standing at the base of the tower, close
to the hole by which it is entered, so that he may be heard by both
out and insiders, shouts, `Close up,' in the voice of a Stentor. At
this some men grasp levers, others stand by wheels which let on
respectively hydraulic power and steam. The captain of the tower,
seated on an elevated position, puts his head through a man-hole in
the roof of the turret, which hole is covered with a bullet-proof iron
hood, having a narrow opening in front. He surveys the supposed
enemy, and his duty is to revolve the tower, take aim, and let go the
firing machinery, i.e. pull the trigger. The outsiders stand by the
locking bolt, levers, shot-racks, etcetera. Then, in the attitude of
ready-for-action, all become motionless attentive statues--a regular
_tableau-vivant_.

"Stentor again shouts, `Cast loose.' To my ignorant eye energetic
confusion ensues. The captain of the turret is causing it to revolve
this way and that, with its crew and guns, by a mere touch of his
finger. Lever and wheel-men do their duty; the guns are run in (or
out when required) with the ease of pop-guns, till certain marks on
carriages and slides correspond; then they are laid, firing-gear is
cleared and made ready, while the outsiders take out the tompion, open
the port and scuttle of the gun about to be loaded, bring forward a
bolster of powder (or a representative mass of wood), and place a
giant shot on a `trolly,' which is just a little railway-carriage to
convey the shot on rails from its rack to the gun. Meanwhile the
captain of the turret gives the order, `Starboard (or port) loading
position,' turns the turret until the gun is opposite its
`loading-hole,' and then depresses its muzzle to the same point, jams
it against the hole, and the turret is `locked.'

"`Sponge and load,' is now given--but not by Stentor. The forces at
work are too great in some cases to be left to the uncertain human
voice. A piece of mechanism, called a `tell-tale,' communicates with
infallible certainty that the monster is quite ready to feed! A
hydraulic ramrod thereupon wets his whistle with a sponge, on the end
of which is a small reservoir of water. The monster is temperate.
This withdrawn, a wad is placed on the end of the ramrod. Three men
shove a bolster of powder into the gun's mouth. The huge shot is then
hydraulically lifted to the muzzle. No