At last the tension was removed, the order to advance was given, and with what feelings of relief the men rose, formed into line, and marched coolly up to the walls, can be better imagined than described. Only two men were lost whilst in the erect position, whereas the small British naval force alone, on rising, left one officer dead and some twenty wounded men in the doctor’s hands. Naturally the interval had not passed without incidents occurring which in some measure affected the result of the battle. The first was a terrific explosion on the other side of the city, which proved to have been caused by the demolition of a dynamite store, either by British guns or Russian bullets. The effects of the explosion were somewhat curious; a squadron of Cossacks were dismounted, and it was said that the Russian General was himself slightly injured by the falling _débris_. Many windows in the settlement were broken at a distance of two miles, and where the Naval Brigade were lying in their previously described position, the vibration was extraordinary, at a distance of about three and a half miles. A thin column of white smoke rose perpendicularly in the still air, and gradually flattened out into a mushroom-like pall; perchance the only pall to the coffins of several of the enemy. Another noticeable event was a minor explosion on the south side of the city, occasioned by a shell from the 12-pr. on the mud wall. It burst in a small-arm magazine, and caused an outbreak which finally developed into a serious fire, sounding for all the world like hundreds of crackers going off, as the fire reached box after box of ammunition. One thing was noticeable during that inactive half hour, in which one had nothing to do but think; it was the manner in which the wounded men behaved on receiving their bullet. What a lot some actors might learn if they only would take the risk of being eye-witnesses! There would be less of the tragic fall on to one’s back, and less still of the fixed stare at the drop scenery. In reality, it is only the slightly wounded who betray any emotion whatever, and this is nearly all of a facial type; their utterances are usually not fit for publication. The more seriously wounded seem to be numbed, and their phlegm seems wonderful in such circumstances; no whining, no apparent excitement, a very common remark with bluejackets being “’ave got! get a stretcher, Bill”—practical if callous. Those who figure in the day’s casualty list as mortally wounded, if speech remain to them, generally seem to have had some premonition of the coming disaster,—they are “fey.” Their feelings are expressed by “I felt it coming,” or “Them——have got me at last,” and so on. When the Brigade reached the arsenal, it was seen that the Japanese were pressing an attack in skirmishing order on the left front, the Americans were discovered to be about to start to the right front in force, while the straight and exposed road joining the