on
deck. Right before us, at the entrance to the inner harbor, lay the
Russian cruiser Jemtchug. Steaming toward her at full speed came the
German cruiser Emden, her bow guns belching forth vast clouds of
smoke, through which the flash of the guns could just be
distinguished. She was less than half a mile away. After what seemed
to me an interminable delay, the surprised Jemtchug started to reply
with her small guns, and the din grew greater and greater.

"As the Emden came on she swerved slightly out of her course and
steamed down the far side of the channel, thus bringing her broadside
guns to bear on the Jemtchug, which by this time was literally
spitting fire. The range now was less than 300 yards, and the
execution being done must have been terrible. We noticed, however,
that the greater number of the Russian shells were 'carrying over.'

"The Emden now changed her course again, to the right, and disappeared
behind a group of several tramp steamers so as to enable her to turn
around without unduly exposing herself. While she was doing this the
firing diminished greatly, owing to the disinclination on the part of
either, I imagine, wantonly to damage harmless merchant vessels. No
sooner had she started on her way out of the harbor, however, than the
din arose once more.

"Just at this time the French torpedo boat Fronde dropped back from
her position alongside us and started in to take part in the melee
with a machine gun. This caused the Emden to devote part of her time
to us, and we were made the objective of a severe machine-gun fire
which, owing to our position in the shadow of the pier and of the fact
that the light was very poor, did little or no damage. Nevertheless,
it was rather disconcerting to hear the rattle of lead on the
corrugated iron sheds behind us.

"By this time the Emden must have realized that at such close quarters
she was subject to the danger of a torpedo attack, (although as a
matter of fact no effort seemed to have been made along these lines,)
and she accordingly started up the north channel toward the outer
harbor at full speed, firing broadside after broadside at the
Jemtchug, now badly crippled.

"Suddenly, as the two cruisers were abreast and no more than 150 yards
from one another, there was a tremendous crash. The Jemtchug heaved up
amidships, there was another detonation even louder than the first,
and she sank before I could realize what had happened. All that
remained was