ies had thought out every minutest detail, that within
three hours, three thousand troops, horse, foot, and artillery, with all
their kit and camp equipment complete, were transferred from the shore
to the transports, and the latter had signalled that they were ready to
get under way.

It was not, however, until shortly before two o'clock in the afternoon
that the signal was made for the fleet to weigh and proceed to sea, by
which time every ship was under a full head of steam; and then the
fleet, which up to then had lain quiescent, burst into strenuous but
orderly activity. Officers on the several bridges seized megaphones and
shouted orders through them; boatswain's whistles shrilled and
boatswain's lungs bellowed, "Clear lower deck! Hands up anchor, ahoy!"
the massive cables began to quiver and clank as they were hove in; the
flagship became a very rainbow of rapidly changing signal flags;
answering pennants appeared like magic and vanished again; hundreds of
sampans and craft of every description--anything and everything that
would float, apparently--loaded with men and women, all frantic with
patriotic excitement, put off from the shore and formed a sort of lane
for the fleet to steam through, the men yelling "Banzai!" until it
seemed as though their throats would crack, while the women--many of
whom were very pretty, while all looked charmingly demure--urged the
boatmen to pull in as close as possible to the ships, that they might
strew with artificial flowers the water through which we were about to
pass. The military bands aboard the transports were playing what I
supposed to be patriotic airs, from the applause which they evoked,
steam was roaring from the safety valves, fussy little tugs were rushing
hither and thither, and at the precise moment when the water under the
_Mikasa's_ counter broke into a sudden swirl and the ship began to move,
a transient gleam of wintry sunshine burst through the clouds and fell
full upon her! It was the finishing touch; everybody unquestioningly
accepted it as an omen of victory and triumph, and the thousands afloat
and ashore incontinently went mad with joy. And indeed there was every
excuse for so much enthusiasm, for we presented a truly imposing sight
as we swept out to sea, a fleet consisting of six battleships, six
armoured cruisers, four 23-knot light cruisers, six protected cruisers,
and eighteen destroyers, surrounding the six transports. The primary
object of