The Florida agriculturist., 1889-03-27

peller. 1t was dangerous thing for two
vessels of their size to come close enough
together for both to ram an enemy at the
samo time; but it was determined to
take the risks and do this, if possible;
for the destruction of the repeller was
obviously the first duty in hand.
AS the two men-of-war rapidly ap-
preached Repeller No. /, they kept up a
steady fire upon her, for if in this way
they could damage her, the easier would
be their task. With firm reliance upon
the efficacy of the steel spring armor, the
director-in-chief felt no fear of the
enemy's shot and shell, but he was not at
all willing that his vessel should be
rammcd. for the consequences would
probably be disastrous. Accordingly h3
did not wait for the approach of the. two
vessels, but steering seaward, he signaled
for the other crab.
When Crab B made its appearance,
putting it's little black jets of smoke as
it answered the signals of the director-in-
chief. the commanders of the two Brit
ish vessels were surprised. They had
imagined that there was only one of
these strange and terrible enemies, and
had supposed that she would be afraid to
make her peculiar attack upon one of
them, because while doing so she would
expose herself to the danger of being run
down by the other. But the presence CT
two of these almost submerged engines of
destruction entirely changed the sltua-
ton.
DIT h. II Nf fla DV.sA c1,
ships were brave men. They had started
to run down the strangely armored Amer
ican craft. and run her down they would,
if they could They put on more steam
and went ahead at greater speed. In
such q furious onslaught the crabs might
not dare to attack them.
But they did not understand the ma
tre nor the powers of these enemies.
In less than twenty minutes Crab y had
laid hold Of one of the men-of-war, and
Crab Is of the other. The rudders of
both were shattered and torn away: and
while the blades of one propeller were
crushed to pieces, the other, with nearly
half its shaft, was drawn out and dropped
into the ocean. Helplessly the two men
of-war rose and fell upon the waves.
In obedience to orders from the re-
peller, each crab took hold of one of the
disabled vessels and towed it near the
mouth of the harbor, where it was left.
The city was now in state of feverish
excitement, which was intensified by the
fact that a majority of the people did not
understand what had happened, while
those to whom this had been made plain
could not comprehend why such thing
should have been allowed to happen.
Three of her majesty's ships of war,
equipped and ready for action, had sailed
out of the harbor, and an apparently in
significant enemy, without firing a gun,
had put them into such condition that
they were utterly unfit for service and
must be towed into dry dock. How
could the government, the municipality,
the army, or the navy, explain this?
The anxiety, the excitement, the ner-
vous desire to know what had happened,
and what might be expected next, spread
that evening to every part of the Domin-
ion reached by telegraph.
The military authorities in charge of
the defenses Of the city were as much
disturbed and amazed by what had hap
pened as any civilian could possibly be,
but they had no fears for the safety of
the place, for the enemy's vessels could
not possibly enter, nor even approach,
the harbor. The Notifications on the
heights mounted guns much heavier than