Produced by Bruce Albrecht, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE WORLD PERIL OF 1910 BY GEORGE GRIFFITH AUTHOR OF "THE ANGEL OF THE REVOLUTION," "A CONQUEST OF FORTUNE," "A MAYFAIR MAGICIAN," "HIS BETTER HALF," ETC. ETC. LONDON F. V. WHITE & CO. LTD. 14, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, W.C. 1907 CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE PROLOGUE--A RACE FOR A WOMAN 1 I. A MOMENTOUS EXPERIMENT 9 II. NORAH'S GOOD-BYE 17 III. SEEN UNDER THE MOON 24 IV. THE SHADOW OF THE TERROR 31 V. A GLIMPSE OF THE DOOM 37 VI. THE NOTE OF WAR 47 VII. CAUGHT! 55 VIII. FIRST BLOOD 63 IX. THE "FLYING FISH" APPEARS 72 X. FIRST BLOWS FROM THE AIR 79 XI. THE TRAGEDY OF THE TWO SQUADRONS 88 XII. HOW LONDON TOOK THE NEWS 98 XIII. A CRIME AND A MISTAKE 106 XIV. THE EVE OF BATTLE 115 XV. THE STRIFE OF GIANTS 123 XVI. HOW THE FRENCH LANDED AT PORTSMOUTH 132 XVII. AWAY FROM THE WARPATH 143 XVIII. A GLIMPSE OF THE PERIL 151 XIX. A CHANGE OF SCENE 160 XX. THE NIGHT OF TERROR BEGINS-- 167 XXI. --AND ENDS 176 XXII. DISASTER 182 XXIII. THE OTHER CAMPAIGN BEGINS 189 XXIV. TOM BOWCOCK--PITMAN 195 XXV. PREPARING FOR ACTION 201 XXVI. THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON 208 XXVII. LENNARD'S ULTIMATUM 215 XXVIII. CONCERNING ASTRONOMY AND OYSTERS 223 XXIX. THE LION WAKES 231 XXX. MR PARMENTER SAYS 239 XXXI. JOHN CASTELLAN'S THREAT 247 XXXII. A VIGIL IN THE NIGHT 254 XXXIII. MR PARMENTER RETURNS 261 XXXIV. THE "AURIOLE" 268 XXXV. THE "AURIOLE" HOISTS THE WHITE ENSIGN 273 XXXVI. A PARLEY AT ALDERSHOT 281 XXXVII. THE VERDICT OF SCIENCE 288 XXXVIII. WAITING FOR DOOM 295 XXXIX. THE LAST FIGHT 298 EPILOGUE--"AND ON EARTH, PEACE!" 305 THE WORLD PERIL OF 1910 PROLOGUE A RACE FOR A WOMAN