able fate to which the _Hitachi_ was
doomed, and of which the captors and captives on the _Wolf_ were the
only witnesses. But one man among us refused to look on--the Japanese
Captain refused to be a spectator of the wilful destruction of his ship,
which had so long been his home. Her sinking meant for him the utter
destruction of his hopes and an absolute end to his career. The struggle
was a long one--it was pathetic beyond words to watch it, and there was
a choky feeling in many a throat on the _Wolf_--for some time it even
seemed as if the _Hitachi_ were going to snatch one more victory from
the sea; she seemed to be defying the efforts of the waves to devour
her, as, gently rolling, she shook herself free from the gradually
encroaching water; but she was slowly getting lower in the water, and
just before two o'clock there were signs that she was settling fast. Her
well deck forward was awash; we could see the waves breaking on it;
exactly at two o'clock her bows went under, and soon her funnel was
surrounded with swirling water; it disappeared, and with her propellers
high in the air she dived slowly and slantingly down to her great grave,
and at one minute past two the sea closed over her. Twenty-five minutes
had elapsed since the explosion of the last bomb. The Germans said she
and her cargo were worth a million sterling when she went down.

[Illustration: NIPPON YUSEN KAISHA S.S. _HITACHI MARU_.]

There was great turmoil on the sea for some time after the ship
disappeared; the ammunition house on the poop floated away, a fair
amount of wreckage also came away, an oar shot up high into the air from
one of the hatches, the sodium lights attached to one of the lifebuoys
ignited and ran along the water, and then the _Wolf_, exactly like a
murderer making sure that the struggles of his victim had finally
ceased, moved away from the scene of her latest crime. Never shall we
forget the tragedy of that last half-hour in the life of the _Hitachi
Maru_.

Thus came to an end the second of the Nippon Yushen Kaisha fleet bearing
the name of _Hitachi Maru_. The original ship of that name had been sunk
by the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War. Our ill-fated vessel had
taken her place. It will savour of tempting Providence if another ship
ever bears her unfortunate name, and no sailor could be blamed for
refusing to sail in her.

CHAPTER V

LIFE ON THE "WOLF"

Life on the _Wolf_ was very different from life on t