assigning to you, but they unfortunately
lack that element of caution which you possess, in proof of which it
will be my painful duty to presently announce a series of terrible
disasters, news of which has just reached me, and three of which, at
least, I am afraid I must attribute to a lack of caution."

"Indeed, sir," I said; "I am exceeding sorry to hear that. Is it
permissible to ask particulars?"

"Oh yes," answered the Admiral, with a heavy sigh. "I should not have
mentioned the matter to you at all, but for the fact that it must very
soon have come to your ears in any case. Within three days, sir, we
have lost six war vessels, while a seventh, the _Kasuga_, has been
temporarily put out of action. And of the six lost ships, Captain, two
are battleships, the _Hatsuse_ and the _Yashima_!"

"The _Hatsuse_ and the _Yashima_! Good heavens! sir. Is it possible?"
I exclaimed.

"It is more than possible," answered Togo, with another heavy sigh, "it
is a disastrous fact. And in addition to those two ships, we have also
lost the _Yoshino_, fortunately not one of our best fast cruisers. Oh!
it is terrible, terrible! And all three disasters have occurred to-day,
within a very short space of time. The news reached me by wireless in
the interval between my sending for you and your arrival.

"It appears that while the _Yoshino, Takasago, Chitose, Kasagi_, and
_Kasuga_ were to the westward of Port Arthur this morning, just after
dawn, they ran into a patch of dense fog, while steaming through which,
the lookout aboard the _Yoshino_ sighted a floating mine a short
distance ahead. Thereupon the officer in charge seems to have
temporarily lost his presence of mind, for instead of sheering out of
the line, as it seems to me he might have done, and so avoided the mine,
he instantly stopped and reversed his engines, without warning the
_Kasuga_, which was his next astern. The inevitable result of course
was that the _Kasuga_ struck the _Yoshino_ heavily, making such a
terrible rent in her side that, in spite of collision mats, she speedily
filled, capsized, and sank, drowning over two hundred of her crew. The
_Kasuga_, badly damaged, is on her way hither, and may be expected to
arrive some time to-night.

"That disaster, however, serious as it is, is nothing compared with the
loss of the _Hatsuse_ and _Yashima_, which occurred shortly after
midday. Little did we dream, as they steamed away from here, this
morning,