On the eve of the day on which he declared that the fort would really be evacuated, the battery garrisoning it marched out with much pomp and publicity. The British smiled as they watched them go, well pleased at having got rid of them at last. They plumed themselves on their moral victory; and they marched up next morning to the fort in triumph. But the other flag was still flying, and inside they saw the same battery whose departure they had witnessed the evening before. They stared in bewilderment. They could recognise some of the officers and men. Then an explanation was angrily demanded. It was readily forthcoming. This was _not_ the same battery as before. Far from it. That was by this time well on its way to the North. But by an extraordinary coincidence another battery had suddenly and most unexpectedly arrived during the night to the foreign General’s utter astonishment, as no intimation of their coming had been vouchsafed him. And as he had no other place to quarter them in but the fort, he had been obliged most reluctantly to send them there. He was desolated at the unfortunate necessity. He offered his profoundest regrets, and trusted that his dear allies would realise that he was helpless. So the outwitted British had again to withdraw. As a matter of fact the battery had simply marched out of sight in the evening and come back during the night. So with baffling ingenuity the foreign General contrived to retain the fort for some time longer in his hands; though he was forced to surrender it in the end. After inspecting several of the forts, some of our party went off to pay a visit to the town, while others walked down to the shore and gazed out at the Japanese fleet and the long hull of H.M.S. _Terrible_, which was lying at anchor. As we looked at the water sparkling in the bright sunlight, it was difficult to realise that in the winter the sea here is frozen for several miles out from the shore. From this fact one can form some idea of the intense cold of the winter months in North China. And yet the Indian troops, natives of a warm climate, suffered comparatively little and the percentage of admissions into hospital from our contingent was remarkably small, so well were they looked after by their officers and so generous was the free issue of warm clothing by the Indian Government. In the afternoon some of us attended a cricket match between the crew of the _Terrible_ and the British garrison. Hardly had the stumps been drawn and the players gone into the refreshment tent when some snipe settled on the pitch. An officer quartered in a fort close to the cricket ground sent for his gun, and secured a couple then and there.