diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-8.txt | 10636 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 214207 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 465172 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h/19498-h.htm | 10862 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h/images/illus01.jpg | bin | 0 -> 47209 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h/images/illus02.jpg | bin | 0 -> 40983 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h/images/illus03.png | bin | 0 -> 33894 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h/images/img289-tb.jpg | bin | 0 -> 44400 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498-h/images/img289.jpg | bin | 0 -> 97278 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498.txt | 10636 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 19498.zip | bin | 0 -> 214136 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
14 files changed, 32150 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/19498-8.txt b/19498-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b75012 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10636 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Banzai!, by Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Banzai! + +Author: Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +Release Date: October 9, 2006 [EBook #19498] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BANZAI! *** + + + + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +BANZAI! + +[Illustration: "That's the Japanese _Satsuma_, Togo's _Satsuma_!"] + + + + +BANZAI! + + +BY + +PARABELLUM + + +LEIPZIG +THEODOR WEICHER, PUBLISHER + +NEW YORK +THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., SALES AGENTS +33 EAST 17TH STREET (UNION SQUARE) + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY +THEODOR WEICHER + + +COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY +THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. +_All rights reserved_ + + +ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON + +Published, January, 1909 + + +THE TROW PRESS, NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +FOREWORD vii + +INTRODUCTION ix + +CHAPTER +I.--IN MANILA 1 + +II.--ON THE HIGH SEAS 34 + +III.--HOW IT BEGAN 49 + +IV.--ECHOES IN NEW YORK 61 + +V.--FATHER AND SON 69 + +VI.--A NIGHT IN NEW YORK 77 + +VII.--THE RED SUN OVER THE GOLDEN GATE 96 + +VIII.--IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH 105 + +IX.---A FORTY-EIGHT-HOUR BALANCE 121 + +X.--ADMIRAL PERRY'S FATE 142 + +XI.--CAPTAIN WINSTANLEY 171 + +XII.--ARE YOU WINSTANLEY? 185 + +XIII.--THE REVENGE FOR PORTSMOUTH 192 + +XIV.--ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WHIRLPOOL 206 + +XV.--A RAY OF LIGHT 211 + +XVI.--THROUGH FIRE AND SMOKE 217 + +XVII.--WHAT HAPPENED AT CORPUS CHRISTI 228 + +XVIII.--THE BATTLE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS 243 + +XIX.--THE ASSAULT ON HILGARD 272 + +XX.---A FRIEND IN NEED 286 + +XXI.--DARK SHADOWS 295 + +XXII.--REMEMBER HILGARD 306 + +XXIII.--IN THE WHITE HOUSE 312 + + + + +FOREWORD + + +Every American familiar with the modern international political horizon +must have experienced a feeling of solid satisfaction at the news that a +formidable American fleet was to be dispatched to the waters of the +Pacific, and the cruise of our warships has been followed with intense +interest by every loyal citizen of our Republic. The reasons that +rendered the long and dramatic voyage of our fleet most opportune are +identical with the motives that actuated the publication of this +translation from the German of a work which exhibits a remarkable grasp +of facts coupled with a marvelously vivid power of description. It is no +secret that our ships were sent to the Pacific to minimize the danger of +a conflict with our great commercial rival in the Far East, if not to +avert it altogether, and _Banzai_! it seems to me, should perform a +similar mission. The graphic recital, I take it, is not intended to +incite a feeling of animosity between two nations which have every +reason to maintain friendly relations, but rather to call the attention +of the American people to the present woeful lack of preparedness, and +at the same time to assist in developing a spirit of sound patriotism +that prefers silent action to blatant braggadocio. That the Pacific +Ocean may become, in truth, the Peaceful Ocean, and never resound +to the clash of American arms, is the devout wish of one who +believes--implicitly--with Moltke in the old proverb, _Si vis pacem, +para bellum_--If you wish for Peace, prepare for War. + +P. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +As usual, it had begun quite harmlessly and inconspicuously. It is not +my business to tell how it all came to pass, how the way was prepared. +That may be left to the spinners of yarns and to those on the trail of +the sources of history. I shall leave it to them to ascertain when the +idea that there must be a conflict, and that the fruit must be plucked +before it had time to ripen, first took root in the minds of the +Japanese people. + +We Americans realize now that we had been living for years like one who +has a presentiment that something dreadful is hanging over him which +will suddenly descend upon his head, and who carries this feeling of +dread about with him with an uneasy conscience, trying to drown it in +the tumult and restlessness of daily life. We realize the situation now, +because we know where we should have fixed our gaze and understand the +task to the accomplishment of which we should have bent our energies, +but we went about like sleep-walkers and refused to see what thousands +of others knew, what thousands saw in astonishment and concern at our +heedlessness. + +We might easily have peeped through the curtain that hid the future from +us, for it had plenty of holes, but we passed them by unnoticed. And, +nevertheless, there were many who did peep through. Some, while reading +their paper, let it fall into their lap and stared into space, letting +their thoughts wander far away to a spot whence the subdued clash of +arms and tumult of war reached their soul like the mysterious roll and +roar of the breakers. Others were struck by a chance word overheard in +the rush of the street, which they would remember until it was driven +out by the strenuous struggle that each day brought with it. But the +word itself had not died; it continued to live in the foundation of the +consciousness where our burning thoughts cannot enter, and sometimes in +the night it would be born afresh in the shape of wild squadrons of +cavalry galloping across the short grass of the prairie with noiseless +hoofs. The thunder of cannon could be heard in the air long before the +guns were loaded. + +I saw no more than others, and when the grim horrors of the future first +breathed coldly upon me I, too, soon forgot it. It happened at San +Francisco in the spring of 1907. We were standing before a bar, and from +outside came the sounds of an uproar in the street. Two men were being +thrown out of a Japanese restaurant across the way, and the Japanese +proprietor, who was standing in the doorway, kicked the hat of one of +them across the pavement so that it rolled over the street like a +football. + +"Well, what do you think of that," cried my friend, Arthur Wilcox, "the +Jap is attacking the white men." + +I held him back by the arm, for a tall Irish policeman had already +seized the Jap, who protested loudly and would not submit to arrest. The +policeman took good hold of him, but before he knew it he lay like a log +on the pavement, the Japanese dwarf apparently having thrown him without +the least trouble. A wild brawl followed. Half an hour later only a few +policemen, taking notes, were walking about in the Japanese restaurant, +which had been completely demolished by a frenzied mob. We remained at +the bar for some time afterwards engaged in earnest conversation. + +"Our grandchildren," said Arthur, "will have to answer for that little +affair and fight it out some day or other." + +"Not our grandchildren, but we ourselves," I answered, not knowing in +the least why I said it. + +"We ourselves?" said Wilcox, laughing at me, "not much; look at me, look +at yourself, look at our people, and then look at those dwarfs." + +"The Russians said the same thing: Look at the dwarfs." + +They all laughed at me and presently I joined in the laugh, but I could +not forget the Irishman as he lay in the grip of the Jap. And quite +suddenly I remembered something which I had almost forgotten. It +happened at Heidelberg, during my student days in Germany; a professor +was telling us how, after the inglorious retreat of the Prussian army +from Valmy, the officers, with young Goethe in their midst, were sitting +round the camp fires discussing the reasons for the defeat. When they +asked Goethe what he thought about it, he answered, as though gifted +with second sight: "At this spot and at this moment a new epoch in the +world's history will begin, and you will all be able to say that you +were present." And in imagination I could see the red glow of the +bivouac fires and the officers of Frederick the Great's famous army, who +could not understand how anyone could have fled before the ragged +recruits of the Revolution. And near them I saw a man of higher caliber +standing on tiptoe to look through the dark curtain into the future. + +At the time I soon forgot all these things; I forgot the apparently +insignificant street affray and the icy breath of premonition which +swept over me then, and not until the disaster had occurred did it again +enter my mind. But then when the swords were clashing I realized, for +the first time, that all the incidents we had observed on the dusty +highway of History, and passed by with indifference, had been sure signs +of the coming catastrophe. + +PARABELLUM + + + + +BANZAI! + + + + +_Chapter I_ + +IN MANILA + + +"For God's sake, do leave me in peace with your damned yellow monkeys!" +cried Colonel Webster, banging his fist on the table so hard that the +whisky and soda glasses jumped up in a fright, then came down again +irritably and wagged their heads disapprovingly, so that the +amber-colored fluid spilled over the edge and lay on the table in little +pearly puddles. + +"As you like, colonel. I shall give up arguing with you," returned +Lieutenant Commander Harryman curtly. "You won't allow yourself to be +warned." + +"Warned--that's not the question. But this desire of yours to scent +Japanese intrigues everywhere, to figure out all politics by the +Japanese common denominator, and to see a Japanese spy in every coolie +is becoming a positive mania. No, I can't agree with you there," added +Webster, who seemed to regret the passionate outburst into which his +temperament had betrayed him. + +"Really not?" asked Harryman, turning in his comfortable wicker chair +toward Webster and looking at him half encouragingly with twinkling +eyes. + +Such discussions were not at all unusual in the Club at Manila, for they +presented the only antidote to the leaden, soul-killing tedium of the +dull monotony of garrison duty. Since the new insurrection on Mindanao +and in the whole southern portion of the archipelago, the question as to +the actual causes of the uprising, or rather the secret authors thereof, +continually gave rise to heated discussions. And when both parties, of +which one ascribed everything to Japanese intrigue and the other found +an explanation in elementary causes, began to liven up, the debate was +apt to wax pretty warm. If these discussions did nothing else, they at +least produced a sort of mental excitement after the heat of the day +which wore out body and mind alike, not even cooling down toward +evening. + +The Chinese boy, passing quickly and quietly between the chairs, removed +the traces of the Webster thunderbolt and placed fresh bottles of soda +water on the table, whereupon the officers carefully prepared new +drinks. + +"He's a spy, too, I suppose?" asked Webster of Harryman, pointing with +his thumb over his shoulder at the disappearing boy. + +"Of course. Did you ever imagine him to be anything else?" + +Webster shrugged his shoulders. A dull silence ensued, during which they +tried to recover the lost threads of their thoughts in the drowsy +twilight. Harryman irritably chewed the ends of his mustache. The smoke +from two dozen shag pipes settled like streaks of mist in the sultry air +of the tropical night, which came in at the open windows. Lazily and +with long pauses, conversation was kept up at the separate tables. The +silence was only broken by the creaking of the wicker chairs and the +gurgling and splashing of the soda water, when one of the officers, +after having put it off as long as possible, at last found sufficient +energy to refill his glass. Motionless as seals on the sandhills in the +heat of midday, the officers lolled in their chairs, waiting for the +moment when they could turn in with some show of decency. + +"It's awful!" groaned Colonel McCabe. "This damned hole is enough to +make one childish. I shall go crazy soon." And then he cracked his +standing joke of the evening: "My daily morning prayer is: 'Let it soon +be evening, O God; the morrow will come of itself.'" The jest was +greeted with a dutiful grunt of approval from the occupants of the +various chairs. + +Lieutenant Parrington, officer in command of the little gunboat +_Mindoro_, which had been captured from the Spaniards some years ago and +since the departure of the cruiser squadron for Mindanao been put in +commission as substitute guardship in the harbor of Manila, entered the +room and dropped into a chair near Harryman; whereupon the Chinese boy, +almost inaudible in his broad felt shoes, suddenly appeared beside him +and set down the bottle with the pain expeller of the tropics before +him. + +"Any cable news, Parrington?" asked Colonel McCabe from the other table. + +"Not a word," yawned Parrington; "everything is still smashed. We might +just as well be sitting under the receiver of an air pump." + +Harryman noticed that the boy stared at Parrington for a moment as if +startled; but he instantly resumed his Mongolian expression of absolute +innocence, and with his customary grin slipped sinuously through the +door. + +Harryman experienced an unpleasant feeling of momentary discomfort, but, +not being able to locate his ideas clearly, he irritably gave up the +attempt to arrive at a solution of this instinctive sensation, mumbling +to himself: "This tropical hell is enough to set one crazy." + +"No news of the fleet, either?" began Colonel McCabe again. + +"Positively nothing, either by wire or wireless. It seems as though the +rest of the world had sunk into a bottomless pit. Not a single word has +reached us from the outer world for six days." + +"Do you believe in the seaquake?" struck in Harryman mockingly. + +"Why not?" returned the colonel. + +Harryman jumped up, walked over to the window with long strides, threw +out the end of his cigarette and lighted a new one. In the bright light +of the flaming match one could see the commander's features twitching +ironically; he was on the warpath again. + +"All the same, it's a queer state of affairs. Our home cable snaps +between Guam and here, the Hong-Kong cable won't work, and even our +island wire has been put out of commission; it must have been a pretty +violent catastrophe--" came from another table. + +"--All the more violent considering the fact that we noticed nothing of +it on land," said Harryman, thoughtfully blowing out a cloud of smoke +and swinging himself up backward on the window-sill. + +"Exactly," rang out a voice; "but how do you account for that?" + +"Account for it!" cried Colonel Webster, in a thundering voice. "Our +comrade of the illustrious navy of the United States of America has only +one explanation for everything: his Japanese logarithms, by means of +which he figures out everything. Now we shall hear that this seaquake +can be traced to Japanese villainy, probably brought about by Japanese +divers, or even submarine boats." And the colonel began to laugh +heartily. + +Harryman ignored this attempt to resume their recent dispute, and with +head thrown back continued to blow clouds of smoke nervously into the +air. + +"But seriously, Harryman," began the colonel again, "can you give any +explanation?" + +"No," answered Harryman curtly; "but perhaps you will remember who was +the first to furnish an explanation of the breakdown of the cable. It +was the captain of the Japanese _Kanga Maru_, which has been anchored +since Tuesday beside the _Monadnock_, which I have the honor to +command." + +"But, my good Harryman, you have hallucinations," interrupted the +colonel. "The Japanese captain gave the latest Hong-Kong papers to the +Harbor Bureau, and was quite astonished to hear that our cable did not +work----" + +"When he was going to send a cablegram to Hong-Kong," added Harryman +sharply. + +"To announce his arrival at Manila," remarked Colonel Webster dryly. + +"And the Hong-Kong papers had already published descriptions of the +destruction caused by the seaquake, of the tidal waves, and the +accidents to ships," came from another quarter. + +"The news being of especial interest to this archipelago, where we have +the misfortune to be and where we noticed nothing of the whole affair," +returned Harryman. + +"You don't mean to imply," broke in the colonel, "that the news of this +catastrophe is a pure invention--an invention of the English papers in +Hong-Kong?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure," said Harryman. "Hong-Kong papers are no +criterion for me." And then he added quietly: "Yes, man is great, and +the newspaper is his prophet." + +"But you can't dispute the fact that a seaquake may have taken place, +when you consider the striking results as shown by the cable +interruptions which we have been experiencing for the last six days," +began Webster again. + +"Have we really?" said Harryman. "Are you quite sure of it? So far the +only authority we have for this supposed seaquake is a Japanese +captain--whom, by the way, I am having sharply watched--and a bundle of +worthless Hong-Kong newspapers. And as for the rest of my +hallucinations"--he jumped down from the window-sill and, going up to +Webster, held out a sheet of paper toward him--"I'm in the habit of +using other sources of information than the English-Japanese +fingerposts." + +Webster glanced at the paper and then looked at Harryman questioningly. + +"What is it? Do you understand it?" + +"Yes," snapped Harryman. "These little pictures portray our war of +extermination against the red man. They are terribly exaggerated and +distorted, which was not at all necessary, by the way, for the events of +that war do not add to the fame of our nation. Up here," explained +Harryman, while several officers, among them the colonel, stepped up to +the table, "you see the story of the infected blankets from the fever +hospitals which were sent to the Indians; here the butchery of an Indian +tribe; here, for comparison, the fight on the summit of the volcano of +Ilo-Ilo, where the Tagala were finally driven into the open crater; and +here, at the end, the practical application for the Tagala: 'As the +Americans have destroyed the red man, so will you slowly perish under +the American rule. They have hurled your countrymen into the chasm of +the volcano. This crater will devour you all if you do not turn those +weapons which were once broken by Spanish bondage against your +deliverers of 1898, who have since become your oppressors.'" + +"Where did you get the scrawl?" asked the colonel excitedly. + +"Do you want me to procure hundreds, thousands like it for you?" +returned Harryman coolly. + +The colonel pressed down the ashes in his pipe with his thumb, and asked +indifferently: "You understand Japanese?" + +"Tagala also," supplemented Harryman simply. + +"And you mean to say that thousands----?" + +"Millions of these pictures, with Japanese and Malayan text, are being +circulated in the Philippines," said Harryman positively. + +"Under our eyes?" asked a lieutenant naïvely. + +"Under our eyes," replied Harryman, smiling, "our eyes which carelessly +overlook such things." + +Colonel Webster rose and offered Harryman his hand. "I have misjudged +you," he said heartily. "I belong to your party from now on." + +"It isn't a question of party," answered Harryman warmly, "or rather +there will soon be only the one party." + +"Do you think," asked Colonel McCabe, "that the supposed Japanese plan +of attack on the Philippines, published at the beginning of the year in +the _North China Daily News_, was authentic?" + +"That question cannot be answered unless you know who gave the document +to the Shanghai paper, and what object he had in doing so," replied +Harryman. + +"How do you mean?" + +"Well," continued Harryman, "only two possibilities can exist: the +document was either genuine or false. If genuine, then it was an +indiscretion on the part of a Japanese who betrayed his country to an +English paper--an English paper which no sooner gets possession of this +important document than it immediately proceeds to publish its contents, +thereby getting its ally into a nice pickle. You will at once observe +here three improbabilities: treason, indiscretion, and, finally, England +in the act of tripping her ally. These actions would be incompatible, in +the first place, with the almost hysterical sense of patriotism of the +Japanese; in the second, with their absolute silence and secrecy, and, +in the third place, with the behavior of our English cousin since his +marriage to Madame Chrysanthemum----" + +"The document was therefore not genuine?" asked the colonel. + +"Think it over. What was it that the supposed plan of attack set forth? +A Japanese invasion of Manila with the fleet and a landing force of +eighty thousand men, and then, following the example of Cuba, an +insurrection of the natives, which would gradually exhaust our troops, +while the Japanese would calmly settle matters at sea, Roschestwenski's +tracks being regarded as a sufficient scare for our admirals." + +"That would no doubt be the best course to pursue in an endeavor to +pocket the Philippines," answered the colonel thoughtfully; "and the +plan would be aided by the widespread and growing opposition at home to +keeping the archipelago and putting more and more millions into the +Asiatic branch business." + +"Quite so," continued Harryman quickly, "if Japan wanted nothing else +but the Philippines." + +"What on earth does she want in addition?" asked Webster. + +"The _mastery of the Pacific_," said Harryman in a decided voice. + +"Commercial mastery?" asked Parrington, "or----" + +"No; political, too, and with solid foundations," answered Harryman. + +Colonel McCabe had sat down again, and was studying the pamphlet, +Parrington picked at the label on his whisky bottle, and the others +remained silent, but buried in thought. In the next room a clock struck +ten with a hurried, tinkling sound which seemed to break up the uneasy +silence into so many small pieces. + +"And if it was not genuine?" began Colonel McCabe again, hoarsely. He +cleared his throat and repeated the question in a low tone of voice: +"And if it was not genuine?" + +Harryman shrugged his shoulders. + +"Then it would be a trap for us to have us secure our information from +the wrong quarter," said the colonel, answering his own question. + +"A trap into which we are rushing at full speed," continued Webster, +laying stress on each word, though his thoughts seemed to be far in +advance of what he was saying. + +Harryman nodded and twisted his mustache. + +"What did you say?" asked Parrington, jumping up and looking from +Webster to Harryman, neither of whom, however, volunteered a reply. "We +are stumbling into a trap?" + +"Two regiments," said Webster, more to himself than to the others. And +then, turning to Harryman, he asked briskly: "When are the transports +expected to arrive?" + +"The steamers with two regiments on board left 'Frisco on April 10th, +therefore--he counted the days on his fingers--they should be here by +now." + +"No, they were to go straight to Mindanao," said Parrington. + +"Straight to Mindanao?" Colonel McCabe meditated silently. Then, as +though waking up suddenly, he went on: "And the cable has not been +working for six days----" + +"Exactly," interrupted Parrington, "we have known nothing, either of +the fleet or of anything else, for the last six days." + +"Harryman," said Colonel McCabe seriously, "do you think there is +danger? If it is all a trap, it would be the most stupid thing that we +could do to send our transports unprotected-- But that's all nonsense! +This heat positively dries up your thoughts. No, no, it's impossible; +they're hallucinations bred by the fermented vapors of this God-forsaken +country!" He pressed the electric button, and the boy appeared at the +door behind him. "Some soda, Pailung!" + +"Parrington, are you coming? I ordered my boat for ten o'clock," said +Harryman. + +"As early as this, Harryman?" remonstrated Webster. "You'll be on board +your boat quite soon enough, or do you want to keep a night watch also +on your Japanese of the-- What sort of a Maru was it?" he broke off, +because Colonel McCabe pointed angrily at the approaching boy. + +"Oh, nonsense!" growled Webster ill-humoredly. "A creature like that +doesn't see or hear a thing." + +The colonel glared at Webster, and then noisily mixed his drink. + +Harryman and Parrington walked along the quay in silence, their steps +resounding loudly in the stillness of the night. On the other side of +the street fleeting shadows showed at the lighted windows of several +harbor dens, over the entrance to which hung murky lamps and from which +loud voices issued, proving that all was still in full swing there. +There were only a few more steps to the spot where the yellow circle of +light from the lanterns rendered the white uniforms of the sailors in +the two boats visible. Parrington stood still. "Harryman," he said, +repeating his former question, "do you believe there is danger----" + +"I don't know, I really don't know," said Harryman nervously. Then, +seizing Parrington's hands, he continued hurriedly, but in a low voice: +"For days I have been living as if in a trance. It is as if I were lying +in the delirium of fever; my head burns and my thoughts always return to +the same spot, boring and burrowing; I feel as though a horrible eye +were fixed on me from whose glance I cannot escape. I feel that I may at +any moment awake from the trance, and that the awakening will be still +more dreadful." + +"You're feverish, Harryman; you're ill, and you'll infect others. You +must take some quinine." With these words Parrington climbed into his +gig, the sailors gave way with the oars, and the boat rushed through the +water and disappeared into the darkness, where the bow oarsman was +silhouetted against the pale yellow light of the boat's lantern like a +strange phantom. + +Harryman looked musingly after the boat of the _Mindoro_ for a few +minutes, and murmured: "He certainly has no fever which quinine will not +cure." Then he got into his own boat, which also soon disappeared into +the sultry summer night, while the dark water splashed and gurgled +against the planks. The high quay wall, with its row of yellow and white +lights, remained behind, and gradually sank down to the water line. They +rowed past the side of a huge English steamer, which sent back the +splash of the oars in a strange hollow echo, and then across to the +_Monadnock_. + +Harryman could not sleep, and joined the officer on duty on the bridge, +where the slight breeze which came from the mountains afforded a little +coolness. + + * * * * * + +On board the _Mindoro_ Parrington had found orders to take the relief +guard for the wireless telegraph station to Mariveles the next morning. +At six o'clock the little gunboat had taken the men on board, and was +now steering across the blue Bay of Manila toward the little rocky +island of Corregidor, which had recently been strongly fortified, and +which lies like a block of stone between gigantic mountain wings in the +very middle of the entrance to the Bay of Manila. Under a gray sail, +which served as a slight protection from the sun, the soldiers squatted +sullenly on their kits. Some were asleep, others stared over the railing +into the blue, transparent water that rippled away in long waves before +the bow of the little vessel. From the open skylight of the engine room +sounded the sharp beat of the engine, and the smell of hot oil spread +over the deck, making the burning heat even more unbearable. Parrington +stood on the bridge and through his glass examined the steep cliffs at +the entrance to the bay, and the bizarre forms of the little volcanic +islands. + +Except for a few fishing boats with their brown sails, not a ship was to +be seen on the whole expanse of the water. The gunboat now turned into +the northern entrance, and the long, glistening guns in the +fortifications of Corregidor became visible. Up above, on the batteries +hewn in the rocks, not a living soul could be seen, but below, on the +little platform where the signal-post stood near the northern battery, +an armed sentry marched up and down. Parrington called out to the +signalman near him: "Send this signal across to Corregidor: 'We are +going to relieve the wireless telegraph detachment at Mariveles, and +shall call at Corregidor on our way back.'" The Corregidor battery +answered the signal, and informed Parrington that Colonel Prettyman +expected him for lunch later on. Slowly the _Mindoro_ crept along the +coast to the rocky Bay of Mariveles, where, before the few neglected +houses of the place, the guard of the wireless telegraph station, which +stood on the heights of Sierra de Mariveles, was awaiting the arrival of +the gunboat. + +The _Mindoro_ was made fast to the pier. The exchange of men took place +quickly, and the relief guard piled their kits on two mule-carts, in +which they were to be carried up the steep hillside to the top, where a +few flat, white houses showed the position of the wireless station, the +high post of which, with its numerous wires, stood out alone against the +blue sky. The relieved men, who plainly showed their delight at getting +away from this God-forsaken, tedious outpost, made themselves +comfortable in the shade afforded by the sail, and began to chat with +the crew of the _Mindoro_ about the commonplaces of military service. A +shrill screech from the whistle of the _Mindoro_ resounded from the +mountain side as a farewell greeting to the little troop that was +climbing slowly upward, followed by the baggage-carts. The _Mindoro_ +cast off from the pier, and, having rounded the neck of land on which +Mariveles stood, was just on the point of starting in the direction of +Corregidor, when the signalman on the bridge called Parrington's +attention to a black steamer which was apparently steaming at full speed +from the sea toward the entrance to the Bay of Manila. + +"A ship at last," said Parrington. "Let's wait and see what sort of a +craft it is." + +While the _Mindoro_ reduced her speed noticeably, Parrington looked +across at the strange vessel through his glasses. The ship had also +attracted the attention of the crew, who began to conjecture excitedly +as to the nationality of the visitor, for during the past week a strange +vessel had become a rather unusual sight in Manila. The wireless +detachment said that they had seen the steamer two hours ago from the +hill. + +Parrington put down his glass and said: "About four thousand tons, but +she has no flag. We can soon remedy that." And turning to the signalman +he added: "Ask her to show her colors." At the same time he pulled the +rope of the whistle in order to attract the stranger's attention. + +In a few seconds the German colors appeared at the stern of the +approaching steamer, and the signal flag, which at the same time was +quickly hoisted at the foretopmast, proclaimed the ship to be the German +steamer _Danzig_, hailing from Hong-Kong. Immediately afterwards a boat +was lowered from the _Danzig_ and the steamer stopped; then the white +cutter put to sea and headed straight for the _Mindoro_. + +"It is certainly kind of them to send us a boat," said Parrington. "I +wonder what they want, anyhow." He gave orders to stop the boat and to +clear the gangway, and then, watching the German cutter with interest, +awaited its arrival. Ten minutes later the commander of the _Danzig_ +stepped on the bridge of the _Mindoro_, introduced himself to her +commander, and asked for a pilot to take him through the mines in the +roads. + +Parrington regarded him with astonishment. "Mines, my dear sir, mines? +There are no mines here." + +The German stared at Parrington unbelievingly. "You have no mines?" + +"No," said Parrington. "It is not our custom to blockade our harbors +with mines except in time of war." + +"In time of war?" said the German, who did not appear to comprehend +Parrington's answer. "But you are at war." + +"We, at war?" returned Parrington, utterly disconcerted. "And with whom, +if I may be allowed to ask?" + +"It seems to me that the matter is too serious to be a subject for +jesting," answered the German sharply. + +At this moment loud voices were heard from the after-deck of the +_Mindoro_, the crew of which were swearing with great gusto. Parrington +hurried to the railing and looked over angrily. A hot dispute was going +on between the crew of the German cutter and the American sailors, but +only the oft-repeated words "damned Japs" could be distinguished. He +turned again to the German officer, and looked at him hesitatingly. The +latter, apparently in a bad temper, looked out to sea, whistling softly +to himself. + +Parrington walked toward him and, seizing his hand, said: "It's clear +that we don't understand each other. What's up?" + +"I am here to inform you," answered the German sharply and decisively, +"that the steamer _Danzig_ ran the blockade last night, and that its +captain politely requests you to give him a pilot through the mines, in +order that we may reach the harbor of Manila." + +"You have run the blockade?" shouted Parrington, in a state of the +greatest excitement. "You have run the blockade, man? What the deuce do +you mean?" + +"I mean," answered the German coolly, "that the Government of the United +States of America--a fact, by the way, of which you, as commander of one +of her war vessels, ought to be aware--has been at war with Japan for +the last week, and that a steamer which has succeeded in running the +enemy's blockade and which carries contraband goods for Manila surely +has the right to ask to be guided through the mines." + +Parrington felt for the railing behind him and leaned against it for +support. His face became ashen pale, and he seemed so utterly nonplussed +at the German officer's statement that the latter, gradually beginning +to comprehend the extraordinary situation, continued his explanation. + +"Yes," he repeated, "for six days your country has been at war with +Japan, and it was only natural we should suppose that you, as one of +those most nearly concerned, would be aware of this fact." + +Parrington, regaining his self-control, said: "Then the cable +disturbances--" He stopped, then continued disjointedly: "But this is +terrible; this is a surprise such as we-- I beg your pardon," he went on +in a firm voice to the German, "I am sure I need not assure you that +your communication has taken me completely by surprise. Not a soul in +Manila has any idea of all this. The cable disturbances of the last six +days were explained to us by a Japanese steamer as being the result of a +volcanic outbreak, and since then, through the interruption of all +connections, we have been completely shut off from the outside world. If +Japan, in defiance of all international law, has declared war, we here +in Manila have noticed nothing of it, except, perhaps, for the entire +absence, during the last few days, of the regular steamers and, indeed, +of all trading ships, a circumstance that appeared to some of us rather +suspicious. But excuse me, we must act at once. Please remain on board." + +The _Mindoro's_ whistle emitted three shrill screeches, while the +gunboat steamed at full speed toward Corregidor. + +Parrington went into his cabin, opened his desk, and searched through it +with nervous haste. "At last!" He seized the war-signal code and ran +upstairs to the bridge, shouting to the signalman: "Signal to +Corregidor: 'War-signal code, important communication.'" Then he +himself, hastily turning over the leaves of the book, called out the +signals and had them hoisted. Then he shouted to the man at the helm: +"Tell them not to spare the engines." + +Parrington stood in feverish expectation on the bridge, his hands +clinched round the hot iron bars of the breastwork and his eyes +measuring the rapidly diminishing distance between the _Mindoro_ and +the landing place of Corregidor. As the _Mindoro_ turned into the +northern passage between Corregidor and the mainland, the chain of +mountains, looking like banks of clouds, which surrounded Manila, became +visible in the far distance across the blue, apparently boundless +surface of the Bay, while the town itself, wrapped in the white mist +that veiled the horizon, remained invisible. At this moment Parrington +observed a dark cloud of smoke in the direction of the harbor of Manila +suddenly detaching itself from below and sailing upward like a fumarole +above the summit of a volcano, where it dispersed in bizarre shapes +resembling ragged balls of cotton. Almost immediately a dull report like +a distant thunderclap boomed across the water. + +"Can that be another of their devilish tricks?" asked Parrington of the +German, drawing his attention to the rising cloud, the edges of which +glistened white as snow in the bright sunshine. + +"Possibly," was the laconic answer. + +The wharf of Corregidor was in a state of confused hubbub. The +artillerymen stood shoulder to shoulder, awaiting the arrival of the +_Mindoro_. Suddenly an officer forced his way through the crowd, and, +standing on the very edge of the wharf, called out to the rapidly +approaching _Mindoro_: "Parrington, what's all this about?" + +"It's true, every word of it," roared the latter through the megaphone. +"The Japanese are attacking us, and the German steamer over there is the +first to bring us news of it. War broke out six days ago." + +The _Mindoro_ stopped and threw a line, which was caught by many willing +hands and made fast to the landing place. + +"Here's my witness," shouted Parrington across to Colonel Prettyman, +"the commander of the German steamer _Danzig_." + +"I'll join you on board," answered Prettyman. "I've just despatched the +news to Manila by wireless. Of course they won't believe it there." + +"Then you've done a very stupid thing," cried Parrington, horrified. +"Look there," he added, pointing to the cloud above the harbor of +Manila; "that has most certainly cost our friend Harryman, of the +_Monadnock_, his life. His presentiments did not deceive him after all!" + +"Cost Harryman, on board the _Monadnock_, his life?" asked Prettyman in +astonishment. + +"I'm afraid so," answered Parrington. "The Japanese steamer which +brought us the news of the famous seaquake has been anchored beside him +for four days. When you sent your wireless message to Manila, the +Japanese must have intercepted it, for they have a wireless apparatus on +board--I noticed it only this morning." + +The _Mindoro_ now lay fast beside the wharf, and Colonel Prettyman +hurried across the gangway to the gunboat and went straight to +Parrington's cabin, where the two shut themselves up with the German +officer. + +A few minutes later an excited orderly rushed on board and demanded to +see the colonel at once; he was let into the cabin, and it was found +that he had brought a confirmation of Parrington's suspicions, for a +wireless message from Manila informed them that the _Monadnock_ had been +destroyed in the roads of Manila through some inexplicable explosion. + +Parrington sprang from his chair and cried to the colonel: "Won't you at +least pay those cursed Japs back by sending the message, 'We suspect +that the Japanese steamer anchored beside the _Monadnock_ has blown her +up by means of a torpedo?' Otherwise it is just possible that they will +be naïve enough in Manila to let the scoundrel get out of the harbor. +No, no," he shouted, interrupting himself, "we can't wait for that; we +must get to work ourselves at once. Colonel, you go ashore, and I'll +steam toward Manila and cut off the rogue's escape. And you"--turning to +the German--"you can return to your ship and enter the bay; there are +no"--here his voice broke--"no mines here." + +Then he rushed up on the bridge again. The hawsers were cast off in +feverish haste, and the _Mindoro_ once more steamed out into the bay at +the fastest speed of which the old craft was capable. Parrington had +regained his self-command in face of the new task that the events just +described, which followed so rapidly upon one another's heels, laid out +for him. An expression of fierce joy came over his features when, +looking through his glass an hour later, he discovered the _Kanga Maru_ +holding a straight course for Corregidor. + +As calmly as if it were only a question of everyday maneuvers, +Parrington gave his orders. The artillerymen stood on either side of the +small guns, and everything was made ready for action. + +The distance between the two ships slowly diminished. + +"Yes, it is the Japanese steamer," said Parrington to himself. "And now +to avenge Harryman! There'll be no sentimentality; we'll shoot them +down like pirates! No signal, no warning--nothing, nothing!" he +murmured. + +"Stand by with the forward gun," he called down from the bridge to the +men standing at the little 12 pounder on the foredeck of the _Mindoro_. +The _Mindoro_ turned a little to starboard, so as to get at the +broadside of the Japanese, and thus be able to fire on him with both the +forward and after guns. + +"Five hundred yards! Aim at the engine room! Number one gun, fire!" The +shot boomed across the sunny, blue expanse of water, driving a white +puff of smoke before it. The shell disappeared in the waves about one +hundred yards ahead of the Japanese steamer. The next shot struck the +ship, leaving in her side a black hole with jagged edges just above the +waterline. + +"Splendid!" cried Parrington. "Keep that up and we'll have the villain +in ten shots." + +Quickly the 12 pounder was reloaded; the gunners stood quietly beside +their gun, and shot after shot was fired at the Japanese ship, of which +five or six hit her right at the waterline. The stern gun of the +_Mindoro_ devoted itself in the meantime to destroying things on the +enemy's deck. Gaping holes appeared everywhere in the ship's side, and +the funnels received several enormous rents, out of which brown smoke +poured forth. In a quarter of an hour the deck resembled the primeval +chaos, being covered with bent and broken iron rods, iron plates riddled +with shot, and woodwork torn to splinters. Suddenly clouds of white +steam burst out from all the holes in the ship's sides, from the +skylights, and from the remnants of the funnels; the deck in the middle +of the steamer rose slowly, and the exploding boilers tossed broken bits +of engines and deck apparatus high up into the air. The _Kanga Maru_ +listed to port and disappeared in the waves, over which a few straggling +American shots swept. + +"Cease firing!" commanded Parrington. Then the _Mindoro_ came about and +again steered straight for Manila. The act of retribution had been +accomplished; the treacherous murder of the crew of the _Monadnock_ had +been avenged. + +When the _Mindoro_ arrived at the harbor of Manila, the town was in a +tremendous state of excitement. The drums were beating the alarm in the +streets. The spot where only that morning the _Monadnock_ had lain in +idle calm was empty. + + * * * * * + +The explosion of the _Monadnock_ had at first been regarded as an +accident. In spite of its being the dinner hour, a number of boats +appeared in the roads, all making toward the scene of the accident, +where a broad, thick veil of smoke crept slowly over the surface of the +water. As no one knew what new horrors might be hidden in this cloud, +none of the boats dared go nearer. Only two white naval cutters +belonging to the gunboats lying in the harbor glided into the mist, +driven forward by strong arms; and they actually succeeded in saving a +few of the crew. + +One of the rescued men told the following story: About two minutes after +the _Monadnock_ had received a wireless message, which, however, was +never deciphered, a dull concussion was felt throughout the ship, +followed almost immediately by another one. On the starboard side of the +_Monadnock_ two white, bubbling, hissing columns of water had shot up, +which completely flooded the low deck; then a third explosion, possibly +caused by a mine striking the ammunition room and setting it off, +practically tore the ship asunder. There could be no doubt that these +torpedoes came from the Japanese steamer anchored beside the +_Monadnock_, for the _Kanga Maru_ had suddenly slipped her anchor and +hurried off as fast as she could. It was now remembered that the +Japanese ship had had steam up constantly for the last few days, +ostensibly because they were daily expecting their cargo in lighters, +from which they intended to load without delay. It was therefore pretty +certain that the _Kanga Maru_ had entered the harbor merely for the +purpose of destroying the _Monadnock_, the only monitor in Manila. +Torpedo tubes had probably been built in the Japanese merchant steamer +under water, and this made it possible to blow up the _Monadnock_ the +moment there was the least suspicion that the Americans in Manila were +aware of the fact that war had broken out. Thus the wireless message +from Corregidor had indeed sealed the fate of the _Monadnock_. The +_Kanga Maru_ had launched her torpedoes, and then tried to escape. The +meeting with the _Mindoro_ the Japanese had not reckoned with, for they +had counted on getting away during the confusion which the destruction +of the _Monadnock_ would naturally cause in Manila. + +As a result of these occurrences the few ships in the roads of Manila +soon stopped loading and discharging; most of the steamers weighed +anchor, and, as soon as they could get up steam, went farther out into +the roads, for a rumor had spread that the _Kanga Maru_ had laid mines. +The report turned out to be entirely unfounded, but it succeeded in +causing a regular panic on some of the ships. From the town came the +noise of the beating of drums and the shrill call to arms to alarm the +garrison; one could see the quays being cleared by detachments of +soldiers, and sentries were posted before all the public buildings. + +American troops hurried on the double-quick through the streets of the +European quarter, and the sight of the soldiers furnished the first +element of reassurance to the white population, whose excitement had +been tremendous ever since the alarm of the garrison. The old Spanish +batteries, or rather what was still left of them, were occupied by +artillerymen, while one battalion went on sentry duty on the ramparts of +the section of the town called _Intra muros_, and five other battalions +left the town at once in order to help garrison the redoubts and forts +in the line of defense on the land side. + +The town of Manila and the arsenal at Cavite, where measures for defense +were also taken, thus gave no cause for apprehension; but, on the other +hand, it was noticeable that the natives showed signs of insubordination +toward the American military authorities, and that they did not attempt +to conceal the fact that they had been better informed as to the +political situation than the Americans. These were the first indications +as to how the land lay, and gradually it began to be remembered that +similar observations had been made within the last few days: for +example, a number of revolutionary flags had had to be removed in the +town. + +The Americans were in a very precarious position, and at the council of +war held by the governor in the afternoon it was decided that should the +Filipinos show the slightest signs of insurrection, the whole military +strength would be concentrated to defend Manila, Cavite, and the single +railway running north, while all the other garrisons were to be +withdrawn and the rest of the archipelago left to its own devices. In +this way the Americans might at least hope, with some chance of success, +to remain masters of Manila and vicinity. The island was, of course, +proclaimed to be in a state of siege, and a strong military patrol was +put in charge of the night watch. + +A serious encounter took place in the afternoon before the Government +building. As soon as it became known that proclamation of martial law +had been made the population streamed in great crowds toward the +Government buildings; and when the American flag was suddenly hauled +down--it has never been ascertained by whom--and the Catipunàn flag, +formerly the standard of the rebels--the tri-color with the sun in a +triangular field--appeared in its place, a moment of wild enthusiasm +ensued, so wild that it required an American company with fixed bayonets +to clear the square of the fanatics. The sudden appearance of this huge +Catipunàn flag seemed mysterious enough, but the next few days were to +demonstrate clearly how carefully the rebellion among the natives had +been prepared. + +When the officers of the garrison assembled at the customary place on +the evening of the same day, they were depressed and uneasy, as men who +find themselves confronted by an invisible enemy. There was no longer +any difference of opinion as to the danger that threatened from the +Mongolians, and those officers who had been exonerated from the charge +of being too suspicious by the rapid developments of the last few hours +were considerate enough not to make their less far-sighted comrades feel +that they had undervalued their adversaries. No one had expected a +catastrophe to occur quite so suddenly, and the uncertainty as to what +was going on elsewhere had a paralyzing effect on all decisions. What +one could do in the way of defense had been or was being done, but there +were absolutely no indications as to the side from which the enemy might +be expected. + +The chief cause for anxiety at the moment was furnished by the question +whether the squadron which had started for Mindanao was already aware of +the outbreak of war. In any case, it was necessary to warn both it and +the transports expected from San Francisco before they arrived at +Mindanao. The only ships available for this purpose were the few little +gunboats taken from the Spaniards in 1898; these had been made fit for +service in all haste to be used in the harbor when the cruiser squadron +left. Although they left much to be desired in the way of speed--a +handicap of six days could, however, hardly have been made up even by +the swiftest turbine--there was nevertheless a fair chance that these +insignificant-looking little vessels, which could hardly be +distinguished from the merchant type, might be able to slip past the +Japanese blockading ships, which were probably cruising outside of +Manila. This, however, would only be possible in case the Japanese had +thus far ignored the squadron near Mindanao as they had Manila, for the +purpose of concentrating their strength somewhere else. But where? At +any rate, it was worth while taking even such a faint chance of being +able to warn the squadron, for the destruction of the _Monadnock_ could +have had no other reason than to prevent communications between Manila +and the squadron. The enemy had evidently not given a thought to the +rickety little gunboats. Or could it be that all was already at an end +out at Mindanao? At all events, the attempt had to be made. + +Two gunboats coaled and slipped out of the harbor the same evening, +heading in a southeasterly direction among the little islands straight +through the archipelago in order to reach the eastern coast of Mindanao +and there intercept the transport steamers, and eventually accompany +them to Manila. Neither of these vessels was ever heard from again; it +is supposed that they went down after bravely defending themselves +against a Japanese cruiser. Their mission had meanwhile been rendered +useless, for the five mail-steamers had encountered the Japanese +torpedo-boats east of Mindanao three days before, and upon their +indignant refusal to haul down their flags and surrender, had been sunk +by several torpedoes. Only a few members of the crew had been fished up +by the Japanese. + +As a reward for his decisive action in destroying the _Kanga Maru_, the +commander of the _Mindoro_ was ordered to try, with the assistance of +three other gunboats, to locate the commander of the cruiser squadron +somewhere in the neighborhood of Mindanao, probably to the southwest of +that island, in order to notify him of the outbreak of the war and to +hand him the order to return to Manila. + +The gunboats started on their voyage at dawn. In order to conceal the +real reason for the expedition from the natives, it was openly declared +that they were only going to do sentry duty at the entrance to the Bay +of Manila. Each of the four vessels had been provided with a wireless +apparatus, which, however, was not to be installed until the ships were +under way, so that the four commanders might always be in touch with one +another, and with the cruiser squadron as well, even should the latter +be some distance away. + +The next morning the gunboats found themselves in the Strait of Mindoro. +They must have passed the enemy's line of blockade unnoticed, under the +cover of darkness. At all events, they had seen nothing of the Japanese, +and concluded that the blockade before Manila must be pretty slack. On +leaving the Strait of Mindoro, the gunboats, proceeding abreast at small +distances from one another, sighted a steamer--apparently an +Englishman--crossing their course. They tried to signal to it, but no +sooner did the English vessel observe this, than she began to increase +her speed. It became clear at once that she was faster than the +gunboats, and unless, therefore, the latter wished to engage in a +useless chase, the hope of receiving news from the English captain had +to be abandoned. So the gunboats continued on their course--the only +ships to be seen on the wide expanse of inland sea. + +In the afternoon a white steamer, going in the opposite direction, was +sighted. Opinions clashed as to whether it was a warship or a +merchant-vessel. In order to make certain the commander of the _Mindoro_ +ordered a turn to starboard, whereupon it was discovered that the +strange ship was an ocean-steamer of about three thousand tons, whose +nationality could not be distinguished at that distance. Still it might +be an auxiliary cruiser from the Japanese merchant service. The +commander of the _Mindoro_ therefore ordered his vessels to clear for +action. + +The actions of the strange steamer were followed with eager attention, +and it was seen that she continued her direct northward course. When she +was about five hundred yards to port of the _Mindoro_, the latter +requested the stranger to show her flag, whereupon the English flag +appeared at the stern. Eager for battle, the Americans had hoped she +would turn out to be a Japanese ship, for which, being four against one, +they would have been more than a match; the English colors therefore +produced universal disappointment. Suddenly one of the officers of the +_Mindoro_ drew Parrington's attention to the fact that the whole build +of the strange steamer characterized her as one of the ships of the +"Nippon Yusen Kaisha" with which he had become acquainted during his +service at Shanghai; he begged Parrington not to be deceived by the +English flag. The latter at once ordered a blank shot to be fired for +the purpose of stopping the strange vessel, but when the latter calmly +continued on her course, a ball was sent after her from the bow of the +_Mindoro_, the shell splashing into the water just ahead of the steamer. +The stranger now appeared to stop, but it was only to make a sharp turn +to starboard, whereupon he tried to escape at full speed. At the same +time the English flag disappeared from the stern, and was replaced by +the red sun banner of Nippon. + +Parrington at once opened fire on the hostile ship, and in a few minutes +the latter had to pay heavily for her carelessness. Her commander had +evidently reckoned upon the fact that the Americans were not yet aware +of the outbreak of war, and had hoped to pass the gunboats under cover +of a neutral flag. It also seemed unlikely that four little gunboats +should have run the blockade before Manila; it was far more natural to +suppose that these ships, still ignorant of the true state of affairs, +were bound on some expedition in connection with the rising of the +natives. The firing had scarcely lasted ten minutes before the Japanese +auxiliary cruiser, which had answered with a few shots from two light +guns cleverly concealed behind the deck-house near the stern of the +boat, sank stern first. It was at any rate a slight victory which +greatly raised the spirits of the crews of the gunboats. + +Within the next few hours the Americans caught up with a few Malayan +sailing ships, to which they paid no attention; later on a little black +freight steamer, apparently on the way from Borneo to Manila, came in +sight. The little vessel worked its way heavily through the water, +tossed about by the ever increasing swell. About three o'clock the +strange ship was near enough for its flag--that of Holland--to be +recognized. Signals were made asking her to bring to, whereupon an +officer from the _Mindoro_ was pulled over to her in a gig. Half an hour +later he left the _Rotterdam_, and the latter turned and steamed away in +the direction from which she had come. The American officer had informed +the captain of the _Rotterdam_ of the blockade of Manila, and the latter +had at once abandoned the idea of touching at that port. + +The news which he had to impart gave cause for considerable anxiety. The +_Rotterdam_ came from the harbor of Labuan, where pretty definite news +had been received concerning a battle between some Japanese ships and +the American cruiser squadron stationed at Mindanao. It was reported +that the battle had taken place about five days ago, immediately after +war had been declared, that the American ships had fallen a prey to the +superior forces of the enemy, and that the entire American squadron had +been destroyed. + +At all events, it was quite clear that the squadron no longer needed to +be informed of the outbreak of hostilities, so Parrington decided to +carry out his orders and return to Manila with his four ships. As the +flotilla toward evening, just before sunset, was again passing through +the Strait of Mindoro, the last gunboat reported that a big white ship, +apparently a war vessel, had been sighted coming from the southeast, and +that it was heading for the flotilla at full speed. It was soon possible +to distinguish a white steamer, standing high out of the water, whose +fighting tops left no room for doubt as to its warlike character. It was +soon ascertained that the steamer was making about fifteen knots, and +that escape was therefore impossible. + +Parrington ordered his gunboats to form in a line and to get up full +steam, as it was just possible that they might be able to elude the +enemy under cover of darkness, although there was still a whole hour to +that time. + +Slowly the hull of the hostile ship rose above the horizon, and when she +was still at a distance of about four thousand yards there was a flash +at her bows, and the thunder of a shot boomed across the waters, echoed +faintly from the mountains of Mindoro. + +"They're too far away," said Parrington, as the enemy's shell splashed +into the waves far ahead of the line of gunboats. A second shot followed +a few minutes later, and whizzed between the _Mindoro_ and her neighbor, +throwing up white sprays of water whose drops, in the rays of the +setting sun, fell back into the sea like golden mist. And now came shot +after shot, while the Americans were unable to answer with their small +guns at that great distance. + +Suddenly a shell swept the whole length of the _Mindoro's_ deck, on the +port side, tearing up the planks of the foredeck as it burst. Things +were