CHAPTER VII

A TRIP TO SHANHAIKWAN

A long journey—The junction at Tong‐ku—Mud flats—A fertile country—Walled villages—Mud forts—Defended stations—The canal—Tong‐shan—The refreshment room—The coal mines—Hills—Roving brigands—Shanhaikwan—Stranded at the station—Borrowing a bed—Hunting for a meal—A Continental café—Spatch‐cocks—A woman without pride—A mosquito concert with refreshments—Rigging up a net—A surprise for the British and Russian station officers—A midnight introduction—An admiring Russian—Kind hospitality—Good Samaritans—The Gurkha mess—Fording a stream—A Russian cart—The Great Wall of China—Snipe—The forts—The old camp—The walls of the city—On the cliffs by the sea—The arrival of the Japanese fleet—A shock for a Russian dinner‐party—The sea frozen in winter—A cricket match—Shooting snipe on the cricket pitch—Dining with my Russian friends—Vodki—Mixed drinks—The wily Russian and the Newchwang railway—Tea à la Russe—Heavy rain—The line flooded—Cossacks on a raft—Cut off from everywhere—An orderly of the 3rd Bombay Cavalry—A sowar’s opinion of the Russian invasion of India—Collapsed houses—Friendly scene between Japanese soldiers and our sepoys—The floods subside—The return—Smuggling arms—Lieutenant Stirling, D.S.O. _pages_ 133‐168