"Now, stand by!" exclaimed the captain to Gerald. "I cannot go into details, but you will easily follow what I mean. All eight guns are coupled, ready to fire a broadside. You see those three index-hands? One shows the speed of the ship, the second the range of the object to be fired at, and consequently the required elevation, the third corrects the effect of windage. When set, a resultant pointer fitted with telescopic sights gives us the correct aim. Stand here and look through this aperture." Tregarthen did so, and at that moment Captain Brookes depressed the firing-key. Instantly there was a slight tremor throughout the ship, an almost imperceptible recoil, and then a thin haze of brownish smoke, but no noise was audible save the shriek of the projectiles as they left the muzzle with a velocity of 2,500ft. per second. Four seconds later the whole face of Carlos Rock was covered by a dense cloud of dust, and with a dull rumble thousands of tons of rock slid into the sea. "You've altered Carlos's features, sir," exclaimed Gerald, when he had recovered from the effects of watching this wonderful broadside. "Ay!" assented Captain Brookes. "What ship would stand up to that, d'you think? Now you can go below and watch the loading operations, for we are going to keep up a rapid fire for half a minute." Descending a spiral steel ladder which led from the conning-tower to below the armoured deck, Tregarthen found nearly the whole of the ship's company, including those men whom he knew to be captains of turrets. Why the latter should be away from the turrets he could not quite understand. Seamen, stripped to the waist, were running small trucks laden with shells from the after-magazine. These were placed in a metal hopper at a position corresponding with the base of the foremost turret. When twelve rounds had been deposited in this hopper its doors were closed, and a red light instantly appeared in a dial overhead. Once again a slight jar shook the ship, followed by eleven others in less than twice that number of seconds. The next instant the hopper door fell open and twelve empty and still smoking cylinders fell upon the floor; a seaman dashed a bucket of water into the compartment, and the work of reloading was repeated. Then a bugle sounded the "Cease fire," and the officers returned on deck to observe the effects of the terrible ordnance of the _Olive Branch_. "How's that for going into action?" asked Captain Brookes. "With the exception of three men and myself all hands were safe beneath the armoured deck. Automatic loading and firing, unerring aim, and the victory's won, eh?" "I certainly should not like to be on board a craft that received one round from those guns, sir," replied Gerald. "But suppose, in the heat of an engagement, one pair of guns was trained so that some portion of this ship intercepted the line of fire?"