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Show I WHEN WOULDSj rASI 1 By EDWIN BALMER j WLrEit. and PHILIP WYLIE Copyright by Edwin Bahner 4 Philip Wylle jj WNU Sorvlco statement that Hondrou .signed merely rend : "It is still impossible to forecast the entire effect of the approach of the Bronson bodies. Unquestionably Unquestion-ably they, will disturb us greatly. We may anticipate, as a minimum, the following phenomena: tides which will destroy or render uninhabitable unin-habitable all inland cities within live hundred or more feet of sea level. VVe have no terrestrial precedent prece-dent for such tides. The existing sixty-foot rise and fall in the Bay of Funcly will certainly be trifling in comparison. The tides we anticipate antici-pate will be perhaps several hundreds hun-dreds of feet high, and will sweep overland with a violence difficult to anticipate. "The second manifestation, which will be simultaneous, will consist of volcanic activity and earthquakes earth-quakes of unprecedented extent and violence. "The Bronson bodies, if they pass nn a parabola, will approach the earth twice. If, however, their course becomes modified into an ellipse, the earth will meet them again in its journey around the sun. Direct collision with one or another of the bodies, or grazing collision Eighty-nrst .street just because a : few gray-headed -school-teachers happen hap-pen to think there's a comet coming, then they're crazy. ..." "It's the end, that's what it is: and I for one am glad to see it. When the sea starts to rise and the earth starts to split open, I'm : going to stand there and laugh. I'm going to say: 'Now what's the good of all the farm relief? Now who's going to collect my income tax? Now what does it matter whether j we have prohibition or not? Gottd--by, world.' That's what I'm going j to say, "Good-by. Good riddance' ! I J hope It wipes the -whole d n thing as clean as a billiard ball. . . ." "It's ridiculous. They've been , lighting about their fool figures for generations. They can't even tell whether it's going to rain or not tomorrow. How in the h 1 can they say it's going to happen? Give ;, a- scientist one idea, and a lot of trick -figures, and .he goes haywire,,! that's all. ..." "I drew it all out and 'bought gold. I -got two revolvers. I filled the house with canned goods. I said : 'Here you are, Sarah, You've been telling me all your life how well yon can run things. ' Take the money. Take the house. Take these two guns. I'm leaving. If we've only got a couple of months left, I'm going go-ing to see to it that I have a little lit-tle fun, anyway.' That's what I said to her! and by G d, here I am. , . ." Tony shook his head. He rode through a long dark tunnel and then out to the station at One Hundred Hun-dred and Twenty-fifth street. The train moved past the final outpost tenements into -a verdant landscape with the river on one side the Hudson, in which tides soon would rise to sweep high and far hack over the Palisades. Tony glanced bnck, once, toward the teeming city. The first flood would not top those tallest towers etched there; the pinnacles of man's triumphs would for a while, rise above the tides; but all the rest? Tony turned away and looked out at the river, trying not to think of it. Settled In a chair, Tony glanced around the comfortable furnishings of the student's room and then gazed at the student himself. A : , lanky youth with red 'hair, good-humored good-humored blue eyes and a sprinkling of freckles that carried into his attained at-tained maturity more than a memory mem-ory f the childhood he had so recently re-cently left "Yes," Tony repeated. "I'm from Cole Hendron. The dean told me , about your academic work. Professor Profes-sor Gates showed me the thesis on Light which you turned in for your Ph. D. He said it was the finest thing he had had from the graduate school since he'd held the chair of Physics." Dull red came in the young man's . face. "Nothing much. I just happened hap-pened to have an idea. Probably never get another in my life." Tony smiled. "I understand you were stroke in the varsity crew two years ago. That's the year you were rowing everybody out of the water, isn't it?" ;'There weren't any good crews that year. AVe just happened to have the least bad ones." Tony looked at the youth's hands, nervously clenching and unclenching. unclench-ing. They were powerful hands, which nevertheless seemed to possess pos-sess the capacity for minute adjustment. adjust-ment. Tony smiled. "No need of being so modest, old fellow. It's just as I said. Cole Hendron in New York is getting together n bunch of people for some work he wants done during the next few months. It's work of a very private nature. I can't tell you what. I can't even assure you that he will accept you, hut I'm touring around in the attempt to send him some likely people. You understand that I'm not offering you a job In the sense jobs have been offered in the past I don't know that any salary is Attached to it at all. You will he supplied with a place to