The demonstration failed to disclose the whereabouts of the missing cruiser squadron, and a similar result attended the scouting operations of the Japanese torpedo destroyers which were engaged during the bombardment in searching Askold Island and the coast along the Ussuri Gulf. It seemed undoubted, however, in the light of subsequent events, that the Czar's ships were within the harbor at Vladivostock all the time, and that they felt unable to cope successfully with the powerful fleet which was so eagerly seeking their destruction. Admiral Kamimura, who retired southwards after the bombardment, returned on the following day to the same position, and attempted once more to lure the hidden cruisers into the open; but his blandishments were without avail. He then conducted a thorough search of Amur Bay, which lies on the west side of the peninsula, and finding no traces of the enemy, departed finally southwards, leaving Vladivostock, for the time, in peace. [Sidenote: Makaroff to the Rescue] The interest now shifted once more to Port Arthur, where exciting events were on the eve of occurring. Admiral Makaroff, the newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, arrived at Port Arthur on the 8th of March. This gallant Admiral's reputation stands almost as high with the navy as does General Kuropatkin's with the army. He has gained the confidence of the men who have served under him to an exceptional degree, and the immediate result of his presence at the seat of war was the infusion of a new spirit into the fleet and into the defending force generally. With immense vigor he proceeded to hurry on the repairs of the damaged warships and to prepare for active operations as the best means of restoring the somewhat shaken _morale_ of the force under his command. The effect of this bolder and more enterprising policy soon became evident in the movements of the torpedo flotilla, which, under the feeble régime of Admiral Starck, had proved such a futile branch of the service. An opportunity for the trial of the new tactics came almost immediately, for within twenty-four hours after the hoisting of Admiral Makaroff's flag on the _Askold_, a renewed challenge came from the unresting enemy. It was destined to lead to one of the fiercest and most sanguinary combats yet experienced in the course of the war, a combat of such a close and hand-to-hand character as to recall the desperate struggles of earlier days, when the rival ships were grappled together and the final arbiters of victory were the cutlass and the boarding-pike. [Sidenote: A Chance for Russian Torpedoes]