The earth, continuing its revolution, exposed the oceans and continents in succession to the burning rays. When the sun set at San Francisco the heat was still not unbearable. But from Asia and Europe came the most portentous news through the period of what, for them, was day, while on the American continent it was night. In China and India men could only remain out of doors a few minutes at a time. In the afternoon all had to flee from the heat and take refuge in their houses.
Yet worse was the case in Europe. For a time detailed dispatches came from London. The telegraph offices had all been removed to the cellars of the buildings in which they were located, and men were trying to store everything combustible where the sun’s rays could not reach it. Every fire-engine in the city was called out to sprinkle the roofs of the houses. Notwithstanding these precautions, at eleven o’clock a roof in Cheapside took fire, and soon after fires broke out here and there in nearly every quarter. By noon the whole city seemed to be in flames, the firemen fighting heat above them and around them. It would soon become impossible for a human being to live in the streets.
A few minutes later came the news that sudden relief had been experienced. A violent gale came in from the Atlantic, bringing with it a torrent of rain, which, for the time being, extinguished the flames. But a new horror was now added. The wind increased to a hurricane of unexampled force. Houses were everywhere blown down and roofs were flying in mid-air, exposing everything in the interior to the flood of water.
About 3 P.M. it was announced that the sun, having dissolved the clouds with its fervent heat, had again shone forth hotter than ever, and that the telegraph offices would soon have to be abandoned. Not another word was heard from the European side until night. Then it was announced that the heat had again been followed by a torrent of rain, and that, the sun having set, another respite had been obtained. The damage done was incalculable and the loss of life frightful, yet hope would have survived had it not been for what might be expected on the morrow.
The American continent, forewarned, undertook the most vigorous defense possible. Before the sun rose every fire-engine in Hattan was in place ready for action. Everything combustible in the city was covered with woolen cloth and sprinkled with water. The possibility of doing something occcupied all minds, and after the sun rose men fought the heat with the courage of despair. Fiercely though the sun poured down its flood of fire, an engine was ready to extinguish the flames wherever they burst forth. As in Europe, they were soon aided by floods of rain. Thus passed the day, while the sun shed a fiercer heat with every passing hour.
The scene while the sun was setting filled all minds with despair. The size of our luminary was multiplied so many times that it was an hour after the lower edge touched the horizon before the upper edge had set. When it finally disappeared the place of twilight was taken by a lurid illumination of the whole heavens, which still left the evening brighter than an ordinary day. Cosmic flames millions of miles in extent, rising from the sun, still appeared above the horizon from time to time. Even at midnight a sort of aurora, tenfold brighter than any that had ever been recorded, seemed to spread over the sky in rising sheets of fiery vapor, which disappeared at the zenith. The trained eye of the Professor of Physics watched the scene from the iron door of his vault. He knew the cause. The exploded sun was sending forth its ions with a velocity almost comparable with that of light to every part of the solar system. In the midst of the illumination the planet Mars could still be seen glowing with supernatural brightness, but no word came from the Himalayan Observatory as to any signals it might be sending to us. Communication from other continents had entirely ceased, and the inhabitants of the whole American continent awaited the coming of what they knew must be the last day.