and even the gallant _Shan-si_ and _Chen Yuen_, which had done
great deeds ever since the beginning, were now terribly damaged.
Frobisher's own ship, a short distance away, under Drake's able
seamanship was still giving a splendid account of herself, but even she,
Frobisher's experienced eye could tell, was very badly mauled.

In short, of the ten ships which China had possessed that morning four
were destroyed, one had crept away too seriously damaged to remain in
action, one had gone as convoy to the transports, and the remaining four
were all badly damaged. As for the torpedo-boats, the Japanese
destroyers and smaller cruisers had made short work of them. Of the
seven, three were sunk, one had been captured, two had fled toward
Wei-hai-wei hotly pursued by a big Japanese destroyer, and only one
remained with the remnant of the Chinese fleet.

The Japanese had lost only three small cruisers and a destroyer, so that
their fleet was even now almost as numerous as China's had been at the
beginning of the battle. True, the _Yoshino_ and the _Fuji_ were little
better than wrecks, and the other ships had one and all received a very
severe drubbing; but they were still afloat and more or less under
control, while their undamaged guns now outnumbered those of the Chinese
by about six to one.

The odds were too heavy. To keep on fighting with the four remaining
ships against the still powerful Japanese fleet would be simply throwing
those four ships away to no purpose, and shedding China's best blood
without avail. If those two battleships and two cruisers could still be
retained for China, they would live to fight another day, for with the
addition of the southern squadron, still intact and undamaged, they
would once more make up a powerful fleet; but if they were lost or
captured now, that would be the end of them, and possibly the end of
China also.

Ting realised all this at a glance, and with a bitter groan ordered the
signal to retire to be hoisted--the enemy to be held at bay, if
possible, while the evolution was being carried out.

As it was manifestly impossible for Frobisher to rejoin his own ship,
owing to lack of boats, he took charge as captain of the _Ting Yuen_ in
place of the traitor prince, confined below, and, in company with the
other battleship, the _Chen Yuen_, endeavoured to beat off the Japanese
craft that were manoeuvring to surround the two remaining Chinese
cruisers. And so bold a front--or