BOMBARDING A PORT ARTHUR FORT
Larry felt very happy after having met Ben and Gilbert. He had been
afraid he should find that his brother or his friend was wounded, even
though no mention of such an occurrence had been made in the letter he
had received. He knew from experience that Ben was in the habit of
making light of things that went wrong.
"I suppose it did your heart good to meet 'em both," said Luke, after
the warship was on the way.
"You're right, Luke; it was a regular touch of old times."
"Wish I had seen 'em myself."
"Both wanted to be remembered to you." Larry paused for a moment. "By
the way, I wonder where we are bound now?"
"Can't say as to that, lad--secret orders, I reckon," answered the old
tar.
The order to sail was evidently an important one, for scarcely was the
_Shohirika_ out of sight of land than all steam was crowded on. The
lookouts were also doubled, and when night came the strictest watch
possible was maintained.
Yet, with it all, several days passed without anything out of the
ordinary happening. Drills and exercises went on as before, and both
Larry and Luke made themselves familiar with all parts of the warship.
Both spent much time in familiarizing themselves with such orders as
were given to them in Japanese, so that they might not be too "green,"
as Larry termed it, if put to the test.
During those days spent on shipboard matters concerning the great war
were moving forward steadily. In the vicinity of Liao-Yang both the
Japanese and the Russians made several movements to better their
positions. This brought on a few skirmishes and one heavy battle, in
which the losses were several hundreds on each side. There was also an
advance on the outer forts of Port Arthur, and a fair-sized hill was
captured by the Mikado's men, who, however held the place only at an
enormous loss of life. In moving on the port the Japanese found they
would have to do a great amount of tunneling and entrenching, all of
which consumed time.
On the ocean the two nations were equally active. Both took several
prizes of war, and in an encounter with the Vladivostok squadron a
Russian warship was hopelessly disabled and a Japanese cruiser was all
but sunk. Another ship belonging to Admiral Togo's fleet struck a mine
outside of Port Arthur and had to be sent back to Japan for repairs.
So far the weather had been warm, but autumn was now at hand and before
long the nights became cold and raw.
"This war won't be finished this winter," said more than one. "We are in
for another year of it, sure."
The _Shohirika_ had been summoned to join the fleet patrolling before
Port Arthur. Two days before that station was reached they fell in with
a sister ship which brought the news of an encounter with a Russian
battleship carrying some troops from Siberia. Both warships had suffered
and become separated in the darkness.
"This war is certainly warming up," said Larry. "I hope we see some
fighting before it is over."
"Maybe we'll see more of it than you wish," said Luke, grimly.
"Don't you worry--we'll see a whole lot," put in Steve Colton, who was
sitting on a ditty chest, playing checkers with Bob Stanford. "Just wait
till we get under Admiral Togo's eye--he'll make us be up and doing."
The chance to see some of the war came the next day, when they were
ordered to bombard one of the forts to the north of Port Arthur proper.
As soon as they came within four miles of the fort they received a
reception which was as warm as it was exciting.
"Now, here is where we show what we can do!" cried Luke, as the orders
came to begin firing, and the whole gun company jumped in to assist him.
The magazines were opened up, the windlasses set to work, and soon the
first real shell--not a mere blank for practicing--came up and was run
into the gun. Then the breech-block was swung to and locked, the
electric connection set, and Luke sighted the piece with care, after
having first received the proper distance from the range-finders in the
tops. As soon as the "sight" was "covered" the button was pressed, and
_bang!_ went the gun with a concussion that shook the whole ship. Other
guns followed in rapid succession, until Larry had to stuff cotton in
his ears to keep himself from becoming deaf. As soon as the gun was
discharged, it was opened to let the gases out and then cleaned with wet
swabs and flushed with running water to cool the barrel.
The bombardment lasted for an hour, and during that time the fort was
hit in a dozen places. Sand, dirt, and rocks flew in all directions, and
once there came a flash which told of an explosion of a quantity of
powder.
