A rough pier jutted out from it, with a big steamer tied up to the end of it, and even as I looked they were lowering a mast into her with the aid of some tall sheer-legs.
Higher up behind the town were some bungalows—one of them was probably Hopkins's house, I thought—and the whole side of the hill was green with cultivation, the steep slopes terraced out in squares like a chess-board. Above these the hill was too steep for even Chinese to cultivate, and finished off in a flat peak much higher than any other point in the island. We all had noticed this hill from the sea.
Still farther towards the left, and under rather high land, were four cruisers moored head and stern. One I thought was very like the cruiser that had driven off "No. 2" and "No. 3" when we sank the destroyer outside the island.
"That is the Hong Lu," the Commander told me when I asked him.
"What guns can you make out?"
It was difficult to see accurately, for she was lying bows on towards us, but she seemed to have a gun about the size of a 6-inch on her fo'c'stle, and three on each side in small sponsons.
"Those other three are the Yao Yuen, Mao Yuen, and the Tu Ping," said the Commander, "and they seem to have all their guns aboard. But what do you make of the funny-looking craft moored right inshore?"
"Why, she's an ironclad, sir," I whispered, "with two turrets!"
"Yes; but has she any guns?"
I looked very carefully but could not see any. From a port in one turret something projected, but only a little way, and it looked ragged at the end.