ht hand
shook as it grasped the arm of the carriage. There was nothing for me
but to throw myself back and remain tranquil. I was, however, well
aware that an hour of despair and opposition, and of defeat, was
coming upon me. Up they came, and were received with three deafening
cheers by the crowd immediately round the carriage. "I beg your
pardon, sir," said one of the three, whom I afterwards learned to be
the second lieutenant; "are you the President of this Republic?"

"I am," replied I; "and what may you be?"

"I am the second lieutenant on board H.M.'s gunboat, the John
Bright." I had heard of this vessel, which had been named from a
gallant officer, who, in the beginning of the century, had seated
himself on a barrel of gunpowder, and had, single-handed, quelled a
mutiny. He had been made Earl Bright for what he had done on that
occasion, but the vessel was still called J. B. throughout the
service.

"And what may be your business with me, Mr Second Lieutenant?"

"Our captain, Captain Battleax's compliments, and he hopes you won't
object to postpone this interesting ceremony for a day or two till he
may come and see. He is sure that Mr Crasweller won't mind." Then he
took off his hat to my old friend. "The captain would have come up
himself, but he can't leave the ship before he sees his big gun laid
on and made safe. He is very sorry to be so unceremonious, but the
250-ton steam-swiveller requires a great deal of care."

"Laid on?" I suggested.

"Well--yes. It is always necessary, when the ship lets go her anchor,
to point the gun in the most effective manner."

"She won't go off, will she?" asked Bunnit.

"Not without provocation, I think. The captain has the exploding wire
under double lock and key in his own state-room. If he only touched
the spring, we about the locality here would be knocked into little
bits in less time than it will take you to think about it. Indeed the
whole of this side of the hill would become an instantaneous ruin
without the sign of a human being anywhere."

There was a threat in this which I could not endure. And indeed, for
myself, I did not care how soon I might be annihilated. England,
with unsurpassed tyranny, had sent out one of her brutal modern
inventions, and threatened us all with blood and gore and murder
if we did not give up our beneficent modern theory. It was the
malevolent influence of the intellect applied to brute force,
dominating its benevolent influen