XXII TO PORT ARTHUR

MY last expedition was to Port Arthur. We were coming away from our garden then, as also from Peking, when I got off the steamer at Chefoo to take a Russian steamer and cross to Port Arthur. All the summer had been darkening with rumours of war, and it seemed as if it might be the last time to see it as it was then Russian, But there was no war yet. In a little boat, and in rather an anxious state of mind, I put off to a steamer that I expected to find wholly Russian. I had an old passport, and the Russian Legation at Peking had declined to have anything to do with it, saying Port Arthur was no part of the Russian dominions, but now I had been told that every one who crossed thither, required to have a passport vis/d by the Russian Consul at Chefoo, as also a special permit to land. I had neither, and office hours were over, and the Russian Consulate closed when I first learnt that permits were needed. Like the unjust steward of the parable, the only plan now seemed to be to make friends with as many people as possible. On the steamer I found four men looking like the steamer's officers sitting at table, when I appeared wanting an evening meal. It was, I remember, a very nondescript one, but served for an introduction. And after a little conversation it came out that none of the officers were wholly Russian ; one, who boasted the name of Shakespeare, claiming to be English, though, like the others, he could speak no word of our language. One or two other passengers came on board, and for my comfort one was a German merchant from Tientsin, whose acquaintance I had chanced to make that morning ; for he had a spare rug, and as it now appeared, the berths boasted no more bedding than the bedsteads on my Siberian tour ; Russians, like Chinese, always travelling with their own bedding. The stewards said there would be blankets when it was winter, but it was not winter yet. It was, however, late October, and I was deeply grateful for my friend's rug.

我最后一次探险是前往旅顺港。那时我们正从我们的花园离开，也从北京离开，当我在烟台下船准备搭乘俄罗斯轮船横渡至旅顺港时，整个夏天都充满了战争的谣言，似乎这可能是最后一次在它还是俄罗斯领土时见到它。但战争还没有开始。我带着一种焦虑的心情，乘坐一艘小船前往一艘我以为完全是俄罗斯的轮船。我有一本旧护照，而俄罗斯驻北京使馆拒绝处理它，声称旅顺港不属于俄罗斯的领土，但有人告诉我，所有前往那里的人员都需要在烟台的俄罗斯领事馆获得护照签证，并获得特别登陆许可。我两者都没有，而且当我得知需要许可证时，领事馆的办公时间已经结束并关闭了。就像圣经中的不义管家一样，现在唯一的办法似乎是尽可能多地与人交好。在轮船上，我发现四个看起来像是船员的男人坐在餐桌旁，我当时正想吃晚餐。我记得那餐很普通，但足以作为介绍。经过一番交谈后，我得知这些船员中没有一个是完全的俄罗斯人；其中一个自称莎士比亚的人声称自己是英国人，尽管像其他人一样，他一句英语也不会说。还有一两位乘客上了船，其中一位是我那天早上偶然认识的来自天津的德国商人；他有一条备用的毯子，正好船舱里的床位和我在西伯利亚旅行时一样，床上没有更多的床上用品。俄罗斯人和中国人一样，总是带着自己的床上用品。服务员说到冬天会有毛毯，但现在还不是冬天。然而，当时已经是十月末，我非常感激我朋友的那条毯子。

Long before daybreak I went on deck to see the entrance into the famous harbour* In my haste to do so I left my watch under my pillow. That watch was never heard of again by me. Six watches had been stolen in Chefoo the night before I left, and the culprits were there believed to have been Cossacks. There were Cossacks on my steamer, but one would hardly think they were allowed the run of the firstclass cabins. However, one must pay something for seeing a first-class fortress* It looked very grim and awe-inspiring as seen through the grey dawning* Those black objects projecting from the tops of the hills on either side were, I gradually became aware, the very heavy cannon which the Times Peking orrespondent had assured me during a recent visit would make it impossible for any ship to come within firing distance. What I had at first sight taken for islands across the entrance developed into men-of-war, one of them the five-funnelled Askold* The entrance looked very narrow, and all the heights around it were bristling with cannon, so that involuntarily one held one's breath. Supposing a cannon were to go off by mistake! One after another seemed to be pointed straight at us as we moved slowly forward. I must own that the very high erection on the hill to the right, which I found afterwards to be only the Marconi telegraphic apparatus, frightened me at the time as much as the cannon ; as did also the very formidable-looking funnels at the base, which were only condensers. The two white, pointed pyramids on the hill behind the town looked very mysterious to me then, but were merely guides to ships entering and leaving the harbour. To my ignorance all looked alike formidable and warlike. There were dredgers puffing about in the grim grey dawn, and a torpedo boat darting swiftly by us, a great sound of hammering, and a great sense of hurry all over the harbour* And behind us the exit looked most distressingly narrow.