getting serious! Slowly the sun sank in the west, turning the sky +into one huge red flame, streaked with yellow lights and deep green +patches. The clouds, which looked like spots of black velvet floating +above the semicircle of the sun, had jagged edges of gleaming white and +unearthly ruby red. Fiery red, yellow, and green reflections played +tremblingly over the water, while in the east the deep blue shadows of +night slowly overspread the sky. + +The whole formed a picture of rare coloring: the four little American +ships, pushing forward with all the strength of their puffing engines +and throwing up a white line of foam before them with their sharp bows; +on the bridges the weather-beaten forms of their commanders, and beside +the dull-brown gun muzzles the gun crews, waiting impatiently for the +moment when the decreasing distance would at last allow them to use +their weapons; far away in the blue shadows of the departing day, like a +spirit of the sea, the white steamer, from whose sides poured +unceasingly the yellow flashes from the mouths of the cannon. Several +shots had caused a good deal of damage among the rigging of the +gunboats. The _Callao_ had only half a funnel left, from which +gray-brown smoke and red sparks poured forth. + +Suddenly there was a loud explosion, and the _Callao_ listed to port. A +six-inch shell had hit her squarely in the stern, passing through the +middle of the ship, and exploded in the upper part of the engine-room. +The little gunboat was eliminated from the contest before it could fire +a single shot, and now it lay broadside to the enemy, and utterly at the +latter's mercy. In a few minutes the _Callao_ sank, her flags waving. +Almost directly afterwards another boat shared her fate. The other two +gunboats continued on their course, the quickly descending darkness +making them a more difficult target for the enemy. Suddenly a lantern +signal informed the commander of the _Mindoro_ that the third ship had +become disabled through some damage to the engines. Parrington at once +ordered the gunboat to be run ashore on the island of Mindoro and blown +up during the night. Then he was compelled to leave the last of his +comrades to its fate. His wireless apparatus had felt disturbances, +evidently caused by the enemy's warning to the ships blockading Manila, +so that his chances of entering the harbor unmolested appeared +exceedingly slim. + +The Japanese cruiser ceased firing as it grew darker, but curiously +enough had made no use whatever of her searchlights. Only the flying +sparks from her funnel enabled the _Mindoro_ to follow the course of the +hostile vessel, which soon passed the gunboat. Either the enemy thought +that all four American ships had been destroyed or else they didn't +think it worth while to worry about a disabled little gunboat. At all +events, this carelessness or mistake on the part of the enemy proved the +salvation of the _Mindoro_. During the night she struck a northwesterly +course, so as to try to gain an entrance to the Bay of Manila from the +north at daybreak, depending on the batteries of Corregidor to assist +her in the attempt. Once during the night the _Mindoro_ almost collided +with one of the enemy's blockading ships, which was traveling with +shaded lights, but she passed by unnoticed and gained an entrance at the +north of the bay at dawn, while the batteries on the high, rocky +terraces of Corregidor, with their long-range guns, kept the enemy at a +distance. It was now ascertained that the Japanese blockading fleet +consisted only of ships belonging to the merchant service, armed with a +few guns, and of the old, unprotected cruiser _Takatshio_, which had had +the encounter with the gunboats. The bold expedition of the latter had +cleared up the situation in so far that it was now pretty certain that +the entire American cruiser squadron had been destroyed or disabled, and +that Manila was therefore entirely cut off from the sea. + +The batteries at Corregidor now expected an attack from the enemy's +ships, but none came. The Japanese contented themselves with an +extraordinarily slack blockade--so much so that at times one could +scarcely distinguish the outlines of the ships on the horizon. As all +commerce had stopped and only a few gunboats comprised the entire naval +strength of Manila, Japan could well afford to regard this mockery of a +blockade as perfectly sufficient. Day by day the Americans stood at +their guns, day by day they expected the appearance of a hostile ship; +but the horizon remained undisturbed and an uncanny silence lay over the +town and harbor. Of what use were the best of guns, and what was the +good of possessing heroic courage and a burning desire for battle, if +the enemy did not put in an appearance? And he never did. + +When Parrington appeared at the Club on the evening after his scouting +expedition he was hailed as a hero, and the officers stayed together a +long time discussing the naval engagement. In the early hours of the +morning he accompanied his friend, Colonel Hawkins of the Twelfth +Infantry Regiment, through the quiet streets of the northern suburbs of +Manila to the latter's barracks. As they reached the gate they saw, +standing before it in the pale light of dawn, a mule cart, on which lay +an enormous barrel. The colonel called the sentry, and learned that the +cart had been standing before the gate since the preceding evening. The +colonel went into the guard-room while Parrington remained in the +street. He was suddenly struck by a label affixed to the cask, which +contained the words, "From Colonel Pemberton to his friend Colonel +Hawkins." Parrington followed the colonel into the guard-room and drew +his attention to the scrap of paper. Hawkins ordered some soldiers to +take the barrel down from the car and break open one end of it. The +colonel had strong nerves, and was apt to boast of them to the novices +in the colonial service, but what he saw now was too much even for such +an old veteran. He stepped back and seized the wall for support, while +his eyes grew moist. + +In the cask lay the corpse of his friend Colonel Pemberton, formerly +commander of the military station of San José, with his skull smashed +in. The Filipinos had surprised the station of San José and slaughtered +the whole garrison after a short battle. Pemberton's corpse--his love +for whisky was well known--they had put into a cask and driven to the +infantry barracks at Manila. Parrington, deeply touched, pressed his +comrade's hand. The insurrection of the Filipinos! In Manila the bells +of the Dominican church of _Intra muros_ rang out their monotonous call +to early mass. + + + + +_Chapter II_ + +ON THE HIGH SEAS + + +The _Tacoma_ was expected to arrive at Yokohama early the next morning; +the gong had already sounded, calling the passengers to the farewell +meal in the dining-saloon, which looked quite festive with its colored +flags and lanterns. + +There was a deafening noise of voices in the handsome room, which was +beginning to be overpoweringly hot in spite of the ever-revolving +electric fans. As the sea was quite smooth, there was scarcely an empty +place at the tables. A spirit of parting and farewell pervaded the +conversation; the passengers were assembled for the last time, for on +the morrow the merry party, which chance had brought together for two +weeks, would be scattered to the four winds. Naturally the conversation +turned upon the country whose celebrated wonders they were to behold on +the following day. The old globe-trotters and several merchants who had +settled in East Asia were besieged with questions, occasionally very +naïve ones, about Japan and the best way for foreigners to get along +there. With calm superiority they paraded their knowledge, and eager +ladies made note on the backs of their menus of all the hotels, temples, +and mountains recommended to them. Some groups were making arrangements +for joint excursions in the Island Kingdom of Tenno; others discussed +questions of finance and commerce, each one trying to impress his +companions by a display of superior knowledge. + +Here and there politics formed the subject of conversation; one lady in +particular, the wife of a Baltimore merchant, sitting opposite the +secretary of a small European legation who was on his way to Pekin to +take up his duties there, plied him with questions and did her level +best to get at the secrets of international politics. The secretary, who +had no wonderful secrets to disclose, had recourse to the ordinary +political topics of the day, and entertained his fair listener with a +discussion of the problems that would arise in case of hostilities +between America and Japan. "Of course," he declared, vaunting his +diplomatic knowledge, "in case of war the Japanese would first surprise +Manila and try to effect a landing, and in this they would very likely +be successful. It is true that Manila with her strong defenses is pretty +well protected against a sudden raid, and the Japanese gunners would +have no easy task in an encounter with the American coast batteries. +Even though Manila may not turn out to be a second Port Arthur, the +Americans should experience no difficulty in repelling all Japanese +attacks for at least six months; meanwhile America could send +reinforcements to Manila under the protection of her fleet, and then +there would probably be a decisive battle somewhere in the Malayan +archipelago between the Japanese and American fleets, the results of +which----" + +"I thought," interrupted a wealthy young lady from Chicago, "I thought +we had some ships in the Philippines." The diplomat waved his hand +deprecatingly, and smiled knowingly at this interruption. He was master +of the situation and well qualified to cast the horoscope of the +future--and so he was left in possession of the field. + +The lady opposite him was, however, not yet satisfied; with the new +wisdom just obtained she now besieged the German major sitting beside +her, who was on his way to Kiao-chau via San Francisco. He had not been +paying much attention to the conversation, but the subject broached to +him for discussion was such a familiar one, that he was at once posted +when his neighbor asked him his opinion as to the outcome of such a war. + +Nevertheless it was an awkward question, and the German, out of +consideration for his environment on board the American steamer, did not +allow himself to be drawn out of his usual reserve. He simply inquired +what basis they had for the supposition that, in case of war, Japan +would occupy herself exclusively with the Philippines. + +The secretary of legation had gradually descended from the clouds of +diplomatic self-conceit to the level of the ordinary mortal and, +overhearing the major's question through the confusion of voices and +clatter of plates, shook his head disapprovingly and asked the major: +"Don't you think it's likely that Japan will try first of all to get +possession of the prize she has been longing for ever since the Peace of +Paris?" + +"I know as little as anyone else not in diplomatic circles what the +plans and hopes of the Japanese Government are, but I do think there is +not the slightest prospect of an outbreak of hostilities in the near +future; there is, accordingly, not much sense in trying to imagine what +might happen in case of a war," answered the German coolly. + +"There are only two possibilities," said the English merchant from +Shanghai, one of the chief stockholders of the line, who sat next to the +captain. "According to my experience"--and here he paused in order to +draw the attention of his listeners to this experience--"according to my +experience," he repeated, "there are only two possibilities. Japan is +overpeopled and is compelled to send her surplus population out of the +country. The Manchuria experiment turned cut to be a failure, for the +teeming Chinese population leaves no room now for more Japanese +emigrants and small tradesmen than there were before the war with +Russia; besides, there was no capital at hand for large enterprises. +Japan requires a strong foothold for her emigrants where"--and here he +threw an encouraging glance at the captain--"she can keep her people +together economically and politically, as in Hawaii. The emigration to +the States has for years been severely restricted by law." + +"And at the same time they are pouring into our country in droves by way +of the Mexican frontier," mumbled the American colonel, who was on his +way back to his post, from his seat beside the captain. + +"That leaves only the islands of the Pacific, the Philippines, and +perhaps Australia," continued the Shanghai merchant undisturbed. "In any +such endeavors Japan would of course have to reckon with the States and +with England. The other possibility, that of providing employment and +support for the ever-increasing population within the borders of their +own country, would be to organize large Japanese manufacturing +interests. Many efforts have already been made in this direction, but, +owing to the enormous sums swallowed up by the army and navy, the +requisite capital seems to be lacking." + +"In my opinion," interposed the captain at this juncture, "there is a +third possibility--namely, to render additional land available for the +cultivation of crops. As you are all no doubt aware, not more than one +third of Japan is under cultivation; the second third, consisting of +stone deserts among the mountains, must of necessity be excluded, but +the remaining third, properly cultivated, would provide a livelihood +for millions of Japanese peasants. But right here we encounter a +peculiar Japanese trait; they are dead set on the growth of rice, and +where, in the higher districts, no rice will grow, they refuse to engage +in agriculture altogether and prefer to leave the land idle. If they +would grow wheat, corn, and grass in such sections, Japan would not only +become independent of other countries with respect to her importation of +provisions, but, as I said before, it would also provide for the +settlement of millions of Japanese peasants; and, furthermore, we should +then get some decent bread to eat in Japan." + +This conception of the Japanese problem seemed to open new vistas to the +secretary of legation. He listened attentively to the captain's words +and threw inquiring glances toward the Shanghai merchant. The latter, +however, was completely absorbed in the dissection of a fish, whose +numerous bones continually presented fresh anatomical riddles. In his +stead the thread of the conversation was taken up by Dr. Morris, of +Brighton, an unusually cadaverous-looking individual, who sometimes +maintained absolute silence for days at a time, and who was supposed to +possess Japanese bronzes of untold value and to be on his way to +Hokkaido to complete his collection. + +"You must not believe everything you see in the papers," he said. "If +the Japanese were only better farmers, nobody in Japan need go hungry; +there is no question of her being overpeopled, and this mania for +emigration is nothing but a disease, a fashion, of which the government +at Tokio, to be sure, makes very good use for political purposes. +Whoever speaks in all seriousness of Japan's being overpeopled is merely +quoting newspaper editorials, and is not acquainted with the conditions +of the country." + +Dr. Morris had scarcely said as much as this during the whole of his +two weeks' stay on board the _Tacoma_. It is true that he had got to +know Japan very thoroughly during his many years' sojourn in the +interior in search of old bronzes, and he knew what he was talking +about. His views, however, were not in accord with those current at the +moment, and consequently, although his words were listened to +attentively, they did not produce much effect. + +The conversation continued along the same lines, and the possibility of +a war again came up for discussion. The German officer was the only one +to whom they could put military questions, and it was no light task for +him to find satisfactory answers. He could only repeat again and again +that such a war would offer such endless possibilities of attack and +defense, that it was absolutely impossible to forecast the probable +course of events. The Shanghai merchant conversed with the captain in a +low tone of voice about the system of Japanese spies in America, and +related a few anecdotes of his experiences in China in this connection. + +"But one can distinguish between a Jap and a Chinaman at a glance," +interrupted the son of a New York multi-millionaire sitting opposite +him. "I could never understand why the Japanese spies are so overrated." + +"If you can tell one from the other, you are more observant than the +ordinary mortal," remarked the Englishman dryly. "I can't for one, and +if you'll look me up in Shanghai, I'll give myself the pleasure of +putting you to the test. I'll invite a party of Chinamen and ask you to +pick out from among them a Japanese naval officer who has been in +Shanghai for a year and a half on a secret, I had better say, a +perfectly open mission." + +"You'll lose your bet," said the captain to the New Yorker, "for I've +lost a similar wager under the same circumstances." + +"But the Japanese don't wear pigtails," said the New Yorker, somewhat +abashed. + +"Those Japanese do wear pigtails," said the Englishman with a grin. + +"What's up?" said the captain, looking involuntarily towards the +entrance to the dining-saloon. "What's up? We're only going at half +speed." + +The dull throbbing of the engine had indeed stopped, and any one who +noticed the vibration of the ship could tell that the propeller was +revolving only slightly. + +The captain got up quietly to go on deck, but as he was making his way +out between the long rows of chairs, he met one of the crew, who +whispered to him that the first mate begged him to come on the bridge. + +"We're not moving," said some one near the center of the table. "We +can't have arrived this soon." + +"Perhaps we have met a disabled ship," said a young French girl; "that +would be awfully interesting." + +The captain remained away, while the dinner continued to be served. +Suddenly all conversation was stopped by the dull howl of the steam +whistle, and when two more calls followed the first, an old globe +trotter thought he had discovered the reason for the ship's slowing +down, and declared with certainty: "This is the third time on my way to +Japan that we have run into a fog just before entering the harbor; the +last time it made us a day and a half late. I tell you it was no joke to +sit in that gray mist with nothing to do but wait for the fog to +lift----" and then he narrated a few anecdotes about that particular +voyage, which at once introduced the subject of fog at his table, a +subject that was greedily pounced upon by all. London fog and other fogs +were discussed, and no one noticed that the ship had come to a full stop +and was gradually beginning to pitch heavily, a motion that soon had +the effect of causing several of the ladies to abandon the conversation +and play nervously with their coffee-spoons, as the nightmare of +seasickness forced itself every moment more disagreeably on their +memories. + +A few of the men got up and went on deck. A merchant from San Francisco +came down and told his wife that a strange ship not far from the +_Tacoma_ had its searchlights turned on her. No reason for this +extraordinary proceeding could be given, as the officers seemed to know +as little about it as the passengers. + +The fourth officer, whose place was at the head of one of the long +tables, now appeared in the dining-saloon, and was at once besieged with +questions from all sides. In a loud voice he announced that the captain +wished him to say that there was no cause for alarm. A strange ship had +its searchlights turned on the _Tacoma_, probably a man-of-war that had +some communication to make. The captain begged the passengers not to +allow themselves to be disturbed in their dinner. The next course was +served immediately afterwards, the reason for the interruption was soon +forgotten, and conversation continued as before. + +"But we're not moving yet," said a young woman about ten minutes later +to her husband, with whom she was taking a honeymoon trip round the +world, "we're not moving yet." + +The fourth officer gave an evasive answer in order to reassure his +neighbor, but, as a matter of fact, the ship had not yet got under way +again. To complicate the situation, another member of the crew came in +at this moment and whispered something to the officer, who at once +hurried on deck. + +It was a positive relief to him to escape from the smell of food and the +loud voices into the fresh air. It seemed like another world on deck. +The stars twinkled in the silent sky, and the soft night air refreshed +the nerves that had been exhausted by the heat of the day. The fourth +officer mounted quickly to the bridge and reported to the captain. + +The latter gave him the following brief order: "Mr. Warren, I shall ask +you to see that the passengers are not unnecessarily alarmed; let the +band play a few pieces, and see that the dinner proceeds quietly. Make a +short speech in my stead, tell the passengers what a pleasant time we +have all had on this voyage, and say a few words of farewell to them for +me. We've been signaled by a Japanese warship," he continued, "and asked +to stop and wait for a Japanese boat. I haven't the slightest idea what +the fellows want, but we must obey orders; the matter will no doubt be +settled in a few minutes as soon as the boat has arrived." + +The officer disappeared, and the captain, standing by the port yardarm +on the bridge, waited anxiously for the cutter which was approaching at +full speed. The gangway had already been lowered. The cutter, after +describing a sharp curve, came alongside, and two marines armed with +rifles immediately jumped on the gangway. + +"Halloo," said the captain, "a double guard! I wonder what that means?" + +The Japanese officer got out of the cutter and came up the gangway, +followed by four more soldiers, two of whom were posted at the upper +entrance to the gangway. The other two followed the officer to the +bridge. A seventh man got out of the boat and carried a square box on +the bridge, while finally two soldiers brought a long heavy object up +the gangway and set it down against the wall of the cabin in the stern. + +The Japanese officer ordered the two marines to take up their stand at +the foot of the steps leading to the bridge, and with a wave of his hand +ordered the third to station himself with his square box at the port +railing. At the same time he gave him an order in Japanese, and the +rattling noise which followed made it clear that the apparatus was a +lantern which was signaling across to the man-of-war. + +"This is carrying the joke a little too far. What does it all mean?" +cried the captain of the _Tacoma_, starting to pull the man with the +lantern back from the railing. But the Japanese officer laid his hand +firmly on his right arm and said in a decisive tone: "Captain, in the +name of the Japanese Government I declare the American steamer _Tacoma_ +a lawful prize and her whole crew prisoners of war." + +The captain shook off the grasp of the Japanese, and stepping back a +pace shouted: "You must be crazy; we have nothing to do with the +Japanese naval maneuvers, and I shall have to ask you not to carry your +maneuver game too far. If you must have naval maneuvers, please practice +on your own merchant vessels and leave neutral ships alone." + +The Japanese saluted and said: "I am very sorry, captain, to have to +correct your impression that this is part of our maneuvers. Japan is at +war with the United States of America, and every merchantman flying the +American flag is from now on a lawful prize." + +The captain, a strapping fellow, seized the little Japanese, and pushed +him toward the railing, evidently with the intention of throwing the +impertinent fellow overboard. But in the same instant he noticed two +Japanese rifles pointed at him, whereupon he let his arms drop with an +oath and stared at the two Japanese marines in utter astonishment. The +lantern signal continued to rattle behind him, and suddenly the pale +blue searchlight from the man-of-war was thrown on the bridge of the +_Tacoma_, lighting up the strange scene as if by moonlight. At the same +time the shot from a gun boomed across the quiet surface of the water. +Things really seemed to be getting serious. + +From below, through the open skylights of the dining-saloon came the +cheers of the passengers for the captain at the close of the fourth +officer's speech, and the band at once struck up the "Star Spangled +Banner." Everybody seemed to be cheerful and happy in the dining-saloon, +and one and all seemed to have forgotten that the _Tacoma_ was not +moving. + +And while from below the inspiring strains of the "Star Spangled Banner" +passed out into the night, twenty Japanese marines came alongside in a +second cutter and, climbing up the gangway, occupied all the entrances +leading from below to the deck--a double guard with loaded guns being +stationed at each door. + +"I must ask you," said the Japanese officer to the captain, "to continue +to direct the ship's course under my supervision. You will take the +_Tacoma_, according to your original plans, into the harbor of Yokohama; +there the passengers will leave the ship, without any explanations being +offered, and you and the crew will be prisoners of the Japanese +Government. The prize-court will decide what is to be done with your +cargo. The baggage of the passengers, the captain, and the crew will, of +course, remain in their possession. There are now twenty of our marines +on board the _Tacoma_, but in case you should imagine that they would be +unable to command the situation in the event of any resistance being +offered by you or your crew, I consider it advisable to inform you that +for the last ten minutes there has been a powerful bomb in the stern of +the _Tacoma_, guarded by two men, who have orders to turn on the current +and blow up your ship at the first signs of serious resistance. It is +entirely to the advantage of the passengers in your care to bow to the +inevitable and avoid all insubordination--_à la guerre comme à la +guerre_." + +The Japanese saluted and continued: "You will remain in command on the +bridge for the next four hours, when you will be relieved by the first +mate. Meanwhile the latter can acquaint the passengers with the altered +circumstances." And, waving his hand toward the first mate, who had +listened in silent rage, he added: "Please, sir!" + +The officer addressed looked inquiringly across to the captain, who +hesitated a moment and then said in suppressed emotion: "Hardy, go down +and tell the passengers that the _Tacoma_, through an unheard-of, +treacherous surprise, has fallen into the hands of a Japanese cruiser, +but that the passengers, on whose account we are obliged to submit to +this treatment, need not be startled, for they and all their possessions +will be landed safely at Yokohama to-morrow morning." + +Hardy's soles seemed positively to stick to the steps as he went down, +and he was almost overcome by the warm air at the entrance to the +dining-saloon, where the noise of boisterous laughter and lively +conversation greeted him. + +"Halloo, when are we going on?" he was asked from all sides. + +Mr. Hardy shook his head silently and went to the captain's place. + +"We must drink your health," called several, holding their glasses +towards him. "Where's the captain?" + +Hardy was silent, but remained standing and the words seemed to choke +him. + +"Be quiet! Listen! Mr. Hardy is going to speak----" + +"It's high time we heard something from the captain," called out a stout +German brewer from Milwaukee over the heads of the others. "Three +cheers for Mr. Hardy!" came from one corner of the room. "Three cheers +for Mr. Hardy!" shouted the passengers on the other side, and all joined +in the chorus: "For he is a jolly good fellow." "Do let Mr. Hardy +speak," said the Secretary of Legation, turning to the passengers +reprovingly. + +"Silence!" came from the other side. The hum of voices ceased gradually +and silence ensued. + +"First give Mr. Hardy something to drink!" said some one, while another +passenger laughed out loud. + +Hardy wiped the perspiration from his brow with the captain's napkin, +which the latter had left on his plate. + +"Shocking!" said an English lady quite distinctly; "seamen haven't any +manners." + +Hardy had not yet found words, but finally began in a low, stammering +voice: "The captain wishes me to tell you that the _Tacoma_ has just +been captured by a Japanese cruiser. The United States of America are +said to be at war with Japan. There is a Japanese guard on board, which +has occupied all the companionways. The captain requests the passengers +to submit quietly to the inevitable. You will all be landed safely at +Yokohama early to-morrow and--" Hardy tried to continue, but the words +would not come and he sank back exhausted into his chair. + +"Three cheers for the captain!" came the ringing shout from one of the +end tables, to be repeated in different parts of the room. The German +brewer shook with laughter and exclaimed: "That's a splendid joke of the +captain's; he ought to have a medal for it." + +"Stop your nonsense," said some one to the brewer. + +"No, but really, that's a famous joke," persisted the latter. "I've +never enjoyed myself so much on a trip before." + +"Be quiet, man; it's a serious matter." + +"Ha! ha! You've been taken in, too, have you?" was the answer, +accompanied by a roar of laughter. + +An American jumped up, crying: "I'm going to get my revolver; I guess we +can handle those chaps," and several others joined in with "Yes, yes, +we'll get our revolvers and chuck the yellow monkeys overboard!" + +At this point the German major jumped up from his seat and called out to +the excited company in a sharp tone of command: "Really, gentlemen, the +affair is serious; it's not a joke, as some of you gentlemen seem to +think; you may take my word for it that it is no laughing matter." + +Hardy still sat silent in his chair. The Englishman from Shanghai +overwhelmed him with questions and even the Secretary of Legation +emerged from his diplomatic reserve. + +The six men who had gone to get their revolvers now returned to the +dining-saloon with their spirits considerably damped, and one of them +called out: "It's not a joke at all; the Japanese are stationed up there +with loaded rifles." + +Some of the ladies screamed hysterically and asked complete strangers to +take them to their cabins. All of the passengers had jumped up from +their chairs, and a number were busily engaged looking after those +ladies who had shown sufficient discretion to withdraw at once from the +general excitement by the simple expedient of fainting. In the meantime +Hardy had regained control of himself and of the situation, and standing +behind his chair as though he were on the captain's bridge declared +simply and decisively: "On the captain's behalf I must beg the +passengers not to attempt any resistance. Your life and safety are +guaranteed by the word of the captain and the bearing of our crew, who +have also been forced to submit to the inevitable. I beg you all to +remain here and to await the further orders of the captain. There is no +danger so long as no resistance is offered; we are in the hands of the +Japanese navy, and must accustom ourselves to the altered +circumstances." + +It was long after midnight before all grew quiet on board the _Tacoma_; +the passengers were busy packing their trunks, and it was quite late +before the cabin lights were extinguished on both sides of the ship, +which continued her voyage quietly and majestically in the direction of +Yokohama. The deck, generally a scene of cheerful life and gaiety until +a late hour, was empty, and only the subdued steps of the Japanese +marines echoed through the still night. + +Twice more the searchlights were thrown on the _Tacoma_, but a +clattering answer from the signal lantern at once conveyed the +information that all was in order, whereupon the glaring ball of light +disappeared silently, and there was nothing on the whole expanse of dark +water to indicate that invisible eyes were on the lookout for every ship +whose keel was ploughing the deep. + +The _Tacoma_ arrived at Yokohama the next morning, the passengers were +sent ashore, and the steamer herself was added as an auxiliary cruiser +to the Japanese fleet. + + + + +_Chapter III_ + +HOW IT BEGAN + + +Ding-ding-ding-ding--Ding-ding-ding-ding--went the bell of the railway +telegraph--Ding-ding-ding-ding---- + +Tom Gardner looked up from his work and leaned his ax against the wall +of the low tin-roofed shanty which represented both his home and the +station Swallowtown on the Oregon Railway. "Nine o'clock already," he +mumbled, and refilling his pipe from a greasy paper-bag, he lighted it +and puffed out clouds of bluish smoke into the clear air of the hot May +morning. Then he looked at the position of the sun and verified the fact +that his nickel watch had stopped again. The shaky little house hung +like a chance knot in an endless wire in the middle of the glittering +double row of rails that stretched from east to west across the flowery +prairie. It looked like a ridiculous freak in the midst of the wide +desert, for nowhere, so far as the eye could reach, was it possible to +discover a plausible excuse for the washed-out inscription "Swallowtown" +on the old box-lid which was nailed up over the door. Only a broad band +of golden-yellow flowers crossing the tracks not far from the shanty and +disappearing in the distance in both directions showed where heavy +cart-wheels and horses' hoofs had torn up the ground. + +By following this curious yellow track, which testified to the existence +of human intercourse even in the great lonely prairie, in a southerly +direction, one could notice about a mile from the station a slight +rising of the ground covered with low shrubs and a tangled mass of +thistles and creepers: This was Swallowtown No. 1, the spot where once +upon a time a dozen people or more, thrown together by chance, had +founded a homestead, but whose traces had been utterly obliterated +since. The little waves of the great national migration to this virgin +soil had after a few years washed everything away and had carried the +inhabitants of the huts with them on their backs several miles farther +south, where by another mere chance they had located on the banks of the +river. The only permanent sign of this ebb and flow was the tin-roofed +shanty near the tracks of the Oregon Railway, and the proud name of +Swallowtown, fast disappearing under the ravages of storm and rain, on +the box-lid over Tom Gardner's door. + +Tom Gardner regarded his morning's work complacently. With the aid of +his ax he had transformed the tree-stump that had lain behind the +station for years into a hitching-post, which he was going to set up for +the farmers, so that they could tie their horses to it when they came to +the station. Tom had had enough of fastening the iron ring into the +outer wall of his shanty, for it had been torn out four times by the +shying of the wild horses harnessed to the vehicles sent from +Swallowtown to meet passengers. And the day before yesterday Bob +Cratchit's horses had added insult to injury by running off with a board +out of the back wall. Tom was sick and tired of it; the day before he +had temporarily stopped up the hole with a tin advertisement, which +notified the inhabitants of Swallowtown who wanted to take the train +that Millner's pills were the best remedy for indigestion. Tom decided +to set up his post at midday. + +He stopped work for the present in order to be ready for station-duty +when the express from Pendleton passed through in half an hour. From +force of habit and half unconsciously, he glanced along the yellow road +running south, wondering whether in spite of its being Sunday there +might not be some traveler from Swallowtown coming to catch the local +train which stopped at the station an hour later. He shaded his eyes +with his right hand and after a careful search did discover a cart with +two persons in it approaching slowly over the waving expanse of the +flower-bedecked prairie. Tom muttered something to himself and traipsed +through the station house, being joined as usual by his dog, who had +been sleeping outside in the sun. Then he walked a little way along the +tracks and finally turned back to his dwelling, the trampled-down +flowers and grass before the entrance being the only signs that the foot +of man ever disturbed its solitary peace. The dog now seemed suddenly to +become aware of the rapidly approaching cart and barked in that +direction. Tom sent him into the house and shut the door behind him, +whereupon the dog grew frantic. The cart approached almost noiselessly +over the flowery carpet, but soon the creaking and squeaking of the +leather harness and the snorting of the horses became clearly audible. + +"Halloo, Tom!" called out one of the men. + +"Halloo, Winston!" was the answer; "where are you off to?" + +"Going over to Pendleton." + +"You're early; the express hasn't passed yet," answered Tom. + +Winston jumped down from the cart, swung a sack over his shoulder, and +stepped toward the shanty. + +"Who's that with you?" asked Tom, pointing with his thumb over his right +shoulder. + +"Nelly's brother-in-law, Bill Parker," said the other shortly. + +Nelly's brother-in-law was in the act of turning the cart round to drive +back to Swallowtown when Tom, making a megaphone of his hands, shouted +across: "Won't the gentleman do me the honor of having a drink on me?" + +"All right," rang out the answer, and Nelly's brother-in-law drove the +horses to the rear of the station. + +"Yes, the ring's gone," said Tom. "Bob Cratchit's horses walked off with +it yesterday. You can hunt for it out there somewhere if you want to." + +Bill jumped down and fastened the horses with a rope which he tied to +Tom's old tree-stump. + +"Come on, fellows!" said Tom, going toward the house. Scarcely had he +opened the door when his dog rushed madly past him out into the open, +barking with all his might at something about a hundred yards behind the +station. + +"I guess he's found a gopher," said Tom, and then the three entered the +hut, and Tom, taking a half-empty whisky bottle out of a cupboard, +poured some into a cup without a handle, a shaving-cup, and an old tin +cup. + +"The express ought to pass in about ten minutes," said Tom, and then +began the usual chat about the commonplaces of farm life, about the +crops, and the price of cattle, while hunting anecdotes followed. Now +and then Tom listened through the open door for sounds of the express, +which was long overdue, till suddenly the back door was slammed shut by +the wind. + +It was Bill Parker's turn to treat, and he then told of how he had sold +his foals at a good profit, and Bob launched out into all sorts of vague +hints as to a big deal that he expected to pull off at Pendleton the +next day. Bill kept an eye on his two horses, which he could just see +through the window in the rear wall of the shanty. + +"Don't let them run away from you," warned Tom; "horses as fresh as +those generally skip off when the express passes by." + +"Nothing like that!" said Bill Parker, glancing again through the open +window, "but they are unusually restless just the same." + +... "He was willing to give twenty dollars, was he?" asked Tom, resuming +the former conversation. + +But Bill gave no answer and continued to stare out of the window. + +"Here's how, gentlemen!" cried Tom encouragingly, touching Bill's tin +cup with his shaving-cup. + +"Excuse me a minute," answered the latter; "I want to look after my--" +He had got up and was moving toward the door, but stopped halfway, +staring fixedly at the open window with a glassy expression in his eyes. +The other two regarded him with unfeigned astonishment, but when they +followed the direction of his glance, they also started with fright as +they looked through the window. + +Yes, it was the same window as before, and beyond it stood the same team +of stamping, snorting horses before the same cart; but on the ledge of +the window there rested two objects like black, bristling hedgehogs, and +under their prickly skins glistened two pairs of hostile eyes, and +slowly and cautiously two gun-barrels were pushed over the ledge of the +window into the room. At the same moment the door-knob moved, the door +was pushed open, and in the blinding sunlight which suddenly poured into +the room appeared two more men in khaki clothes and also armed with +guns. "Hands up, gentlemen!" cried one of them threateningly. + +The three obeyed the order mechanically, Tom unconsciously holding up +his shaving-cup as well, so that the good whisky flowed down his arm +into his coat. He looked utterly foolish. Bill was the first to +recover, and inquired with apparent nonchalance: "What are you gentlemen +after?" In the meantime he had noticed that the two men at the door wore +soldiers' caps with broad peaks, and he construed this as a new holdup +trick. + +The men outside were conversing in an unintelligible lingo, and their +leader, who was armed only with a Browning pistol, looked into the hut +and asked: "Which of you gentlemen is the station-master?" Tom lowered +his shaving-cup and took a step forward, whereupon he was at once halted +by the sharp command: "Hands up!" + +But this one step toward the door had enabled Tom to see that there were +at least a dozen of these brown fellows standing behind the wall of his +shanty. At the same time he saw his dog slinking about outside with his +tail between his legs and choking over something. He called the dog, and +the poor creature crept along the ground toward him, evidently making +vain attempts to bark. + +"The damned gang," growled Tom to himself; "they have evidently given +the poor beast something to eat which prevents his barking." + +The man with the Browning pistol now turned to Tom and said: "Has the +express passed yet?" + +"No." + +"No? I thought it was due at 9.30." The highwayman looked at his watch. +"Past ten already," he said to himself. "And when is the local train +from Umatilla expected?" + +"It ought to be here at 10.30." + +"The express goes through without stopping, doesn't it?" began the other +again. "Good! Now you go out as if nothing had happened and let the +express pass! The other two will remain here in the meantime and my men +will see that they don't stir. One move and you can arrange your funeral +for to-morrow." + +The two bristly-headed chaps at the window remained motionless, and +followed the proceedings with a broad grin. The two men from Swallowtown +were compelled to stand with uplifted hands against the wall opposite +the window, so that the gun-barrels on the window-sill were pointing +straight at them. Winston had had sufficient time to study the two +highwaymen at the window and it gradually dawned upon him what sort of +robbers they were; in a low tone of voice he said to Tom: "They're +Japs." + +The man with the Browning overheard the remark; he turned around quickly +and repeated in a determined voice: "If you move you'll die on the +spot." + +Then he allowed Tom to leave the station, and showed him how two of his +men opened the shutters of the windows that looked out on the tracks and +cut two oblong holes in them down on the side, through which they stuck +the barrels of their guns. Then Bill's cart was pushed forward, so that +only the horses were hidden by the station. One of the men held the +horses to prevent their running away when the train came, and two armed +men climbed into the cart and kneeled ready to shoot, concealing +themselves from the railroad side behind two large bags of corn. +Thereupon the leader told Tom once more that he was to stand in front of +the station as usual when the train approached. If he attempted to make +any sign which might cause the train to stop, or if he merely opened his +mouth, not only he, but also the occupants of the train, would have to +pay for it with their lives. + +Ding--ding--ding--ding went the railway telegraph, +ding--ding--ding--ding. The man with the Browning consulted his +note-book and asked Tom: "What signal is that? Where is the express +now?" + +Tom did not answer. + +"Go out on the platform!" commanded the other. With a hasty glance along +the tracks, Tom assured himself that the spot back there, where the two +tracks, which glittered like silver in the sun, crossed, was still +empty. So there was still a little more time to think. Then he began to +stroll slowly up and down. Fifteen steps forward, fifteen back, eighteen +forward, twenty back. Suppose he ran to meet the train---- + +"Halloo! Where are you going?" shouted the leader to him. "Don't you +dare go five steps beyond the station house!" + +Fifteen steps forward, fifteen back. And suppose now that he did jump +across and run along the tracks? What would it matter--he, one among +millions, without wife or child? Yes, he would warn the engineer; and if +they shot at him, perhaps the people on the train also had revolvers. +The express must come soon--it must be nearly half past ten. +Mechanically, he read the name Swallowtown on the old box-lid. + +Not a sound from the interior of the station. Would they hit him or miss +him when the train came? He examined the rickety old shutters. Yes, +there was a white incision in the wood near the bottom, and above it the +tin was bent back almost imperceptibly, while below it there was a +small, blackish-brown ring. On the other side there was another little +hole, and here the tin was bent back rather more, showing a second +small, blackish-brown ring. And suppose he did call out as the train +rushed by? He would call out!--A burst of flame from the two +blackish-brown rings--If he could only first explain everything to the +engineer--then they could shoot all they wanted to. + +Horrid to be wounded in the back! Long ago at school there had often +been talk about wounds in the back and in the chest--the former were +disgraceful, because they were a sign of running away. But this was not +running away--this was an effort to save others. + +Were the rails vibrating? Four steps more, then a quiet turn, one look +into the air, one far away over the prairie. He knew that the eyes +behind the dark-brown rings were following his every movement. Now along +the tracks--is there anything coming way back there? No, not yet. He +walked past the station, then along the tracks again, and looked to the +left across the prairie. + +Now his glance rested on the cart. It stood perfectly still. Sure +enough, there, between the sacks, was another one of those bristly +heads! Where on earth had the fellows come from, and what in the world +did they want? Winston had said they were Japs. + +Could this be war? Nonsense! How could the fellows have come so far +across country? A short time ago some one had said that a troop of Japs +had been seen far away, down in Nevada, but that they had all +disappeared in the mountains. That was two months ago. Could these be +the same? + +But it couldn't be a war. War begins at the borders of a country, not +right in the middle. It is true that the Japanese immigrants were all +said to be drilled soldiers. Had they brought arms along? These +certainly had! + +Now the turn again. Ah! there was the train at last. Far away along the +tracks a black square rose and quite slowly became wider and higher. +Good God! if the next ten minutes were only over--if one could only wipe +such a span as this out of one's life! Only ten minutes older! If one +could only look back on those ten minutes from the other side! But no; +one must go through the horror, second by second, taste every moment of +it. What would happen to the two inside? This didn't matter much after +all--they couldn't, in any case, overpower the others without weapons. A +thousand yards more perhaps and then the train would be there! And then +a thousand yards more, and he would either be nothing but an unconscious +mass of flesh and bones, or---- + +Now the rails were reverberating--from far away he heard the rumble of +the approaching mass of iron and steel. And now, very low but distinct, +the ringing of the bell could be distinguished--gang, gang, gang, gang, +gang, gang-- He threw a hasty glance at the two blackish-brown rings; +four steps further and he could again see the cart. The next time---- + +"Stand straight in front of the station and let the train pass!" sounded +close behind him. He obeyed mechanically. + +"Nearer to the house--right against the wall!" He obeyed. + +All his muscles tightened. If he could now take a leap forward and +manage to get hold of something--a railing or something--as the train +rushed by, then they could shoot as much as they liked. A rumbling and +roaring noise reached his ears, and he could hear the increasing thunder +of the wheels on the rails, the noise of the bell--gang, gang, +gang--growing more and more distinct. The engine, with its long row of +clattering cars behind, assumed gigantic dimensions before his wide-open +eyes. + +Not a sound came from the house; now the rails trembled; now he heard +the hissing of the steam and the rattle of the rods; he saw the little +curls of steam playing above the dome of the boiler. Like a black wall, +the express came nearer, rushing, rumbling, hammering along the tracks. +Yes, he would jump now--now that the engine was almost in front of him! +The rush of air almost took his breath away. Now! + +The engineer popped his head out of the little cab-window. Now! Tom bent +double, and, with one tremendous leap he was across the narrow platform +in front of his shanty, and flew like a ball against the line of rushing +cars, of railings and steps and wheels. He felt his hand touching +something--nothing but flat, smooth surfaces. At last! He had caught +hold of something! With a tremendous swing, Tom's body was torn to the +left, and his back banged against something. Something in his body +seemed to give way. As in a dream, he heard two shots ring out above the +fearful noise of the roaring train. + +Too late! Tom was clinging to a railing between two cars and being +dragged relentlessly along. He was almost unconscious, but could hear +the wheels squeaking under the pressure of the brakes as he was hurled +to and fro. But his hand held fast as in a vise. The wheels scraped, +squeaked, and groaned. The train began to slow down! He had won! The +train stood still. + +Tom's body fell on the rail between two cars, almost lifeless; he heard +a lot of steps all about him; people spoke to him and asked him +questions. But his jaws were shut as if paralyzed; he couldn't speak a +word. He felt the neck of a bottle being pushed between his lips, and +the liquid running down his throat. It was something strong and +invigorating, and he drank greedily. And then he suddenly shouted out +loud, so that all the people stepped back horrified: "The station has +been attacked by Japs." + +Excited questions poured in from all sides. "Where from? What for?" Tom +only cried: "Save the two others; they're shut up in the station!" More +people collected round him. "Quick, quick!" he cried. "Run the train +back and try to save them!" + +Tom was lifted into a car and stretched out on a soft end-seat. Some of +the passengers stood round him with their revolvers: "Tell us where it +is! Tell us where they are!" Slowly the train moved back, slowly the +telegraph poles slipped past the windows in the opposite direction. + +Now they were there, and Tom heard wild cries on the platform. Then a +door was pulled open and some one asked: "Where are the robbers?" Tom +was lifted out, for his right shin-bone had been smashed and he couldn't +stand. A stretcher was improvised, and he was carried out. Dozens of +people were standing round the station. The wagon was gone, and so were +the horses. Where to? The wide, deserted prairie gave no answer. A great +many footprints in the sand showed at least that Tom had spoken the +truth. He pointed out the holes made in the shutters by the bandits, and +told the whole story a dozen times, until at last he fainted away again. +When he came to half an hour later it all seemed like a horrible +dream--like a scene from a robber's tale. He found himself in a +comfortable Pullman car on the way to Umatilla, where he had to tell his +story all over again, in order that the fairly hopeless pursuit of the +highwaymen might be begun from there. + + + + +_Chapter IV_ + +ECHOES IN NEW YORK + + + WALLA WALLA, May 7. + + "This morning, at ten o'clock, the station Swallowtown, on the Oregon + line, was surprised by bandits. They captured the station in order to + hold up the express train to Umatilla. The plot was frustrated by the + decisive action of the station official, who jumped on the passing + train and warned the passengers. Unfortunately, the robbers succeeded + in escaping, but the Umatilla police have started in pursuit. The + majority of the bandits are said to have been Japanese." + +In these words the attack on Swallowtown was wired to New York, and when +John Halifax went to the office of the _New York Daily Telegraph_ at +midnight, to work up the telegrams which had come in during Sunday for +the morning paper, his chief drew his attention in particular to the +remark at the end of the message, and asked him to make some reference +in his article to the dangers of the Japanese immigration, which seemed +to be going on unhindered over the Mexican and Canadian frontiers. John +Halifax would have preferred to comment editorially on the necessity of +night rest for newspaper men, but settled down in smothered wrath to +write up the highwaymen who had committed the double crime of +desecrating the Sabbath and robbing the train. + +But scarcely had he begun his article under the large headlines +"Japanese Bandits--A Danger no longer Confined to the Frontier, but +Stalking about in the Heart of the Country,"--he was just on the point +of setting off Tom's brave deed against the rascality of the bandits, +when another package of telegrams was laid on the table. He was going to +push them irritably aside when his glance fell on the top telegram, +which began with the words, "This morning at ten o'clock the station at +Connell, Wash., was attacked by robbers, who----" + +"Hm!" said John Halifax, "there seems to be some connection here, for +they probably meant to hold up the express at Connell, too." He turned +over a few more telegrams; the next message began: "This morning at +eleven o'clock--" and the two following ones: "This morning at twelve +o'clock--" They all reported the holding up of trains, which had in +almost every instance been successful. John Halifax got up, and with the +bundle of telegrams went over to the map hanging on the wall and marked +with a pencil the places where the various attacks had taken place. The +result was an irregular line through the State of Washington running +from north to south, along which the train robbers, apparently working +in unison, had begun their operations at the same time. Nowhere had it +been possible to capture them. + +John Halifax threw his article into the waste basket and began again +with the headlines, "A Gang of Train-Robbers at Work in Washington," and +then gave a list of the places where the gang had held up the trains. He +wrote a spirited article, which closed with a warning to the police in +Washington and Oregon to put an end to this state of affairs as soon as +possible, and if necessary to call upon the militia for aid in catching +the bandits. While Halifax was writing, the news was communicated from +the electric bulletin-board to the people hurrying through the streets +at that late hour. + +John Halifax read the whole story through once more with considerable +satisfaction, and was pleased to think that the _New York Daily +Telegraph_ would treat its readers Monday morning to a thoroughly +sensational bit of news. When he had finished, it struck him that all +these attacks had been directed against trains running from west to +east, and that the train held up at Swallowtown was the only one going +in the opposite direction. He intended in conclusion to add a suggestive +remark about this fact, but it slipped out of his mind somehow, and, +yawning loudly, he threw his article as it was into the box near his +writing table, touched a button, and saw the result of his labors +swallowed noiselessly by a small lift. Then the author yawned again, +and, going over to his chief, reported that he had finished, wished him +a gruff "good morning," and started on his way home. + +As he left the newspaper offices he observed the same sight that had met +his eyes night after night for many years--a crowd of people standing on +the opposite side of the street, with their heads thrown back, staring +up at the white board upon which, in enormous letters, appeared the +story of how Tom, with his bold leap, had saved the train. The last +sentence, explaining that the robbers had been recognized as Japanese, +elicited vigorous curses against the "damned Japs." + +High up in the air the apparatus noiselessly and untiringly flashed +forth one message after the other in big, black letters on the white +ground--telling of one train attack after another. But of that living +machine in the far West, working with clocklike regularity and slowly +adding one link after the other to the chain, that machine which at this +very moment had already separated three of the States by an impenetrable +wall from the others and had thus blotted out three of the stars on the +blue field of the Union flag--of that uncanny machine neither John +Halifax nor the people loitering opposite the newspaper building in +order to take a last sensation home with them, had the remotest idea. +Not till the next morning was the meaning of these first flaming signs +to be made clear. