placed at night and during fogs at
the bow of the vessel, and a delicate arm of steel, which ordinarily
pointed upward at a considerable angle, fell into a horizontal position
when any large body of iron approached within a quarter of a mile, and,
so falling, rang a small bell. Its point then turned toward the mass
of iron.

Soon after the fog came on, one of these indicators, properly protected
from the attraction of the metal about it, was put into position on
Crab C. Before very long it indicated the proximity of the Adamant;
and, guided by its steel point, the Crab moved quietly to the ironclad,
attached itself to its stern-post, and allowed the happy crew of Crab K
to depart coastward.

When the fog rose the glasses of the Adamant showed the approach of no
crab, but it was observed, in looking over the stern, that the beggarly
devil-fish which had the ship in tow appeared to have made some change
in its back.

In the afternoon of that day a truce boat was sent from the repeller to
the Adamant. It was allowed to come alongside; but when the British
captain found that the Syndicate merely renewed its demand for his
surrender, he waxed fiercely angry, and sent the boat back with the
word that no further message need be sent to him unless it should be
one complying with the conditions he had offered.

The Syndicate now gave up the task of inducing the captain of the
Adamant to surrender. Crab C was commanded to continue towing the
great ship southward, and to keep her well away from the coast, in
order to avoid danger to seaport towns and coasting vessels, while the
repeller steamed away.

Week after week the Adamant moved southward, roaring away with her
great guns whenever an American sail came within possible range, and
surrounding herself with a circle of bursting bombs to let any crab
know what it might expect if it attempted to come near. Blazing and
thundering, stern foremost, but stoutly, she rode the waves, ready to
show the world that she was an impregnable British battle-ship, from
which no enemy could snatch the royal colours which floated high above
her.

It was during the first week of the involuntary cruise of the Adamant
that the Syndicate finished its preparations for what it hoped would be
the decisive movement of its campaign. To do this a repeller and six
crabs, all with extraordinary powers, had been fitted out with great
care, and also with great rapidity, for the British Government