many of us could
make a good guess, eh?"

"If I were asked to guess, I should say, Pi-tse-wo," answered I.

"And very probably, my dear Swinburne, you would be honourably correct,"
answered Ito, as he waved his hand and smilingly bowed himself out.

A little later I was honoured by a visit from Togo himself, with whom I
believed myself to be something of a favourite, although Togo's
favouritism never took the form of sparing the favoured one, or giving
him easy work to execute; on the contrary, the most infallible sign that
a man was in the Admiral's favour was the assignment to him of some
exceptionally difficult, arduous, or dangerous task. He had, of course,
already heard of my adventure from Kamimura, but he wanted to hear the
story from my own lips, and he also had several questions to ask me. He
remained with me nearly an hour, and was most friendly and kind in his
manner, expressing regret at my sufferings--such as they were--and the
hope that I should soon be well enough to resume duty.

To my surprise, the Admiral called again, somewhat late in the
afternoon. He was very busy, he said, being engaged on the task of
arranging for the convoy of General Oku's Second Army, consisting of
70,000 men, the task of whom was to assist in the reduction of Port
Arthur. He expected to be away a full week, at least, possibly longer,
and the object of his visit was to explain to me that, aboard the
transports in harbour were all the materials for the construction of a
great "boom," eight miles long, to be carried from the island of
Kwang-lung-tau, the most westerly of the Elliot group, to the mainland.
Similar booms had already been run from island to island of the group,
and the new, big boom would render the rendezvous immune to attack from
the land to the northward. His object in looking me up, now, was in
connection with the construction of this new, big boom. It appeared
that, after leaving me that morning, he had encountered the physician
who had charge of the hospital, and that official had expressed the
opinion that, in the course of the next three or four days, I might
probably be sufficiently recovered to be discharged from the hospital,
and be employed upon light duties, such as those of superintendence, or
anything which did not involve personal exertion.

That remark had suggested an idea to Togo, the result of which was his
second call upon me, to inquire whether I knew anything about the
construction