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock the telephone bell rang noisily beside John Halifax's +bed. He seized the receiver and swore under his breath on learning that +important telegrams required his presence at the office. "There isn't +any reason why Harry Springley shouldn't go on with those old +train-robbers," he grumbled; "I don't see what they want of me, but I +suppose the stupid fellow doesn't know what to do, as usual." + +An hour later, when he entered the editorial rooms of the _New York +Daily Telegraph_, he found his colleagues in a great state of +excitement. Judging by the loud talk going on in the conference room, he +concluded at once that something out of the common must have happened. +The editor-in-chief quickly explained to him that an hour ago the news, +already disseminated through an "extra," had arrived, that not only were +all messages from the Pacific coast, especially from San Francisco, held +up, but the Canadian wire had furnished the news that a foreign strange +squadron had been observed on Sunday at Port Townsend, and that it had +continued its voyage through Puget Sound toward Seattle. In addition the +news came from Walla Walla that since Sunday noon all telegraphic +communication between Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland had been broken off. +Attempts to reach Seattle and Tacoma over the Canadian wire had also +proved vain while, on the other hand, the report came from Ogden that +no trains from the west, from the direction of San Francisco, had +arrived since Sunday noon, and that the noon express had been attacked +this side of Reno by bandits, some of whom had been distinctly +recognized as Japanese. + +John Halifax recalled the first message of the evening before, in which +there was a mention of the Japanese. He quickly put the separate news +items together, and, after having glanced hurriedly at the messages in +the extra, turned to the managing editor and in a low voice, which +sounded strange and hard even to himself, said: "I believe this means +war!" + +The latter slapped him on the back in his brusque fashion, crying: "John +Halifax, we're not making war on Japan." + +"But they're making war on us," answered Halifax. + +"Do you mean to imply that the Japanese are surprising us?" asked the +editor, staring at Halifax. + +"Exactly, and it makes no difference whether you believe it or not," was +the reply. + +"The Japanese fleet is lying off the Pacific coast, there's no doubt +about that," remarked a reporter. + +"And, what's more, they're right in our country," said Halifax, looking +up. + +"Who? The fleet?" inquired Harry Springley in a lame effort to be funny. + +"No, the enemy," answered Halifax coldly; "the so-called bandits," he +added sarcastically. + +"But if you really mean it," began the editor again, "then it must be a +gigantic plot. If you think that the bandits--the Japanese----" he said, +correcting himself. + +"The Japanese outposts," interposed Halifax. + +"Well, yes, the Japanese outposts, if you wish; if they have succeeded +in destroying all railway connections with the West, then the enemy is +no longer off our coast, but----" + +A stenographer now rushed into the room with a new message. The editor +glanced over it and then handed it to Halifax, who took the paper in +both hands, and, while all listened attentively, read aloud the +following telegram from Denver: + +"According to uncertain dispatches, Sunday's attacks on trains were not +made by gangs of robbers, but by detachments of Japanese troops, who +have suddenly and in the most incomprehensible manner sprung up all over +the country. Not only have single stations on the Union Pacific line +been seized, but whole towns have been occupied by hostile regiments, +the inhabitants having been taken so completely by surprise, that no +resistance could be offered. The rumor of a battle between the Japanese +ships and the coast defences at San Francisco has gained considerable +currency. The concerted attacks on the various trans-continental lines +have cut off the western States entirely from telegraphic communication +and in addition interrupted all railway traffic." + +The telegram shook in John Halifax's hands; he ran his fingers through +his hair and looked at the editor, who could only repeat the words +spoken by Halifax a few minutes before: "Gentlemen, I fear this means +war." + +Halifax collected the telegrams and went silently into his room, where +he dropped into the chair before his desk, and sat staring in front of +him with his head, full of confused thoughts, resting on his hands. +"This means war," he repeated softly. Mechanically he took up his pen +with the intention of putting his thoughts on paper, but not a line, not +a word could he produce under the stress of these whirling sensations. +Unable to construct a single sentence, he drew circles and meaningless +figures on the white paper, scribbled insignificant words, only to cross +them out immediately afterwards, and repeated again and again: "This +means war." + +Outside in the halls people hurried past; some one seized the door-knob, +so he got up and locked himself in. Then he sat down again. The fresh, +mild air blew in through the wide open windows, and the dull roar of the +immense crowds in the street, now swelling and now retreating, floated +up to him. His thoughts flew to the far West, and everywhere he could +see the eager, industrious Asiatics pouring like a yellow flood over his +country. He saw Togo's gray ships, with the sun-banner of Nippon, +ploughing the waves of the Pacific; he saw the tremendous many-hued +picture of a great international struggle; he saw regiments rush upon +each other and clash on the vast prairies; he saw bayonets flashing in +the sun; and he saw glittering troops of cavalry galloping over the +bleak plains. High up in the air, over the two great opposing hosts, he +saw the white smoke of bursting shells. He saw this gigantic drama of a +racial war, which caused the very axis of the earth to quiver, unraveled +before his eyes, and with ardent enthusiasm he seized his pen, at last +master of himself once more. + +Suddenly his mood of exaltation vanished; it seemed as though the sun +had been extinguished, and cold, dark shadows fell across the brilliant +picture of his imagination, subduing its colors with an ashy light. He +began slowly to realize that this did not only mean war, but that it was +his war, his country's war--a bitter struggle for which they were but +poorly prepared. At this thought he shivered, and the man who had +weathered many a storm laid his head down on both arms and cried +bitterly. The mental shock had been too great, and it was in vain that +they knocked at and shook his door. It was some time before John +Halifax recovered his self-possession. Then he lifted his head bravely +and proudly, and going to the door with a firm step, gave directions to +the staff with the calmness of a veteran general. + + + + +_Chapter V_ + +FATHER AND SON + + +Mr. Horace Hanbury paced restlessly up and down his study, and presently +stopped before a huge map on the wall and carefully traced the long +lines of the trans-continental railroads across the Rocky Mountains. +"Will Harriman sell? No, he'll buy, of course he'll buy; he'd be an +idiot if he didn't. Of course he'll buy, and Gould and Stillman will +buy, too. Well, there'll be a fine tussle in Wall Street to-day." Thus +he soliloquized, puffing thoughtfully at his short pipe. Then he picked +up the heap of narrow tape on his desk containing the latest news from +the West, and read the reports once more as the paper slipped through +his fingers. + +"This fiendish plot of the yellow curs seems to be a pretty clever one," +he murmured; "they've simply cut off all railway connections. I can't +help admiring the fellows--they've learned a lot since 1904." He threw +himself into his comfortable Morris chair, and after having carefully +studied the Stock Exchange quotations of Saturday, went once more to the +map on the wall, and marked several spots with a blue pencil; these he +connected by means of a long line which cut off the Pacific States of +Washington, Oregon, and California, and large districts of Nevada and +Arizona from all communication with points to the East. He then looked +at his watch and pressed one of the electric buttons on his desk. + +The door opened noiselessly, and an East Indian, dressed in the bright +costume of his native country, entered, and, crossing his arms, made a +deep bow. "When Mr. Gerald Hanbury returns, tell him I want to see him +immediately." The Indian disappeared, and Mr. Hanbury sat down on his +desk, folded his hands under his knees, and swung his feet to and fro, +puffing out the smoke of his pipe from between his teeth. "If only the +boy won't spoil everything with his ridiculous altruistic ideas-- Ah, +Gerald, there you are!" + +"Did you send for me, father?" + +"Sit down, my boy," said the old gentleman, pointing to a chair; but he +himself remained sitting on the desk. + +The son was the very image of his father--the same slender, muscular +figure, the same piercing eyes, the same energetic mouth. "Well, father, +what do you think of it?" + +"Think of it? What do _you_ think of it?" + +"Isn't it awful, this sudden attack on our country? Isn't it awful the +way we have been taken by surprise? Think of it, three of our States in +the enemy's hands!" + +"We'll soon get them back, don't worry about that," said the old +gentleman calmly. + +"Have you read the orders for mobilization?" + +"I haven't read them, and don't intend to." + +"Colonel Smiles told me just now that it will not be possible to +dispatch our troops to the West in less than three weeks. Fortunately +there are about a dozen ships of the Pacific fleet off the west coast, +and they will be able to attack the Japanese in the rear." + +"If there's still time," supplemented his father. "Anyhow, we can leave +these matters to others. It's none of our business; they can attend to +all that at Washington. War is purely and simply a question of finances +so far as the United States is concerned, and it's as plain as day that +we can hold out ten times longer than those yellow monkeys. That the +money will be forthcoming goes without saying; Congress will do all that +is needed in that direction, and the subscriptions for the war-loan will +show that we are fully prepared along that line. So let us drop that +subject. The question is, what shall we do? What do you propose doing +with our factory during the war?" + +"Go on working, of course, father." + +"Go on working--that is to say, produce surplus stock. If we go on +working we shall have goods on our hands which no one will buy, and be +compelled to store them. Ironclads, cannon, powder, uniforms, guns, +these are the things for which there is a demand now; whisky, too, will +be bought and bread will be baked, and the meat trust will make money +hand over fist; but do you suppose the United States Government is going +to buy our pianos to play tunes to the soldiers?" + +"But what about our workmen?" interposed Gerald. + +"Yes, our workmen," said the old gentleman, jumping energetically off +the desk and standing before his son with his legs wide apart and his +hands in his pockets: "Our workmen--that brings us to your favorite +subject, to which you devote your entire time and interest!" He +transferred his pipe into the right-hand corner of his mouth and +continued: "I intend to dismiss our workmen, my boy, and shut up shop; +we couldn't earn a cent more even if we kept the machines going. +Besides, our Government needs soldiers now, not workmen. Let your dear +workmen shoulder their guns and march to the West. When I was your age, +and starting in with one hundred and fifty dollars in my pocket, no one +offered me pensions for sickness and old age or insurance against +non-employment or whatever this new-fangled nonsense is called. We +ought to increase the energy of the people, instead of stuffing pillows +for them. A man who has anything in him will make his way even in these +times." + +"Father!" The young man jumped up from his chair and faced his father +with all the idealistic enthusiasm of youth. + +"Keep your seat, my boy, subjects of this nature can be better discussed +sitting." + +"No, father, I can't keep still. This question concerns four thousand +workmen and their families." + +"Three thousand of whom I shall dismiss at noon to-day," interrupted the +old gentleman decisively. + +"What! You don't mean to say you'll send three thousand workmen, quiet, +industrious, faithful, reliable workmen, begging to-day? Why, father! +That would be perfectly barbarous, that would be a crime against +humanity! The people have stuck by us in days of prosperity, and now +when our sales may perhaps," he emphasized the last word, "may perhaps +be diminished, you will stop the wheels and shut down the factory?" + +"Look here, my son, I'm not a socialists' meeting. Such sentiments may +sound very nice from the platform, but there's no need of your trying +your speeches on me. The question at issue is, shall we suffer the +consequences or shall they, and I don't mind telling you that I prefer +the latter. Do you suppose that I've worked hard all my life and worn +myself out for the express purpose of turning our factory into a +workingmen's home? No, my boy, I can't support you in your little +hobby." + +"But, father, capital and labor----" + +"O, cut out those silly phrases," interrupted the old gentleman +irritably, "Karl Marx and Henry George and all your other stand-bys may +be all right in your library, and help to decorate your bookshelves, but +I prefer to settle our practical problems on the basis of my experience +and not of your books. As manager and proprietor of our plant I want to +tell you that when the whistle blows at noon to-day I shall notify our +workingmen that in consequence of the totally unforeseen breaking out of +hostilities--here I shall insert a few words about the sacred duty of +patriotism and of defending one's country--we are unwillingly forced to +dismiss three thousand of our workmen. We'll pay wages for, let's say, a +fortnight longer, but then good-by to the men; we'll shut up shop, and +the thousand men that are left can finish the standing orders and any +new ones that may come in. And if no new ones turn up, then the +remaining workingmen will be dismissed at once. In the meantime I'll +subscribe one hundred thousand dollars to the war-loan, and then engage +passage on a Lloyd steamer, the most expensive cabins with every +possible luxury, for your mother, your two sisters, myself, and I hope +for you, too, and we'll be off to old Europe. Shall we make it the +Riviera? We've been there before, and, besides, it's a little too hot +there now--let's say Norway or Switzerland. In my humble opinion we had +better watch developments from a distance, and, as I said, I earnestly +hope that my only son and heir will join our party, unless he should +prefer to remain here and become a lieutenant in our glorious army and +draw his sword against the enemy? This is my final decision and the last +word I have to say on the subject, unless you think that some friend of +ours in the financial world may have a better suggestion to offer." + +"I should never have thought, father, that you could be so hard-hearted +and unfeeling, that you could be capable of ruining the lives of +thousands with one stroke of your pen. Your attitude towards the +relations between employer and employee is absolutely incomprehensible +to me; the socialistic conscience----" + +"Listen, my boy," said the old gentleman, going over to his son and +laying his hand gently on his shoulder: "I've always allowed you an +absolutely free hand in your schemes, and you know we've always tried to +meet our employees more than half way in all their wishes, but now it's +a question of who's to suffer--we or they? In times of peace there may +be some excuse for these nice socialistic ideas: they give a man a +certain standing and bring him into the public eye. There's a good man, +they say; he understands the demands of the times. But there's a limit +to everything. One man rides one hobby, and some one else another. One +keeps a racing-stable, another sports a steam-yacht, and still another +swears by polo or cricket, but these things must not be carried to +excess. The minute the owner of the racing-stable turns jockey, he +ceases to be a business man, and the same is true of the man who keeps a +racing-yacht and spends all of his time at the start, and, after all is +said and done, it's our business we want to live on. You've selected the +workingman as your favorite sport, and that also has its limits. If we +squander our hard-earned millions on socialistic improvements now, we'll +have to begin over again in about two years' time. I doubt whether I +should have sufficient genius left to discover a new piano-hammer, and I +entertain still more serious doubts as to your ability to invent a +panacea that will render the whole world happy and make you richer +instead of poorer. _Ergo_, we'll shut up shop. In Hoboken we'll sing +Yankee Doodle and as we pass the Statue of Liberty The Star Spangled +Banner, in token of farewell, and then off we go! If things turn out +better than we anticipate, we can come back, but this is my last word +for the present: At noon the following notice will be posted at all the +entrances and in all the rooms of our factory: 'Three thousand workmen +are herewith dismissed; wages will be paid for a fortnight longer, when +the factory will be closed indefinitely.' By the way, are you going to +the Stock Exchange to-day?" + +"I'm not in a mood for the Stock Exchange, father. If that is your last +word, then my last word is: I am your partner----" + +"So much the worse," said the father. + +"--and therefore have a right to dispose as I please of my interest in +the business. I therefore demand the immediate payment of so much of my +inheritance as will be required to pay the wages of the workmen you've +dismissed for at least another year, with the exception of the single +men who enter the army." + +"No, my boy, we won't do anything of the sort. Don't forget that I'm +running this business. According to the contract made when you came of +age, you may demand a million dollars upon severing your connection with +the firm. This sum will be at your disposal at the bank to-day at noon, +but not a cent more. What you do with it is a matter of complete +indifference to me, but let me remind you that ordinarily when a man +throws money out of the window, he at least likes to hear it drop." + +"That surely cannot be your last word, father, otherwise we must part." + +"All right, my boy, let's part till dinner-time. I hope to find you in a +more sensible frame of mind when the family assembles this evening. I've +told you what will be done in the factory in the meantime, and as for +our trip, we'll discuss that to-night with your mother. Now leave me, I +must get ready for Wall Street." + +The door closed noiselessly after Mr. Hanbury, Junior. "The scamp," said +the father to himself, "I can't help admiring him. Thirty years ago I +entertained just such ideas, but what has become of them!" He thought a +moment, passed his hand over his forehead, then jumped up quickly and +exclaimed: "Now to work!" He pressed a button on the desk, his secretary +entered, and the conversation that ensued dealt exclusively with coming +events in Wall Street. + + + + +_Chapter VI_ + +A NIGHT IN NEW YORK + + +The _New York Daily Telegraph_ had already issued several regular +editions and a number of extras, without really having conveyed much +definite information, for the dispatches consisted for the most part of +rumors that arose like distant lightning on the western horizon, and it +was quite impossible to ascertain just where. A dark bank of clouds lay +over the Pacific States, completely shutting in the territory that had +been cut off from all communication, both by wire and rail. The natural +supposition was, that the Japanese outposts were stationed at the points +just beyond which to the east telegraphic communication had not yet been +interrupted, but the messages that were constantly pouring in from +places along this border-line revealed clearly that these outposts were +continually pushing further eastwards. A serious battle didn't seem to +have occurred anywhere. The utter surprise caused by the sudden +appearance of the Japanese troops, who seemed to spring up out of the +ground, had from the very beginning destroyed every chance of successful +resistance. + +Shortly after the first vague rumors of battles said to have been fought +at San Francisco, Port Townsend, and Seattle, had arisen, even these +sources of information ran dry. The question from where all the hostile +troops had come, remained as much of a riddle as ever. That was a matter +of indifference after all; the chief consideration was to adopt +measures of defense as speedily as possible. + +But the War Department worked slowly, and the news received from +headquarters at Washington consisted only of the declaration that the +regulars were going to be sent to the West immediately, that the +President had already called out the reserves, and that Congress would +meet on May eleventh to discuss means for placing the militia on a +war-footing and for creating an army of volunteers. The regular army! +Three States with their regiments and their coast-defenses had to be +deducted at the very start. What had become of them? Had they been able +to hold their own between the enemy and the coast? What had happened to +the Philippines and to Hawaii? Where was the fleet? None of these +questions could be answered, simply because all telegraphic connection +was cut off. The strength of the enemy was an absolutely unknown +quantity, unless one cared to rely on the figures found in the ordinary +military statistics, which had probably been doctored by the Japanese. +Was this the Japanese army at all? Was it an invading force? Could such +a force have pushed so far to the East in such a short space of time +after landing? The press could find no satisfactory answer to these +questions, and therefore contented itself with estimating the number of +American soldiers available after subtracting the three coast States. +The newspapers also indulged in rather awkward calculations as to when +and how the troops could best be dispatched to the invaded territory. +But this optimism did not last long and it convinced nobody. + +Another serious question was, how would the masses behave upon the +breaking-out of this sudden danger, and what attitude would be assumed +by the foreign elements of the population. It was most important to +have some inkling as to how the Germans, the Irish, the Scandinavians, +the Italians and the various people of Slavonic nationality would act +when called upon to defend their new country. It was of course +absolutely certain that the two great political parties--the Republicans +and the Democrats--would work together harmoniously under the stress of +a common danger. + +Francis Robertson, the well-known reporter of the _New York Daily +Telegraph_--called the Flying Fish on account of his streaming +coat-tails--had been on the go all day. He had scarcely finished +dictating the shorthand notes made on his last tour of inspection, to +the typewriter, when he received orders--it was at seven o'clock in the +evening--to make another trip through the streets and to visit the +headquarters of the various national and political societies. First he +went to a restaurant a few doors away, and in five minutes succeeded in +making way with a steak that had apparently been manufactured out of the +hide of a hippopotamus. Then he jumped into a taxicab and directed the +chauffeur at the corner of Twenty-ninth Street to drive as quickly as +possible through the crowd down Broadway. But it was impossible for the +chauffeur on account of the mob to move at more than a snail's pace, and +the cab finally came to a dead stop at Madison Square, which was packed +with excited people. Robertson left the cab and hurled himself boldly +into the seething mass of humanity, but soon discovered that if he +wished to make any progress at all he would have to allow himself to be +carried forward by the slowly moving crowd. At the corner of +Twenty-second Street he managed to disentangle himself and hurried +through the block, only to find a new crowd on Fourth Avenue. + +He intended to cross Fourth Avenue and then push on to Third Avenue, in +order to reach Tammany Hall by that route, but he was doomed to +disappointment, for the human stream simply carried him down Fourth +Avenue as far as Union Square, where it ceased moving for a time. +Presently it got under way again, proceeding even more slowly than +before, and Robertson soon found himself in the middle of the square, +being suddenly pushed against the basin of the fountain upon which he +climbed for the double purpose of regaining his breath and of looking +around to see if it were possible to make his way through to Tammany +Hall. In vain! His eyes were greeted by an interminable sea of heads and +hats, which did not offer the slightest chance of his being able to slip +through. The trees, the statues and the fountain in the square appeared +to be buried to a height of two yards in a black flood. He looked +longingly across Sixteenth Street over to Third Avenue, but nowhere +could he find an opening. + +He felt like a ship-wrecked mariner cast ashore on a desert island. The +sullen roar of the crowd echoed against the buildings enclosing the +square like the dull boom of the surf. Over on Third Avenue the yellow +lights of the elevated cars crossed the dark opening of Sixteenth Street +at regular intervals, and recalled to Robertson a piece of scenery at a +fair, where a lighted train ran continually between the mouths of two +tunnels in the mountains. He pulled out his note-book and by the light +of the electric arc-lamp made a note of the observation. + +Then he jumped down from the ledge where he had taken refuge and once +more joined the human stream. The latter, as if animated by a common +purpose, was moving downtown, and if Robertson's neighbors were properly +posted, it was headed for the Chinese quarter. It was evident that they +intended to vent their fury for the present on these allies of the +Japanese. This longing for revenge, this elementary hatred of the yellow +race kept the crowd in Union Square in motion and shoved everyone +without discrimination towards Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The square +resembled a huge machine, which by means of some hidden automatic power +forced tens of thousands of unresisting bodies into the narrow channels. +The crowd rolled on unceasingly. Here and there a hat flew off into the +air, came down again, bobbed up and down once or twice, and then +continued its journey somewhere else on the surface. It was fortunate +that those who had become insensible from the dreadful noise and the +foul, dusty air were unable to fall down; they were simply held up by +the close pressure of their neighbors and were carried along until a few +blocks farther on they regained consciousness. Nevertheless a few fell +and disappeared in the stream without leaving a trace behind them. No +pen could describe their terrible fate; they must have been relentlessly +ground to pieces like stones on the rocky bed of a glacier. + +Above this roaring stream of human beings there swept unceasingly, in +short blasts like a tearing whirlwind, the hoarse cry of a people's +passion: "Down with the yellow race! Down with the Japanese! Three +cheers for the Stars and Stripes!" The passionate cry of a crowd +thirsting for revenge rose again and again, as if from a giant's lungs, +until the cheers and yells of "down" turned into a wild, deafening, +inarticulate howl which was echoed and re-echoed a thousand times by the +tall buildings on both sides of the avenue. Now and then an electric +street-car, to which clung hundreds of people, towered like a stranded +vessel above the waving mass of heads and hats. + +Robertson decided to give up the idea of reaching Tammany Hall and to +drift with the crowd to the Chinese quarter. At Astor Place a branch of +the human stream carried him to the Bowery, where he found himself on +the edge of the crowd and was scraped roughly along the fronts of +several houses. He stood this for another block, but determined to +escape at the next corner into a side street. Before he could reach it, +however, he was crushed violently against the wall of a house and turned +round three or four times by the advancing throng; during this maneuver +his right coat-tail got caught on something and before he knew it, he +had left the coat-tail behind. At last he reached the corner and clung +tightly to a railing with his right hand, but the next moment he flew +like a cork from a champagne-bottle into the quiet darkness of Fifth +Street, bumping violently against several men who had been similarly +ejected from the current and who pushed him roughly aside. + +Robertson was bursting with rage, for just before he had been propelled +into Fifth Street, he had caught a glimpse of the grinning face of Bob +Traddles, of the _Tribune_, his worst competitor, only a few feet away. +The latter showed clearly how delighted he was at this involuntary +discomfiture of his rival in the mad race for the latest sensational +news. Robertson attempted for a while to get back into the current, but +all of his efforts proved futile. Then he tried at least to find out +what the people intended to do, and in spite of the contradictory +information he received, he was pretty well convinced that they were +really going to make an attack on the inhabitants of the Chinese +quarter. Although hopelessly separated from Tammany Hall by the +countercurrent of the human stream, he at last succeeded in reaching the +Eighth Street station of the Second Avenue Elevated, where he took an +uptown train to Forty-second Street. Then he walked over to Third Avenue +and took a downtown train, which was crowded to suffocation, as far as +Grand Street, for the purpose of reaching the Chinese quarter from the +uptown side. The trip had consumed fully two hours. At the crossing of +Grand and Mott Streets he found the entrance to the latter barred by a +line of policemen standing three deep. He showed his badge to a sergeant +and received permission to pass. + +The dead silence of Mott Street seemed almost uncanny after the noisy +roar of the mob, the echoes of which still rang in his ears. The +basements of the houses were all barricaded with shutters or boards, the +doors were locked, and there was scarcely a light to be seen in the +windows of the upper stories. A person paying his first visit to this +busy, bustling ant-hill of yore would, if he had not been reminded by +the peculiar penetrating smell of the yellow race of their proximity, +scarcely have believed that he was really in the notorious Chinese +quarter of New York. + +The policeman who acted as Robertson's guide told him that they had +known all about the movements and intentions of the mob long before it +had reached the police headquarters, by way of the Bowery and Elm +Street, and begun to force its way from the Bowery through some of the +side streets into the Chinese quarter. Fearing that the latter would be +set on fire, the chief of police had given orders to protect it from the +irresponsible mob by barricading the streets with all the available +members of the force. In this attempt, however, they had been only +partially successful. It was out of the question for six hundred men to +hold out against tens of thousands; the enormous pressure from the rear +had hurled the front rows like driftwood against the thin chain of +policemen, which, after a stubborn resistance, had simply been broken +through at several spots. + +A hand-to-hand fight had ensued and shots were soon fired on both sides, +so that the police had to content themselves with an effort to check the +worst excesses. Then, too, the spirit of patriotism was just as rampant +in the breasts of the police as it was in the breasts of those who urged +on the mob. As it was impossible to catch hold of the treacherous +invaders themselves, their natural allies should at least not escape +unscathed. The Chinese were of course prepared for such an attack. The +howling, raging mob found barricaded doors and windows wherever they +went, and even when they did succeed, after considerable labor, in +breaking these down, it was usually only to find that the birds had +flown, that the occupants had made their escape in time. Wherever +resistance had been offered by the Chinese, the mob had gone beyond all +bounds in its frenzy. + +"Several hundred Chinamen must have been killed," said the policeman, +"and it would be best for the papers to hush up what went on inside the +houses." Robertson and his companion stopped near a lamp-post, and the +former hurriedly made some shorthand notes of all the information he had +received. + +"Look," said the policeman, "Judge Lynch has done his work well," and he +pointed with his club to a lamp-post on the other side of the street +from which two dark bodies were hanging. "Simply hanged 'em," he added +laconically. + +As the policeman would not allow him to enter any of the houses because, +as he said, it meant certain death, Robertson decided to go to the +nearest telephone pay-station in order to 'phone his story to the paper. +The policeman went with him as far as the police-station. By the +uncertain light of the street-lamps they stumbled along the pavement, +which was often almost entirely hidden by heaps of rubbish and regular +mountains of refuse. They saw several more bodies suspended from +lamp-posts, and the blood on the pavement before many of the mutilated +houses testified eloquently to the manner in which the mob had wreaked +its vengeance on the sons of the Celestial Kingdom. Ambulance officers +were carrying away the wounded and dead on stretchers, and after +Robertson had stayed a little while at the police-station and received +information as to the number of people killed thus far, he walked in the +direction of Broadway, having found the entrance to the Subway closed. + +At Broadway he again came upon a chain of police, and learned that the +troops had been called out and that a battalion was marching up +Broadway. + +Robertson plunged once more into the seething human whirlpool, but made +little progress. For about fifteen minutes he stood, unable to move, +near a highly excited individual, who, with a bloody handkerchief tied +around his head and with wild gesticulations was reciting his +experiences during the storming of a Chinese house. This was his man. A +momentary lull in the roar around him gave him a chance of getting +closer to him and screaming into his ear: "I'll give you two dollars if +you'll step into the nearest hallway with me and tell me that story!" + +The man stared at him in astonishment but when Robertson added, "It's +for the _New York Daily Telegraph_," he was posted at once. They made +their way with considerable difficulty to the edge of the crowd and +managed to squeeze into a wide doorway full of people, whose attention, +however, was not directed to the doings on Broadway, but rather to a +meeting that was being held in a large rear room. Robertson managed to +find an unoccupied chair in a neighboring room, which was packed to the +door, and sitting astride it, proceeded to use the back of the chair as +a rest for his note-book. The story turned out to be somewhat +disjointed, for every time a push from the crowd sent the man flying +against the hard wall, he uttered a long series of oaths. + +"For Heaven's sake," said Robertson, "quit your swearing! Make a hole in +the wall behind you and hustle with your story!" + +"This'll mean at least a column in the _Telegraph_," mused Robertson as +the story neared its end. But he was already listening with one ear to +what was going on in the big room, whence the sharp, clear tones of a +speaker could be heard through the suffocating tobacco fumes. Over the +heads of the attentive crowd hung a few gas-lamps, the globes of which +looked like large oranges. Robertson gave his Mott Street hero the +promised two dollar bill and then made his way to the rear room. +Standing in the doorway, he could clearly distinguish the words of the +speaker, who was apparently protesting in the name of some workmen +against a large manufacturer who had at noon dismissed three thousand of +them. + +The orator, who was standing on a table in the rear of the room, looked +like a swaying shadow through the smoke, but his loud appeal completely +filled the room, and the soul-stirring pictures he drew of the misery of +the workmen, who had been turned out on the streets at the word of the +millionaire manufacturer, caused his hearers' cheeks to burn with +excitement. + +"--and therefore," concluded the speaker, "we will not submit to the +absolutely selfish action of Mr. Hanbury. As leader of our Union I ask +you all to return to work at the factory to-morrow at the usual hour, +and we will then assert our right to employment by simply continuing our +work and ignoring our dismissal. Of course the simplest and most +convenient thing for Mr. Hanbury is to shut down his plant and skip with +his millions to the other side. But we demand that the factory be kept +running, and if our wages aren't paid, we'll find means for getting +them. Our country cannot fight the enemy even with a thousand +millionaires. When the American people take the field to fight for the +maintenance of American society and the American state, they have a +right to demand that the families they are compelled to leave at home +shall at least be suitably cared for. Again I say: We'll keep Mr. +Hanbury's factory open." + +The air shook with thunderous applause, and a firm determination lighted +up hundreds of faces, wrinkled and scarred from work and worry. And who +would have dared oppose these men when animated by a single thought and +a common purpose? Again and again enthusiastic shouts filled the room, +and the speaker was assured that not a man present would fail to be on +hand the next morning. + +Leaning against the door-post, Robertson made notes of this occurrence +also and then looked round in a vain endeavor to find a means of escape +from the suffocating atmosphere. While doing so his glance fell on the +spot where only a few moments before he had observed the swaying shadow +of the speaker. The latter's place had been taken by another, who was +making a frantic but vain effort to secure quiet and attention. With his +arms waving in the air he looked through the murky atmosphere for all +the world like a quickly turning wind-mill. + +Gradually the applause ceased, while everybody in the room, Robertson +included, was startled by the announcement of the chairman that Mr. +Hanbury was most anxious to address the assemblage. A moment of +astonished silence and then Bedlam broke loose. "What, Mr. Hanbury wants +to speak?" "Not the old one, the young one!" "He must be mad. What does +he want here?" "Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" "Down with him! We don't +want him here, we can manage our own affairs!" "Let him speak!" "Three +cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" "Be quiet, damn you, why don't you shut up?" +These and other similarly emphatic shouts reached Robertson's ears. He +hunted for his last pencil in his vest-pocket, and when he looked up +again, he saw through the cloud of smoke a tall, refined person standing +on the table. + +"We don't want to be discharged! Don't let our wives starve!" the voices +began again, and it was some time before it became possible for the +speaker to make himself heard. + +"Is that really Mr. Hanbury?" Robertson asked one of his neighbors. + +"Yes, the son." + +"It seems incredible! He's taking his life in his hands." + +Gerald Hanbury's first words were lost in the uproar, but gradually the +crowd began to listen. He spoke only a few sentences, and these +Robertson took down in shorthand: + +"--The demand just made by your speaker, and supported by all present, +that my father's factory should not be shut down in these turbulent +times, was made by myself this very morning, the moment I heard the news +of the base attack on our country. I don't want any credit for having +presented the matter to my father in most vigorous fashion, and I regret +to say I have accomplished nothing thus far. But the same reasons which +you have just heard from the lips of Mr. Bright have guided me. I, too, +should consider it a crime against the free American people, if we +manufacturers were to desert them in this hour of national danger. I am +not going to make a long speech; I have come here simply to tell you +that I shall go straight to my father from here and offer him the whole +of my fortune from which to pay you your wages so long as the war lasts, +and not only those employed in the factory, but also the families of +those who may enter the army to defend their homes and their country." + +Such an outburst of passionate enthusiasm, such wild expressions of joy +as greeted this speech Robertson had never witnessed. The crowd screamed +and yelled itself hoarse, hats were thrown into the air, and pandemonium +reigned supreme. Mr. Hanbury was seized by dozens of strong arms as he +jumped down from the table and was carried through the room over the +heads of the crowd. After he had made the rounds of the hall several +times and shaken hundreds of rough hands, the group of workmen +surrounding the foreman on whose shoulders young Hanbury was enthroned +marched to the entrance, while the whole assembly joined in a marching +song. + +By pure chance Robertson found himself near this group as they came to a +halt before the door, just in time to save Mr. Hanbury from having his +skull smashed against the top. So they let him slide down to the ground, +and then the whole crowd made a rush for the Broadway entrance. Such a +jam ensued here, that another meeting was held on the spot, which, +however, consisted chiefly in cheers for Mr. Hanbury. + +Suddenly some one shouted: "We'll go with Mr. Hanbury to his father!" +Inch by inch they moved towards Broadway, whence a terrific roar and +wild shouts greeted the ears of the closely packed mass at the entrance. + +Robertson was standing close to Mr. Hanbury, whose face shone with happy +excitement. Just as they reached the entrance to the street, the crowd +outside suddenly started to run north in mad haste. + +"This is the proudest day of my life as an American citizen!" said +Robertson to Hanbury. Hardly had he finished the sentence, when a +crashing sound like thunder rent the air and resounded down the whole +length of Broadway, as if the latter were a cañon surrounded by +precipitous walls of rock. + +"They're firing on the people," burst from thousands of lips in the +wildest indignation. + +Some one shouted: "Pull out your revolvers!" and in response red sparks +flashed here and there in the crowd and the rattle of shots greeted the +troops marching up Broadway. The mob seemed to be made up largely of +Russians. + +Just in front of Robertson and Gerald Hanbury a young woman, who had +been wounded by a stray shot, lay on the pavement screaming with pain +and tossing her arms wildly about. + +"Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" came the loud cry once more from the +entrance. At this instant a big workman, apparently drunk, and dressed +only in shirt and trousers, stepped in front of the door, and swinging +the spoke of a large wheel in his right hand shouted: "Where's Mr. +Hanbury?" And some one shouted as in reply: "The blackguard has turned +three thousand workmen out on the streets to-day so that he can go +traveling with his millions." The workman yelled once more: "Where is +Mr. Hanbury?" Gerald moved forward a step and, looking the questioner +straight in the eye, said: "I'm Mr. Hanbury, what do you want?" + +The workman glared at him with wild, bloodshot eyes and cried in a +fierce rage: "That's what I want," and quick as a flash the heavy spoke +descended on Hanbury's head. The terrific blow felled Gerald to the +ground, and he sank without uttering a sound beside the body of the +wounded woman lying at his feet. + +Robertson flew at the drunken brute as he prepared for a second blow, +but some of the other laborers had already torn his weapon out of his +hand, and, as if in answer to this base murder, the troops discharged a +fresh volley only a hundred yards away, which was again received with +shots from dozens of revolvers. + +Robertson felt a stinging pain in his left arm and, in a sudden access +of weakness, he leaned for support against the doorway. His senses left +him for a moment, and when he came to, he saw a company of soldiers +passing the spot where he stood. The next instant the butt-end of a +musket pushed him backwards into the doorway. + +"This is madness!" he cried. "You're firing on the people." + +"Because the people are murdering and plundering downtown!" answered an +officer. Gradually the tumult calmed down. Another company passed by +Robertson, who had sat down on the step before the door. He examined his +arm and found that he was uninjured; a stone splinter must have struck +his left elbow, for the violent pain soon disappeared. The mob was +quickly lost to view up Broadway, while some ambulance surgeons appeared +on the other side of the street. Robertson called over to them and told +them Mr. Hanbury had been murdered, whereupon they crossed the street at +once. + +Gerald Hanbury's corpse was lifted on a stretcher. + +"How terrible, they've broken in his skull," said one of the surgeons, +and taking a gray shawl from the shoulders of the charwoman who was +writhing with agony, he threw it over the upper part of Gerald's body. + +"Where shall we take it?" asked one of the surgeons. + +"To Mr. Hanbury's house, two blocks north," directed Robertson, and +going up to one of the surgeons he added: "I'll take your place at the +stretcher, for you can make yourself useful elsewhere." + +"How about her?" asked one of the ambulance attendants, pointing to the +woman on the ground. + +"I'm afraid we can't do much for her," replied one of the surgeons, "she +seems to be near death's door." + +Then the men lifted their burden and slowly the sad procession walked up +Broadway, which was now almost deserted. + +A few shots could still be heard from the direction of Union Square; to +the left the sky was fiery red while clouds of smoke traveled over the +high buildings on Broadway, shutting out the light of the stars. +Robertson looked back. The street lay dark and still. Suddenly far away +in the middle of the street two glaring white lights appeared and above +them flared and waved the smoky flames of the petroleum torches, while +gongs and sirens announced the approach of the fire-engines. And now +they thundered past, the glaring lights from the acetylene lamps in +front of the fire-engines lighting up the whole pavement. Streams of +light and rushing black shadows played up and down the walls of the +buildings. Next came the rattling hook and ladder wagons and the +hosecarts, the light from the torches dancing in red and yellow stripes +on the helmets of the firemen. And then another puffing, snorting +engine, with hundreds of sparks and thick smoke pouring out of its wide +funnel, hiding the vehicle behind it in dark clouds. They're here one +moment, and gone the next, only to make way for another hook and ladder, +which sways and rattles past. The clanging of the gongs and the yells of +the sirens grow fainter and fainter, and finally, through the clouds of +sparks and smoke the whole weird cavalcade was seen to disappear into a +side-street. Little bits of smoldering wood and pieces of red-hot coal +remained lying on the street and burned with quivering, quick little +flames. + +As they walked on the man next to Robertson told him why the troops had +been compelled to interfere. The excited mob which had tasted blood, as +it were, in the Chinese quarter and become more and more frantic, had +continued plundering in some of the downtown streets without any +discrimination--simply yielding to an uncontrollable desire for +destruction. As a result a regular battle ensued between this mob, which +consisted chiefly of Russian and Italian rabble, on one hand, and Irish +workingmen who were defending their homes, on the other. The Russian +contingent seemed to consist largely of the riff-raff which had found +such a ready refuge in New York during the Russian Revolution, and some +of these undesirable citizens now had recourse to dynamite. Some of the +bombs caused great loss of life among the Irish people living in that +part of town, and several policemen had also been killed in the +performance of their duty. It was at this point that the authorities +deemed it advisable to call out the troops, with whose arrival affairs +immediately began to take on a different turn. + +The soldiers did not hesitate to use their bayonets against the rabble. +At several corners they encountered barricades, but they hesitated +resorting to their firearms until several bombs were thrown among the +troops while they were storming a barricade defended by Russian +Terrorists. That was the last straw. With several volleys the soldiers +drove the gang of foreign looters up Broadway, where a volley discharged +near the spot where Gerald Hanbury had been murdered, dispersed the last +compact mass of plunderers. + +In the meantime the men had reached Mr. Hanbury's house and Robertson +rang the bell. Not until they had rung loudly several times did the +butler appear, and then only to announce gruffly that there was no one +at home. A policeman ordered him to open the door at once, so that Mr. +Hanbury's dead body might be brought in. + +"But Mr. Hanbury is at home, you can't possibly have his dead body +there!" + +"Tell Mr. Hanbury right away!" interrupted the policeman. "It's young +Mr. Hanbury, and he's been murdered. Open the door, do you hear!" + +Silently the heavy bronze door turned on its hinges and, with the +policeman in the lead, the men were ushered into the high marble +entrance-hall of the Hanbury palace. They carried the stretcher on which +lay the murdered body of the son of the house up the broad staircase, +the thick carpets deadening the sound of their steps. At the top of the +stairs they lowered their burden and waited in silence. Doors opened and +shut in the distance; from one of them a bright stream of light fell on +the shining onyx pillars and on the gilt frames of the paintings, which +in the light from strange swinging lamps looked like huge black patches. +Then the light from the door disappeared, a bell rang somewhere and +figures hurried to and fro. A fantastically dressed East Indian next +appeared and made signs to the ambulance-men to carry the stretcher into +a room which, in its fabulous, Oriental splendor represented one of the +most beautiful of the Indian mosques. The men carried their burden +carefully into the middle of the room and then set it down and looked at +one another in embarrassment. The policeman assumed a dignified posture +and cleared his throat. Suddenly the heavy gold-embroidered curtain +before one of the doors was pushed aside by a brown hand and fell back +in heavy folds; an old white-haired man stood for a moment in the +doorway and then advanced towards the officer with a firm step. + +The latter cleared his throat again and then began in a dry and +business-like tone to give his report of Gerald Hanbury's murder, +ending with the words "--and these gentlemen picked him up and brought +him here." + +"I thank you, gentlemen," said the old man, and taking out his +pocket-book he handed each of them, including Robertson, a twenty-dollar +bill. Then he sat down wearily on the edge of the stretcher and rested +his head in his hands. He seemed to be oblivious of his surroundings. +The men stood round for a few moments not knowing what to do, until +finally the policeman led the ambulance-men and Robertson to the door, +which opened automatically. + +As the Indian closed the door behind them the officer said to Robertson: +"This is like the last act in a Third Avenue melodrama." + +"Life has a liking for such plays," answered Robertson. As they left the +Hanbury mansion the clock of Grace Church struck midnight. Robertson +glanced down Broadway once more and saw that the long thoroughfare was +almost deserted; only here and there the bluish-white light from the +electric lamps shone on the bayonets of the sentinels patrolling up and +down at long intervals. Then he repaired to the _Daily Telegraph_ +offices to dictate his notes, so that the huge rolls of printed paper +might announce to the world to-morrow that the first victims of the +terrible war had fallen on the streets of New York. + +The factory of Horace Hanbury & Son was not shut down. + + + + +_Chapter VII_ + +THE RED SUN OVER THE GOLDEN GATE + + +Too-oo-ot, bellowed the whistle of a big steamer that was proceeding +gingerly through the fog which enveloped the broad Bay of San Francisco +early on the morning of May seventh. The soft, white mist crept through +the Golden Gate among the masts and funnels of the ships made fast to +the docks, enveloped the yellow flame of the lanterns on the foremast in +a misty veil, descended from the rigging again, and threatened to +extinguish the long series of lights along the endless row of docks. The +glistening bands of light on the Oakland shore tried their best to +pierce the fog, but became fainter and fainter in the damp, penetrating, +constantly moving masses of mist. Even the bright eye on Angel Island +was shut out at last. Too-oo-ot, again sounded the sullen cry of warning +from the steamer in the Golden Gate--Too-oo-ot. And then from Tiburon +opposite the shrill whistle of the ferry-boat was heard announcing its +departure to the passengers on the early train from San Rafael. The +flickering misty atmosphere seemed like a boundless aquarium, an +aquarium in which gigantic prehistoric, fabulous creatures stretched +their limbs and glared at one another with fiery eyes. Trembling beams +of light hovered between the dancing lights on and between the ships, +rising and falling like transparent bars when the shivering sentries on +deck moved their lanterns, and threw into relief now some dripping bits +of rigging, and again the black outline of a deck-house as the sailor +hurried below for a drink to refresh his torpid spirits. + +The cold wind blew the damp fog into Market Street, forced it uphill and +then let it roll down again, filling every street with its gray +substance. + +Too-oo-ot, came the whistle from the Golden Gate again and further off +still another whistle could be heard. Over in Tiburon the ferry-boat had +calmed down, as it found itself unable to budge in the fog. One after +the other, the tower-clocks struck half-past four, the strokes sounding +loud and unnatural in the fog. From Telegraph Hill at the northern end +of San Francisco a splendid view could be obtained of this undulating +sea of mist. A few of the isolated houses situated in the higher parts +of the town looked like islands floating on the ever-moving glossy gray +billows, while the top stories of several sky-scrapers rose up here and +there like solemn black cliffs. A faint light in the east heralded the +approach of day. Too-oo-ot, sounded the whistle of the approaching +steamer once again; then its voice broke and died out in a discordant +sob, which was drowned in the nervous gang, gang, gang of the ship's +bell. The steamer had been obliged to anchor on account of the fog. +Too-oo-ot, came from the other steamer further out. Then life in the bay +came to a stand-still: nothing could be done till the sun rose and +brought warmth in its train. + +"This damned fog," said Tom Hallock, a telegraph boy, to his colleague, +Johnny Kirkby, as he jumped off his bicycle in front of the Post Office, +"this damned fog is enough to make one choke." + +Johnny muttered some unintelligible words, for he was still half asleep; +the effect of last night's eighteen drinks had not yet quite worn off. +"You can't see the nearest lamp-post," he blurted out after a while. "I +nearly ran into a company of infantry just now that suddenly popped up +in front of me out of the fog. What's going on this morning, anyhow? +What are they marching out to Golden Gate for?" + +"Oh, you jay," said Tom, "naval maneuvers, of course! Are you blind? +Haven't you read the _Evening Standard_? There are to be naval maneuvers +this morning, and Admiral Perry is going to attack San Francisco." + +"This war-game is a crazy scheme," grumbled Johnny. They both left their +bicycles downstairs in a room in the Post Office and then went up to +their quarters on the first story. + +"Naval maneuvers?" began Johnny again. "I really don't know anything +about them. It was in last night's _Evening Standard_. It said that the +orders had been changed quite unexpectedly, and that the maneuvers would +take place outside the bay to-day." + +"It looks as though we'd have a long wait before daylight appears," said +Tom impatiently, pointing out of the windows, while Johnny tackled the +dilapidated tea-kettle in an effort to make himself an early morning +drink. Tom stamped up and down the room to warm himself, remarking: +"Thank the Lord it's Sunday and there isn't much going on, otherwise +we'd all get sick chasing around with telegrams in this beastly fog." + +Boom! The roar of a distant cannon suddenly made the windows rattle; +boom again! It sounded as though it came from the Fort. "There you are," +said Tom, "there's your naval maneuvers. Perry won't stand any nonsense. +He's not afraid of the fog; in fact, it gives him a fine chance for an +attack." + +Johnny didn't answer, for he had meanwhile dozed off. As soon as he had +with considerable trouble got his tea-kettle into working order, he had +fallen fast asleep, and now began to snore with his nose pressed flat +on the table, as if he meant to saw it through before his tea was ready. + +Tom shrugged his shoulders in disgust, and said: "Those blamed drinks." + +Another boom! from outside. The door opened behind Tom and a telegraph +official looked in. "One, two," he counted, "two are there," and then he +closed the door again. + +Downstairs in the street a motor-cycle hurried past puffing and +rattling, the rider's figure looking like a gigantic elusive shadow +through the fog. + +Tom started to walk up and down again as the clock in the hall struck a +quarter to five. A bell rung in the next room. Steps were heard coming +up the stairs and a colleague of the other two came in, swearing at the +fog. He passed Johnny, poured out some of the latter's tea for himself +and drank it, meanwhile looking at the sleeper inquiringly. + +"It's the drinks," said Tom, grinning. + +"H'm," growled the other. Another motor-cycle went by on the street +below, and then another. + +Later on a group of ten motor-cycles rode past. + +"Did you see that, Harry?" asked Tom, who was standing at the window. + +"What?" + +"Didn't they have guns?" + +"They probably have something to do with the naval maneuvers." + +At this moment another group of ten men passed, and there was no doubt +of the fact that they carried guns. + +"I guess it is the naval maneuvers," asserted Tom. + +Boom! came the sound of another shot. + +"That's queer," said Tom. "What do you suppose it is?" He opened the +window and listened. "Do you hear it?" he asked Harry, who admitted +that he could also hear a rattling, scraping noise as though drums were +being beaten far away or as though a handful of peas had been thrown +against a pane of glass. + +Tom leaned further out of the window in time to see a bicycle rider stop +in front of the Post Office, take a big sheet of paper, moisten it with +a large brush, and stick it on the wall near the entrance; then he rode +off. Tom shut the window, for the fog seemed to be getting thicker and +thicker, and now, in the pale light of approaching dawn, it was almost +impossible to recognize the yellow spots of light on the lamp-posts. By +this time Johnny had awakened and they all had some tea together. + +They were interrupted by a fourth messenger boy, who entered the room at +this moment and exclaimed: + +"That's a great scheme of Admiral Perry's, and the fog seems to have +helped him a lot. What do you think? He has surprised San Francisco. +There's a notice posted downstairs stating that the Japanese have taken +possession of San Francisco and that the Japanese military governor of +San Francisco asks the citizens to remain quiet or the city will be +bombarded from the harbor by the Japanese fleet." + +"Perry is a great fellow, there's no use trying to fool with him," said +Tom. "San Francisco surprised by the Japs--that's a mighty fine scheme." + +Outside some one was tearing up the stairs two at a time, doors banged +noisily, and several bells rang. "Somebody's in a h--- of a hurry," said +Harry; "we'll have something to do in a minute." + +A telegraph operator hurriedly opened the door and with great beads of +perspiration rolling down his face, shouted at the top of his lungs: +"Boys, the Japanese have surprised San Francisco." + +A roar of laughter greeted this piece of information. + +"Stung!" cried Harry. "Stung! Perry is the Jap." + +"Perry?" inquired the newcomer, staring at the other four. "Who's +Perry?" + +"Don't you know, Mr. Allen, that there are naval maneuvers going on +to-day and that Admiral Perry is to surprise San Francisco with the +fleet?" + +"But there are notices at all the street-corners saying that the +Japanese governor of San Francisco begs the citizens----" + +"Yes, that's where the joke comes in. Perry is going to attack the town +as a Jap--that's his scheme." + +"You haven't had enough sleep," cried Tom. "If all the Japs looked like +Admiral Perry, then----" + +Tom broke off short and dropped his tea-cup on the floor, staring +blankly at the door as if he saw a ghost. Just behind Mr. Allen stood a +Jap, with a friendly grin on his face, but a Jap all the same, most +certainly and without the slightest doubt a Jap. He looked around the +bare office and said in fluent English: "I must ask you to remain in +this room for the present." With these words he raised his revolver and +kept a sharp eye on the five occupants. + +Johnny jumped up and felt instinctively for the revolver in his hip +pocket, but in a flash the muzzle of the Jap's gun was pointed straight +at him and mechanically he obeyed the order "Hands up!" + +"Hand that thing over here," said the Jap; "you might take it into your +head to use it," and he took Johnny's revolver and put it in his pocket. +Several Japanese soldiers passed by outside. Mr. Allen sank down on a +chair; not one of them could make head or tail of the situation. + +They were kept waiting for half an hour. Down below in the street, where +the wagons were beginning to rattle over the pavement, could be heard +the steady march of bodies of soldiers, frequently interrupted by the +noise of motor-cycles. There could no longer be any doubt--the affair +was getting serious. + +The lamps were extinguished and the gray light of dawn filled the rooms +as the head Postmaster made his rounds, guarded by a Japanese officer. + +The official was perspiring profusely from sheer nervousness. He begged +the employees to keep calm, and assured them that it was no joke, but +that San Francisco was really in the hands of the Japanese. It was the +duty of the employees and the citizens, he said, to refrain from all +resistance, so that a worse misfortune--a bombardment, he added in a +whisper--might not befall the city. + +The men were obliged to give up any weapons they had in their +possession, and these were collected by the Japanese. At seven o'clock, +when these details had been attended to, and the few telegraph +instruments which were kept in commission were being used by Japanese +operators--all the others had been rendered useless by the removal of +some parts of the mechanism--one of the regular operators asked to be +allowed to speak to the Postmaster. Permission having been granted by +the Japanese guard, he told his chief, in a low voice, that the moment +the Japanese soldiers had taken possession of the telegraph room he had +hurriedly dispatched a message to Sacramento, telling them that San +Francisco had been surprised by the Japanese fleet and that the whole +city was occupied by Japanese troops. + +"I thank you in the name of our poor country," said the Postmaster, +shaking the operator's hand, "I thank you with all my heart; you have +done a brave deed." + +Just at the time when the operator sent off his telegram to Sacramento, +a little, yellow, narrow-eyed fellow, lying in a ditch many miles +inland, far to the east of San Francisco, connected his Morse apparatus +with the San Francisco-Sacramento telegraph-wire, and intercepted the +following message: "Chief of Police, Sacramento.