CHAPTER ELEVEN.
THE RUSSIAN SUBMARINE.
By dint of wheedling entreaty and the most lavish promises on my partthat I would on no account attempt to do any actual work, I succeeded ininducing the doctor to discharge me from the hospital on the second dayafter the departure of the Admiral, with General Oku's transports, toPi-tse-wo.
I was discharged shortly after eleven o'clock in the morning, and wasconveyed in a hand ambulance down to the landing-place, where my boatwas waiting for me, having been semaphored for, the instant that Iobtained my discharge. I was glad to find myself aboard my own littleship once more; and the crew seemed to be as glad to see me as I was tosee them; for it appeared that during my absence the _Kasanumi_ had beenemployed upon nothing but patrol work, which was not at all to the tasteof my lads. Young Hiraoka, my lieutenant, seemed keenly disappointedwhen he learned that our most exciting work, for some time to come, wasto be the construction of the long boom; but philosophically remarkedthat no doubt as soon as the Russians learned what we were about, weshould have a few of their destroyers paying us a call, when we mighthope for a little fun.
By the time that I got aboard, it was noon; and I at once signalled thetransports, asking how soon they could be ready to start. The reply wasthat, not expecting to be called upon to go to sea so soon, their fireswere all out--but boilers were full and fires laid, and they could havesteam in three hours; whereupon I made the signal to light fires atonce, and report when they were ready to move. Then I got into areclining chair under the awning aft, and, having partaken of a hastyluncheon, treated myself to a snooze, since I expected to be up allnight.
We all got under way shortly after three o'clock in the afternoon, and,having cleared the harbour, headed away north-west for the Elliot group.The weather was, for a wonder, beautifully fine, no fog, very fewclouds, brilliant sunshine, very little wind, and the water as smooth asa mill pond; consequently we made very good progress, although the speedof the slowest transport was only ten knots, and of course the rest ofus had to regulate our pace by hers. Had the weather been threatening Ishould of course have been anxious, but the barometer stood high, and aseven at ten knots the passage would only occupy about thirteen hours, Ifelt quite easy in my mind.
The trip across the Yellow Sea was made without mishap or adventureuntil we arrived within about twelve miles of our destination. Thenight was still gloriously fine, the water smooth, the stars brilliant,and the moon, within about an hour of setting, hung in the western sky,spreading a broad path of silver on the surface of the gently heavingsea. It was a few minutes after four bells in the middle watch when,having been dozing for some time in my chair, which had been taken up tothe bridge for my convenience, I scrambled to my feet and began to paceto and fro, for I was feeling somewhat chilly, although wrapped in agood warm ulster.
The beauty of the night fascinated me. It was so calm and peaceful, andthe air, although a trifle cool, was yet bland, as though it were abreath of the coming summer; and, looking back upon what we had beencalled upon to endure of storm and darkness, and bitter, numbing coldand wet, I rejoiced that summer was at hand, hoping that, before wintercame again, there would be peace, and that our nightly buffetings byarctic winds, hail, snow, and icy seas would be at an end.
As these thoughts passed through my mind, my gaze fixed itselfcontemplatively on the broad path of silver--now imperceptibly changingto liquid gold--cast upon the surface of the sea by the setting moon;and, as I gazed, I gradually became aware of a tiny black object, abouta mile away, on our port bow, rising and falling with the lazy heave ofthe swell. In that mine-strewn sea the smallest and least conspicuousfloating object demanded one's instant and most careful attention, andwhipping my binoculars out of the case, strapped to the bridge rail, Iquickly focused them upon it. Through the glasses it looked very likethe top of a ship's galley funnel, though not quite so stout, and it wasmoving as though to cross our hawse, for with the help of the glasses Icould see the little ripple of scintillating foam it piled up before it.
I knew in an instant what it was, for I had seen submarines before, andat once recognised the slender object forging through the water outyonder as the upper portion of a submarine's periscope.
Of course she had seen us, probably a good half-hour before, or shewould not be submerged; and the course she was steering indicated thatshe was bent upon mischief.
