and the working
parts shone like burnished silver and gold, while the rest was painted
green. I spent two hours aboard, making a few notes referring to
suggestions which I proposed to make to the Admiral, and then started
off to find the _Mikasa_.

This was not difficult, for the whole fleet--excepting one battleship
and two cruisers in dry dock--were lying off the dockyard, while the
_Mikasa_ was easily distinguishable, even to a stranger, from the fact
that she was flying the Admiral's flag. I noticed also that her
stem-head was decorated with a gilded conventional representation of the
open chrysanthemum, the Imperial crest. The Admiral was in his cabin, I
was informed, when I got aboard, but I was kept waiting nearly an hour
before I was admitted to his presence, for he was holding something very
much like a council of war with the officers of his fleet when I
arrived. But when at length--the council coming to an end--I was
ushered into the cabin, I could not avoid being surprised at the
wonderful courtesy and politeness which everybody exhibited to everybody
else, notwithstanding that they were all evidently so full of business
that they seemed scarcely to know which job to tackle first. As soon as
Togo caught sight of me he beckoned me forward and introduced me to as
many of those present as I had not already met, and, this done, he
handed me my appointment to the _Kasanumi_, and requested me to at once
take up my command. Then he asked me if I had any suggestions to make;
and upon my answering that I had, he opened a notebook which lay upon
the table, and jotted them down as I read them out to him, and promised
to give them early consideration. As I bowed myself out of the cabin he
called after me, advising me to see to the ordering of my uniforms at
once, as events were progressing rapidly, and there was no knowing how
soon it might be necessary for us all to go to sea. Stepping out on
deck, I encountered Captain Ijichi, the skipper of the ship, in earnest
converse with several of his officers, to whom he at once introduced me,
whereupon the First Lieutenant invited me to dine that night, aboard the
ship, as his guest, which invitation I naturally accepted.

A week of feverish activity now ensued, by the end of which time every
dock in Sasebo was empty, and every ship in the harbour ready, down to
the last ropeyarn, bunkers and magazines full, and even the fires laid
under the boilers ready to light at