r the mouth of the English Channel.
They proceeded in column of line abreast three deep, headed by the
dynamite cruisers, after which came the other warships which had
formed the American Navy, and after these again came the troopships
and transports properly protected by cruisers on their flanks and in
their rear.

The commander of every warship and transport had the most minute
instructions as to how he was to act on reaching British waters, and
what these were will become apparent in due course. The weather was
fairly good for the time of year, and, as there was but little danger
of collision on the now deserted waters of the Atlantic, the whole
flotilla kept at full speed all the way. As, however, its speed was
necessarily limited by that of its slowest steamer until the scene of
action was reached, it was after midnight on the 5th of December when
its various detachments had reached their appointed stations on the
English coast.

At the entrance of the English Channel and St. George's Channel a few
scouting cruisers, flying French, Russian, and Italian colours, had
been run down and sunk by the dynamite cruisers. Strict orders had
been given by Tremayne to destroy everything flying a hostile flag,
and not to permit any news to be taken to England of the approach of
the flotilla. The Federation was waging a war, not merely of conquest
and revenge, but of extermination, and no more mercy was to be shown
to its enemies than they had shown in their march of victory from one
end of Europe to the other.

While the Federation fleet had been crossing the Atlantic, other
events no less important had been taking place in England and
Scotland. The hitherto apparently inert mass of the population had
suddenly awakened out of its lethargy. In town and country alike men
forsook their daily avocations as if by one consent. As in America,
artisans, pitmen, clerks, and tradesmen were suddenly transformed
into soldiers, who drilled, first in squads of ten, and then in
hundreds and thousands, and finally in tens of thousands, all
uniformed alike in rough grey breeches and tunics, with a knot of red
ribbon in the button-hole, and all armed with rifle, bayonet, and
revolver, which they seemed to handle with a strange and ominous
familiarity.

All the railway traffic over the island was stopped, and the
rolling-stock collected at the great stations along the lines to
London, and at the same time all the telegraph wires communicati