BY W. J. HENDERSON.
"I tell you the steamship is a wonderful machine."
That was the exclamation of Mr. Powers as he sat on the deck of the St. Petersburg. Away above him towered the three funnels from which the brown smoke went swirling away to leeward. Away below him throbbed the giant quadruple-expansion engines, turning the twin screws over nearly ninety times a minute, and hurling the massive fabric forward through the sea of sapphire and silver twenty-one knots an hour. Little Harry Powers, who sat beside his grandfather, thought the steamer a fine thing too, but he was not quite so much impressed with it as was the old man, because he had not lived in the days when there were no steamers.
"No buffeting head winds and head seas for months at a time now," exclaimed Mr. Powers. "Steam is invincible."
"Um—yes, generally," said Captain Ferris, who was going over as a passenger to bring out from Gourock a new yacht.
"Why not always?" asked Mr. Powers.
"Well, in order to answer that question," replied the Captain, thoughtfully, "I must tell you that some steamers are not as large and powerful as others."
"Of course I know that," said Mr. Powers, rather impatiently, "but they all manage to get across in defiance of the winds."
"Perhaps I'd better tell you of an instance I have in mind," said the Captain.
"Do so by all means," answered Mr. Powers; and Harry leaned forward attentively, because he perceived that a yarn of the sea was forth-coming. Captain Ferris settled himself comfortably in his chair, cast a look around the horizon, and then launched into his story.