After his friend had gone, Phil, with his boatswain’s mate, looked carefully over the situation. He saw with joy that the enemy had left a great store of ammunition for the artillery pieces, and that the guns were similar to those his men used for drill on board ship. He started his men to work with a will and in a few minutes they had turned the guns’ muzzles away from the mission and directed them toward the line of the enemy’s flight. “This is the very thing, sir,” O’Neil cried, showing the midshipman a shell which he recognized at once as canister; “they can’t do much against us if we can find plenty of that kind.” Phil immediately ordered a search, with the result that nearly half of all the ammunition boxes were found to contain these deadly cartridges. Scarcely had the survey been completed when the Americans found themselves suddenly subjected to a heavy musketry fire from the direction taken by the fleeing enemy; the lad could see distinctly shadowy forms darting here and there from behind the mound-like graves, and each moment the figures drew closer and seemed bolder; Phil realized that their enemy had been rallied in its precipitous retreat by a trusted leader and now the reassured Chinese were advancing intent upon recapturing the guns which they had abandoned in their demoralized stampede. A few of his men had already opened fire upon the misty forms, but the lad saw at once that the battery could not be saved by the weak fire of less than a hundred rifles. “Cease firing!” he shouted above the increasing din of battle. “To the guns, men; load with canister!” Obediently the sailors dropped their rifles and took their stations at the four guns, the leading men, petty officers, instructing those under them as coolly as if they were but drilling recruits on board ship. Phil heard the metallic rasping of the shells as they were loaded into the breeches of the guns and the silvery ring of the breech plugs thrown quickly shut. The guns’ crews stood silently ready, waiting for the word from their young leader. Controlling his excitement, the lad delayed the expectant word to open fire; the Chinese, in their eagerness to discredit the bravery of their enemy, mistook the silence to mean that the foreigners had retreated and came boldly on, shouting their fanatical war-songs and exposing their numbers to the view of the Americans waiting to open upon them with their own artillery. The sailors trained their artillery pieces in silence, keeping the muzzles pointed in the direction of the reckless horde of delirious Chinamen.