202 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



rock, and the water, which was high when we grounded, 

 far too low to float her off again. That there was a 

 perceptible tidal rise and fall we had ocular demon- 

 stration, but its amount was considerably dependent 

 upon the strength and direction of the wind ; and it 

 was not to be wondered at, when we remembered that 

 our distance from the mouth of the river was already 

 one hundred and fifty miles. 



Grateful, therefore, as we felt for the ready aid 

 given by Captain Barker and the other commanders, 

 and full of admiration and pride for the gallant ship's 

 company and officers, who entered with such zeal and 

 unwearied exertion into all the heavy labour imposed 

 upon them, we could not but feel that, after all, our 

 speedy escape must depend upon that Cherub who 

 looks after the winds and waters. And he did not 

 fail us ; for on the evening of the 1 8th the wind came 

 up the river, the tide rose to its proper height, and we 

 popped off the rock just as we had popped on to its 

 summit. The 20th of November found us at early 

 dawn hastening onward, for Nankin was to be our 

 next stage. The Dove and Lee gunboats were now 

 ahead, pilot-fish to the big sharks that followed in 

 their wake. The early sun touched the sad ruins of 

 Golden Island, the levelled homesteads of Kwachow, 

 and the barely-to-be-recognised entrance of what was 

 once the Grand Canal, amongst which, as if in mock- 

 ery, flaunted here and there the gay pennons of the 

 Imperialist forces. The sight was a sickening one, 



