sorry we haven't got a score of craft like
this."

"And we should have had, your lordship," replied Erskine, "if the
Council had only taken the opinion that you gave after you saw the
plans."

"I'd have a hundred like her," laughed the Admiral, "only you see
there's the Treasury, and behind that the most noble House of Commons,
elected mostly by the least educated and most short-sighted people in
the nation, who scarcely know a torpedo from a common shell, and we
should never have got them. We had hard enough work to get this one as
an experiment."

"I quite agree with you, sir," said Erskine, "and I think Lennard will
too. There has never been an instance in history in which democracy did
not spell degeneration. It's a pity, but I suppose it's inevitable. As
far as my reading has taken me, it seems to be the dry-rot of nations.
Halloa, what's that? Torpedo gunboat, I think! Ah, there's the moon.
Now, sir, if you'll just come and stand to the right here, for'ard of
the wheel, I'll put the _Ithuriel_ through her paces, and show you what
she can do."

A long grey shape, with two masts and three funnels between them, loomed
up out of the darkness into a bright patch of moonlight. Erskine took
the receiver from the hooks and said:

"Stand by there, Castellan. Forward guns fire when I give the word--then
I shall ram."

The Admiral saw the three strangely shaped guns rise from the deck,
their muzzles converging on the gunboat. He expected a report, but none
came; only a gentle hiss, scarcely audible in the conning-tower. Then
three brilliant flashes of flame burst out just under the Frenchman's
topworks. Erskine, with one hand on the steering-wheel, and the other
holding the receiver, said:

"Well aimed--now full speed. I'm going over him."

"Over him!" echoed the Admiral. "Don't you ram under the waterline?"

"If it's the case of a big ship, sir," replied Erskine, "we sink and hit
him where it hurts most, but it isn't worth while with these small
craft. You will see what I mean in a minute."

As he spoke a shudder ran through the _Ithuriel_. The deck began to
quiver under the Admiral's feet; the ram rose six feet out of the water.
The shape of the gunboat seemed to rush towards them; the ram hit it
squarely amidships; then came a shock, a grinding scrape, screams of
fear from the terrified sailors, a final crunch, and the gunboat was
sinking fifty yards astern.

"That's awful," said the Admiral, with a percept