usive property of the
Syndicate. It was known, or surmised, in certain quarters that the
Syndicate had secured possession of important warlike inventions; but
what they were and how they acted was a secret carefully guarded and
protected.

The first step of the Syndicate was to purchase from the United States
Government ten war-vessels. These were of medium size and in good
condition, but they were of an old-fashioned type, and it had not been
considered expedient to put them in commission. This action caused
surprise and disappointment in many quarters. It had been supposed
that the Syndicate, through its agents scattered all over the world,
would immediately acquire, by purchase or lease, a fleet of fine
ironclads culled from various maritime powers. But the Syndicate
having no intention of involving, or attempting to involve, other
countries in this quarrel, paid no attention to public opinion, and
went to work in its own way.

Its vessels, eight of which were on the Atlantic coast and two on the
Pacific, were rapidly prepared for the peculiar service in which they
were to be engaged. The resources of the Syndicate were great, and in
a very short time several of their vessels, already heavily plated with
steel, were furnished with an additional outside armour, formed of
strips of elastic steel, each reaching from the gunwales nearly to the
surface of the water. These strips, about a foot wide, and placed an
inch or two apart, were each backed by several powerful air-buffers, so
that a ball striking one or more of them would be deprived of much of
its momentum. The experiments upon the steel spring and buffers
adopted by the Syndicate showed that the force of the heaviest
cannonading was almost deadened by the powerful elasticity of this
armour.

The armament of each vessel consisted of but one gun, of large calibre,
placed on the forward deck, and protected by a bomb-proof covering.
Each vessel was manned by a captain and crew from the merchant service,
from whom no warlike duties were expected. The fighting operations
were in charge of a small body of men, composed of two or three
scientific specialists, and some practical gunners and their
assistants. A few bomb-proof canopies and a curved steel deck
completed the defences of the vessel.

Besides equipping this little navy, the Syndicate set about the
construction of certain sea-going vessels of an extraordinary kind. So
great were the facilities a