"boys." It was not for country or for gain that
they slaved and sweated; it was not patriotism or pride of race that
caused them to work until forced, by sheer inability to keep awake, to
lie down for a few hours' sleep, always within sound of their comrades'
hammers, often beside the _Destroyer_ herself. It was "the Boss" for
whom they worked. They were his men, and this was their boat. Every
time John Dene wrote to Blake, there was always a message for "the
boys." "I know the boys will show these Britishers what Canada can
do," he would write, or, "see that the boys get all they want and
plenty to smoke." Remembering was John Dene's long suit; and his men
would do anything for "the Boss."

Blake had not spared himself. When not engaged in the work of
overseeing, he had thrown off his coat and worked with the most
vigorous. He seemed never to sleep or rest. Every detail of the
_Destroyer's_ construction he carried in his head. Plans there had
been in his shack; but what were the use of plans to a man who had
every line, every bolt and nut engraved upon his brain. He had them
merely for reference.

And now all was ready. That morning the _Destroyer_ had been floated
into the _Toronto_ to see that everything on the mother-ship was in
order. Once floated out again, there remained only the taking on board
stores and munitions. These lay piled upon the _Toronto's_ deck ready
at the word of command to be transferred to the _Destroyer_.

In design the _Destroyer_ was very similar to the latest form of
submarine: 310 ft. 6 ins. in length, she had a breadth of 26 ft. 6.
ins. amidships, tapering to a point fore and aft. She carried two
ordinary torpedo tubes and mounted two 3 in. guns; but these were in
the nature of an auxiliary armament. Her main armament consisted of
eight pneumatic-tubes, two in the bows, two in the stern, one on either
bow and one on either beam. These fired small arrow-headed missiles,
rather like miniature torpedoes fitted with lance-heads for cutting
through nets. They had sufficient power to penetrate the plates of a
submarine, and were furnished with an automatic detonator, which caused
the bursting charge to explode three seconds after impact. The charge
was sufficient to blow a hole in the side of a "U"-boat large enough to
ensure its immediate destruction.

These projectiles were rendered additionally deadly by the fact that
their heads became automatically magnetic as they s