ip's bows."

The destroyer leaped from under our bows like a frightened thing, though
not so quickly but that we caught her quarter with the rounding of our
bows and gave her a pretty severe shaking up. Her skipper shook his
fist at us and stamped on the bridge with fury. Then he raised his
megaphone again and hailed:

"You infernal scoundrel, I'll make you suffer for that outrage!
Heave-to at once, or I'll fire into you."

The boat was sweeping round on a starboard helm, and was now running
practically parallel to us, at a distance of about a hundred feet.

"You will fire into me, if I don't stop, you say? Is Russia at war with
my country, then?" hailed Kusumoto.

There was silence for a minute or two aboard the destroyer, during which
the two officers on her bridge consulted eagerly together. We could see
that her engine-room telegraph stood at "Full speed," yet, strange to
say, she was only just holding her own with us. Then the commander of
her again raised his megaphone.

"My instructions are that I am to examine the papers of all foreign
vessels passing down the Red Sea," he shouted; "and I must insist that
you heave-to and let me board you."

"I shall do nothing of the kind," retorted our skipper. "I do not admit
your right to board me, so try it if you dare. I believe you are
nothing less than a pirate masquerading as a Russian ship of war; and I
shall treat you accordingly if you do not sheer off."

This defiance was more than enough for the proud and choleric Russian,
accustomed to have his every order servilely obeyed. Such unparalleled
insolence from a "little yellow-skinned monkey"--as the Russians had
already begun to dub the Japanese--and in the presence of his own crew,
too! It was unendurable, and must be severely punished. He called an
order, and the Russian seamen, who had been standing about the deck,
listening half-amused and half-indignant, to the altercation, made a
move in the direction of the destroyer's 4-pounder and her port torpedo
deck tube. But our skipper had been expecting and keenly on the watch
for such a move, and he now hailed again:

"Destroyer ahoy! Keep away from the tube and the gun, you men! If I
see a man attempt to approach either, I will sweep your decks with Maxim
fire. Do you hear what I say?"--as half a dozen men continued to slouch
toward the tube. "Open fire, there, the starboard Maxim!"

Nakamura was at the gun mentioned, which he was keeping st