I congratulated myself upon having sighted her in good time beforeentering her danger zone, for the _Kasanumi_ was about a mile ahead ofthe main body of our little fleet, and I felt that I should have time todeal with her before the others came up. The question was: would sheattack the destroyer, or would she allow us to pass and reserve herenergies for the transports, under the impression that they werecarrying troops? It was impossible to guess, and it would never do totake any chance; I therefore pointed out the periscope to young Hiraoka,told him what it was, and then ordered him to go down quietly, have thehands called, and get all guns loaded. The thought of trying to get ina torpedo before the Russian discharged hers, occurred to me; but Idecided against it, as some of our torpedoes had a trick of runningerratically.
Meanwhile, we continued to potter along at ten knots, as though we hadseen nothing and had not so much as the ghost of a suspicion thatsubmarines were in our neighbourhood. There was but one, so far as Icould see; and indeed until that moment we never suspected the Russiansof having any in those seas, although vague rumours--which we had neverbeen able to substantiate--had reached us of submarines having beenbrought overland to Port Arthur from Petersburg in sections.
With my eyes glued to my binoculars, and my binoculars focused steadilyupon that small pole-like object protruding a bare two feet above thatshimmering, silvery sheen of water, I directed the signalman near me toring down the order to the engine-room to "Stand by"; and then to fetchour wireless operator to me. In a few words I explained the situationto this youngster, when he came, and gave him his orders, while thesounds of Hiraoka's preparations came to my ears.
Suddenly, as I watched the periscope every moment becoming moredistinct, I noticed that the ripple of foam about it was steadilylessening, and presently it disappeared altogether. The submarine hadevidently stopped her engines, and was lying in wait, either to torpedous as we passed, or to permit us to pass on unsuspecting, and then getin her work upon the transports. It was a bit of luck which I had notdared to hope for, and I instantly made my plans. Steadily the_Kasanumi_ held on, as though utterly unsuspecting, steering a coursewhich, if continued, would take us athwart the submarine's hawse at adistance of about three hundred yards, or less than half the effectiverange of her torpedo.
Was she stealthily altering her position under water, turning her bowstoward us, so as to torpedo us the moment we should arrive within range,or was she trusting that her presence was undetected, and waitingpatiently for the moment when we should cross her bows as she lay? Thelatter, I believed, for she could not cant toward us without goingeither ahead or astern, and she could not do either without herperiscope raising a ripple; and I was certain that nothing of that sorthad happened. I determined to risk something, after all, to put thatsubmarine out of action, and so held steadily on. At length we arrivedso close that I could see the periscope almost as distinctly without theglasses as with them, and still intently watching it, I laid my hand onthe engine-room telegraph, carefully estimating the steadily decreasingdistance which separated us from moment to moment.
Six hundred yards. Five hundred. Four-fifty. Four hundred. I crashedthe telegraph handles over to "Full speed ahead!" on both engines, andnever moving my eyes for an instant from the periscope, directed thehelmsman to steer straight for it. The submarine was lying motionlessand inert there, some fifteen feet beneath the surface; and I calculatedthat it would take the Russians at least half a minute to realise thatthey were discovered, and to get way upon their craft; and by that timewe should be so close to them that it would be impossible for themeither to dive or t
o turn the submarine bows on to us, much less toescape. Then, as I felt the destroyer leap forward beneath me, like aspirited horse at the cut of a whip, I blew my whistle, as a signal to"Sparks," who instantly wirelessed back to the main body to stop untilfurther orders, and to keep a sharp lookout for submarines.
Like a greyhound slipped from the leash, the _Kasanumi_ rushed at thatluckless periscope, about which a few bubbles of foam were justbeginning to gather at the moment when our stem, towering over it, hidit from my sight. The next instant our hull swept over it and of coursesnapped it clean off, although we felt no shock whatever, for ourdraught of water was too light for our keel to reach the submarine'sconning tower. But by the loss of her periscope the craft waseffectually blinded, and now she was at our mercy, for she _must_ cometo the surface, sooner or later, while, so smooth was the water, theswirl or wake of her as she forged ahead was clearly perceptible, andall we now had to do was to follow her until she rose, and then take orsink her.
As I lost sight of the periscope, I rang down to stop and reverse bothengines, at the same time ordering our helm hard a-port. Then, as wechecked and lost way, we went ahead, first on our port engine and thenon both, at the same time shifting our helm, so as to get into the wakeof the submarine. We managed to do this before quite losing sight ofthe disturbance made by her passage through the water; and, this done,we regulated our pace by hers, maintaining a distance of about fiftyfathoms between her and ourselves. She shifted her helm several timesin an evident attempt to baffle pursuit; but, thanks to the tell-taleswirl she raised, we were able to follow her; and at length, after achase of about three-quarters of an hour, she rose to the surface, thewatertight door of her tower opened, and a man's head appeared.
