THE NIMROD HOTLY ENGAGED. 297 their attention from the Cormorant, and attracting their concentrated fire on herself. For about a quarter of an hour we held the distinguished post of engaging single-handed the whole three forts. Presently, however, the four French gunboats, two of them on their way to support the Cormorant, and the other two (Avalanche and Dragonne), our supports, came slowly up the strong tide and the narrow river considerably embarrassed the movements of these craft, which were of unwieldy construction and insufficient steam-power. However, when the Avalanche and Dragonne did get into position, just ahead of us, they did their work well, and for the next halfhour we all three hammered away at the forts with great good-will and pertinacity, the Tartars standing to their guns better than we anticipated. The shot for the most part passed over us, some of them flying as high as the top-gallant cross-trees. went through the topsail yard, and we saw them bobbing in all directions into the river beyond us. The French gunboats had poops; to this may no doubt be attributed the mortality among the officers: they lost no less than four killed, and only two men, if we exclude those killed afterwards by an explosion. One The Nimrod was hulled in half-a-dozen places, but we had only one man killed, and three wounded. The gingall fire was more telling than that of their large guns. The construction of a Chinese battery renders it a somewhat difficult matter to silence them effectually. Behind the gun is a bomb-proof cham 298 CHINESE ARTILLERY-PRACTICE. ber, containing the ammunition, and to which the men run for shelter. After the gun is discharged, the gunners disappear into this retreat, and remain there until the enemy, having given the battery a benefit of shot and shell without reply, conclude it to be silenced; then the gunners stealthily emerge, and try if possible to load and fire the gun without being perceived, rushing back to their hiding-place immediately afterwards. Of course, upon this system the firing can never be very rapid, but there is no reason why it should not last for ever, unless the gun is disabled ; to prevent this, they generally run it behind the solid earthwork after it is fired. By minute investigation with an opera-glass, we could often detect the gunners popping like rabbits out of a warren, from the chamber into the battery, and then a shell, judiciously dropped amongst them, would shut up the gun for a quarter of an hour. As, however, there were 140 guns altogether in position, a good deal of firing went on notwithstanding. A little before eleven, the Admirals, followed by their fleet of gunboats, passed up the river, receiving on their way a good many stray shots that passed over us. As the interest was now to be transferred to their operations, I went up with my companion to the maintop of the Nimrod, from whence we obtained a magnificent bird's-eye view of the scene. The batteries, with their active garrisons, lay immediately at our feet. We could see the gunners running in and out of their chambers, and working away like |