unboat full upon the water line, and exploding, blew a hole in her
nearly a yard square; while from the interior of the smitten junk arose
a chorus of screams, groans, and yells, proving that the flying
splinters of the shell had done other work as well. Those on board the
_Su-chen_ saw the water pouring into the pirate vessel in a very
cataract; she heeled farther and farther over, and in less than a minute
after the shell had struck, righted herself for a second, and then
plunged below the surface, carrying with her the greater portion of her
crew.

"Hurrah, boys!" shouted Frobisher, "that's one gone. Repeat the dose
with the next fellow, and we'll soon put the whole crowd of them out of
business!"

The rousing cheer with which his men responded to words which they could
not possibly understand, but the meaning of which was sufficiently
clear, was answered by a yell of rage and defiance from the pirates,
accompanied by another furious bombardment from their guns and
small-arms; and Frobisher, gazing at the havoc caused by the discharge,
and the bodies with which his decks were strewn, realised that the
destruction of that one junk had but animated the pirates to fresh
exertions, and that the victory was not yet even half-won.

Realising that it was imperative to silence the fire from the junks if
success was to be obtained at all, he signed to the gunners to load and
direct all their pieces upon the next junk, firing together, in the hope
that the combined discharge might effect the desired result. And so it
did. The missiles all struck the craft almost on the same spot, and a
few minutes later she, too, took herself and her crew to the bottom,
leaving only three junks to deal with--and the fort, which was blazing
away merrily and doing a good deal of damage, though not so much as the
junks, the gunners on board which appeared to be specially-trained
marksmen.

The enthusiasm of the Chinese sailors at this second stroke of luck was
immense, and they threw themselves into their work with unabated energy,
despite the fact that fully a quarter of their comrades were lying dead
or wounded around them.

The cries of the wounded for water were dreadful, despite all that could
be done to help them. Frobisher had already told off as many men as he
could spare to carry water, but it seemed impossible to quench the poor
wretches' thirst; their cry was always for more, even though they had
drunk but a moment previousl