THE FIRST NAVAL BATTLE
While Gilbert was having his own troubles in Port Arthur the
differences between Russia and Japan were speedily reaching the acute
stage.
Long before, by the Anglo-Japanese treaty, Russia had promised to
evacuate Manchuria. But this, as we have already seen, had not been
done, and, instead the Russians had begun to flock to northern Korea,
where a certain company obtained mining possessions and even began to
construct fortifications.
These advances meant, to Japan, but one thing—the occupation,
eventually, by Russia of the whole of Manchuria and Korea. This would
become a constant menace to Japan, and protests were at once made at
St. Petersburg, calling for a friendly settlement between the two
interested nations and China and Korea.
The outcome was thoroughly unsatisfactory to Japan. Russia contended
that so far as Manchuria was concerned she would treat only with China,
and that Japan must keep out of the muddle. Regarding Korea she was
willing to allow Japan to operate, commercially, in the south, so long
as Russia was left alone in the north.
The discussion grew hotter and hotter, but Russia would not budge in
the least from the stand first taken, and during the delay did all
in her power to put her army and navy on a war footing. Perhaps the
Russian authorities thought to catch the sons of Nippon napping; if so,
they were sadly mistaken, as events soon after proved.
Negotiations were broken off on February 7, 1904. The Japanese minister
left St. Petersburg, being called home by the Japanese Cabinet sitting
at Tokio. The war was on.
The news was flashed around the world, and reached Port Arthur the
next day after Gilbert had made his arrangements with the German hotel
keeper. The city was in a greater excitement than ever, and on every
corner large crowds collected, to talk over the situation.
If the Russians had been hard on the Japanese in the city before they
were doubly so now, and some of the poorer Japanese hardly knew what to
do. They were hounded from one spot to another, and, in some instances,
made to leave behind them all they possessed.
“This is what I call mean,” said Gilbert to the hotel keeper. “The
least the Russians could do would be to let them take their things and
depart in peace.”
“Say noddings,” whispered the German, putting his finger beside his
nose. “Say noddings, or you vos git into droubles ofer your head
alreatty!” And after that Gilbert was more particular as to what he
said in public. But his kindness to the Japanese had already been
observed, and he was pointed out as one who had no sympathy with the
Russian cause.
“If this thing keeps on, the best I can do is to get out of Port
Arthur,” the young American told himself. And then he thought again of
the _Columbia_, and wondered how those on board were faring.
Gilbert had gone to bed about ten o’clock and was sleeping soundly,
when of a sudden he awoke and sat bolt upright.
“What’s the matter?” he demanded, half aloud, thinking somebody had
given him a shaking.
Scarcely had the words left his lips than he heard a distant explosion.
Then he realized that it had been a similar sound which had aroused him.
“Something is wrong, that is certain,” he mused. “That sounded like
a small powder magazine going up. Can it be that the war has really
begun?”
While he was meditating another explosion rent the midnight air—this
time louder than ever. Waiting no longer, he sprang out on the floor of
his room, and donned his clothing as rapidly as possible. He heard many
folks walking through the hotel, and footsteps could also be heard on
the street, hurrying in various directions.
“What does this mean?” he asked, as soon as he was outside.
Nobody could tell, just then. But all said the explosions had come
from the direction of the harbor, and hither, by common consent, the
majority of the citizens flocked.
With the crowd went Gilbert, and from one of the wharves made out the
searchlights of several Russian ships of war. Several shots had in the
meanwhile been fired, but now all became as quiet as before.
“Those explosions meant something, that is certain,” said Gilbert to
the hotel keeper.
“Vell, you haf been a soldier, you should know,” was the reply. “Maype
dem ships vos fightin’, hey?”
“Perhaps, or a magazine at one of the forts blew up.”
The first blow in this great contest had been struck, and it had proved
telling in the extreme. As soon as the war was a certainty, Admiral
Togo of the Japanese navy left Sasebo with a squadron of sixteen
vessels and some torpedo boats, and steamed directly for Port Arthur.
The vicinity of the port was gained on the afternoon of February 8 and
at once orders went forth to torpedo every Russian warship that showed
itself.
Among the Russian ships in the port at the time were the cruiser
_Pallada_, and the two battleships, _Czarevitch_ and _Retvizan_.
The battleships were the pride of the Czar’s navy, each being about
thirteen thousand tons displacement, and each having a broadside fire
of thirty-five hundred pounds.
The plans of the Japanese were kept carefully concealed from the enemy,
and before the Russians could realize that anything was wrong that
night, the three ships mentioned were torpedoed,—the torpedoes tearing
great holes in their sides and bottoms.
