ock in the morning."

"Three in the morning!" ejaculated the captain. "Surely not, Drake! I
must have slept nearly ten hours, in that case. All right! I will be
on deck in a few seconds."

Hardly were the words out of his mouth when there arose on deck a
fearful outcry, as of men in the extremity of fear and dismay; and
before Frobisher and Drake had planted their feet on the first steps of
the companion-ladder, the ship struck heavily, plunged forward, and then
struck again. At the same moment the electric lights went out, and
everything was in darkness.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

IN THE HANDS OF FORMOSAN CANNIBALS.

"Heavens above!" shouted Frobisher, as he and Drake picked themselves up
from the floor, to which they had been hurled at the first shock; "the
ship is ashore!"

As if to emphasise the statement, just as the two men succeeded in
reaching the top of the steeply-inclined ladder a deluge of water
crashed thunderously down on the cruiser's poop, driving in a solid mass
along her decks from end to end, and causing her to bump again heavily.
Then came a terrific shock, accompanied by the heart-stopping sounds of
rending and tearing iron, shearing rivets, jangling machinery, and,
worse than all, the despairing screams of men who had been caught by the
giant comber and swept overboard to death among the rocks which were
grinding and tearing their way into the unfortunate _Chih' Yuen's_
vitals.

When Frobisher and his lieutenant gained the wave-swept deck, the first
faint glimmerings of coming dawn were just appearing away to the
eastward, and objects close at hand were beginning to take on
recognisable form in the ghostly, grey dawn light; so that, although all
the lamps in the ship had gone out with the stoppage of the dynamo,
which had been jolted from its bedplate at the first shock, it was to
some slight extent possible to see what was happening, and to dodge the
masses of wreckage which were being hurled hither and thither about the
decks.

Frobisher's first instructions were to the engine-room staff, to stop
the engines, which the engineers had omitted to do, doubtless waiting
for orders; and the next was to the carpenter, to sound the well and
ascertain how much water the ship had inside her. True, she seemed to
be firmly enough fixed on the rocks at the moment, but there was no
knowing when she might slide off and, if she had taken in much water,
carry them all to the bottom.

Then, witho