se, when an unlucky
accident sent them down to zero. The hoops of one of the barrels
handled were insecure, and coming off, the staves fell apart, and
along with a defensive covering of slabs of salt, a neat assortment of
revolver cartridges came tumbling out. The Japanese lieutenant smiled
till his little oblique optics were scarcely perceptible.

"Very good," said he, picking up one of the packages; "very nice--nice
to eat."

We were thunderstruck, and had not a word to say. All was up now, of
course; the Japs prosecuted the search with renewed keenness, and the
nature of our lading soon stood revealed.

"I shall be obliged to detain this ship, gentlemen," said the
lieutenant politely, to Webster and myself. "Where has your captain
gone?"

I looked round for Chubb; he was not visible.

"I suppose he must have gone on deck," said I.

The lieutenant and his men hurried up, Webster and I following. Chubb
was conferring with a group of the sailors. The search-light was still
flaring away, and I was horrified to see that our formidable neighbour
had crept up to within two or three hundred yards. The lieutenant
walked sharply to the side, and shouted some directions to the boat's
crew. The words were scarcely out of his mouth when I heard Chubb say,
"Now." The men with whom he had been speaking rushed upon the
Japanese, seized them, and in the twinkling of an eye hove them
overboard into their boat, or as near it as they could be aimed in the
hurry of the moment. Simultaneously "Full speed ahead" was rung from
the bridge, and the steamer sprang forward as the hare springs from
the jaws of the hound. For a moment there was no sound except the rush
of the water foaming at the bows. Then the warship opened fire on us.
Gun after gun resounded, and we held our breath as the ponderous shot
hurtled past us. The first few were wide of the mark, but we were not
long to go scatheless. One of the terrible projectiles struck the
water by the starboard quarter, rose over the side with a tremendous
ricochet, bowled over one of the men, and smashed the top of the
opposite bulwark. Immediately after another tore transversely across
the decks, playing, as Chubb afterwards said, "all-fired smash" with
everything it encountered, and killing another of the men, who was cut
literally in two, the upper portion of his body being carried
overboard, the lower half remaining on the deck.

"He's mad," roared Webster, meaning Chubb; "we ain't