He looked greatly astonished to see us within a biscuit-toss of him, andinstantly ducked out of sight, leaving the hatch open, however, and weheard him shouting something to some one in the boat's interior. A fewseconds later another head appeared, stared at us fixedly for a fewseconds--during which young Hiraoka, who had a very fair knowledge ofRussian, hailed him to surrender--and he, too, disappeared. Then, whilewe were patiently awaiting further developments, the submarine, whichwas still going ahead, suddenly inclined her bows and, before we coulddo anything, _dived with her hatch open_! The brave fellows who mannedher, evidently taking a leaf out of their opponents' book, had chosendeath rather than surrender, and had deliberately plunged to the bottomrather than yield their vessel to us! For, of course, the craft wasnever seen again, nor did any of her crew come to the surface, althoughwe hove-to for an hour or more, and got our boat out in readiness topick up any one who might escape from that steel coffin.
I was quite prepared to hear a loud cheer of exultation burst from thelips of my crew when they realised what had happened. But no. There isnothing that the Japanese admire more than courage; and such adeliberate act of devoted self-sacrifice for the honour of one's countryand flag as they had just beheld, called forth merely a low-spokenmurmur of intense, almost envious praise.
We arrived at our destination without further adventure, and droppedanchor in the roadstead just as the sun rose above the horizon, floodingthe rocky shores of the Elliots with gold, and were heartily greeted bythe few craft which we found lying at anchor there.
Looking back upon our adventure with the Russian submarine, I could nothelp regarding it as almost providential that we had encountered her;for I think there can be very little doubt that when we fell in with hershe must have been on her way to the Elliot archipelago, where, had shearrived safely, she might have found more than one spot in which shecould have lain _perdu_, to emerge at a favourable moment and destroy atleast one, if not more, of our most precious battleships.
Giving orders for the immediate discharge of the materials for the boom,at a spot which I selected immediately after we had come to an anchor, Iturned in and slept soundly until past midday, resting again all theafternoon; so that when evening came I had quite recovered from thefatigue of the previous night, and was pronounced by the doctor incharge of the hospital ashore to be progressing toward complete recoveryquite as rapidly as could be reasonably expected, while my wound washealing in fine style. About four o'clock that afternoon, word wasbrought to me that the whole of the materials intended for theconstruction of the boom had been landed; and I went ashore to inspectthem. They consisted for the most part of enormous balks of timber andmassive cables; but there were also immense quantities of chain to serveas lashings, stout staples, iron bars, innumerable bundles of long,massive, pointed spikes, and thousands of empty casks, stoutly hooped,without bung-holes, and coated with pitch to ensure permanentwatertight-ness. Commander Tsuchiya, whom I had placed in charge of thedischarging operations, had done his work well, stacking the variousitems each by itself, and keeping a careful account of the quantities ofeach. He handed me a copy of his list, and after I had inspected thewhole of the material, I returned to my ship and sat down to plan outthe details of the construction of the boom, which, with the list of thequantities before me, was a comparatively easy task.
Dawn of the following day found us all ready to make a start, and withTsuchiya again as my principal _aide_, we quickly got to work, pressingevery available hand into the service. Many hands make light and quickwork, especially where those hands are willing, but I was astonished atthe ardour and zest which those handy little Japanese seamen manifested;they toiled untiringly all through that long, hot day, with the resultthat, when we knocked off at nightfall, we had considerably more thanhalf a mile of that boom put together and secured in position byponderous anchors and stout chain cables.
We were hard at work upon the boom again when, during the afternoon ofthe following day, our battle fleet returned from Pi-tse-wo, aftercovering the landing of General Oku's army. The fleet steamed inbetween the islands and Cape Terminal on the mainland, toward which wewere running the boom; and my friend Ijichi, the skipper of the_Mikasa_, told me, with a laugh, that when the little Admiral first sawthe boom and made out what it was, he could hardly credit his eyes. Hehad been under the impression that I was still in hospital, and wouldprobably not be able to get to work for a week or more. Yet there Iwas, as large as life, in a picket boat, with my head still swathed in abandage, superintending operations, and clearly recognisable with theassistance of a pair of binoculars. And when at the close of the day Iwent aboard the flagship to report myself, Togo did not hesitate to letme understand how intensely gratified he was at the progress which wehad made.
