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However, in the pellmell of new events, he was completely forgotten. At the end of the week a dispatch came that the fiery vortex had again appeared on the French coast and it was coursing along the southwestern boundary toward the Mediterranean Sea. Three electromagnets from the Creusot Works were sent out by railroad to intercept it, but they arrived too late. Destroying Toulouse and converting the Haute-Garonne into a veritable desert, the fiery vortex again wended its course over the maritime expanse. Now, within about forty-eight hours, it was expected somewhere on the western coast of Italy. Five new engines, fully equipped, were mounted on platforms in Genoa and shipped to Rome, whence it was easy to move them to any point on the coast. Locomotives stood in readiness, day and night, awaiting orders to fling their loads into action.

Deriugin, the chief engineer, and a number of mechanics were all ready at any moment to meet the treacherous foe.

However, after reading through the details about the movements of the atomic flame, the young engineer suddenly began to doubt the expediency of his own project. The cursed sphere continued to grow ever larger and larger, making the approach to it difficult and dangerous. An entirely new question now arose. Would it be possible to get near enough the sphere — within the proximity of about 70 or 100 feet, for instance, without being exposed to the danger of being scorched in its sultry atmosphere? Would the electromagnets be effective at such a distance? And, if so, suppose they succeeded in encircling and arresting it? What then? Wasn’t it too' late?…

Deriugin, however, did not share his views with his comrades, but continued to work as obstinately as before. But this was not all; there was still another discouraging feature of this affair. Alarming dispatches were arriving from Naples; Vesuvius was speaking in a manner never heard before. Tremendous pillars of vapor, 12 to 18 miles high, were rising from the crater. The Earth was sighing and rumbling as on the day of the Last Judgment. Naples was already destroyed and the inhabitants were fleeing from under the ruins in wild terror.

All this was sufficiently awe-inspiring in itself, without adding to the already difficult struggle with the atomic vortex. All the railroads were crammed with train-loads of refugees from the South. The panic, doubled by the new catastrophe, completely disorganized the authorities. Besides, even here, about two hundred kilometers away from the volcano, light tremors of the Earth were beginning to be felt. And most of all, a noticeable wind was beginning to draw. The chief engineer was grumbling and scowling, it seemed, as if he too were beginning to wonder whether the struggle was worth the pains.

On Tuesday evening, June 1, the radio announced that the vortex had passed between Corsica and Sardinia, taking an eastward course; at the same time another engine had arrived in Rome from Genoa and five from Le Creusot, France, to assist in the work. This was considered sufficient power to cope with the situation. The whole division of engines moved further south, every necessary step was taken to facilitate the unloading, when the hour of battle arrived, or to trail the fiery enemy, if a chance presented itself. A chain of observation posts were stationed all along the coast; on belfries, churches and field watch- towers. Everyone’s nerves were strained to the extreme by feverish expectations. Meanwhile, from the south-east, the din of the volcano was clearly audible and a fiery pillar, like a giant torch, stood high in the darkening sky. Deriugin was filled with apprehension, as he anticipated the new, impending storm and shook his head sadly when he realized suddenly that the wind had begun to play stronger and sharper.

At two in the morning, the flaming cloud appeared alongside the shore. The engines were immediately started eastward toward the sea. At three o’clock, in two lines of a semi-circle one kilometer in diameter, they rolled down to the sea at the very moment when the flaming sphere, in curling vapor, whistling, hissing, with rolling thunder, reached the contingent almost in the center of the arc formed by the iron giants.