l positions, anchoring so as to
command the forts and support those attacking the booms; and at two
p.m., when the ebb began to flow and there was no danger of the stream
carrying the vessels too close in, the _Opossum_ was ordered by signal
to pull up the first pile, which she did by the aid of tackles and steam
power.

On the removal of this obstacle, the admiral passed through towards the
second barrier, which was immediately under the concentric fire of the
batteries on both banks of the river.

Here the question would be decided at length whether the Chinese meant
fighting or not.

We had not long to wait for the decision.

Hardly had the bows of the _Plover_ touched the boom than "Bang" went a
single gun from the nearest earthwork.

This seemed like a signal; for, almost at the instant of its discharge,
a terrific fire of shot and shell from forty pieces of cannon was hurled
on the unfortunate _Plover_ and her consort the _Opossum_, which
followed her close up behind, both being immediately wreathed in smoke
and flame and having their decks swept fore and aft by every discharge.

It was a regular ambuscade, a hornet's nest!

In less than twenty minutes, the two gunboats were so badly shattered as
to be almost silenced; though the plucky little _Plover_ still remained
in the van, with the admiral's signal still flying, "Engage the enemy,"
with the red pennant under, which Mr Gilham told me meant "as close as
possible."

She held out, too, in spite of her not having nine men of her original
crew left efficient out of the party with which she commenced the
action; while Lieutenant Rason, who commanded her, was killed by being
cut in two by a round shot.

The admiral himself was grievously wounded by the splinter of a shell in
the thigh, and the rest of the officers swept down--a terrible amount of
slaughter in so small a space.

Of course, we did not know all this till afterwards; but we could see
the poor little temporary flagship's battered state, as she swung all
abroad across the sullen, dark-flowing river, now seemingly red with
blood from the flashes of the guns, whose murderous roar rent the air
each moment, sweeping down our comrades and laying them mangled and
bleeding on the deck, every time we heard the sound.

Then, we noticed a signal for assistance thrown out from the solitary
spar the _Plover_ had yet standing; and the _Lee_ and _Haughty_, which
were anchored below the first barrier and b