worked in gold. The consultation lasted for at least three hours. I
had only a distant view of Kung over the heads of the soldiers. The
fighting outside continued, and on the next day more Japanese corpses
had been brought in by the vengeful soldiery, and left for the rabble
to amuse themselves with. I do not think that any Japanese was brought
into the town alive.

Towards noon the next day (20th) the first guns were heard. Cannon
rumbled away in the distance all the afternoon, ceasing as night came
on. A wild and anxious night it was. There was no certain news of the
fighting, and the most contradictory rumours were prevalent. Excited
crowds filled the streets, which blazed with great coloured paper
lanterns, of which nearly every individual carried one; indeed, the
person who is seen outside without a lantern after dark becomes an
object of suspicion to the police watch.

I determined to see, if possible, something of the fighting next day.
All the ground around Port Arthur is, as I have before remarked, very
hilly. Outside the town, and between it and the north-western forts,
is a lofty elevation named White Boulders, for an obvious reason--the
ground is full of chalk. This spot I determined upon as my point of
observation. Most of the front face had been covered with trenches,
but the rear was easy of attainment, and I was struggling up the steep
ascent at day-break. The summit is very uneven, covered with huge
crags and deep indentations, and there were any number of secure
enough nooks to pick and choose from.

The field of action seen from White Boulders is very simple and may be
described in a few words. Behind me was the West Port; on my left the
north-western fortifications, called the Table Mountain forts; on my