After having twice repeated his warning and apologised for disturbing me, the naval officer turned abruptly and disappeared. I never thought of asking him if anything had happened during the night, and I dare say he took it for granted that we knew, and put our extreme calmness down to the fact that we were English.
I cannot say that I was in the least disturbed by this visit, for I saw nothing unusual in an order evidently issued with the object of keeping merchant steamers from getting into the way of the war-ships while the latter were engaged in manoeuvres. What most disturbed me at that particular moment was — the cold.
I felt it in my bones as I stood there in my pyjamas, and the plan of campaign which I rapidly drew up and swiftly executed was to get under the blankets again as soon as possible. Having done so, the idea occurred to me that it might not be so abnormally early as it seemed, so I lit the candle and looked at my watch. It was about twenty minutes to six, so I got up again, put on some of the more necessary articles of dress, and went out on the deck.
There was now no firing, but the searchlights of the vessels were as busy as they had been when I had gone to bed the night before. The position of some of the battle-ships had changed, and, true enough, as the chief officer had already informed me, there were two big men-of-war lying close to the mouth of the harbour, with all their lights burning and their flashlights playing around them.
The lighthouse lamp had gone out, though it was still dark, but the guiding lights burned brightly.
" I cannot for the life of me understand," said the mate for the twentieth time that morning, " what they mean by placing these war-ships in such a position. Most extraordinary position, isn't it? Sure enough they must have got a bad scare last night."
Then we tried to warm ourselves by walking up and down the deck. The moon was now shining. There was a light southerly breeze, and a whitish mist lay on the horizon. The peacefulness of nature was in strong contrast to the agitation of man. It was long after day had dawned before the Russian vessels ceased using their searchlights, and by that time the practised eye of one of the officers of the Columbia had detected something unnatural in the position of the two warships lying at the harbour mouth. He was not very long in coming to a conclusion.
" They've had a collision or met with some accident," he said emphatically, " there can be no doubt about that. See the list that big one has got? Why, her name-plate is nearly touching the water. And the other has a list aft. Besides, they're both aground. There cannot be more than seventeen feet of water there."
" By Heaven! " he added, slapping his thigh in sudden excitement, "one of these Chinese boys told me just now 'two piecee ship strike together in night time/ and, dammit! you see he's perfectly right after all. There must have been a collision. But how the deuce did he know it? And what do they all mean, I wonder, by flying their flags at the mast-head? Can that be the Retvizan, one of the finest battle-ships afloat? I'll go in and get my Brassey."
It took us some considerable time to realise that two of Russia's best and biggest battle-ships lay helpless almost within a stone's throw of us. Then we all asked simultaneously: "What will the Japanese do when they hear of this?" And the answer each of us gave was that Japan would declare war at once.
By-and-by somebody suggested that perhaps the vessels had been torpedoed or had run on submarine mines, but that view was considered too far-fetched, and the general opinion was that there had been a collision.
I, for one, was so convinced that this was the only rational explanation that I wrote out a telegram to be despatched to the New York Herald from Chefoo, and gave it to the mate with instructions to send it off on his return to Chefoo by the Columbia in case I did not see him previously.
I did this because I felt sure that the tug would come along for us in a few moments and that I would have " tiffin " that day in Port Arthur.
After having made arrangements for the despatch of this telegram I came on deck again and found that the excitement of the ship's officers about the torpedoed vessels had only increased. It was generally recognised that the Russians would do all they could to keep the news back for some time, even if they had to cut all communication between Chefoo and Port Arthur and to administer repeated doses of quarantine to the Columbia and other British ships in harbour.
" In that case," quoth the skipper, dryly, " Old England may have some little suggestions to offer."