Under the Ensign of the Rising Sun Part 13

The low ground at the foot of the range of hills for which I was heading was all cultivated, as well as the lower slopes, but, higher up, the ground was covered pretty thickly with scrub, with here and there a few patches of fir trees; and when once I got among these I felt that I was fairly safe, for I imagined that n.o.body would be likely to have any business up there, while in the disturbed state of the country n.o.body would be likely to wander there for pleasure.

By the time that I reached the lower margin of the belt of scrub, the moon, one-half of her in shadow, had crept up above the crest of Mount Sampson, and the whole of the country round about me was flooded with her dim, ghostly light, with the help of which I was able to make out the small walled city of Kinchau, planned in the form of a square, each side measuring about half a mile long; the j.a.panese position in the valley to the south of it; and a few of the Russian positions on the Nanshan Heights; I was also able to definitely rea.s.sure myself as to my own position.

The point for which I was aiming was about three miles north of the little cove in which I had landed, and the intervening ground was rugged, with many outcrops of rough, jagged rock, and much overgrown with thick, tangled scrub; the "going," therefore, was a bit toilsome, but that did not greatly matter to me, for the night air was distinctly raw, I was none too thickly clad, and the exertion kept me warm. When I reached the belt of fir wood that seemed to completely encircle the range of heights which I was climbing, the obscurity was such that it was only with the utmost difficulty I was able to make any headway at all; and at length, coming to a spot where the gra.s.s was exceptionally thick and dry, feeling somewhat fatigued with my unwonted exertions, I flung myself down for a short rest, and before I knew what was happening, fell fast asleep.

I awoke, chill and cramped, at the sound of a distant bugle call, to find that the sky over the summit of Mount Sampson was just paling to the approach of dawn. I therefore scrambled to my feet, much refreshed by my nap, and resumed my climb, eager to get a glimpse of my surroundings with the first of the daylight; for I had a great deal to do, and not very much time in which to do it.

A quarter of an hour of brisk walking brought me to the upper edge of the fir wood, and there before me, scarcely a mile distant, stood the peak which I had chosen as the starting-point for my operations. I had been guided by the map in my selection of it, for the contours showed me that, apart from Mount Sampson, it was one of the most lofty elevations in the neighbourhood, and also that it rose somewhat abruptly to a small, well-defined point. My first glance at it a.s.sured me that, so far at least, my map spoke truly, for the summit appeared to consist of a rocky knoll, the highest point of which was a short, stunted, conical ma.s.s, the top of which seemed scarcely capable of affording standing room. Nothing could possibly have been better for my purpose, and I hurried forward and upward, eager now to get at my work.

I will not afflict the reader by attempting to describe in detail my plan of operations, for it involved a mathematical problem of some complexity, only interesting to and comprehensible by a mathematician.

Suffice it to say that what I had undertaken to do was to make three separate sets of observations from as many chosen points, consisting of carefully observed compa.s.s bearings, and angles taken with my pocket s.e.xtant; and the taking of these observations, and the travelling from one point to another, kept me so busy all day that I was scarcely able to find time to s.n.a.t.c.h a couple of hurried meals while walking from one point to another. I was not interfered with by anybody, for, with two opposing armies facing each other at close quarters, the population seemed scarcely inclined to venture out of doors. Of course I saw plenty of armed men, both Russians and our own troops, moving about in the plain which surrounds Kinchau, and there was a considerable amount of desultory firing going on; but it was not until well on in the afternoon that I came into close proximity of any of the troops, and that was when it became necessary for me to cross a road leading into Kinchau from the north. Along this road armed Russians, singly, in twos and threes, and often in large bodies, were pa.s.sing to and fro; and I lost nearly an hour of valuable time waiting for an opportunity merely to cross that road unseen. However, I managed it at last, and reached my final observation point just in time to satisfactorily finish my work before night fell and the light failed me.

And now my next task was to somehow make my way back to the cove in which I had landed some eighteen hours earlier. To do this it was necessary for me to recross the road where I had been held up during the afternoon; but now the darkness was in my favour, and I succeeded in getting across with scarcely any delay, arriving at the cove safely, with a good hour to spare.

