erfectly safe
battle to watch. It was the first one I ever witnessed that did not
require you to calmly smoke a pipe in order to conceal the fact that you
were scared. But soothing as it was, the battle lacked what is called
the human interest. There may have been men behind the guns, but as they
were also behind Camel Hill and Saddle Mountain, eight miles away, our
eyes, like those of Mr. Samuel Weller, "being only eyes," were not able
to discover them.

Our teachers, the three Japanese officers who were detailed to tell us
about things we were not allowed to see, gazed at the scene of carnage
with well-simulated horror. Their expressions of countenance showed that
should any one move the battle eight miles nearer, they were prepared to
sell their lives dearly. When they found that none of us were looking at
them or their battle, they were hurt. The reason no one was looking at
them was because most of us had gone to sleep. The rest, with a bitter
experience of Japanese promises, had doubted there would be a battle, and
had prepared themselves with newspapers. And so, while eight miles away
the preliminary battle to Liao-Yang was making history, we were lying on
the grass reading two months' old news of the St. Louis Convention.

The sight greatly disturbed our teachers.

"You complain," they said, "because you are not allowed to see anything,
and now, when we show you a battle, you will not look."

Lewis, of the _Herald_, eagerly seized his glasses and followed the track
of the Siberian railway as it disappeared into the pass.

"I beg your pardon, but I didn't know it was a battle," he apologized
politely. "I thought it was a locomotive at Anshantien Station blowing
off steam."

And, so, teacher gave him a bad mark for disrespect.

It really was trying.

In order to see this battle we had travelled half around the world, had
then waited four wasted months at Tokio, then had taken a sea voyage of
ten days, then for twelve days had ridden through mud and dust in pursuit
of the army, then for twelve more days, while battles raged ten miles
away, had been kept prisoners in a compound where five out of the
eighteen correspondents were sick with dysentery or fever, and finally as
a reward we were released from captivity and taken to see smoke rings
eight miles away! That night a round-robin, which was signed by all, was
sent to General Oku, pointing out to him that unless we were allowed
nearer to his arm