ing, family loving American, I shall miss not
hearing very much, and not being able to tell you all how I love you.

DICK.

DALNY, July 27th, 1904.

DEAR MOTHER:

We left Shimonoseki three days ago and have had very pleasant going on
the Heijo Maru a small but well run ship of 1,500 tons. Fox and I got
one of the two best rooms and I have been very comfortable. We are at
anchor now at a place of no interest except for its sunsets.

We have just been told as the anchor is being lowered that we can send
letters back by the Island, so I can just dash this off before leaving.
We have reached Dalny and I have just heard the first shot fired which
was to send me home. All the others came and bid John and me a
farewell as soon as we were sure it was the sound of cannon. However,
as it is 20 miles away I'll have to hang on until I get a little
nearer. We have had a very pleasant trip even though we were delayed
two days by fog and a slow convoy. Now we are here at Dalny. It looks
not at all like its pictures, which, as I remember them were all taken
in winter. It is a perfectly new, good brick barracks-like town. I am
landing now. The two servants seem very satisfactory and I am in
excellent health. Today Cecil has been four days at Hong Kong. Please
send the gist of this letter dull as it is to Mrs. Clark. When I began
it I thought I would have plenty of time to finish it on shore. Of
course, after this all I write and this too, I suppose will be
censored. So, there will not be much liveliness. I have no taste to
expose my affections to the Japanese staff. So, goodbye.

R.

July 31st, 1904.

DEAR MOTHER:

We have been met here with a bitter disappointment. We are all to be
sent north, although only 18 hours away. We can hear the guns at Port
Arthur the fall of which they promised us we would see. To night we
are camping out in one of the Russian barracks. To-morrow we go,
partly by horse and partly by train. A week must elapse before we can
get near headquarters. And then we have no guarantee that we will see
any fighting. This means for me a long delay. It is very
disappointing and the worst of the many we have suffered in the last
four months. I have written Cecil asking her to seriously think of
going home but I am afraid she will not. Were it not for that and the
disappointment one feels in travelling a week's journey away from the
sound of guns I would be content. My horse is