It was a weary waiting for the boat which was due to come for me at midnight, for I was very tired after my unusual exertions throughout the day, and would gladly have slept. But that would not do; for to have slept would have exposed me to the double risk of being surprised, and of missing my boat; I was therefore by no means sorry when, about midnight, I heard the low whistle which announced her arrival. To step lightly into her and murmur the order to shove off was the work of a moment, and half an hour later I was again safely aboard the _Kasanumi_, to the great joy of young Hiraoka, who, it appeared, had been all day haunted with the fear that I might fall into the hands of the Russians.

And now, weary as I was, there were at least two hours' work before me, with pencil, paper, protractor, parallel ruler, and scale, making calculations and laying down upon map and chart the result of my observations. This result was, on the whole, eminently satisfactory, for although I discovered a few trifling errors in the map, here and there, my observations enabled me to correct them; and when I had at length finished, map and chart were in a condition which would enable me to proceed with the second part of my task with the a.s.surance of success. This accomplished, I retired to my cabin with an easy mind, and slept the sleep of the just until midday.

A salt-water douche on deck for a few minutes, skilfully administered by a laughing j.a.panese seaman, and a brisk rub down with a rough towel left me fresh and invigorated, quite ready for a meal and the work which still lay ahead of me. The first part of this consisted in laying down upon the chart a number of positions corresponding with the varying draughts of water of the several units which the Admiral was detailing to a.s.sist General Oku in his operations against the Russian forces who were barring his pa.s.sage of the Kinchau isthmus. The laying down of the positions above referred to was a task demanding a considerable amount of thought and care, for it was important that the s.h.i.+ps should approach the sh.o.r.e as nearly as possible, otherwise their guns might be out-ranged, while, on the other hand, they must not be permitted to approach too near, or they would be exposed to the risk of being left aground on a falling tide. Also it was imperative that the berths chosen for them should be so situated as to enable them to afford the maximum amount of possible a.s.sistance. I devoted the entire afternoon to the consideration of this question, and at length fixed upon a series of positions which seemed to me to answer all requirements as nearly as the tidal conditions would allow. My next task was to accurately fix these several positions by as complete a series of cross bearings as possible; having accomplished which, there was nothing more to be done until after midnight. Meanwhile, the _Kasanumi_, with her engines stopped, was lying hove-to some sixty miles to the westward of Kinchau, in the Gulf of Liaotung, waiting for nightfall.

At four bells in the first watch we got under way and started to run east at a speed of twenty knots, for I had now to complete my entire plan by placing the buoys, or triangular rafts which I had provided for the purpose, in the positions in Kinchau Bay which I had already selected for them and marked upon the chart.

Too anxious for the complete success of my scheme to be able to sleep, I had ordered a deck chair to be brought up from below, and was sitting in this on our little navigating bridge, with a mids.h.i.+pman named Uchida, who had been detailed for service with me, pacing softly to and fro from port to starboard, keeping the lookout; and the cold night air was beginning to produce a pleasantly drowsy effect upon me when, as the boy halted for a moment in turning on his march, he suddenly stiffened, and stared intently out upon our starboard beam. He stood thus, like a figure suddenly turned to stone, for the s.p.a.ce of a full minute or more, then came softly to my side and saluted.

"Three craft on our starboard beam, sir, coming up from the south-west,"

he reported.

"What do they look like?" I demanded, rising to my feet and staring out in the direction toward which the boy pointed.

"I cannot yet say, sir," he replied. "At present they are too far off to reveal their character; indeed, I doubt if I should have seen them so soon, but for the fact that I glimpsed the flames issuing from one of their funnels."

"Yes," I said. "Thanks, Mr Uchida, I see them too. Have the goodness to bring me the night-gla.s.s from the chart-house. They appear to be steaming with lights out."

