The _Strong Arm_ rejoined from Hong-Kong after having buried her men in the Happy Valley cemetery, and she, too, added to Captain Helston’s anxieties by developing considerable engine-room defects, and by having eaten up half her coal. Hunter, eager to arrive at the scene of action and not to miss any of the fighting, had pressed her through head seas at the greatest speed he could get out of her, with the result that for six days she was practically useless, with every artificer in the squadron tinkering away at her bearings and condensers. Fortunately the weather held fair, and by repairing only one main engine at a time she was able to crawl away from the island each night and crawl back in the morning, lying most of the day utterly unable to assist in a fight if the pirates had come out. Each night the destroyers "No. 2" and "No. 3" crept inshore to cut off any issuing torpedo-boats, but, after their first fatal attempt, none attempted a sortie, and, save that on occasions when Mr. Lang or Mr. Parker ventured within gunshot during daylight and drew a sulky warning fire from the batteries on each side of the entrance, there were no signs of life and nothing to remind them that, hidden behind those rocks and wooded slopes, hundreds of cunning, slit-like eyes were keeping watch. With the weather fair and the sea calm the destroyers coaled without difficulty from the little _Sylvia_, and in four days of arduous work the _Laird_ and the _Strong Arm_ also filled up their bunkers. It can easily be imagined how difficult, how dangerous, and how slow was this operation in an open sea, with the chance of the pirates coming out at any time to interrupt it, or the wind and sea rising and making it impossible. However, Captain Helston’s luck held, and in six days’ time he had all his bunkers full, and the _Strong Arm_ repaired sufficiently well to rely upon getting sixteen or seventeen knots out of her. But he had no definite plans to act upon. After seven months’ hard work, during which he had overcome a thousand difficulties, he had brought his little squadron to the scene of action, but, once having reached his goal, he seemed to lose his power of initiative, and instead of making the first move himself, he waited for the enemy to do so. Day succeeded day and nothing was done. Each night, with lights out, the _Laird_, _Strong Arm_, and _Sylvia_ vanished into the darkness, rejoined each other at a given rendezvous next morning at earliest daybreak, and moved in towards the island. The destroyers sleepily would join them after their night’s watching, and there the squadron would lie till sunset came, and the same routine commenced again. To the Commander of the squadron and to all his officers, to say nothing of the men, it became very apparent that events had reached an impasse.