Meanwhile, I was fast progressing toward complete recovery; and on theday following the return of the fleet to the Elliots, the bandage wasremoved from my head, and I was pronounced to be practically all rightonce more. And, to add to my gratification, a destroyer arrived fromSasebo, bringing mails for the fleet, among which were no less thanthree delightful letters from my friends the Gordons, at home, and two,equally delightful, from my Sasebo friends, Mr Boyd and his wife.Those from the Gordons were full of congratulations; for I gathered fromthem that a long and circumstantial account of our second attempt toseal up Port Arthur harbour had appeared in the home newspapers, inwhich somewhat conspicuous mention was made of my doings, and my friendswere delighted to learn that I was "so successfully maintaining thefinest traditions of the British Navy," as they were kindly pleased toput it. My chum, Ronald, was particularly chirpy about it, expressingin no measured terms the wish that he could have been with me, while heinformed me that, notwithstanding the painful circumstances under whichI had left the _Terrible_--and the British Navy--the officers of thatship, with only one or two exceptions, had expressed theirgratification, while several of them, whom he named, had desired him toconvey to me their congratulations and good wishes.
During the next day or two excellent progress was made with theconstruction of the long boom; and then came a spell of bad weatherwhich, although it did not hinder the putting together of the sectionsof the boom, in the smooth water of the anchorage, rendered itimpossible for us to tow the
m out and splice them to the portion alreadyin position. But although the bad weather greatly delayed us in thisway, we did not altogether regret it, for the heavy sea kicked up by thegales afforded a splendid test of that portion of the boom already inplace, and we were greatly gratified, as we steamed out day after day toexamine it, to find that it had not been damaged or displaced in thesmallest degree.
It was toward the end of the third week of May that the Admiralsignalled me to proceed on board the flagship. It was late in theafternoon of a thoroughly wretched day; the wind had been blowing hardfrom the south'ard for the past three or four days, with almostincessant rain, and there was a very heavy sea running between theislands and the main. I had just returned from my second inspection ofthe boom that day, and I naturally thought that the signal indicated adesire on the part of the Admiral to question me in relation to thestability of the structure. And when I entered his cabin, and hegreeted me with the question:
"Well, Captain Swinburne, how is the boom standing the sea, out yonder?"I was confirmed in my opinion. But I presently found that I wasmistaken; for when I had told him all that there was to tell about theboom, and he had expressed his satisfaction, he said:
"By the way, it is Commander Tsuchiya who has been your chief assistantin this work, is it not?"
I replied in the affirmative.
"And I suppose he understands the whole business pretty well by thistime, eh?" the Admiral continued.
"Every bit as well as I do, sir," I answered, seeming to scent otherwork for myself at no great distance.
"That is good," commented Togo. "Do you think he would be capable ofcompleting the work without further assistance from you?"
"Undoubtedly he would, sir," I replied. "Indeed, I think it right tosay that, after the first day, Commander Tsuchiya required no help orsuggestion of any kind from me at all. He seemed to perfectlyunderstand the principle of the boom's construction, almost from thevery beginning; and after the first day's work upon it he took theentire supervision into his own hands, leaving me nothing whatever to dobut merely to look on and satisfy myself by personal observation thatthe work was being properly done."
"Which it was, I presume?" remarked the Admiral.
"Which it certainly was, sir," I replied.
"Good!" said Togo. "That being the case, you are free for anotherservice. How would you like the chance to get a little fighting ashore,by way of a change?"
"Jove!" I exclaimed, "that would be splendid, sir. Are you going toland a naval brigade anywhere?"
"Well--no," answered the Admiral, "hardly that, I think; at least, thatis not my present intention, although circumstances may possibly renderit desirable, eventually. The matter stands thus,"--turning to thetable where a map of the Liaotung peninsula lay unfolded upon it.
"This,"--pointing to a certain spot on the map--"is where General Okulanded, the other day, with his army. And this,"--pointing to anotherspot--"is where he is now. His object of course is to march south andlay siege to Port Arthur. But at this point, some two and a half milessouth of Kinchau, which, as I suppose you know, is a Chinese walledcity, the isthmus is only about two miles wide; and in and about thecity the Russians have established themselves in force, prepared,apparently, to dispute Oku's passage of the isthmus to the last man.
