This time the two flotillas passed at such close quarters that a man could have thrown a line from one ship to the deck of its opponent. They were moving at less speed than in the former encounter, and the effects of their mutual bombardment were correspondingly greater. For the first time Bob was conscious of a tremor, not of personal fear, but a reflex of the wild scene around. It seemed to him as if nothing could survive the hail of shells that screamed and whistled through the air, to burst with ear-splitting crash whenever one was fortunate enough to find its billet in the hull or upper works of the gallant _Kasumi_. One shell, apparently from a three-pounder, ricochetted off the turtle-back deck beneath the forebridge, and burst in the air about ten yards to starboard, the splinters breaking a hole in the aftermost funnel and knocking a corner off the compass-box that stood within a few feet of it. "There goes our second compass. We have only the standard left," said Yamaguchi. Almost at the same moment there was a crash just below the spot where Bob was standing. A twelve-pounder shell had passed clean through the chart-room without exploding. "A narrow squeak!" said Bob. "Yes; we’ll give that fourth Russian a little pepper," replied Yamaguchi, his face lit with the joy of service. He gave an order, and all the _Kasumi’s_ port six-pounders let fly at the Russian destroyer, several shells ploughing into her hull just above the water-line. Bob noticed the strained expression on the faces of the Russian seamen, and one vivid picture flashed upon his retina and was gone—the picture of a man, struck by a fragment of a Japanese shell, falling with outstretched arms across his gun. A few seconds more and the _Kasumi_ again came abreast of the last vessel in the Russian line. She replied so feebly to Yamaguchi’s skilfully-aimed broadside that it was evident she had already been severely handled by the _Asashio_, now leading. But as the vessels passed, a big Russian picked up a tin canister and hurled it with such good aim at the _Kasumi_ that it fell on the platform of the fore-bridge between Yamaguchi and Bob. The latter instantly lifted it to throw into the sea, but Yamaguchi stayed his hand. "There’s no danger," he said; "it will not explode now. We’ll keep it; I’ll make you a present of it." At that instant a three-pounder shell exploded in the aft stoke-hold, bursting a steam-pipe, and dangerously wounding one of the engineers. "Poor Minamisawa!" said Yamaguchi, when he heard of it. "He was twice commended for gallantry during the attack on Port Arthur a month ago."