The lad hurried away, and quickly returned with the night-gla.s.s, which I focused and applied to my eye. The night was overcast, but there were a few stars blinking out between the clouds, which were flying fast up from the westward, and by their feeble, uncertain light I was presently able to distinguish a little more clearly the three small, shapeless blurs that Uchida's keen eyes had detected. They were little more than shapeless blurs still, even when viewed through the powerful lenses of the night-gla.s.s; but I was able to distinguish that one of them was considerably bigger than the other two, which were much of a size. It was the funnel of the big fellow that was showing the flames, which seemed to indicate that she was being driven, while the other two appeared to be running easily. Yet all three were in company. The appearance of the two smaller craft seemed to suggest to me that they might possibly be destroyers; but what the other was, I could not guess.

She was not big enough for a cruiser or a transport; and the fact that she was evidently being hard driven to enable her to keep pace with her consorts--or, possibly, escort--led me to doubt whether she was a wars.h.i.+p of any kind. One thing was pretty clear, which was that, like ourselves, they were evidently bound for Kinchau Bay. Were they enemies or friends? If the former, it was eminently undesirable that they should be permitted to arrive, and it was for me to look into the matter.

"How's her head?" I demanded of the helmsman.

"East, three degrees south," he replied.

"s.h.i.+ft your helm to east, twenty-five degrees south," I ordered; and the bows of the destroyer swung round until she was heading for a point at which we could intercept the strangers. Then: "Mr Uchida," I said, "pa.s.s the word to prepare to make the private night signal."

The signal was presently hoisted to the yard-arm and displayed for fully five minutes without evoking a response; and then I knew that the strangers were enemies. We accordingly hauled down the signal again and cleared for action, loading both torpedo tubes as well. This done, we quickened up our pace to full speed; for if we were going to have a fight, I wanted it to be out there in the open, so far away from the sh.o.r.e that the sounds of firing would not reach the Russians about Kinchau, and so apprise them of the presence of an enemy in the adjacent waters.

As we rapidly neared the enemy I made them out to be two destroyers, evidently escorting the third craft, which was a single-funnelled steamer of apparently about eighteen hundred tons. She sat deep in the water, as though loaded to her full capacity, but she was much too small for a transport, and for the life of me I could not imagine what her character might be. But there could be no doubt whatever concerning the destroyers; they were self-evident Russians, for they were four-funnelled, the funnels arranged in pairs, which was distinctly characteristic of a certain cla.s.s of Russian destroyer.

Neither side wasted any time upon useless preliminaries; but it was the Russians who opened the ball by both craft firing, almost simultaneously, every gun they could bring to bear upon us. But their aim was nothing to boast of, for although we heard the sh.e.l.ls screaming all about us, we remained untouched. Twice they fired upon us before I would give the word to our gun-layers, and both times ineffectively; then I gave the order to commence firing; and no sooner had the words pa.s.sed my lips than our 12-pounder spoke, and a moment later there occurred two distinct explosions aboard the nearest Russian boat, which instantly became enveloped in a great cloud of steam. Apparently that first shot of ours had struck and exploded one of her boilers, for almost immediately she slackened speed and began to drop astern. This mishap, however, did not seem to in the least discourage her consort, which, putting on full speed, now dashed at us in the most determined and gallant manner, firing as she came, and receiving our fire in return. And then, for some ten minutes, we found ourselves engaged in a regular ding-dong fight, we and our antagonist closing to a distance of less than two hundred yards, and hammering away at each other as fast as the guns could be served.

But it very soon became apparent that our fellows were much the better and cooler gunners of the two; for whereas the Russians seemed to ram in their charges and let fly on the instant that their guns were loaded, our men waited, watching the roll both of their own s.h.i.+p and that of the enemy, and firing at her waterline as she rolled away from us, with the result that within the first five minutes of the fight a lucky shot from our 12-pounder sent a sh.e.l.l through her upturned bilge a foot or so below her normal waterline, blowing a hole through her thin plating that admitted a tremendous inrush of water every time that she rolled toward us. Her crew at once got out a collision mat and made the most desperate efforts to get it over and stop the leak; but our 6-pound quick-firers peppered them so severely that, after struggling manfully for two or three minutes, they were obliged to let the mat go, and lost it. Then they launched a torpedo at us, which missed us by inches only, whereupon I ordered our men to cease fire, and hailed the Russian to ask if she would surrender. But, not a bit of it; their reply, as translated to me by Hiraoka, who was an excellent Russian linguist, was, that they knew how to die, but not how to surrender; and the reply was accompanied by another salvo from every one of their guns that would bear. And this, too, at a moment when it became only too apparent that the boat was rapidly sinking. Since, therefore, it was evident that they were resolved to fight to the last, there was nothing for it but to open fire upon them afresh, much as I regretted it, as they obstinately persisted in keeping up a fire upon us.

