"They have not died directly serving their Queen or their Country (we are, as you know, lent to the Chinese Government), and this makes the sacrifice of their lives all the more bitter, and it will be still more deeply felt by their relatives at home.
"But though they were not serving under the British Admiralty, remember that what they have done here, on this hilltop, will add to the glory of our navy, and help to keep alive its fighting spirit.
"The Royal Navy has not been tried severely for many generations, and it is such a deed as this—the defence of One Gun Hill—which increases the confidence the navy has in itself to maintain its old traditions untarnished when the hour of trial shall come.
"Rest assured that the lives which have been lost since we left England will not have been wasted if we—those who are dead and those who are alive—have helped even a little to increase the honour and prestige of the Royal Navy.
"Men, remember the mess-mates you are leaving here, even as you would wish to be remembered yourselves."
Helston always "fancied" himself at speech-making, and was almost cheerful as he and I walked down the hill together and stopped on the slopes to watch a crowd of surrendered coolies who had been set to work to bury their own dead.
* * * * *
For a week after the capture of the island of Hong Lu the gale blew with such fury that Helston could not venture out of the snug harbour.
During this time practically the whole of the Chinamen had surrendered, and were employed by Ping Sang and A Tsi to bury their dead countrymen, and afterwards to load the merchant ships with what goods had been saved from the great fire and prepare them for departure. Among the coolies were sufficient seamen to form crews for all the captured merchantmen, and the survivors of the men-of-war's crews were also set to work on board the remaining cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo-boats to get them in a fit state to steam to the mainland.
Personally I should have hesitated to send these men aboard their own ships again, but Ping Sang and A Tsi never doubted the expediency of this course, and their trust was not misplaced, for they worked with such energy that in a very few days the ships were ready for sea, and cleaner probably than they had ever been.