FUNERAL PROCESSION OF A JAPANESE OFFICER IN YOKOHAMA.
Blood—Blood Everywhere
"There beneath the cliff I hear a little battery of rapid firing guns, very small and elegant. There are 12,000 bullets speeding on their errand in sixty seconds. They are destined to defend our shores against the landing of an enemy. The orgy is at its height. The shells are bursting around us like fireworks at a feast. A whistle, a hiss, and a sharp ringing noise, as they rush through the air, then smoke and a smell of burning, while the sand dances from the earth. I turn from the battery and see a terrible picture. In the midst of the men a shell bursts. One soldier is disemboweled, and another is wounded in the head, a third is shrieking in the height of his delirium. One steel cannon is broken to pieces as though it were straw. An awful picture, with blood—blood everywhere."
Further Naval Movements
At last, at two o'clock, the inferno ceased. A great calm succeeded to the thunder of the guns and the screams of the shells, and the civilians of Port Arthur slowly and timidly returned to their ruined homes. The separate divisions of the Japanese fleet rejoined one another, and after the most destructive bombardment yet inflicted upon the land defences of the Russian stronghold, they quietly steamed away southwards. While these events were taking place at Port Arthur a detached squadron of the Mikado's cruisers had proceeded northeast to Dalny, or Talienwan, as it used to be called, and destroyed the quarantine buildings erected by the Russians on the Sanshan Islands. Outside that port the Takasago and the Chihaya scouted the western coast of the entrance to Port Arthur in the hope that the bombardment would draw Admiral Makaroff's ships into the open; but no enemy could be found and the two cruisers then retired in the wake of the main squadron.
Hoist With its Own Petard
It was not long before a Russian vessel fell a victim to the mines laid by the Japanese destroyers at the harbor entrance on the night of March 9th. On the 16th the Skori, a torpedo-boat destroyer of the newest pattern, was entering the channel when she struck upon a contact mine and was blown up. Out of her crew of fifty-five men, only four were reported to have been saved.
Another Attempt to Bottle
After an interval of twelve days Admiral Togo made a renewed attack upon Port Arthur, the fifth in number since the outbreak of hostilities. It was not so serious an assault as the last, its real object being to tempt the Russian fleet away from the protection of the shore batteries and to give battle at sea. In this design it was unsuccessful, but incidently it was useful, as revealing the strength of the squadron Admiral Makaroff had at his disposal after the repairs which had been effected upon the damaged ships. At midnight on the 21st two Japanese destroyers were discovered by the searchlights approaching the outer roadstead. The guns of the batteries at once gave tongue, and a violent fire was directed against the daring craft, not only from the fortress but from the gunboats Bobe and Otvagni; which, according to Admiral Alexeieff's report to the Czar, compelled them to retire. A second flotilla crept up at 4 o'clock in the morning, and this too, it was claimed by the Viceroy, was repulsed. A different complexion, however, was put upon the operation by Admiral Togo's dispatch to his Government. The destroyers retired indeed, but seemingly not in consequence of the Russian fire, which left them unharmed, but as part of a preconceived plan to lure forth Admiral Makaroff's fleet. The Japanese Commander-in-Chief's words were: "The combined fleet acted according to program. Two flotillas of our destroyers were outside Port Arthur, as instructed, from the night of the 21st till the morning of the 22nd. Although during this time they were under the enemy's fire they did not sustain any damage." It is clear from this that the aim of the Russian gunners leaves much to be desired, for the attacking flotilla were able to cruise about in the roadsteads without being touched.