ng yachting-dress, with an
overcoat calculated to withstand all weathers, became her well. The gig
was soon alongside the _Gauntlet_, at whose gangway Adair stood ready to
receive his guests. It was the first time Lucy had come on board, and
with no little pride and happiness he helped her up the accommodation
ladder.

The next instant, casting off from her moorings, the _Gauntlet_ steamed
out of the harbour towards Spithead. "Well, after all, there is
something to be said in favour of steam," observed the admiral; "and
though I did once think it would never come to much, I must confess I
was wrong; though, had it never been invented, we should not have felt
the want of it."

"At all events, admiral, it enables us to get out to Spithead, which we
otherwise should have found it a difficult job to do," answered Adair,
laughing. "Look at the magnificent _Duke of Wellington_, with her 131
guns; see the _Royal George_, and _Saint Jean d'Acre_, with what ease
they can now manoeuvre, by the aid of their screws. I suspect Nelson
would have been willing to exchange the whole of his fleet for three
such ships at Trafalgar, and not only would have gained the victory, but
would not have allowed one of the enemy to escape."

"It might have been so," said the admiral; "but I suspect, had the
chance been given him, he would have preferred having his tough little
_Victory_ and the other stout ships of his fleet, to all the new-fangled
contrivances." The admiral, it was evident, had still a hankering for
the good old days when he first went to sea.

The _Gauntlet_ was able to steam through a considerable portion of the
fleet before she took up her destined station; thus passing in
succession the _Duke of Wellington_, Sir Charles Napier's flagship, the
_Neptune, Saint George_, and _Royal George_, 120-gun ships, the _Saint
Jean d'Acre_, 101 guns; fourteen other ships carrying from 60 to 91
guns, most of them fitted with screws; five frigates, each able to
compete with an old line-of-battle ship; and eighteen paddle-wheel and
screw-steamers, anyone of which would speedily have sunk the largest
ship of ancient days.

In a short time the Queen appeared in the _Fairy_ yacht, passing through
this superb fleet, when, the yards being manned, the crews greeted her
with hearty cheers, and such a salute broke forth from their guns as had
never before been heard.

"Well, admiral, I hope when we come back we shall be able to give a good