Neither were the navies of the world behind.

The cruisers, the torpedo boats, the torpedo-destroyers, could match the swiftest steamers of the Atlantic and Pacific, or of the Indian trade.
If, however, this were a boat of some new design, there had as yet been no opportunity to observe its form.

As to the engines which drove it, they must be of a power far beyond the fastest known.

By what force they worked, was equally a problem.

Since the boat had no sails, it was not driven by the wind; and since it had no smoke-stack, it was not driven by steam.
At this point in the report, I again paused in my reading and considered the comment I wished to make.
"What are you puzzling over, Strock ?" demanded my chief.
"It is this, Mr.Ward; the motive power of this so-called boat must be as tremendous and as unknown as that of the remarkable automobile which has so amazed us all." "So that is your idea, is it, Strock ?" "Yes, Mr.Ward." There was but one conclusion to be drawn.