Much of the ordinary life of the town continued as usual. The war seemed to make little difference immediately. Even at the time of the first bombardment there was a wedding at the cathedral; a Russian wedding is a tedious ceremony, and this one lasted longer than the bombardment. The same night the bridegroom left with his regiment for the Yalu. That indicates how little change war made with regard to some matters, and how greatly altered other relations were by the state of war. As long as I kept to the streets and open ground I could go anywhere; at any and every hour of the day and night I have walked between the old and the new towns. I never approached so near to any of the forts as to be challenged by the sentries, but in the daytime I walked into and through the Admiralty dockyard, inspected the ships undergoing repairs, and even saw into the workshops. On the last occasion I was stopped at the gates as I left the Admiralty enclosure, but a word satisfied the officer, and, of course, the sentry, that I had been on permissible business. I said that I would return later, but found it inadvisable to keep the promise. Without going into the yard at all one could see which ships were in dock, what progress was being made with the repairs, and which ships were lying in the basin waiting to be docked, for the hill near the Viceroy’s house commands an uninterrupted view. If one did not recognize the ship, or could not read her name, one had only to ask either the naval sentry, or some passing sailor, to be told, and given full particulars. Such information had no news interest, and I certainly was not sufficiently concerned to pass it out for the enlightenment of the enemy. There were things which, as long as I was in Port Arthur, I liked to know. Once only was I accosted by a soldier. It was in the very early hours of the morning, the night dark and cloudy with some snow falling. I had passed the railway when a Cossack, leading his pony, came to me to ask if I knew where the telegraph office was. He had been looking for the steps up the cliff for more than an hour without success. And this was the Cossack! The scout of scouts, the man who could go direct to any spot at any time--and I, a foreigner and a stranger, had to conduct him to the town telegraph office!