"If we could only hit the magazine it would be good-by to that fort,"
said Larry, but this was not to be.
After the first few shots the fort had remained silent, but now, when
the _Shohirika_ was about to retire, the gunners opened up once more,
and a rain of shot and shell flew all around the warship. One struck the
bow of the vessel, tearing off a few feet of the forward deck and
another entered the forward turret, killing one of the gunner's
assistants.
"We can be thankful we weren't in that turret," said Luke, when he
received the latter news.
"Yes, indeed!" murmured Larry, and could not repress a shiver. "I can
tell you, it's mighty risky work after all!" he added, soberly.
"Well, we've got one advantage over those fellows," put in Colton, after
the firing had come to an end, and the warship was fast getting out of
range. "We can run away, while they have got to stay right where they
are."
"Oh, they can run away too," said Larry.
"Not unless they abandon their fort,--and that would be just as if we
should abandon our ship."
The work at the gun had been severe, and after the bombardment was over
Larry was glad to clean up and take a rest. The perspiration, grime, and
smoke had made him look like a negro, and he used up several buckets of
water before he got himself into as cleanly a condition as was habitual
with him. Luke also took a "scrubbing down," as he called it, and so did
the others.
What amazed Larry more than anything was the quietness of the Japanese
sailors. Now that the bombardment was ended they said scarcely a word
about it, but went on exactly as before.
"They are the most matter-of-fact chaps I ever saw!" he declared. "I
believe if the ship blew up they would say 'Very sorry' and swim away.
Now on one of Uncle Sam's ships the men would be all woke up and out for
a jollification. Ben says it's the same way in the army. If they get
excited at all they always seem to be sorry for it afterwards!"
"That's what ye call a characteristic o' the race, I reckon," returned
Luke. "They're taught to act that way from babyhood. It ain't polite nor
high-toned to git excited. The only thing they kin yell is _Banzai!_ an'
they let thet out loud enough, goodness knows!"
"I can't understand why we didn't keep at that fort," came from Colton.
"I was just getting the range beautifully when orders came to shut
down."
"Well, there must be a reason for it, Steve," answered Luke.
There was a reason for it. Admiral Togo had just received word that
certain ships of the Port Arthur squadron were going to make an attempt
to break out of the harbor, either that night or the next day.
Consequently the _Shohirika_ was needed further down the coast, and
steamed away in that direction as rapidly as her somewhat limited supply
of coal permitted.
"I don't think the navy will ever find its way into Port Arthur harbor,"
said Larry, later on, after studying a map of that locality. "There are
too many forts on the hills outside of the town. They could smash our
ships to smithereens if we got too close."
"Trust Admiral Togo to know what he is doing," answered Steve Colton.
"He won't go too close. At the same time he ain't going to let the
Russian ships get away any more than Schley and Sampson let Admiral
Cervera get away from Santiago Harbor in Cuba."
"It's the army that will make Port Arthur a hot place to live in," came
from Bob Stanford. "They can entrench and thus gain a little ground day
by day, and as soon as they win some high point, like say 203-Meter
Hill, it will be all up with General Stoessel, mark my words."
The night to follow proved to be misty, and so cold that the majority of
the sailors were glad to don their heavy peajackets. Fearing that the
enemy would try to take advantage of the weather, Admiral Togo turned on
all the searchlights his fleet possessed, and these were flashed in all
directions.
"False alarm," said Luke, after midnight had sounded out on the ship's
bell. "Reckon the Russians don't dare to come out."
But the old Yankee tar was mistaken. The enemy were on the alert, and at
three o'clock, when the mist was extra heavy, the movement to steal out
of Port Arthur harbor was begun, two torpedo destroyers taking the lead,
and several cruisers following. This brought on a heavy sea-fight
lasting far into the next day, and one which came close to cost Larry
his life.