hinder part of his voluminous inexpressibles
with the other, and then running him to the
gangway, where a parting salutation sent him
quickly into his boat.

"Poor Jack! He payed dearly for that
thoughtless act and playful kick.

"As the boat pulled away ashore, never shall
I forget the frightful expression illuminating the
Chinaman's naturally repulsive countenance!
As he shook his fist at my unfortunate mate,
he chuckled to himself with a fiendish sort of
glee; he seemed to revel, by anticipation, in
some revenge.

"Upon getting close in shore, several men
crept from beneath the little mat awning in the
boat, put out fresh oars, and urged her at a
rapid rate up the channel we were waiting to
follow in the morning. I did not take any
particular notice of this proceeding, thinking that
the soi-disant pilot was in a hurry to get home,
and had therefore called the rest of his boat's
crew from their sleep or opium-pipes. The
Frenchman, Joe, having lit his pipe, carefully
smoked it out. At the end of his meditations,
he said:

" 'Capitan, pe gar! I have see him
before!'

"Further than this indefinite declaration,
I could only elicit Joe's belief that he had
met the man a long time ago in an encounter
with pirates. This did not in the least surprise
me, for the amphibious natives of the Chinese
seaboard are, like their naval defenders, as
much pirates as anything else. Leaving a strict
watch on deck, I joined my wife in the cabin,
and thought no more of the self-styled pilot.

"The early part of the following day continued
wet and stormy. As both tide and wind were
against us, we were obliged to wait for the
making of the flood shortly after noon. The
weather cleared up at the same time. Not a
sign of Imperialist gunboat could we see. All
things appeared favourable as we entered the
river and proceeded on our voyage.

"We were just getting lunch in the cabin,
when Joe, whom I had left in charge of the
deck, rushed up to the skylight, and sang out:

" 'Capitan! capitan! com up to de deck!
Vîte! Quick! quick! De Chinois—de mandarins
have come——' Before he could say more,
the loud roar of artillery told me that we were
attacked, and several shot came crashing through
the lorcha's topsides.

"Hastily snatching up our revolvers, Jack
Ikey and myself rushed on deck: before doing
so, I made my wife lie down on the cabin floor,
which was below the water-line, and
consequently safe from the enemy's fire. At a
glance I saw how matters stood. We had
just turned an angle in the channel, and
had sailed right into a formidable ambuscade of
four ti-mungs, two on either side, lying in wait
for us behind the projecting piece of land. Two
of them had already cut off our retreat (we
having shot past them) by sheering broadside
on across the stream, and opening fire at us in
conjunction with their consorts—the latter
bearing down one on either bow. It was
plain that our only chance of escape
consisted in standing on, getting past the two
vessels ahead, and trusting to our superior
sailing qualities. Fortunately, instead of steering
across our bows, and so completely hemming
us in, they were edging down to engage us
broadside to broadside. I at once ordered
my lorcha to be steered right between them.
The guns were then loaded with a half charge
of powder and a double charge of grape and
canister. Both my European comrades were
capital marksmen, and to them I entrusted the
half-dozen rifles on board, ordering them to
confine their attention to the helmsmen of the
approaching enemy, whilst I personally
superintended the working of our big guns.

"On came the two headmost war-junks,
painted in the most horrifying manner, with huge
eyes and hideous faces, their colours flying, gongs
beating, and crews yelling—altogether a most
tremendous din, and in which these ' celestial'
warriors placed considerable hope of terrifying
us. A man was stationed at each of their
mastheads, and by his side a basketful of those
terrible 'stinkpots'. I followed their example
by sending one of my crew to the fore and
another to the main mast-head, where supplies
of the missile were already hoisted.

"The vessels astern were engaged reloading;
a long operation, the guns being lashed as
fixtures to the broadside, in the usual Chinese
fashion, which makes it necessary for the men
to get outside the rail (and stand upon a
platform built for that purpose) to load them.
Consequently, we had a short time to devote
exclusively to the junks ahead. These latter were
now within a couple of hundred yards, one
about four points on each bow, and were thus
getting into the best position to become targets
for our pivot guns; moreover, being end on,
they offered us a capital opportunity to rake
them fore and aft.

"I ran to the foremost gun, training it at
the ti-mung on our port bow, waiting until she
was within a hundred yards, and then firing
with a long and steady aim. The double charge
of grape and canister swept her decks, and, by
the confusion and the cries that ensued, must
have caused great havoc. Leaving the gun to the
crew to reload, I went aft to the long eighteen,
and gave the ti-mung on our starboard bow a
similar dose. Again rose the cries and shouts,
for my second shot had proved as effective as
the first. However, the Imperialists were not
to be conquered easily; a savage yell of
defiance soon rang forth, and, as they came fairly
abeam, we were greeted with the simultaneous
discharge of their heavy broadsides—each vessel
mounting from ten to fifteen guns a side.
Fortunately, I had made all hands lie flat on deck,
to avoid the coming fire, which, ill aimed and
irregular, mostly flew high above our heads,
tearing huge rents in our sails, but only wounding
one man with a splinter from the mainmast.

"Scarcely had the last shot whizzed and
hurtled through our rigging when my men