eat upheaved, foaming mass, some 7 ft. or 8
ft. high. Brought round, she once more lay her course. This time the wind
was on her starboard quarter, or still more nearly aft. The boat went
literally as fast as the wind, and on deck it was nearly calm. The light
smoke from the funnels, no longer beaten down by wind, leaped up high
into the air. Looking over the side, it was difficult to imagine that the
boat was passing through water at all. The enormous velocity gave the
surface of the river the appearance of a sheet of steel for 1 ft. or more
outside the boat. Standing right aft, the sight was yet more remarkable.
Although two 6 ft. screws were revolving at nearly 400 revolutions per
minute almost under foot, not a bubble of air came up to break the
surface. There was no wave in her wake; about 70 ft. behind her rose a
gentle swelling hill.

Her wake was a broad smooth brown path, cut right through the rough
surface of the river. On each side of this path rose and broke the angry
little seas lashed up by the scourging wind. Along the very center of the
brown track ran a thin ridge of sparkling foam, some 2 ft. high and some
20 ft. long, caused by the rudder being dragged through the water. There
was scarcely any vibration. The noise was not excessive. A rapid whirr
due to the engines, and a rythmical clatter due to the relief valve on
one of the port engine cylinders not being screwed down hard enough, and
therefore lifting a little in its seat at each stroke, made the most of
it. The most prominent noise perhaps was the hum of the fans. Standing
forward, the deck seems to slope away downward aft, as indeed it does,
for it is to be noted that at these high speeds the forefoot of the boat
is always thrown up clean out of the water--and the whole aspect of the
boat: the funnels vomiting thin brown smoke, and occasionally, when a
fire door is opened, a lurid pillar of flame for a moment; the whirr in
the engine room; the dull thunder of the fans, produce an impression on
the mind not easily expressed, and due in some measure no doubt to the
exhilaration caused by the rapid motion through the air.

The best way to convey what we mean is to say that the whole craft seems
to be alive, and a perfect demon of energy and strength. Many persons
hold that a torpedo boat is likely to be more useful in terrifying an
enemy than in doing him real harm, and we can safely say that the captain
of an ironclad who saw half a dozen of these