The Florida agriculturist., 1889-05-08

shown the button he must press, and
stood waiting for the signal. He looked
over the sea at the Craglevin, which had
settled little at the stern, and was roll
ing heavily, but she was still o magnifi-
cent battle ship, with the red cross of
England floating over her. He could
not help the thought that if this motor
m ystery should amount to nothing, there
was no reason why the Craglevin should
not be towed into port. and be made
again the grand war ship that she had
been.
Now the director gave the signal, and
the captain, with his eyes fixed upon his
ship, touched the button. A quick shock
ran through the repeller, and black
gray cloud, half a mile high, occupied
the place of the British ship.
The cloud rapidly settled down, cover
ing the water with a glittering scum
which spread far and wide, and which
had been the Craglevin.
The British captain stood for moment
motionless, and then he picked up
rammer and ran it into the muzzle of
the cannon which had been discharged.
taneous motor bomb was not there.
Now he was convinced that the syndi-
cate had not mined the fortresses which
they had destroyed
In twenty minutes the two British
officers were on board the transport,
which then steamed rapidly westward.
The crabs again took the repeller in tow,
and the syndicate's fleet continued it's
eastward course, passing through the
wide eXpanse of glittering scum which
had spread itself upon the sea.
They were not two-thirds of their way
across the Atlantic when the transport
reached st. Johns, and the cable told the
world that the Craglevin had been ami
hilated.
This news was received with amaze
nrant, and even CONSERVATION. 1t came
from an officer in the Royal navy, and
how could it be doubted that a great
man-of-war had been destroyed in a mo-
ment by one shot from the syndicate's
vessel! And yet, even now, there were
persons who did doubt, and who asserted
that the crabs might have placed great
torpedo under the Craglevin; that a wire
attached TO this torpedo ra2 out from the
repeIler, and that the British captain had
merely fired the torpedo. But hour by
hour, as fuller news came across the
ocean. the number of these doubters be-
came smaller and smaller.
In the midst of the great public excite
ment which now existed on both sides Of
the Atlantic-in the midst of all the con-
ficting opinions, fears and hopes-the
dominant sentiment seemed to be, in
America as well as in Europe, one of
curiosity. Were these six crabs and one
repeller bound for the British Isles? And
if SO, what did they intend to do when
they got there?
1t was now generally admitted that
one of the syndicate's crabs could disable
man-Ofwar; that one of the syndi-
Gates repellers could withstand the
heaviest artillery fire. and that one of tho
syndicate's motor bombs could destroy a
vessel or fort. But these things had
been proved in isolated combats, where
the new methods of attack and defense
had had almost undisturbed opportunity
for exhibiting their efficiency. But what
could repeller and half dozen crabs
do against the combined force of the
Royal navy, navy which had in the
last few years regained it's supremacy
among the nations, and which had made
Great Britain once more the first mari
! -, IL