ry kindly took me under his wing, and found me sleeping
quarters in a tent, the occupants of which happened to be out on duty.

Being greatly fatigued after my swim, I slept soundly that night, but
was awakened at dawn by the bugle calls, and turned out to see what the
weather was like. To my disgust, and doubtless that of everybody else,
it was worse than ever; the sky was overcast and louring, with great
rags of dirty grey scud flying athwart the face of the heavens from the
westward, while the top of Mount Sampson was completely enveloped in
mist, which, notwithstanding the gale, clung to the rugged peak and ribs
of the mountain very much as the "tablecloth" does to the summit of
Table Mountain. There was no fog down where we were, but, what was even
worse, we were smothered with blinding and suffocating clouds of dust,
for it was a dry gale, and all hands were devoutly praying that the
louring sky would dissolve into rain, if only for half an hour, just to
lay the dust and so save us from the unpleasantness of being blinded and
suffocated. As for the bay, it was just one continuous sheet of foam,
while the breakers leapt and boiled for a space of a full mile from the
beach. A single glance at it was sufficient to make it clear that it
would be impossible for the fleet to co-operate so long as the gale
lasted, even if the tossing masts and spray-enveloped hulls of our craft
in the offing had not told a similar tale. General Oshima and I walked
a couple of miles to the northward along the slopes of Mount Sampson, in
order to get a good view of the bay, clear of the northern spur of the
Nanshan Heights, just to make assurance doubly sure; but it was scarcely
necessary to point out to him the wildly plunging hulls of our ships to
make him understand the hopelessness of the case, and that once clearly
established, we hurried back to Headquarters to make our report.

Oku, however, was not the man to be deterred by weather, or indeed
anything else. Finding that the projected assault was impossible for
the moment, he resolved to begin the bombardment with his own guns,
doing the best he could with them, unaided, and accompanying the
bombardment with what he termed "a demonstration in force," in order to
bring out the Russians and compel them to man their defences while
exposed to the fire of our guns. Thus, by a curious combination of
circumstances, it appeared that at last I was to be afforded the
opportunity of see