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Show i m . i i Threatening I tar I j j I EDGAR PRENTISS ! i (CopyrlBht, W15, by V Q. Chapuianl "If I could get only a paltry ten thousand dollars, dear, I could save your life," sighed John Hagan to his young wife, Mary. She was dying of inanition literally starving to death In the midst of plenty. For Hagan, a poor clerk in one of the gigantic clothing cloth-ing factories, eanud only iree thousand thou-sand a year. It would be years before be-fore he would be raised to four thousand, thou-sand, and his wife needed nourishing food. A rare malady, which science had not succeeded in alleviating, was sapping her strength, and only comfortcomfort com-fortcomfort such as was wholly beyond be-yond his reach could stave it of? until un-til Nature triumphed. All over the land the cry of discontent discon-tent was rising. Desperate men were planning to seize the reins of government. gov-ernment. At Philadelphia, one of the suburbs of New York, a hundred thousand rioters had been sent to their death. Men cursed the rich. But their curses availed nothing. It was (hen that Professor Joram of the Washington observatory announced an-nounced the approaching end of the world. A brilliant star, five thousand times larger than the sun, had set .is course for the earth ten million years before. So huge was he that even the pull of giant Jupiter could not swerve him from his course when once he was within the solar system. And ever so, should he pass within five million miles of earth it was calculated that its attraction would sweep the earth into its bulk as though it were a grain of sand. If it passed within ten million miles the earth would become its satellite. It would either be scorched by fire or drawn away from the protecting sun into the cold regions of space, to become be-come a frozen moon. Which of these things would happen Professor Joram i -j.rb if ft The Monster Was Now Three Times as Large as the Sun. could not foresee. But it was certain that it was heading direct for earth. The news was confirmeu fror the European observatories. And soon the monster began to be visible in the sky, a hundred thousand million miles away, like a little moon. All over the land prayers went up to heaven. The rich prayed to be permitted per-mitted to live, to enjoy their wealth. The poor forgot their misery and prayed to live' a little longer. But a few men like Hagan were utterly careless. care-less. "For the first lime all human beings will be equal in this world. Mary," he said, as he sat at his wife's bedside. bed-side. "It will not matter to us." Mary Hagan answered nothing; but she, too, prayed. She prayed that somehow they might find mercy she and John and every living sou! upon the planet. By the beginning of the summer of 2205 the star had visibly increased in magnitude. There were two moons in the heavens now. The monster, which was named Og, after the fabulous fabu-lous king of Br.sb.an, was no more than forty thousand million miles away. nd still it was heading toward arth Nothing could savo the world, said Professor Joram. He indited these words after making an application for an increase of salary, lo take effect on the first day of the succeeding January. The directors refused his application, on tie ground that after that date he would, by his own calculations, have no need for an increase of salary. Professor Joram, who was struggling to make both ends meet on a pittance of twenty-five thousand, thou-sand, was deeply chagrined. He even made a private application for a better-paying position in the University of Bmla-Pesth. Such are the inconsistencies incon-sistencies of the human mind. And the splendid object fn ti-e skies waxed in size continually. it was visible by day now, as well as by night, a huge moon, larger than the sun, and of a silvery whiteness. "When it gets withii. a thousand million miles of us, at the beginning of December, the heat will be con, siderahly increased," wrote Professor Joram. "Therefore it is safe to say that we shall never have another winter. win-ter. We shall have a milder summer, a second summer in spring, and next summer will mean the beginning of the end." Following which he laid in his winter win-ter coal supply. - It was not that the professor did not believe in the celestial visitor. Nothing could be more certain, as all the astronomers agreed, .han that the eartli must inevitably be consumed. But the human mind cannot quickly adjust itself. The crowds stood staring up at Og nightly. They measured it; they looked through telescopes to see "the man in Og." Meanwhile Mary Hagan was fading swiftly. It was a question whether she would live to see the end of all things. And her husband's desperate des-perate plea for a few hundred increase was vetoed for the same reason that had been given to Professor Joram. "John, dear," said his wife, "have you noticed that the human mind refuses re-fuses to believe what the professor says? Don't you think, dear, that perhaps the mind of the people may be more truly guided by instinct than the minds of the savants? I feel that the calamity will never happen." "It must happen," said John. "It must. There is no possible escape." And in his heart he added: "Let Mary die before that terror comes upon us." Terror reigned unmistakably in September. The monster Og was now three times as large as the sun, and it was only a few thousand million miles away. The churches were filled. It began to be noticed that charity was increasing. John Hagan, rendered desperate, applied for a raise of salary again. This time he got it. He was to receive four thousand after the first of the year. "Changes in temperature may be looked for after the New Year," said the weather bureau, which liked to be right, even in those days. Certainly ' there would he changes. j And now panic descended on ali the I world. Men went about their work in ' a daze. Long estranged families be- j gan to be reconciled. Enemies made up. Men wanted to die with clear j consciences. I It was a few days before Christmas i that a sudden hot wave struck the world. The overcoats .emained unsold un-sold on the factory shelves. The temperature tem-perature was that of balmy summer. Nobody could understand why the change had come about so suddenly until on Christmas day. Then the huge star, which had filled several degrees of the heavens, was seen to have disappeared. In it; place was a red mist, like a new Milky Way, which glowed by day and night. And the heat, instead of increasing, gradually grad-ually gave way to norni-1 winter temperatures tem-peratures again as the mist finally j turned white and hung, a nebulous curtain, in the heart of .he constellation constella-tion Hercules. And then Professor Joram announced an-nounced the truth. A miracle had happened, such as no one could have foreseen. The huge star had collided with a dead, dark body equally large, that had been circling about the solar system since the beginning of time, unguessed at. It seemed to have been planted there by providence for just such an emergency. At a distance dis-tance of a thousand million miles from earth the two had collided squarely. The shock of the impact had disrupted both into fine particles of incandescent gas. And with the knowledge that it was saved the world went mad ' ith joy. Men kissed each other upon the streets. The prisons werj openet ind all the inmates released. Wars ceased, the rich gave back their plunder to the state, which distributed it among the nation. There were no more poor, nor ever would be. Preachers traced from that day the beginning of the real world of joy and happiness in which we are now fortunate enough to live. "1 knew, dear, that it would be," sobbed Mary, as John Hagan caught her in his arms. "It's better than revolution, isn't it, John?" That was what all the world was saying. For the poor suddenly found that the rich were their brother?, and the rich that they had never beforf known the meaning of happiness. |