--San Francisco attacked +by Japanese fleet this morning; whole city in hands of Japanese army. +Resistance impossible, as attack took place in thick fog before dawn. +Help imperative." + +The little yellow man smiled contentedly, tore off the strip, and handed +it to the officer standing near him. The latter drew a deep breath and +said: "Thank Heaven, that's settled." + +At the time of the occupation of the Post Office building, the Japanese +outposts had already spun their fine, almost invisible silver threads +around all the telegraph-wires far inland and thus cut off all +telegraphic communication with the east. The telegram just quoted +therefore served only to tell the Japanese outposts of the overwhelming +success of the Japanese arms at the Golden Gate. + +But how had all this been accomplished? The enemy could not possibly +have depended on the fog from the outset. Nevertheless an unusual +barometrical depression had brought in its train several days of +disagreeable, stormy weather. The Japanese had been fully prepared for a +battle with the San Francisco forts and with the few warships stationed +in the harbor. The fact that they found such a strong ally in the fog +was beyond all their hopes and strategical calculations. + +When the sun sank in the waves of the Pacific on the sixth of May, every +Japanese had his orders for the next few hours, and the five thousand +men whose part it was to attend to the work to be accomplished in San +Francisco on the morning of the seventh, disappeared silently into the +subterranean caves and cellars of the Chinese quarter, to fetch their +weapons and be ready for action soon after midnight. + + + + +_Chapter VIII_ + +IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH + + +It was thought that the earthquake had done away forever with the +underground labyrinth of the Chinese quarter--those thousands of pens +inhabited by creatures that shunned the light of day, those mole-holes +which served as headquarters for a subterranean agitation, the +mysterious methods of which have never been revealed to the eye of the +white man. When had the old Chinatown been laid out; when had those +hidden warehouses, those opium dens and hiding-places of the Mongolian +proletariat been erected, those dens in which all manner of criminals +celebrated their indescribable orgies and which silently hid all these +evil-doers from the far-reaching arm of the police? When had the new +Chinatown sprung up? When had the new quarter been provided with an +endless network of subterranean passages, so that soon all was just as +it had been before the earthquake? No one had paid any attention to +these things. The Mongolian secret societies never paused for a moment +in their invisible conspiracy against the ruling whites, and succeeded +in creating a new underground world, over which the street traffic +rolled on obliviously. + +A narrow cellar entrance and greasy, slippery steps led into Hung Wapu's +store, behind which there was a chop-house, which in turn led into an +opium-den. The rooms behind the latter, from which daylight was forever +excluded, were reserved for still worse things. No policeman would ever +have succeeded in raiding these dens of iniquity; he would have found +nothing but empty rooms or bunks filled with snoring Chinese; the +abominable stench would soon have driven him out again, but if, by any +chance, he had attempted to penetrate further and to explore the walls +for the purpose of discovering hidden openings, the only result would +have been a story in the next day's papers about a "missing" policeman. + +Hung Wapu, whose plump face, with its enormous spectacles, resembled +that of an old fat boarding-house keeper, was standing at the entrance +to his cellar-shop late on the evening of May sixth. A disgusting odor +and the murmur of many voices reached the street from the cellar. The +policeman had just made his rounds, and Hung Wapu looked after him with +a cunning grin as his heavy steps died away in the distance. + +The coast was clear for two hours. Hung Wapu went in and locked the +door, above which a green paper-lantern swung gently to and fro in the +soft night wind. Hung Wapu passed through the store to the chop-house, +where several dozen Chinese were squatting on the ground dining on +unmentionable Chinese delicacies, which consisted of anything and +everything soft enough to be chewed. No one watching the vacant +expression of these people would have dreamed for a moment that anything +was wrong; no one observing these chattering, shouting sons of the +Celestial Kingdom would have guessed that anything out of the ordinary +was on foot. They kept on eating, and did not even look up when several +Japs stole, one by one, through their midst and disappeared through a +door at the back. The Japs apparently attracted no attention whatsoever, +but a keen observer would have noticed that Hung Wapu placed a little +saki-bowl on a low table for every Japanese visitor that had entered his +shop. + +The Japs all went through a side-door of the opium-den into a large +room, where they took off their outer clothing and put on uniforms +instead. Then they lay down to sleep either on the mats on the floor or +on the bundles of clothing which were stacked on the floor along the +walls of the room. + +Hung Wapu now accompanied one of his Chinese guests up the cellar-steps +to the street, and sitting down on the top step began to chat in a low +voice with his apparently half-intoxicated countryman. At the same time +he polished about two dozen little saki-bowls with an old rag, +afterwards arranging them in long rows on the pavement. + +The animated traffic in the narrow alley gradually died down. One by one +most of the gas-lamps closed their tired eyes, and only the green +paper-lantern above Hung Wapu's door continued to swing to and fro in +the night-wind, while similar spots of colored light were visible in +front of a few of the neighboring houses. Far away a clock struck the +hour of midnight, and somewhere else, high up in the air, a bell rang +out twelve strokes with a metallic sound. A cool current of air coming +from the harbor swept through the hot, ill-smelling alley. + +Hung Wapu went on whispering with his companion, and all the time he +continued to polish his little saki-bowls. After a while the visitor +fell asleep against the door-post and snored with all his might. Misty +shadows began to fall slowly and the lights of the street lamps took on +a red glow. Suddenly the figure of a drunken man appeared a little +distance away; he was carefully feeling his way along the houses, but as +soon as he came in sight of Hung Wapu's cellar, he suddenly seemed to +sober up for a minute and made directly for it. "Saki!" he stammered, +planting himself in front of Hung Wapu, whereupon the latter made a +sign. The drunken man, a Japanese, whose face looked ghastly pale in the +green light from the lantern, stared stupidly at the saki-bowls, which +Hung Wapu was trying to shield from the tottering wretch with his arm. + +"Twenty-eight bowls," he stammered to himself, "twenty-eight +saki-bowls----" + +At this moment the sleeping Chinaman awoke and looked at the drunken man +with a silly laugh. + +"Yes, twenty-eight saki-bowls; it's all right--twenty-eight saki-bowls," +repeated the drunken Jap, and reeled on along the houses. + +Hung Wapu seemed to have ended his day's work with the polishing of the +twenty-eight saki-bowls; he piled them up in a heap and disappeared with +them into his cellar, followed with extraordinary agility by the Chinese +sleeper. He hurried through the chop-house, the occupants of which were +all fast asleep on their straw mats, passed through the opium-den, and +then, in the third room, divested himself of his Chinese coat. The +silk-cap with the pigtail attached was flung into a corner, and then, +dressed in a khaki uniform, he seated himself at a table and studied a +map of the city of San Francisco, making notes in a small book by the +light of a smoky oil lamp. + +The drunken Jap, who had apparently had doubts about entering Hung +Wapu's chop-house, tottered on down the quiet street and made for +another paper-lantern, which hung above another cellar door about ten +houses farther on. + +Here too, curiously enough, he found the Chinese landlord sitting on the +top step. He wanted to push him aside and stumble down the steps, but +the Chinaman stopped him. + +"How much?" stuttered the drunken man. + +"How much?" answered the Chinaman. "How much money will the great +stranger pay for a meal for his illustrious stomach in Si Wafang's +miserable hut? Forty kasch, forty kasch the noble son of the Rising Sun +must pay for a shabby meal in Si Wafang's wretched hut." + +"Forty kasch? I'll bring the forty kasch, most noble Si Wafang. 'I won't +go home till morning, till daylight does appear,'" bawled the tipsy man, +and staggered on down the street, whereupon this landlord also +disappeared in his cellar, after extinguishing the paper lantern over +the doorway. + +A death-like stillness reigned in the street, and no one imagined that +the rats were assembling, that the underground passages were full of +them, and that it only needed a sign to bring the swarming masses to the +surface. + +A cold breeze from the sea swept through the deserted streets and a +misty veil enveloped the yellow light of the gas-lamps. The lanterns +hanging in front of the Chinese cellars were extinguished one by one, +and everyone apparently turned in. The fog became thicker and thicker, +and covered the pavement with moisture. + +Suddenly the door of Hung Wapu's cellar squeaked; it was opened +cautiously and a low clatter came up from below. Thirty dark forms crept +slowly up the steps, one after the other, and without a word they began +their march. Ten houses farther on a similar detachment poured out of +the other Chinese cellar and joined their ranks. + +The gas-lamps shed a dull, yellowish-red light on the gun-barrels of the +Japanese company, which was marching down to the docks. + +Two thousand steps farther on it had become a battalion, which marched +rapidly in the direction of the barracks of the Fifth Regiment of +regulars in the old Presidio. At the next corner the leader of the +battalion unobtrusively saluted a man in uniform who stepped suddenly +out of a doorway. A few Japanese words were exchanged in a low tone. + +"This is an unexpected ally," said the Japanese colonel, holding out his +hand in the dense fog. + +Four o'clock struck from the tower of the Union Ferry Depot, and out +from the sea, from the Golden Gate, came the bellowing voice of a +steamer's whistle. The two officers looked at each other and smiled, and +the troops continued their march. + +"Halloo!" shouted a roundsman to a policeman who had been leaning +against a lamp-post half asleep. "Halloo, Tom, wake up! Who are those +fellows over there; where the deuce are they going?" + +Tom opened his eyes, and up on the hill, a few blocks away, he could +faintly distinguish through the thick fog the outline of a group of +rapidly moving soldiers. "I guess they are some of our boys taking part +in the naval maneuver. You know, Perry's going to attack us to-day." + +"Well, I didn't know that," replied the roundsman. "They're great boys, +all right; up and about at four in the morning." Just then the angry +bellow from a steamer's whistle came across the water and abruptly ended +this early morning conversation. + +"I suppose that's Perry now," said Tom. "Well, he can't do much in this +beastly fog, anyway." + +"So long, Tom," answered the roundsman curtly as he slowly proceeded to +resume his interrupted rounds. + +An advance guard of a few men had been sent ahead. They found the sentry +at the barrack-gates fast asleep. When he awoke it was to discover +himself surrounded by a dozen men. He stared at them, still heavy with +sleep, and then reached mechanically for his gun; it was gone. He tried +to pull himself together, felt something cold pressed against his right +temple, and saw the barrel of a Browning pistol in the hand of the man +in front of him. + +"Hands up!" came the command in a low tone, and a few seconds later he +was bound and gagged. As he lay on the ground, he saw a whole battalion +of foreign soldiers half in the court-yard before the barracks, and +vague thoughts of naval maneuvers and surprises, of Admiral Perry and +the Japs went through his mind, till all at once the notion "Japs" +caused him to sit up mentally--weren't these men real Japanese? And if +so, what did it all mean? + +In the meantime double guards had occupied all the men's quarters, in +which Uncle Sam's soldiers began gradually to wake up. The guns and +ammunition had long ago passed into the hands of the Japs, and when at +last the reveille from a Japanese bugle woke up the garrison completely, +there was nothing to be done but to grind their teeth with rage and +submit to the inevitable. They had to form in line in the court-yard at +eight o'clock, and then, disarmed and escorted by Japanese troops, they +had to board the ferry-boats and cross over to Angel Island, while the +cannon on Fort Point (Winfield Scott) thundered out the last notes of +American resistance in San Francisco. + + * * * * * + +When, shortly after midnight, the guard had been relieved for the last +time, and only a few sleepy soldiers remained in the sentry-boxes of the +coast batteries of San Francisco, the enemy lay in ambush behind the +coast-line, ready, to the last man, to rise at a given signal and render +the unsuspecting American troops _hors de combat_ in their sleep. And +thus, before the sentinels had any idea what was going on, they were +disarmed and gagged. Not a single cry or shot was heard to warn the +sleeping soldiers. They awoke to find themselves confronted by Japanese +bayonets and gun-barrels, and resistance was utterly useless, for the +enemy, who seemed to be remarkably well posted, had already taken +possession of the ammunition and arms. + +And where, all this time, was Admiral Perry with his fleet? Nowhere. The +Japanese had made no mistake in relying on the traditional love of +sensation of the American press. The telegram sent on May sixth from Los +Angeles to the San Francisco _Evening Standard_ was nothing but a +Japanese trick. It notified the _Standard_ that Admiral Perry intended +during the naval maneuvers (which were actually to take place within the +next fortnight) to gain an entrance through the Golden Gate, and the +Japanese felt certain that the editor would not make inquiries at the +last moment as to the veracity of this report, which was not at all in +accord with previous arrangements, but would print it as it was, more +especially as it was signed by their usual correspondent. + +Thus the Japanese had reason to hope that no immediate suspicions would +be aroused by the appearance of warships in the Bay of San Francisco. +And so it turned out. The five Japanese armored cruisers and the torpedo +flotilla, which were to surprise and destroy the naval station and the +docks, were able to cross the entire bay under cover of the fog without +being recognized and to occupy the docks and the arsenal. Four +mortar-boats threatened Point Bonita and Lime Point, till they both +surrendered. + +What could the two cruisers _New York_ and _Brooklyn_, lying in dock for +repairs, do without a single ball-cartridge on board? What was the good +of the deck guards using up their cartridges before the red flag of +Nippon was hoisted above the Stars and Stripes? + +It is true there was a fight at one spot--out at Winfield Scott. +Although the fog proved of great assistance to the Japanese in a hundred +cases, the stipulated signal for attack, that is, the whistle of the +Japanese auxiliary cruiser _Pelung Maru_, for example, being taken for a +fog-signal, nevertheless an annoying surprise awaited the enemy +elsewhere. + +A steamer headed towards the Golden Gate in the wake of the _Pelung +Maru_ heard the roar of the sealions, and as this showed how near they +were to the cliffs, the vessel dropped anchor and instead of blowing its +whistle ordered the ship's bell to be rung. This was heard by the +_Pelung Maru_ a short distance ahead and interpreted as a sign that +something had occurred to disturb the plan of attack. A steamlaunch was +therefore sent out to look for the anchored ship. + +The latter was the German steamer _Siegismund_, whose captain, standing +on the bridge, suddenly saw a dripping little launch approaching with +its flag trailing behind it in the water. And just as in every cleverly +arranged plan one stupid oversight is apt to occur so it happened now. +The launch carried the Japanese flag and the lieutenant at the helm +called to the _Siegismund_ in Japanese. As they were directly before the +guns of the American batteries, the German captain didn't know what to +make of it. He couldn't imagine what the launch from a Japanese warship +could be doing here at dawn before the Golden Gate fortifications, and +thinking that the fact would be likely to be of interest to the +commander of the fort, he sent him the following wireless message: "Have +just met launch of a Japanese warship off Seal-Rocks; what does it +mean?" + +This information alarmed the garrison at Winfield Scott, and the men at +once received orders to man the guns. Then they waited breathlessly to +see what would happen next. + +An inquiry sent by wireless to the other stations remained unanswered, +because these were already in the hands of the Japanese, whose operators +were not quick-witted enough to send back a reassuring answer. As the +commander of the fort received no answer, he became suspicious, and +these suspicions were soon justified when a number of soldiers were +discovered trying to force their way into the narrow land entrance of +the fort. A few shots fired during the first bayonet assault and the +bullets landing within the fort showed that it was a serious matter. +Besides, a puff of wind dispersed the fog for a few seconds just then, +and the shadowy silhouettes of several large ships became visible. +Without a moment's hesitation the commander of Winfield Scott ordered +the men to open fire on them from the heavy guns. These were the shots +that had been heard at the San Francisco Post Office and Tom was quite +right in thinking that he heard the rattle of musketry directly +afterwards. + +But with the small stock of ammunition doled out to the coast defenses +in times of peace--there were plenty of blank cartridges for salutes--it +was impossible to hold Winfield Scott. The fort sent out a few dozen +shells into the fog pretty blindly, and, as a matter of fact, they hit +nothing. Then began the hopeless battle between the garrison and the +Japanese machine-guns, and although the shots from the latter were +powerless to affect the walls and the armor-plating, still they worked +havoc among the men. And the ammunition of the Americans disappeared +even more quickly than their men, so that when at ten o'clock two +Japanese regiments undertook to capture the fort by storm, the last +defender fell with practically the last cartridge. Then the Rising Sun +of Dai Nippon was substituted on the flagstaff of Winfield Scott for +the Stars and Stripes. + +In the city itself small Japanese guards were posted at the railway +station, the Post Office and the telegraph offices, at the City Hall and +at most of the public buildings, and as early as this, on the morning of +May seventh, troops for the march eastward were being landed at the pier +at Oakland. A standing garrison of only five thousand men was left in +San Francisco, and these at once occupied the coast-batteries and +prepared them for defense. The same thing was of course done with the +docks and the naval station, with Oakland and all the other towns +situated on the bay. + +The sudden appearance of the enemy had in every case had a positively +paralyzing effect. Among the inhabitants of the coast the terrible +feeling prevailed everywhere that this was the end, that nothing could +be done against an enemy whose soldiers crept out of every hole and +cranny, and even when a few courageous men did unite for the purpose of +defending their homes, they found no followers. It is a pity that others +did not show the resolute courage of a Mexican fisherman's wife, who +reached the harbor of San Francisco with a good catch early on Monday +morning and made fast to the pier close to a Japanese destroyer. Almost +immediately a Japanese petty officer came on board and demanded the +catch for the use of the Japanese army. The woman, a coarse beauty with +a fine mustache, planted herself in front of the Jap and shouted: "What, +you shrimp, you want our fish, do you?" and seizing a good-sized silver +fish lying on the deck, she boxed the astonished warrior's ears right +and left till he fell over backwards into the water and swam quickly +back to the destroyer, snorting like a seal, amidst the laughter of the +bystanders. + +The question naturally suggests itself at this point: Why didn't a +people as determined as the Americans rise like one man and, arming +themselves with revolvers and pistols and if it came to the worst with +such primitive weapons as knives and spokes, attack the various small +Japanese garrisons and free their country from this flood of swarming +yellow ants? The white handbills posted up at every street corner +furnished the answer to the question. + +The municipal authorities were made responsible to the Japanese military +governor, who was clever enough to leave the entire American municipal +administration unaltered, even down to the smallest detail. Even the +local police remained in office. The whole civil life went on as before, +and only the machine-guns in front of the Japanese guard-houses situated +at the various centers of traffic showed who was now ruler in the land. +All the officials and the whole city administration were bound by a +marvelously clever and effective system. + +In the proclamations issued by the Japanese military governor the city +was threatened, should the slightest sign of resistance occur, with acts +of vengeance that positively took one's breath away. Three Japanese +cruisers, with their guns constantly loaded and manned and aimed +directly at the two cities, lay between Oakland and San Francisco. They +had orders to show no mercy and to commence a bombardment at the first +sign of trouble. It did not seem to have occurred to any one that +although the bombardment of a town like San Francisco by a few dozen +guns might indeed have a bad moral effect, it would nevertheless be +impossible to do much harm. But the Japanese had other trump cards up +their sleeves. The military governor declared that the moment they were +compelled to use the guns, he would cut off all the available supply of +water and light, by which means all resistance would be broken down +within twenty-four hours. For this reason all the gas-works and +electric plants were transformed into little forts and protected by +cannon and machine-guns. Tens of thousands might try, in vain, to take +them by storm; the city would remain wrapped in darkness, except, as the +Japanese general remarked with a polite smile to the Mayor of San +Francisco, for the bright light of bursting shells. + +In the same way the municipal waterworks in San Francisco and all the +other towns occupied by the Japanese were insured against attack. Not +one drop of water would the town receive, and what that meant could be +best explained to the Mayor by his wife. And thus, in spite of their +often ridiculously small numbers, the Japanese troops were safe from +surprise, for the awful punishment meted out to the town of Stockton, +where a bold and quickly organized band of citizens destroyed the +Japanese garrison, consisting only of a single company, was not likely +to be disregarded. The entire population of the Pacific Coast was forced +to submit quietly, though boiling with rage, while at the same time all +listened eagerly for the report of cannon from the American army in the +east. But was there such a thing as an American army? Was there any +sense in hoping when months must pass before an American army could take +the field? + + * * * * * + +The deception of the _Evening Standard_ by means of the fatal telegram +was preceded by an instructive episode. Indeed, it might well be asked +whether anything that happened in this terrible time could not be traced +back pretty far. In order that the news of the naval maneuvers in the +_Evening Standard_ should receive sufficient attention on the critical +day, this paper and consequently the inhabitants of San Francisco had +for some months past been taught to expect over the signature "Our +Naval Correspondent," amazingly correct accounts of the movements of the +American fleet and all matters pertaining to the navy. + +Mr. Alfred Stephenson had hard work to keep his head above water as +editor of the _Los Angeles Advertiser_ at Los Angeles. The struggle for +existence gave him considerable cause for worry, and this was due to the +fact that Mrs. Olinda Stephenson wished to cut a figure in society, a +figure that was not at all compatible with her husband's income. Mr. +Stephenson was therefore often called upon to battle with temptation, +but for a long time he successfully withstood all offers the acceptance +of which would have lowered him in his own estimation. The consequence +was that financial discussion had become chronic in the Stephenson +household, and, like a Minister of Finance, he was compelled to develop +considerable energy in order to diminish the financial demands of the +opposition or render them void by having recourse to passive resistance. +This constant worry gradually exhausted Mr. Stephenson, however, and the +check-book, which, to save his face, he always carried with him, was +nothing more than a piece of useless bluff. + +He could therefore scarcely be blamed for eagerly seizing the +opportunity offered him one evening at a bar in Los Angeles, when a +stranger agreed to furnish him regularly with news from the Navy +Department for the _Evening Standard_. The affair had, of course, to be +conducted with the greatest secrecy. The stranger told Stephenson that a +clerk in the Navy Department was willing to send him such news for two +hundred dollars per annum. The result was astonishing. The articles +signed "Our Naval Correspondent" soon attracted wide attention, and the +large fees received from San Francisco quite covered the deficits in the +Stephenson household. Mrs. Olinda was soon rolling in money and the +tiresome financial discussions came to a speedy end. From that time on +Stephenson regularly received secret communications, which were mailed +at Pasadena, and as to the origin of which he himself remained in +complete ignorance. But these same messages enabled the _Evening +Standard_ in a brief space of time to establish a national reputation +for its naval news, which was at no time officially contradicted. + +The matter did not, of course, pass unnoticed in Washington, for it soon +became evident that secret dispatches were being misappropriated. +Vigorous efforts were made to discover the guilty person in the Navy +Department, but they all proved vain for the following reason: Among the +wireless stations used for maintaining constant communication between +the Navy Department at Washington and the various naval ports and naval +stations, and the fleet itself when at sea, was the large station on +Wilson's Peak near the observatory, whose shining tin-roof can be seen +plainly from Los Angeles when the sun strikes it. All messages arriving +there for transmission to San Diego and Mare Island could be readily +intercepted by the wireless apparatus attached inconspicuously to the +huge wind-wheel on an orange plantation between Pasadena and Los +Angeles. The uninitiated would have concluded that the wires had +something to do with a lightning-rod. The Japanese proprietor of the +plantation had simply to read the messages from the Morse key of his +apparatus and forward what he considered advisable to Mr. Stephenson by +mail. A few hours later the _Evening Standard_ was in a position to make +a scoop with the dispatches of its infallible naval correspondent. + +Thus Stephenson, without having the slightest suspicion of it, formed a +wheel in the great chain which prepared the way for the enemy, and since +the _Evening Standard_ had earned a reputation for publishing +absolutely reliable news in this field, no one for a moment doubted the +announcement of Admiral Perry's attack, although this was the first +spurious message which Stephenson had furnished to his paper. + + + + +_Chapter IX_ + +A FORTY-EIGHT-HOUR BALANCE + + +A steamer is lying at the pier taking in cargo. Long-legged cranes are +taking hold of bales and barrels and boxes and lowering them through the +ship's hatches with a rattle of chains. Wooden cases bound with steel +ropes and containing heavy machinery are being hoisted slowly from the +lorries on the railway tracks; the swaying burden is turning round and +round in the air, knocking against the railing with a groaning noise, +and tearing off large splinters of wood. The overseer is swearing at the +men at the windlass and comparing his papers with the slips of the +customs officer, the one making a blue check on the bill of lading and +the other taking note of each article on his long list. Suddenly a small +box comes to light, which has been waiting patiently since yesterday +under the sheltering tarpaulin. "A box of optical instruments," says the +customs officer, making a blue check. "A box of optical instruments," +repeats the overseer, making a mark with his moistened pencil-stump: +"Careful!" he adds, as a workman is on the point of tipping the heavy +box over. Then the hook of the crane seizes the loop in the steel rope +and with a stuttering rattling sound the wheels of the windlass set to +work, the steel wire grips the side of the box tightly, the barrel +beside it is pushed aside, and a wooden case enclosing a piece of +cast-iron machinery is scraped angrily over the slippery cobble-stones. +Heave ho, heave ho, chant the men, pushing with all their might. To the +accompaniment of splashing drops of oily water, puffs of steam, groans +of the windlass and the yells and curses of the stevedores, the whole +load, including the box of optical instruments, at last disappears in +the hold of the ship. It is placed securely between rolls of cardboard +next to some nice white boxes filled with shining steel goods. But when +the noise up above has died down, when with the approach of darkness the +rattling of the chains and the groaning of the windlasses has ceased, +when only the slow step of the deck-watch finds an echo--then it can be +heard. Inside the box you can hear a gentle but steady tick, tick, tick. +The clock-work is wound up and set to the exact second. Tick, tick, tick +it goes. When the ship is far out at sea and the passengers are asleep +and the watch calls out: "Lights are burning. All's well!" then the +works will have run down, the spring will stop and loosen a little +hammer. Ten kilograms of dynamite suffice. A quarter of an hour later +there'll be nothing left of the proud steamer but a few boats loaded +down with people and threatening every moment to be engulfed in the +waves. + +Tick, tick, tick, it goes down in the hold; the clock is set. Tick, +tick, tick, it goes on unceasingly, till the unknown hour arrives. No +one suspects the true nature of a piece of the cargo which certainly +looked innocent enough. Yet the hour is bound to come sooner or later, +but no one knows just when. + + * * * * * + +Nor had the country at large recognized that the hour was at hand. In +the time that it took the short hand of the clock to complete its round +four times, our country had completely changed its complexion, and the +balance drawn by the press on Tuesday morning after an interval of +forty-eight hours, had a perfectly crushing effect. Of course the +appearance of the enemy in the West at once produced a financial panic +in New York. On Monday morning the Wall Street stock-quotations of the +trans-continental railroads fell to the lowest possible figure, +rendering the shares about as valuable as the paper upon which they were +printed. Apparently enormous numbers of shares had been thrown on the +market in the first wild panic, but an hour after the opening of the +Stock Exchange, after billions had changed hands in mad haste, a slight +rise set in as a result of wholesale purchases by a single individual. +Yet even before this fact had been clearly recognized, the railway +magnates of the West had bought up all the floating stock without +exception. They could afford to wait for the millions they would pocket +until the American army had driven the enemy from the country. + +At the same time selling orders came pouring in from the other side by +way of London. The Old World lost no time in trying to get rid of its +American stocks, and the United States were made to realize that in the +hour of a political catastrophe every nation has to stand on its own +feet, and that all the diplomatic notes and the harmless +sentimentalities of foreign states will avail nothing. So it was after +the terrible night of Port Arthur and so it was now. + +It was of course as yet impossible to figure out in detail how the +Japanese had managed to take possession of the Pacific States within +twenty-four hours. But from the dispatches received from all parts of +the country during the next few days and weeks the following picture +could be drawn. The number of Japanese on American soil was in round +numbers one hundred thousand. The Japanese had not only established +themselves as small tradesmen and shopkeepers in the towns, but had also +settled everywhere as farmers and fruit-growers; Japanese coolies and +Mongolian workmen were to be found wherever new buildings were going up +as well as on all the railways. The yellow flood was threatening to +destroy the very foundations of our domestic economy by forcing down all +wage-values. The yellow immigrant who wrested spade and shovel, ax and +saw, from the American workman, who pushed his way into the factory and +the workshop and acted as a heartless strike breaker, was not only found +in the Pacific States but had pushed his way across the Rockies into the +very heart of the eastern section. And scarcely had he settled anywhere, +before, with the typical Tsushima grin, he demanded his political +rights. The individual Jap excited no suspicion and did not become +troublesome, but the Mongolians always managed to distribute their +outposts on American soil in such a way that the Japanese element never +attracted undue attention in any one particular spot. Nevertheless they +were to be found everywhere. + +We had often been told that every Japanese who landed on the Pacific +Coast or crossed the Mexican or Canadian borders was a trained soldier. +But we had always regarded this fact more as a political curiosity or a +Japanese peculiarity than as a warning. We never for a moment realized +that this whole immigration scheme was regulated by a perfect system, +and that every Japanese immigrant had received his military orders and +was in constant touch with the secret military centers at San Francisco, +who at stated periods sent out Japanese traders and agents--in reality +they were officers of the general staff, who at the same time made +important topographical notes for use in case of war--to control their +movements. Both the lumber companies in the State of Washington, which +brought hundreds of Japanese over from Canada, and the railways which +employed Japanese workmen were equally ignorant of the fact that they +had taken a Japanese regiment into their employ. + +Thus preparations for the coming war were conducted on a large scale +during the year 1907, until the ever-increasing flow of Japanese +immigrants finally led to those conflicts with which we are familiar. At +the time we regarded it as a triumph of American diplomacy when Japan, +in the face of California's threatening attitude, apparently gave in +after a little diplomatic bickering and issued the well-known +proclamation concerning emigration to Hawaii and the Pacific States, at +the same time dissolving several emigration companies at home. + +As a matter of fact Japan had already completed her military +preparations in our country in times of absolute peace, the sole +difficulty experienced being in connection with the concentration of the +remaining coolie importations. The Japanese invasion, which our +politicians dismissed as possible only in the dim and distant future, +was actually completed at the beginning of the year 1908. A Japanese +army stood prepared and fully armed right in our midst, merely waiting +until the military and financial conditions at home rendered the attack +feasible. + +When we glance to-day through the newspapers of that period, we cannot +help but smile at allowing ourselves to be persuaded that the Japanese +danger had been removed by the diplomatic retreat in Tokio and the +prohibition of emigration to North America. Our papers stated at the +time that Japan had recognized that she had drawn the bow too tight and +that she had yielded because Admiral Evans's fleet had demonstrated +conclusively that we were prepared. That only goes to show how little we +knew of the Mongolian character! + +We had become so accustomed to the large Japanese element in the +population of our Western States, that we entirely neglected to control +the harmless looking individuals. To be sure there wasn't a great deal +to be seen on the surface, but it would have been interesting to examine +some of the goods smuggled so regularly across the Mexican and Canadian +borders. Why were we content to allow the smuggling to continue without +interference, simply because we felt it couldn't be stamped out anyhow? +The Japanese did not resort to the hackneyed piano-cases and farming +machinery; they knew better than to employ such clumsy methods. The +goods they sent over the line consisted of neat little boxes full of +guns and other weapons which had been taken apart. And when a Japanese +farmer ordered a hay-cart from Canada, it was no pure chance that the +remarkably strong wheels of this cart exactly fitted a field-gun. The +barrel was brought over by a neighbor, who ordered iron columns for his +new house, inside of which the separate parts of the barrel were +soldered. It was in this way that, in the course of several years, the +entire equipment for the Japanese army came quietly and inconspicuously +across our borders. + +And then the Japanese are so clever, clever in putting together and +mounting their guns, clever in disguising them. Did it ever enter +anyone's head that the amiable landlord who cracked so many jokes at the +Japanese inn not far from the railroad station at Reno commanded a +battalion? Did anyone suppose that the casks of California wine in his +cellar in reality enclosed six machine-guns, and that in the yard behind +the house there was sufficient material to equip an entire company of +artillery inside of two hours, and that plenty of ammunition was stored +away in the attic in boxes and trunks ostensibly left by travelers to be +held until called for? As long as there's sufficient time at disposal, +all these things can be imported into the country bit by bit, and +without ever coming into conflict with the government. + +Things began to stir about the end of April. A great many Japs were +traveling about the country, but there was no reason why this +circumstance should have attracted special notice in a country like ours +where so much traveling is constantly done. The enemy were assembling. +The people arrived at the various stations and at once disappeared in +the country, bound for the different headquarters in the solitudes of +the mountains. There each one found his ammunition, his gun and his +uniform exactly as it was described in Japanese characters on the paper +which he had received on landing, and which had more than once been +officially revised or supplemented as the result of information received +from chance acquaintances who had paid him a visit. + +Everything worked like a charm; there wasn't a hitch anywhere. No one +had paid any particular attention to the fact, for example, in +connection with the fair to be held in the small town of Irvington on +May eighth, that numerous carts with Japanese farmers had arrived on the +Saturday before and that they had brought several dozen horses with +them. And who could object to their putting up at the Japanese inn +which, with its big stables, was specially suited to their purpose. At +first the Japanese owner had been laughed at, but later on he was +admired for his business ability in keeping the horse trade of Irvington +entirely in his own hands. + +When on the following day during church hours--the Japanese being +heathens--the streets lay deserted in their Sunday calm, the few people +who happened to be on Main Street and saw a field battery consisting of +six guns and six ammunition wagons turn out of the gate next to the +Japanese inn thought they had seen an apparition. The battery started +off at once at a sharp trot and left the town to take up a position out +in a field in the suburbs, where a dozen men were already busily at work +with spades and pick-axes digging a trench. + +The police of Irvington were at once notified, a sleepy official at the +Post Office was roused out of his slumbers, and a telegram was directed +to the nearest military post, but the latter proceeding was useless and +no answer was received, since the copper wires were long ago in the +control of the enemy. Even if it had got through, the telegraphic +warning would have come too late, for the military post in question, of +which half of the troops were, as usual, on leave, had been attacked and +captured by the Japanese at nine o'clock in the morning. + +A hundred thousand Japanese had established the line of an eastern +advance-guard long before the Pacific States had any idea of what was +up. During Sunday, after the capture of San Francisco, the occupation of +Seattle, San Diego and the other fortified towns on the coast, the +landing of the second detachment of the Japanese army began, and by +Monday evening the Pacific States were in the grip of no less than one +hundred and seventy thousand men. + + * * * * * + +When, on Sunday morning, the Japanese had cut off the railway +connections, they adopted the plan of allowing all trains going from +east to west to pass unmolested, so that there was soon quite a +collection of engines and cars to be found within the zone bounded by +the Japanese outposts. On the other hand, all the trains running +eastward were held up, some being sent back and others being used for +conveying the Japanese troops to advance posts or for bringing the +various lines of communication into touch with one another. In some +cases these trains were also used for pushing boldly much farther east, +the enemy thus surprising and overpowering a number of military posts +and arsenals in which the guns and ammunition for the militia were +stored. + +Only in a very few instances did this gigantic mechanism fail. One of +these accidents occurred at Swallowtown, where the mistake was made of +attacking the express-train to Umatilla instead of the local train to +Pendleton. The lateness of the former and the occupation of the station +too long before the expected arrival of the latter, and coupled to this +the heroic deed of the station-master, interfered unexpectedly with the +execution of the plan. The reader will remember that when the express +returned to Swallowtown, Tom's shanty was empty. The enemy had +disappeared and had taken the two captive farmers with them. The mounted +police, who had been summoned immediately from Walla Walla, found the +two men during the afternoon in their wagon, bound hand and foot, in a +hollow a few miles to the west of the station. They also discovered a +time-table of the Oregon Railway in the wagon, with a note in Japanese +characters beside the time for the arrival of the local train from +Umatilla. This time-table had evidently been lost by the leader of the +party on his flight. Soon after the police had returned to the +Swallowtown station that same evening, a Japanese military train passed +through, going in the direction of Pendleton. The train was moving +slowly and those within opened fire on the policeman, who lost no time +in replying. But the odds were too great, and it was all over in a few +minutes. + +By Monday evening the enemy had secured an immense quantity of railway +material, which had simply poured into their arms automatically, and +which was more than sufficient for their needs. + +The information received from Victoria (British Columbia) that a fleet +had been sighted in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, whence it was said +to have proceeded to Port Townsend and Puget Sound, was quite correct. A +cruiser squadron had indeed passed Esquimault and Victoria at dawn on +Sunday, and a few hours later firing had been heard coming from the +direction of Port Townsend. The British harbor officials had suddenly +become extremely timid and had not allowed the regular steamer to leave +for Seattle. When, therefore, on Monday morning telegraphic inquiries +came from the American side concerning the foreign warships, which, by +the way, had carried no flag, ambiguous answers could be made without +arousing suspicion. Considerable excitement prevailed in Victoria on +account of the innumerable vague rumors of the outbreak of war; the +naval station, however, remained perfectly quiet. On Monday morning a +cruiser started out in the direction of Port Townsend, and after +exchanging numerous signals with Esquimault, continued on her course +towards Cape Flattery and the open sea. It will be seen, therefore, that +no particular zeal was shown in endeavoring to get at the bottom of the +matter. + +A battle between the Japanese ships and the forts of Port Townsend had +actually taken place. Part of the hostile fleet had escorted the +transport steamers to Puget Sound and had there found the naval depots +and the fortifications, the arsenal and the docks in the hands of their +countrymen, who had also destroyed the second-class battleship _Texas_ +lying off Port Orchard by firing at her from the coast forts previously +stormed and captured by them. They had surprised Seattle at dawn much in +the same way as San Francisco had been surprised, and they at once +began to land troops and unload their war materials. On the other hand, +an attempt to surprise Port Townsend with an insufficient force had +failed. The Americans had had enough sense to prohibit the Japanese from +coming too near to the newly armed coast defenses, and the better watch +which the little town had been able to keep over the Asiatics had made +it difficult for them to assemble a sufficiently large fighting +contingent. The work here had to be attended to by the guns, and the +enemy had included this factor in their calculations from the beginning. + +How thoroughly informed the Japanese were as to every detail of our +coast defenses and how well acquainted they were with each separate +battery, with its guns as well as with its ammunition, was clearly +demonstrated by the new weapon brought into the field in connection with +the real attack on the fortifications. Of course Japanese laborers had +been employed in erecting the works--they worked for such ridiculously +low wages, those Japanese engineers disguised as coolies. With the eight +million two hundred thousand dollars squeezed out of Congress in the +spring of 1908--in face of the unholy fear on the part of the nation's +representatives of a deficit, it had been impossible to get more--two +new mortar batteries had been built on the rocky heights of Port +Townsend. These batteries, themselves inaccessible to all ships' guns, +were in a position to pour down a perpendicular fire on hostile decks +and could thus make short work of every armored vessel. + +Now the Japanese had already had a very unpleasant experience with the +strong coast fortifications of Port Arthur. In the first place, +bombarding of this nature was very injurious to the bores of the ships' +guns, and secondly, the results on land were for the most part nominal. +Not without reason had Togo tried to get at the shore batteries of Port +Arthur by indirect fire from Pigeon Bay. But even that, in spite of +careful observations taken from the water, had little effect. And even +the strongest man-of-war was helpless against the perpendicular fire of +the Port Townsend mortar batteries, because it was simply impossible for +its guns, with their slight angle of elevation, to reach the forts +situated so high above them. And if the road to Seattle, that important +base of operations in the North, was not to be perpetually menaced, then +Port Townsend must be put out of commission. + +But for every weapon a counter-weapon is usually invented, and every new +discovery is apt to be counterbalanced by another. The world has never +yet been overturned by a new triumph of skill in military technics, +because it is at once paralyzed by another equally ingenious. And now, +at Port Townsend, very much the same thing happened as on March ninth, +1862. In much the same way that the appearance of the _Merrimac_ had +brought destruction to the wooden fleet until she was herself forced to +flee before Ericsson's _Monitor_ at Hampton Roads, so now at Port +Townsend on May seventh a new weapon was made to stand the crucial test. +Only this time we were not the pathfinders of the new era. + +While the Japanese cruisers, keeping carefully beyond the line of fire +from the forts, sailed on to Seattle, four ships were brought into +action against the mortar batteries of Port Townsend which appeared to +set at defiance all known rules of ship-building, and which, +indestructible as they were, threatened to annihilate all existing +systems. They were low vessels which floated on the water like huge +tortoises. These mortar-boats, which were destined to astound not only +the Americans but the whole world, had been constructed in Japanese +shipyards, to which no stranger had ever been admitted. In place of the +ordinary level-firing guns found on a modern warship, these uncanny gray +things carried 17.7-inch howitzers, a kind of mortar of Japanese +construction. There was nothing to be seen above the low deck but a +short heavily protected funnel and four little armored domes which +contained the sighting telescopes for the guns, the mouths of which lay +in the arch of the whaleback deck. Four such vessels had also been +constructed for use at San Francisco, but the quick capture of the forts +had rendered the mortar-boats unnecessary. + +We were constantly being attacked in places where no thought had been +given to the defense, and the fortifications we did possess were never +shot at from the direction they faced. Our coast defenses were +everywhere splendidly protected against level-firing guns, which the +Japanese, however, unfortunately refrained from using. With their +mortar-boats they attacked our forts in their most vulnerable spot, that +is, from above. With the exception of Winfield Scott, the batteries at +Port Townsend were the only ones on our western coast which at once +construed the appearance of suspicious-looking ships on May seventh as +signs of a Japanese attack, and they immediately opened fire on the four +Japanese cruisers and on the transport steamers. But before this fire +had any effect, the hostile fleet changed its course to the North and +the four mortar-boats began their attack. They approached to within two +nautical miles and opened fire at once. + +What was the use of our gunners aiming at the flat, gray arches of these +uncanny ocean-tortoises? The heavy shells splashed into the water all +around them, and when one did succeed in hitting one of the boats, it +was simply dashed to pieces against the armor-plate, which was several +feet thick, or else it glanced off harmlessly like hail dancing off the +domed roof of a pavilion. The only targets were the flames which shot +incessantly out of the mouths of the hostile guns like out of a +funnel-shaped crater. + +By noon all the armored domes of the Port Townsend batteries had been +destroyed and one gun after another had ceased firing. The horizontal +armor-plates, too, which protected the disappearing gun-carriages +belonging to the huge guns of the other forts, had not been able to +withstand the masses of steel which came down almost perpendicularly +from above them. One single well-aimed shot had usually sufficed to +cripple the complicated mechanism and once that was injured, it was +impossible to bring the gun back into position for firing. The concrete +roofs of the ammunition rooms and barracks were shot to pieces and the +traverses were reduced to rubbish heaps by the bursting of the numerous +shells of the enemy. And all that was finally left round the tattered +Stars and Stripes was a little group of heavily wounded gunners, +performing their duty to the bitter end, and these heroes were honored +by the enemy by being permitted to keep their arms. They were sent by +steamer from Seattle to the Canadian Naval Station at Esquimault on the +seventh of May, and their arrival inspired the populace to stormy +demonstrations against the Japanese, this being the first outward +expression of Canadian sympathy for the United States. The Canadians +felt that the time had come for all white men to join hands against the +common danger, and the policy of the Court of St. James soon became +intensely unpopular throughout Canada. What did Canada care about what +was considered the proper policy in London, when here at their very door +necessity pressed hard on their heels, and the noise of war from across +the border sounded a shrill Mene Tekel in the white man's ear? + + * * * * * + +There were therefore no less than one hundred and seventy thousand +Japanese soldiers on American soil on Tuesday morning, May ninth. In the +north, the line of outposts ran along the eastern border of the States +of Washington and Oregon and continued through the southern portion of +Idaho, always keeping several miles to the east of the tracks of the +Oregon Short Line, which thus formed an excellent line of communication +behind the enemy's front. At Granger, the junction of the Oregon Short +Line and the Union Pacific, the Japanese reached their easternmost +bastion, and here they dug trenches, which were soon fortified by means +of heavy artillery. From here their line ran southward along the Wasatch +Mountains, crossed the great Colorado plateau and then continued along +the high section of Arizona, reaching the Mexican boundary by way of +Fort Bowie. + +Only in the south and in the extreme north did railroads in any +respectable number lead up to the Japanese front. In the center, +however, the roads by way of which an American assault could be made, +namely the Union Pacific at Granger, the Denver and Rio Grande at Grand +Junction, and further south the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fé, approached +the Japanese positions at right angles, and at these points captive +balloons and several air-ships kept constant watch toward the east, so +that there was no possibility of an American surprise. In the north +strong field fortifications along the border-line of Washington and +Idaho furnished sufficient protection, and in the south the sunbaked +sandy deserts of New Mexico served the same purpose. Then, too, the +almost unbroken railway connection between the north and the south +allowed the enemy to transport his reserves at a moment's notice to any +point of danger, and the Japs were clever enough not to leave their +unique position to push further eastward. Any advance of large bodies +of troops would have weakened all the manifold advantages of this +position, and besides the Japanese numbers were not considerable enough +to warrant an unnecessary division of forces. + +And what had we in the way of troops to oppose this hostile invasion? +Our regular army consisted, on paper, of sixty thousand men. Fifteen +thousand of these had been stationed in the Pacific States, composed +principally of the garrisons of the coast forts; all of these without +exception were, by Monday morning, in the hands of the Japanese. This at +once reduced the strength of our regular army to forty-five thousand +men. Of this number eighteen thousand were in the Philippines and, +although they were not aware of it, they had to all intents and purposes +been placed _hors de combat_, both at Mindanao and in the fortifications +of Manila. Besides these the two regiments on the way from San Francisco +to Manila and the garrison of Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, +could be similarly deducted. It will be seen, therefore, that, only +twenty-five thousand men of our regular army were available, and these +were scattered over the entire country: some were in the numerous +prairie-forts, others on the Atlantic coast, still others in Cuba and in +Porto Rico. Thus twenty-five thousand men were pitted against a force +not only seven times as large, but one that was augmented hourly by +hundreds of newcomers. On Monday the President had called out the +organized militia and on the following day he sent a special message to +Congress recommending the formation of a volunteer army. The calls to +arms were posted in the form of huge placards at all the street-corners +and at the entrances to the speedily organized recruiting-offices. In +this way it was possible, to be sure, within a few months to raise an +army equal to that of the enemy so far as mere numbers were concerned, +and the American citizen could be relied upon. But where were the +leaders, where was the entire organization of the transport, of the +commissariat, of the ambulance corps--we possessed no military +train-corps at all--and most important of all, where were the arms to +come from? + +The arsenals and ammunition-depots in the Pacific States were in the +hands of the enemy, the cannon of our far western field-artillery depots +had aided in forming Japanese batteries, and the Japanese flag was +waving above our heavy coast guns. The terrible truth that we were for +the present absolutely helpless before the enemy had a thoroughly +disheartening effect on all classes of the population as soon as it was +clearly recognized. In impotent rage at this condition of utter +helplessness and in their eagerness to be revenged on the all-powerful +enemy, men hurried to the recruiting-offices in large numbers, and the +lists for the volunteer regiments were soon covered with signatures. The +citizens of the country dropped the plow, stood their tools in the +corner and laid their pens away; the clattering typewriters became +silent, and in the offices of the sky-scrapers business came to a +stand-still. Only in the factories where war materials were manufactured +did great activity