In the Yellow Sea Part 25

I had already made some observations about Port Arthur, and subsequently I was enabled to supplement them. The defences of the place were, and are now, doubtless, almost impossible to surmount. It is the "Gibraltar of the East." Around, and high above the harbour, which has a narrow and difficult entrance, are forts, on the mutual a.s.sistance principle of chained defence, on the hills from west to east on the northern sh.o.r.e there are, in all, thirteen forts of heavy guns, including the two near the sh.o.r.e. Again, at the west, is Huang-chin-shan, or Golden Hill, a fort which can sweep its guns in all directions. "Shan" is "hill," so Chi-huan-shan is c.o.c.k's-comb Hill, and I-tzee-shan, Chair Hill. The first three by the west (northern side at Chair Hill) are very important forts.

If we cross the strip of water at the mouth we reach the Tiger's Tail,--a piece of land, long and narrow, just opposite the West Port (the East Port is the dock-basin, or harbour, as contrasted with the ordinary harbour, West Port). On this Tail of the Tiger stand eight more forts, and all these twenty-two important defences were armed with large and quick-firing guns, perhaps more than three hundred in all, with an army behind them of twenty thousand Chinese nominally, but most likely many thousands less in fact, perhaps not more than twelve thousand or fifteen thousand effectives--if one may describe the Chinese as "effective."

The j.a.panese had one hundred cannon, and these were quietly placed in position during the evening and night of 20th November, on high ground.

The forts to be a.s.saulted were those by Chair Hill on the land side (north of harbour), and then those more eastward--Pine Hill, Dragon and c.o.c.k's-comb Hills. These forts were really the most important from the land side a.s.sault, and when we consider that the elevation of the land is great,--from 350 to 1500 feet, though, of course, less a great deal near the sh.o.r.e,--the difficulties of the a.s.sault can be imagined.

I awoke early, about midnight, and "dressed," which means wrapped myself up, and stepped out to listen to the tramping of the battalions, which were already taking up positions for the a.s.sault. As the morning advanced, the moon rose up, and shone clearly. The j.a.panese soldiers had no doubt of results, and the forts were to be attacked in a specified order, while a counter demonstration was threatened at the farther side.

It was impossible to rest, so I staggered to the limits of the camp in the darkness, the lanterns shining like fireflies as the troops advanced. They were all in readiness at two o'clock a.m., and just as dawn was due the artillery opened the attack, and awoke the slumbering Chinese in the town. If the men in the forts were asleep, they quickly arose, and replied in kind from all directions, and the flashing of the guns indicated the fearful fire which was being directed at the j.a.panese artillery, the camp, and the troops,--the last now just seen climbing up the hills, or crawling in the gra.s.s, to the attack, by ravines and slopes and gullies.

The roar was simply awful! The thunder was incessant. The sh.e.l.ls came blazing across the sky, tore lines in the advancing troops, and ploughed the hillsides in all directions. This cannonade continued for quite an hour; it really seemed as if the fearful firing, noise, and thick smoke, would never cease around us. Daylight came, and then the Chinese played havoc with the a.s.sailants, who fell fast. But the j.a.panese guns were silencing the Chinese by degrees, and the men crept up to the forts, compelled to halt at times and take breath,--the last which many of them ever drew,--for the fire was fearful, and no command could be heard.

At length the three doomed forts were reached by the rear approach, and the only mode of capture was by climbing the thirteen feet walls! This was a feat in any case, but when the attempt was made amid a continuous fire, the situation seems impossible. The j.a.panese, however, succeeded by fixing their bayonets into the wall, and climbing by those impromptu steps to the top of the parapet, where they engaged the Chinese hand to hand. Others, again, were hoisted up by means of a rope, which a private soldier had let down after climbing up to the top by the inequalities in the masonry of the wall. These acts of heroic bravery were to be seen frequently, and at different points.

The a.s.sailants fell by hundreds at a time, but as soon as the survivors gained the advantage, and reached the platforms, the Chinese fled helter-skelter out of the forts, down the hills, in the direction of the sea, and the j.a.panese dashed after them, firing, or bayoneting the stragglers. Here were mandarins, officers, and soldiers, armed and unarmed, flying for dear life, and in numerous instances losing that.

As soon as the Chinese had evacuated the defences on the western side I essayed to climb up, but was forced to pause, not only from physical weakness, but because of mental disturbance. Already the Red Cross was in evidence tending and succouring the wounded and dying, and despatching the former to Kinchow, and subsequently to the Port Arthur Hospital. The Chinese, who did not understand, or certainly did not practise this humanity, frequently fired at the devoted bands, who thus suffered for their devotion.

