Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-14

PTotogploski yearning for Shanghai
firing of Shanghai and yearning for Hong
kong, till the heat of Tonquin summer
drove us north with its spice-laden breath:
over the muddy Yellow Sea back to Japan
On the Water at Yokohama.
Here ships galore, ships with stately
masts and spider yards, square-trimmed
against cloudless sky; ships with stumpy
spars and crowds of shouting men tumbling
bales and boxes into great lighters groaning
alongside; plenty, too, of long, low, rakish
steamers with lead-colored sides and short
stacks vomiting black smoke against back
ground OF dwarfish hills and trees and low
rooted houses-Yokohama-
We made her out soon enough, though It
had been many months since we had been in
company. Her black hull, with its long
row Of square white pOrts each dotted with
q gun; her lofty masts and masses Of heavy
rigging; the quiet dignity with which she
rode the blue waters of the bay amid the
noisy fleet of native iunks and sampans, but
above all the futter of blue and red and
many stars at her peak 1t was the flag
ship, with the pennant of an admiral fly
ing at her mizzen. She didn't intend to
give US much rest, either, for almost before
our booms were out her boarding officer was
had our sailing orders" that very night,
and early the next morning, pitching and
rolling about, were flying before a heavy
easterly gale TO the \. and w. and the in
hOspitable coasts of Asiatic Russia.
The Spirit of Russian Espionage.
Spread along the shores of one of the fin
est harbors of the Eastern World, stands, in
a rambling sort of way. the queer convict
town of Russian Nladvostok. An air Of
Russian mystery comes over one from the
moment that the anchor drops from off the
bows Of foreign craft. Everything is in
accessible The great arsenal is sealed to
visitors; the post and telegraph offices are
very caves Of secrecy: even the inhabitants
seem TO tread the narrow roads that run by
the sea with the uncertain and suspicious
steps Of those that are watched and sus-
pected. The entire population is convict,
either political or criminal, or the descend
ants of such.
There is a military club and a military
park where a military band PLAYS to an idle
crowd Of loungers in long coats and shaggy
boards with big odd caps on their heads. 1t
Is the Eastern eye Of the greatest of modern
despots, the Gar; the tip of the middle
finger Of thaJ modern hand of power that
spreads from the confines of civilized Europe
10 the shores of the Japan Sea. Our Cap
tain had been ashore several times; once in
uniform with an aide TO attend him. several
times in plain clothes and finally in all the
naval regalia of his rank. This last visit of
his seemed to settle the reason of our unex-
pecJed visit, for the following morning we
put TO sea and returned to Yokohama.
A Mysterious Stranger on Board.
But We had a passenger. He had come
on the day before we sailed, in peculiar old
boat, pulled BY two rough Russian sailors
who had helped him up the side with an old
'runk c..vered with hair and brass-bound on
The corners. Little attention was paid to
him al first as he stood near the mast with
his shaggy coag buttoned to the chin about