The Doom From Planet 4

by Jack Williamson

Overview

Dan McNally's tranquil night aboard his schooner in the tropic is suddenly torn asunder when he receives an SOS from a nearby island. Soon after a ray of green light darts out from the island and destroys his ship. After swimming ashore and fighting a mechanical monster he befriends a beautiful girl. After she unfolds her dramatic story, he realize that he has to destroy the mysterious base on the island or the whole planet Earth will be destroyed by the inhabitants of Mars, which is the Doom from Planet 4!

Product Details

BN ID:	2940000160060
Publisher:	Wonder Audiobooks, LLC
Publication date:	07/01/1931
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	96 KB

Read an Excerpt

"SOS SOS SOS." Three short, three long, three short, the flashes winked from the dark headland. Dan McNally master and owner of the small and ancient trading schooner, Virginia, caught the feeble flickering light from the island as he strode across the foredeck. He stopped, stared at the looming black line of land beneath the tropical stars. Again light flashed from a point of rock far above the dim white line of phosphorescent surf, spelling out the signal of distress.

"Somebody bane callin' with a flashlight, I yank," the big Swede, Larsen, rumbled from the wheel.

Dan thought suddenly of a reply. He rushed into the charthouse, to return in a moment with a lighted lantern and a copy of the Nautical Almanac which would serve to hide the flame between flashes. He flashed an answer.

Again the pale light flickered from the dark mass of land, spelling words out rather slowly, as if the sender were uncertain in his knowledge of Morse. Surprised as Dan had been by the signal from an island marked on the charts as uninhabited, he was astonished at the message that now came to him.

"You are in terrible danger," he read in the flashes. "Dreadful thing here. Hurry away. Radio for warships. I am--"

The winking light suddenly went out. Dan strained his eyes to watch the point where it had been, and a few seconds later he saw a curious thing. A darting, stabbing lance of green fire flashed out across the barren, rocky cliff, lighting it fleetingly with pale green radiance. It leapt out and was gone in an instant, leaving the shoulder of the island as dark as before.

Dan watched for long minutes, but saw nothing more brilliant than the pale gleam of phosphorescencewhere the waves dashed against the sheer granite wall of the island.

"What you t'ank?" Larsen broke in upon him.