Sometimes it seemed to him it had the quiver one associates with dancing flames, at others he fancied it was no more than the normal reflection of the evening lights.

It waxed and waned through the long hours, and only vanished at last when it was submerged altogether under the rising tide of dawn.

Did it mean--?
What could it mean?
Almost certainly it was some sort of fire, near or remote, but he could not even tell whether it was smoke or cloud drift that streamed across the sky.

But about one o'clock there began a flickering of searchlights athwart that ruddy tumult, a flickering that continued for the rest of the night.

That too might mean many things?
What could it mean?
What did it mean?
Just this stained unrestful sky he had and the suggestion of a huge explosion to occupy his mind.