appointed berth was so close at hand that I rang down to
stop the engines and signed to the helmsman to put his helm hard a-port,
while I stationed myself close to the electric button, pressure on which
would fire the explosives in our hold and blow our bottom out. We were
now so close in under the cliffs that the Golden Hill guns could no
longer reach us, also we were out of range of the great searchlights,
consequently we were enshrouded in darkness, yet the forts on the west
side of the harbour still maintained their fire upon us; but we were now
lost in the deep shadow of the cliffs, and the shots flew wide.

Half a minute later, I called down the tube to the engineer to send his
engines astern to check our way, and then come on deck; and he was still
ascending the engine-room ladder when I shouted to the men forward to
let go the anchor. It fell with a great splash, and as we had snubbed
her at a short scope, she quickly brought up in the exact spot destined
for her.

"Lower away the boat, and tumble in, men," I shouted; and the words were
hardly out of my mouth when I heard the murmur of the falls through the
blocks, and the splash of the boat as she hit the water. A few muffled
ejaculations followed as the men slid down the falls, then came the
rattle of oars as they were thrown out; and finally a voice crying:

"All ready, Captain, we only wait for you."

"Good!" I ejaculated, and rammed down the button. A tremendous jolt
that all but flung me off the bridge, accompanied by a not very loud
explosion, followed, the ship trembled as though she had been a sentient
thing, and the sound of water, as though pouring through a sluice,
reached my ears. Down the ladder I rushed, on to the main deck, seized
one of the davit tackles and slid down into the boat; and as the men
replied to my question that all were present, the bowman thrust the boat
away from the sinking steamer's side, and the oars churned up the water
as we pulled away.

"Give way, lively, lads," I cried, as I seized the tiller; "we'll get
close inshore, where nobody can see us, and save our skins in that way.
We have happily escaped thus far; and it would be a pity for any of us
to get hit now. There goes the old _Chiyo_! she hasn't taken long to
sink, bless her! She is worth a lot more where she is, at the bottom of
Port Arthur harbour, than she was when afloat."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE KORYU MARU.

Meanwhile the _Fukui Maru_ had also r