvas* unknown ib Old 'lestaiuent ‘times (Eph. 3:5, 6). 2. It was predicted by Christ (Matt 10:18). Shortly before Christ went to MILE A MINUTE CROCHET COLLAR j OHU1 llj UtTlUI tr v III 131 W CLil IU w ** r' 4 ’ the cross he spoke of-the Church as many years. The work on this col- «« S At. m m'm . • Iflfll I fl VYinl A a Pwt IS uvAanu* He said, ’T will Crocheted collars _ are becoming more popular each day. They are wiry attractive and add so much to personal apiiearance. The collar shown here received Its name from the combination of crochet stitches that work up very fast The term “mile a minute” baa been applied to crochet work of this type for still Id the future, build my chufch." 8. i It came Into being at Pentecost (Acts 2). II. Christ Is ths Head of ths Church (Eph. 1:22, 23). Jesus Christ Is to the Church what the head Is to the human body. He is so vitally Its head as to direct all Us activities. III. Ths Unity of ths Church (Eph. 4:4-6). Having In verses 1-3 of this chapter set forth the virtues necessary for the realization and maintenance of unity In the Church, In verses 4-0 he sets down the fundamental unities which make unity of the body. 1. One body (v. 4). Since all be lievers have been united to Christ by faith, they are members of the one body of which he is the head. 2. One Spirit (V. 4). This Is the Holy Spirit He Is the agent In re generation and the haptlzer iuto the one body and Is the animating life unit ing the believers to Christ and to one another. 3. One hope (v. 4). Completed re demption at the coming of the Lord is the Christian’s hope. A 4. One Lord (v. 5). The une ruler of the Church Is the>I/>rd Jesus Christ. 5. One faith (v. 5). This faith Is the one doctrine which centers In Christ and the one Instrument which unites the believer to Christ. 6. One baptism (v. 5). This means the baptism of the Holy Spirit—that sovereign act of the Spirit which unites believers to Jesus Christ as head and to each other as members of his body. 7. One God and Father of au (?, •). This Is the aimlghty Creator and Sus- talner of the universe. IV. How the Church Grows (Eph. 4:11-10). It is through the ministry of certain officials having the gifts of the Spirit 1. Gifts bestowed upon the Church (v. 11). a. Apostles. /These were appointed by Christ to superintend the preaching of the gospel In all the world and the creation of an authoritative body of teaching, the Scriptures. b. Prophets. These ministers were given for the,expounding of the Scrip tures. c. Evangelists. These seem to have been traveling missionaries. "d. Pastors and teachers.' The pas tor was a shepherd-feacher, the two functions Inherent in the one office. 2. The object of the ministry of the Church (v. 12). a. "Perfecting of the saints." Per fecting means the mending of that which has been rent; the adjusting of something dislocated. b. "For the work of the ministry” (v. 12). The perfecting of the saints has as its object the qualification to render efficient service. c. “Edifying of Hie body of Christ” Edify means to build up. 3. The duration of the Church's min istry (v. 13). It Is to continue until a. There Is unity of faith. b. We come Into the knowledge of tbe Son of God. Unity of faith only be realized when the members of tbe Church come to know Jesns Christ as the very Son of God. - a- A perfect man, which Is the mean* ure of the stature of Christ. 4. The blessed Issue of the ministry of the Church (vv. 14-16). f. Not tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine (v. 14). Knowledge of Christ ak tbe very Son of God Is the sure defense against tbe ef forts of cunning men. b. Speaking the truth In love (w. 15, 16). Holding the truth of Jesus Christ as tbe Son of God tn the spirit of sincerity and love will Issue in the symmetrical development of believers, causing them to grow np In him as head. Uur is very simple and it costa very Uttls to be the proud maker, of this pretty dress accessory. Package No. 718 contains sufficient white “Mountain Craft” crochet cot ton to complete this collar, also In structions how to make it Bend ns 25c and yon receive this package by mail postpaid. Instrue* Hons only will be sent for 10c -Address BOMfc CRAFT COM PANY, Department B,i Nineteenth and 8L Louis Avenue, SL Louis, Mow Inclose a stamped addressed en velope for reply when writing for any Inforroatloii. BOYS! GIRLS! Read tbe Grape Nuts ad In another column of this paper and learn bow to join the Dlzxy Dean Winners aad win valuable free prizes.—Adv. " No Strain on Pnrto The easiest thing to pay days, Is respect these QUIET THOUGHTS Every man Is worth Just so nihch as the things are worth about which be busies himself.—Marcu* Aurelius. o • • ‘ People glorify all sorts of bravery except the bravery they might abow on behalf of their nearest neighbors.— George Eliot * • • • . What St. Pan! wrote to the Christi ana In Rome nearly two thousand years ago as true today There Is “peace In belle Dr. Pierce’s Favorite weak women atrong. No by druggists in tablet* ition or liqui<L—Adv. Cloao oa BrotLera v Quackery has no friend like gall!- bllity. Twice Cardai Helped “I was in e run-down condition, very irregular and had cramps and nervousness,” writes Mrs. Albert Pike, of R.7.D. 5, St Joseph, Ma “When i and children to look a" one has e boms after, and the work on a „ woman win worry if she feels and I surely worried. I decided take Cardui again, aa it had l It also idsd to me oat time. Itsiso helped' msthb time. I never have e bad day whew using Cardui" There are many cases Hks this Thousands of woman testify Carol benefited them. If it doea not fit YOU, consult e physician. 11m Crying Md RmUmsmbl of children is frequently an indioa- tkm of Worms or Tapeworm In fha system. The cheapest, safest, and quickest, *w**«4i«rw* for ridding nhB* dren or adults of parasites is Or.Peery’s ‘DEAD SHOT * b lifh *> 7 4i I NEUTRALIZE Exce|$ Acid* ■““by chawing ona or znora Milnaaia Wafava MILNESIA WAFERS IELP IIBIETS F ’ your kidneys fuetfaa badly aad yon have a lame, back, with attacks ■(* burning, scanty or too urination, getting up _ at swollen feet and ankles pains ... use Dean's Pin*. Doan’s are emealal functioning kidneys, boxes are used every are reeoaunended-the