The end, however, was nearer than even I thought, for we had fired but a few more shots at our opponent when there occurred a terrific explosion aboard her, instantly followed by several others, her deck opened up like the lid of a box, a great sheet of flame leapt up from her interior; and, seeming to break in two, the dismembered hull rapidly disappeared, the bow and stern portions rearing themselves out of water for a few seconds ere they plunged to the bottom, leaving nothing to show where the boat had been, save a great cloud of acrid smoke and steam, a few fragments of wreckage, and some half a dozen men struggling in the water.

Of course we instantly stopped our engines and launched a boat; but we only found and saved three men out of the boat's total complement of forty-seven. We learned that the name of the lost destroyer was the _Beztraschni_, and that all of her officers had perished with her.

We now had leisure to attend to the other two craft, which were by this time some three miles astern, having apparently stopped their engines to await at a safe distance the course of events. Swinging round, we headed for them at full speed, with all guns loaded, and a torpedo in each tube, ready to open fire as soon as we got within effective range.

As we drew nearer, however, it became evident that there was something very seriously wrong with the destroyer which we had first fired upon, and which had dropped astern, disabled, for there were boats in the water about her, seemingly pa.s.sing between her and the other craft, boats going to her with only two or three hands in them, and leaving her loaded. By the time that we had arrived within a mile of her we could see that the destroyer was in a sinking condition; and a minute later we lost sight of her altogether: she had gone down.

The boats were still in the water alongside the surviving craft, and men were climbing up her side from them as we arrived within some thirty fathoms of her and hailed, demanding her surrender. A reply instantly came from her to the effect that she surrendered; whereupon I dispatched Hiraoka on board, in charge of an armed boat's crew; and some ten minutes later the youngster hailed, informing me that our prize was named the _Vashka_, of seventeen hundred and sixty tons register, originally a cargo steamer, but now adapted for mine-laying; and that she was from Dalny, bound for Kinchau Bay for the purpose of sowing the bay with mines, in antic.i.p.ation of the probability that some of our s.h.i.+ps would be sent to partic.i.p.ate in the attack upon the isthmus. He added the information that the vessel, hoping to escape the notice of j.a.pan's wars.h.i.+ps by taking a roundabout route, had been escorted by two destroyers only, the _Beztraschni_ and the _Storozhevoi_, the latter of which we had seen go down a few minutes before as a result of injuries inflicted upon her by our 12-pounder, the sh.e.l.l from which had not only blown a great rent in her bottom, as it burst, but the fragments of which had pierced two of her boilers.

It was evident that we had made a capture of considerable importance, I therefore proceeded on board the prize, with an armed reinforcement, and after going carefully into the matter with Hiraoka, arranged with him to take the _Vashka_ to the Elliots, in charge of a prize crew, there to act according to the Admiral's orders.

This matter arranged, I returned to the _Kasanumi_, and we resumed our voyage while the prize headed away south-west, on her way round to the Elliot Islands. We now had leisure to look into the extent of our own injuries. These, it proved, were by no means so serious as might have been expected, having regard to the fierceness and closeness of the fight. Our casualties amounted to two killed and five wounded, one of them seriously; while the top of the aftermost of our mids.h.i.+p pair of funnels had been blown away, the rail of the navigating bridge smashed and doubled up in a most astonis.h.i.+ng way, the pilot-house roof torn off, our topsides pierced in no less than five places, and a very pretty general average made of my cabin, in which a sh.e.l.l had evidently burst.

