ght and by day over thousands of miles of ocean.

Whether or not these strokes would have been quick enough or hard
enough to turn back an armada might be a question; but there could be
no question of the suicidal policy of sending seven ships and two
cannon to conquer England. It seemed as if the success of the
Syndicate had so puffed up its members with pride and confidence in
their powers that they had come to believe that they had only to show
themselves to conquer, whatever might be the conditions of the contest.

The destruction of the Syndicate's fleet would now be a heavy blow to
the United States. It would produce an utter want of confidence in the
councils and judgments of the Syndicate, which could not be
counteracted by the strongest faith in the efficiency of their engines
of war; and it was feared it might become necessary, even at this
critical juncture, to annul the contract with the Syndicate, and to
depend upon the American navy for the defence of the American coast.

Even among the men on board the Syndicate's fleet there were signs of
doubt and apprehensions of evil. It had all been very well so far, but
fighting one ship at a time was a very different thing from steaming
into the midst of a hundred ships. On board the repeller there was now
an additional reason for fears and misgivings. The unlucky character
of the vessel when it had been the Tallapoosa was known, and not a few
of the men imagined that it must now be time for some new disaster to
this ill-starred craft, and if her evil genius had desired fresh
disaster for her, it was certainly sending her into a good place to
look for it.

But the Syndicate neither doubted nor hesitated nor paid any attention
to the doubts and condemnations which they heard from every quarter.
Four days after the news of the destruction of the Craglevin had been
telegraphed from Canada to London, the Syndicate's fleet entered the
English Channel. Owing to the power and speed of the crabs, Repeller
No. 11 had made a passage of the Atlantic which in her old naval career
would have been considered miraculous.

Craft of various kinds were now passed, but none of them carried the
British flag. In the expectation of the arrival of the enemy, British
merchantmen and fishing vessels had been advised to keep in the
background until the British navy had concluded its business with the
vessels of the American Syndicate.

As has been said before, the British Admir