ut we can drive her
thirty-eight. I think she can go forty on the hardest push."

Only the owner of Nancy Hanks, the fastest racing horse the world has
yet produced, can imagine the sensations of the Colonel at this answer.

"What is the speed of the fastest government boat?" he asked with
deliberation.

"Twenty-six knots, sir," was the quick reply; "they've only two torpedo
boats that go that; and they are always up for repairs. As for war-ships
or cruisers, none average over twenty. A common ocean steamer can beat
them out." This last was uttered with the contemptuousness one always
feels toward a mighty government that allows itself to be outdone by
corporations or individuals.

"Suppose you change her top hampers, and make her so that no one can
recognize her; say, tack on a false stem and stern to the water line,
will she still go as fast?" continued the Colonel cautiously.

"Certainly, provided you don't interfere with her hull," answered the
captain in surprise.

"I will take the wheel," the Colonel said. The electric vessel from
whose wheel there was an unobstructed view ahead, without smokestack,
with masts that could for speed's sake be lowered, was steered like any
sail-boat, from her heaving stern. The owner's hand marked half speed,
quarter speed upon the indicator. To the disgust of the crew he gave
orders not to have the speed increased except to keep out of sight of
coasters. At dead of night the beauty was anchored in his own cove,
opposite his clapboard shooting lodge on the marsh. No one noticed his
approach. The marsh and the bay hid their secret.

The next day at dawn a transformation began to take place. The white
paint, the original and dainty body color of the electric yacht, was
changed to a dull gray, and the new coat looked as if it had been put on
in amateur patches, so dingy was its appearance. The boats on the davits
were touched up with a combination of green and black. They looked at
first glance as if a collier might have lost them at sea. The electric
launch was smeared with the refuse of the paintshop put into one pot.
The mixture attained was indescribable. But by far the greatest change
consisted of a false stem and stern. These were modelled and put on, so
that after a few screws were drawn, the mask would slip off, leaving the
original sheer of the boat in all its beauty. A large smokestack of
hollow timber, painted black with a red stripe, was improvised and set
up. This o