Soldiers of Fortune Series
AT THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR
OR
A YOUNG AMERICAN IN THE
JAPANESE NAVY
BY
Author of "Under the Mikado's Flag," "On to Pekin," "Two Young
Lumbermen," "Old Glory Series," "Colonial Series,"
"Pan-American Series," etc.
ILLUSTRATED BY A. B. SHUTE
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BOSTON:
LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.
1930
Copyright, 1905, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company
All rights reserved
At the Fall of Port Arthur
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
"It is coming this way!" yelled Larry.—Page 84.
PREFACE
"At the Fall of Port Arthur" is a complete tale in itself, but forms the third volume in a line issued under the general title of "Soldiers of Fortune Series."
The story relates primarily the adventures of Larry Russell and his old-time sea chum, Luke Striker, already well known to the readers of my "Old Glory Series." Larry and Luke are aboard of their old ship, the Columbia, bound from Manila to Nagasaki, with a cargo designed for the Japanese Government. This is during the war between Russia and Japan, and when close to the Japanese coast the schooner is sighted by a Russian warship and made a prize of war.
As prisoners both Larry and Luke see something of life in the Russian navy. When close to Vladivostok, the Russian warship falls in with several ships of the Japanese fleet, and after a thrilling sea-fight surrenders with her prize. This brings Larry and Luke before Admiral Togo, and as Larry's brother Ben, with their mutual friend, Gilbert Pennington, is already in the Japanese army, Larry enters the Japanese navy and Luke follows suit. The siege and bombardment of Port Arthur are at their height; and the particulars are given of many battles both on the sea and on land, leading up to the ultimate surrender of that brave Russian commander, General Stoessel, and the fall of the city. By this surrender the Japanese obtained many thousands of prisoners of war, hundreds of cannon, with large quantities of ammunition, and several scores of vessels, useful for either fighting purposes or as transports. Moreover, this victory placed the entire southern portion of Manchuria under Japanese control, giving the army untrammeled use of the railroad running from Port Arthur to Liao-Yang, a city on the road to Mukden, captured some time before, as already related in another volume of this series, entitled "Under the Mikado's Flag."
As I have mentioned in a previous work, it is as yet impossible to state what the outcome of this terrific conflict will be. So far victory has perched largely upon the standard of Japan. The Russian navy has been practically shattered and its army fought to a standstill. The cost of the war has been tremendous to both countries. Countless thousands of lives have already been sacrificed. Would that peace were soon at hand!
Again I thank my young friends for their appreciation of my former stories. May the present tale fulfill every reasonable expectation.
CONTENTS
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in 1905, before the cutoff of January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1930, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 93 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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