" "If I fail," answered Mershone, slowly, "I do not care a continental what they do to me, for my life will be a blank without Louise.

Under such circumstances, and when we take into account, as is but fair, on the one hand the comparatively low state of shipbuilding at that time, and on the other hand the energy of the Romans, there is nothing incredible in the statement that the Romans solved within a year the problemwhich baffled Napoleonof converting a continental into a maritime power, and actually launched their fleet of 120 sail in the spring of 494.