Turning into Efimoff’s I found everything in confusion. Neither proprietor nor manager was to be found; the cook had disappeared, the two Chinese boys remaining were too scared to answer a question. Ascertaining myself from the register that the inn was full, I went along the Artilleriskaya to Nikobadze’s, where the confusion was even worse than at the other inn. Leaving the boy to take care of my baggage, I went farther into the town in search of quarters. Everywhere the people were hurrying--for the most part in directions away from the harbour and town. In the Strielkova I had noticed an inn which had been newly painted, so presumably was less dirty than any of the many second and third rate hostels in the old town. It was closed, and I knocked loudly and long before any one opened. I learned at length that there was a room vacant, and that the house belonged to a soldier, a young non-commissioned officer in an infantry regiment. Having established myself and belongings there I went out to see what was happening, and to find out how I could get messages out of the town, now that the telegraph was closed to us. Arriving at the Bund I saw some of the havoc already wrought by the bursting shells. Goods had been hurled hither and thither by the force of the explosions; the double glass windows of the buildings along the water-front had scarcely a whole pane remaining. On the Bund near the water-edge a shell had burrowed a hole large enough to hold an omnibus and team, the gravel and earth had been scattered everywhere and mixed with a heap of coal dust being discharged from lighters. Walls were down here, the plastering from house sides there, and in the garden of a house built on a terrace cut into the hill side a spent 13-inch live shell had dropped and was now guarded by a sentry. The shells had all been directed from the maximum range at the ships in the harbour. Some had struck the parapet below Golden Hill fort, but most had dropped in or near the harbour. The maximum lateral deviation--that is from north to south--was less than fifty yards, and the elevation was good. It was in fact excellent shooting considering that the range was never less than eight, and sometimes over twelve miles. Very few shells failed to explode, some fell innocuously in the deep water of the harbour. Two of the last fired burst right amongst the merchant shipping and caused great consternation, and some slight injuries to those on board the steamers at anchor. The bombardment which commenced about an hour before noon, lasted scarcely two hours, and was slack after mid-day.