CHAPTER XXIX.
LIKE A BATTLE OF OLDEN TIMES.
The fight between those two splendid battle-ships Ting-Yuen of 7430 tons and the Matsushima of 4300 tons, was a combat that puts us in mind of some of the battles of olden days, when chiefs met single-handed, and before their assembled armies decided the fate of the day.
It will be observed that the Chinese ship was fully three thousand tons heavier than the Japanese, and she carried more heavy guns too.
But the admiral of the latter had skill and daring and his vessel had far greater speed, for, while the Chinaman could only steam fourteen knots, the Jap could do over seventeen. She had also more quick-firing guns, and no living thing can stand a moment before these terrible weapons of modern naval warfare.
Creggan was stationed in one barbette—the port—and his friend in another, while Goodwin worked a gun not far from our hero.
I have never had a chance of interviewing my friend the Ugly Duckling as to his feelings during their terrible ship-to-ship engagement, but it is not long since I talked with Creggan himself. He describes the battle as a fearful tempest of fire and blood.
"What were your feelings, Creggan?" I asked.
"You mean," he answered, "when we ranged up to fight the Chinese flag-ship?"
"Yes," I said.
"Well," he replied, "I cannot very well tell you. For to begin with, the Matsushima had already received her baptism of blood, and I had shuddered to see men mangled out of all shape of humanity by bursting shells, and others borne below, leaving here a limb and there a ghastly arm behind, the blood spurting fountain-like over the faces and clothes of the bearers.