CHAPTER XI

DELAYS AT VAN FONG

Sympathy of French Admiral--Japanese Spies--Expensive Food--The Russian System--A Rat Bite--Squalor--Want of Engineers--An Alarm--"Apes" and "Anyhows"--The _Oleg_--Preparations for Easter--Officers usually Drunk--Easter--Prickly Heat--Expecting Nebogatoff--Row on the _Orel_--Neutrality a Farce--Night Alarms--Buying Children--Suspicious Lights--No News of Nebogatoff--French Admiral as Poet--No News from Manchuria--Getting Cigarettes--The Annamese People--Nebogatoff in Sight--Excitement--A Good Post--French Impertinence--Poisonous Gases--Leaving Van Fong 263