As I advanced I rendered some a.s.sistance, I am pleased to think, but the numbers requiring aid were beyond expectation. The j.a.panese suffered greatly. Tens and dozens of dead bodies lay in groups in many places, and this slaughter was all around one. When the forts were stormed the Chinese became the victims and paid heavily for the j.a.panese dead. A terrible revenge was taken, and when the Pine Tree fort blew up there was a loud shout of victory. Thenceforth the invaders had all their own way.

And such a way! Midday had struck, as the phrase is, when the first forts were taken--Inland, and then the remaining forces came on to reduce the coast line of forts and redoubts, including the large Golden Hill fort already named, which by its cannon turning in all directions had caused much loss in the distant j.a.panese ranks. Preparations were made to storm this place late in the afternoon. The Chinese were still resisting under all possible cover in rifle-pits and trenches and redoubts, but all the time the j.a.panese were encircling them and the town--their usual method. I noticed that at sea the fleet circled round the Chinese ships, and now on land the soldiers came up on three sides.

Following the troops I watched them from a distant height forming a _cordon_ around the devoted town, which contains about a thousand houses built Chinese fashion (usually in one storey), two theatres, temples, hotels, and banks, besides the extensive docks fitted with all modern appliances, torpedo factory, a railway, cranes, workshops, and basins for ships and boats. The place is well supplied with water, and later I witnessed a curious scene in those docks.

When I had struggled as near as I deemed prudent, armed with a j.a.panese rifle, cartridges, and a cap, I fancied I could hear a band playing. A musical welcome from the Chinese was perhaps the most curious of the many curious and contradictory things in China, but it was certainly a military band in the town, while the brigade beyond was storming the forts. I made inquiry as well as I could, and ascertained that the j.a.panese had already occupied the town, and the band was playing them in with their National Anthem, which I recognised as having already heard on board ship in the hour of victory.

The day was now coming to a close. Golden Hill remained in Chinese hands, and the fighting was for a while suspended. Still Port Arthur was in possession of the j.a.panese, and the remaining fort when attacked next morning was found empty. The garrison had deserted it in the night.

That night of the 21st November 1894 will be remembered by all who live to think of it. Why? you may ask. Simply because the Chinese were slain in the most savage and unrelenting way in the town. On the hill a chill and piercing wind rose that night, and the sufferings of the wounded must have been terrible. I made my way at dusk, under shelter, behind the hill I had scrambled up before, and found the j.a.panese lying on their faces still, thickly. The Chinese were lying anyhow on that hill, and on the other slope; half-clothed, nearly always unarmed, and seldom in any "uniform" dress.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHINESE WERE LYING ANYHOW]

These are common instances which indicate the temperaments and courage of the two nations. The j.a.panese shot in the forehead or chest falls _forward_ and dies. The Chinese I saw were fugitives who had cast away their weapons and clothing the more easily to escape and to be mistaken for civilians. I must add that the j.a.panese wounded never seemed to complain or cry out. Their fort.i.tude under the most deplorable conditions, amid terrible injuries and wounds, was Spartan-like--heroic.

That cold night, for which all were unprepared, found those on the hills badly off, though wearied to death they lay, some beside watch-fires some in the darkness, dead asleep; while the soldiers in the waking town conducted themselves like absolute fiends. As already stated, the soldiers were exasperated by the brutality of the Chinese, but that was scarce a reason for the wholesale and deliberate murder of civilians, women, and children in cold blood.

Next morning, under the guidance of a soldier and the interpreter, I essayed to reach the town. We descended the hill, my companions looking triumphantly upon the devastation and the evidences of death, which, though now familiar to me, were none the less terrible.

The town was reached, and we entered it near the dock where is a reservoir of water, a kind of lake, one may say, at the foot of the sloping ground. There even my callous companions halted. The pool was full of dead bodies floating in all kinds of att.i.tudes, head downwards, or extended on the back or face bleeding or bloodless, many women, and even young children. There they lay, some floating, as I have said, some pressed down by others, some lying half in and half out of the bloodstained water, all killed by violence, by the rifle-shot or bayonet, and hacked as savages would not have thought of doing.

And this was the act of the merciful j.a.panese! I turned sick and faint with horror, rushed away into the town to escape from this most fearful scene. Presently I was compelled to seat myself in sheer illness, my companions were also ashamed I believe.

After a while I rose and made my way through the streets, but here again were horrors piled up even if possible more awful than the first experience. Houses, shops, inns were pillaged, fired, plundered! Men and women dead--mutilated--every possible shame had been inflicted, and even then, in daylight, the j.a.panese soldiers were looting and killing all in their way, binding up bundles of plunder, or chasing an unfortunate Chinaman to death amid the laughter of his fellows.