Luckily, none of these injuries seriously affected the craft's safety, while most of them could be at least temporarily patched-up in a few hours; also, very luckily, all the navigating instruments, the chronometer, my s.e.xtant, the nautical almanac, and my book of logarithmic and other tables had almost miraculously escaped all injury.

We steamed into Kinchau Bay, with all lights out, about an hour later than I had arranged for, but still in sufficient time for the work which lay before me; and when we arrived off the cove where I had previously landed, our largest boat was lowered, the buoys or rafts which I had caused to be prepared were placed in her, each having attached to it a very light chain of just sufficient length to securely moor it with the aid of a good grapnel; and, accompanied by two men, I then jumped in, and we pulled ash.o.r.e, while the _Kasanumi_ turned tail and steamed off to sea again at full speed, so as to be out of sight from the sh.o.r.e before dawn.

Arrived in the cove, we secured our boat, and then settled down as comfortably as was possible to await the dawn. It came at last, and, as I had expected, there very shortly afterwards arrived some forty Manchurian fishermen from a little village, about half a mile distant.

At first they were somewhat alarmed to find the cove, and their boats, apparently in possession of j.a.panese men-o'-war's-men; but I had taken the precaution to ensure that one of my men should be capable of playing the part of interpreter; and before long I was able not only to rea.s.sure them but also, by a judicious admixture of cajolery and threats, to secure their a.s.sistance in the completion of my scheme. Money appeals to the Manchurian fisherman just as powerfully as it does to most other people, more powerfully than it does to many, for he sees so little of it; consequently when I intimated that I was prepared to pay the magnificent sum of ten yen for a few hours' use of one of their boats, with a crew of four men, the whole crowd came tumbling over one another in their eagerness to secure the prize. I chose the boat most suitable for my purpose, transferred my rafts and gear to her, leaving our own boat in charge of a man who undertook to guard her with his life for the sum of one yen; and then, in company with the other boats, which were going fis.h.i.+ng in the bay, we shoved off and pulled out of the cove. By a stroke of the greatest good fortune, the day was beautifully fine and clear, so that I was able without the slightest difficulty to get every one of my bearings with the most absolute accuracy, and to place my several buoys on the prearranged spots with perfect precision. The work was successfully and most satisfactorily accomplished shortly before noon; and now all that remained to be done was to affix the different coloured flags to the buoys. But that part would have to be deferred until our s.h.i.+ps should actually come into action; otherwise our sharp-sighted enemies might prematurely catch sight of them, and, guessing their purpose, destroy them.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

I GO ASh.o.r.e.

An hour before midnight, launching our own boat, my crew and I pushed out of the cove into Kinchau Bay, in readiness to board the _Kasanumi_ immediately upon her arrival from the offing.

Toward the close of the afternoon the weather had undergone a change, becoming overcast and hazy, with a drizzling rain.

The wind, too, had s.h.i.+fted, and, as we pushed out of the cove, was blowing fresh from the westward, knocking up a short, choppy sea that threatened soon to become dangerous to such a small boat as ours.

Luckily for us, however, Hiraoka was a bit ahead of time that night, the barometer having warned him that bad weather was brewing, with the result that in little more than half an hour after leaving the cove we made out the dark form of the destroyer, hove-to and waiting for us, within fifty fathoms of our boat. And now it was that I had practical experience of the value of a suitable colouring as an aid to concealment; for although the _Kasanumi_ had been where we found her for a full quarter of an hour, and although we had been keeping a sharp lookout for her, she remained invisible until we were close aboard of her, thanks to the peculiar shade of grey with which I had caused her to be painted. We scrambled aboard gladly enough, hoisted the boat to the davits, and at once started back for our rendezvous at the Elliot group, where we arrived without adventure shortly after sunrise on the following morning.

