en were so busy attending to this that they
did not observe the _Chih' Yuen_ gathering sternway until it was too
late, and they only awoke to their danger as the cruiser's stern crashed
into them, rolled them over, and sent them headlong to the bottom in a
wreck of bursting steam-pipes, spilling furnaces, and crumpling
machinery.

With a fierce laugh Frobisher pushed away the surgeon, who had finished,
and himself seized the spokes of the steering-wheel and spun them over
until the cruiser's bows headed for the _Yoshino_. Then he rang for
full speed ahead.

But the pause between the checking of the _Chih' Yuen's_ sternway and
her gathering speed ahead would have been fatal had it not been for
Drake. Another of those stinging little wasps, the destroyers, had
dashed past at full speed, and, although severely punished by the
cruiser's machine-guns, had managed to discharge a torpedo full at her
side. The cruiser was helpless, unable to move until her engines had
overcome the inertia, and for a few seconds it looked as though nothing
could save her. But with a hoarse cry Drake dashed out of the
conning-tower, where he was of course assisting Frobisher, ready to take
charge if the latter were killed, and without a moment's hesitation
leaped overboard, swimming powerfully toward the rapidly-approaching
torpedo.

"Come back, you madman!" shouted Frobisher. "What are you about?" But
Drake either could not or would not hear; he kept on his way, regardless
of the hail of rifle and machine-gun bullets which flicked the water
into foam all round him.

Then Frobisher and his crew saw what the gallant Englishman was about.
As the deadly missile approached, hissing its way along the surface of
the water, Drake stopped swimming and awaited it, and, as it swept past,
flung his arm round the smooth, glistening machine. His arm was nearly
torn from its socket, but he managed to get a grip upon the thing just
forward of its greatest diameter; and, once he had secured his hold, he
was not going to let go again. Then with fierce, strong strokes Drake
began to kick out with his feet, pushing strongly at the nose of the
torpedo as he did so; and, wonder of wonders! the menacing head
gradually swung away from the _Chih' Yuen's_ side. She was saved!

But that was not enough for Drake. The torpedo might hit some other
Chinese craft, so, encouraged by his first success, he did not cease his
efforts until he had turned the Whitehea