CHAPTER XXV
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 pea jackets. 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.