n unfriendly act on the part of the Allies, and the
British cable from Gibraltar to the Lizard which connected with Palermo
and Rome, and so formed the link of communication between Britain and
the Mediterranean.

The British Mediterranean Fleet was coming home, so were the West Indian
and North American squadrons, while the squadron in the China seas was
also ordered home, via the Suez Canal, to form a conjunction with our
Italian Allies. Of course, these ships would in due time be dealt with
by the aerial submarines, but meanwhile commerce with Europe had become
impossible. Imports had stopped at most of the great ports through sheer
terror of this demon of the sea, which appeared to be here, there and
everywhere at the same time; and with all these powerful squadrons
converging upon the shores of Britain the problem of feeding and
generally keeping fit for war some three millions of men and over half a
million horses would soon begin to look distinctly serious.

Castellan's vessels had hunted in vain for this solitary vessel, which
single-handed, marvellous as it seemed, kept the narrow waters clear of
invaders. The truth of this matter, however, was very simple. The
_Ithuriel_ was nearly twice as fast in the water as the _Flying Fishes_,
and she carried guns with an effective range of five miles, whereas they
only carried torpedoes.

For instance, during the battle of Sheerness, in which the remaining
units of the North Sea Squadron had, with the _Ithuriel's_ aid, attacked
and destroyed every German and Russian battleship and transport,
Erskine's craft had done terrible execution without so much as being
seen until, when the last of the German Coast Defence ships had gone
down with all hands in the Great Nore, off the Nore lighthouse, whence
she was shelling Garrison Fort, the _Ithuriel_ had risen above the water
for a few moments, and Denis Castellan had taken a cockshot with the
three forward guns at a couple of _Flying Fishes_ that were circling
over the town and fort and river mouth.

The shells had time-fuses, and they were timed to the tenth of a
second. They burst simultaneously over the airships. Then came a rending
of the atmosphere, and descending streams of fire, which burst with a
rapid succession of sharp reports as they touched the airships. Then
came another blaze of light which seemed to darken the wintry sun for a
moment, and then another quaking of the air, after which what was left
of the two