kes place, each drop exactly striking
the one before, until one of the stately columns arises known as a
stalagmite.

HELENA HEATH.

AN OCEAN POLICEMAN.

Amid a flutter of flags and the cheers of onlookers, the 'ocean
policeman,' H.M.S. _Speedy_, first took to the water on May 18th, 1893.
Its birthplace was the banks of the Thames at Chiswick, but hardly had
it settled itself on the smooth surface of the river when orders came
from official quarters that it should proceed at once to school. They
were no easy lessons that it had to learn, and the subsequent
examinations were extremely difficult and trying, for they were
conducted by a large crowd of the most learned gentlemen in England and
the Continent connected with naval matters. The school was at Sheerness,
and here the _Speedy_ spent four months in preparation. On September
28th the first run was made, and three weeks later the examiners were
delighted to find that this splendid new boat was able to steam at a
speed of twenty knots an hour. Everything the inventor and designer had
claimed for her was proving true. The new style of tubing in the boilers
made it possible to get up steam very quickly after the fires were
lighted, so that when the order came to start there was no 'Oh, wait a
minute, please; I am not quite ready!'

The engines, four thousand five hundred horse-power in strength, did
their work far more nimbly than those in any previous gunboat of the
same size. The vessel is two hundred and thirty feet long, and can steam
triumphantly through water no more than ten feet deep. That in itself is
enough to terrify evil-doers who would otherwise hope to escape by
getting into shallow water beyond her reach. But in addition, she
carries two large guns and a search-light.

Having thoroughly satisfied the examiners, this huge scholar soon had
the honour of receiving a commission, and is now on duty in the North
Sea among the brown-sailed fishing-smacks, like a gigantic duck watching
over her ducklings. There are several gunboats of the British navy
employed in the same way, but few of them quite so modern as the
_Speedy_, or so capable of guarding the interests of the fishermen. Any
foreign smack or lugger that comes within three miles of the English
coast is 'trespassing,' and is immediately called upon by the _Speedy_
to give an explanation. If the trespasser hesitates, a boat is lowered
from the steamer with an officer on board to make inquiri