down to her work as a good horse finds himself and gets into his stride.
Faster and faster she went, while the speed of her going swept off the
black flume of smoke from her stack and trailed it behind, a dense,
low-lying shadow.

"Look!" shouted one of the men into another's ear, and raised his arm to
point. "We're beating the train!"

[Illustration: THE STEAM TURBINE-DRIVEN _VELOX_, OF THE BRITISH NAVY
The fastest torpedo-boat destroyer.]

Sure enough, a passenger train running along the river's edge, the
wheels spinning round, the locomotive throwing out clouds of smoke, was
dropping behind. The train was being beaten by the boat. Quivering,
throbbing with the tremendous effort, she dashed on, the water climbing
her sides and lashing to spume at her stern.

"Time!" shouted several together, as the second pair of posts came in
line, marking the finish of the mile. The word was passed to the
frantically struggling firemen and engineers below, while those on deck
compared watches.

"One minute and thirty-two seconds," said one.

"Right," answered the others.

Then, as the wonderful yacht _Arrow_ gradually slowed down, they tried
to realise the speed and to accustom themselves to the fact that they
had made the fastest mile on record on water.