sea boots; yet the staunch little
vessels, though rolling and pitching in the most distracting manner,
rode like gulls the seas which, to us, seemed to be literally running
"mountains high." True, our speed was only about twelve knots; what the
_Kasanumi's_ behaviour would probably have been at double that speed, in
such a sea, I shuddered to think. But I was destined to _know_, in the
not-far-distant future.

When Ito, my lieutenant, called me at midnight to relieve him, he
informed me that a wireless message had just been received from the
flagship, ordering a shift of helm for the Elliot group of islands,
distant some sixty miles from Port Arthur, and for the speed to be
increased to sixteen knots, which order he had acknowledged and
executed, as I discovered, the moment I tumbled out of my hammock; for
the boat was kicking up her heels more madly than ever, while every few
seconds there resounded a heavy thud on the deck overhead, and the craft
shivered from stem to stern as she drove her sharp nose into the heart
of a great comber, throwing the water in tons over herself. This was
the rough side of work aboard a destroyer, with a vengeance, and I spent
four miserable hours on the navigating bridge, drenched to the skin, and
pierced to the marrow by the bitter cold. All things come to an end,
however, sooner or later; and about two o'clock next day we steamed into
the sheltered waters of the Elliot Islands and came to an anchor. This
was the spot which the Admiral had selected to serve as a rendezvous and
lurking-place from which he could sally forth with a good chance of
cutting off the Port Arthur fleet, should it venture to stray far from
the shelter of the fortress; and subsequently it was often referred to
in his dispatches as "a certain place."

CHAPTER FOUR.

THE COUNCIL IN THE MIKASA'S CABIN.

As we entered the roadstead we found there, at anchor, a small Chinese
junk of such a dilapidated and weather-beaten appearance that she seemed
as though she might go to pieces at any moment. She was flying the
Japanese mercantile flag, a white flag with a red ball in the centre--
which is also the Japanese "Jack," and I soon learned that in her case,
as in many others, appearances were deceptive, for I was assured that
she was as staunch as staunch could be. She was officered and manned by
a Chinese crew, and she was ostensibly loaded with bricks; but
surrounded by these bricks, which were only a blind,