than
anything else. It was the greatest collection ever seen outside of a
government museum; for they were mementoes of all the wars our country
has passed through since the settlement of Jamestown, Va.

There were also mountain howitzers mounted on mules, forage wagons,
propeller torpedoes, and every kind of camp appliance, garrison equipage,
pack saddles, etc. Famous relics, too, such as a beautifully carved bronze
cannon captured from the British at Yorktown in 1781, and a great gun
called "Long Tom," with which the privateer _General Armstrong_ repelled a
British squadron off the shores of the Azores in 1814, and many other
souvenirs of American history.

"'Long Tom,'" repeated little Elsie, gazing curiously at the great gun,
about which some remark had been made a moment before, "I s'pose there's a
story to it. I wish somebody would tell it to Neddie and me."

"You shall hear it one of these times," said her father, "but not here and
now;" and with that she was content, for papa's promises were sure to be
kept.

"Don't refrain on my account from telling it here and now, captain," said
Cousin Ronald with a humorous look and smile. "I'm not so patriotic as to
endorse wrong-doing even on the part of Britons."

"We are all sure of that, sir," returned the captain, "but this time and
place are not the most favorable for the telling of a story of that
length."

"And grandma will sit down somewhere with the children presently for a
rest, in some quiet place, and tell them the story of the gun should they
wish to hear it," said Mrs. Travilla; and with that promise the children
seemed well content.

CHAPTER IX.

By the middle of the afternoon Grandma Elsie, Grace, and the little ones
were all weary enough to be glad to return to the _Dolphin_ for a rest.

After a refreshing nap Grace and the children gathered about Mrs. Travilla
and begged for the fulfilment of her promise to tell the story of "Long
Tom," and she kindly complied.

"The _General Armstrong_ was a privateer, and the fight I am now going to
tell about was one of the most famous of the war of 1812-14," she said.
"The vessel was commanded by Captain Samuel C. Reid, a native of
Connecticut. He went to sea when only eleven years old and was a
midshipman with Commodore Truxton. He was still a young man--only
thirty--when the event of which we are talking occurred. That was on the
26th of September, 1814, in the harbor of Fayal, one of the Azores