m his burden, shook his
wings gladly and mounted aloft. Lawe cast his eyes downward just as the
Pixie Ram settled, surged, and plunged stern foremost into the lake.

Thus perished at the hands of Ensign Lawe, the famous sea ghost, the
Pixie shell-clad Ram. The machine was a brilliant thought, the
conception of Hide himself. It was just what it seemed to be, the shell
of a water snail. Entering this empty shell, Hide and his engineers had
closed the opening with a web or curtain of varnished silk, which kept
the water out.[AP] Then paddles were fitted up in the stern, revolved by
hand cranks within, and thus the vessel was directed by those inside. To
ordinary assault it was invulnerable at every part except the curtain
which covered the opening, and thereat had the keen blade of Ensign Lawe
found entrance, and so the way to victory.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote AP: It is not uncommon for certain tubeweaving spiders to
avail themselves of the friendly openings of land shells and spin their
web therein. The Editor must confess that he has never seen any of his
spider friends whose habits resemble that here attributed to Pixie Hide.
But the Author is not without authority for the use made thereof; for
Jones, in his "Animal Life," a well-known and excellent book on Natural
History, relates an incident upon which the story of the Pixie Ram may
have been founded.--F. M.]

CHAPTER XXII.

"HAIR-BREADTH 'SCAPES BY FLOOD AND FIELD."

The gallant exploit of Ensign Lawe had been wrought while the two fleets
were under full headway up the channel. After the first outbreak of
anxiety, amazement and mockery, but little attention had been paid the
Quixotic affair, as all voted it. Both fleets were intent upon the
management of their ships. Pursuers and pursued crowded on all sail, and
as a strong wind blew from the west they were a long way from the Ram at
the moment of its destruction. A shout from Lawe's soldiers, who had
hovered near during the strange duel, drew attention to the Brownie
troopers.

"What is that?" asked Rodney of the lookout.

"I don't see yet. Yes, I make it out now; Lawe is struggling in the air
with a Pixie who must have leaped from the Ram upon his pony. The Ensign
is falling into the water. No! he has cut himself loose! The troopers
wave their swords and shout like mad men."

"What of the Ram? How do the lads manage to escape the darts from
the--?"

"See! See!" cried the lookout excitedly. "The