the Chinese soldiers, but the sea forts remained intact, and their guns were at once utilised by a body of

purpose,

and

Before the

attack, Admiral Ting had vainly urged on the Chinese generals to accept a body of volunteers from the fleet, who could have served the guns and destroyed them before leaving. The refusal of this wise suggestion materially hastened the fall of Weihai-wei. The Japanese had brought up no siege guns, and the state of the roads would not have allowed any to be transported for a long time, so that their only chance of injuring the Chinese ships and island forts lay in the guns which they might capture from the enemy. In the eastern forts the Japanese found twelve powerful guns, well-protected, at their disposal, and when properly officered and manned by the navy, they were able to keep the Chinese fleet confined in the western part of the harbour.

The Japanese losses were not at all commensurate with the results obtained; the second division lost only twenty-eight killed and fifty-four wounded, the Kumamoto brigade about one hundred killed and wounded; but this included many officers, amongst whom Major-General Otera,* who was wounded by splinters of a shell, and died in two hours.

A romantic episode is said to have taken place during the attack of the 30th of January. A Japanese

* The news was conveyed to his wife by the following message: "The Major-General has died a glorious death: do not give way to grief." As Mrs. Otera was prepared for such news she was not surprised. His mother, 87 years old, remarked that her son had fallen in the discharge of his duty, and she regretted that he was not permitted to live longer, and be of more service to his Sovereign.

officer, on entering one of the forts, found a beautiful Chinese girl crying; with great gallantry he at once ordered two non-commissioned officers to accompany her to the next village. Later on the same officer found a baby, two years old, in a basket; he at once picked it up, and the child, without evincing the slightest fear, stretched out its arms and smiled. When the fort was entirely captured, the officer chose the least ill-favoured of the Chinese prisoners, and released him on condition that he should take the child to its parents. It is said that the baby showed reluctance to be separated from the protector in whose arms it had been sheltered during the fight.

The Japanese were determined to push on the attack vigorously. On the first night (30th of January) the torpedo-boats tried to get through the boom at the eastern entrance. This bold attempt had been planned so ra rapidly that the land forces were not warned, and the Japanese troops in the eastern forts, thinking the Chinese were attacking, fired on the torpedo-boats, which were obliged to retreat. On the following day arrangements were made, and the army informed of the operation the torpedo-boats intended to perform during the night of the 31st of January. But at the appointed time a terrific storm broke out, which compelled, not only the torpedoboats, but the greater part of the fleet, to seek a refuge. The torpedo-boats went to a neighbouring island, and their absence caused Admiral Ito great anxiety until the storm abated: he had left only

the first Flying Squadron to watch Wei-hai-wei, and prevent the Chinese escaping; the rest of his vessels went to Yung-cheng Bay, where the British fleet and the other foreign vessels which followed the operations had already anchored. The storm was attended by such intense cold that blocks of ice were frozen into the mouths of the guns.

The storm raged the whole day and night of the 1st of February. It was a very unlucky occurrence for the Japanese, as it compelled them to suspend all military operations for two days. Admiral Ting seized the opportunity, and knowing from former experience how worthless would be the resistance of the soldiers, he landed on the 1st of February with a body of volunteers from the fleet, and destroyed all the guns in the western forts. This act of the Chinese admiral prolonged the resistance, probably for a week. The Japanese occupied the city of Weihai-wei and the western forts in the afternoon of the 2nd, the Chinese soldiers having fled to Chefoo; if they had found the guns in a serviceable condition, they could have bombarded the Chinese fleet and Liukung Island from a comparatively short range, and a surrender would have been inevitable in a few days. The storm of the 31st of January and 1st of February prevented the Japanese from following up their rush, which probably would have been too quick to allow the Chinese soldiers time to destroy the guns. This short respite was admirably utilised by Ting, who also destroyed all the junks and boats in the harbour.