"
"Her captain appears to trust entirely to his heels, and to look
with contempt upon anything like manoeuvring," replied the first
lieutenant.
"But we must finish him up before the darkness enables him to give us
the slip. I have no doubt we could knock her all to pieces with the
midship gun in the next fifteen minutes; but if she can make eighteen
knots an hour, which we seem to be all agreed that she can do, she will
not be a useless addition to the United States Navy, and it would be a
pity to smash her up, for she is a good-looking craft. We are gaining
two knots an hour on her, and Mr. Vapoor is keeping things warm in the
engine and fire rooms."
"That is taking an economical view of the subject," added Mr. Baskirk,
laughing at the commander's utilitarian views.
"If we continue to fire into her, we must swing to every shot we send,
and that would take so much from our speed," argued Christy. "We are as
sure of her as though we already had her in our clutches. There are
plenty of officers in the navy who would like to command her when she is
altered over into a cruiser."
"You are quite right, Captain Passford; and there are some of them on
the deck of the St. Regis at this moment," said the first lieutenant,
laughing.
"Heave the log, Mr. Baskirk," said the captain.
The report from the master, who attended to this duty, was soon reported
to the executive officer, who transmitted it to the commander.
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