t after a
destroyer which was in full flight, heading toward Pigeon Bay.

Scarcely had this reply been given when the sounds of light gun-fire
faintly reached our ears from the direction mentioned, and a few minutes
later two destroyers, flying the Russian flag, came foaming round the
point, firing as they came, while close behind them appeared our two
missing boats, also firing for all they were worth. The Russian boats
were running in "line ahead," and it seemed to me that the skipper of
the leading boat was manoeuvring her in such a manner as to keep his
consort as nearly as possible between himself and the pursuers; at all
events the sternmost boat seemed to be getting the biggest share of the
pursuers' fire.

At once I shouted an order for the men engaged upon our repairs to
hasten their work and bring it to some sort of finish, at the same time
signing the quartermaster to put his helm hard over, my intention of
course being to go back and render such assistance as might be required,
while the _Asashio_ kept on and stood by Ito, who had his hands full
with his severed steam pipe.

But it was impossible for us now to steam at a greater speed than about
three knots, for had we attempted to do so, we should have washed
overboard the men who were making the repairs, as well as washed the
repairs themselves away, in their uncompleted state; consequently, long
before we could get near the scene of action, the fight was over. One
of the destroyers--the leading one--managed to get safely into the
harbour, while the other, which turned out to be the _Stercguschtchi_,
riddled with shells, lost speed to such an extent that at length the
_Sazanami_ was able to run alongside and throw a boarding party upon her
deck. They found that deck a veritable shambles, no less than thirty
dead being counted upon it. Naturally, they took the craft without any
resistance worth mentioning, for there were very few left to resist,
while, of those who remained, the greater number jumped overboard rather
than surrender. Of these, only two were picked up, while two others,
too badly wounded to either fight or take to the water, surrendered.

At once the _Sazanami_ took her prize in tow; but the craft was so
seriously damaged that, despite all efforts to save her, she rapidly
filled and sank, the towing hawser parting as she foundered.

Meanwhile the _Akebono_ was in a somewhat parlous condition, for during
the fight she had been struck