"As soon as she arrived at Aberdeen they jumped into a small boat and proceeded at once to a mysterious low-lying craft in the offing, apparently a torpedo-boat, which, on receiving the men, steamed seaward. "It is believed here that the intention of the Japanese is to lie in wait for the Baltic fleet." In order to understand what Oto Owari and a brother officer were doing in the North Sea at the time when the Associated Press gave out this startling piece of news, we must return to the day when the battle-ship _Petropavlovsk_ "turned turtle" in the bay of Korea, and, attacked by some mysterious agency which was generally supposed to be either a Russian or Japanese submerged contact-mine, sank with nearly every soul on board. The _Octopus_, which had made its way under cover of the darkness of the preceding night to the western extremity of the Yellow Sea, and was lying in wait for its huge adversary, had remained awash until daylight. Then, closing the main hatch, she sank until only the end of the camera projected above water. This easily escaped observation, looking, as it did, like a bit of floating wreckage. According to directions from his admiral, Oto made no move to attack the Russian ships when they were coaxed out of their safe harbour by the wily Japanese, it being deemed best not to risk a hasty assault at a time when the enemy were fully alert and in the best condition. In case their squadron should escape from the Japanese force outside--vastly superior to the Russians--and should retreat towards Port Arthur, then the _Octopus_ was to strike its blow, quickly and decisively. The result is known, although naval authorities still dispute as to the cause of the _Petropavlovsk's_ destruction. Oto, conning the _Octopus_ through the camera, observed the battle-ship returning to port after the brief conflict in the open sea. He touched an electric knob and the submarine quietly sank to a further depth of six feet. Being now entirely out of sight, the terrible war-engine approached without difficulty to within less than a hundred yards of the Russian ship, discharged her torpedo with unerring aim, and accomplished her work. The waters in the immediate vicinity of the huge victim were violently agitated as she careened in her dying agony, and the _Octopus_ herself, lingering near to inflict another blow if necessary, was in danger of being drawn into the vortex made by the battle-ship as she went down. The little submarine reversed her engine quickly enough, however, to escape sharing the fate of her prey, and swiftly glided away to rejoin the Japanese fleet. The agent of destruction, known only to the admiral and the heads of the War Office, was not disclosed in Tokio, as it was deemed best that the Russian Admiralty and the world at large should know nothing of the terrible power Japan was wielding beneath the waves.