“You may say what you please, but a soldier can’t fight very well on an empty stomach,” came from Ben, while drinking his coffee.
“Sometimes soldiers fight better that way, Ben,” said Gilbert, with a faint smile. “We’ve done it, and more than once, too. But I didn’t like it.”
“What’s the next move, I wonder?”
“I fancy we had best get back into the lines where we belong.”
“I agree with you.”
The Japanese officer consulted with them, and not long after this they were traveling along a trail which took them directly into camp.
As soon as word reached headquarters that a number of Russians were in that vicinity, a strong detachment was sent forth to round them up. This brought on a fierce engagement, in which half a dozen were killed or seriously wounded on either side.
The young Americans were glad to take a rest after their numerous adventures. The army moved forward from day to day, but, strange to say, the Russians kept their distance, falling back from one point to another. The fighting was now largely in the neighborhood of Port Arthur and Dalny, and consequently the command that had crossed the Yalu so bravely had little to do.
Towards the middle of July the three Japanese armies were located in something like a great semicircle a hundred and fifty miles in length, with General Kuroki on the right flank, General Oku on the left, and General Nodzu occupying the center. It was Oku who had done the most fighting around Port Arthur. Now his army was divided, a portion remaining behind to besiege the city, and the rest traveling northward, along the line of the railroad. General Nodzu had landed at Taku-Shan, some miles below the mouth of the Yalu, and so far had defeated the Russians at Siu-Yen, compelling them to fall back in the direction of the railroad and An-Ping.
“This looks to me as if the Russians were going to concentrate at either Hai-Cheng or at Liao-Yang, on the railroad,” said Gilbert, when the news was brought in.