The torpedoing of the three ships occurred while the Russian fleet,
under Admiral Stark, were doing their best to keep the Japanese
warships from coming too close to the city. The forts of Port Arthur
also opened fire, and it was in this din and confusion that the
Japanese torpedo boat destroyers slipped close in and did their deadly
work. Soon after this Admiral Togo signaled his fleet to withdraw,
which they did, the darkness of the sea speedily swallowing them up.
“Well, the war has opened at last, that is certain,” said Gilbert,
after the excitement had somewhat subsided.
His own soldier blood was beginning to be aroused, and he half wished
he could get into the fray himself.
“I rather guess Larry Russell would enjoy this,” he mused, remembering
how his friend had taken part in the great naval battle of Manila Bay
under Admiral Dewey.
Further sleep was out of the question for the ex-lieutenant, and at
early dawn he swallowed a light breakfast, and hastened once more
to the water front, which was now lined everywhere with people. The
excitement was at a fever heat, and it was reported that the Japanese
were going to return, to bombard the city.
In his travels around Port Arthur Gilbert had stumbled across an old
stone building which, in years gone by, had been used as a sort of
storehouse by the Manchu rulers. The building was now practically
deserted and he had no difficulty in getting inside. There was small
stone tower to the structure, and he ascended this until he reached a
point where he could go outside.
The view from this elevated position was an excellent one. In front of
him the inner and outer harbor of the port lay spread out as on a map,
and having brought with him a good pair of field glasses he could see
for miles.
“Hullo, there is certainly something wrong with those ships,” he told
himself, and then he saw the _Czarevitch_ and the _Retvizan_ settled
near the harbor entrance. The _Pallada_ was not so badly injured;
yet her fighting days were practically over, so far as this war was
concerned.
The sinking of their ships had stirred the Russian fighting blood as it
had not been stirred before, and with the coming of daylight Admiral
Stark’s men were more than anxious to fight the Japanese vessels in the
open.
The opportunity was not long in arriving. Three Japanese cruisers could
be seen in the distance, and about noon the whole fleet of sixteen
fighting ships hove into sight. When still three miles away they opened
fire on the Russian fleet and on the forts of the harbor.
“Now they are going to have it hot and heavy,” Gilbert told himself and
his prediction proved correct—the bombardment lasting over an hour.
Being shelled by the Japanese ships, the Port Arthur forts replied as
vigorously as they could, thus compelling Admiral Togo’s vessels to
keep their distance. In the meantime some of the Russian ships advanced
to the attack. These included the _Poltava_, _Novik_, _Askold_, and
_Diana_. All of them proved to be no match for the alert Japanese, and
each was so badly damaged it had to return to the harbor as speedily as
possible. In this engagement the Japanese lost no ships and less than
sixty men killed and wounded. What the losses were to the Russians is
not known, but they must have been heavy.
To Gilbert, who had spent so much of his time as a soldier, the scene
was a most absorbing one, and with his field glasses to his eyes he
took careful note of every movement within sight. The booming of the
ships’ cannon came to him distinctly, as well as the roar of the land
batteries closer at hand.
Presently some sounds below him reached his ears, and he knew that a
number of persons had entered the building and were talking excitedly
among themselves. He glanced over the edge of the tower and saw that
the courtyard below was filled with Russian soldiers, who had just
arrived in Port Arthur, and were going to make the building their
temporary quarters.
“I wonder if they’ll try to stop me when I go down,” Gilbert asked
himself, and then, hearing more firing from a land battery not far
away, he turned his attention once more to the battle. Shot and shell
were flying in all directions, and the air of the harbor and the sea
beyond hung heavy with black smoke.
Just behind Gilbert was a small point of the tower, built of rough
stone. The young American was just wondering if he could mount this and
get a still better view, when a strange noise close to his ear caused
him to drop his field glasses in a hurry.
“That was a shot as sure as fate!” he muttered. “Perhaps I had better
get out of here!”
For a moment he stood undecided, but then his courage returned and
he gazed once more at the scene before him. A Japanese cruiser was
pounding one of the Russian ships at a lively rate and he was unwilling
to miss the exhibition.
Thinking to get a better view from another part of the tower, Gilbert
started to walk in that direction. He had scarcely taken two steps when
he heard a crash overhead, and in a twinkling a mass of stones and dirt
came tumbling down around him. A stray cannon ball had hit the point of
the tower, and the missile must have passed within a few feet of the
young American’s head.
[Illustration: THE STRAY SHOT WAS A MOST UNEXPECTED ONE.—_Page 50._]
The stray shot was a most unexpected one, and Gilbert cannot be blamed
if he dodged and thought of running away. Some of the stones hit him,
and the dirt filled his eyes, but he was not seriously hurt.
“Reckon I had best get out of here,” he told himself, and started to go
below, when a voice from the inside of the tower startled him.
“There is somebody up here,” came in Russian. “That American they told
us about!”