When, a little later, I went aboard the flags.h.i.+p to report myself and the result of my expedition to the Admiral, I learned that I had only got back just in the nick of time, for at last a communication had been received from General Oku, announcing that his preparations were now complete, and the squadron detached to a.s.sist him was under orders to leave for Kinchau Bay that very night. This squadron consisted of the _Tsukus.h.i.+_, a light cruiser, armed with two 10-inch and four 47-inch guns, and the old ironclad _Hei-yen_, once belonging to the Chinese navy, but captured by the j.a.panese at the first battle of the Yalu. She mounted one 10-inch Krupp which had formed part of her original armament, and two 6-inch modern guns. Also the _Akagi_, another survivor of the Yalu battle, armed with four 47-inch guns; and the _Chokai_, carrying one 8-2-inch and one 47-inch gun. These were the craft destined to bombard the Nanshan Heights from the sea while the j.a.panese infantry and artillery attacked them from the land side; and they were the only craft we had at the time at all suitable for the purpose, while even they were incapable of rendering such efficient help as might have been desired, the fact being that the shallow waters of Kinchau Bay compelled them to keep at so great a distance from the sh.o.r.e that they could only use their guns at extreme ranges. Accompanying these four s.h.i.+ps was a flotilla consisting of ten torpedo-boats under my command, their duty being to lend a hand generally in any manner that might be required.

There was just comfortable time for us to re-bunker the _Kasanumi_ before six o'clock, at which hour we got under way, the expedition as a whole being under the command of Rear-Admiral Misamichi, who knew the locality well, having carefully reconnoitred the whole of the western coast of the peninsula a week or two earlier. I had by this time completed all my calculations, laid down upon the chart the positions of my series of buoys, and indicated in figures the exact measurements in yards from the lines which they marked to a number of points ash.o.r.e, and a copy of this chart had been handed to each captain; they were therefore now in a position to steam in and open fire forthwith, with the absolute certainty of landing their shots upon the spots aimed at.

We were rather a slow-going lot, our speed of course being regulated by that of the slowest craft of the bunch, which happened to be the old _Hei-yen_; and our progress was further impeded by the circ.u.mstance that, upon rounding Liao-ti-shan promontory we ran into a westerly breeze and sea that flung our torpedo-boats about like corks and necessitated our slowing down to a speed of about eight knots; in consequence of which it was late the next night when we arrived and came to an anchor well out in deep water.

And now arose a little difficulty. We started to communicate by wireless to General Oku the fact of our arrival in the bay, by code of course; but such was the Russian keenness and activity that the moment their own wireless picked up our message,--as, of course, it was bound to do,--finding that it was in a code which they could not decipher, they immediately proceeded to "mix" it so effectually that the reading of it became impossible. The first word or two, however, reached Oku, and he at once, shrewdly surmising that the message was from us, proceeded to signal us by searchlight, using an adaptation of the Morse Code. The conversation thus carried on was a lengthy one, occupying more than an hour, when it suddenly ceased, and almost immediately afterward the Admiral signalled me to proceed on board the flags.h.i.+p.

This was much more easily said than done, for by this time it was blowing a moderate gale, and the sea was running so heavily that it was as much as my boat could do to live in it, while as for getting alongside the cruiser, that was quite out of the question, and they were obliged to hoist me aboard in a standing bowline at the end of a whip.

Upon being shown into Admiral Misamichi's cabin, I found its occupant somewhat ruefully contemplating the rather voluminous communication from the sh.o.r.e which he had just received. He welcomed me with much cordiality, and then pa.s.sed the doc.u.ment over to me.

"Be so good as to read that, Captain," he said, "and then kindly tell me what you make of it. It purports to be General Oku's instructions for to-morrow; but so dense is my stupidity that I am compelled to confess my inability to understand it."

I read the communication carefully through from beginning to end three times, and was then obliged to admit that I had only been able to glean a very hazy, imperfect notion of what the General required. I gathered that he desired the squadron to concentrate its fire from time to time upon certain points, as directed by signal; but the mischief of it was that we out there in the bay had no means of identifying the points named by the General; in other words, he gave them designations of which we were completely ignorant. We produced the chart of the place, likewise the map, and studied them both intently, with Oku's message beside us, and finally came to the conclusion that it was incomprehensible. Then the Admiral sent for the captains of the other s.h.i.+ps, and they had a shot at it, with a similar result.

At length I said: