as so, however; for
suddenly somebody asked, in splendid English, "Do you require anything,
gentlemen?" Our interrogator was a Russian military officer, with
several ribbons and crosses on his broad breast. We stated our
difficulty, and he very politely directed us to a French hotel, and even
accompanied us part of the way. I certainly was not prepared to hear
English spoken so well by a Rooski.

CHAPTER XII.

"Come, friends, who plough the sea,
A truce to navigation, let's take another station."

CHEFOO--NAGASAKI EN ROUTE.--JAPAN REVISITED.--
KOBE.--YOKOHAMA.

August 31st.--At the early hour of four this morning the shrill sound of
those ear-piercing instruments, the boatswains' pipes in combination,
resounded clearly and distinctly in the pure raw air, as "all hands"
summoned the sleepy crew to heave up anchor. In less than an hour,
thanks to the modern sailors' help, the steam capstan, our white wings
were spread for the expected breeze outside the harbour. As yet,
however, the wind has not been enticed, it being, as one of our
shipmates from the sister isle put it, "a dead calm, with what wind
there was dead ahead." Further on we overhauled a splendid breeze, which
caused our canvas to strain in every fibre as we careened to its
pressure. This gave us such material help that by noon of next day we
had carved a good big slice out of the six hundred miles to Nagasaki.

September 3rd.--From the greasy appearance of the moon last night, and
from a study of other varied phenomena whereby sailors, from time
immemorial, have learnt to forecast the weather, we "smelt" a change of
some sort was about to happen; and we sleepers, on turning out in the
morning, were in no wise surprised to find that the wind had headed us,
that all the sails were furled, and the ship poking her nose into a
nasty sea. But this was a blind: the clerk of the weather was evidently
meditating a stronger blow from the original direction, and had only
gone on ahead to seek some of his refractory forces to give us the full
benefit of the combination. All sail again, fast and furious we drove
through it, and succeeded in knocking "seven and a bit" out of the old
"Duke;" 'twould take something like a hurricane to persuade her to more.
We tore past Tsu-sima, an island in the Corea strait, and laughingly
cleared the run down to Nagasaki.

September 4th.--As information had reached us at Vladivostock that
cholera was raging prett