ths
past. Everything about her was marvellous; her peculiar shape, the
mystery which surrounded her, the incognito kept by the captain, the
way Richard Shandon had received the proposition to direct her, the
careful selection of the crew, her unknown destination, suspected
only by a few--all about her was strange.

To a thinker, dreamer, or philosopher nothing is more affecting than
the departure of a ship; his imagination plays round the sails, sees
her struggles with the sea and the wind in the adventurous journey
which does not always end in port; when in addition to the ordinary
incidents of departure there are extraordinary ones, even minds
little given to credulity let their imagination run wild.

So it was with the _Forward_, and though the generality of people
could not make the knowing remarks of Quartermaster Cornhill, it did
not prevent the ship forming the subject of Liverpool gossip for three
long months. The ship had been put in dock at Birkenhead, on the
opposite side of the Mersey. The builders, Scott and Co., amongst
the first in England, had received an estimate and detailed plan from
Richard Shandon; it informed them of the exact tonnage, dimensions,
and store room that the brig was to have. They saw by the details
given that they had to do with a consummate seaman. As Shandon had
considerable funds at his disposal, the work advanced rapidly,
according to the recommendation of the owner. The brig was constructed
of a solidity to withstand all tests; it was evident that she was
destined to resist enormous pressure, for her ribs were built of
teak-wood, a sort of Indian oak, remarkable for its extreme hardness,
and were, besides, plated with iron. Sailors asked why the hull of
a vessel made so evidently for resistance was not built of sheet-iron
like other steamboats, and were told it was because the mysterious
engineer had his own reasons for what he did.

Little by little the brig grew on the stocks, and her qualities of
strength and delicacy struck connoisseurs. As the sailors of the
_Nautilus_ had remarked, her stern formed a right angle with her keel;
her steel prow, cast in the workshop of R. Hawthorn, of Newcastle,
shone in the sun and gave a peculiar look to the brig, though otherwise
she had nothing particularly warlike about her. However, a 16-pounder
cannon was installed on the forecastle; it was mounted on a pivot,
so that it might easily be turned in any direction; but neither the
canno