reign. + +For the present there was at least one dim hope left, namely the fleet. +But where was the fleet? After our battle-fleet had crossed the Pacific +to Australia and Eastern Asia, it returned to the Atlantic, while a +squadron of twelve battleships and four armored cruisers was sent under +Admiral Perry to the west coast and stationed there, with headquarters +at San Francisco. To these ships must be added the regular Pacific +squadron and Philippine squadron. The remaining ships of our fleet were +in Atlantic waters. + +That was the fatal mistake committed in the year of our Lord 1909. In +vain, all in vain, had been the oft-repeated warning that in face of the +menacing Japanese danger the United States navy should be kept together, +either in the west or in the east. Only when concentrated, only in the +condition in which it was taken through the Straits of Magellan by +Admiral Evans, was our fleet absolutely superior to the Japanese. Every +dispersal, every separation of single divisions was bound to prove +fatal. Article upon article and pamphlet upon pamphlet were written +anent the splitting-up of our navy! And yet what a multitude of entirely +different and mutually exclusive tasks were set her at one and the same +time! Manila was to be protected, Pearl Harbor was to have a naval +station, the Pacific coast was to be protected, and there was to be a +reserve fleet off the eastern coast. + +And yet it was perfectly clear that any part of the fleet which happened +to be stationed at Manila or Hawaii would be lost to the Americans +immediately on the outbreak of hostilities. But we deluded ourselves +with the idea that Japan would not dare send her ships across the +Pacific in the face of our little Philippine squadron, whereas not even +a large squadron stationed at Manila would have hindered the Japanese +from attacking us. Even such a squadron they could easily have destroyed +with a detachment of equal strength, without in any way hindering their +advance against our western shores, while the idea of attempting to +protect an isolated colony with a few ships against a great sea-power +was perfectly ridiculous. The strong coast fortifications and a division +of submarines--the two stationed there at the time, however, were really +not fit for use--would have sufficed for the defense of Manila, and +anything beyond that simply meant an unnecessary sacrifice of forces +which might be far more useful elsewhere. + +After our fleet had been divided between the east and the west, both the +Pacific fleet and the reserve Atlantic fleet were individually far +inferior to the Japanese fleet. The maintenance of a fleet in the +Pacific as well as of one in the Atlantic was a fatal luxury. It was +superfluous to keep on tap a whole division of ships in our Atlantic +harbors merely posing as maritime ornaments before the eyes of Europe or +at the most coming in handy for an imposing demonstration against a +refractory South-American Republic. All this could have been done just +as well with a few cruisers. English money and Japanese intrigues, it is +true, succeeded in always keeping the Venezuelan wound open, so that we +were constantly obliged to steal furtive glances at that corner of the +world, one that had caused us so much political vexation. Matters had +indeed reached a sorry pass if our political prestige was so shaky, that +it was made to depend on Mr. Castro's valuation of the forces at the +disposal of the United States! + +In consideration of the many unforeseen delays that had occurred in the +work of digging the Panama Canal, there was only one policy for us to +adopt until its completion, and that was to keep our fleet together and +either to concentrate it in the Pacific and thus deter the enemy from +attacking our coasts, regardless of what might be thought of our action +in Tokio, or to keep only a few cruisers in the Pacific, as formerly, +and to concentrate the fleet in the Atlantic, so as to be able to attack +the enemy from the rear with the full force of our naval power. But +these amateur commissioners of the public safety who wished to have an +imposing squadron on view wherever our flag floated--as if the Stars and +Stripes were a signal of distress instead of a token of +strength--condemned our fleet to utter helplessness. In 1908, when +there was no mistaking the danger, we, the American people, one of the +richest and most energetic nations of the world, nevertheless allowed +ourselves in the course of the debate on the naval appropriations to be +frightened by Senator Maine's threat of a deficit of a few dollars in +our budget, should the sums that were absolutely needed in case our +fleet was to fulfill the most immediate national tasks be voted. This +was the short-sighted policy of a narrow-minded politician who, when a +country's fate is hanging in the balance, complains only of the costs. +It was most assuredly a short-sighted policy, and we were compelled to +pay dearly for it. + +The voyage of our fleet around South America had shown the world that +the value of a navy is not impaired because a few drunken sailors +occasionally forget to return to their ship when in port: on the +contrary, foreign critics had been obliged to admit that our navy in +point of equipment and of crews was second to none. And lo and behold, +this remarkable exhibition of power--the only sensible idea evolved by +our navy department in years--is followed by the insane dispersal of our +ships to so many different stations. + +How foolish had it been, furthermore, to boast as we did about having +kept up communication with Washington by wireless during the whole of +our journey around South America. Had not the experience at Trinidad, +where a wireless message intercepted by an English steamer had warned +the coal-boats that our fleet would arrive a day sooner, taught us a +lesson? And had not the way in which the Japanese steamer, also provided +with a wireless apparatus, stuck to us so persistently between +Valparaiso and Callao shown us plainly that every new technical +discovery has its shady side? + +No, we had learned nothing. In Washington they insisted on sending all +orders from the Navy Department to the different harbors and naval +stations by wireless, yet each of the stations along the whole distance +from east to west provided possibilities of indiscretion and treachery +and of unofficial interception. Why had we not made wireless telegraphy +a government monopoly, instead of giving each inhabitant of the United +States the right to erect an apparatus of his own if he so wished? Did +it never occur to anybody in Washington that long before the orders of +the Navy Department had reached Mare Island, Puget Sound and San Diego +they had been read with the greatest ease by hundreds of strangers? It +required the success of the enemy to make all this clear to us, when we +might just as well have listened to those who drew conclusions from +obvious facts and recommended caution. + +In spite of all this, the press on Tuesday morning still adhered to the +hope that Admiral Perry would attack the enemy from the rear with his +twelve battleships of the Pacific squadron, and that, meeting the +Japanese at their base of operations, he would cut off all threads of +communication between San Francisco and Tokio. It was no longer possible +to warn Perry of his danger, since the wireless stations beyond the +Rockies were already in the enemy's hands. The American people could +therefore only trust to luck; but blind chance has never yet saved a +country in its hour of direst need. It can only be saved by the energy, +the steady eye and the strong hand of men. All hope centered in Admiral +Perry, in his energy and his courage, but the people became uneasy when +no answer was received to the oft-repeated question: "Where is the +Pacific fleet?" Yes, where was Admiral Perry? + + + + +_Chapter X_ + +ADMIRAL PERRY'S FATE + + +The wireless apparatus on board Admiral Perry's flag-ship, the +_Connecticut_, rattled and crackled and on the strip of white paper +slowly ejected by the Morse machine appeared the words: "Magdalen Bay to +Commander-in-chief of Squadron, May 7, 8h. 25. A cruiser and two +torpedo-boats sighted four miles N.W. with course set towards Magdalen +Bay; uncertain whether friend or foe. Captain Pancoast." + +The man at the instrument tore off the duplicate of the strip and pasted +it on the bulletin, touched the button of an electric bell and handed +the message to the signalman who answered the ring. The telephone bell +rang directly afterwards and from the bridge came the order: "Magdalen +Bay to establish immediate connection by wireless with cruiser and +torpedoes; ascertain whether they belong to blue or yellow party." + +The officer ticked off the message at great speed. + +"This looks like bad weather," he said to himself, while waiting for the +answer. The increased rocking of the ship showed that the sea was +getting rougher. A black pencil, which had been lying in the corner +between the wall and the edge of the table, suddenly came to life and +began rolling aimlessly about. The officer picked it up and drew a map +of the location of Magdalen Bay as far as he could remember it. "Four +miles," he murmured, "they ought to be able to identify the ships at +that distance with the aid of a glass." + +Suddenly the instrument began to buzz and rattle and amidst a discharge +of little electric sparks the strip of white paper began to move out +slowly from beneath the letter roller. + + "Magdalen Bay to Commander-in-chief of Squadron, May 7, 8 h. 53: + Approaching cruiser, probably yellow armored cruiser _New York_; does + not answer call. Captain Pancoast." + +The officer hadn't had time to get the message ready for the bridge, +when the instrument again began to rattle madly: + +"Take care of Kxj31mpTwB8d--951SR7--J," warned the strip in its mute +language; then nothing further; complete silence reigned. "What does +this mean?" said the officer, "this can't be all." + +He knocked on the coherer, then put in a new one: not a sign. He took a +third, a fourth, he knocked and shook the instrument, but it remained +dumb. With his Morse-key he asked back: + +"Magdalen Bay, repeat message!" + +No answer. + +Then he asked: "Did you understand question?" + +No answer. + +The signalman was standing beside him, and he handed him the message +with the order to take it at once to the bridge; then he went to the +telephone and took off the receiver. "This is Sergeant Medlow. I've just +received from Magdalen Bay the message now on the way to the bridge: +'Take care of--' then the connection was cut off.... All right, sir." + +Two minutes later an excited lieutenant rushed in crying: "What's the +matter with the apparatus?" + +"It won't work, sir; it stopped in the middle of a sentence." + +"Take a new coherer!" + +"I've tried four." + +They both tapped the coherer, but nothing happened. All questions +remained unanswered, and they seemed to be telegraphing into space. + +"Probably a breakdown," said the lieutenant naïvely. + +"Yes, sir, probably a breakdown," repeated Medlow; and then he was alone +once more. + + * * * * * + +The officer on duty on the bridge of the _Connecticut_ had informed +Captain Farlow, commander of the ship, of the latest messages from +Magdalen Bay, and when he now appeared on the bridge in company with +Admiral Perry, the officer held out the two bulletins. The admiral +studied them thoughtfully and murmured: "_New York_, it's true she +belongs to the yellow fleet, but what brings her to Magdalen Bay? +Admiral Crane cannot possibly be so far to the southeast with his +squadron, for the latest news from our outposts led us to believe that +he intended to attack us from the west." + +"But he may be going to surprise Magdalen Bay, Admiral," said Captain +Farlow. + +"Perhaps," replied the Admiral, rather sharply, "but will you tell me +what for? There are only two torpedo-boats at Magdalen Bay, and to +destroy a wireless station from which there are no messages to be sent +would be a rather silly thing for an overzealous commander of the yellow +fleet to do. And besides we have special orders from Washington to draw +Magdalen Bay as little as possible into the maneuvers, so as to avoid +all unpleasantness with Mexico and not to attract the attention of +foreigners to the importance which the bay would assume in case of war." + +A lieutenant stepped up to Captain Farlow and reported, saluting: "All +attempts to establish connection with Magdalen Bay have failed." + +"Well, let it go," grumbled Admiral Perry, "Crane seems to have deprived +us of Magdalen Bay, but the commander of the _New York_ will reap a fine +reprimand from Washington for this." + +With these words Admiral Perry left the bridge, steadying himself by +holding on to the railing on both sides of the steps, as the sea was +becoming rougher every minute. + +The increasing northeast wind tore through the rigging, whistled in the +wires, howled through all the openings, screamed its bad temper down the +companionways, pulled savagely at the gun-covers and caused the long +copper-wires belonging to the wireless apparatus to snap like huge +whips. The bluish-gray waves broke with a hollow sound against the sides +of the six battleships of the _Connecticut_ class, which were running +abreast in a northwesterly direction through the dreary watery wastes of +the Pacific at the rate of ten knots an hour. + +There was a high sea on. A barometric depression that was quite unusual +in these sunny latitudes at that particular time of year had brought +nasty weather in its train. During the night violent rain-storms had +flooded the decks. Now the wind freshened and swept low-hanging clouds +before it. The sharp white bow of the _Connecticut_ with the pressure of +16,000 tons of steel behind it plowed its way through the water, +throwing up a hissing foaming wave on each side. The wind lashed the +waves on the starboard-side so that they splashed over the forepart of +the cruiser like a shower of rain, enveloping it in a gray mist. The +thick, black smoke pouring out of the three long funnels was blown +obliquely down to the edge of the water and hung there like a thick +cloud which shut off the western horizon and made the passage of the +squadron visible a long distance off. The small openings in the +casemates of the armored guns had been closed up long before, because +the waves had begun to wash over them, and even the turrets on the upper +deck had received a few heavy showers which had flooded their interiors. +It was indeed nasty weather. + +Captain Farlow had taken up his stand on the upper conning-tower of the +_Connecticut_ the better to examine the horizon with his glass, but a +thick curtain of rain rendered it almost invisible. + +"Nothing to be seen of our cruisers," he said to the navigating officer +of the squadron, "this is disgusting weather for maneuvers." + +Then he gave the command to telephone across to the two leading cruisers +_California_ and _Colorado_ and ask if, on account of the thick weather, +they required the assistance of two small cruisers in order to be +sufficiently protected against the yellow fleet? + +The commander of the _California_ answered in the affirmative and asked +that the three destroyers in the van, which had all they could do to +maintain their course in such a heavy sea, and were therefore of little +use in their present position, be recalled and replaced by two cruisers. + +The admiral recalled the three destroyers by a wireless signal and +ordered them to take up their position in the rear beside the other +three destroyers and to assist in protecting the rear of the squadron. +At the same time he strengthened his front line by sending the cruisers +_Galveston_ and _Chattanooga_, which had formed the port and starboard +flank, respectively, to the van. His advance, consisting now of the two +last-named cruisers and the two armored cruisers, proceeded in a flat +wedge formation, while the cruiser _Denver_ to starboard and the +_Cleveland_ to port, at a distance of three knots from the squadron, +established the connection between the van and the rather dubious +rear-guard of destroyers, which could scarcely do much in such weather. + +The _Galveston_ and _Chattanooga_, both pouring forth clouds of smoke, +quickly assumed their positions at the head of the line. + +Captain Farlow paced restlessly up and down the bridge in his oilskins. +"I suppose this is the last remnant of the spring storms," he said to +his navigating officer, "but it's a good-sized one. If we didn't have a +fairly good formation the yellow fleet could play us a nasty trick by +taking us by surprise in such weather." + +"A wireless message from the cruiser _California_," said a lieutenant, +handing it to the captain, who read: + +"_Chattanooga_ and _Galveston_ stationed on right and left flanks of +advance guard; _Denver_ and _Cleveland_ establish connection between +latter and squadron. No sign of yellow fleet." + +Just then an orderly appeared and requested Captain Farlow to report to +Admiral Perry. + +The squadron continued on its way. The northeast wind increased, driving +black scurrying clouds before it which swept across the foaming waves +and suddenly enveloped everything in glimmering darkness. The rain +poured down on the decks in sheets and everything was swimming in a +splashing flood. What with the downpour of the rain and the splashing of +the waves, it was often impossible for the lookouts to see a yard ahead. +Added to all this was a disagreeable sticky, humid heat. It was surely +more comfortable below deck. + + * * * * * + +"What do you think of this Magdalen Bay affair?" asked the admiral of +the captain as the latter entered the admiral's cabin; "it is worrying +me considerably." + +"In my opinion," was the answer, "it's a piece of crass stupidity on +the part of the commander of the _New York_. It is all nonsense to play +such tricks with a country where we are not particularly welcome guests +at any time, in spite of all the diplomatic courtesies of Porfirio Díaz. +The gentlemen over in Tokio have every movement of ours in the bay +watched by their many spies, and their diplomatic protests are always +ready." + +"Certainly," said the admiral, "certainly, but our maneuvers are +supposed to reflect actual war, and--between ourselves--there's no doubt +but that we should treat Magdalen Bay in time of war just as though it +were American soil." + +"In time of war, yes," answered the captain eagerly, "but it's foolish +to show our hand in a maneuver, in time of peace. Even if we do act as +though Magdalen Bay belonged to us, whereas in reality we have only been +permitted to use it as a coaling-station and had no right to erect a +wireless station as we did, it is nevertheless inexcusable to use that +particular spot for maneuver operations. If it once becomes known in +Mexico, the diplomats there, who are always dying of ennui, will make +trouble at once, and as we don't suffer from a surplus of good friends +at any time, we ought to avoid every opportunity of giving them a +diplomatic lever through maneuver blunders." + +"Then the best plan," said the admiral in a thoughtful tone, "would be +to report the circumstances to Washington at once, and suggest to them +that it would be advisable to represent the attack on Magdalen Bay as +the result of too much zeal on the part of a poorly posted commander and +to apologize to Mexico for the mistake." + +"That would certainly be the correct thing to do," answered Farlow, +adding, "for when we do have our reckoning with the yellow...." + +Here the telephone bell in the cabin rang madly and Captain Farlow +jumped up to answer it; but in his excitement he had forgotten all about +the rolling of the ship, and consequently stumbled and slipped along the +floor to the telephone. The admiral could not help smiling, but at once +transformed the smile into a frown when the door opened to admit an +orderly, who was thus also a witness of Captain Farlow's sliding party. +The latter picked himself up with a muttered oath and went to the +telephone. + +"What," he shouted, "what's that, Higgins? You must be crazy, man! +Admiral Crane's fleet, the yellow fleet? It's impossible, we've got our +scouts out on all sides!" + +Then he turned halfway round to the admiral, saying: "The navigator is +seeing ghosts, sir; he reports that Admiral Crane with the yellow fleet +has been sighted to windward three knots off!" He hurried towards the +door and there ran plumb against the orderly, whom he asked sharply: +"What are you doing here?" + +"The navigator, Lieutenant Higgins, reports that several ships have been +sighted to starboard three miles ahead. Lieutenant Higgins thinks...." + +"Lieutenant Higgins thinks, of course, that it is Admiral Crane's yellow +fleet," snarled Farlow. + +"Yes, sir," answered the orderly, "the yellow fleet," and stared in +astonishment at the commander of the _Connecticut_, who, followed by +Admiral Perry, rushed up the stairs. + +"Oh, my oilskins!..." With this exclamation the commander reached the +top of the staircase leading to the bridge deck, where a violent rush of +greenish-gray water from a particularly enormous wave drenched him from +head to foot. + +"Now, then, Mr. Higgins," he called, wiping the water from his eyes and +mustache, "where is the yellow fleet?" + +The navigator was staring out to sea through his glass trying to +penetrate the thick veil of rain. The storm howled and showers of foam +burst over the decks of the _Connecticut_, the water washing over +everything with a dull roar. + +Captain Farlow had no need to inquire further. That was Admiral Crane +and his yellow fleet sure enough! + +The silhouettes of six large battleships looking like phantom-ships +rising from the depths of the boiling ocean could be plainly seen +through the rain and waves about six thousand yards to starboard of the +_Connecticut_. + +"Clear ships for action!" commanded the captain. The navigator and +another lieutenant hurried to the telephones and transmitted the order. +The flag lieutenant of the squadron rushed to the telephone leading to +the wireless room, and ordered a message forwarded to all of the ships +of the squadron to proceed at full speed. For safety's sake the order +was repeated by means of flag signals. + +While from the bridge the officers were watching the gray phantoms of +the strange armored fleet, it continued calmly on its course. The +leading ship threw up great masses of foam like huge exploding +fountains, which covered the bow with showers of gray water. + +In a few minutes things began to get lively within the steel body of the +_Connecticut_. The sounds of shrill bugle-calls, of the loud ringing of +bells, of excited calls and a hurried running to and fro, came up from +below. + +In the midst of the water pouring over the deck appeared the sailors in +their white uniforms. They at once removed the gun-coverings, while +peculiarly shrill commands resounded above the roar of the wind and the +waves. + +Great quantities of thick, black smoke poured from the yellowish brown +funnels, to be immediately seized and broken up by the wind. The reserve +signalmen for duty on the bridge as well as the fire-control detail took +up their positions. + +One lieutenant climbed hastily up into the military top of the foremast. +Two other officers and a few midshipmen followed him as far as the +platform above the conning-tower, where the instruments connected with +the fire-control were kept. Orderlies came and went with messages. All +this was the work of a few minutes. Captain Farlow was inwardly +delighted that everything should have gone off so well before the +admiral. Now the other ships reported that they were clear for action. +Just as the bright ensigns were being run to the mastheads, the sun +broke through the black clouds for a moment. The six monster ships +continued on their way in the sunlight like sliding masses of white +iron, with their long yellowish brown funnels emitting clouds of smoke +and their rigid masts pointing upward into the angry sky. The sunshine +made the deck structures sparkle with thousands of glistening drops for +a brief moment; then the sun disappeared and the majestic picture was +swallowed up once more by the gray clouds. + +"Shall we go up to the conning-tower?" inquired the flag lieutenant of +the admiral. + +"Oh, no, we'll stay here," said the latter, carefully examining the +yellow fleet through his glass. "Can you make out which ship the first +one is?" he asked. + +"I think it's the _Iowa_," said the commander, who was standing near +him. But the wind tore the words from his lips. + +"What did you say?" screamed back the admiral. + +"_Iowa_," repeated Farlow. + +"No such thing, the _Iowa_ is much smaller and has only one mast. The +ship over there also has an additional turret in the center." + +"No, it's not the _Iowa_," corroborated the captain, "but two funnels +... what ship can it be...?" + +"Those ships are painted gray, too, not white like ours. It's not the +yellow fleet at all," interrupted the admiral, "it's, it's--my God, what +is it?" + +He examined the ships again and saw numerous little flags running up the +mast of the leading ship, undoubtedly a signal, then the forward turret +with its two enormously long gun-barrels swung slowly over to starboard, +the other turrets turned at the same time, and then a tongue of flame +shot out of the mouths of both barrels in the forward turret; the wind +quickly dispersed the cloud of smoke, and three seconds later a shell +burst with a fearful noise on the deck of the _Connecticut_ between the +base of the bridge and the first gun-turret, throwing the splinters +right on the bridge and tearing off the head of the lieutenant who was +doing duty at the signal apparatus. The second shell hit the armored +plate right above the openings for the two 12-inch guns in the +fore-turret, leaving behind a great hole with jagged edges out of which +burst sheets of flame and clouds of smoke, which were blown away in long +strips by the wind. A heartrending scream from within followed this +explosion of the cartridges lying in readiness beside the guns. The +forward turret had been put out of action. + +For several seconds everyone on the bridge seemed dazed, while thoughts +raced through their heads with lightning-like rapidity. + +Could it be chance...? Impossible, for in the same moment that the two +shots were fired by the leading ship, the whole fleet opened fire on +Admiral Perry's squadron with shells of all calibers. The admiral +seized Farlow's arm and shook it to and fro in a blind rage. + +"Those," he cried, "those ... why, man, those are the Japanese! That's +the enemy and he has surprised us right in the midst of peace! Now God +give me a clear head, and let us never forget that we are American men!" +He scarcely heard the words of the flag lieutenant who called out to +him: "That's the Japanese _Satsuma_, Togo's _Satsuma_!" + +The admiral reached the telephone-board in one bound and yelled down the +artillery connection: "Hostile attack!... Japanese. We've been +surprised!" + +And it was indeed high time, for scarcely had the admiral reached the +conning-tower, stumbling over the dead body of a signalman on the way, +when a hail-storm of bullets swept the bridge, killing all who were on +it. + +As there was no other officer near, Captain Farlow went to the signaling +instrument himself to send the admiral's orders to those below deck. + +The _Connecticut_, which had been without a helmsman for a moment +because the man at the helm had been killed by a bursting shell that had +literally forced his body between the spokes of the wheel, was swaying +about like a drunken person owing to the heavy blows of the enemy's +shells. Now she recovered her course and the commander issued his orders +from the bridge in a calm and decisive voice. + +We have seen what a paralyzing effect the opening of fire from the +Japanese ships had had on the commander and officers of the +_Connecticut_ on the bridge, and the reader can imagine the effect it +must have had on the crew--they were dumfounded with terror. The +crashing of the heavy steel projectiles above deck, the explosion in the +foreward gun-turret, and several shots which had passed through the +unarmored starboard side of the forepart of the ship in rapid +succession--they were explosive shells which created fearful havoc and +filled all the rooms with the poisonous gases of the Shimose-powder--all +this, added to the continual ring of the alarm-signals, had completely +robbed the crew below deck of their senses and of all deliberation. + +At first it was thought to be an accident, and without waiting for +orders from above, the fire-extinguishing apparatus was got ready. But +the bells continued to ring on all sides, and the crashing blows that +shook the ship continually became worse and worse. On top of this came +the perfectly incomprehensible news that, unprepared as they were, they +were confronted by the enemy, by a Japanese fleet. + +All this happened with lightning-like rapidity--so quickly, indeed, that +it was more than human nerves could grasp and at the same time remain +calm and collected. The reverberations of the bursting shells and the +dull rumbling crashes against the armored sides of the casemates and +turrets produced an infernal noise which completely drowned the human +voice. Frightful horror was depicted on all faces. It took some time to +rally from the oppressive, heartrending sensation caused by the +knowledge that a peaceful maneuver voyage had suddenly been transformed +into the bloody seriousness of war. It is easy enough to turn a machine +from right to left in a few seconds with the aid of a lever, but not so +a human being. + +The men, to be sure, heard the commands and after a few moments' +reflection, grasped the terrible truth, but their limbs failed them. It +had all come about too quickly, and it was simply impossible to get +control of the situation and translate commands into deeds as quickly as +the hostile shots demolished things above deck. Many of the crew stood +around as though they were rooted to the spot, staring straight in front +of them. Some laughed or cried, others did absolutely senseless things, +such as turning the valves of the hot-air pipes or carrying useless +things from one place to another, until the energetic efforts of the +officers brought them to their senses. + +Someone called for the keys of the ammunition chambers, and then began a +search for the ordnance officer in the passages filled with the +poisonous fumes of the Shimose-powder. But it was all in vain, for he +lay on the front bridge torn into an unrecognizable mass by the enemy's +shells. + +At last a young lieutenant with the blood pouring down his cheek in +bright red streaks, rushed into the captain's cabin, broke open the +closet beside the desk with a bayonet and seized the keys of the +ammunition rooms. Now down the stairs and through the narrow openings in +the bulkheads, where the thud of the hostile projectiles sounds more and +more hollow, and here, at last, is the door of the shell-chamber +containing the shells for the 8-inch guns in the forward starboard +turret. + +Inside the bells rang and rattled, calling in vain for ammunition; but +the guns of the _Connecticut_ still remained silent. + +The petty officer, hurrying on before his three men, now stood at the +telephone. + +"Armor-piercing shells, quickly!" came the urgent order from above. And +when the electric lever refused to work, the two sailors raised the +shell weighing over two hundredweight in their brawny arms and shoved it +into the frame of the lift, which began to move automatically. + +"Thank God," said the lieutenant in command of the turret, as the first +shell appeared at the mouth of the dark tube. Into the breech with it +and the two cartridges after it. When the lieutenant had taken his +position at the telescope sight in order to determine the direction and +distance for firing, orders came down from the commander to fire at the +enemy's leading ship, the _Satsuma_. The distance was only 2800 yards, +so near had the enemy come. And at this ridiculously short distance, +contrary to all the rules of naval warfare, the Americans opened fire. + +"2800 yards, to the right beneath the first gun-turret of the +_Satsuma_," called the lieutenant to the two gunners. They took the +elevation and then waited for the ship that was rolling to port to +regain the level after being lifted up by the waves. Detached clouds +hurried across the field of the telescope, but suddenly the sun appeared +like a bright spot above the horizon and dark brown smoke became +visible. The foremast of the _Satsuma_ with its multicolored +signal-flags appeared in the field of vision.... A final quick +correction for elevation ... a slight pressure of the electric trigger. +Fire! The gray silhouette of the _Satsuma_, across which quivered the +flash from the gun, rose quickly in the round field; then came foaming, +plunging waves, and columns of water that rose up as the shells struck +the water. + +The loud reverberation of the shot--the first one fired on the American +side--acted as a nerve-tonic all round, and all felt as though they had +been relieved from an intolerable burden. + +While the right gun was being reloaded and the stinking gases escaping +from the gun filled the narrow chamber with their fumes, the lieutenant +looked for traces of the effect of the shot. The wind whistled through +the peep-hole and made his eyes smart. The shot did not seem to have +touched the _Satsuma_ at all. The foam seen in the bow was that produced +by the ship's motion. + +"Two hundred and fifty yards over," came through the telephone, and on +the glass-plate of the distance-register, faintly illuminated by an +electric lamp, appeared the number 2550. + +"2550 yards!" repeated the lieutenant to the captain of the left gun, +giving the angle of direction himself. The _Connecticut_ again heaved +over to port, and the thunder of cannon rolled over the waves of the +Pacific. + +"The shell burst at a thousand yards!" called the lieutenant. "What +miserable fuses!" + +"Bad shot," came down reproachfully through the telephone, "use +percussion fuses." + +"I am, but they're no good, they won't work," roared back the +lieutenant. Then he went down into the turret and examined the new shell +on the lift before it was pushed into the breech. + +"All right," he said aloud, but added under his breath, suppressing an +oath: "We mustn't let the men notice there's anything wrong, for the +world!" + +Another shot rang out, and again the shell burst a few hundred yards +from the _Connecticut_, sending the water flying in every direction. + +Again came the reproachful voice from above: "Bad shot, take percussion +fuses!" + +"That's what these are supposed to be," replied the lieutenant in a +terrible state of excitement; "the shells are absolutely useless." + +"Fire at the forepart of the _Satsuma_ with shrapnel," rang out the +command from the wall. + +"Shrapnels from below!" ordered the lieutenant, and "shrapnels from +below" was repeated by the man at the lift into the 'phone leading to +the ammunition chamber. + +But the lift continued to bring up the blue armor-piercing shells; five +times more and then it stopped. + +During a momentary pause in the firing on both sides, the buzzing and +whirring of the electric apparatus of the lift could be distinctly +heard. Then the lift appeared once more, this time with a red explosive +shell. + +"Aim at the forepart of the _Satsuma_, 1950 yards!" + +The _Connecticut_ rolled over heavily to starboard, the water splashed +over the railing, rushing like a torrent between the turrets; then the +ship heeled over to the other side. The shot rang out. + +"At last," cried the lieutenant proudly, pointing through the peep-hole. +High up in the side of the _Satsuma_, close to the little 12-cm. +quick-firing gun, a piece was seen to be missing when the smoke from the +bursting shell had disappeared. + +"Good shot," came from above; "go on firing with shrapnel!" + +The distance-register silently showed the number 1850. Then came a +deafening roar from below and the sharp ring of tearing iron. A hostile +shell had passed obliquely below the turret into the forepart of the +_Connecticut_, and clouds of thick black smoke completely obscured the +view through the peep-hole. + +"Four degrees higher!" commanded the lieutenant. + +"Not yet correct," he grumbled; "three degrees higher still!" He waited +for the _Connecticut_ to roll to port. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Use higher elevation in turrets. The _Connecticut_ has a leak and is +listing to starboard," said the telephone. "Three degrees higher!" +ordered the lieutenant. + +A shot from the left barrel. + +"Splendid," cried the lieutenant; "that was a fine shot! But lower, +lower, we're merely shooting their upper plates to bits," and the gun +went on steadily firing. + +The turrets on the starboard side were hit again and again, the hostile +shells bursting perpetually against their armored sides. As if struck by +electric discharges the gunners were continually thrown back from the +rumbling walls, and they were almost deaf from the fearful din, so that +all commands had to be yelled out at the top of the lungs. + +The raging storm and the rough sea prevented the Americans from using a +part of their guns. While the explosive shells from the enemy's heavy +intermediate battery were able to demolish everything on deck and to +pass through the unarmored portions of the sides, working fearful havoc +in the interior and among the crew, the light American secondary battery +was compelled to keep silence. + +An attempt had been made, to be sure, to bring the 7-inch guns into +action, but it proved of no avail. The gunners stood ready at their +posts to discharge the shells at the enemy, but it was utterly +impossible, for no sooner had they taken aim, than they lost it again as +the hostile ships disappeared in the foaming glassy-green waves that +broke against their sides. The water penetrated with the force of a +stream from a nozzle through the cracks in the plates and poured into +the casemates till the men were standing up to their knees in water. At +last the only thing that could be done was to open the doors behind the +guns in order to let the water out; but this arrangement had the +disadvantage of allowing a good deal of the water which had run out to +return in full force and pile up in one corner the next time the ship +rolled over, and on account of this perpetual battle with the waves +outside and the rolling water inside, it was impossible for the men to +aim properly or to achieve any results with their shots. It was +therefore deemed best to stop the firing here, and to have the gunners +relieve the men at the turret-guns, who had suffered greatly from the +enemy's fire. The men in charge of the completely demolished small guns +on the upper deck had already been assigned to similar duty. + +We therefore had to depend entirely on our 12-inch and 8-inch guns in +the turrets, while the enemy was able to bring into action all his +broadside guns on the starboard side, which was only little affected by +the storm. And this superiority had been used to such advantage in the +first eleven minutes of the battle, before the surprised Americans could +reply, that the decks of the latter's ships, especially of the admiral's +flag-ship, were a mass of wreckage even before the first American shot +had been fired. The decks were strewn with broken bridges, planks, +stanchions and torn rigging, and into the midst of this chaos now fell +the tall funnels and pieces of the steel masts. In most instances the +water continually pouring over the decks put out the fires; but the +_Vermont_ was nevertheless burning aft and the angry flames could be +seen bursting out of the gaping holes made by the shells. + +Admiral Perry, in company with the commander and staff-officers, watched +the progress of the battle from the conning-tower. The officers on duty +at the odometers calmly furnished the distance between their ship and +the enemy to the turrets and casemates, and the lieutenant in command of +the fire-control on the platform above the conning-tower coolly and +laconically reported the results of the shots, at the same time giving +the necessary corrections, which were at once transmitted to the various +turrets by telephone. The rolling of the ships in the heavy seas made +occasional pauses in the firing absolutely necessary. + +The report that a series of shells belonging to the 8-inch guns in the +front turret had unreliable fuses led to considerable swearing in the +conning-tower, but while the officers were still cursing the commission +for accepting such useless stuff, a still greater cause for anxiety +became apparent. + +Even before the Americans had begun their fire, the Japanese shells had +made a few enormous holes in the unprotected starboard side of the +_Connecticut_, behind the stem and just above the armored belt, and +through these the water poured in and flooded all the inner chambers. As +the armored gratings above the hatchways leading below had also been +destroyed or had not yet been closed, several compartments in the +forepart of the ship filled with water. The streams of water continually +pouring in through the huge holes rendered it impossible to enter the +rooms beneath the armored deck or to close the hatchways. The pumps +availed nothing, but fortunately the adjacent bulkheads proved to be +watertight. Nevertheless the _Connecticut_ buried her nose deep into the +sea and thereby offered ever-increasing resistance to the oncoming +waves. Captain Farlow therefore ordered some of the watertight +compartments aft to be filled with water in order to restore the ship's +balance. Similar conditions were reported from other ships. + +But scarcely had this damage been thus fairly well adjusted, when a new +misfortune was reported. Two Japanese projectiles had struck the ship +simultaneously just below her narrow armor-belt as she heaved over to +port, the shells entering the unprotected side just in front of the +engine-rooms, and as the adjacent bulkheads could not offer sufficient +resistance to the pressure of the inpouring water, they were forced in, +and as a result the _Connecticut_ heeled over badly to starboard, making +it necessary to fill some of the port compartments with water, since the +guns could not otherwise obtain the required elevation. This caused the +ship to sink deeper and deeper, until the armor-belt was entirely below +the standard waterline and the water which had rushed in through the +many holes had already reached the passageways above the armored deck. +The splashing about in these rushing floods, the continual bursting of +the enemy's shells, the groans and moans of the wounded, and the vain +attempts to get out the collision-mats on the starboard +side--precautions that savored of preservation measures while at the +same time causing a great loss of life--all this began to impair the +crew's powers of resistance. + +As the reports from below grew more and more discouraging, Captain +Farlow sent Lieutenant Meade down to examine into the state of the +chambers above the armored deck. The latter asked his comrade, Curtis, +to take his place at the telephone, but receiving no answer, he looked +around, and saw poor Curtis with his face torn off by a piece of shell +still bending over his telephone between two dead signalmen.... +Lieutenant Meade turned away with a shiver, and, calling a midshipman to +take his place, he left the conning-tower, which was being struck +continually by hissing splinters from bursting shells. + +Everywhere below the same picture presented itself--rushing water +splashing high up against the walls in all the passages, through which +ambulance transports were making their way with difficulty. In a corner +not far from the staircase leading to the hospital lay a young +midshipman, Malion by name, pressing both hands against a gaping wound +in his abdomen, out of which the viscera protruded, and crying to some +one to put him out of his misery with a bullet. What an end to a bright +young life! Anything but think! One could only press on, for individual +lives and human suffering were of small moment here compared with the +portentous question whether the steel sides of the ship and the engines +would hold out. + +"Shoot me; deliver me from my torture!" rang out the cry of the +lieutenant's dying friend behind him; and there before him, right +against the wall, lay the sailor Ralling, that fine chap from Maryland +who was one of the men who had won the gig-race at Newport News; now he +stared vacantly into space, his mouth covered with blood and foam. "Shot +in the lung!" thought Meade, hurrying on and trying, oh so hard, not to +think! + +[Illustration: "It went up in a slanting direction and then, ... it +steered straight for the enemy's balloon...."] + +The black water gurgled and splashed around his feet as he rushed on, +dashing with a hollow sound against one side of the passage when the +ship heeled over, only to be tossed back in a moment with equal force. + +What was that?--Lieutenant Meade had reached the officers' mess--was it +music or were his ears playing him a trick? Meade opened the door and +thought at first he must be dreaming. There sat his friend and comrade, +Lieutenant Besser, at the piano, hammering wildly on the keys. That same +Johnny Besser who, on account of his theological predilections went by +the nickname of "The Reverend," and who could argue until long after +midnight over the most profound Biblical problems, that same Johnny +Besser, who was perpetually on the water-wagon. There he sat, banging +away as hard as he could on the piano! Meade rushed at him angrily and +seizing him by the arm cried: "Johnny, what are you doing here? Are you +crazy?" + +Johnny took no notice of him whatever, but went on playing and began in +a strange uncanny voice to sing the old mariner's song: + + "Tom Brown's mother she likes whisky in her tea, + As we go rolling home. + Glory, Glory Hallelujah." + +Horror seized Meade, and he tried to pull Johnny away from the piano, +but the resistance offered by the poor fellow who had become mentally +deranged from sheer terror was too great, and he had to give up the +struggle. + +From the outside came the din of battle. Meade threw the door of the +mess shut behind him, shivering with horror. Once more he heard the +strains of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah," and then he hurried upstairs. He +kept the condition in which he had found Johnny to himself. + +When Lieutenant Meade got back to the conning-tower to make his report, +the two fleets had passed each other in a parallel course. The enemy's +shells had swept the decks of the _Connecticut_ with the force of a +hurricane. The gunners from the port side had already been called on to +fill up the gaps in the turrets on the starboard side. By this time dead +bodies were removed only where they were in the way, and even the +wounded were left to lie where they had fallen. + +When large pieces of wood from the burning boats began to be thrown on +deck by the bursting shells, a fresh danger was created, and the attempt +was made to toss them overboard with the aid of the cranes. But this +succeeded only on the port side. The starboard crane was smashed to bits +by a Japanese explosive shell just as it was raising a launch, the same +shot carrying off the third funnel just behind it. When Togo's last ship +had left the _Connecticut_ behind, only one funnel full of gaping holes +and half of the mainmast were left standing on the deck of the admiral's +flag-ship, which presented a wild chaos of bent and broken ironwork. +Through the ruins of the deck structures rose the flames and thick smoke +from the boilers. + +The Japanese ships seemed to be invulnerable in their vital parts. It is +true that the _Satsuma_ had lost a funnel, and that both masts of the +_Kashima_ were broken off, but except for a few holes above the +armor-belt and one or two guns that had been put out of action and the +barrels of which pointed helplessly into the air, the enemy showed +little sign of damage. Those first eleven minutes, during which the +enemy had had things all to himself, had given him an advantage which no +amount of bravery or determined energy could counteract. In addition to +this, many of the American telescope-sights began to get out of order, +as they bent under the blows of the enemy's shells against the turrets. +Thus the aim of the Americans, which owing to the heavy seas and to the +smoke from the Japanese guns blown into their eyes by the wind was poor +enough as it was, became more uncertain still. As the enemy passed, +several torpedoes had been cleared by the Americans, but the shining +metal-fish could not keep their course against the oncoming waves, and +Admiral Perry was forced to notify his ships by wireless to desist from +further attempts to use them, in order that his own ships might not be +endangered by them. + +The enemy, on the contrary, used his torpedoes with better success. A +great mass of boiling foam rose suddenly beside the _Kansas_, which was +just heeling to port, and this was followed immediately by sheets of +flame and black clouds of smoke which burst from every hole and crevice +in the sides and the turrets. The _Kansas_ listed heavily to starboard +and then disappeared immediately in the waves. The torpedo must have +exploded in an ammunition chamber. On the burning _Vermont_ the +steering-gear seemed to be out of order. The battleship sheered sharply +to port, thus presenting its stern, which was almost hidden in heavy +clouds of smoke, to the enemy, who immediately raked and tore it with +shells. The _Minnesota_ was drifting in a helpless condition with her +starboard-railing deep under water, while thick streams of water poured +from her bilge-pumps on the port side. She gradually fell behind, +whereupon the last ship of the line, the _New Hampshire_, passed her on +the fire side, covering her riddled hull for a moment, but then steamed +on to join the only two ships in Admiral Perry's fleet which were still +in fairly good condition, namely the _Connecticut_ and the _Louisiana_. + +When the hostile fleet began to fall slowly back--the battle had been in +progress for barely half an hour--Admiral Perry hoped for a moment that +by swinging his three ships around to starboard he would be able to get +to windward of the enemy and thus succeed in bringing his almost intact +port artillery into action. But even before he could issue his commands, +he saw the six Japanese ironclads turn to port and steam towards the +Americans at full speed, pouring out tremendous clouds of smoke. +Misfortunes never come singly; at this moment came the report that the +boilers of the _New Hampshire_ had been badly damaged. Unless the +admiral wished to leave the injured ship to her fate, he was now forced +to reduce the speed of the other two ships to six knots. This was the +beginning of the end. + +It was of no use for Admiral Perry to swing his three ships around to +starboard. The enemy, owing to his superior speed, could always keep a +parallel course and remain on the starboard side. One turret after the +other was put out of action. When the casemate with its three intact +7-inch guns could at last be brought into play on the lee-side, it was +too late. At such close quarters the steel-walls of the casemates and +the mountings were shot to pieces by the enemy's shells. The +fire-control refused to act, the wires and speaking-tubes were +destroyed, and each gun had to depend on itself. The electric +installation had been put out of commission on the _Louisiana_ by a +shell bursting through the armored deck and destroying the dynamos. As +the gun-turrets could no longer be swung around and the ammunition-lifts +had come to a stand-still in consequence, the _Louisiana_ was reduced to +a helpless wreck. She sank in the waves at 11.15, and shortly afterwards +the _New Hampshire_, which was already listing far to starboard because +the water had risen above the armored deck, capsized. By 12.30 the +_Connecticut_ was the sole survivor. She continued firing from the +12-inch guns in the rear turret and from the two 8-inch starboard +turrets. + +At this point a large piece of shell slipped through the peep-hole of +the conning-tower and smashed its heavy armored dome. The next shot +might prove fatal. Admiral Perry was compelled to leave the spot he had +maintained so bravely; in a hail of splinters he at last managed to +reach the steps leading from the bridge; they were wet with the blood of +the dead and dying and the last four had been shot away altogether. The +other mode of egress, the armored tube inside the turret, was stopped up +with the bodies of two dead signalmen. The admiral let himself carefully +down by holding on to the bent railing of the steps, and was just in +time to catch the blood-covered body of his faithful comrade, Captain +Farlow, who had been struck by a shell as he stood on the lowest step. +The admiral leaned the body gently against the side of the +military-mast, which had been dyed yellow by the deposits of the hostile +shells. + +Stepping over smoldering ruins and through passages filled with dead and +wounded men, over whose bodies the water splashed and gurgled, the +admiral at last reached his post below the armored deck. + +To this spot were brought the reports from the fire-control stationed at +the rear mast and from the last active stations. It was a mournful +picture that the admiral received here of the condition of the +_Connecticut_. The dull din of battle, the crashing and rumbling of the +hostile shells, the suffocating smoke which penetrated even here below, +the rhythmic groaning of the engine and the noise of the pumps were +united here into an uncanny symphony. The ventilators had to be closed, +as they sent down biting smoke from the burning deck instead of fresh +air. The nerves of the officers and crews were in a state of fearful +tension; they had reached the point where nothing matters and where +destruction is looked forward to as a deliverance. + +Who was that beside the admiral who said something about the white flag, +to him, the head of the squadron, to the man who had been intrusted with +the honor of the Stars and Stripes? It was only a severely wounded +petty-officer murmuring to himself in the wild delirium of fever. For +God's sake, anything but that! The admiral turned around sharply and +called into the tube leading to the stern turret: "Watch over the flag; +it must not be struck!" + +No one answered--dead iron, dead metal, not a human sound could be heard +in that steel tomb. And now some of the electric lights suddenly went +out. "I won't die here in this smoky steel box," said the admiral to +himself; "I won't drown here like a mouse in a trap." There was nothing +more to be done down here anyway, for most of the connections had been +cut off, and so Admiral Perry turned over the command of the +_Connecticut_ to a young lieutenant with the words: "Keep them firing as +long as you can." Then murmuring softly to himself, "It's of no use +anyhow," he crept through a narrow bulkhead-opening to a stairway and +groped his way up step by step. Suddenly he touched something soft and +warm; it groaned loudly. Heavens! it was a sailor who had dragged his +shattered limbs into this corner. "Poor fellow," said the admiral, and +climbed up, solitary and alone, to the deck of his lost ship. The din +of battle sounded louder and louder, and at last he reached the deck +beneath the rear bridge. A badly wounded signalman was leaning against a +bit of railing that had remained standing, staring at the admiral with +vacant eyes. "Are the signal-halyards still clear?" asked Perry. "Yes," +answered the man feebly. + +"Then signal at once: Three cheers for the United States!" The little +colored flags flew up to the yardarm like lightning, and it grew quiet +on the _Connecticut_. + +The last shell, the last cartridge was shoved into the breech, one more +shot was aimed at the enemy from the heated barrels, and then all was +still except for the crash of the hostile projectiles, the crackling of +the flames and the howling of the wind. The other side, too, gradually +ceased firing. With the _Satsuma_ and the _Aki_ in the van and the four +other ships following, the enemy's squadron advanced, enveloped in a +thin veil of smoke. + +High up in the stern of the _Connecticut_ and at her mastheads waved the +tattered Stars and Stripes. The few gunners, who had served the guns to +the end, crept out of the turrets and worked their way up over broken +steps. There were fifty-seven of them, all that remained of the proud +squadron. Three cheers for their country came from the parched throats +of these last heroes of the _Connecticut_. "Three cheers for the United +States!" Admiral Perry drew his sword, and "Hurrah" it rang once more +across the water to the ships sailing under the flag which bore the +device of a crimson Rising Sun on a white field. There memories of the +old days of the Samurai knighthood were aroused, and a signal appeared +on the rear top mast of the _Satsuma_, whereupon all six battleships +lowered their flags as a last tribute to a brave enemy. + +Then the _Connecticut_ listed heavily to starboard, and the next wave +could not raise the heavy ship, bleeding from a thousand wounds. It sank +and sank, and while Admiral Perry held fast to a bit of railing and +waited with moist eyes for the end, the words of the old "Star-Spangled +Banner," which had been heard more than once in times of storm and +peril, rang out from the deck of the _Connecticut_. Then, with her flag +waving to the last, the admiral's flag-ship sank slowly beneath the +waves, leaving a bloody glow behind her. That was the end. + + + + +_Chapter XI_ + +CAPTAIN WINSTANLEY + + +Captain Winstanley slowly opened his eyes and stared at the low ceiling +of his cabin on the white oil-paint of which the sunbeams, entering +through the porthole, were painting numerous circles and quivering +reflections. Slowly he began to collect his thoughts. Could it have been +a dream or the raving of delirium? He tried to raise himself on his +narrow bed, but fell back as he felt a sharp pain. There was no mistake +about the pain--that was certainly real. What on earth had happened? He +asked himself this question again and again as he watched the thousands +of circles and quivering lines drawn by the light on the ceiling. + +Winstanley stared about him and suddenly started violently. Then it was +all real, a terrible reality? Yes, for there sat his friend Longstreet +of the _Nebraska_ with his back against the wall of the cabin, in a +dripping wet uniform, fast asleep. + +"Longstreet!" he called. + +His friend awoke and stared at him in astonishment. + +"Longstreet, did it all really happen, or have I been dreaming?" + +No answer. + +"Longstreet," he began again more urgently, "tell me, is it all over, +can it be true?" + +Longstreet nodded, incapable of speech. + +"Our poor, poor country," whispered Winstanley. + +After a long pause Longstreet suddenly broke the silence by remarking: +"The _Nebraska_ went down at about six o'clock." + +"And the _Georgia_ a little earlier," said Winstanley; "but where are +we? How did I get here?" + +"The torpedo boat _Farragut_ fished us up after the battle. We are on +board the hospital ship _Ontario_ with about five hundred other +survivors." + +"And what has become of the rest of our squadron?" asked Winstanley +apprehensively. Longstreet only shrugged his shoulders. + +Then they both dozed again and listened to the splashing and gurgling of +the water against the ship's side and to the dull, regular thud of the +engine which by degrees began to form words in Winstanley's fever-heated +imagination--meaningless words which seemed to pierce his brain with +painful sharpness: "Oh, won't you come across," rose and fell the oily +melody, keeping time with the action of the piston-rods of the engine, +"Oh, won't you come across," repeated the walls, and "Oh, won't you come +across," clattered the water-bottle over in the wooden rack. Again and +again Winstanley said the words to himself in an everlasting, dull +repetition. + +Longstreet looked at him compassionately, and murmured: "Another attack +of fever." Then he got up, and bending over his comrade, looked out of +the porthole. + +Water everywhere; nothing but sparkling, glistening water, broad, blue, +rolling waves to be seen as far as the eye could reach. Not a sign of a +ship anywhere. + +"Oh, won't you come across," repeated Longstreet, listlessly joining in +the rhythm of the engines. Then