cH.viu.]       DEFECTIVE CARTRIDGES               !?$
firing. What was up? One really hardly likes to write it down. During the loading the string with which the bag of smokeless powder flakes in the cartridge case was tied up, came undone. The flakes had fallen out of the bag and had piled up behind the base of the projectile. In consequence the cartridge case would not go home, and the breech could not be closed. The attempts to clear the powder chamber from the rear with the hand, a stick, or a hook, had failed. The gun had to be unloaded—that is, the projectile which had got jambed in the grooves of the rifling had to be pushed out from the muzzle with the cleaning rod.
"What splendid quick-firers," I said unconsciously. I really did not want to hurt the feelings of the gunnery lieutenant, who was perfectly innocent in this.
He shrugged his shoulders. "The system according to which our cartridges are loaded, their hermetically closing lid, which is only removed immediately before the cartridge is placed in the gun—all this is not my invention. Our ' Technical Committee' has elaborated and then approved all this. Am I expected to open each cartridge case and examine it before loading, when in action? In future we shall, of course, have to do this, but it will be done at the expense of rapid shooting."
The following was now to be the routine of the cruiser guard-ships :—Three times twenty-four hours in the roads, three times twenty-four hours in the entrance, three times twenty-four hours' rest in the basin. Of course the word "rest" was an elastic term. All we could claim was to have a little more rest than the others. When the cruiser division had to undertake any job the cruiser whose turn it was to "rest" sailed with the remainder.
The weather got bad. Rain and fogs were frequent. We had south-east winds. They were not very strong, but always raised a heavy swell, which interfered a great deal with the work of our mine-sweeping flotilla.
The Japanese did not come in sight for several days. But on July 3 they attacked the Pallada. It was the last night of her guard (she had  relieved  us on June  30).