live, and provided with food, if you accept" (TO BE CONTINUED.) SYNOPSIS . David Panrtlell, noted aviator, has been commissioned at Capetown to deliver a cotnsignment of photographic photo-graphic plates to Dr. Cole Hendron, in New York. Tony Drake calls s.t the Hendrous' apartment. Ransdell arrives and Eve Hendron, with whom Tony Is deeply in love, introduces in-troduces Tony to Ransdell. New York newspapers publish a statement state-ment made by Hendron, saying that Processor Bronson has discovered discov-ered two planets, which are approaching: ap-proaching: the earth. The result of the inevitable collision must be the end of this world. The approaching bodies are referred to as Bronson Alpha and Bronson Beta. Bronson Alpha, .it is asserted, will hit the earth 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 forbids Tony and Eve to think of marriage. Eve outlines to Tony the idea of ttie Space Ship, which Hendron has in contemplation. CHAPTER IV Continued 10 "Of course he has; but there's only snnity in what he says. He has thought so much more about it, he can look so calmly beyond the end of the world to what may be next, that that he won't have us carry into the next world sentiments senti-ments and attachments that may only bring us trouble and cause quarrels or rivalry and death. How frightful to fight and kill each other on that empty world ! So we have to start freeing ourselves from such things here." "I'll ' be no freer prelending I don't want you more than anything pise. What sort of thing does your father see for us on Bronson Beta?" She evaded him. "Why bother nbout it, Tony, when there's ten thousand chances to one we'll never get there? But we'll try for it won't we?" "I certainly will, if you're going to." "Then you'll have to submit to the discipline." His arms hungered for her, and his lips ached for hers, but he turned away. Inside the house he found her father, fa-ther, Cole Hendron. "Glad to see you, Tony. We're going ahead with our plans. I suppose sup-pose you knew I had been counting on you." "For what?" Tony asked. "For one of my crew. You've the health and the mind and the nerve, I think. It's going to take more courage, in the end, than staying here on the world. For. we will all leave we will shoot ourselves up Into the sky while the world still seems safe. We leave, of course, before the end; and the end of the world will never be really believed till it comes. So I need men of your steadiness and quality. Can I count on you?" Tony looked him over. "You can count on me, Mr. Hendron." "Good. ... I can guess that Eve has acquainted you with some features fea-tures of the discipline of the League. I will tell you, in proper lime, of others; nothing will be asked of you which will not be actually reasonable rea-sonable and necessary. But now I should advise you to learn the simple, sim-ple, primary processes by which life is maintained. You will have, I might say, approximately two years to prepare before affairs here become be-come so acute with the approach of the planets on their first passage." No record could picture a thousandth thou-sandth part of the changes that came In those two years. No single aspect of human enterprise was left undisturbed. It was now more than n year before be-fore the first serious physical manifestations mani-festations were expected; so a i' "The Succession of Tides and Earthquakes Caused by Gravity and Resultant Stresses May Instantly In-stantly or in Due Time Render the Surface of This Globe Wholly Uninhabitable." due to mutual attraction when in proximity, ennnot be regarded ns impossible. The succession of tides and earthquakes caused by gravity grav-ity and resultant stresses may In-, stantly, or in due time, render the surface of this globe wholly uninhabitable; unin-habitable; but we cannot say that there is no hope. "Certain steps must be taken. All coastal cities in all parts of the world must be evacuated. Topulaces must be moved to hih. non-volcanic non-volcanic regions. Provision for feeding, feed-ing, clothing and domiciling migrating mi-grating people must be made. "The scientists of the world are in agreement that the course outlined out-lined above is the only logical one to pursue. Since the first Approach of the Bronson bodies may be expected ex-pected to take place with effect upon the tides and seaboard on and about the end of next summer, general migration should begin at once." On the morning succeeding the spread of this statement, Tony stood in the vast, populous waiting-room of the Grand Central station. Yesterday Yes-terday there had been issued marching march-ing orders for fifleen hundred millions mil-lions of human beings. If they did not know that It was to be the end of the world, at least they were told that it was the end of the world as it liad been. He listened to fragments nf conversations con-versations in progress in his vicinity vi-cinity : "I tell you, Henry, it's silly, that's all. If anybody expects me to give up my aparliiHMit nnd pack up my ' duds and move off One Hundred and |