Fortunately I was properly protected, else my doom had been sealed, for the dead lay so thickly in the streets and pa.s.sages, that one had to tread carefully for fear of stepping upon a body; and if a Chinese was discovered seeking his dead friend, relative, wife, or child, the first j.a.panese butcher would kill him, and then slash him into slices with his sword.

For true barbarity the inflamed j.a.panese countenance in a pa.s.sion of killing is the most repulsive. What the night had witnessed I tremble now to think. Of what we witnessed of the awful results it is impossible even to do more than name, the details are quite unfit to describe. The dismemberment of the bodies even of children and women will always remain a stain upon the j.a.panese, on the soldiers for executing such awful rapine and murder, on the officers for not stopping such scenes of b.e.s.t.i.a.l violence.

Amid such scenes in the docks next day the field-marshal presided at a grand luncheon, where hundreds of officers attended, and numerous newspaper correspondents a.s.sisted, and drank the health of the Emperor of j.a.pan. Whom of those hundreds who stood at the long tables spread in the dockyard, and feasted upon potted and tinned food, thought of the ma.s.sacred Chinese? Even then, perhaps, dark and silent murder was being done while the bands played stirring airs, and officers congratulated each other upon their own successes while the curses of the dying natives were heaped upon the savage soldiery.

"Find me a way from this fearful place," I begged at last, when I had vainly sought escape by boat. "Is there no junk, no vessel, in the bay which will shelter me and carry me to Chefoo?"

My despairing appeal was carried to the ears of the officer who had already befriended me. He came towards the ruined inn, where I was resting, and inquired what I wanted.

"Means to leave this horrible place," I said briefly. "The _Naniwa_ is in the harbour. Cannot you manage to communicate with your brother?

He may a.s.sist me to reach the opposite sh.o.r.e."

"Is that all? Why, there are several British vessels in the gulf." He then quickly said a few words to my companions in their own tongue, and left me. I am glad to think that he and some other officers had been staying the ma.s.sacre of the night. "I will follow you," he added.

"Wait beyond."

As we made our way through the narrow streets westward to the Port, the natural harbour, the sights were beyond description. Even there dead lay in the streets and shops, which, still hung with the Chinese signs and open as in a fair-ground, were wrecked and dabbled with blood.

Fortunately the weather was cold, and when we reached the harbour, or West Port, the soldiers were dragging dead bodies from the water, where they lay thickly.[1] Men, women, and children had been hunted down and slain in the water. The few junks on sh.o.r.e were also filled with dead bodies of fugitives and crews.

[1] Should any reader need evidence of these days let him see the ill.u.s.trated papers of the time.

My interpreter shook his head. He could do nothing. Remembering his former conduct, I began to fear that he had some sinister object in his mind's eye. I asked him what I should do, and then as he paused in his reply, I demanded why he had robbed me before. My fears were then allayed, because I saw the j.a.panese officer, Tomi's brother, approaching. But the interpreter remained perfectly calm to all appearance. He merely deprecated any reference to such an unpleasant incident, by a shrug of the shoulders, and an appealing movement of his hands.

"Then you intended to destroy me!" I exclaimed. "What do you propose now? May I ask you, sir, to question this man about his conduct while in my society, when, as I have told you, I was robbed by him and left alone to find my way across the isthmus."

The interpreter's nimble tongue was at a loss for once. He could not advance any excuse.

"Did this man rob you?" asked the officer. "Speak, sir."

"Yes," I replied. "Let him deny it if he can."

The j.a.panese officer turned to the interpreter and said something to him, motioning to the soldier who had accompanied me to advance.

The traitor fell upon his knees, Chinese fashion, but what he said I could not understand. He produced the revolver, however, and some papers.

"He declares he was instructed to take these from you, for fear of your safety if they were found upon you by the natives. Is that so?"

"Not at all. I was given the pistol and money by your brother for my protection. He had already defended me, and the captain of the ship urged my departure as a scout, knowing some Chinese. They hoped I would remain with the army, reach Port Arthur, and so get away."

"Then you _were_ suspected on board?" he asked sharply.

"Yes, because I was sailing in the Chinese transport, I think. Your honourable brother a.s.sisted me, and intended to send me to the British fleet."

"He had no authority to do so. But I am sure the captain would have landed you at Chemulpo had you desired it."

"I did not want to be landed. I am a sailor, and wished to continue on board until I could be sent to Shanghai or Chefoo."

"It appears to me now that you did wrong. You had better have landed and made your way, with the a.s.sistance of your consul, to China. But matters seem also to have been against you. As for this man's statement respecting the robbery, I do not believe it. He has traduced my brother."

Then followed a few sentences in the j.a.panese language, which sounded particularly harsh. I saw the man seized by the soldier, and cried out. The officer turned to me inquiringly.

"What do you intend?" I asked. "What punishment?"

"I shall strike off his thievish hand."