r Reginald. "I will take the Maxim, and Lethbridge
will no doubt attend to the torpedo part of the business. But I hope,"
he added, "it will not be necessary to use one of those terrible shells,
for, if it is, the loss of life will be frightful."

"Not necessarily," said the professor. "Mildmay and I have talked the
matter over together, and our gallant friend is confident of his ability
to manoeuvre the _Flying Fish_ so that the firing of a shell shall
result in nothing more serious than the destruction of the
convict-ship's rudder and propeller, thus completely disabling her
without imperilling her safety."

"Very well," rather reluctantly assented the baronet; "if that can be
done, well and good, but for pity's sake, Mildmay, be very careful what
you do."

"I will," responded Mildmay. "I am not altogether without hope that we
may be able to accomplish our purpose without the necessity to resort to
so stringent a measure as the firing of a shell; and in any case I
promise you that I will only do so after all other means have failed.
But here we are, clear of the land at last; and we must alter our course
a point and a half to the westward to intercept the chase."

It was exactly thirty-six minutes later, by the clock in the
pilot-house, that Mildmay, peering out through one of the port-holes,
pointed straight ahead, and exclaimed--

"There she is! There cannot be any mistake about it, for yonder steamer
is exactly where the _Ludwig Gadd_ ought to be; and there is no other
craft anywhere in sight."

The other three men forthwith stepped to the nearest port that would
afford a view of the chase, and gazed eagerly ahead. And there,
immediately over the long, tapering, conical-pointed bow of the _Flying
Fish_ they beheld, some ten miles distant, a small, faintly denned grey
blotch on the mirror-like surface of the sea, with a trail of black
smoke issuing from it, as though the furnaces on board her had just been
freshly stoked.

"We will descend and take to the water at once," remarked Mildmay. "The
conditions could not possibly be more favourable for the success of our
plans; and I take it that we shall all be glad to get this business over
as soon as possible, and our suspense brought to an end."

Therewith he laid his hand upon a small wheel, and gave it two or three
turns, thus partially opening the main air-valve and admitting a thin
stream of air into the vacuum chambers of the _Flying Fish_, with th