At the Fall of Port Arthur Part 21

"I say I'd rather be on one of Uncle Sam's ships than on any other in the world."

While allowed to roam around on deck, Larry often looked eagerly for the _Columbia_, but the schooner and the Chinese junk were too far off to be distinguished with the naked eye.

"We'd give a good deal to be back on her deck, wouldn't we, Luke?" said he.

"Don't mention it, lad; it makes me sick," grumbled the Yankee tar.

"I wish I knew just what was being done on land, don't you? Perhaps this war will end soon, and then we'll be set free."

"It won't end yet awhile, Larry, mark my words on that," answered Luke.

The old Yankee sailor was right--the war was far from ended, and here it may be well to note briefly what was taking place on the sea between Russia and j.a.pan, while the army of the Mikado was pushing through Manchuria in the direction of Liao-Yang.

The loss of the great battleship _Petropavlovsk_ has already been recorded in "Under the Mikado's Flag." This vessel was sunk by a mine in Port Arthur harbor, April 13, 1904, and carried down with her Admiral Makaroff and about five hundred officers and men. At the same time the battleship _Pobieda_ was also injured by a mine.

The loss of the admiral's flag-ship was a great blow to Russia, and while she was trying to recover, Port Arthur was vigorously sh.e.l.led by the j.a.panese fleet, and many buildings were more or less damaged. Some warehouses were set on fire, but the local fire department, aided by the Russian garrison, succeeded in putting out the conflagration.

While the j.a.panese fleet was hammering at the city and the ships from beyond the harbor, the j.a.panese army encircled Port Arthur on land, taking possession of every available hill beyond the Russian line of defenses. As a consequence, by the middle of May the city was in a complete state of siege, nearly all communication with the outside world being cut off.

But now came a turn in affairs which, for a short while, made matters look favorable for Russia. While the fleet of Admiral Togo was patrolling the whole of the southeastern coast of Manchuria and protecting the j.a.panese transports which were pouring troops into the country, occurred a catastrophe as appalling as it was unexpected.

On the same day, May 15, the magnificent battleship _Hatsuse_, of the j.a.panese navy, was blown up by mines and sunk, and the protected cruiser, _Yoshino_, also of Admiral Togo's fleet, collided in the fog with a sister ship, and was a total loss. It is estimated that by these two disasters seven hundred men were lost. Among the officers who met their fate were men of marked ability which j.a.pan at this crisis could ill afford to lose.

The loss of the _Hatsuse_ is worth relating in detail. She had been along the coast during a heavy fog, but this had cleared off and the sun was shining brightly. Not an enemy was in sight, and all was quiet on the great battleship when, without warning, a terrific explosion was felt near the stern and a portion of the steering gear was damaged.

"We have struck a mine!" cried some one on board, and without delay signals were hoisted for the other vessels in sight to stand by. The battleship was drifting and the locality was full of mines. It was a moment of terrible suspense. Then came another explosion, greater than the first, which ripped large holes through her heavy plates. At once the battleship began to fill, and presently she sank like a stone to the bottom of the sea. The other warships put out their small boats with all speed, and succeeded in rescuing about three hundred officers and men out of a total of nearly eight hundred. Among those lost were Rear-Admiral Nashiba and Captain Nakao, the commander of the warship.

The _Yoshino_ was lost while steaming slowly southward, after a night's vigil near the entrance to Port Arthur harbor. Other vessels of the blockading fleet were close by, so each ship had to advance with extreme caution. But the fog, instead of lifting, became thicker, and at a little before two o'clock in the afternoon the cruiser was rammed by the _Kasuga_, another vessel of the fleet. A large hole was torn in the hull of the _Yoshino_.

"Out with the collision mats!" cried the commander of the cruiser, and the mats were brought out without delay and placed over the side. But the hole was too great to be stopped in that manner. Then the captain called the entire crew on deck, and ordered the small boats to be lowered, five on the starboard side and one on the port. Before the boats could be gotten away, the _Yoshino_ listed heavily to starboard and went down, smashing the five small boats under her. The other boat managed to get away, with only a handful of jackies and a couple of officers. The captain remained on the bridge and went down with his ship. As soon as possible the _Kasuga_ put out her boats and succeeded in rescuing about ninety men, out of a total of over two hundred and fifty.