"This mountain, so prominently marked on the map, is Mount Sampson. Itis more than two thousand feet in height and, as you will readilyunderstand, dominates the entire district. Upon this mountain theRussians very strongly established themselves, scarping the heights andconstructing formidable breastworks behind which to shelter themselves.Of course it was necessary for our troops to take this mountain, since,until that could be done, to pass the isthmus would be impossible. I amglad to learn that the mountain is now in our hands.
"But here, just to the south of Kinchau, is another range of hills,known as the Nanshan Heights. They form a sort of backbone to theisthmus, and occupy almost its entire width, their crests completelycommanding the narrow strip of low ground on either side. On theseheights, too, the Russians have very strongly established themselves; sothat although Mount Sampson is in our hands, the isthmus remainsimpassable. The unfortunate fact, so far as we are concerned, is thatGeneral Oku has no heavy artillery with him, otherwise he would be ableto shell the Nanshan Heights from Mount Sampson, and drive the Russiansout. But he has only field and mountain guns, of a range insufficientfor that purpose; therefore he has requisitioned help from me, and Ipropose to send some craft round to Kinchau Bay, to shell the Russianpositions from the sea."
"Kinchau Bay, sir?" I interrupted. "Pardon me, but the water inKinchau Bay is so shallow, according to the chart, that I am afraid anyof our craft capable of carrying guns heavy enough to be of servicewould have very great difficulty in approaching the land near enough tobe of any real use. Why not Hand Bay, sir, on the eastern side of theisthmus?"
"For the very good reason, my dear fellow, that not only is Hand Baymined, but it would also be impossible for us to clear it, the bay beingcompletely commanded by works which our craft could not face for fiveminutes. No, it must be Kinchau Bay; there is nothing else for it,"answered the Admiral.
"That being the case," he continued, "it is my intention to dispatchthither the _Akagi, Chokai, Hei-yen_, and _Tsukushi_ to afford theassistance required by General Oku; and those ships will be accompaniedby a torpedo flotilla, the duty of which will be to take soundings, laydown a line of buoys inside which the ships must not pass, and searchfor and clear the bay of mines, as well as to render such furtherassistance as may be possible to the land forces.
"I anticipate that the work required of the torpedo flotilla will be ofan exceptionally arduous and hazardous character; and for that reason,Captain Swinburne, I am going to place it under your command, with the_Kasanumi_ as your flagship. I have been keeping my eye upon you, sir,and I will take this opportunity to express my very high appreciation ofyour conduct. You have manifested all the dash, the fertility ofresource, and the cool courage under exceedingly trying conditions whichwe have grown to look for as a matter of course from Englishmen; and tothat you add an element of caution which I fear we Japanese have not asfully developed as we ought to have done; I therefore regard you as thefittest man I could possibly select for the service upon which I nowpropose to employ you. That also is the reason why I have so fullyexplained to you the situation at Kinchau, for it is very necessary thatyou should clearly understand all that may be required of you.
"We have, of course, any number of Japanese officers whose courage wouldbe quite equal to the task I am assigning to you, but they unfortunatelylack that element of caution which you possess, in proof of which itwill be my painful duty to presently announce a series of terribledisasters, news of which has just reached me, and three of which, atleast, I am afraid I must attribute to a lack of caution."
"Indeed, sir," I said; "I am exceeding sorry to hear that. Is itpermissible to ask particulars?"
"Oh yes," answered the Admiral, with a heavy sigh. "I should not havementioned the matter to you at all, but for the fact that it must verysoon have come to your ears in any case. Within three days, sir, wehave lost six war vessels, while a seventh, the _Kasuga_, has beentemporarily put out of action. And of the six lost ships, Captain, twoare battleships, the _Hatsuse_ and the _Yashima_!"
"The _Hatsuse_ and the _Yashima_! Good heavens! sir. Is it possible?"I exclaimed.
"It is more than possible," answered Togo, with another heavy sigh, "itis a disastrous fact. And in addition to those two ships, we have alsolost the _Yoshino_, fortunately not one of our best fast cruisers. Oh!it is terrible, terrible! And all three disasters have occurred to-day,within a very short space of time. The news reached me by wireless inthe interval between my sending for you and your arrival.
