Produced by David Clarke, Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE CRACK OF DOOM BY ROBERT CROMIE _Author of "A Plunge into Space," etc._ _SECOND EDITION_ LONDON DIGBY, LONG & CO. 18 BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1895 PREFACE The rough notes from which this narrative has been constructed were given to me by the man who tells the story. For obvious reasons I have altered the names of the principals, and I hereby pass on the assurance which I have received, that the originals of such as are left alive can be found if their discovery be thought desirable. This alteration of names, the piecing together of somewhat disconnected and sometimes nearly indecipherable memoranda, and the reduction of the mass to consecutive form, are all that has been required of me or would have been permitted to me. The expedition to Labrador mentioned by the narrator has not returned, 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 THE CRACK OF DOOM 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.