seemed as though the shells were
dropping around the German trenches every minute. Particularly on the
redoubt of Taitung-Chen was the Japanese fire heavy, and by early
afternoon, through field glasses, this German redoubt appeared to have
had an attack of smallpox, so pitted was it from the holes made by
bursting Japanese shells. By nightfall many parts of the German
redoubts had been destroyed, together with some machine guns. The result
was the advancing of the Japanese lines several hundred yards from the
bottom of the hills where they had rested earlier in the day.

It was not until the third day of the bombardment that those of us
stationed on Prinz Heinrich observed that our theatre of war had a
curtain, a real asbestos one that screened the fire in the drops
directly ahead of us from our eyes. We had learned that the theatre was
equipped with pits, drops, a gallery for onlookers, exits, and an
orchestra of booming cannon and rippling, roaring pompons; but that
nature had provided it with a curtain--that was something new to us.

We had reached the summit of the mountain about 11 A.M., just as some
heavy clouds, evidently disturbed by the bombardment during the previous
night, were dropping down into Litsun Valley and in front of Tsing-tau.
For three hours we sat on the peak shivering in a blast from the sea,
and all the while wondering just what was being enacted beyond the
curtain. The firing had suddenly ceased, and with the filmy haze before
our eyes we conjured up pictures of the Japanese troops making the
general attack upon Iltis Fort, evidently the key to Tsing-tau, while
the curtain, of the theatre of war was down.

By early afternoon the clouds lifted, and with glasses we were able to
distinguish fresh sappings of the Japanese infantry nearer to the German
redoubts. The Japanese guns, which the day before were stationed below
us to the left, near the Meeker House, had advanced half a mile and were
on the road just outside the village of Ta-Yau. Turning our glasses on
Kiao-Chau Bay, we discovered that the Kaiserin Elisabeth was missing,
nor did a search of the shore line reveal her. Whether she was blown up
by the Germans or had hidden behind one of the islands I do not know.

All the guns were silent now, and the British Captain said: "Well,
chaps, shall we take advantage of the intermission?"

A half-hour later we were down the mountain and riding homeward toward
Tschang-Tsun.

To understand ful