It was a great blow to j.a.pan and the Russians were correspondingly elated. Feeling that Admiral Togo's grip on the sea was now weakened, the Russian squadron at Vladivostok sailed forth and did much damage to the shipping on the northern coast of j.a.pan, sinking several merchantmen and taking a number of others as prizes. The Russian squadron also met the j.a.panese transport _Kinshiu Maru_, having on board the 37th regiment of j.a.panese infantry.

"Surrender, or we will sink you!" signaled the Russian commander. The j.a.panese refused, and were given exactly an hour in which to think it over. As they still refused, a torpedo was discharged against the doomed ship. As she began to sink the j.a.panese soldiers opened fire with their rifles, and then the Russians answered with their machine guns, mowing down the Mikado's men by the score. But the j.a.panese were brave to the last, and sank beneath the waves with the cry of _Banzai_! (hurrah!) on their lips.

It was an auxiliary cruiser of the Vladivostok squadron which had taken the _Columbia_ and the Chinese junk as prizes of war. The captain of the cruiser was now looking for the rest of the squadron, but so far none of the warships had been sighted.

"They must have returned to Vladivostok," he reasoned, and then turned in that direction with the _Pocastra_, never dreaming of what the near future held in store for himself, his ship, and his crew.

CHAPTER XV

A SHARP NAVAL BATTLE

So far the weather had been good, but following the conversation recorded in the last chapter there came up a dense fog, and for twenty-four hours the Russian warship did nothing but creep along in the gloom.

During that time, for some unknown reason, Larry and the others were allowed greater freedom than before. Each had his hands chained behind him, but all were separate, which allowed each to roam around as he pleased.

"This is better than being linked to somebody else," said the youth to his old sailor friend. "Not but that we got along well enough together,"

he added, hastily.

"You're right--there wasn't no sense in joinin' us together," answered Luke. "We can't git away if we want to."

"We might, if we didn't have our hands chained, Luke."

"How?"

"If we all got together some night--providing we could keep out of the pen--and stole one of the small boats."

"Easier said nor done. The guard would ketch ye an' shoot ye down like a dog."

"Oh, I know there would be a great risk. But I hate to think of going to a Siberian prison, or aboard a Russian prison ship."

"So do I, Larry. But even if we stole the boat and got away, where would we go to,--especially if we didn't have much provisions an' water?"

Larry could not answer that question, since he did not know the location of the _Pocastra_. It might be that they were hundreds of miles from land. If so, to take to a small boat with a scarcity of water and provisions would certainly be foolhardy.

The fog continued during the night, but swept away as if by magic about nine o'clock in the morning. At that time the prisoners had had their breakfast and Larry and Luke were between decks, looking at some gunners' a.s.sistants cleaning out one of the large guns.

Suddenly came a call from the lookout, followed by half a dozen commands. As everything said was in Russian, our friends did not understand a word, but they soon realized that something unusual was in the air. A shrill whistle sounded out and drums began to beat to quarters.

"I'll wager a new hat they have sighted a j.a.panese ship!" cried Larry, and scarcely had he spoken when there came a dull booming over the water.

"Let us go to the deck an' see what's doing," returned Luke, and both started for the stairs. But scarcely had they appeared on the deck when they were ordered below again.

Larry was right; a j.a.panese warship had been sighted, and this vessel had lost no time in discharging a signal gun to a sister ship only a few miles away.

Hardly had the youth and his friend reached the lower deck once more than the j.a.panese cruiser opened fire on the Russian vessel. The latter retaliated, and the booming of cannon shook the _Pocastra_ from stem to stern.

"This is a fight for fair!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Luke, with a broad smile on his face.

"I hope the j.a.ps win, Luke!"

"So do I, lad. But where do we come in, that's what I want to know?"

"If we could only drop overboard and swim to that other ship!"

"No use of trying--some of the fellows in the tops would pick us off in no time. No, we've got to stay right where we are an' take what comes."

"Where are the others?"

They looked around, but could see nothing of Captain Ponsberry or Tom Grandon. They saw Cal Vincent run past, but he was out of sight before they could stop him.

Suddenly a crash above them told that a solid shot had struck the upper works of the Russian cruiser. Then came another crash at the bow.