天还未亮，我就上了甲板，想看看这著名港口的入口。匆忙之中，我把手表遗留在了枕头下。这块手表后来再也没有见过。在我离开烟台的前一晚，有六块手表被盗，嫌疑犯被认为是哥萨克人。我乘坐的轮船上也有哥萨克人，但很难想象他们会被允许随意出入头等舱。然而，为了能亲眼目睹这样一个一流的要塞，我不得不付出一些代价。当时天刚破晓，通过灰蒙蒙的晨光看到的景象显得非常严峻而令人敬畏。那些从两侧山顶伸出的黑色物体，渐渐让我意识到，是非常沉重的炮台。在最近一次访问中，《泰晤士报》驻北京记者曾向我保证，这些大炮会让任何船只都无法接近到开火的距离。我最初以为是岛屿的物体，后来发现其实是军舰，其中一艘是带有五个烟囱的阿斯科德号。港口入口看起来非常狭窄，周围的高地上满是大炮，以至于人们不自觉地屏住了呼吸。如果一门炮意外开火了呢！随着我们慢慢前进，一门又一门的炮似乎都正对着我们。我必须承认，右边山上的那个高高的建筑让我非常害怕，后来才知道那只是马可尼电报设备，而底部那些看起来非常可怕的烟囱其实只是冷凝器。城镇后方的两座白色尖顶金字塔当时看起来很神秘，但实际上只是为进出港口的船只提供导航的标志。由于无知，我觉得所有这些东西看起来都很可怕和具有战争气息。在灰暗的黎明中，挖泥船在忙碌地喷气作业，一艘鱼雷艇迅速从我们身边穿过，整个港口都充斥着敲打的声音和紧张的气氛。而我们身后的出口看起来狭窄得令人不安。

I had never liked the idea of coming to Port Arthur alone, and was further burdened by the idea of having no passport ; but on walking ashore no one asked for any passport, nor challenged my right to do so. Every one afterwards thought this inexplicable, but it simply was so. At once on first landing I was struck by finding all the quays stacked with high piles of wooden cases, all exactly alike. All the way along it was the same.

" Why do you want to know what is in those cases ? " asked my German friend. " You don't want to buy them ? "

"What does one travel for but to collect information ? " I replied.

The first Chinese I asked laughed, and said, " Vodka ! "

"Vodka!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Why, what an extraordinary quantity of vodka ! "

" Oh, he knows you are English, and he wants to please you," said my German friend.

" You ask the next man," I replied.

He did so, and received the same answer. Then he, too, from incredulity turned to marvel, as we walked on and on, always between those high stacks of vodka. Afterwards a Russian friend told me that, owing to some mistake, such a very large consignment of vodka had been sent that it had been impossible to take delivery of it all, and so all that could not anywhere be housed had been left lying upon the Bund.

我从未喜欢独自前往旅顺港的想法，而且没有护照的事实更让我感到不安。然而，当我步行上岸时，没有人要求查看护照，也没有人质疑我登岸的权利。之后所有人都认为这不可思议，但事情确实就是这样。我一上岸就立刻注意到，码头上堆满了高高的木箱堆，而且这些木箱全都一模一样。一路上都是如此。

“你为什么想知道那些箱子里装的是什么？”我的德国朋友问道。“你不打算买它们吧？”

“旅行的目的不就是为了收集信息吗？”我回答。

第一个我询问的中国人笑着说，“伏特加！”

“伏特加！”我兴奋地喊道，“天啊，这真是惊人的伏特加数量！”