Page:On to Pekin.djvu/139

Rh before, in Richmond; but he could not see his way clear without making an awkward break, and that he wished to avoid. Gilbert passed on, and there the matter rested for the time being.

The run from Nagasaki to Taku is, in round figures, eight hundred miles, the course being past Quelpart Island, up the Yellow Sea, and around the Shantung Peninsula into the Gulf of Pechili. Part of the run was along the south-western coast of Korea; but, in the haze that covered the sea, nothing could be seen of that territory.

The weather continued to be all that was desired until the transport gained the vicinity of the Shantung Peninsula, upon which the British port of Wei-Hai-Wei is situated, when a violent storm came up late in the afternoon. It had been extremely hot, but now the temperature went down as if by magic.

"We are in for it," remarked Major Morris, as he watched the sky grow black. "Just listen to that wind coming up!"

"I am glad we are not in a sailing vessel," responded Gilbert. "It looks as if it was going to blow great guns, as the jackies say."

Gilbert was right; for, soon after the sun was hidden