ear them shoreward soon.

"Isn't the world lovely, Nellie?" asked Madge almost wistfully, as the
two cousins watched the sun change from a golden ball to an
all-enveloping light. "I feel that we will soon be home again and our
experiences will fade from us like a dream. I wonder if Mrs. Curtis and
Tom are still at Old Point Comfort? How they must have searched for us!
As for Uncle and Aunt, I can't bear to think of them."

Lieutenant Jimmy, Phil, Miss Jenny Ann, Lillian and Jeff were eagerly
scanning the water. If a ship should appear, it could be seen many
miles off on such a gloriously bright morning.

Lieutenant Jimmy had the precious rifle in his hand. In his pocket were
their last few rounds of ammunition. Lieutenant Lawton's face was as
radiant as though he were aboard one of Uncle Sam's own battleships. He
was free! The blue waters rolled beneath his feet. What did it matter
to a sailor the kind of a ship he sailed?

Phyllis Alden stood next to him. Her black eyes were bright with
courage and enthusiasm.

Together they saw first a great, gray cloud of smoke. It was too dark
and too low to be a part of the sky on such a morning. Then, moving
slowly toward them, still many miles away, appeared the dim outline of
a magnificent gray bulk of a ship.

Jimmy Lawton's face, which was white and thin from its long imprisonment,
flushed deeply. His voice shook when he turned to Phil.

"Miss Alden," he whispered quietly, "I am afraid to say so, but I
believe I see a man-of-war coming this way. It must be going in to
Hampton Roads. If it only comes near enough to hear us, I mean to fire
a signal of distress with this rifle."

The next quarter of an hour was a strenuous one for every passenger on
board the "Merry Maid."

[Illustration: The Battleship Drew Nearer.]

Slowly the majestic, gray craft drew nearer to the little houseboat.

The party crowded forward. No one spoke.

Nailed to their flagstaff, two torn and ragged sheets that had so long
appealed in vain for rescue flapped and rustled in the wind.

The women and Jeff saw Lieutenant Lawton raise the rifle to position.
Still he waited five, ten minutes. All this time the beautiful
battleship steamed nearer. Now her prow was just across the line of the
stern of the houseboat. The houseboat party could see the Stars and
Stripes floating gloriously in the breeze.

While it was easy for the passengers of the "Merry Maid" to behold an
immense battleship it was