"It appears that while the _Yoshino, Takasago, Chitose, Kasagi_, and_Kasuga_ were to the westward of Port Arthur this morning, just afterdawn, they ran into a patch of dense fog, while s
teaming through which,the lookout aboard the _Yoshino_ sighted a floating mine a shortdistance ahead. Thereupon the officer in charge seems to havetemporarily lost his presence of mind, for instead of sheering out ofthe line, as it seems to me he might have done, and so avoided the mine,he instantly stopped and reversed his engines, without warning the_Kasuga_, which was his next astern. The inevitable result of coursewas that the _Kasuga_ struck the _Yoshino_ heavily, making such aterrible rent in her side that, in spite of collision mats, she speedilyfilled, capsized, and sank, drowning over two hundred of her crew. The_Kasuga_, badly damaged, is on her way hither, and may be expected toarrive some time to-night.
"That disaster, however, serious as it is, is nothing compared with theloss of the _Hatsuse_ and _Yashima_, which occurred shortly aftermidday. Little did we dream, as they steamed away from here, thismorning, that we should never see them again! It happened about tenmiles south of Port Arthur, the two ships striking mines within a fewminutes of each other. The _Hatsuse_ appears to have struck two mines,the second of which completed her destruction, for she foundered in lessthan two minutes after the second explosion occurred. I understand thatconsiderably more than half her crew have gone down with her.
"There were hopes at first that the _Yashima_ might be saved, ascollision mats were got over her damaged bows and the steam pumps werestarted, while she headed for here under her own steam, with the rest ofthe squadron in company; but the latest news is to the effect that shecannot possibly be kept afloat, and that her crew are being taken off.Well, it is the fortune of war, I suppose, and it is useless to murmur;we cannot hope to always have things go well with us, reverses _will_happen occasionally; and I am afraid that we have been growing just alittle too careless and over-confident of late. We must take the lessonto heart and see that it does not again happen. But it is a paralysingblow for us.
"And now, to return to the matter which more immediately concerns you,Captain. I have given you the earliest possible warning of what I amgoing to ask you to do, in order that you may have an opportunity tothink over the situation and make your plans. I want you to be ready tostart at practically a moment's notice; but I shall not dispatch thesquadron until I have further news from Oku, which may arrive at anyminute."
As it happened, however, although a communication arrived from Oku thenext day, it was a full week before we got our orders; for a carefulreconnaissance revealed that very important preparations would benecessary before it would be possible to take Kinchau, or storm theNanshan Heights.
Just about sunset the _Shikishima_, with her attendant cruisers, hove insight, and before they were hull-up it was possible for us todistinguish that the _Yashima_ was not among them. She had gone downoff Dalny--in shallow water, fortunately--but not until every man hadbeen safely taken out of her.
The other losses to which the Admiral had referred were torpedo-boatNumber 48, and the dispatch boat _Mikayo_, both of which had come togrief, the one on 12th May, and the other two days later, throughstriking mines in Kerr Bay, some thirty miles to the north-east of PortArthur. Torpedo-boats Numbers 46 and 48, it appeared, were engaged insweeping for mines when the accident happened. They had already foundand destroyed three mines, and had discovered a fourth, which they firedseveral rounds at without result. Then Number 48 imprudently approachedthe mine with the intention of securing it, when it exploded, blowingher in two, and killing or wounding fourteen of her crew oftwenty-three.
It was two days later when the _Mikayo_, believing the bay to be clear,entered it to make sure. She was passing in through the channelsupposed to have been cleared by our torpedo-boats, when she, too,struck a mine; there was a terrific explosion, and she went to thebottom, with eight casualties in her crew of two hundred. She was auseful little ship, having a speed of over sixteen knots when she wasdestroyed, although she had been known to achieve as much as twenty.She mounted two forty-sevens and ten 3-pounders, and was therefore not avery formidable fighting craft.
The story told by the Russians concerning her destruction was to theeffect that she fell a victim to a mine, placed overnight, in thechannel previously cleared by our boats, by a young Russian navalofficer, who stole out from Port Arthur in a small steam launch, underthe cover of night. Whether the story is true or not, I cannot tell,yet there is nothing very improbable about it, for it is indisputablethat many of the Russians displayed as fine a courage as even theJapanese themselves.