"I took the _Strong Arm_ as far inshore as I dared, after picking up my boats’ crews (they had been fired upon in the most wanton manner), and shelled her at point-blank range. In ten minutes I had the satisfaction of seeing a large explosion aft; a great gap was made in her side, she heeled to port till the water reached the base of her funnels, and half her deck was submerged. She was evidently too badly damaged to be floated. "This being done, I returned to Hong-Kong and moored to my buoy at 9.25 P.M. "Very little damage has been sustained by this ship, and it can be repaired without assistance from the shore. "I regret, however, to report the following casualties:— "Killed: One petty officer and five men. "Wounded: Three officers, two petty officers, and thirty-five men. "I have the honour to be, &c., "RICHARD HUNTER, Commander R.N., "Captain of H.I.M.S. _Strong Arm_." *CHAPTER XII* *A Council of War* The "Strong Arm" Returns—Boarding the "_Hai Yen_"—Jenkins—The Council of War—Ping Sang’s Chart—Cummins has a Plan—Ping Sang Remembers Captain Helston, with his left arm bandaged to his side, and one empty sleeve of his monkey jacket flapping in the wind, was on deck to see "No. 1" slip from her buoy and start on her fatal voyage. No sooner had her dark hull disappeared in the morning mist than he began to regret having sent her. A fit of his old irresolution returned, and he would have recalled her had she been within signalling distance. He sent for Cummins—a grotesque-looking object in the early morning, unshaven and wearing a pair of huge sea-boots. "You know, Cummins," he began, "I have a feeling that something will happen to her. There is no knowing but that she will poke her nose into some trouble. What induced me to trust to their word of honour I don’t know, and it may simply be a trap to recapture Hopkins." "Ha! ha! ha!" chuckled Cummins, chewing his toothpick, "it’s too late now, sir; we can’t communicate with her." "Well, don’t you think it might be advisable to get up steam and follow her." "Can’t manage it, sir. They are refitting the starboard low-pressure piston-ring, and it won’t be ready for another twenty-four hours. You might send the _Strong Arm_, though. I was always averse to trusting that Englishman’s word." Helston, to tell the truth, was somewhat nettled at Cummins’s influence on board and his somewhat arbitrary manner, and the implied "I told you so" irritated him to a degree. So, saying sharply, "Very well, we’ll let her go alone," went down to his breakfast. But ten minutes later he again changed his mind, and made a signal which resulted in the _Strong Arm’s_ rapid departure.