ed expeditiously. She then continued on her voyage. On
arrival at the discharging port, a letter was received from the owners
complimenting the captain on the success of an undertaking which would
contribute so considerably to the profits of the voyage, and at the
same time calling his attention to a newspaper cutting. An official
telegram to the English Press stated that "_A British steamer, name
unknown, in attempting to run out of ---- harbour over the torpedo
lines, was warned and fired upon by a Russian warship which was
guarding the harbour. The steamer refused to stop. She was shelled,
and in crossing the mine zone the vessel, with her crew, was blown to
atoms!_" This was a sensational piece of news to read of one's self.

Two years elapsed before the captain again steamed into ---- harbour.
He expected to meet his old friend the Admiral, and a few other
Russian gentlemen in whom his interest was centred; but they had
either gone to their rest or had been removed. It seemed as though the
incident that caused so much commotion at the time had passed out of
recollection. Indeed, there seemed quite a new order of things. New
officials were there. The gunboats were removed from their familiar
stations. The torpedoes that had been the dread of navigators had been
lifted, and it was commonly reported that many of them were loaded
with sand. No signs were visible of there having been war defences
that were meant to be regarded as impregnable--and it is not to be
denied the earthworks justified that opinion. There were whisperings
that when those in high places discovered what some of the mines were
charged with, the persons responsible for the laying of the mines
were seized; and tradition has it that an impromptu scaffold had been
erected outside the town, and every one of the suspects hanged without
trial--and merely on the suspicion that they knew of, even if they had
not contributed to, the treacherous act. In the light of the horrors
that are occurring in Russia at the present time, it is not improbable
that there was treachery; and that when it was discovered, suspicion
centred on certain persons, who were, in accordance with Muscovite
autocracy, dispatched without ceremony, guilty or not guilty.

"Ah!" said Mr. C---- to the captain, who had just finished describing
his last departure from ---- Harbour, "you may thank your stars that
the torpedoes were loaded with sand or some other rubbish, or you
wouldn't have