It was like a gigantic trench or canal gouged out by a superhuman instrument, being over a quarter of a mile in width and almost as great in depth. It began in an open field three miles east of Mannlertown and ended in a thinly-settled suburban section a mile westward.
Houses, people, trees, fences, roads—everything that had lain in the track of the unknown destroyer had vanished as though it had been whirled into space, and there lay open to the sun nothing but this vast wound in the earth's surface! Hundreds of people, it was estimated, had gone to death in the moment of the unparalleled cataclysm.
Doubt
It is not surprising that panic sent the people of Mannlertown fleeing in all directions before the coming of the day. The newspaper stated that federal and state authorities had taken every precaution to calm them, and already many who had fled were returning to the stricken town, it being apparent that no further disturbance was taking place.
But what had caused this one? Was it an earthquake or a volcanic action of some unheard-of nature? No answer could be definitely made, but the geologists and other scientists consulted regarding the thing were in general agreement. It could only have been caused, they stated, by some giant meteor that had grazed the earth's surface and gouged this great scar across it in passing. More could be learned from examination of the cut but it was certain that a meteor was the cause.
When I had finished reading I looked up at Dr. Howard, sobered by the horror of what I had just read.
"A terrible thing, surely," I said, and he nodded somberly.
"Just how terrible, is not yet realized," he commented.
"Why, you don't doubt that it was a meteor's work, do you?" I asked. "That great gouge—"