tlasses, formed
part of the second cargo of the first boat, which had by this time
returned to the wreck; and she was soon on her way back to the shore,
with a small party of seamen as well as the weapons.

Frobisher was on the point of going below again, to endeavour to rescue
a few more articles likely to be of use to people in their position,
when Drake suddenly shouted:

"Look out, sir; look out, men! Jump for your lives; the ship is sinking
under us!"

And indeed, even as the words left Drake's lips, with a terrible
grinding sound of rending iron and timber the _Chih' Yuen_ began to
slide backward off the sharp pinnacle of rock that supported her bows.

Some of the men followed Drake's advice and leaped overboard, others
seized anything handy that would serve to support them, while one small
body of seamen made herculean efforts to launch the half-completed raft.
But these last were too late; the structure had been made of large
dimensions on purpose to sustain the weight of a considerable number of
men, and it was too heavy to be moved unless all hands had applied
themselves to the task. It refused to budge, and while the men were
still struggling with it, the cruiser slid clear of the last ridge of
rock into the sea in a terrific swirl of foaming water, rolled
sluggishly once or twice, with the water up to the level of her gun
casemates, and then slowly capsized and sank, throwing all the men who
were fortunate enough to have been above-deck into the water, where a
terrible scene of struggling among the drowning at once ensued.

Quite a large proportion of the Chinese were unable to swim, and those
of them who possessed no spar or piece of plank to cling to either
strove to save themselves by clutching at the nearest swimmer, or fought
to tear their more fortunate companions from their supports and seize
them for themselves. There were many exhibitions of mad brutality,
selfishness, and cowardice, as there too frequently are on such
occasions; but these were redeemed by the heroic deeds of others who
retained their senses and their manhood.

The raft had, of course, floated clear when the ship sank; and Frobisher
and Drake, after being submerged so long by the suction of the sinking
craft as to be almost suffocated, were lucky enough to come to the
surface close alongside it. Having gained the raft, they at once set to
work to haul on board everybody within reach, and then, with the
assistance of a few