"Yes, more than a thousand."
"Two thousand?"
He screwed up his face and evidently did his best to calculate.
No, he could not tell; a thousand, yes; but two thousand he could not say, and solemnly shook his head long after A Tsi had finished.
Being a sailor, he could give more definite information about the ships. There were four cruisers and eight or nine torpedo-boats, not counting the one to which he had belonged nor the two that were wrecked.
"Has he seen the two destroyers, and are they damaged?"
Yes, he had seen them come into the harbour, and many men had been sent aboard them, but he did not know whether they were damaged.
The names of three of the cruisers were Yao Yuen, Mao Yuen, and Tu Ping. These were the three of which Ping Sang had originally informed Helston. Another he mentioned, the Hong Lu, was evidently the cruiser which had beaten off "No. 2" and "No. 3".
"Ask him if they are very fast."
"Yao Yuen, Mao Yuen?" and he shook his head. "Tu Ping?" he shook his head still more vigorously. "Hong Lu?" and he opened his hands quickly and nodded, nodding so fast that Cummins, who had just entered the cabin, with the inevitable toothpick in his mouth, chuckled "He! he! he! you'll lose your pigtail, old chap, if you aren't more careful."