e land, and had opened a furious
cannonade on the British ships and the forts, which were manfully
replying to it with every available gun.

By the time the watchers on the hill had focussed their glasses on
the scene, the _Lucifer_ discharged her first shell on the fort on
Girdleness. They saw the blaze of the explosion gleam through the
smoke that already hung thick over the low building. Another and
another followed in quick succession, and the firing from the fort
ceased. The smoke drifted slowly away, and disclosed a heap of
shapeless ruins.

"That is horrible work, isn't it?" said Arnold to Tremayne through
his clenched teeth. "Anywhere but on British ground would not be so
bad, but the sight of that makes my blood boil. I would give my ears
to take our ships into the air, and smash up that Russian fleet as we
did the French Squadron in the Atlantic."

"There spoke the true Briton, Captain Arnold," said Natasha, who was
standing beside him under a clump of trees. "Yes, I can quite
understand how you feel watching a scene like that, for country is
country after all. Even my half-English blood is pretty near boiling
point; and though I wouldn't give my ears, I would give a good deal
to go with you and do as you say.

"But you may rest assured that the Master's way is the best, and will
prove the shortest road to the universal peace which can only come
through universal war. Courage, my friend, and patience! There will
be a heavy reckoning to pay for this sort of thing one day, and that
before very long."

"Ha!" exclaimed Tremayne. "There goes the other fort. I suppose it
will be the turn of the ships next. What a frightful scene! Twenty
minutes ago it was as peaceful as these hills, and look at it now."

The second fort had been destroyed as rapidly as the first, and the
cessation of the fire of both had made a very perceptible difference
in the cannonade, though the great guns of the Russian fleet still
roared continuously and poured a hurricane of shot and shell into the
mouth of the river across which the British ships were drawn, keeping
up the unequal conflict like so many bull-dogs at bay.

Over them and the river hung a dense pall of bluish-white smoke,
through which the _Lucifer_ sent projectile after projectile in the
attempt to sink the British ironclads. As those on board her could
only judge by the flash of the guns, the aim was very imperfect, and
several projectiles were wasted, falling into t