n boats and
stormed the heights, with the Turks above, firing down on them."

"They must have been brave in those days!"

"The Russians? There are no braver troops in Europe--there never have
been!"

"They didn't do very well against the Japanese."

"It wasn't the fault of the soldiers. Their generals were poor, and
everything was badly managed. I think that if the Germans despise the
Russian army they are making a great mistake. Russia learned many
lessons in the war with Japan, and when she fights again, soldiers will
be in command, not politicians. Here we are; this is the boat."

Dick looked curiously at the little craft. She was painted a dull,
leaden grey, and he could guess that at a very short distance it would
be almost impossible to detect her. In other ways, too, she was
especially designed for the business she was intended for.

"Isn't she a little beauty?" said Steve, enthusiastically. "See--that's
armor plate, very thin, of course, but tough and strong, that covers her
entirely on the outside. Then she's decked over with armor plate, too,
so that one can be inside and expose practically nothing. The engine is
sheathed the same way, and all the essential working parts. She can pass
through a rain of bullets without being hurt; it would take a shell to
make any real impression on her, and she's so fast that it would be a
hard job for a man to get her with one."

"I never saw anything like her," said Dick. "You say she's fast, too?"

"Twenty-five miles an hour easily, Dick! That's fast enough for anything
she's ever likely to have to do. The Austrians have launches, armed and
armored ones, but nothing that's in a class with this boat for speed and
power."

"She doesn't carry any guns, though?"

"No. She's meant to run away, not to fight. There are a couple of rifles
and automatic pistols and ammunition aboard, but really she is a scout,
pure and simple, and she would only fight to escape. You see, with such
a lot of armor plate and defensive equipment generally, they had to
figure pretty carefully on weight, or they'd have lost speed. And
speed's the most important thing with a boat like this. All aboard, now!
We'll be off in a minute!"

Dick took his place aboard, and found that there was plenty of room
under the plate of steel that covered almost the whole length of the
little boat. Then Steve followed him, and in a moment the engine was
purring and they were moving away.

"That's the quietes