to get the range to a
nicety, and every shot had come aboard. There were no less than nine
men killed and wounded, and the crew of the four-inch gun were all down.
Unconquerable or not, the pirates were certainly marvellously clever
gunners, and their weapons must be both heavy and modern.

At the same moment Frobisher observed a movement among the masts of the
junks; and presently, to his amazement, he saw that they were coming out
from behind their shelter, evidently with the intention of fighting him
from the river as well as from the shore. Well, he would make short
work of them, anyway. They were only made of wood, and a few
well-directed shots between wind and water should send the whole fleet
to the bottom in short order. With this end in view, he ordered every
gun that could be brought to bear to be fired at the junks, meaning to
clear them out of the way before turning his attention entirely to the
fort; for he could see that they were crowded with men, and it might be
rather awkward for his ship's crew if they managed to get alongside.
The gunboat's sides were low, and it would be an easy matter to board
her from craft standing as high out of the water as those junks.

The men sprang to their posts with alacrity, and soon the duel was in
full swing. The junks were, like the fort, very heavily armed--much
more heavily than Frobisher had in the least anticipated--and their
accurately-aimed shot came ripping and tearing through the _Su-chen's_
wooden bulwarks and sides with terrible effect. In addition to solid
shot the pirates were using shell, and the air was soon full of flying
pieces of metal, which struck men down in every direction. Only inside
the iron casemates did there seem to be any protection from that deadly
storm, and there the Chinese sailors were serving their guns coolly and
with excellent aim. Shot after shot struck one or other of the junks,
and Frobisher could see them actually reel under the impact; but so far
no shot had been lucky enough to strike below or on the water line, and
so sink any of them.

The _Su-chen_ was now, he considered, quite close enough to both fort
and junks; he therefore rang for half-speed, at which the vessel just
held her own against the current, the junks themselves having anchored
in order to avoid being swept down under the _Su-chen's_ guns.

So the battle went grimly forward. Frobisher soon discovered that his
big body was being made a target for sma