he stretched himself and sank back on +his chair in a somnolent state, thinking over the experiences of the +night. + +So this was all that was left of the Pacific Fleet--a hospital ship with +a few hundred wounded officers and men, all that remained of Admiral +Crane's fleet, which had been attacked with torpedo boats by Admiral +Kamimura at three o'clock on the night of May eighth, after Togo had +destroyed Perry's squadron. + +It had been a horrible surprise. The enemy must have intercepted the +signals between the squadron and the scouts, but as the Japanese had not +employed their wireless telegraph at all, none of the American +reconnoitering cruisers had had its suspicions aroused. Then the +wireless apparatus had suddenly got out of order and all further +intercommunication among the American ships was cut off, while a few +minutes later came the first torpedo explosions, followed by fountains +of foam, the dazzling light of the searchlights and sparks from the +falling shells. The Americans could not reply to the hostile fire until +much, much later, and then it was almost over. When the gray light of +dawn spread over the surface of the water, it only lighted up a few +drifting, sinking wrecks, the irrecognizable ruins of Admiral Crane's +proud squadron, which were soon completely destroyed by the enemy's +torpedoes. + +Kamimura had already disappeared beyond the horizon with his ships, not +being interested in his enemy's remains. + +"Oh, won't you come across," groaned and wailed the engine quite loudly +as a door to the engine-room was opened. Longstreet jumped up with a +start, and then climbed wearily and heavily up the stairs. The entire +deck had been turned into a hospital, and the few doctors were hurrying +from one patient to another. + +Longstreet went up to a lieutenant in a torn uniform who was leaning +against the railing with his head between his hands, staring across the +water. "Where are we going, Harry?" asked Longstreet. + +"I don't know; somewhere or other; it doesn't matter much where." + +Longstreet left him and climbed up to the bridge. Here he shook hands in +silence with a few comrades and then asked the captain of the _Ontario_ +where they were going. + +"If possible, to San Francisco," was the answer. "But I'm afraid the +Japanese will be attacking the coast-batteries by this time, and besides +that chap over there seems to have his eyes on us," he added, pointing +to port. + +Longstreet looked in the direction indicated and saw a gray cruiser with +three high funnels making straight for the _Ontario_. At this moment a +signalman delivered a wireless message to the captain: "The cruiser +yonder wants to know our name and destination." + +"Signal back: United States hospital ship _Ontario_ making for San +Francisco," said the captain. This signal was followed by the dull boom +of a shot across the water; but the _Ontario_ continued on her course. + +Then a flash was seen from a forward gun of the cruiser and a shell +splashed into the water about one hundred yards in front of the +_Ontario_, bursting with a deafening noise. + +The captain hesitated a second, then he ordered the engines to stop, +turned over the command on the bridge to the first officer and went +himself to the signaling apparatus to send the following message: +"United States hospital ship _Ontario_ with five hundred wounded on +board relies on protection of ambulance-flag." + +A quarter of an hour later, the Japanese armored cruiser _Idzumo_ +stopped close to the _Ontario_ and lowered a cutter, which took several +Japanese officers and two doctors over to the _Ontario_. + +While a Japanese officer of high rank was received by the captain in his +cabin in order to discuss the best method of providing for the wounded, +Longstreet went down to Winstanley. + +"Well, old man, how are you?" he asked. + +"Pretty miserable, Longstreet; what's going to become of us?" + +Longstreet hesitated, but Winstanley insisted: "Tell me, old chap, tell +me the truth. Where are we bound to--what's going to become of us?" + +"We're going to San Francisco," said Longstreet evasively. + +"And the enemy?" + +Longstreet remained silent again. + +"But the enemy, Longstreet, where's the enemy? We mustn't fall into his +hands!" + +"Brace up, Winstanley," said Longstreet, "we're in the hands of the +Japanese now." + +Winstanley started up from his bed, but sank back exhausted by the +terrible pain in his right arm which had been badly wounded. + +"No, no, anything but that! I'd rather be thrown overboard than fall +into the hands of the Japanese! It's all over, there's no use struggling +any more!" + +"Longstreet," he cried, with eyes burning with fever, "Longstreet, +promise me that you'll throw me overboard rather than give me up to the +Japanese!" + +"No, Winstanley, no; think of our country, remember that it is in sore +need of men, of men to restore the honor of the Stars and Stripes, of +men to drive the enemy from the field and conquer them in the end." + +At this moment the door opened and a Japanese lieutenant entered, +carrying a small note-book in his hand. + +At sight of him Winstanley shouted: "Longstreet, hand me a weapon of +some sort; that fellow----" + +The Jap saluted and said: "Gentlemen, I am sorry for the circumstances +which compel me to ask you to give me your names and ships. Rest assured +that a wounded enemy may safely rely on Japanese chivalry. If you will +follow the example of all the other officers and give your word of honor +not to escape, you will receive all possible care and attention in the +hospital at San Francisco without any irksome guard. Will you be so good +as to give me your names?" + +"Lieutenant Longstreet of the _Nebraska_." + +"Thank you." + +"Captain Winstanley, commander of the _Georgia_," added Longstreet for +Winstanley. + +"Will you give me your word of honor?" + +Longstreet gave his, but Winstanley shook his head and said: "_You can +do what you like with me; I refuse to give my word of honor._" + +The Jap shrugged his shoulders and disappeared. + +"Longstreet, nursed in San Francisco, is that what the Jap said? Then +San Francisco must be in their hands." At these words the wounded +captain of the _Georgia_ burst into bitter tears and sobs shook the body +of the poor man, who in his ravings fancied himself back on board his +ship giving orders for the big guns to fire at the enemy. Longstreet +held his friend's hand and stared in silence at the white ceiling upon +which the sunbeams painted myriads of quivering lines and circles. + +At one o'clock the _Ontario_ came in sight of the Golden Gate, where the +white banner with its crimson sun was seen to be waving above all the +fortifications. + + * * * * * + +While the Japanese were attacking San Francisco early on the morning of +May seventh, their fleet was stationed off San Diego on the lookout for +the two American maneuvering fleets. The intercepted orders from the +Navy Department had informed the enemy that Admiral Perry, with his blue +squadron of six battleships of the _Connecticut_ class, intended to +attack San Francisco and the other ports and naval-stations on the +Pacific, and that the yellow fleet, under command of Admiral Crane, was +to carry out the defense. The latter had drawn up his squadron in front +of San Francisco on May second, and on May fifth Admiral Perry had left +Magdalen Bay. From this time on every report sent by wireless was read +by harmless looking Japanese trading-vessels sailing under the English +flag. + +The first thing to be done on the morning of the seventh was to render +Magdalen Bay useless, in order to prevent all communication with distant +ships. A trick put the station in the enemy's possession. Here, too, +there were several Japanese shopkeepers who did good business with their +stores along the Bay. Early on Sunday morning these busy yellow +tradesmen were suddenly transformed into a company of troops who soon +overpowered the weak garrison in charge of the signal-station. The +Japanese cruiser _Yakumo_, approaching from the North, had been painted +white like the American cruisers, and this is why she had been taken, as +the reader will remember, for the armored cruiser _New York_, which was +actually lying off San Francisco assigned to Admiral Crane's yellow +fleet. The _Yakumo_ was to prevent the two destroyers _Hull_ and +_Hopkins_ from escaping from the Bay, and both boats were literally shot +to pieces when they made the attempt. This action hopelessly isolated +the maneuvering fleets. + +By eight o'clock in the morning Togo's squadron, consisting of the +flag-ships _Satsuma_, the _Aki_, _Katou_, _Kashimi_, _Mikasa_ and +_Akahi_, and forming the backbone of the Japanese battle-fleet, had +succeeded in locating Admiral Perry's squadron, thanks to intercepted +wireless dispatches. The Japanese refrained from using their wireless +apparatus, so as to avoid attracting the attention of the American +squadron. The unfinished message sent at nine o'clock from Magdalen Bay +told Togo that the surprise there had been successful, and a little +later the order to strengthen the American advance, sent in the same +way, enabled him to ascertain the exact position of both the main group +of cruisers and the scouts and lookout ships. Similarly it was learned +that the latter were extremely weak, and accordingly Togo detached four +armored cruisers, the huge new 25-knot _Tokio_ and _Osaka_, and the +_Ibuki_ and _Kurama_, to destroy the American van, and this he succeeded +in accomplishing after a short engagement which took place at the same +time as the attack on Perry's armored ships. + +The _Denver_ and _Chattanooga_ were soon put out of business by a few +shells which entered their unprotected hulls, and the five destroyers, +which were unable to use their torpedoes in such a heavy sea, were +likewise soon done for. + +Under cover of a torrent of rain, Togo came in sight of the American +ships when the distance between the two squadrons was only 5,500 yards. + +At the moment when Admiral Perry's ships emerged out of the rain, +Admiral Togo opened the battle by sending the following signal from the +_Satsuma_: + +"To-day must avenge Kanagawa. As Commodore Perry then knocked with his +sword at the gate of Nippon, so will we to-day burst open San +Francisco's Golden Gate."[1] + +The signal was greeted with enthusiasm and loud cries of "_Banzai_!" on +board all the ships. Then the battle began, and by the time the sun had +reached its zenith, Admiral Perry's squadron had disappeared in the +waves of the Pacific. The first eleven minutes, before the Americans +could bring their guns into action, had determined the outcome of the +battle. The ultimate outcome of the battle had, of course, been +accelerated by the fact that the first shells had created such fearful +havoc in the fore-parts of three of the American ships, quantities of +water pouring in which caused the ships to list and made it necessary to +fill the compartments on the opposite side in order to restore the +equilibrium. + +Admiral Kamimura was less fortunate at first with the second squadron. +He was led astray by the wrong interpretation of a wireless signal and +did not sight Admiral Crane's fleet till towards evening, and then it +was not advisable to begin the attack at once, lest the Americans should +escape under cover of darkness. Kamimura, therefore, decided to wait +until shortly after midnight, and then to commence operations with his +eight destroyers and apply the finishing touches with his heavy guns. + +Admiral Crane's squadron consisted of six battleships--the three new +battleships _Virginia_, _Nebraska_ and _Georgia_, the two older vessels +_Kearsage_ and _Kentucky_, and, lastly, the _Iowa_. Then there were the +two armored cruisers _St. Louis_ and _Milwaukee_, and the unprotected +cruisers _Tacoma_ and _Des Moines_, which, on account of their speed of +16.5 knots and their lack of any armor, were as useless as cruisers as +were their sister ships in Admiral Perry's squadron. One single +well-aimed shell would suffice to put them out of action. + +It was a terrible surprise when the Japanese destroyers began the attack +under cover of the night. Not until dawn did the Americans actually +catch sight of their enemy, and that was when Kamimura left the field of +battle, which was strewn with sinking American ships, with his six +practically unharmed battleships headed in a southwesterly direction to +join Togo's fleet, who had already been informed of the victory. The +work of cleaning up was left to the destroyers, who sank the badly +damaged American ships with their torpedoes. The hospital ship +_Ontario_, attached to the yellow fleet, and a torpedo boat fished up +the survivors of this short battle. Then the _Ontario_ started for San +Francisco, while the leaking _Farragut_ remained behind. + +The Americans had been able to distinguish, with a fair degree of +certainty, that Kamimura's squadron consisted of the _Shikishima_, the +battleships _Iwami_ (ex _Orel_), the _Sagami_ (ex _Peresvjet_), and +_Tumo_ (ex _Pobjeda_), all three old Russian ships, and of the two new +armored cruisers _Ikoma_ and _Tsukuba_. Then there were the two enormous +battleships which were not included in the Japanese Navy List at all, +and the two huge cruisers _Yokohama_ and _Shimonoseki_ which, according +to Japanese reports, were still building, while in reality they had been +finished and added to the fleet long ago. + +The circumstances connected with these two battleships were rather +peculiar. The report was spread in 1906 that China was going to build a +new fleet and that she had ordered two big battleships from the docks at +Yokosuka. This rumor was contradicted both at Pekin and at Tokio. The +Americans and everybody in Europe wondered who was going to pay for the +ships. The trouble is, we ask altogether too many questions, instead of +investigating for ourselves. As a matter of fact, the ships were laid +down in 1908, though everybody outside the walls of the Japanese +shipyard was made to believe that only gunboats were being built. We +have probably forgotten how, at the time, a German newspaper called our +attention to the fact that not only these two battleships--of the +English _Dreadnought_ type--but also the two armored cruisers building +at Kure ostensibly for China, would probably never sail under the yellow +dragon banner, but in case of war, would either be added directly to +Japan's fleet or be bought back from China. + +And so it turned out. Just before the outbreak of the war, the Sun +Banner was hoisted quietly on the two battleships and they were given +the names of _Nippon_ and _Hokkaido_, respectively; but they were +omitted from the official Japanese Navy List and left out of our +calculations. How Pekin and Tokio came to terms with regard to these two +ships remains one of the many secrets of east Asiatic politics. The +generally accepted political belief that China was not financially +strong enough to build a new fleet and that Japan, supposedly on the +very verge of bankruptcy, could not possibly carry out her _postbellum_ +programme, was found to have rested on empty phrases employed by the +press on both sides of the ocean merely for the sake of running a story. +There has never yet been a time in the history of the world when war was +prevented by a lack of funds. How could Prussia, absolutely devoid of +resources, have carried on the war it did against Napoleon a hundred +years ago, unless this were so? + +In the redistribution of our war vessels in the Atlantic and the Pacific +after the return of the fleet from its journey round the world, the Navy +Department had calculated as follows: Japan had fifteen battleships, six +large new ones and nine older ones; in addition she had six large new +and eight older armored cruisers. We have one armored cruiser and three +cruisers in Manila, and these can take care of at least five Japanese +armored cruisers. Japan therefore has fifteen battleships and nine +armored cruisers left for making an attack. Now if we keep two +squadrons, each consisting of six battleships--the _Texas_ among +them--off the Pacific coast and add to these the coast-batteries, the +mines and the submarines, we shall possess a naval force which the enemy +will never dare attack. + +Japan, on the other hand, figured as follows: We have two squadrons, +each consisting of six battleships, among which there are six that are +superior to any American fighting ship; these with the nine armored +cruisers and the advantage of a complete surprise, give us such a +handicap that we have nothing to fear. As a reserve, lying off San +Francisco, are the ironclads _Hizen_ (ex _Retvisan_), _Tango_ (ex +_Poltawa_), _Iki_ (ex _Nicolai_), and the armored cruisers _Azuma_, +_Idzumo_, _Asama_, _Tokiwa_, and _Yakumo_. Besides these there are the +two mortar-boat divisions and the cruisers sent to Seattle, while the +armored cruiser _Iwate_ and two destroyers were sent to Magdalen Bay. +All that remained in home waters were the fourth squadron, consisting of +former Russian ships, and the cruisers which would soon be relieved at +the Philippines. + +The enemy had figured correctly and we had not. The two battles of the +seventh and eighth of May were decided in the first ten minutes, before +we had fired a single shot. And would the Japanese calculation have been +correct also if Perry had beaten Togo or Crane Kamimura? Most decidedly +so, for not a single naval harbor or coaling-station, or repairing-dock +on the Pacific coast would have been ready to receive Perry or Crane +with their badly damaged squadrons. On the other hand, the remnants of +our fleet would have had all the Japanese battleships, all the armored +cruisers and a large collection of torpedo-boats continually on their +heels, and would thus have been forced to another battle in which, being +entirely without a base of operations, they would without a doubt have +suffered a complete defeat. + +Our mines in the various arsenals and our three submarines at the Mare +Island Wharf in San Francisco fell into the enemy's hands like ripe +plums. It was quite superfluous for the Japanese to take their steamer +for transporting submarines, which had been built for them in England, +to San Francisco. + +Nothing remained to us but the glory that not one of our ships had +surrendered to the enemy--all had sunk with their flags flying. After +all, it was one thing to fight against the demoralized fleet of the Czar +and quite another to fight against the Stars and Stripes. Our +blue-jackets had saved the honor of the white race in the eyes of the +yellow race on the waves of the Pacific, even if they had thus far shown +them only how brave American sailors die. But the loss of more than half +our officers and trained men was even a more severe blow than the +sinking of our ships. These could not be replaced at a moment's notice, +but months and months of hard work would be required and new squadrons +must be found. But from where were they to come? + +Only a single vessel of the Pacific fleet escaped from the battle and +the pursuing Japanese cruisers: this was the torpedo-destroyer _Barry_, +commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Dayton, who had been in command of the +torpedo flotilla attached to Admiral Perry's squadron. He had attempted +twice, advancing boldly into the teeth of the gale, to launch a torpedo +in the direction of the _Satsuma_, but the sea was too rough and each +time took the torpedo out of its course. + +The badly damaged destroyer entered the harbor of Buenaventura on the +coast of Colombia on May eleventh, followed closely by the Japanese +steamer _Iwate_, which had been lying off the coast of Panama. Grinding +his teeth with rage, Dayton had to look on while a Colombian officer in +ragged uniform, plentifully supplied with gilt, who was in the habit of +commanding his tiny antediluvian gunboat from the door of a harbor +saloon, came on board the _Barry_ and ordered the breeches of the guns +and the engine-valves to be removed, at the same time depriving the crew +of their arms. The Japanese waiting outside the harbor had categorically +demanded this action of the government in Bogota. This humiliating +degradation before all the harbor loafers and criminals, before the +crowds of exulting Chinese and Japanese coolies, who were only too +delighted to see the white man compelled to submit to a handful of +marines the entire batch of whom were not worth one American sailor, was +far harder to bear than all the days of battle put together. And even +now, when Admiral Dayton's fame reaches beyond the seas and the name of +James Dayton is in every sailor's mouth as the savior of his people, +yes, even now, he will tell you how at the moment when, outside the +Straits of Magellan, he crushed the Japanese cruisers with his +cruiser-squadron, thereby once again restoring the Star Spangled Banner +to its place of honor, the vision of that grinning row of faces exulting +in the degradation of a severely damaged American torpedo-boat appeared +before him. It is only such men as he, men who experienced the horrors +of our downfall to the bitter end, who could lead us to victory--such +men as Dayton and Winstanley. + +[Footnote 1: Perry, the American commodore, with a fleet of only eight +ships, forced Japan to sign the agreement of Kanagawa, opening the chief +harbors in Japan to American trading-vessels, in the year 1854.] + + + + +_Chapter XII_ + +ARE YOU WINSTANLEY? + + +The bow of the English freighter _Port Elizabeth_ was plowing its way +through the broad waves of the Pacific on the evening of the fourteenth +of September. The captain and the first mate were keeping a sharp +lookout on the bridge, for they were approaching San Francisco. The +steamer had taken a cargo of machinery and rails on board at Esquimault +for San Francisco, as was duly set forth in the ship's papers. In +Esquimault, too, the second mate enlisted, though the captain was not +particularly eager to take a man who carried his arm in a sling. Since, +however, he could find no one else to take the place of the former +second mate, who had gone astray in the harbor saloons of Victoria, the +captain engaged the volunteer, who called himself Henry Wilson, and thus +far he had had no cause to regret his choice, as Wilson turned out to be +a quiet, sober man, thoroughly familiar with the waters along the +Pacific coast. + +Wilson was in the chart-room, carefully examining the entrance to San +Francisco; suddenly he turned and called through the open door to the +captain on the bridge: "Captain, we are now eight miles from the Golden +Gate; it's a wonder the Japs haven't discovered us yet." + +"I should think they would station their cruisers as far out as this," +answered the captain. + +"After all, why should they?" asked Wilson, "there's nothing more to be +done here, and the allies of our illustrious government can scarcely be +asked to show much interest in an English steamer with a harmless +cargo." + +Wilson joined the captain and the first mate on the bridge, and all +three leaned against the railing and tried through their glasses to +discover the fires of the Golden Gate through the darkness; but not a +gleam of light was to be seen. + +"I don't believe we'll be allowed to enter the harbor at night," began +the first mate again, "more especially as our instructions are to reach +the Golden Gate at noon." + +"Yes, but if the engines won't work properly, how the devil can they +expect us to be punctual!" grumbled the captain. + +"Look," cried Wilson, pointing to the blinding flash of a searchlight in +front of them, "they've got us at last!" A few minutes later the +brilliant bluish white beam of a searchlight was fixed on the _Port +Elizabeth_. + +"We'll keep right on our course," said the captain rather hurriedly to +the man at the helm, "they'll soon let us know what they want. Wilson, +you might get the ship's papers ready, we'll have visitors in a minute." + +Scarcely had Wilson reached the captain's cabin when a bell rang sharply +in the engine-room, and soon after this the engines began to slow down. +When he returned to the bridge, the masts and low funnels of a ship and +a thick trailing cloud of smoke could be seen crossing the reflection of +the searchlight a few hundred yards away from the _Port Elizabeth_. Then +a long black torpedo-boat with four low funnels emerged from the +darkness, turned, and took the same course as the freighter. A boat was +lowered and four sailors, a pilot and an officer stepped on board the +_Port Elizabeth_. + +The captain welcomed the Japanese lieutenant at the gangway and spoke a +few words to him in a low tone, whereupon they both went into the +captain's cabin. The Jap must have been satisfied by his examination of +the ship's papers, for he returned to the bridge conversing with the +captain in a most friendly and animated manner. + +"This is my first mate, Hornberg," said the captain. + +"An Englishman?" asked the Japanese. + +"No, a German." + +"A German?" repeated the Jap slowly. "The Germans are friends of Japan, +are they not?" he asked, smiling pleasantly at the first mate, who, +however, did not appear to have heard the question and turned away to go +to the engine-room telephone. + +"And this is my second mate, Wilson." + +"An Englishman?" asked the Jap again. + +"Yes, an Englishman," answered Wilson himself. + +The Japanese officer looked at him keenly and said: "I seem to know +you." + +"It is not impossible," said Wilson, "I have been navigating Japanese +waters for several years." + +"Indeed?" asked the lieutenant, "may I inquire on which line?" + +"On several lines; I know Shanghai, I have been from Hongkong to +Yokohama in tramp steamers, and once during the Russian war I got to +Nagasaki--also with a cargo of machinery," he added after a pause. "That +was a dangerous voyage, for the Russians had just sailed from +Vladivostock." + +"With a cargo of machinery," repeated the Japanese officer, adding, "and +you are familiar with these waters also?" + +"Fairly so," said Wilson. + +"Have you any relatives in the American Navy?" asked the Jap sharply. + +"Not that I know of," answered Wilson, "my family is a large one, and as +an Englishman I have relatives in all parts of the world, but none in +the American Navy, so far as I know." + +"Mr. Wilson, you will please take charge of the ship under the direction +of the pilot brought along by the lieutenant. Mr. Hornberg's watch is +up," said the captain, and went off with the Jap to his cabin. + +Five minutes later the captain sent for the first mate, who returned to +the bridge almost directly, saying: "Mr. Wilson, I am to take your place +at the helm. The captain would like to see you." + +"Certainly," answered Wilson curtly. The captain and the Jap were +sitting together in the cabin over a glass of whisky. "The lieutenant," +said the captain, "wants to know something about Esquimault; you know +the harbor there, don't you?" + +"Very slightly," answered Wilson, "I was only there three days." + +"Were there any Japanese ships at Esquimault when you were there?" + +"Yes, there was a Japanese cruiser in dock." + +"What was her name?" + +Wilson shrugged his shoulders and answered: "I couldn't say, I don't +know the names of the Japanese ships." + +"Won't you sit down and join us in a glass of whisky?" said the captain. + +"What did you do to your arm?" asked the Japanese. + +"I was thrown against the railing in a storm and broke it on the way +from Shanghai to Victoria." + +A long pause ensued which was at last broken by the Jap, who inquired: +"Do you know Lieutenant Longstreet of the American Navy?" + +"I know no one of that name in the American Navy." + +The Jap scrutinized Wilson's face, but the latter remained perfectly +unconcerned. + +"You told the captain that you've been in San Francisco often," began +the Jap again; "on what line were you?" + +"On no line, I was at San Francisco for pleasure." + +"When?" + +"The last time was two years ago." + +"May I see your papers?" + +"Certainly," said Wilson, getting up to fetch them from his cabin. + +The Japanese studied them closely. + +"Curious," he said at last, "I could have sworn that I've seen you +before." + +Then he glanced again at one of the certificates and looking up at +Wilson suddenly, over the edge of the paper, asked sharply: "Why have +you two names?" + +"I have only one," returned Wilson. + +"Winstanley and Wilson," said the Jap with a decided emphasis on both +names. + +"I'm very sorry," said Wilson, "but I don't know anyone of the name of +Winstanley, or whatever you called it. The name cannot very well be in +my papers." + +"Then I must be mistaken," said the Jap peevishly. + +Wilson left the captain's cabin and went up to the bridge, where he drew +a deep breath of relief. + +The pilot gave directions for the ship's course, and the torpedo-boat +steamed along on her port side like a shadow. + +"I wonder why we have a wireless apparatus on board?" asked Hornberg. + +"It never occurred to me until you mentioned it. I imagine it's merely +an experiment of the owners," answered Wilson. Then they both lapsed +into silence and only attended to the pilot's directions for the ship's +course. + +Wilson presently looked at his watch and remarked: "We must be about +two miles from the Golden Gate by this time." + +"It's possible," said Hornberg, "but as all the ships use shaded lights, +it's a difficult thing to determine." + +"Can we enter the harbor by night?" he asked of the Japanese pilot. + +"Yes, sir, whenever you like, under our pilotage you can enter the +harbor by day or night." + +"How's that?" + +"You'll see directly." + +At this moment the torpedo-boat's siren bellowed sharply three times, +and immediately the red lights at the masthead and the side of a steamer +about half a mile off became visible, and the bright flash of her +searchlight was thrown on the _Port Elizabeth_. The pilot sent a short +signal across, which was immediately answered by the Japanese guardship. + +"Now you'll see the channel," said the pilot to Wilson, "it's really an +American invention, but we were the first to put it to practical use. We +can't possibly lose our way now." + +"Yes, captain, you'll see something wonderful now," said the lieutenant, +as he came on the bridge with the captain. "You'll open your eyes when +you see us steering through the mines." + +Suddenly a bright circle of light appeared on the surface of the water, +which was reflected from some source of light about ten yards below the +surface. "It's an anchored light-buoy," explained the lieutenant, "which +forms the end of the electric light cable, and there to the right is +another one. All we have to do now is to keep a straight course between +the two rows of lantern-buoys which are connected with the cable, and in +that way we'll be able to steer with perfect safety between the mines +into the harbor of San Francisco." And indeed, about a hundred yards +ahead a second shining circle of light appeared on the water, and +further on a whole chain of round disks was seen to make a turn to the +left and then disappear in the distance. The same kind of a line +appeared on the right. Half an hour later three bright red reflections, +looking like transparent floating balls of light filled with ruby-red, +bubbling billows, marked a spot where the helm had to be turned to port +in order to bring the ship through a gap in the line of mines. Thus the +_Port Elizabeth_ reached San Francisco early in the morning. She did not +make fast at the quay, but at the arsenal on Mare Island, her crew then +being given shore leave. When the last man had gone, the _Port +Elizabeth_, unloaded her cargo of machinery and rails which, in the +hands of the Chinese coolies, was transformed into gun-barrels, +ammunition and shells in the most marvelous manner. "_Le pavilion couvre +la marchandise_, especially under the Union Jack," said Hornberg +sarcastically, as he watched this metamorphosis, but the captain only +looked at him angrily. + +That was the second time during the war that Captain Winstanley of the +United States Navy, and late commander of the battleship _Georgia_, saw +San Francisco, whence he had escaped by night from the naval hospital +two months before. The Japanese lieutenant was the same who had received +the word of honor of the officers on board the hospital ship _Ontario_ +on May eighth, and to whom Winstanley had refused to give his. Two +months after his voyage as second mate on board the _Port Elizabeth_, +which enabled him to gather information concerning the Japanese measures +for the defense of San Francisco, Winstanley stood on the bridge of the +battleship _Delaware_ as commander of the second Atlantic squadron. And +four months later the name of the victor in the naval battle off the +Galapagos Islands went the rounds of the world! + + + + +_Chapter XIII_ + +THE REVENGE FOR PORTSMOUTH + + +The more one examined the complicated machinery of the Japanese plan of +attack, the more one was forced to admire the cleverness and the energy +of the Mongolians in preparing for the war, and the more distinctly +these were recognized, the clearer became the wide gulf between the +Mongolian's and the white man's point of view concerning all these +matters. + +We might have learned a lesson in 1904, if we had not so carelessly and +thoughtlessly looked upon the Russo-Japanese war as a mere episode, +instead of regarding it as a war whose roots were firmly embedded in the +inner life of a nation that had suddenly come to the surface of a rapid +political development. The interference of the European powers in the +Peace of Shimonoseki in 1895 robbed Japan of nearly all the fruits of +her victory over China. Japan had been forced to vacate the conquered +province of Liaotung on the mainland because she was unable to prevail +against three European powers, who were for once agreed in maintaining +that all Chinese booty belonged to Europe, for they regarded China as a +bankrupt estate to be divided among her creditors. When, therefore, +after the second Peace of Shimonoseki, Japan was compelled to relinquish +all her possessions on the mainland and to console herself for her +shattered hopes with a few million taels, every Japanese knew that the +lost booty would at some time or other be demanded from Russia at the +point of the sword. With the millions paid by China as war indemnity, +Japan procured a new military armament, built an armored fleet and +slowly but surely taught the nation to prepare for the hour of revenge. +Remember Shimonoseki! That was the secret shibboleth, the free-mason's +sign, which for nine long years kept the thoughts of the Japanese people +continually centered on one object. + +"One country, one people, one God!" were words once emphatically +pronounced by Kaiser Wilhelm. But with the Japanese such high-sounding +words as these are quite unnecessary. In the heart of all, from the +Tenno to the lowest rickshaw coolie, there exists a jealous national +consciousness, as natural as the beating of the heart itself, which +unites the forces of religion, of the political idea and of intellectual +culture into one indivisible element, differing in the individual only +in intensity and in form of expression. When a citizen of Japan leaves +his native land, he nevertheless remains a Japanese from the crown of +his head to the soles of his feet, and can no more mix with members of +another nation than a drop of oil can mix with water: a drop of oil +poured on water will remain on its surface as an alien element, and so +does a Japanese among another people. While the streams of emigrants +passing over the boundaries of Europe into other countries soon adapt +themselves to new conditions and eventually adopt not only the outward +but also the inward symbols of their environment, until finally they +think and feel like those round about them, the Japanese remains a Jap +for all time. The former sometimes retain a sentimental memory of their +former home, but the Mongolian is never sentimental or romantic. He is +sober and sensible, with very little imagination, and his whole energy, +all his thoughts and endeavors are directed towards the upholding of the +national, intellectual and religious unity of Japan. His country is his +conscience, his faith, his deity. + +Ordinary nations require hundreds and even thousands of years to inspire +their people with a national consciousness, but this was not necessary +in Japan, for there patriotism is inborn in the people, among whom an +act of treason against the fatherland would be impossible because it is +looked upon as spiritual suicide. The inner solidarity of the national +character, the positive assurance of the fulfillment of all national +duties, and the absolute silence of the people towards strangers--these +are the weapons with which Japan enters the arena, clothed in a rattling +ready-made steel armor, the like of which her opponents have yet to +manufacture. The discretion shown by the Japanese press in all questions +relating to foreign policy is regarded as the fulfillment of a patriotic +duty just as much as the joyous self-sacrifice of the soldier on the +field of battle. + +From the moment that Marquis Ito had returned from Portsmouth (in 1905) +empty-handed and the Japanese had been sorely disappointed in their +hopes through President Roosevelt's instrumentality in bringing about +peace, every Japanese knew whose turn would come next. The Japanese +people were at first exceedingly angry at the way in which they had been +deprived of their expected indemnity, but the government only allowed +them to let off steam enough to prevent the boilers from bursting. Here +and there, where it could do no harm, they let the excited mob have its +way, but very soon both government and press began their new work of +turning the people's patriotic passions away from the past to prepare +for the future control of the Pacific. When in return for the +prohibition of Chinese immigration to the United States, China boycotted +our goods, and the ensuing panic in Wall Street forced the government +in Washington to grant large concessions, Japan did not attempt to make +use of this sharp weapon, for one of their most extensive industries, +namely the silk industry, depended upon the export to the United States. +Japan continued to place orders in America and treated the American +importers with special politeness, even when she saw that the beginning +of the boycott gave the gentlemen in Washington a terrible scare, +prompting them to collect funds to relieve the famine in China and even +renouncing all claim to the war indemnity of 1901 to smooth matters +over. But Japan apparently took no notice of all this and continued to +be deferential and polite, even when the growing heaps of unsold goods +in the warehouses at Shanghai made the Americans ready to sacrifice some +of their national pride. Since Japan wished to take the enemy by +surprise, she had to be very careful not to arouse suspicions +beforehand. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always," was the watchword given out +by the little Jewish lawyer in the president's chair of France, when the +longing for revenge filled the soul of every Frenchman during the slow +retreat of the German army after its victorious campaign; "never speak +of it, but think of it always," that was the watchword of the Japanese +people also, although never expressed in words. It was nine years before +the bill of exchange issued at Shimonoseki was presented on that +February night in the roads of Port Arthur; for nine years the Japanese +had kept silence and thought about it, had drilled and armed their +soldiers, built ships and instructed their crews. The world had seen all +this going on, but had no idea of the real reason for these warlike +preparations on a tremendous scale. It was not Japan who had deceived +the world, for everything went on quite openly, it being impossible to +hide an army of over a million men under a bushel basket; but the world +had deceived itself. When ships are built and cannon cast in other parts +of the world, everyone knows for whom they are intended, and should +anyone be ignorant, he will soon be enlightened by the after-dinner +speeches of diplomats or indiscreet newspaper articles. The military and +naval plans of the old world are common property, and this political +indiscretion is characteristic of America as well as of Europe. In +striking contrast thereto are the cool calculation, the silent +observation and the perfect harmony of the peoples of Asia and Africa, +all of whom, without exception, are inspired by a deep and undying +hatred of the white race. + +You may live for years among disciples of Mohammed, know all in your +environment, penetrate into their thoughts and feelings, and still be +utterly incapable of judging when the little spark that occasionally +glows in their eyes in moments of great enthusiasm, will suddenly +develop into an immense flame, when a force will make its appearance of +the existence of which you have never dreamed, and which will, without a +sign of warning, devastate and destroy all around it. But when this does +happen and the corpses of the slain encumber the streets, when the +quiet, peaceful, apparently indolent Moslem who for years has worked +faithfully for you, is transformed in a few hours into a fanatical hero, +whom thousands follow like so many sheep, then, at the sight of the +burning ruins you will be forced to admit that the white man will +forever be excluded from the thoughts and the national sentiment of the +followers of Islam. + +You walk across a sandy plain in the heat of the midday sun and you +return the same way the next morning after a rainy night--what has +happened? The ground which yesterday looked so parched and barren is now +covered with millions of tiny blades. Where has this sudden life come +from? It was there all the time. There is always latent life beneath the +surface, but it is invisible. And as soon as a fertilizing rain comes, +it springs up, and everyone perceives what has been slumbering beneath +the crust. + +In the dense jungles from which the sacred Nile receives its waters, +there stands a tent and before it a saddled horse. From the tent steps +forth a man with large glowing eyes, dressed all in white, who is +greeted by his followers with fanatical cries of Allah, Allah! He mounts +his steed, the camels rise, and the long caravan swings slowly out of +sight and disappears in the bush. Once more dead silence reigns in the +African jungle. Whither are they going? You don't know; you see only a +rider dressed in a white burnoose, only a few dozen men hailing a +prophet, but in the very same moment in which you see only a sheik +riding off, millions know that the Caliph, the Blessed of Allah, has +started on his journey through the lands whose inhabitants he intends to +lead either to victory or to destruction. In the same moment millions of +hearts from Mogador to Cape Guardafui, from Tripoli to the burning salt +deserts of Kalahari, rejoice in the thought that the hour of deliverance +has come for the peoples of Islam. A victorious feeling of buoyant hope +arises in the hearts of the Faithful simply because a plain Arabian +sheik has started on the road pointed out by Allah. How they happen to +know it and all at the same time, will forever remain a mystery to the +white man, as much of a mystery as the secret inner life of the yellow +races of Asia. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always," had been the watchword, and +everything that had transpired, even the apparently inconsistent and +senseless things, had been ruled by it. The world could not be deceived +about the things that were plainly visible; all the Japanese had to do +was to make sure that the world would deceive itself as it had done +during the preparations for Port Arthur. A perfectly equipped army could +be seen by all on the fields of Nippon, Hokkaido and Kiushiu, and the +fleet was surely not hidden from view. It was the world's own fault that +it could not interpret what it saw, that it imagined the little yellow +monkey would never dare attack the clumsy polar-bear. Because the +diplomatic quill-drivers would only see what fitted into their schemes, +because they were capable only of moving in a circle about their own +ideas, they could not understand the thoughts of others, and the few +warning voices died away unheeded. It was not Japan's fault that the +roads at Port Arthur roused the world out of its slumber. What business +had the world to be asleep? + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always"--the adversary must be put +to sleep again, he must be lulled into security and his thoughts +directed towards the points where there was nothing to be seen, where no +preparations were in progress. He must be kept in the dark about the +true nature of the preparations, and on the other hand put on as many +false scents as possible, so that he might not get the faintest idea of +the real plan. + +This is the reason why all those things were done, why the quarrel over +the admission of Japanese children to the public schools of San +Francisco was cooked up, why so much national anger was exhibited, why +the Japanese press took up the quarrel like a hungry dog pouncing upon a +bone, why so much noise was made about it at public meetings that one +would have thought the fate of Japan hung on the result. And then, as +soon as Washington began to back down, the dogs were whipped back to +their kennels and the "national anger" died out as soon as Japan had +"saved her face." The Americans were allowed to doze off again, fully +persuaded that the school question was settled once and for all and that +there was nothing further to fear in that direction. Then, too, Japan +apparently yielded in the vexed question of Japanese immigration to the +United States, but instead of sending the immigrants to San Francisco +and Seattle, as she had done hitherto, they were simply dispatched +across the Mexican frontier, where it was impossible to exercise control +over such things, for no one could be expected to patrol the sandy +deserts of Arizona and New Mexico merely to watch whether a few Japs +slipped across the border now and then. It was therefore impossible to +keep track of the number of Japanese who entered the country in this +way, more especially as the official emigration figures issued at Tokio +were purposely inaccurate, so as to confuse the statistics still more. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always!" That is why a Japanese +photographer was sent to San Diego to photograph the walls of Fort +Rosecrans. He was to get himself arrested. But of course we had to let +the fellow go when he proved that better and more accurate photos than +he had taken could be purchased in almost any store in San Diego. The +object of this game was the same as that practiced in Manila, where we +were induced to arrest a spy who was ostentatiously taking photographs. +Both of these little maneuvers were intended to persuade us that Japan +was densely ignorant with regard to these forts which as a matter of +fact would play no rôle at all in her plan of attack; America was to be +led to believe that Japan's system of espionage was in its infancy, +while in reality the government at Tokio was in possession of the exact +diagram of every fort, was thoroughly familiar with every beam of our +warships--thanks to the Japanese stewards who had been employed by the +Navy Department up to a few years ago--knew the peculiarities of every +one of our commanders and their hobbies in maneuvers, and finally was +informed down to the smallest detail of our plans of mobilization, and +of the location of our war headquarters and of our armories and +ammunition depots. + +For the same reason the Japanese press, and the English press in Eastern +Asia which was inspired by Japan, continually drew attention to the +Philippines, as though that archipelago were to be the first point of +attack. For this reason, too, the English-Chinese press published at the +beginning of the year the well-known plans for Japan's offensive naval +attack and the transport of two of her army corps to the Philippines. +And the ruse proved successful. Just as Russia had been taken completely +by surprise because she would persist in her theory that Japan would +begin by marching upon Manchuria, so now the idea that Japan would first +try to capture the Philippines and Hawaii had become an American and an +international dogma. The world had allowed itself to be deceived a +second time, and, convinced that the first blow would be struck at +Manila and Hawaii, they spent their time in figuring out how soon the +American fleet would be able to arrive on the scene of action in order +to save the situation in the Far East. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always!" While Japan was +disseminating these false notions as to the probable course of a war, +the actual preparations for it were being conducted in an entirely +different place, and the adversary was induced to concentrate his +strength at a point where there was no intention of making an attack. +The Japanese were overjoyed to observe the strengthening of the +Philippine garrison when the insurrection inspired by Japanese agents +broke out at Mindanao as well as the concentration of the cruiser +squadron off that island, for Manila, the naval base, was thus left +unprotected. With the same malignant joy they noticed how the United +States stationed half of its fleet off the Pacific coast and, relying on +her mobile means of defense, provided insufficient garrisons for the +coast-defenses, on the supposition that there would be plenty of time to +put the garrisons on a war-footing after the outbreak of hostilities. + +Japan's next move came in March and April, when she quietly withdrew all +the regular troops from the Manchurian garrisons and replaced them with +reserve regiments fully able to repulse for a time any attack on the +part of Russia. The meaning of this move was not revealed until weeks +later, when it became known that the transport ships from Dalny and +Gensan, which were supposed to have returned to Japan, were really on +their way to San Francisco and Seattle with the second detachment of the +invading army. + +After the destruction of the Philippine squadron, the Japanese reduced +their blockade of the Bay of Manila to a few old cruisers and armed +merchant-steamers, at the same time isolating the American garrisons in +the archipelago, whose fate was soon decided. The blockading ships could +not of course venture near the heavy guns of the Corregidor batteries, +but that was not their task. They had merely to see that Manila had no +intercourse with the outside world, and this they did most efficiently. +The Japanese ships had at first feared an attack by the two little +submarines _Shark_ and _Porpoise_ stationed at Cavite; they learned from +their spies on land, however, that the government shipyards at Cavite +had tried in vain to render the little boats seaworthy: they returned +from each diving-trial with defective gasoline-engines. And when, weeks +later, they at last reached Corregidor, the four Japanese submarines +quickly put an end to them. The strongly fortified city of Manila had +thus become a naval base without a fleet and was accordingly overpowered +from the land side. + +As the far too weak garrison of scarcely more than ten thousand men was +insufficient to defend the extensive line of forts and barricades, the +unfinished works at Olongapo on Subig Bay were blown up with dynamite +and vacated, then the railways were abandoned, and finally only Manila +and Cavite were retained. But the repeated attacks of the natives under +the leadership of Japanese officers soon depleted the little garrison, +which was entirely cut off from outside assistance and dependent +absolutely on the supplies left in Manila itself. The only article of +which they had more than enough was coal; but you can't bake bread with +coal, and so finally, on August twenty-fourth, Manila capitulated. +Twenty-eight hundred starving soldiers surrendered their arms while the +balance lay either in the hospitals or on the field of battle. Thus the +Philippines became a Japanese possession with the loss of a single man, +Lieutenant Shirawa. All the rest had been accomplished by the Filipinos +and by the climate that was so conducive to the propagation of +mosquitoes and scorpions. + +Hawaii's fate had been decided even more quickly than that of the +Philippines. The sixty thousand Japanese inhabitants of the archipelago +were more than enough to put an end to American rule. The half-finished +works at Pearl Harbor fell at the first assault, while the three +destroyers and the little gunboat were surprised by the enemy. Guam, and +Pago-Pago on Tutuila, were also captured, quite incidentally. About the +middle of May, a Japanese transport fleet returning from San Francisco +appeared at Honolulu and took forty thousand inhabitants to Seattle, +where they formed the reserve corps of the Northern Japanese Army. + + * * * * * + +Japan's rising imperialism, the feeling that the sovereignty of the +Pacific rightly belonged to the leading power in yellow Asia had, long +before the storms of war swept across the plains of Manchuria, come into +conflict with the imperialistic policy of the United States, although +invisibly at first. Prior to that time the Asiatic races had looked upon +the dominion of the white man as a kind of fate, as an irrevocable +universal law, but the fall of Port Arthur had shattered this idol once +and for all. And after the days of Mukden and Tsushima had destroyed the +belief in the invincibility of the European arms, the Japanese agents +found fertile soil everywhere for their seeds of secret political +agitation. In India, in Siam, and in China also, the people began to +prick their ears when it was quite openly declared that after the +destruction of the czar's fleet the Pacific and the lands bordering on +it could belong only to the Mongolians. The discovery was made that the +white man was not invincible. And beside England, only the United States +remained to be considered--the United States who were still hard at work +on their Philippine inheritance and could not make up their mind to +establish their loudly heralded imperialistic policy on a firm footing +by providing the necessary armaments. + +Then came the Peace of Portsmouth. Absolutely convinced that his country +would have to bear the brunt of the next Asiatic thunder-storm, Theodore +Roosevelt gained one of the most momentous victories in the history of +the world when he removed the payment of a war indemnity from the +conditions of peace. And he did this not because he had any particular +love for the Russians, but because he wished to prevent the +strengthening of Japan's financial position until after the completion +of the Panama Canal. America did exactly what Germany, Russia and France +had done at the Peace of Shimonoseki, and we had to be prepared for +similar results. But how long did it take the American people, who had +helped to celebrate the victories of Oyama, Nogi and Togo, to recognize +that a day of vengeance for Portsmouth was bound to come. In those days +we regarded the Manchurian campaign merely as a spectacle and applauded +the victors. We had no idea that it was only the prelude of the great +drama of the struggle for the sovereignty of the Pacific. We wanted +imperialism, but took no steps to establish it on a firm basis, and it +is foolish to dream of imperial dominion when one is afraid to lay the +sword in the scales. We might bluff the enemy for the time being by +sending our fleet to the Pacific; but we could not keep him deceived +long as to the weakness of our equipment on land and at sea, especially +on land. + +The wholesale immigration of Mongolians to our Pacific States and to the +western shores of South America was clearly understood across the sea. +But we looked quietly on while the Japanese overran Chili, Peru and +Bolivia, all the harbors on the western coast of South America; and +while the yellow man penetrated there unhindered and the decisive events +of the future were in process of preparation, we continued to look +anxiously eastward from the platform of the Monroe Doctrine and to keep +a sharp lookout on the modest remnants of the European colonial dominion +in the Caribbean Sea, as if danger could threaten us from that corner. +We seemed to think that the Monroe Doctrine had an eastern exposure +only, and when we were occasionally reminded that it embraced the entire +continent, we allowed our thoughts to be distracted by the London press +with its talk of the "German danger" in South America, just as though +any European state would think for a moment of seizing three Brazilian +provinces overnight, as it were. + +We have always tumbled through history as though we were deaf and dumb, +regarding those who warned us in time against the Japanese danger as +backward people whose intellects were too weak to grasp the victorious +march of Japanese culture. Any one who would not acknowledge the +undeniable advance of Japan to be the greatest event of the present +generation was stamped by us an enemy of civilization. We recognized +only two categories of people--Japanophobes and Japanophiles. It never +entered our heads that we might recognize the weighty significance of +Japan's sudden development into a great political power, but at the same +time warn our people most urgently against regarding this development +merely as a phase of feuilletonistic culture. Right here lies the basis +for all our political mistakes of the last few years. The revenge for +Portsmouth came as such a terrible surprise, because, misled by common +opinion, we believed the enemy to be breaking down under the weight of +his armor and therefore incapable of conducting a new war and, in this +way undervaluing our adversary, we neglected all necessary preparations. +No diplomatic conflict, not the slightest disturbance of our relations +with Japan prepared the way for the great surprise. The world was the +richer by one experience--that a war need have no prelude on the +diplomatic stage provided enough circumstances have led up to it. + + + + +_Chapter XIV_ + +ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WHIRLPOOL + + +On the rear deck of a ferry-boat bound for Hoboken on the morning of May +12th stood Randolph Taney, with his hands in his pockets, gazing +intently at the foaming waters of the Hudson plowed up by the screw. It +was all over: he had speculated in Wall Street, putting his money on +Harriman, and had lost every cent he had. What Harriman could safely do +with a million, Randolph Taney could not do with a quarter of a million. +That's why he had lost. Fortunately only his own money. The whole bundle +of papers wasn't worth any more than the copy of the _Times_ tossed +about in the swirling water in the wake of the boat. + +Randolph Taney kept on thinking. Just why he was going to Hoboken he +really didn't know, but it made little difference what he did. + +"Halloo, Taney," called out an acquaintance, "where are you going?" + +"I don't know." + +"You don't know? How's that?" + +"I'm done for." + +"You're not the only one; Wall Street is a dangerous vortex." + +"But I'm absolutely cleaned out." + +"How so?" + +"Do you know what I'm going to do, James Harrison?" asked Taney, with +bitter irony in his voice. "I'll apprentice myself to a paperhanger, +and learn to paper my rooms with my worthless railway shares. I imagine +I can still learn that much." + +"Ah, that's the way the wind blows!" cried the other, whistling softly. + +"What did you think?" + +"It was pretty bad, I suppose?" + +"Bad? It was hell----" + +"Were you in Wall Street on Monday?" + +"Yes, and on Tuesday, too." + +"And now you want to learn paperhanging?" + +"Yes." + +"Does it have to be that?" + +"Can you suggest anything else?" + +"Yes." + +"Well?" + +Hubert pointed to the button-hole in the lapel of his coat and said: "Do +you see this?" + +"What is it?" + +"A volunteer button." + +Taney looked with interest at the little white button with the American +flag, and then said: "Have I got to that point? The last chance, I +suppose?" he added after a pause. + +"Not the last, but the first!" + +"How so?" + +"At any rate it's better than paperhanging. Look here, Taney, you'll +only worry yourself to death. It would be far more sensible of you to +take the bull by the horns and join our ranks. You can at least try to +retrieve your fortunes by that means." + +The ferry-boat entered the slip at Hoboken and both men left the boat. + +"Now, Taney, which is it to be, paperhanging or--," and James Harrison +pointed to the button. + +"I'll come with