As for the second line, — that intended for the forts, — a good many shells fell short, as I have already remarked, many bursting in the sea close to the shore and many striking the hillside and raising clouds of yellow dust. Two or three burst on the very summit of the forts, hurling up tons of earth, which hung out against the sky like a banner. One exploded a magazine on Golden Hill Fort, raising an enormous column of smoke.
While pouring in this rain of projectiles, the Japanese vessels kept sailing majestically south-west, afterwards wheeling round and returning along a line almost parallel to that by which they had come; and I dare say that if I had been in a place of safety I should have admired their perfect order and the grace with which they carried out their evolutions.
After forty minutes of the sort of experience that I have been trying to describe, the Columbia got clear of the rival fleets. For some time after we had got out of reach of the shells we still felt uneasy, for a shot from the forts or a Russian torpedo-boat might yet overtake us; but at last the battling navies and the headlands of Port Arthur sank below the horizon, and we were safe. The change was so sudden that for some time I had difficulty in remembering who and where I was. The air was so rarefied and the silence so profound, that I wondered if we were not floating in the clouds above the highest peak of the Cordilleras. My voice sounded singularly small, as if it were not I that was speaking but a diminutive person inside me, and, owing to the drumming in my ears I could not for some moments hear anybody else. I had a vague idea of having seen the skipper before. It must have been about a thousand years before. I wondered what he had been doing in the meantime. At present he was concocting a bowl of marvellous and potent punch. With Chinese unconcern the waiter was laying the table for luncheon. Good heavens! it was only half past one o'clock, and all these things had happened during the last four hours! The officers were affectionately examining the ship, just as you examine a favourite horse which has run away, smashed things, and had thrilling and admirable adventures. The bare-footed Celestial crew were picking up twisted fragments of projectiles with the happy smiles of children gathering shells by the sea-shore. A dim, faraway voice told the captain about his flag having been torn by a projectile. The captain did not curse. He smiled tolerantly, saying, " No matter! Haul it down, and let's have a look at the old rag! " We drank to the health of the rival fleets and of each member of the British Royal Family. Feeling sleepy and overcome, I finally went in the direction of my cabin, where I found that my almond-eyed attendant had made the bed and was now making things " all proper " as he expressed it. As I was falling asleep I heard a voice like that of an Oriental bonze chanting a litany in an unknown tongue. It was the skipper steadily working his way downwards through the Dukes and Duchesses of the House of Brunswick.
After a long nap I got up with my head as clear as a bell and found everybody telling everybody else that he had acted throughout in the most courageous manner. We fully expected to meet the Japanese fleet, but that caused us no anxiety. We did not meet it, however.
The Russian soldiers still remained with us of course. There had been some talk of putting them ashore on the Liaotung coast in an open boat, but as they did not seem to object to being abducted, we did not trouble ourselves any more about them. I felt sorry for the poor fellows, however, and went to see them. I found them sitting on deck with stolid,
expressionless faces, across which the shadow of a smile flitted as I approached.
We happened to have on board three Japanese passengers, one of whom was from Dalny, spoke some Russian, and was, I should imagine from his cast of countenance, one of the many Japanese who were occupied along the Chinese and Siberian coast in le commerce ambulant des femmes. This Japanese was speaking to the Russian soldiers when I came along the deck. What he was saying I do not know, but I rather imagine that he was impressing on their minds the fact that their fleet had just got an awful beating.