at, and then settled down as
comfortably as was possible to await the dawn. It came at last, and, as
I had expected, there very shortly afterwards arrived some forty
Manchurian fishermen from a little village, about half a mile distant.
At first they were somewhat alarmed to find the cove, and their boats,
apparently in possession of Japanese men-o'-war's-men; but I had taken
the precaution to ensure that one of my men should be capable of playing
the part of interpreter; and before long I was able not only to reassure
them but also, by a judicious admixture of cajolery and threats, to
secure their assistance in the completion of my scheme. Money appeals
to the Manchurian fisherman just as powerfully as it does to most other
people, more powerfully than it does to many, for he sees so little of
it; consequently when I intimated that I was prepared to pay the
magnificent sum of ten yen for a few hours' use of one of their boats,
with a crew of four men, the whole crowd came tumbling over one another
in their eagerness to secure the prize. I chose the boat most suitable
for my purpose, transferred my rafts and gear to her, leaving our own
boat in charge of a man who undertook to guard her with his life for the
sum of one yen; and then, in company with the other boats, which were
going fishing in the bay, we shoved off and pulled out of the cove. By
a stroke of the greatest good fortune, the day was beautifully fine and
clear, so that I was able without the slightest difficulty to get every
one of my bearings with the most absolute accuracy, and to place my
several buoys on the prearranged spots with perfect precision. The work
was successfully and most satisfactorily accomplished shortly before
noon; and now all that remained to be done was to affix the different
coloured flags to the buoys. But that part would have to be deferred
until our ships should actually come into action; otherwise our
sharp-sighted enemies might prematurely catch sight of them, and,
guessing their purpose, destroy them.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

I GO ASHORE.

An hour before midnight, launching our own boat, my crew and I pushed
out of the cove into Kinchau Bay, in readiness to board the _Kasanumi_
immediately upon her arrival from the offing.

Toward the close of the afternoon the weather had undergone a change,
becoming overcast and hazy, with a drizzling rain.

The wind, too, had shifted, and, as we pushed out of the cove, was
blowing