you," said Taney indifferently. They went further along +the docks towards the Governor's Island ferry-boat. + +"I have a friend over there," said Harrison, "a major in the 8th +Regulars; he'll be sure to find room for us, and we may be at the front +in a month's time." + +Taney stuffed his pipe and answered: "In a month? That suits me; I have +no affairs to arrange." + +The two men looked across in silence at Manhattan Island, where the +buildings were piled up in huge terraces. All the color-tones were +accentuated in the bright clear morning air. The sky-scrapers of the +Empire City, mighty turreted palaces almost reaching into the clouds, +stood out like gigantic silhouettes. The dome of the Singer Building +glistened and glittered in the sun, crowning a region in which strenuous +work was the order of the day, while directly before them stretched the +broad waters of the Hudson with its swarm of hurrying ferry-boats. +Further on, between the piers and the low warehouses, could be seen a +long row of serious-looking ocean-steamers, whose iron lungs emitted +little clouds of steam as the cranes fed their huge bodies with nice +little morsels. + +The two men had seen this picture hundreds of times, but were impressed +once again by its grandeur. + +"Taney," said Harrison, "isn't that the most beautiful city in the +world? I've been around the world twice, but I've never seen anything to +equal it. That's our home, and we are going to protect it by shouldering +our guns. Come on, old chap, leave everything else behind and come with +me!" + +"Yes, I'll come, I certainly shall!" came the quick response. Then they +took the boat to Governor's Island and Taney enlisted. They promised to +make him a lieutenant when the troops took the field. + +When they returned two hours later Randolph Taney also wore the button +with the flag in the center: he was a full-fledged volunteer in the +United States Army. + +On the return trip Taney became communicative, and told the story of the +eighth of May, that terrible day in Wall Street when billions melted +away like butter, when thousands of persons were tossed about in the +whirlpool of the Stock Exchange, when the very foundations of economic +life seemed to be slipping away. He described the wild scenes when +desperate financiers rushed about like madmen, and told how some of them +actually lost their reason during the bitter struggle for existence, +when not an inch of ground was vacated without resistance. Men fought +for every projecting rock, every piece of wreckage, every straw, as they +must have fought in the waves of the Flood, and yet one victim after +another was swallowed by the vortex. In the midst of the mad scrimmage +on the floor of the Exchange one excited individual, the general manager +of a large railroad--with his hair disheveled and the perspiration +streaming down his face, one of his sleeves ripped out and his collar +torn off--suddenly climbed on a platform and began to preach a confused +sermon accompanied by wild gestures; others, whose nerves were utterly +unstrung by the terrible strain, joined in vulgar street-songs. + +Harrison had read about these things in the papers, but his friend's +graphic description brought it all vividly to mind again and caused him +to shudder. He seemed to see all the ruined existences, which the +maelstrom in Wall Street had dragged down into the depths, staring at +him with haggard faces. He thought of his own simple, plain life as +compared with the neurasthenic existence of the men on the Stock +Exchange, who were now compelled to look on in complete apathy and let +things go as they were. The rich man, whom in the bottom of his heart +he had often envied, was now poorer than the Italian bootblack standing +beside him. + +The ferry-boat now turned sharply aside to make room for the giant +_Mauretania_, which was steaming out majestically from its pier into the +broad Hudson River. + +The thrilling notes of the "Star Spangled Banner" had just died away, +and a sea of handkerchiefs fluttered over the railings, which were +crowded with passengers waving their last farewells to those left +behind. Then the ship's band struck up a new tune, and the enormous +steamer plowed through the waves towards the open sea. + +"There go the rats who have deserted the sinking ship," said Randolph +Taney bitterly, "our leading men of finance are said to have offered +fabulous prices for the plainest berths." + +The flight of the homeless had begun. + + + + +_Chapter XV_ + +A RAY OF LIGHT + + +Only a small Japanese garrison was left at Seattle after the first +transports of troops had turned eastward on the seventh and eighth of +May, and the northern army under Marshal Nogi had, after a few +insignificant skirmishes with small American detachments, taken up its +position in, and to the south of, the Blue Mountains. Then, in the +beginning of June, the first transport-ships arrived from Hawaii, +bringing the reserve corps for the northern army, with orders to occupy +the harbors and coast-towns behind the front and to guard the lines of +communication to the East. + +Communication by rail had been stopped everywhere. No American was +allowed to board a train, and only with the greatest difficulty did a +few succeed in securing special permission in very urgent cases. The +stations had one and all been turned into little forts, being occupied +by Japanese detachments who at the same time attended to the Japanese +passenger and freight-service. + +In all places occupied by the Japanese the press had been silenced, +except for one paper in each town, which was allowed to continue its +existence because the Japs needed it for the publication of edicts and +proclamations issued to the inhabitants, and for the dissemination of +news from the seat of war, the latter point being considered of great +importance. This entire absence of news from other than Japanese sources +gave rise to thousands of rumors, which seemed to circulate more +rapidly by word of mouth than the former telegraphic dispatches had +through the newspapers. + +On the morning of June eighth the news was spread in Tacoma that the +city would that day receive a Japanese garrison, as several +transport-steamers had arrived at Seattle. Up to that time only one +Japanese company had been stationed at Tacoma, and they had occupied the +railroad station and the gas and electric works and intrenched +themselves in the new waterworks outside the town. Through some strange +trick of fortune the gun-depot for the arming of the national guard +which had been removed to Tacoma a year ago and which contained about +five thousand 1903 Springfield rifles had escaped the notice of the +enemy. The guns had been stored provisionally in the cellars of a large +grain elevator and it had been possible to keep them concealed from the +eyes of the Japs, but it was feared that their hiding-place might be +betrayed any day. This danger would of course be greatly increased the +moment Tacoma received a stronger garrison. + +Martin Engelmann, a German who had immigrated to the great Northwest +some twenty years ago, owned a pretty little home in the suburbs of +Tacoma. The family had just sat down to dinner when the youngest son, +who was employed in a large mercantile establishment in the city, +entered hurriedly and called out excitedly: + +"They're coming, father, they're in the harbor." + +Then he sat down and began to eat his soup in haste. + +"They're coming?" asked old Engelmann in a serious tone of voice, "then +I fear it is too late." + +The old man got up from the table and going over to the window looked +out into the street. Not a living thing was to be seen far and wide +except a little white poodle gnawing a bone in the middle of the +street. Engelmann stared attentively at the poodle, buried in thought. + +"How many of them are there?" he asked after a pause. + +"At least a whole battalion, I'm told," answered the son, finishing his +soup in short order. + +"Then it's all over, of course. Just twenty-four hours too soon," sighed +Engelmann softly as he watched the poodle, who at that moment was +jumping about on the street playing with the gnawed bone. + +Engelmann tried hard to control himself, but he did not dare turn his +head, for he could hear low, suppressed sobbing behind him. Martha, the +faithful companion of his busy life, sat at the table with her face +buried in her hands, the tears rolling uninterruptedly down her cheeks, +while her two daughters were trying their best to comfort her. + +Old Engelmann opened the window and listened. + +"Nothing to be heard yet; but they'll have to pass here to get to the +waterworks," he said. Then he joined his family, and turning to his +wife, said: "Courage, mother! Arthur will do his duty." + +"But if anything should happen to him--" sobbed his wife. + +"Then it will be for his country, and his death and that of his comrades +will give us an example of the sacrifices we must all make until the +last of the yellow race has been driven out." + +The mother went on crying quietly, her handkerchief up to her eyes: +"When was it to be? Tell me!" she cried. + +"To-night," said the father, "and they would surely have been +successful, for they could easily have overpowered the few men at the +station and in the town. Listen, there are the Japs!" + +From outside came the regular beat of the drums. Bum--bum--bum, bum, bum +they went, and then the shrill squeaking of the fifes could also be +heard. + +"Yes, there they are, the deuce take 'em," said Engelmann. The sound of +the drums became more and more distinct and presently the sound of +troops marching in step could be clearly distinguished. Then the steps +became firmer, and the window-panes began to rattle as the leader of the +battalion appeared on horseback in the middle of the street, followed by +the fife and drum corps, and with the little white poodle barking at his +heels. It was a Japanese battalion of reserves marching in the direction +of the new waterworks outside the town. + +"Courage, mother!" comforted the old man. "If they only stay at the +waterworks all may yet be well." + +"Wouldn't it be possible to warn Arthur?" began the mother again. + +"Warn him?" said Engelmann, shrugging his shoulders, "all you have to do +is to go to the telegraph office and hand in a telegram to the Japanese +official, telling them to remain where they are." + +"But couldn't we make it a go after all?" asked the youngest son +thoughtfully. "The boxes are all ready, and can be packed in half an +hour. We have three hundred men and thirty wagons. The latter were to be +loaded at eleven o'clock to-night. And then at them with our revolvers! +There aren't more than twenty men at the station," he went on with +sparkling eyes. "At eleven o'clock sharp the telegraph-wire to the +waterworks will be cut, also the wires to all the stations; then let +them telegraph all they like. The minute the train arrives, the engine +will be switched to another track and then backed in front of the train. +Meanwhile the boxes will be packed in the cars and then we'll be off +with the throttle wide open. At each station a car will be dropped, and +wagons will be waiting to receive their loads and get away as fast as +the horses can pull them. Safe hiding-places have been found for all the +boxes, and whatever hasn't been captured by to-morrow morning will +certainly never fall into the enemy's hands." + +"Where is the telegraph-wire to the waterworks?" asked the father. + +"That's my job, to cut the wire just before the arrival of the train," +said his son proudly. + +"Richard," cried the mother in a horrified voice, "are you in it, too?" + +"Yes, mother, you didn't suppose I'd stand and look on while Arthur was +risking his life, did you? What would they think of us on the other side +if we were to hesitate at such a time as this? 'Germans to the front,' +that's our slogan now, and we'll show the people in Washington that the +German-Americans treat the duties of their new country seriously." + +Old Engelmann laid his hand on his son's shoulder, saying: "Right you +are, my boy, and my blessing go with you! So you are to cut the +telegraph-wire?" + +"Yes, father. We happen to know where it is. The Japs were of course +clever enough to lay it underground, but we have discovered it under the +paving near Brown & Co.'s store. We dug through to it very carefully +from the cellar, and so as to make quite sure in case they should notice +anything out of the way at the waterworks, we attached a Morse apparatus +to the wire in the cellar. In case they suspect anything at the works +and begin to telegraph, I'm to work the keys a little so that they won't +know the wire is cut. In addition we laid a wire to the station last +night, which will give a loud bell-signal in case any danger threatens." + +The young fellow had talked himself into a state of great excitement, +and his two sisters, watching him proudly, began to be infected by his +enthusiasm. + +The shades of night were falling slowly as Richard Engelmann bade a +touching farewell to his family and left the house, whistling a lively +tune as he walked towards the town. + + + + +_Chapter XVI_ + +THROUGH FIRE AND SMOKE + + +A train was always kept in readiness at Centralia on the Northern +Pacific Railway, which could get up full steam at a moment's notice in +case of necessity. Two Japanese, the engineer and the fireman, were +squatting on the floor of the tender in front of the glistening black +heaps of coal, over which played the red reflections from the furnace. +They had just made their tea with hot water from the boiler and eaten +their modest supper. Then the engineer pulled out his pipe and stuffing +its little metal bowl with a few crumbs of tobacco, took one or two +puffs at it and said, "Akoki, it is time," whereupon the stoker seized +his shovel, dug into the heap of coals and threw the black lumps with a +sure aim into the open door of the furnace. With a hissing sound the +draft rushed into the glowing fire, and the engine sent out masses of +black smoke which, mixed with hundreds of tiny sparks, was driven like a +pillar of fire over the dark row of cars. The engineer climbed down the +little iron steps and examined the steel rods of his engine with +clinking knocks from his hammer. + +Up and down in front of the dark station walked a Japanese sentinel and +each time that he passed beyond the ring of light thrown by the two +dimly burning lamps he seemed to be swallowed up in the darkness. Only +two little windows at one end of the station were lighted up; they +belonged to the Japanese guard-room and had been walled up so that they +were no wider than loop-holes. The train which inspected this district +regularly between eight and nine o'clock each evening had passed by at +8.30 and proceeded in the direction of Portland. With the exception of +the non-commissioned officer and the man in charge of the three +arc-lamps on the roof that were to light up the surrounding country in +case of a night-attack most of the soldiers had gone to sleep, although +a few were engaged in a whispered conversation. + +Suddenly the sergeant sprang up as a muffled cry was heard from the +outside. "The lamps!" he yelled to the man at the electric instrument. +The latter pushed the lever, but everything remained pitch dark outside. + +The soldiers were up in a second. The sergeant took a few steps towards +the door, but before he could reach it, it was torn open from the +outside. + +A determined looking man with a rifle slung over his shoulder appeared +in the doorway, and the next moment a dark object flew through the air +and was dashed against the wall. A deafening report followed, and then +the guard-room was filled with yellow light caused by the blinding +explosion, while thick black smoke forced its way out through the +loop-holes. Armed men were running up and down in front of the station, +and when the man who had thrown the bomb and who was only slightly +injured but bleeding at the nose and ears from the force of the +concussion, was picked up by them, they were able to assure him +triumphantly that his work had been successful and that the guard-room +had become a coffin for the small Japanese detachment. + +Stumbling over the dead body of the sentinel lying on the platform, the +leader of the attacking party rushed towards the engine, out of the +discharge-valves of which clouds of boiling steam poured forth. With one +bound he was up in the cab, where he found the Japanese fireman killed +by a blow from an ax. Other dark figures climbed up from the opposite +side bumping into their comrades. + +"Halloo, Dick, I call that a good job!" And then it began to liven up +along the row of cars. Wild looking men with rifles over their shoulders +and revolvers in their right hands tore open the carriage doors and +rushed quickly through the whole train. + +"Dick, where's Forster?" + +"Here," answered a rough voice. + +"Off to the engine! Into the cars, quick! Are you ready? Is anyone +missing? Arthur! Where's Arthur?" + +"Here, Dick!" + +"Good work, Arthur, that's what I call good work," said the leader; +"well done, my boys! We're all right so far! Now for the rest of it." + +Fighting Dick distributed his men among the different cars and then he +and Forster, formerly an engineer on the Northern Pacific, climbed into +the cab. + +"They've made it easy for us," said Forster, "they've only just put +fresh coal on! We can start at once! And if it isn't my old engine at +that! I only hope we won't have to give her up! The Japs shan't have her +again, anyhow, even if she has to swallow some dynamite and cough a +little to prevent it." + +"We're off," shouted Fighting Dick, whose fame as a desperado had spread +far beyond the borders of the State of Washington. With such men as +these we were destined to win back our native land. They were a wild +lot, but each of them was a hero: farmers, hunters, workmen from shop +and factory, numerous tramps and half-blooded Indian horse-thieves made +up the company. Only a few days ago Fighting Dick's band had had a +regular battle in the mountains with a troop of Japanese cavalry, and in +the woods of Tacoma more than one Japanese patrol had never found its +way back to the city. These little encounters were no doubt also +responsible for the strengthening of the Japanese garrison at Tacoma. + +The thing to do now was to get the five thousand guns and ammunition +cases out of Tacoma by surprising the enemy. + +Thus far, nothing but the explosion of the bomb at the Centralia station +could have betrayed the plot. It is true that the distant mountains had +sent the echoes of the detonation far and wide, but a single shot didn't +have much significance at a time like this when our country resounded +with the thunder of cannon day in day out! + +The train rushed through the darkness at full speed. A misplaced switch, +a loose rail, might at any moment turn the whole train into a heap of +ruins and stop the beating of a hundred brave American hearts. The +headlight of Forster's engine lighted up the long rows of shining rails, +and in the silent woods on both sides of the track, beneath the branches +of the huge trees, lights could be seen here and there in the windows of +the houses, where the dwellers were anxiously awaiting the return of the +train from Tacoma! And now a hollow roll of thunder came up from below. + +"The bridges?" asked Fighting Dick. + +"Yes, the bridges," said Forster, nodding. + +Then a faint light appeared in the distance. The train was nearing +Tacoma. + +Houses began to spring up more frequently out of the darkness, now to +the right and now to the left; dancing lights popped up and disappeared. +Tall, black buildings near the tracks gave out a thundering noise like +the crash of hammers and accompanied the roar of the passing train. A +beam of light is suddenly thrown across the rails, green and red +lanterns slip by with the speed of lightning, and then the brakes +squeak and the train runs noisily into the dark station. + +A few figures hurry across the platform. Shots ring out from all sides. +A mortally-wounded Jap is leaning against a post, breathing heavily. + +The wheels groan beneath the pressure of the brakes and then, with a +mighty jerk that shakes everybody up, the train comes to a stand-still. +Down from the cars! Fighting Dick in the lead, revolver in hand, and the +others right on his heels. They entered the station only to find every +Jap dead--the men of Tacoma had done their duty. + +Now the clatter of hoofs was heard out in the street. The heavy wagons +with their heaps of rifles and long tin boxes full of cartridges were +driven up at a mad pace. A wild tumult ensued as the boxes were rushed +to the train--two men to a box--and the doors slammed to. Then the empty +wagons rattled back through the silent streets. Meanwhile Forster ran +his engine on the turntable, where it was quickly reversed, and in a few +moments it stood, puffing and snorting, at the other end of the train. + +All this consumed less than half an hour. Suddenly shots rang out in the +neighboring streets, but as no detachment of hostile troops appeared, +the Americans concluded that they had been fired by a patrol which was +coming from the electric-works to see what the noise at the station was +about. Several rockets with their blinding magnesium light appeared in +the dark sky and illumined the roofs of the houses. Was it a warning +signal? + +All at once the electric gongs near the station which were connected +with Brown & Co.'s cellar began to ring, a sign that something +suspicious had been noticed at the waterworks. Forster was waiting +impatiently in his engine for the signal of departure and could not +imagine why Fighting Dick was postponing it so long. He was standing in +the doorway of the station and now called out: "Where is Arthur +Engelmann?" + +"Not here," came the answer from the train. + +"Where can he be?" + +The name was called out several times, but no one answered. The train +was ready to start and the men were distributing the boxes carefully +inside the cars, so as to be able to unload them without loss of time at +their respective destinations. And now, at last, Arthur Engelmann came +running into the station. + +"Hurry up!" called Fighting Dick. + +"No, wait a minute! We'll have to take this fellow along," cried +Engelmann, pointing to a wounded man, who was being carried by two +comrades. + +"Put him down! We'll have to be off! We've got plenty of men, but not +enough guns." + +"You must take him!" + +"No, we're off!" + +"You'll wait," said Arthur Engelmann, seizing Dick's arm; "it's my +brother." + +"I can't help it, you'll have to leave him behind." + +"Then I'll stay too!" + +"Go ahead, if you want to." + +At this moment shrill bugle-calls resounded from one of the nearby +streets. + +"The Japanese!" roared Fighting Dick; "come on, Arthur!" + +But Arthur snatched his wounded brother from the two men who were +carrying him and lifted him across his own shoulder, while the others, +led by Fighting Dick, rushed past him and jumped on the train. + +Bullets were whizzing past and several had entered the walls of the +station when Fighting Dick's voice gave the command: "Let her go, +Forster! Let her go!" + +Puffing and snorting, and with the pistons turning the high wheels, +which could not get a hold on the slippery rails, at lightning speed, +the engine started just as the Japanese soldiers ran into the station, +from the windows of which they commenced to fire blindly at the +departing train. The bullets poured into the rear cars like hail-stones, +smashing the wooden walls and window-panes. + +Fighting Dick, standing beside Forster, looked back and saw the station +full of soldiers. The two Germans must have fallen into their hands, he +thought. + +But they must hustle with the train now, for although the telegraph +wires had been cut all along the line, they still had light-signals to +fear! And even as this thought occurred to him, a glare appeared in the +sky in the direction of the waterworks, then went out and appeared again +at regular intervals. Those silent signs certainly had some meaning. +Perhaps it was a signal to the nearest watch to pull up the rails in +front of the approaching train? With his teeth set and his hand on the +throttle, Forster stood in his engine while the fireman kept shoveling +coals into the furnace. + +"Forster," said Dick suddenly, "what's that in front of us? Heavens, +it's burning!" + +"The bridges are burning, Fighting Dick!" + +"That's just what I thought, the damned yellow monkeys! Never mind, +we'll have to go on. Do you think you can get the engine across?" + +"The bridges will hold us all right. It would take half a day to burn +the wood through and we'll be there in ten minutes." + +Now fluttering little flames could be seen running along the rails and +licking the blood-red beams of the long wooden bridges, giant monuments +of American extravagance in the use of wood. Clouds of smoke crept +towards the train, hiding the rails from view, and soon the engine +rolled into a veritable sea of flames and smoke. Forster screamed to +his companion: "They've poured petroleum over the wood." + +"We'll have to get across," answered Fighting Dick, "even if we all burn +to death." + +Biting smoke and the burning breath of the fiery sea almost suffocated +the two men. The air was quivering with heat, and all clearly defined +lines disappeared as the angry flames now arose on both sides. + +"Press hard against the front," screamed Forster; "that's the only way +to get a little air, otherwise we'll suffocate." + +The high-pressure steam of the speeding locomotive hissed out of all the +valves, shaking the mighty steel frame with all its force; the heat of +the flames cracked the windows, and wherever the hand sought support, +pieces of skin were left on the red-hot spots. A few shots were fired +from the outside. + +"One minute more," yelled Forster, "and we'll be over." + +Fighting Dick collapsed under the influence of the poisonous gases and +fainted away on the floor of the cab. And now the flames grew smaller +and smaller and gradually became hidden in clouds of smoke. + +"Hurrah!" cried Forster; "there's a clear stretch ahead of us!" Then he +leaned out of the cab-window to look at the train behind him and saw +that the last two cars were in flames. He blew the whistle as a signal +that the last car was to be uncoupled and left where it was, for he had +just noticed a man standing near the track, swinging his bicycle lamp +high above his head. + +"Perhaps they'll be able to unload the car after all," he said to +Fighting Dick, who was slowly coming to. But the sound of the explosion +of some of the boxes of cartridges in the uncoupled car made it fairly +certain that there wouldn't be much left to unload. + +Five minutes later, after they had passed a dark station, the same +signal was noticed, and another car was uncoupled, and similarly one car +after another was left on the track. The guns and ammunition-boxes were +unloaded as expeditiously as possible and transferred to the wagons that +were waiting to receive them. The moment they were ready, the horses +galloped off as fast as they could go and disappeared in the darkness, +leaving the burning cars behind as a shining beacon. + +When, on the morning of June ninth, a Japanese military train from +Portland traveled slowly along the line, it came first upon the ruins of +an engine which had been blown up by dynamite, and after that it was as +much as the Japanese could do to clear away the remnants of the various +ruined cars by the end of the day. The bridge, which had been set on +fire by a Japanese detachment with the help of several barrels of +petroleum, was completely burned down. + +But the plot had been successful and Fighting Dick's fame resounded from +one ocean to the other, and proved to the nations across the sea that +the old energy of the American people had been revived and that the war +of extermination against the yellow race had begun, though as yet only +on a small scale. And the Japanese troops, too, began to appreciate that +the same irresistible force--a patriotic self-sacrifice that swept +everything before it--which had in one generation raised Japan to the +heights of political power, was now being directed against the foreign +invader. + +Half the town had known of the plan for removing the rifles and +ammunition from Tacoma, but a strong self-control had taken the place of +the thoughtless garrulousness of former times. Not a sign, not a word +had betrayed the plot to the enemy; every man controlled his feverish +emotion and wore an air of stolid indifference. We had learned a lesson +from the enemy. + +Fourteen Americans were captured with weapons in hand, and in addition +about twenty-eight badly wounded. The Japanese commander of Tacoma +issued a proclamation the following evening that all the prisoners, +without exception, would be tried by court-martial in the course of the +next day and condemned to death--the penalty that had been threatened in +case of insurrection. The Japanese court-martial arrived in the city on +June ninth with a regiment from Seattle. The Tacoma board of aldermen +were invited to send two of their number to be present at the trial, but +the offer being promptly refused, the Japanese pronounced judgment on +the prisoners alone. As had been expected, they were all condemned to +death by hanging, but at the earnest pleading of the mayor of Tacoma, +the sentence was afterwards mitigated to death by shooting. + +Old Martin Engelmann tried in vain to secure permission to see his sons +once more; his request was brusquely refused. + +In the light of early dawn on June eleventh the condemned men were led +out to the waterworks to be executed, the wounded being conveyed in +wagons. Thousands of the inhabitants took part in this funeral +procession--in dead silence. + +Old Engelmann was standing, drawn up to his full height, at the window +of his home, and mutely he caught the farewell glances of his two sons +as they passed by, the one marching in the midst of his comrades, the +other lying in the first wagon among the wounded. Frau Martha had +summoned sufficient courage to stand beside her husband, but the moment +the procession had passed, she burst into bitter tears. Her life was +bereft of all hope and the future stretched out dark and melancholy +before her. + +Suddenly a gentle hand was laid on her white head. "Mother," said one of +her daughters, "do you hear it? I heard it yesterday. They're singing +the song of Fighting Dick and of our dear boys. No one knows who +composed it, it seems to have sprung up of itself. They were singing it +on the street last night, the song of Arthur Engelmann, who sacrificed +his life for his brother." + +"Yes," said the father, "it's true, mother, they are singing of our +lads; be brave, mother, and remember that those who are taken from us +to-day will live forever in the hearts of the American people." + +And louder and louder rang out the notes of that proud song of the +citizens of Tacoma--the first pæan of victory in those sad days. + + + + +_Chapter XVII_ + +WHAT HAPPENED AT CORPUS CHRISTI + + +The attitude of the European press left no room for doubt as to the +honest indignation of the Old World at the treacherous attack on our +country. But what good could this scathing denunciation of the Japanese +policy do us? A newspaper article wouldn't hurt a single Japanese +soldier, and what good could all the resolutions passed at enthusiastic +public meetings in Germany and France do us, or the daily cablegrams +giving us the assurance of their sympathy and good-will? + +These expressions of public opinion did, however, prove that the Old +World realized at last that the yellow danger was of universal interest, +that it was not merely forcing a single country to the wall, casually as +it were, but that it was of deep and immediate concern to every European +nation without exception. They began to look beyond the wisdom of the +pulpit orators who preached about the wonderful growth of culture in +Japan, and to recognize that if the United States did not succeed in +conquering Japan and driving the enemy out of the country, the +victorious Japanese would not hesitate a moment to take the next step +and knock loudly and peremptorily at Europe's door, and this would put +an end once and for all to every single European colonial empire. + +But while European authorities on international law were busily parading +their paper wisdom, and wondering how a war without a declaration of war +and without a diplomatic prelude could fit into the political scheme of +the world's history, at least one real item of assistance was at hand. + +The American press, it is true, still suffered from the delusion that +our militia--consisting of hundreds of thousands of men--and our +volunteers would be prepared to take the field in three or four weeks, +but the indescribable confusion existing in all the military camps told +a different story. What was needed most were capable officers. The sad +experiences of the Spanish-American campaign were repeated, only on a +greatly magnified scale. We possessed splendid material in the matter of +men and plenty of good-will, but we lacked completely the practical +experience necessary for adapting the military apparatus of our small +force of regular soldiers to the requirements of a great national army. +We felt that we could with the aid of money and common-sense transform a +large group of able-bodied men accustomed to healthy exercise into a +serviceable and even a victorious army, but we made a great mistake. The +commissariat and sanitary service and especially the military +train-corps would have to be created out of nothing. When in June the +governor of one State reported that his infantry regiment was formed and +only waiting for rifles, uniforms and the necessary military wagons, and +when another declared that his two regiments of cavalry and six +batteries were ready to leave for the front as soon as horses, guns, +ammunition-carts and harness could be procured, it showed with horrible +distinctness how utterly ridiculous our methods of mobilization were. + +The London diplomats went around like whipped curs, for all the early +enthusiasm for the Japanese alliance disappeared as soon as the English +merchants began to have such unpleasant experiences with the +unscrupulousness of the Japanese in business matters. As a matter of +fact the alliance had fulfilled its object as soon as Japan had fought +England's war with Russia for her. But the cabinet of St. James adhered +to the treaty, because they feared that if they let go of the hawser, a +word from Tokio would incite India to revolt. The soil there had for +years been prepared for this very contingency, and London, therefore, +turned a deaf ear to the indignation expressed by the rest of the world +at Japan's treacherous violation of peace. + +At last at the end of July the transportation of troops to the West +began. But when the police kept a sharp lookout for Japanese or Chinese +spies at the stations where the troops were boarding the trains, they +were looking in the wrong place, for the enemy was smart enough not to +expose himself unnecessarily or to send spies who, as Mongolians, would +at once have fallen victims to the rage of the people if seen anywhere +near the camps. + +Besides, such a system of espionage was rendered unnecessary by the +American press, which, instead of benefiting by past experience, took +good care to keep the Japanese well informed concerning the military +measures of the government, and even discussed the organization of the +army and the possibilities of the strategical advance in a way that +seemed particularly reprehensible in the light of the fearful reverses +of the last few months. The government warnings were disregarded +especially by the large dailies, who seemed to find it absolutely +impossible to regard the events of the day in any other light than that +of sensational news to be eagerly competed for. + +This competition for news from the seat of war and from the camps had +first to lead to a real catastrophe, before strict discipline could be +enforced in this respect. A few patriotic editors, to be sure, refused +to make use of the material offered them; but the cable dispatches sent +to Europe, the news forwarded triumphantly as a proof that the Americans +were now in a position "to toss the yellow monkeys into the Pacific," +quite sufficed to enable the Japanese to adopt preventive measures in +time. + +While the American Army of the North was advancing on Nogi's forces in +the Blue Mountains, the Army of the South was to attack the Japanese +position in Arizona by way of Texas. For this purpose the three brigades +stationed in the mountains of New Mexico were to be reënforced by the +troops from Cuba and Porto Rico and the two Florida regiments. All of +these forces were to be transported to Corpus Christi by water, as it +was hoped in this way to keep the movement concealed from the enemy, in +order that the attack in the South might come as far as possible in the +nature of a surprise, and thus prevent the sending of reënforcements to +the North where, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, the main battle was +to be fought. But unfortunately our plan of attack did not remain +secret. Before a single soldier had set foot on the transport ships +which had been lying for weeks in the harbors of Havana and Tampa, the +Japanese news bureaus in Kingston (Jamaica) and Havana had been fully +informed as to where the blow was to fall, partly by West Indian +half-breed spies and partly by the obliging American press. One regiment +of cavalry had already arrived at Corpus Christi from Tampa on July +30th, and the Cuban troops were expected on the following day. + + * * * * * + +Two American naval officers were standing on the small gallery of the +white light-house situated at the extreme end of the narrow tongue of +land lying before the lagoon of Corpus Christi, gazing through their +glasses at the boundless expanse of blue water glittering with myriads +of spots in the rays of the midday sun. Out in the roads lay seven large +freight steamers whose cargoes of horses and baggage, belonging to the +2d Florida Cavalry Regiment, were being transferred to lighters. A small +tug, throwing up two glittering streaks of spray with its broad bow, was +towing three barges through the narrow opening of the lagoon to Corpus +Christi, whose docks showed signs of unusual bustle. Short-winded +engines were pulling long freight-trains over the tracks that ran along +the docks, ringing their bells uninterruptedly. From the camps outside +the town the low murmur of drums and long bugle-calls could be heard +through the drowsy noon heat. A long gray snake, spotted with the dull +glitter of bright metal, wound its way between the white tents: a +detachment of troops marching to the station. Beyond the town one could +follow the silver rails through the green plantations for miles, as +plainly as on a map, until they finally disappeared on the horizon. + +Now the whistle of the tug sounded shrilly, blowing scattered flakes of +white steam into the air. The quick, clear tolling of church-bells rang +over the roofs of the bright houses of the city. It was twelve o'clock +and the sun's rays were scorching hot. + +One of the naval officers pulled out his watch to see if it were +correct, and then said: "Shall we go down and get something to eat +first, Ben?" + +"The steamers from Havana ought really to be in sight by this time," +answered Ben Wood; "they left on the twenty-sixth." + +"Well, yes, on the twenty-sixth. But some of those transport-ships +palmed off on us are the limit and can't even make ten knots an hour. +Their rickety engines set the pace for the fleet, and unless the +_Olympia_ wishes to abandon the shaky old hulks to their fate, she must +keep step with them." + +Lieutenant Gibson Spencer swept the horizon once more with his +marine-glass and stopped searchingly at one spot. "If that's not the +_Flying Dutchman_, they're ships," he remarked, "probably our ships." + +The light-house keeper, a slender Mexican, came on the gallery, saying: +"Ships are coming over there, sir," as he pointed in the direction which +Spencer had indicated. Lieutenant Ben Wood stepped to the stationary +telescope in the light-room below the place for the lamps, and started +to adjust the screws, but the heat of the metal, which had become +red-hot beneath the burning rays of the sun, made him start: "Hot hole," +he swore under his breath. + +Lieutenant Spencer conversed a moment with the keeper and then looked +again through his glass at Corpus Christi, where the tug was just making +fast to the pier. The third barge knocked violently against the piles, +so that a whole shower of splinters fell into the water. + +"Gibson," cried Lieutenant Wood suddenly from his place in the +light-room, his voice sounding muffled on account of the small space, +"those are not our ships." + +Spencer looked through the telescope and arrived at the same conclusion. +"No," he said; "we have no ships like that, but they're coming nearer +and we'll soon be able to make out what they are!" + +"Those ships certainly don't belong to our fleet," he repeated after +another long look at the vessels slowly growing larger on the horizon. +They had two enormous funnels and only one mast and even the arched +roofs of their turrets could now be clearly distinguished. + +"If I didn't know that our English friends owned the only ships of that +caliber, and that our own are unhappily still in process of equipment +at Newport News, I should say that those were two _Dreadnoughts_." + +"I guess you've had a sunstroke," rang out the answer. + +"Sunstroke or no sunstroke, those are two _Dreadnoughts_." + +"But where can they come from?" + +The three men examined the horizon in silence, till Lieutenant Wood +suddenly broke it by exclaiming: "There, do you see, to the left, just +appearing on the horizon, that's our transport fleet--eight--ten ships; +the one in front is probably the _Olympia_." + +"Twelve ships," counted the keeper, "and if I may be allowed to say so, +the two in front are battleships." + +"There they are then," said Ben Wood, "and now we'll get something to +eat in a jiffy, for we'll have our work cut out for us in an hour!" + +"Where shall we eat?" asked Spencer, "I'll gladly dispense with the grub +at Signor Morrosini's to-day." + +"I'll tell you what," said the other, "we'll go across to one of the +transport-steamers; or, better still, we'll go to the captain of the +_Marietta_--we'll be sure to get something decent to eat there." + +"Right you are!" said Spencer, peering down over the edge of the +railing. "Our cutter is down there," he added. + +At the foot of the light-house lay a small, white cutter with its brass +appointments glittering in the sunlight. Her crew, consisting of three +men, had crept into the little cabin, while the black stoker was resting +on a bench near the boiler. + +"Ho, Dodge!" shouted Spencer, "get up steam. We're going over to the +transport-ships in ten minutes." + +The firemen threw several shovels of coal into the furnace, whereupon a +cloud of smoke poured out of the funnel straight up along the +light-house. Lieutenant Wood telephoned over to Corpus Christi that the +transports with the troops on board had been sighted and that they would +probably arrive in the roads in about two hours. + +"We're going over to one of the transport-ships meanwhile," he added, +"and will await the arrival of the squadron out there." + +While Lieutenant Spencer was climbing down the narrow staircase, +Lieutenant Wood once more examined the horizon and suddenly started. The +thunder of a shot boomed across the water. Boom--came the sound of +another one! + +The lieutenant clapped his marine-glasses to his eyes. Yes, there were +two _Dreadnoughts_ out there, evidently saluting. But why at such a +distance? + +"Gibson," he called down the staircase. + +"Come on, Ben!" came the impatient answer from below. + +"I can't, I wish you'd come up again for a minute, I'm sure something's +wrong!" + +The gun-shots were booming loudly across the water as Lieutenant Spencer +reached the gallery, covered with perspiration. + +"I suppose they're saluting," exclaimed Spencer somewhat uncertainly. + +Ben Wood said nothing, but with a quick jerk turned the telescope to the +right and began examining the transport-ships. + +"Heavens," he shouted, "they mean business. I can see shells splashing +into the water in front of the _Olympia_--no, there in the middle--away +back there, too-- One of the transports listed. What can it mean? Can +they be Japanese?" + +Again the roar of guns rolled across the quiet waters. + +"Now the _Olympia_ is beginning to shoot," cried Ben Wood. "Oh, that +shot struck the turret. Great, that must have done some good work! But +what in Heaven's name are we going to do?" + +Lieutenant Spencer answered by pushing the light-house keeper, who was +in abject fear, aside, and rushing to the telephone. Trembling with +excitement, he stamped his foot and swore loudly when no notice was +taken of his ring. + +"All asleep over there as usual! Ah, at last!" + +"Halloo! what's up?" + +"This is the light-house. Notify the commander at Corpus Christi at once +that the Japanese are in the roads and are attacking the transports." + +Over in Corpus Christi people began to collect on the piers, the bells +stopped ringing, but the sound of bugles could still be heard coming +from the encampments. + +Now the light-house telephone rang madly and Spencer seized the +receiver. "They are, I tell you. Can't you hear the shots?" he shouted +into the instrument. "There are two large Japanese ships out in the +roads shooting at the _Olympia_ and the transports. Impossible or not, +it's a fact!" + +Suddenly a thick column of smoke began to ascend from the funnel of the +little American gunboat _Marietta_, which was lying among the transports +out in the roads. The whistles and bugle-calls could be heard +distinctly, and the crew could be seen on deck busy at the guns. The +steam-winch rattled and began to haul up the anchor, while the water +whirled at the stern as the vessel made a turn. Even before the anchor +appeared at the surface the gunboat had put to sea with her course set +towards the ships on the horizon, which were enveloped in clouds of +black smoke. + +"There's nothing for us to do," said Spencer despairingly, "but stand +here helplessly and look on. There isn't a single torpedo-boat, not a +single submarine here! For Heaven's sake, Ben, tell us what's happening +out there!" + +"It's awful!" answered Wood; "two of the transport-ships are in flames, +two seem to have been sunk, and some of those further back have listed +badly. The _Olympia_ is heading straight for the enemy, but she seems to +be damaged and is burning aft. There are two more cruisers in the +background, but they are hidden by the smoke from the burning steamers; +I can't see them any more." + +"Where on earth have the Japanese ships come from? I thought their whole +fleet was stationed in the Pacific. Not one of their ships has ever come +around Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan; if they had, our +cruisers off the Argentine coast would have seen them. And besides it +would be utter madness to send just two battleships to the Atlantic. But +where else can they have come from?" + +"There's no use asking where they come from," cried Wood excitedly, "the +chief point is, they're there!" + +He gave up his place at the telescope to his comrade, thought for a +moment, and then went to the telephone. + +His orders into town were short and decisive: "Send all the tugs out to +sea immediately. Have them hoist the ambulance-flag and try to rescue +the men of the transports." + +"And you, Spencer," he continued, "take the cutter and hurry over to the +transport-steamers in the roads and have them hoist the Red Cross flag +and get to sea as quickly as possible to help in the work of rescue. +That's the only thing left for us to do. I'll take command of the +_President Cleveland_ and you take charge of the Swedish steamer +_Olsen_. And now let's get to work! Signor Alvares can play the rôle of +idle onlooker better than we can. Our place is out there!" + +Both officers rushed down the stairs and jumped into the cutter, which +steamed off at full speed and took them to their ships. + +Three-quarters of an hour later the tug mentioned in the beginning of +the chapter appeared again at the entrance to the lagoon. Several men +could be seen in the stern holding a large white sheet upon which a man +was painting a large red cross, and when the symbol of human love and +assistance was finished, the sheet was hoisted at the flagstaff. Two +other tugs followed the example of the first one. + +But could the enemy have taken the three little tugs for torpedo-boats? +It seemed so, for suddenly a shell, which touched the surface of the +water twice, whizzed past and hit the first steamer amidships just below +the funnel. And while the little vessel was still enveloped by the black +smoke caused by the bursting of the shell, her bow and stern rose high +out of the water and she sank immediately, torn in two. The thunder of +the shot sounded far over the water and found an echo among the houses +at Corpus Christi. + +"Now they're even shooting at the ambulance flag," roared Ben Wood, who +was rushing about on the deck of the _President Cleveland_ and exhorting +the crew to hoist the anchor as fast as possible so as to get out to the +field of battle. But as the boiler-fires were low, this seemed to take +an eternity. + +At last, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they succeeded in +reaching a spot where a few hundred men were clinging to the floating +wreckage. The rest had been attended to by the enemy's shots, the sea +and the sharks. + +The enemy had wasted only a few shots on the transport-steamers, as a +single well-aimed explosive shell was quite sufficient to entirely +destroy one of the merchant-vessels, and the battle with the _Olympia_ +had lasted only a very short time, as the distance had evidently been +too great to enable the American shots to reach the enemy. That was the +end of the _Olympia_, Admiral Dewey's flag-ship at Cavite! The two +smaller cruisers had been shot to pieces just as rapidly. + +The results of this unexpected setback were terribly disheartening, +since all idea of a flank attack on the Japanese positions in the South +had to be abandoned. + + * * * * * + +But where had the two _Dreadnoughts_ come from? They had not been seen +by a living soul until they had appeared in the roads of Corpus Christi. +They had risen from the sea for a few hours, like an incarnation of the +ghostly rumors of flying squadrons of Japanese cruisers, and they had +disappeared from the field of action just as suddenly as they had come. +If it had not been for the cruel reality of the destruction of the +transport fleet, no one would soon have believed in the existence of +these phantom ships. But the frenzied fear of the inhabitants of the +coast-towns cannot well take the form of iron and steel, and nightmares, +no matter how vivid, cannot produce ships whose shells sweep an American +squadron off the face of the sea. + +It had been known for years that two monster ships of the _Dreadnought_ +type were being built for Brazil in the English shipyards. No one knew +where Brazil was going to get the money to pay for the battleships or +what the Brazilian fleet wanted with such huge ships, but they continued +to be built. It was generally supposed that England was building them as +a sort of reserve for her own fleet; but once again was public opinion +mistaken. Only those who years before had raised a warning protest and +been ridiculed for seeing ghosts, proved to be right. They had +prophesied long ago that these ships were not intended for England, but +for her ally, Japan. + +The vessels were finished by the end of June and during the last days of +the month the Brazilian flag was openly hoisted on board the _San Paulo_ +and _Minas Geraes_, as they were called, the English shipbuilders having +indignantly refused to sell them to the United States on the plea of +feeling bound to observe strict neutrality. The two armored battleships +started on their voyage across the Atlantic with Brazilian crews on +board; but when they arrived at a spot in the wide ocean where no +spectators were to be feared, they were met by six transport-steamers +conveying the Japanese crews for the two warships, no others than the +thousand Japs who had been landed at Rio de Janeiro as coolies for the +Brazilian coffee plantations in the summer of 1908. They had been +followed in November by four hundred more. + +We were greatly puzzled at the time over this striking exception to the +Japanese political programme of concentrating streams of immigrants on +our Pacific coasts. Without a word of warning a thousand Japanese +coolies were shipped to Brazil, where they accepted starvation wages +greatly to the disgust and indignation of the German and Italian +workmen--not to speak of the lazy Brazilians themselves. This isolated +advance of the Japs into Brazil struck observers as a dissipation of +energy, but the Government in Tokio continued to carry out its plans, +undisturbed by our expressions of astonishment. Silently, but no less +surely, the diligent hands of the coolies and the industrious spirit of +Japanese merchants in Brazil created funds with which the two warships +were paid at least in part. The public interpreted it as an act of +commendable patriotism when, in June, the one thousand four hundred Japs +turned their backs on their new home, in order to defend their country's +flag. They left Rio in six transport-steamers. + +Brazil thereupon sold her two battleships to a Greek inn-keeper at +Santos, named Petrokakos, and he turned them over to the merchant Pietro +Alvares Cortes di Mendoza at Bahia. This noble Don was on board one of +the transport-steamers with the Japanese "volunteers," and on board this +Glasgow steamer, the _Kirkwall_, the bill of sale was signed on July +14th, by the terms of which the "armed steamers" _Kure_ and _Sasebo_ +passed into the possession of Japan. The Brazilian crews and some +English engineers went on board the transports and were landed quietly +two weeks later at various Brazilian ports. + +These one thousand four hundred Japanese plantation-laborers, traders, +artisans, and engineers--in reality they were trained men belonging to +the naval reserve--at once took over the management of the two mighty +ships, and set out immediately in the direction of the West Indies. At +Kingston (Jamaica) a friendly steamer supplied them with the latest news +of the departure of the American transports from Cuba, and the latter +met their fate, as we saw, in the roads of Corpus Christi. + +A terrible panic seized all our cities on the Gulf of Mexico and the +Atlantic coast, as the Japanese monsters were heard from, now here, now +there. For example, several shells exploded suddenly in the middle of +the night in the harbor of Galveston when not a warship had been +observed in the neighborhood, and again several American +merchant-vessels were sent to the bottom by the mysterious ships, which +began constantly to assume more gigantic proportions in the reports of +the sailors. At last a squadron was dispatched from Newport News to +seek and destroy the enemy, whereupon the phantom-ships disappeared as +suddenly as they had come. Not until Admiral Dayton ferreted out the +Japanese cruisers at the Falkland Islands did our sailors again set eyes +on the two battleships. + + + + +_Chapter XVIII_ + +THE BATTLE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS + + +It had been found expedient to send a few militia regiments to the front +in May, and these regiments, together with what still remained of our +regular army, made a brave stand against the Japanese outposts in the +mountains. Insufficiently trained and poorly fed as they were, they +nevertheless accomplished some excellent work under the guidance of +efficient officers; but the continual engagements with the enemy soon +thinned their ranks. These regiments got to know what it means to face a +brave, trained enemy of over half a million soldiers with a small force +of fifty thousand; they learned what it means to be always in the +minority on the field of battle, and thus constant experience on the +battle-field soon transformed these men into splendid soldiers. +Especially the rough-riders from the prairies and the mountains, from +which the cavalry regiments were largely recruited, and the exceedingly +useful Indian and half-breed scouts, to whom all the tricks of earlier +days seemed to return instinctively, kept the Japanese outposts busy. +Their machine-guns, which were conveyed from place to place on the backs +of horses, proved a very handy weapon. But their numbers were few, and +although this sort of skirmishing might tire the enemy, it could not +effectually break up his strong positions. + +Ever on the track of the enemy, surprising their sentries and bivouacs, +rushing upon the unsuspecting Japs like a whirlwind and then pursuing +them across scorching plains and through the dark, rocky defiles of the +Rockies, always avoiding large detachments and attacking their +commissariat and ammunition columns from the rear, popping up here, +there and everywhere on their indefatigable horses and disappearing with +the speed of lightning, this is how those weather-beaten rough-riders in +their torn uniforms kept up the war and stood faithful guard! Brave +fellows they were, ever ready to push on vigorously, even when the blood +from their torn feet dyed the rocks a deep red! No matter how weary they +were, the sound of the bugle never failed to endow their limbs with +renewed energy, and they could be depended on to the last man to do +whatever was required of them. + +It was on these endless marches, these reckless rides through rocky +wastes and silent forests--to the accompaniment of the tramp of horses, +the creaking of saddles and the rush and roar of rolling stones on +lonely mountain-trails--that those strange, weird rhythms and melodies +arose, which lived on long afterwards in the minds and hearts of the +people. + +By the end of July affairs had reached the stage where it was possible +for the Northern army, commanded by General MacArthur and consisting of +one hundred and ten thousand men, to start for the Blue Mountains in the +eastern part of Oregon, and the Pacific army of almost equal strength to +set out for Granger on the Union Pacific Railway. The troops from Cuba +and Florida, together with the three brigades stationed at New Mexico, +were to have advanced against the extreme right wing of the Japanese +army, but the grievous disaster at Corpus Christi had completely +frustrated this plan. + +The German and Irish volunteer regiments were formed into special +brigades in the Northern and Pacific armies, whereas the other militia +and volunteer regiments were attached to the various divisions +promiscuously. General MacArthur's corps was composed of three +divisions, commanded by Fowler, Longworth and Wood, respectively, each +consisting of thirty thousand men. To these must be added one German and +one Irish brigade of three regiments each, about sixteen thousand men +altogether, so that the Northern army numbered about one hundred and ten +thousand men and one hundred and forty guns. + +Wood's division left the encampment near Omaha the last week of July. +They went by rail to Monida, where the Oregon Short Line crosses the +boundary of Montana and Idaho. The same picture of utter confusion was +presented at all the stops and all the stations on the way. Soldiers of +all arms, exasperated staff-officers, excited station officials, guns +waiting for their horses and horses waiting for their guns, cavalry-men +whose horses had been sent on the wrong train, freight-cars full of +ammunition intended for no one knew whom, wagons loaded with camp +equipment where food was wanted and with canned goods where forage was +needed, long military trains blocking the line between stations, and +engines being switched about aimlessly: perfect chaos reigned, and the +shortness of the station platforms only added to the confusion and the +waste of precious time. If it had not been for the Americans' strongly +developed sense of humor, which served as an antidote for all the anger +and worry, this execrably handled army apparatus must have broken down +altogether. But as it was, everybody made the best of the situation and +thanked the Lord that each revolution of the wheels brought the troops +nearer to the enemy. The worst of it was that the trains had to stop at +the stations time and time again in order to allow the empty trains +returning from the front to pass. + +The 28th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, under command of Colonel +Katterfeld, had at last, after what seemed to both officers and soldiers +an endless journey, reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the +twenty-second of July via the Northern Pacific Railway. A warm meal had +been prepared for the regiment at a little station; then the roll was +called once more and the three long trains transporting the regiment +started off again. + +Colonel Katterfeld had soon won the affection of his men. He was a thin +little man with grizzly hair and beard; a soldier of fortune, who had an +eventful life behind him, having seen war on three continents. But he +never spoke of his experiences. His commands were short and decisive, +and each man felt instinctively that he was facing an able officer. He +had given up his practice as a physician in Milwaukee, and when, at the +outbreak of the war, he had offered his services to the Governor of +Wisconsin, the latter was at once convinced that here was a man upon +whom he could rely, and it had not taken Colonel Katterfeld long to +establish the correctness of the Governor's judgment. He succeeded in +being the first to raise the full complement of men for his regiment in +Wisconsin, and was therefore the first to leave for the front. The rush +for officers' commissions was tremendous and the staff of officers was +therefore excellent. One day an officer, named Walter Lange, presented +himself at the recruiting office of the regiment. When the colonel heard +the name, he glanced up from his writing, and looking inquiringly at the +newcomer, asked in an off-hand fashion: "Will you take command of the +Seventh Company as captain?" + +"Sir?" + +"Yes, I know, you were at Elandslaagte and afterwards at Cronstadt, were +you not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"We need some officers like you who can keep their men together when +under fire. Do you accept or not?" + +"Certainly, but----" + +"We'll have no buts." + +And so the two became war-comrades for the second time, Captain Lange +taking command of the Seventh Company. + +In thousands of ways the colonel gave proof of his practical experience; +above all else he possessed the knack of putting the right people in the +right place, and his just praise and blame aroused the ambition of +officers and men to such an extent, that the 28th Militia Regiment soon +became conspicuous for its excellence. But no one, not even his comrade +from Elandslaagte, succeeded in getting nearer to the colonel's heart. +Colonel Katterfeld was a reticent man, whom no one dared bother with +questions. + +In order to make the best possible use of what little room there was in +the cars, the colonel had ordered two-hour watches to be kept. Half the +men slept on the seats and on blankets on the floor, while the other +half had to stand until the order, Relieve watch! rang out at the end of +two hours. + +Captain Lange was standing at the window looking out at the moonlit +landscape through which the train was rushing. Wide valleys, rugged +mountain peaks and steep, rocky bastions flew past. A whistle--a low +rumble in the distance--the sound of approaching wheels--a flash of +light on the track--and then the hot breath of the speeding engine +sweeps across the captain's face, as a long row of black cars belonging +to an empty train returning from the mountains tears past on its way to +the encampments. + +And then on and on, over bridges and viaducts, where the rolling wheels +awaken echo after echo, on into the narrow ravine, above the +forest-crowned edges of which the quiet light of the stars twinkles and +gleams in the purple sky of night. + +The captain was thinking of the colonel. He could not remember having +met him on any of the South African battle-fields, and he had never +heard the name of Katterfeld. And yet he was positive he had seen those +penetrating blue eyes beneath their bushy brows before. No one who had +once seen it could ever forget that glance. But he racked his brain in +vain. He looked at the time and found that the present watch still had a +whole hour to run. The soldiers were leaning sleepily against the sides +of the car, and loud snores came from the seats and the floor. Suddenly +a rifle fell to the ground with a clatter and several men woke up and +swore at the noise. On went the train, and the monotonous melody of the +rolling wheels gradually lulled the weary thoughts to sleep. + +Captain Lange thought of Elandslaagte again and of Colonel Schiel and +Dinizulu, the Kafir chief, and of the story the colonel had told, as +they bivouacked round the fire, of the latter's royal anointment with +castor-oil. They had made the fire with the covers of "Mellin's Food" +boxes--Mellin's Food--a fine chap, Mellin--Mellin?