adders, life-buoys, and
ropes' ends!"

The battle was ended; for, with the ramming of the _Warsaw_, the
_Obdorsk_ struck to the three ships circling around her. They had
suffered, but the battle-ship _Argyll_ was reduced to a monitor. Her
superstructure and the bow and stern above the water-line were
shattered to a shapeless tangle of steel. What was left of her funnels
and ventilators resembled nutmeg-graters, and she was perceptibly down
by the head; for her bow leaked through its wrinkled plates, and the
forward compartment below the protective deck was filled. Yet she could
still fight in smooth water. Her box-like citadel was intact, and
standing naked out of the wreck, scarred and dented, but uninjured,
were the turrets, ammunition-hoists, and conning-tower. In the latter
was the brain of the ship, that had fought her to victory and then sent
the call to her crew to save the lives of their enemies.

Two men met on a level spot amidships and clasped hands. Both were
bare-waisted and grimy, and one showed red as a lobster under the
stains. He was the chief engineer.

"We've won, Clarkson," he said. "We've won the hottest fight that
history can tell of--won it ourselves; but he'll get the credit."

"And he's drunk as a lord--drunk through it all. What did he ram for?
Why did he send two millions of prize-money to the bottom? O Lord! O
Lord! it's enough to make a man swear at his mother. We had her licked.
Why did he ram?"

"Because he was drunk, that's why. He rang seven bells to me along at
the first of the muss, and then sent word through young Felton that he
wanted full speed. Dammit, he already had it, every pound of it. And he
gave me no signal to reverse when we struck; if it wasn't for luck and
a kind Providence we'd have followed the _Warsaw_. I barely got her
over. Here, Mr. Felton; you were in the central, were you not? How'd
the old man appear to be making it? Were his orders intelligible?"

A young man had joined them, hot, breathing hard, and unclothed.

"Not always, sir; I had to ask him often to repeat, and then I
sometimes got another order. He kept me busy from the first, when he
sent the torpedoes overboard."

"The torpedoes!" exclaimed Mr. Clarkson. "Did we use them? I didn't
know it."

"He was afraid they'd explode on board, sir," he said. "That was just
after we took full speed."

"And just before he got too full to be afraid of anything," muttered
the lieutenant. "Why don't he come