These two—Ping Sang and Ho Ming—were sitting in the latter’s smoking-room on the evening of December 21 smoking their after-dinner cigars, whilst A Tsi, Ho Ming’s confidential clerk and comprador, was detailing the results of his enquiries among the native floating population. They were interrupted by an obsequious, white-gowned butler, who advanced through the mat-screened doorway and handed a letter to Ping Sang—a letter which Captain Helston had written from Singapore. "The Imperial Chinese Ship _Laird_, Singapore, _14th December_. DEAR MR. PING SANG, My last letter reporting the proceedings of my squadron was written from Colombo on my arrival. I left that harbour on the morning of December 2, and proceeded to sea at easy speed, leaving destroyer ’No. 1’ to await the arrival of the two Patagonian destroyers left behind at Aden, and destroyer ’No. 2’ to keep touch with the third destroyer if she attempted to leave harbour within twenty-four hours of my departure. They both rejoined me on 5th December at full speed, and reported the arrival of the two destroyers six hours after I had left, and that they made no immediate preparations for sea. After recoaling ’No. 1’ and ’No. 2’ from the _Sylvia_ store-ship, a process which occupied seven or eight hours on account of a strong breeze and a slight sea, I proceeded at thirteen knots, and reached Singapore without further incident, anchoring in the outer harbour. Here I was met by a collier, chartered in Cardiff under sealed orders, and am at present completing the coaling of my squadron. I have determined, after the incidents of the dynamite cartridges on the way out to Gibraltar and again at Malta, to take no more coal from shore, and have arranged for a collier to meet me at Hong-Kong. Our men will alone handle the coal, so there shall be no further chance of foul play. The man Hopkins is still under close arrest, and I consider that this course will be more conducive to the safety of the expedition than handing him over to the civil authorities, with my proofs of his complicity not yet substantiated. The fact also that he is an American citizen would open up many legal difficulties, and after the lengthy diplomatic representations as a result of Parker’s opening fire on the Patagonian, it is advisable to steer clear of these shoals in future. This morning I received a wire from Colombo informing me that the Patagonians had not yet left, and that one was still undergoing repairs. I shall leave to-morrow, and, as the monsoon is fairly strong, I have dismounted the guns and the search-lights of all three destroyers to lighten them as far as possible. The mail is just leaving, and by the time you receive this letter I shall be slowly punching my way against the monsoon. I hope to be in Hong-Kong not later than the 22nd.