ih, "that is the fact of the matter; and
there are probably many poor fellows perishing away there, almost before
our eyes, while we are utterly unable to help them. If a vessel has
really gone ashore on those rocks I fear that her crew is doomed; for no
ship could long survive in this weather. Get my telescope," he added,
in Chinese, to a quartermaster who happened to be on the bridge at the
moment; and when the man reappeared with the glass, Wong-lih brought it
to bear upon the spot where the rocket had appeared, which he was easily
able to do with the assistance of the lightning, still blazing almost
continuously.

"By Kin-fu-tzi!" exclaimed the admiral, a few seconds later, "that craft
is very much nearer than I thought from the appearance of her rocket--
not more than seven miles away, at the utmost. She is a two-masted,
one-funnelled steamer, and, I'm almost certain, is a man-o'-war. Now,
what should she be doing just there? Have the Japanese sent a vessel
over here for scouting purposes, or is she one of our ships? She looks
very much like--and yet she cannot be, surely,--the ship I intend you to
have, Mr Frobisher--the _Chih' Yuen_, the new cruiser which we have
purchased from Great Britain, and which only arrived out here a few
weeks ago. But I do not understand what she is doing there, if it is
she; for, as I told you, we had no captain in our whole service to whom
we cared to entrust her, which was one of my reasons for asking you to
take service with us. I cannot understand it at all," and he began to
gnaw his moustache perplexedly. "But perhaps," he continued, "I may be
mistaken. I must be mistaken; it cannot possibly be the _Chih' Yuen_."

At this moment another rocket went soaring up into the night sky,
followed by another and another; and then the distant boom of a
signal-gun came to their ears, borne on the wings of the hurricane.

"May the spirits of their ancestors protect them!" exclaimed Wong-lih
piously. "We, alas, can do nothing! She will be lying fathoms deep in
the gulf by morning."

But, as though in answer to the admiral's prayer--so suddenly did the
change take place--there came a lull in the furious wind, and the three
men on the bridge were able to spare a hand to dash the spray from their
eyes before the gale struck them again. This time, however, the wild
outburst lasted only a few minutes, then ceased as suddenly as before;
the thunder was less loud, and the lightning was