Perhaps a few words of explanation as regards this volume may be permitted. The following extract from a letter, from a relative who addresses me as "Uncle Harry," will suffice at first. His letter is dated "Shanghai, November 1897":—

"Here are all the papers, with manuscript. Some of the latter is translated by a friend, and some is newspaper work. But I daresay you will be able to work up the matter. Do it as you like best; but don't give me away, please. You will find some additional information in Vladmir's work, and in the Mail, etc. etc. But I am only sending you my experiences and adventures. Call them what you like.

"JULIUS."

Here then is the narrative, in which the writer does not spare himself. He certainly has had adventures by land and sea, between China and Japan—"'twixt Jack and Jap"—during the late war. I have used his papers and extracts in the compilation of the story; with gleanings from Heroic Japan and newspapers, which I have examined, with history, for my own benefit, and to verify my "nephew's" account of his adventures during that stirring time in the Far East.

HENRY FRITH.

UPPER TOOTING, S.W.,
March 1898.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I. [A DISAPPOINTMENT—I ESCAPE MY FORETOLD DESTINY—THE OSPREY—THE STORM]
II. [A TERRIBLE POSITION—A PROPHETIC VISION—SINKING!]
III. [THE STEAMER FÊNG SHUI, FOR CHINA—CAPTAIN GOLDHEUGH—DISCIPLINE AND A ROPE'S END!]
IV. [BOUND TO CHINA—THE VOYAGE AND MY EXPERIENCES—CASH IN HONG KONG—RUMOUR OF WAR]
V. [A SECRET MISSION—KIDNAPPED!—THE SCHOONER—THE ASSASSIN]
VI. [SHANGHAI: ITS IMPRESSIONS—MURDER!—A RESCUE, AND A HAPPY ENCOUNTER]
VII. [THE FÊNG SHUI CHANGES HER NAME FOR LUCK—THE TRANSPORT—THE JAPANESE MAN-OF-WAR—SURRENDER OF THE KOWSHING]
VIII. [THE END OF THE FÊNG SHUI—CAPTURED AND PRESSED!]
IX. [THE BATTLE IN THE YELLOW SEA—THE EVIL GENIUS OF "FÊNG SHUI"]
X. [A TRANSFORMATION SCENE—I BECOME A "CHINESE"]
XI. [CHINESE LANGUAGE—"HELD UP"—BETRAYED!]
XII. [ABANDONED!—I FALL AMONG THIEVES, BUT FIND SOME "GOOD SAMARITANS"]
XIII. [KINCHOW—ARRESTED BY CHINESE SOLDIERS—CAPTURE OF THE CITY]
XIV. [THE SACK OF KINCHOW—RELEASED—"CASTLED"—A CHECK]
XV. [AN ADVENTURE ON THE HILLS—THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH—TALIEN-WAN]
XVI. [PORT ARTHUR—THE MASSACRE IN THE TOWN—RELEASE]
XVII. [EXPLANATIONS—ON BOARD THE NANIWA AGAIN—THE BLOCKADE OF WEI-HAI-WEI—ON SERVICE]
XVIII. [ON BOARD THE TORPEDO-BOAT—BREAKING OF THE BOOM—CAPTURE OF WEI-HAI-WEI—CONCLUSION]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[ I ALSO DROPPED IN THE BLUE SEA BEHIND HIM] ([see p. 121]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frontispiece