"She's a beauty!" said the Captain.
"She's all speed and grace from cutwater to sternpost."
"I've been building ships for sixty-odd years and we never launched a better!" said the Master Builder.
As for me I was dumb.
She lay within a stone's throw, a mighty vessel, huge of beam and length, her superstructure towering proudly aloft, her massive armoured sides sweeping up in noble curves, a Super-Dreadnought complete from trucks to keelson. Yacht-like she sat the water all buoyant grace from lofty prow to tapering counter, and to me there was something sublime in the grim and latent power, the strength and beauty of her.
"But she's not so very — big, is she?" enquired a voice behind me.
The Captain stared; the Master Builder smiled.
"Fairly!" he nodded. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I usually reckon the size of a