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AFTER THE BALL 113
Russians made too much bruit pour une omelette,
we thought, and as dinner time was drawing near,
and we had a stiff hour’s walk before us, we found
that an excuse for making straight for camp.
The Russians had, of course, taken us for Japanese
officers observing their own battery’s fire from a
safe place.
I have been fired at, individually, more than
once with rifles and even with guns, but it is the
first and only time I have had the honour of
being “personally conducted” by lo-in. shells.
I have mentioned this personal experience in
order to show the vigilance of the Russian look-
out, and still more in order to point to the reck-
lessness with which during this period they spent
their ammunition, so sorely needed during the
last stages of the siege. To fire upon single in-
dividuals—even if they were staff officers —with
lo-in. shells, is a waste of ammunition which even
an unlimited supply scarcely can warrant.
We went up to the naval battery a couple of
days later, and had an opportunity of seeing the
effect of these same lo-in. shells. We found the
strong breastworks and traverses smashed and
battered to unwieldy mud-heaps ;
some of the
guns had been demolished, while others had
already been taken away. The bomb-proofs had
been completely wrecked, and the whole place
had so gone to wrack and ruin that it was im-
possible to recognize the strong, neat battery
emplacement we had seen before. We saw also
the hole which the last of “ our” shells had made
in the shale rock where it struck. It measured
20 ft. across, and was over 5 ft. deep. If it had
struck so far in front of us as it did behind us,
the hollow it had made would have given all
three of us ample accommodation for ever after.
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