a flotilla consisting of ten torpedo-boats under my
command, their duty being to lend a hand generally in any manner that
might be required.

There was just comfortable time for us to re-bunker the _Kasanumi_
before six o'clock, at which hour we got under way, the expedition as a
whole being under the command of Rear-Admiral Misamichi, who knew the
locality well, having carefully reconnoitred the whole of the western
coast of the peninsula a week or two earlier. I had by this time
completed all my calculations, laid down upon the chart the positions of
my series of buoys, and indicated in figures the exact measurements in
yards from the lines which they marked to a number of points ashore, and
a copy of this chart had been handed to each captain; they were
therefore now in a position to steam in and open fire forthwith, with
the absolute certainty of landing their shots upon the spots aimed at.

We were rather a slow-going lot, our speed of course being regulated by
that of the slowest craft of the bunch, which happened to be the old
_Hei-yen_; and our progress was further impeded by the circumstance
that, upon rounding Liao-ti-shan promontory we ran into a westerly
breeze and sea that flung our torpedo-boats about like corks and
necessitated our slowing down to a speed of about eight knots; in
consequence of which it was late the next night when we arrived and came
to an anchor well out in deep water.

And now arose a little difficulty. We started to communicate by
wireless to General Oku the fact of our arrival in the bay, by code of
course; but such was the Russian keenness and activity that the moment
their own wireless picked up our message,--as, of course, it was bound
to do,--finding that it was in a code which they could not decipher,
they immediately proceeded to "mix" it so effectually that the reading
of it became impossible. The first word or two, however, reached Oku,
and he at once, shrewdly surmising that the message was from us,
proceeded to signal us by searchlight, using an adaptation of the Morse
Code. The conversation thus carried on was a lengthy one, occupying
more than an hour, when it suddenly ceased, and almost immediately
afterward the Admiral signalled me to proceed on board the flagship.
This was much more easily said than done, for by this time it was
blowing a moderate gale, and the sea was running so heavily that it was
as much as my boat could do to live in it, while as for getting