and it knocked off the bow and the
forward rail and nearly sank us."

"I met one once, off the coast of Cuba," said the captain. "That went
ashore and tore up the trees like so many weeds for a hundred feet
around. A waterspout is nothing to be fooled with, I can tell you."

On the day following the appearance of the waterspout the weather
changed. There was a slight storm and then a stiff breeze sprang up
which was cheering to all on board. Every stitch of canvas on the
_Columbia_ was spread and the schooner bowled along right merrily.

"I'd like to know how this war is going on, and how Ben and Gilbert are
faring," said Larry to Captain Ponsberry. "A whole lot may have happened
since we left Manila."

"Well, you'll probably get word from your brother when you reach
Nagasaki, lad; and we'll get word from Captain Pennington, too."

"I hope neither of them has been wounded."

"So do I; but when one goes to the front he has got to put up with the
fortunes of war. Being a soldier of fortune, as it is called, is no baby
business."

"Do you suppose the Japs are continuing to bombard Port Arthur?"

"More than likely--if the place hasn't fallen into their hands. They
want to make sure of their footing in lower Manchuria, and they can
never do that so long as the Russians hold a single seaport down there."

"I suppose Russia has a pretty good-sized navy as well as an army?"

"Yes, Larry, one of the largest navies in the world. But their fighting
ships are no better than the ships of Japan. You see, the Japanese navy
is not near as old as the navy of Russia. Almost all of the ships are of
the up-to-date types. Most of them have been built since the war between
Japan and China in 1894 and 1895."

"That would make them only about ten years old."

"Exactly, and I've been told that some of the ships in the Russian navy
are twenty and thirty years old. More than this, all of the Japanese
guns are of the latest pattern--just as they are on our new warships."

"I'd like to go aboard of a Japanese warship," cried the young second
mate, enthusiastically.

"Want to see if it's as good as it was aboard of the _Olympia_, eh?"

"Yes, sir. Of course the _Olympia_ was old, especially alongside of the
_Brooklyn_, on which my brother Walter served in Cuban waters, but even
so she was a bang-up fighting machine. If she hadn't been she wouldn't
have done her share in sinking that Spanish fleet in Manila Bay."

"Well, you may hav