leave the port. I replied, as I sincerely thought, that the Japanese,
if they succeeded in taking the place, would do no harm to
non-combatants. I was, however, fatally mistaken.

The inn was a place of two storeys--few Chinese habitations have more.
Most of the rooms opened round a partially covered courtyard. I had a
good one in the upper storey, or the "top-side," as it is expressed in
"pidgin." There were no fireplaces; the apartments were chiefly warmed
by charcoal in braziers. Along one side of that which I occupied was a
long low hollow bench, filled with hot air from a furnace. This
contrivance usually served me for a bed, for although they use
bedsteads, there is nothing on them but an immense wadded quilt, in
which you roll yourself up. I transferred it to the hot-air holder,
which made a far warmer and more comfortable couch. I was waited on
mostly by a lad named Chung, one of the professors of "pidgin." He was
a native of Canton, had been in Hong Kong, and was well accustomed to
Englishmen and their ways. The fare was very tolerable--poultry, pork,
and various kinds of fish, but no beef, as the Chinaman deems it wrong
to kill the animal that helps to till the ground. Chung told me that
in the south cats and dogs are fattened for food, which it occurred to
me would be a distinct advantage in Port Arthur at that time, with a
siege imminent, and a great abundance of those animals observable. For
drink I naturally had plenty of tea, though it is very washy stuff as
made by the Chinese, who usually content themselves with putting the
leaves in a cup and pouring hot water over them, flavouring the
infusion with tiny bits of lemon.

As soon as I was sufficiently recovered to go out, I made an effort to
find out whether there was any prospect of getting away from the place
by sea, but soon found that this was hopeless to expect. No foreign