The Northern forces of Chang Tso-lin have not actively followed
up the defeated army of Yen Hsi-shan, and the delay suggests that negotiations have been renewed. Another possible explanation is that the exhaustion and the damage to bridges and railways are greater than are usual after Chinese battles. The split between the Nationalist cities of Nanking and Hankow has become wider, and the most eminent of the Hankow Generals has been denounced as a traitor. Mean- while a British submarine has tackled with brilliant success some of the notorious pirates of Bias Bay. The ' Irene,' a merchant steamer belonging to Shanghai, was captured by pirates in the usual fashion. They had disguised themselves as passengers, and overwhelmed the ship's officers. When the ' Irene' was entering Bias Bay, the ship's officers navigating her at the point of the pirates' pistols, she was challenged by Lieutenant F. J. C. Halahan, in command of Submarine L4, who suspected that something was wrong. Having fired into her engine room, he took his submarine alongside the disabled and blazing steamer. He saved the vast majority of the passengers and all the European officers, and captured most of the pirates.
