her sailing in the natural way, the Stockbridge was put about and
steamed, bow foremost, to her anchorage behind the Breakwater, the
commander thanking his stars that for once the Lenox had got ahead of
him.

The members of the Syndicate were very anxious to remove the
unfavorable impression regarding what was called in many quarters their
attack upon a United States vessel, and a circular to the public was
issued, in which they expressed their deep regret at being obliged to
interfere with so many brave officers and men in a moment of patriotic
enthusiasm, and explaining how absolutely necessary it was that the
Lenox should be removed from a position where a conflict with English
line-of-battle ships would be probable. There were many thinking
persons who saw the weight of the Syndicate's statements, but the
effect of the circular upon the popular mind was not great.

The Syndicate was now hard at work making preparations for the grand
stroke which had been determined upon. In the whole country there was
scarcely a man whose ability could be made available in their work, who
was not engaged in their service; and everywhere, in foundries,
workshops, and shipyards, the construction of their engines of war was
being carried on by day and by night. No contracts were made for the
delivery of work at certain times; everything was done under the direct
supervision of the Syndicate and its subordinates, and the work went on
with a definiteness and rapidity hitherto unknown in naval construction.

In the midst of the Syndicate's labours there arrived off the coast of
Canada the first result of Great Britain's preparations for her war
with the American Syndicate, in the shape of the Adamant, the largest
and finest ironclad which had ever crossed the Atlantic, and which had
been sent to raise the blockade of the Canadian port by the Syndicate's
vessels.

This great ship had been especially fitted out to engage in combat with
repellers and crabs. As far as was possible the peculiar construction
of the Syndicate's vessels had been carefully studied, and English
specialists in the line of naval construction and ordnance had given
most earnest consideration to methods of attack and defence most likely
to succeed with these novel ships of war. The Adamant was the only
vessel which it had been possible to send out in so short a time, and
her cruise was somewhat of an experiment. If she should be successful
in raising the blo