ch other. I
heard to-day that Hayashi, seeing what was coming, made the signal to
postpone the attempt; but we never saw the signal, and went on, rolling
and plunging through the short, choppy seas in the most uncomfortable
manner.

"It appears that the alarm was first given to the Russians, about two
o'clock next morning, by the appearance of what looked like a
searchlight, far out at sea, directed full upon the mouth of the
harbour. Of course the searchlight on Golden Hill was at once brought
into play, and it chanced that as the beam swept the sea, five of our
torpedo-boats were sighted, attempting to slip into the harbour. It was
a thousand pities that they were prematurely discovered, for their
skippers had formed a bold plan to enter the harbour and torpedo every
ship they could find, taking their chance of being able to get away
afterward. But of course their discovery frustrated that plan, for so
hot a fire was opened upon them by three Russian gunboats which were
guarding the harbour's mouth, that to have persisted would have meant
their destruction. So they were obliged to retire; for the Admiral
would not have thanked them for throwing away their boats uselessly.

"Then the searchlight picked up the _Mikawa Maru_, which was leading
three other explosion ships straight for the harbour, and a terrific
fire was opened upon her, the Russians evidently recognising her as a
merchant ship, and guessing at her business. From Sosa's report it
appears that, having seen the flashes of the guns, firing upon our
torpedo-boats, he was under the impression that certain of the explosion
ships had already entered the harbour and were being fired upon by the
Russians; but, as he drew nearer in, his searchlight revealed his
mistake, showing him that instead of being one of the last, he was the
first to arrive; therefore he called down into the engine-room for every
ounce of steam they could give him, and went, full pelt, for the
harbour, through a perfect tornado of projectiles, great and small, few
of which, however, touched the ship, though they were lashing the sea
into spray all round her.

"Without sustaining any serious damage, the _Mikawa_ charged right into
the narrow channel at top speed. At this point she came into violent
collision with something that afterward proved to be a `boom,'
constructed of stout balks of timber, steel hawsers, and ponderous chain
cables, all strongly lashed together and stretched r