ental, and its forces, in numerical strength at least,
were weak. What would happen when the great naval power of Great
Britain should be brought to bear upon the Syndicate, was a question
whose probable answer was likely to cause apprehension and concern in
the United States, and elation in many other countries.

The commencement of active hostilities had been precipitated by this
Syndicate. In England preparations were making by day an by night to
send upon the coast-lines of the United States a fleet which, in
numbers and power, would be greater than that of any naval expedition
in the history of the world. It is no wonder that many people of sober
judgment in America looked upon the affair of the crabs and the
repellers as but an incident in the beginning of a great and disastrous
war.

On the morning of the destruction of Fort Pilcher, the Syndicate's
vessels moved toward the port, and the steel net was taken up by the
two crabs, and moved nearer the mouth of the harbour, at a point from
which the fort, now in process of evacuation, was in full view. When
this had been done, Repeller No. 2 took up her position at a moderate
distance behind the net, and the other vessels stationed themselves
near by.

The protection of the net was considered necessary, for although there
could be no reasonable doubt that all the torpedoes in the harbour and
river had been exploded, others might be sent out against the
Syndicate's vessels; and a torpedo under a crab or a repeller was the
enemy most feared by the Syndicate.

About three o'clock the signals between the repellers became very
frequent, and soon afterwards a truce-boat went out from Repeller No.
1. This was rowed with great rapidity, but it was obliged to go much
farther up the harbour than on previous occasions, in order to deliver
its message to an officer of the garrison.

This was to the effect that the evacuation of the fort had been
observed from the Syndicate's vessels, and although it had been
apparently complete, one of the scientific corps, with a powerful
glass, had discovered a man in one of the outer redoubts, whose
presence there was probably unknown to the officers of the garrison.
It was, therefore, earnestly urged that this man be instantly removed;
and in order that this might be done, the discharge of the motor-bomb
would be postponed half an hour.

The officer received this message, and was disposed to look upon it as
a new trick; but as n