2
eturned, nor has it ever been definitely traced. He does not undertake to prove that it ever set out. But he avers that all which is hereafter set down is truly told, and he leaves it to mankind to accept the warning which it has fallen to him to convey, or await the proof of its sincerity which he believes the end of the century will produce.
ROBERT CROMIE.
BELFAST, May, 1895.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE UNIVERSE A MISTAKE! 1
II. A STRANGE EXPERIMENT 10
III. "IT IS GOOD TO BE ALIVE" 21
IV. GEORGE DELANY--DECEASED 32
V. THE MURDER CLUB 41
VI. A TELEPATHIC TELEGRAM 51
VII. GUILTY! 62
VIII. THE WOKING MYSTERY 72
IX. CUI BONO? 81
X. FORCE--A REMEDY 93
XI. MORITURI TE SALUTANT 104
XII. "NO DEATH--SAVE IN LIFE" 111
XIII. MISS METFORD'S PLAN 123
XIV. ROCKINGHAM TO THE SHARKS 133
XV. "IF NOT TOO LATE" 146
XVI. £5000 TO DETAIN THE SHIP 160
XVII. "THIS EARTH SHALL DIE" 174
XVIII. THE FLIGHT 184
XIX. THE CATASTROPHE 197
XX. CONCLUSION 208
CHAPTER I.
THE UNIVERSE A MISTAKE!
"The Universe is a mistake!"
Thus spake Herbert Brande, a passenger on the Majestic, making for Queenstown Harbour, one evening early in the past year. Foolish as the words may seem, they were partly influential in leading to my terrible association with him, and all that is described in this book.
Brande was standing beside me on the starboard side of the vessel. We had been discussing a current astronomical essay, as we watched the hazy blue line of the Irish coast rise on the horizon. This conversation was interrupted by Brande, who said, impatiently:
"Why tell us of stars distant so far from this insignificant little world of ours--so insignificant that even its own inhabitants speak disrespectfully of it--that it would take hu