The only railway track in China, a single track over which it was possible in the interval between the rare train services to propel oneself on a hired car worked by hand levers, connected the two ports, crossing a dreary waste of paddy-fields. 2.When the Russian fleet stayed on at Camrhan Bay long after the period allowed under international laws of neutrality comment would have been more vigorous had not interest been focused rather on the swift land successes of the Japanese in Korea and Manchuria bringing the confident opinion that peace could not long be deferred with appropriate rewards for Britain’s ally. 3.In the course of the years during which this narrative has been shaping, the fable of the fly on the wheel has invaded my mind with increasing persistence. “See what a dust we make”, said the insect to its fellow as they spun round together on the warrior king’s chariot wheel. But if the fly instead of swelling with mis-felt importance had used its safe insignificance in a vantage point to observe the mighty happenings through which it was twirled with some attempt at understanding of its chance opportunity, it could have had something to tell. That is what the present fly has sought to do, recognizing gratefully that if it did not drive the wheel around it enjoyed a long if precarious seat, sometimes quite near the axle tree, on a wheel of time that moved with a startlingly new swiftness in world experience.