dust and smoke, and fragments of stone and
timber rose in the air; and in a few seconds the spot where the fort had
stood presented a mass of shapeless ruins.

"We've done for the fort, at all events," observed Tom; "I hope that
before long our army will treat Sebastopol in the same way."

"I wish they were likely to do it at so slight a cost," said Jack, as he
thought of Sidney, from whom he had not heard for some time; for he knew
what sorrow his loss would cause to his family at Halliburton.

The three commanders, having delivered over their prizes to the admiral,
proceeded to carry out their instructions, in conjunction with the
Mosquito fleet, engaged in the destruction of the vast magazines of corn
and other provisions accumulated at numerous places on the shores of the
Sea of Azov, as well as the fleets of vessels loaded with supplies for
the Russian army in the Crimea.

"It seems to me a wanton destruction of property," observed Jack when he
first received his orders.

Murray, to whom he spoke, smiled. "Sagacious commanders have to take
into consideration the appetites of their men, as well as those of the
enemy, quite as much as their battlefields and the weapons they use," he
observed; "if we can cut off the supplies of the garrison of Sebastopol,
we shall render as effectual service as the guns of the besiegers, and
quickly bring the war to a conclusion."

"Then I'll set about it with all my heart!" exclaimed Jack; "though I
wish, instead of burning the wheat, we could ship it off to our people
at home."

"That would prove a somewhat too long operation," observed Murray; "and
if we remember that every stack we burn will perhaps shorten the war by
as many hours, any scruples we may feel on the subject will soon
vanish."

Jack and his brother commanders, remembering this, set energetically to
work to perform what would have been otherwise a very disagreeable duty.
The gallant Lyons, who in the _Miranda_ had been some days in the Sea
of Azov, had already inflicted immense damage on the enemy; on his
arrival off Genitchesk at the entrance of the Putrid Sea, he found a
large fleet of merchantmen at anchor, protected by a strong force of
infantry and a battery of field-pieces on the mainland. On sending in
to summon the flotilla to surrender, his demand being refused, he
despatched his boats under the command of his first lieutenant,
Mackenzie, through the strait, covering their advance with a heavy fire