reply a German sniper, taking
careful but faulty aim, sent a bullet which removed three out of the
eleven hairs on the signalman's moustache. Two days later, days notable
for torrential rains, which intensified the discomforts of the troops
ashore, the Japanese suffered a severe naval loss. The _Takachiho_, an
old cruiser of some 3,000 tons, which had seen service in the
Chino-Japanese War, was on patrol duty on Saturday night, October 17,
when she fouled a mine, released by and adrift in the rough seas.
Destroyers hastened to her aid, but rescue work was difficult in the
darkness and the heavy weather. The cruiser sank rapidly. Two hundred
and seventy-one officers and seamen lost their lives. The rough weather
which contributed to the disaster continued with little break, and
hindered operations, till the end of the month. The landing of the Sikh
contingent at Laoshan Bay on October 21 was, indeed, attended by great
difficulties and some loss of life. A strong southerly gale had raised
high seas, and enormous lighters and sampans, employed for
disembarkation, were thrown high and dry upon the beach. Sixteen
Japanese were drowned in trying to save other boats that broke loose.
The Sikhs got safely ashore, but next morning again the winds blew and
the rains descended, and the camping-ground was soon a miry pool.
Circumstances other than the weather, however, helped to put the British
officers out of humour. Trouble ahead threatened in connexion with
transport arrangements. While the Chinese carts and drivers, brought
hurriedly from Tientsin, were doubtfully reliable, many of the mules
were raw and quite unused to harness. When a start for the front was
preparing on the morning of the 23rd, it was found that the best of the
harness, which had been purchased from peasants in the locality, had
been stolen in the night by the people who had brought it in, and that
what was left was tied up with string. The column, however, at length
set off, and made a march memorable for hardship and difficulty. From
Laoshan to Lutin, where a metalled road began, was 30 miles, crossed by
a track formed at one time by quagmire, at another by slippery boulders.
During eleven hours 6 miles were covered, by which time the Sikhs were
completely exhausted with digging carts or mules out of the mud, hauling
them out with drag-ropes, reloading overturned carts, or unloading those
immovable. Next day the column was on the road at seven o'clock, and
c