-- Wasn't that the +name of the captain with whom he had once sailed to Baltimore? And Daisy +Wilford had been on board with her two cats--cats-- My, how he used to +chase cats when he was a boy--it was a regular hunt-- No, it hadn't been +his fault, but Walter Wells'-- But he had been caught and shut up in the +attic, where his father gave him a chance to recollect that it is cruel +to torment animals--but it really had been Walter's fault, only he +wasn't going to tell on him--and then, after he had been alone, he had +knocked his head against the wall in his rage at the injustice of the +world--always--knocked--his--head--against--the--wall--always--knocked---- + +Bang! went the captain's head against the window-frame and he woke up +with a start and put his hand up to his aching forehead. Where under the +sun was he? Ah, of course--there were the soldiers snoring all around +him and tossing about in their sleep. He felt dead tired. Had he been +asleep? He looked at the time again--still fifty-five minutes to the +next watch. + +The roaring and clattering of the wheels came to his ears on the fresh +night air as he again looked out of the window. The train had just +rounded a curve, and the other two trains could be seen coming on +behind. Now they were passing through a gorge between bright rocky +banks, which gleamed like snow in the moonlight. Whirling, foaming +waters rushed down the mountain-side to join the dark river far below. +Then on into a dark snowshed where the hurrying beat of the revolving +wheels resounded shrilly and produced a meaningless rhythm in his +thoughts. Kat--ter--feld, Kat--ter--feld, Kat--ter--feld, came the echo +from the black beams of the shed. Katter--feld, Kat--ter--feld, +Kat--ter--feld, came the reply from the other side. Then the rattling +noise spreads over a wider area. There is a final echo and the beams of +the shed disappear in the distance, and on they go in the silent night +until the sergeant on duty pulls out his watch and awakens the sleepers +with the unwelcome call, Relieve the guard! + +Two days later the regiment arrived at Monida, where they had to leave +the train. The line running from there to Baker City was only to be used +for the transportation of baggage, while the troops had to march the +rest of the way--about two hundred and fifty miles. While the +field-kitchen wagons were being used for the first time near Monida, +the men received new boots, for the two pairs of shoes which each had +received in camp had turned out such marvels of American manufacture, +that they were absolutely worn out in less than no time. It was thought +wiser, in consideration of the long marches before the soldiers, to do +away with shoes altogether and to provide strong boots in their stead. +The hard leather of which the latter were made gave the soldiers no end +of trouble, and the strange foot-gear caused a good deal of grumbling +and discomfort. + +It was here that the experience of the old troopers was of value. The +old devices of former campaigns were revived. An old, gray-bearded +sergeant, who had been in the Manchurian campaign against the Japanese, +advised his comrades to burn a piece of paper in their boots, as the hot +air would enable them to slip the boots on much more easily. Captain +Lange employed a more drastic method. He made his company march through +a brook until the leather had become wet and soft, and as a result his +men suffered least from sore feet on the march. + +During the ten days' march to Baker City, officers and men became +thoroughly acquainted with one another, and the many obstacles they had +had to overcome in common cemented the regiments into real living +organisms. And when, on the tenth of August, the different columns +reached Baker City, the Northern Army had firmly established its +marching ability. The transport-service, too, had got over its first +difficulties. From the front, where small detachments were continually +skirmishing with the enemy, came the news that the Japanese had +retreated from Baker City after pulling up the rails. On the evening of +the eleventh of August the 28th Militia Regiment was bivouacking a few +miles east of Baker City. The outposts towards the enemy on the other +side of the town were composed of a battalion of Regulars. + +Every stone still burned with the glowing heat of the day, which spread +over the warm ground in trembling waves. The dust raised by the marching +columns filled the air like brown smoke. + +The last glimmer of the August day died down on the western horizon in a +crimson glow, and a pale gleam of light surrounded the dark silhouettes +of the mountains, throwing bluish gray shadows on their sides. Then all +the colors died out and only the stars twinkled in the dark blue +heavens. Far away in the mountains the white flashes of signal-lanterns +could occasionally be seen, telling of the nearness of the enemy. +Colonel Katterfeld had ordered the officers of his regiment to come to +his quarters in a farm-house lying near the road, and a captain of +Regulars was asked to report on the number of skirmishes which had taken +place in the last few days and on the enemy's position. It was learned +that Marshal Nogi had retreated from Baker City and had withdrawn his +troops to the Blue Mountains, taking up his central position at the +point of the pass crossed by the railroad. It had not been possible to +ascertain how far the wings of the Japanese army extended to the North +or South. It was certain that the enemy maintained strong lines of +communication in both directions, but it was difficult to determine just +how far their lines penetrated into the wooded slopes and valleys. + + * * * * * + +When the guard was relieved at 5 o'clock in the morning, one of the +non-commissioned officers was struck by a curiously-shaped bright cloud +the size of a hand, which hung like a ball over the mountains in the +west in the early morning light. + +"It must be an air-ship!" said some one. + +"It evidently is; it's moving!" said the sergeant, and he at once gave +orders to awaken Captain Lange. + +The captain, who had gone to sleep with the telephone beside him, jumped +up and could not at first make out where the voice came from: "A +Japanese air-ship has been sighted over the mountains." He was up in a +second and looking through his glasses! Sure enough! It was an air-ship! + +Its light-colored body hovered above the mountains in the pale-blue sky +like a small silver-gray tube. + +"Spread the report at once!" called the captain to the telephone +operator; and bustle ensued on all sides. + +"What shall we do?" asked a lieutenant. "There's no use in shooting at +it; by the time it gets within range we should shoot our own men." + +The air-ship came slowly nearer, and at last it was directly over the +American line of outposts. + +"They can see our whole position!" said Captain Lange, "they can see all +our arrangements from up there." + +Boom! came the sound of a shot from the right. + +"That probably won't do much good." + +A few hundred yards below the air-ship a little flame burst out. The +smoke from a shrapnel hung in the air for a moment like a ball of +cotton, and then that, too, disappeared. Boom! it went again. + +"We shall never reach it with shrapnel," said the lieutenant, "there's +no use trying to beat it except on its own ground." + +"We have some newly constructed shrapnel," answered the captain, "the +bullets of which are connected with spiral wires that tear the envelope +of the balloon." + +Now two shots went off at the same time. + +"Those seem to be the balloon-guns," said the lieutenant. + +Far below the air-ship hovered the clouds of two shrapnel shots. + +"They're getting our air-ship ready over there," cried the captain; +"that's the only sensible thing to do." He pointed to a spot far off +where a large, yellow motor-balloon could be seen hanging in the air +like a large bubble. + +It went up in a slanting direction, and then, after describing several +uncertain curves, steered straight for the enemy's balloon, which also +began to rise at once. + +Hundreds of thousands of eyes were following the course of those two +little yellow dots up in the clear, early morning air, as the mountain +edges began to be tipped with pink. The Japanese air-ship had reached a +position a little to one side of that occupied by the 28th Regiment, +when a tiny black speck was seen to leave it and to gain in size as it +fell with increasing velocity. When it reached the ground a vivid red +flame shot up. Tremendous clouds of smoke followed, mixed with dark +objects, and the distant mountains resounded with loud peals of thunder +which died away amid the angry rumblings in the gorges. + +"That was a big bomb," said the captain, "and it seems to have done +considerable mischief." + +Now a little puff of white smoke issued from the American air-ship and +ten seconds later an explosive body of some sort burst against a wall of +rock. + +"If they keep on like that they'll only hit our own men," said the +lieutenant. + +"The Jap is ascending," cried some one, and again all the field-glasses +were directed towards the two ships. + +Now both were seen to rise. + +"The Japs are throwing down everything they've got in the way of +explosives," cried the captain. A whole row of black spots came rushing +down and again came the thunder caused by the bursting of several bombs +one after the other. + +The Jap went up rapidly and then crossed the path of the American +balloon about two hundred yards above it. + +Suddenly the yellow envelope of the American air-ship burst into flames, +lost its shape and shrunk together, and the ship fell rapidly among the +valleys to the left, looking like the skeleton of an umbrella that has +been out in a gale of wind. + +"All over," said the lieutenant with a sigh. "What a shame! We might +just as well have done that ourselves." + +High up in the blue ether hovered the Japanese air-ship; then it +described a curve to the left, went straight ahead and then seemed +suddenly to be swallowed up in the morning light. But soon it appeared +again as a gray speck against the clear blue sky, and turning to the +right once more, got bigger and bigger, came nearer, and finally steered +back straight for the Blue Mountains. And then the thunder of cannon was +heard from the right. + + * * * * * + +The assault on Hilgard, the center of the Japanese position in the broad +valley of the Blue Mountains, had failed; two regiments had bled to +death on the wire barricades outside the little town, and then all was +over. It would be necessary to break up the enemy's position by flank +movements from both sides before another attack on their center could be +attempted. For two long days the artillery contest waged; then +Longworth's division on our right wing gained a little ground, and when +the sun sank to rest behind the Blue Mountains on August 14th, we had +reason to be satisfied with our day's work, for we had succeeded, at a +great sacrifice, it is true, in wresting from the enemy several +important positions on the sides of the mountains. + +Towards evening six fresh batteries were sent forward to the captured +positions, whence they were to push on towards the left wing of the +Japanese center the next morning. Telephone messages to headquarters +from the front reported the mountain-pass leading to Walla Walla free +from the enemy, so that a transport of ammunition could be sent that way +in the evening to replenish the sadly diminished store for the decisive +battle to be fought the next day. + +While the newspapers all over the East were spreading the news of this +first victory of the American arms, Lieutenant Esher was commanded by +General Longworth to carry the orders for the next day to the officer in +charge of the Tenth Brigade, which had taken up its position before the +mountain-pass on the right wing. For safety's sake General Longworth had +decided to send his orders by word of mouth, only giving instructions +that the receipt of each message should be reported to headquarters by +each detachment either by field-telegraph or telephone. + +Lieutenant Esher, on his motor-cycle, passed an endless chain of +ammunition wagons on his way. For a long time he could make only slow +progress on account of the numerous ambulances and other vehicles which +the temporary field-hospitals were beginning to send back from the +front; but after a time the road gradually became clear. + +The motor rattled on loudly through the silent night, which was +disturbed only now and then by the echo of a shot. Here and there along +the road a sentry challenged the solitary traveler, who gave the +password and puffed on. + +He had been informed that the quickest way to reach General Lawrence +would be by way of the narrow mountain-path that turned off to the left +of the road, which had now become absolutely impassable again on account +of innumerable transports. It was a dangerous ride, for any moment the +bicycle might smash into some unseen obstacle and topple over into the +abyss on the right, into which stones and loose earth were continually +falling as the cycle pushed them to one side. + +Lieutenant Esher therefore got off his wheel and pushed it along. At the +edge of a wood he stopped for a moment to study his map by the light of +an electric pocket-lamp, when he heard a sharp call just above him. He +could not quite make it out, but gave the password, and two shots rang +out simultaneously close to him.--When Lieutenant Esher came to, he +found a Japanese army doctor bending over him. + +He had an uncertain feeling of having been carried over a rocky desert, +and when he at last succeeded in collecting his thoughts, he came to the +conclusion that he must have strayed from the path and run straight into +the enemy's arms. + +He tried to raise his head to see where he was, but a violent pain in +his shoulder forced him to lie still. The noises all around made it +clear to him, however, that he was among Japanese outposts. The doctor +exchanged a few words with an officer who had just come up, but they +spoke Japanese and Esher could not understand a word they said. + +"Am I wounded?" he asked of the ambulance soldier beside him. The latter +pointed to the doctor, who said, "You will soon be all right again." + +"Where am I wounded?" + +"In the right thigh," answered the doctor, sitting down on a stone near +Esher. The doctor didn't seem to have much work to do. + +The stinging pain in his right shoulder robbed Esher of his senses for a +moment, but he soon came to again and remembered his orders to +Lawrence's brigade. Thank God he had no written message on his person. +As it was, the enemy had succeeded in capturing only a broken +motor-cycle and a wounded, unimportant officer. The division staff would +soon discover by telephoning that General Lawrence had not received his +orders and then repeat the message. + +Esher managed to turn his head, and watched the Japanese officer copying +an order by the light of a bicycle lamp. The order had just been +delivered by a mounted messenger, who sat immovable as a statue on his +exhausted and panting steed. + +Suddenly the Japanese cavalryman seemed to grow enormous bats' wings, +which spread out until they obscured the whole sky. The ghostly figure +resembled a wild creature of fable, born of the weird fancy of a Doré, +or an avenging angel of the Apocalypse. Then the rider shrank together +again and seemed to be bouncing up and down on the back of his horse +like a little grinning monkey. + +The wounded man rubbed his eyes. What was that? Was he awake or had he +been dreaming? + +He asked the ambulance soldier for a drink, and the latter at once +handed him some water in a tin cup. Now a real Japanese cavalryman was +once more sitting up there on his horse, while the officer was still +writing. Then the officer's arm began to grow longer and longer, until +at last he was writing on the sky with a fiery pencil: + +"In case there is no Japanese attack on August 15th, the Tenth Brigade +under General Lawrence is to retain its present positions until the +attack of our center----" + +Good Lord, what was that? Yes, those were the very words of the message +he was to have delivered to the Tenth Brigade, and not only were the +words identical, but the hand-writing was the same, for the flaming +letters had burnt themselves into his memory stroke for stroke and word +for word and line for line. + +He tried to get up, but could not. The lieutenant kept on writing, while +the horseman stood beside him. The horse was brushing off the flies with +his tail. + +Then the awful, maddening thought came to him: This must be the +beginning of wound-fever. If it kept up and he began to get delirious, +he might betray his orders for Lawrence's brigade to the enemy. + +And he saw hundreds of Japanese standing around him, all stretching +their necks to catch his words, and more and more came from over the +mountain ridges like a swarm of ants, and they all wanted to hear the +secrets that he was trying to keep in his aching head, while the officer +waved his note-book over him like a fluttering flag. Then the doctor +seized him, and arm in arm they hopped to and fro--to and fro--to and +fro. + +Yes, he was certainly delirious. Lieutenant Esher thought of his home. +He saw his little house on 148th Street. He came home from business, he +walked through the garden, hung up his coat on the rack, opened the +door, his young wife welcomed him, she nodded to him--Eveline--groaned +the lieutenant, and then his thoughts turned to God. + +Then the writing officer again, the rider on his horse, and the dark +night-sky, in which the stars were dancing like silver gnats. Collecting +his whole willpower, he succeeded in getting into a sitting posture, and +the Japanese soldier attending him awoke out of a doze only to find his +revolver in the American's hands. But it was too late, for a shot +resounded at the same moment. Lieutenant Esher had brought his weary +brain to rest; his head toppled over and landed hard on the rocky +ground. + +Thus died a real hero, and those were hard times when men of stout heart +and iron courage were sorely needed. + + * * * * * + +Opposite Hilgard, the center of the enemy's position in the Blue +Mountains, trenches had been thrown up, and the 28th Militia Regiment +had occupied them in the night of August 13th-14th. The Japanese were +apparently not aware of their presence, as the regiment had taken no +part in the fighting on the fourteenth. On the evening of the same day, +the 32d Regiment was pushed forward to the same position, while the +searchlights were playing over the plain and on the mountain sides, and +dazzling the eyes of the sentries who were keeping a sharp lookout for +the enemy from various ambushes. And whenever the beam of light landed +on dark shadows, which jumped quickly aside, flames shot out on the +opposite side and flashes of fire from bursting shrapnel drew trembling +streaks across the sky and lighted up the immediate neighborhood. + +The wires which connected the headquarters with all the sentries and +outposts vibrated perpetually with the thoughts and commands of a single +individual, who managed this whole apparatus from a little schoolroom in +Baker City far behind the front, allowing himself scarcely a moment for +much-needed night-rest. + +The 28th Regiment had thrown up trenches the height of a man in the hard +ground opposite the little town of Hilgard on the night of August +13th-14th. Now a company of pioneers was busy widening them and building +stands for the troops where they would be safe from splinters, for it +was highly probable that the assault on Hilgard would be undertaken +from here on the following evening. The covering for these stands was +made of thick boards and planks taken from a saw-mill near by, and over +these the dug up earth was spread. The enemy's attention seemed to be +directed elsewhere, for the reflections from the searchlights were +continually crossing one another over to the right. In this direction +music could be distinctly heard coming from Longworth's Division--a +lively march waking the echoes of the night with its clear full tones. + +Music? Those who were swearing at the stupidity of allowing the band to +play in the very face of the enemy, did not know that the troops over +there on their way to quarters had marched over forty miles that day, +and that only the inspiring power of music could help the stumbling men +to gather their remaining strength and press forward. + +The cheerful melody of the old Scotch song, + + "Gin a body, meet a body, + Comin' thro' the rye," + +rang out in common time across the silent battle-field, fifes squeaking +and drums rolling, while the silent searchlights continued flashing in +the dark sky. + + "Gin a body, meet a body, + Comin' thro' the rye." + +Meanwhile the picks and spades were kept going in the trenches of the +28th Regiment. The earth and stones flew with a rattle over the top of +the breastworks, making them stronger and stronger, pioneers and +infantry working side by side in the dark, hollow space. The battalion +on guard kept strict watch in the direction of the enemy, continually +expecting to see creeping figures suddenly pop up out of the darkness. + +"Didn't you hear something, captain?" asked one of the men on watch. + +"No, where?" + +A curious purring sound like the whizzing of a small dynamo became +audible. + +Some one gave a low whistle, and the pioneers stopped work, and leaned +on their spades. All the men listened intently, but no one could make +out whence the strange sound came. + +Suddenly some one spoke quite loudly and another voice replied. Up in +the air--that's where it was! A black shadow swept across the sky. "An +air-ship!" cried one of the men in the trench, and sure enough the +whirring of the screw of a motor balloon could be distinctly heard. +Bang--bang--bang, went a few shots into the air. + +"Stop the fire!" called a commanding voice from above. + +"Stop! It is our own balloon!" + +"No, it's a Japanese one!" + +Bang--bang, it went again. From the rear came the deep bass of a big gun +and close by sounded the sharp bang--bang--bang of a little balloon-gun +in the second trench. There was a burst of flame up in the air, followed +by a hail of metal splinters. "Cut that out. You're shooting at us!" +roared Captain Lange across to the battery. + +"Stop firing!" came a quick order from there. A few cannon shots were +heard coming from the rear. + +Suddenly a bright light appeared up in the air and a white magnesium +cluster descended slowly, lighting up all the trenches in a sudden blaze +which made the pioneers look like ghosts peering over the black brink of +the pits. Then the light went out, and the eyes trying in vain to +pierce the darkness saw nothing but glittering fiery red circles. The +Japanese batteries on the other side opened fire. The air-ship had +entirely disappeared, and no one knew whether the uncanny night-bird had +been friend or foe. + + * * * * * + +The assault on Hilgard was to be begun by the 28th and 32d Volunteers: +General MacArthur had originally planned to have the attempt made at +dawn on August 15th; but as one brigade of Wood's Division had not yet +arrived, he postponed the attack for twenty-four hours, to the sixteenth +of August, while the fifteenth was to be taken up with heavy firing on +the enemy's position, which seemed to have been somewhat weakened. As +soon, therefore, as day broke, the Americans opened fire, and all the +time that almost sixty American guns were bombarding Hilgard and sending +shell after shell over the town, and the white flakes of cotton from the +bursting shrapnels hovered over the houses and almost obscured the view +of the mountains and the shells tore up the ground, sowing iron seed in +the furrows, the 28th and 32d Volunteers lay in the trenches without +firing a single shot. + +The commander of the 16th Brigade, to which the two regiments belonged, +was in the first trench during the morning, and, in company with Colonel +Katterfeld, inspected the results of the bombardment through his +telescope, which had been set up in the trench. A shrapnel had just +destroyed the top of the copper church tower, which the Japanese were +using as a lookout. + +Although the American shells had already created a great deal of havoc +in Hilgard, the walls of the houses offered considerable resistance to +the hail of bullets from the shrapnels. The brigadier-general therefore +sent orders to the battery stationed behind and to the right of the +trenches to shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into +Hilgard. + +"Shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into Hilgard! +Shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into +Hilgard--Shell--Hilgard," was the command which was passed along from +mouth to mouth through the trenches, until it reached the battery amid +the roar of battle. + +"--Shells--we have no shells--shrapnels--the battery has no shells, only +shrapnels--" came back the answer after a while. + +"No shells, I might have known it, only those everlasting shrapnels. How +on earth can I shoot a town to pieces with shrapnel!" growled the +brigadier-general, going into the protected stand where the telephone +had been set up. + +"Send two hundred shells immediately by automobile from Union to the 8th +Battery Volunteers stationed before Hilgard," ordered the general +through the telephone-- "What, there aren't any shells at Union? The +last have been forwarded to Longworth's Division?-- But I must have at +least a hundred; have them brought back at once from the right wing-- No +automobile, either?" It was a wonder that the telephone didn't burst +with righteous indignation at the vigorous curses the brigadier-general +roared into it. + +But unfortunately the statement made at Union, where the field railway +built from Monida for the transport service terminated, was correct. +Just as in most European armies, the number of shells provided was out +of all proportion to the shrapnel, and the supply of shells was +consequently low at all times. Besides, most of the ammunition-motors +had been put out of commission early in the game. The advantage of +higher speed possessed by the automobiles was more than offset by their +greater conspicuousness the moment they came within range of the enemy's +guns. The clouds of dust which they threw up at once showed the enemy in +which direction they were going, and as they were obliged to keep to the +main road, the Japanese had only to make a target of the highway and do +a little figuring to make short work of these modern vehicles. The great +number of wrecked motor cars strewn along the road proved rather +conclusively that the horse has not yet outlived its usefulness in +modern warfare. + +The officers, including the generals, had willingly dispensed with such +a dangerous mode of locomotion after the first fatal experiences, for +the staring fiery eyes of the motor betrayed its whereabouts by night, +and the clouds of dust betrayed it by day. The moment an auto came +puffing along, the enemy's shots began to fall to the right and left of +it, and it was only natural, therefore, that the horse came into its own +again, both because the rider was not bound to the main road and because +he did not offer such a conspicuous target for the enemy's shots. + +Towards noon the Japanese batteries entrenched before Hilgard began +bombarding the 28th Regiment with shrapnel. Colonel Katterfeld therefore +ordered half his men to seek protection under the stands. + +The howling and crashing of the bursting shrapnel of course had its +effect on those troops who were here under fire for the first time. But +the shrapnel bullets rained on the wooden roofs without being able to +penetrate them, and after half an hour this fact imbued the men in their +retreats with a certain feeling of security. The enemy soon stopped this +ineffective fire from his field-guns, however, and on the basis of +careful observations made from a captive balloon behind Hilgard, the +Japanese began using explosive shells in place of the shrapnel. + +The very first shots produced terrible devastation. The long planks were +tossed about like matches in the smoke of the bursting Shimose shells, +and the slaughter when one of them landed right in the midst of the +closely packed men in one of these subterranean mole-holes was +absolutely indescribable. Back into the trenches, therefore! But the +enemy had observed this change of position from his balloon, and the +shots began to rain unceasingly into the trenches. And so perfect was +the Japanese marksmanship that the position of the long line of trenches +could easily be recognized by the parallel line of little white clouds +of smoke up above them. There was nothing more to be concealed, and +accordingly Colonel Katterfeld ordered his regiment to open fire on +Hilgard and on the hostile artillery entrenched before the town. + +Captain Lange lay with his nose pressed against the breastworks, +carefully observing the effect of the fire through his field glasses. +Although this was not his first campaign, he had nevertheless had some +trouble in ridding himself of that miserable feeling with which every +novice has to contend, the feeling that every single hostile gun and +cannon is pointed straight at him. But the moment the first men of his +company fell and he was obliged to arrange for the removal of the +wounded to the rear, his self-possession returned at once. It was his +bounden duty, moreover, to set an example of cool-headed courage to his +men, so he calmly and with some fuss lighted a cigarette, yet in spite +of the apparent indifference with which he puffed at it, it moved up and +down rather suspiciously between his lips. + +A volunteer by the name of Singley, the war-correspondent of the _New +York Herald_, worked with much greater equanimity, but then he had been +through five battles before he gained permission to join the 7th Company +for the purpose of making pencil sketches and taking photographs of the +incidents of the battle. + +He now arranged a regular rest for his kodak in the breastwork of the +trench and stooped down behind the apparatus, which was directed towards +the six Japanese guns to the left in front of the houses at Hilgard, the +position of which could only be recognized by the clouds of smoke which +ascended after each shot was fired. Just then he heard the order being +passed along to the 8th battery to give these guns a broadside of +shrapnel, and as it would probably take a few minutes before this order +could be carried out, Singley pulled out his note-book and glanced over +the entries made during the last hour: + + No. 843. Japanese shell bursts through a plank covering. + " 844. Trench manned afresh. + " 845. Captain Lange smoking while under fire. + " 846. Japanese shrapnels indicate the line of our trenches in the air. + +Then he put his note-book down beside him and crept under his kodak +again, carefully fixing the object-glass on the battery opposite. Now +then! A streak of solid lightning flashed in front of the second gun, +and a black funnel of smoke shot up. Click! + + No. 847. Firing at the Japanese battery before Hilgard. + +Singley exchanged the film for a new one, and then looked about for +another subject for his camera. He took off his cap and peeped carefully +over the edge of the trench. Could he be mistaken? He saw a little +black speck making straight for the spot where he was. "A shell" rushed +through his thoughts like a flash, and he threw himself flat on the +bottom of the trench. + +With a whirring noise the heavy shell struck the back wall of the +trench. "An explosive shell!" shouted Captain Lange, "everybody down!" + +The air shook with a tremendous detonation; sand and stones flew all +around, and the suffocating powder-gas took everybody's breath away; but +gradually the soldiers began to recognize one another through the dust +and smoke, thankful at finding themselves uninjured. + +"Captain!" called a weak voice from the bottom of the trench, "Captain +Lange, I'm wounded." The captain bent down to assist the +war-correspondent, who was almost buried under a pile of earth. + +"Oh, my legs," groaned Singley. Two soldiers took hold of him and placed +him with his back against the wall of earth. The lower part of both his +thighs had been smashed by pieces from the shell. "Will you please do me +a last service?" he asked of Captain Lange. + +"Of course, Singley, what is it?" + +"Please take my kodak!" + +Singley himself arranged the exposure and handed the camera to the +captain, saying: "There, it is set at one twentieth of a second. Now +please take my picture-- Thank you, that's all right! And now you can +have me removed to the hospital!" + +Before the men came to fetch him, Singley managed to add to his list: + + No. 848. Our war-correspondent, Singley, mortally wounded by a + Japanese shell. Hail Columbia! + +Then he closed his book and put it in his breast pocket. Five minutes +later two ambulance men carried him off to have his wounds attended to, +and in the evening he was conveyed to the hospital. + +A week later Captain Lange's snapshot of the war-correspondent was +paraded in the _New York Herald_ as the dramatic close of Singley's +journalistic career. In his way he, too, had been a hero. He died in the +hospital at Salubria. + +He could claim the credit of having made the war plain to those at home. +Or was that not the war after all? Were the black shadows on the +photographic plate anything more than what is left of a flower after the +botanist has pressed the faded semblance of its former self between the +leaves of his collection? Certainly not much more. + +No, that is not war. Just a bursting--silently bursting shell, the +scattering of a company--that is not war. + +Thousands of bursting shells, the howls of the whizzing bullets, the +constant nerve-racking crashing and roaring overhead, the deafening +cracking of splitting iron everywhere--that is war. And accompanying it +all the hopeless sensation that this will never, never stop, that it +will go on like this forever, until one's thoughts are dulled by some +terrible, cruel, incomprehensible, demoralizing force. Those bounding +puffs of smoke everywhere on the ground, rifle shots which have been +aimed too short and every one of which-- That abominable sharp singing +as of a swarm of mosquitoes, buzz, buzz, like the buzzing of angry +hornets continually knocking their heads against a window-pane. Bang! +That hit a stone. Bang! two inches nearer, then--"Aim carefully, fire +slowly!" calls the lieutenant in a hoarse, dry voice. You aim carefully +and fire slowly and reload. Buzz-- And then you fume with a fierce +uncontrollable rage because you must aim carefully and fire slowly. And +the whole space in front of the trenches is covered with infantry +bullets glittering in the sunlight. Will it ever stop? Never! A day like +that has a hundred hours--two hundred. And if you had been there all by +yourself, you would never have dreamed of shooting over the edge of the +trenches--you would most probably have been crouching down in the pit. +But as you happen not to be alone, this can't be done. Will the enemy's +ammunition never give out? It's awful the way he keeps on shooting. + +And that terrible thirst! Your throat is parched and your teeth feel +blunt from grinding the grains of sand which fly into your face whenever +an impudent little puff of smoke jumps up directly in front of you. +Sssst. The mosquitoes keep on singing, and the bees buzz perpetually. +Those dogs over there, those wretches, those-- Buzz, buzz, buzz--it +never stops, never. Over there to the right somebody cracks a joke and +several soldiers laugh. "Aim carefully, fire slowly!" sounds the warning +voice of the lieutenant. And it's all done on an empty stomach--a +perfectly empty stomach. + +Just as the field-kitchen wagon had arrived this morning, a shell had +exploded in the road and it was all over with the kitchen-wagon. How +long ago that seemed! And the bees keep on humming. Bang! that hit the +sergeant right in the middle of the forehead. Is this never going to +stop? Never? You chew sand, you breathe sand, burning dry sand, which +passes through your intestines like fire. And then that horrible, faint, +sickening feeling in the stomach when you feel the ambulance men +creeping up behind to take away another one of your comrades! How +terrible he looks, how he screams! You are quite incensed to think that +anybody can yell like that! What a fool! "Aim carefully, fire slowly," +warns the lieutenant. Bouncing puffs of smoke again! And sand in your +mouth and fire in your intestines. You think continually of water, +beautiful, clear, ice-cold water, never-ending streams of water-- A +roaring, howling and crashing overhead, the clatter of splinters, a +sharp pain in your brain and a horrible feeling in your stomach and all +the time it goes buzz, buzz, buzz--ssst--ssst--buzz, buzz, buzz---- + +That is war, not the pictures that people see at home, all those lucky +people who have lots of water, who can go where they like and are not +forced to stay where the bees keep up a continual buzz, buzz, buzz---- + +Colonel Katterfeld was kneeling on the ground examining the map of +Hilgard and marking several positions with a pencil. He could overhear +the conversation of the soldiers under the board-covering next to his +own. + +"Do you think all this is on account of the Philippines?" asked one. + +"The Philippines? Not much. It would have come sooner or later anyhow. +The Japs want the whole Pacific to themselves. We wouldn't be here if it +were only for the Philippines." + +"We wouldn't? It's on account of imperialism, then, is it?" + +"Don't talk foolish. We know very well what the Japs want, imperialism +or no imperialism." + +"Well, why are the papers always talking so much about imperialism?" + +"They write from their own standpoint. Imperialism simply means that we +wish to rule wherever the Stars and Stripes are waving." + +The colonel peeped into the adjacent cover. It was Sergeant Benting who +was speaking. + +"Right you are, Benting," said the colonel, "imperialism is the desire +for power. Imperialism means looking at the world from a great altitude. +And the nation which is without it will never inherit the earth." + +Then the colonel gave the order to fire at a house on the right side of +the street, in which a bursting shrapnel had just effected a breach and +out of which a detachment of infantry was seen to run. + +Once again, just before twilight, the battle burst out on both sides +with tremendous fury. The whole valley was hidden in clouds of smoke and +dust, and flashes of fire and puffs of smoke flew up from the ground on +all sides. Then evening came and, bit by bit, it grew more quiet as one +battery after the other ceased firing. The shrill whistle of an engine +came from the mountain-pass. And now, from far away, the Japanese +bugle-call sounded through the silent starry night and was echoed softly +by the mountain-sides, warming the hearts of all who heard it: + +[line of music] + + + + +_Chapter XIX_ + +THE ASSAULT ON HILGARD + + +It was three o'clock in the morning. Only from the left wing of Fowler's +Division was the booming of cannon occasionally heard. From the +mountain-pass above came the noise of passing trains, the clash of +colliding cars and the dull rumble of wheels. On the right all was +still. + +A low whistle went through all the trenches! And then the regiments +intended for the assault on Hilgard crept slowly and carefully out of +the long furrows. The front ranks carried mattresses, straw-bags, planks +and sacks of earth to bridge the barbed wire barricades in case they +should not succeed in chopping down the posts to which the wires were +fastened. A few American batteries behind La Grande began firing. The +other side continued silent. + +Suddenly two red rockets rose quickly one after the other on the right +near the mountain, and they were followed directly by two blue ones; +they went out noiselessly high up in the air. Was it a signal of friend +or foe? The regiments came to a halt for a moment, but nothing further +happened, except that the two searchlights beyond Hilgard kept their +eyes fixed on the spot where the rockets had ascended. A dog barked in +the town, but was choked off in the middle of a howl. Then death-like +stillness reigned in front once more, but several cannon thundered in +the rear and a few isolated shots rang out from the wooded valleys on +the left. + +The front ranks had reached the wire barricades. Suddenly a sharp cry +of pain broke the silence and red flames shot forth from the ground, +lighting up the posts and the network of wires. Several soldiers were +seen to be caught in the wires, which were apparently charged with +electricity. Now was the time! The pioneers provided with rubber gloves +to protect them against the charged wires went at it with a vengeance, +and were soon hacking away with their axes. Loud curses and cries of +pain were heard here and there. "Shut up, you cowards!" yelled some one +in a subdued voice. The black silhouettes of the men, who were tossing +long boards and bags of earth on top of the wires, stood out sharply +against the light of the explosives with which the Americans were +attempting to loosen the supporting posts. + +[Illustration: Diagram of the Battle of Hilgard] + +The light of the dancing flames fell on swaying, leaping figures. +Shots rang out constantly, millions of sparks flew all around and +through all the din could be distinguished the short, sharp +rattatattatt--rrrrr--rattatattatt of the machine-guns, sounding more +like cobble-stones being emptied out of a cart than anything else. + +Hell had meanwhile broken loose on the other side. The attacking +regiments were exposed to a perfectly terrific rifle-fire from the +houses and streets of Hilgard, which was accompanied by a destructive +cannonade. But on they went! Over the corpses of the slain who had +breathed their last jammed in among the deadly wires, over the swaying +planks and through the gaps made by the exploding bombs, the battalions +swept on with loud shouts of Hurrah! What mattered it that the +machine-guns, which they had brought along, were sometimes dragged +through furrows of blood! On they went! The field-batteries to the right +and left of the first houses and two of the enemy's machine-guns just in +front of the barricade were in the hands of the 28th Regiment, and now +they advanced against the houses themselves. But it was utterly +impossible to get a foot further. A whole battalion was sacrificed +before the high barricade at the entrance to the main street, but still +they went on! There were no storming-ladders, and after all they were +hardly needed, for human pyramids were speedily run up against the +walls, and up these soldiers scrambled, assisted from below, until at +last they were high enough to shoot into the loop-holes. Others aided in +the work with axes and the butt-ends of their guns, and before long the +Americans had gained possession of several houses. All of the enemy's +searchlights concentrated their glare on the town, so that the fighting +was done in a brilliant light. The white top of the church-tower seemed +strangely near, while reddish-gold reflections played on the torn copper +roof. + +But no reënforcements came from the rear, and it was no wonder, for a +furious fire from the enemy's artillery and machine-guns swept across +the space in front of Hilgard, raining bullets and balls upon the +trenches, out of which new battalions climbed again and again; the shots +plowed up the land into glowing furrows and created an impassable +fire-zone between the trenches and the nearest houses of Hilgard, whence +shrieking bugle-calls begged for immediate assistance. If the enemy +should succeed in throwing reënforcements into Hilgard, he would have no +difficulty in dislodging the Americans from the positions they had won. +Suddenly an attack from the wooded valley on the left at last brought +relief. It was the Irish brigade under General O'Brien that came on like +a whirlwind, quite unexpectedly, and joined in the fight. + +This attack threw back the advancing Japanese reënforcements. The +regiments could be seen retreating in the pale light of dawn, and then +they were seen to form in line on the rising ground behind. Between +them and the rear of the town lay the Irish sharpshooters, who went +forward by leaps and bounds. But the furious artillery fire from the +enemy brought the fighting temporarily to a stand-still. + +Wild confusion reigned on all sides as dawn broke. The 17th Japanese +Infantry Regiment was still battling with the two American regiments for +the possession of the front houses of Hilgard, and the two Japanese +battalions in the rear of the town directed their fire on the compact +columns of the Third Irish Regiment, which had not yet been formed into +line for shooting. It was a critical moment, and everything depended +upon the rapidity with which the Japanese resistance in Hilgard could be +overcome. + +In the houses and on the illuminated streets a furious hand-to-hand +encounter was going on, the men rushing at one another with bayonets and +the butt-ends of their guns. No effort was made to keep the men or +regiments together. Where the weapons had been destroyed or lost in the +mad scramble, the soldiers fought like gorillas, tearing one another's +flesh with teeth and nails. On all sides houses were on fire, and the +falling beams and walls, the bursting flames, the showers of descending +sparks, and the bursting shrapnels killing friend and foe alike, created +an indescribable jumble. + +At last reënforcements arrived in the shape of a regiment which had lost +more than half its men in passing through the fire-zone in front of +Hilgard. + +"Where is Colonel Johnson?" + +"Over there, on the other side of the street." + +"A prisoner?" asked some one. + +"I guess not, they're not making prisoners and we aren't either." + +Slowly it grew lighter. + +The Irish in the rear of Hilgard had hard work to maintain their +position. To dislodge the enemy, it was absolutely necessary to turn his +flank; otherwise there was no chance of advancing further. Each line of +sharpshooters that leaped forward was partially mowed down by the +terrible machine-guns. The enemy didn't budge an inch. + +General O'Brien had already dispatched five orderlies to Fowler's +division with instructions to attack the enemy from the left, but all +five had been shot down the moment they left their cover. Something had +to be done at once, or the entire brigade would be destroyed. + +Suddenly Corporal Freeman, who had crept up along the ground, appeared +beside the General. + +"Here, sir," he cried, his face beaming, "here's the connection for +you." And he shoved a telephone apparatus towards O'Brien. He had +dragged the connecting wire behind him through the entire fire-zone. + +"You must be a wizard!" cried the General, and then seizing the +instrument he called: "Throw all the troops you can possibly get hold of +against the right wing of the Japanese in front of us! The enemy's +position is weakened, but we can't attack the ridge in the front from +here." + +Several minutes passed--minutes pregnant with destruction. The bursting +shells thinned the ranks terribly, while the infantry fire continued to +sweep along the ground, but worst of all, the ammunition of the Irish +regiments was getting low. Several batteries were planted between the +ruins of the houses in Hilgard, but even then the enemy did not budge. + +Then came a great rush from the left: Cavalry, Indian scouts, regular +cavalry, cavalry militia, volunteer regiments, and behind them all the +machine-guns and the field-artillery--a perfect avalanche of human +beings and horses wrapped in thick clouds of smoke from which showers of +sparks descended. + +That was our salvation. A wild shout of joy from the Irishmen rose above +the din of battle, and after that there was no restraining them. The +front ranks of the cavalry were mown down like sheaves of corn by the +bullets of the enemy's machine-guns; but that made no difference, on +they went, on, ever on! Whole regiments were cut to pieces. Hundreds of +saddles were emptied, but the riders came on just the same, and even +before they had reached the Irish sharpshooters, every man who wore the +green was headed for the ridge almost without waiting for the word of +command! + +It was an assault the enemy could not possibly repulse. The Irish and +the cavalry were right among their firing lines; a battery galloped up +into the hostile ranks, crushing dead and wounded beneath its wheels. +Bloody shreds of flesh were sticking to the gun-barrels, and torn limbs +and even whole bodies were whirled round and round in the spokes of the +wheels. + +Shrill bugle-calls resounded. The horses were wheeled around and the +battery unlimbered. A hostile shell suddenly struck the shaft of the +gun-carriage, and in a second the horses were a bloody mass of legs +wildly beating the air and of writhing, groaning bodies. + +But the gun was in position. And now out with the ammunition! Bang! went +the first shot, which had been in the barrel, and then everybody lent a +hand; an Indian scout, bleeding at the shoulder, and an engineer helped +pass the shells, while a mortally wounded gunner shoved the cartridge +into the barrel. + +"Aim up there to the left, near the two detached pine-trees, six hundred +yards," roared a lieutenant, whose blood-covered shirt could be seen +beneath his open uniform. + +"The two pines to the left," answered the gunner, lying across the +bracket-trail. Bang! off went the shot, and a line of Japanese +sharpshooters rose like a flock of quail. + +More cannon, more machine-guns, more ammunition-carts rushed up in mad +haste; the batteries kept up a continual fire. + +The battle moved on farther to the front. The houses of Hilgard were all +in flames; only the white top of the church-tower still projected above +the ruins. On the right of the town one column after another marched +past to the strains of regimental music. + +An orderly galloped past, and some one called out to him: "How are +things in front?" "Fine, fine, we're winning!" came the answer, which +was greeted with jubilant cheers. Gradually the enemy's shots became +scarcer as the battle advanced up the slopes. + +Engineers were hard at work getting the streets of Hilgard cleared so as +to save the troops the detour round the outside of the town. The burning +houses were blown up with dynamite, and a temporary hospital was +established near the city, to which the wounded were brought from all +parts of the battle-field. + +By noon Hilgard was sufficiently cleared to allow the 36th Militia +Regiment (Nebraska) to pass through. On both sides of the streets were +smoking ruins filled with dead and dying and charred remains. The steps +of the battalion sounded strangely hollow as the first company turned +into the square where the white church still stood almost intact in the +midst of the ruins. A wounded soldier was calling loudly for water. + +What was that? Were the bells tolling? The soldiers involuntarily +softened their step when they heard it. Yes, the bells were tolling, +slowly at first and low, but then the peals rang out louder and louder +until a great volume of sound burst through the little windows in the +white church-spire. Ding--dong, ding--dong---- + +The flag-bearer of the first company lowered his flag and the soldiers +marched past in silence. The captain rode over to the entrance to the +tower and looked in. A little boy, about ten years old, was tugging and +straining at the heavy bell-ropes. There seemed to be a number of +wounded soldiers in the church, as loud groans could be heard through +the half-open door. + +The captain looked about him in astonishment. Near a post he saw two +Japanese, presenting a fearful spectacle in the convulsions of death. +Close to them lay an American foot-soldier, writhing with pain from a +bayonet-wound in the abdomen; and over in the farther corner he could +distinguish a woman, dressed in black, lying on a ragged mattress. +Ding--dong, ding--dong, rang the bells up above, but the noise of battle +did not penetrate here. + +"What are you doing, sonny?" asked the captain. + +"I'm ringing the bells for mother," said the little fellow. + +"For mother?" + +"General," called a weak voice from the corner, "please let the boy +alone. I want to hear our bells just once more before I die." + +"What's the matter, are you wounded?" asked the captain. + +"I feel that I'm dying," was the answer; "a bullet has entered my lung; +I think it's the lung." + +"I'll send you a doctor," said the captain, "although we----" + +"Don't bother, general; it wouldn't do any good." + +"How did you get here?" + +"My husband," came the answer in a weak voice, "is lying across the +street in our burning home. He was the minister here in Hilgard. These +last days have been fearful, general; you have no idea how fearful. +First they shot my husband, and then our little Elly was killed by a +piece of shell when I was running across the street to the church with +her and the boy." She paused a moment, and then continued with growing +agitation: "It's enough to make one lose faith in the wisdom of the Lord +to see this butchery--all the heartrending sorrow that's created in the +world when men begin to murder one another like this. You don't realize +it in the midst of the battle, but here-- And as God has seen fit to +spare His church in the battle, I asked the boy to ring the bells once +more, for I thought it might be a comfort to some of those dying out +there to hear a voice from above proclaiming peace after these awful +days. Let him keep on ringing, general, won't you?" + +"Can I help you in any way?" asked the captain. + +"No, only I should like some water." + +The captain knelt down by the side of the poor, deserted woman and +handed her his flask. + +She drank greedily, and then thanked him and began to sob softly. "What +will become of my boy? My poor husband----" + +"My good woman," said the captain, forcing himself to speak bluntly, +"it's not a question of this boy, or of a single individual who has +fallen in battle, but rather of a great people which has just defeated +the enemy. The widows and orphans will be taken care of by the +survivors, now that the Lord has given us the victory. Those who are +lying outside the town and those here have surrendered their lives for +their country, and the country will not forget them." + +Ding--dong, ding--dong, went the bells as the captain left the church, +deeply affected. Ding--dong, ding--dong. Thousands out on the +battle-field in the throes of death, and the many unfortunates lying +with broken limbs in the burning houses and watching the flames +creeping towards them, heard that last call from on high, like a call +from God, Who seemed to have turned away from our people. + +And then evening came, the evening of the sixteenth of August, which is +recorded with bloody letters on the pages of our country's history. Soon +all the reserves were engaged in battle. Our splendid regiments could +not be checked, so eager were they to push forward, and they succeeded +in storming one of the enemy's positions after the other along the +mountain-side. At last the enemy began to retreat, and the thunder of +the cannon was again and again drowned in the frenzied cheers. General +MacArthur was continually receiving at his headquarters reports of fresh +victories in the front and on both wings. + +The telegraph wires had long ago spread the glad tidings over the length +and breadth of the land. Great joy reigned in every town, the Stars and +Stripes waved proudly from all the houses, and the people's hearts were +fluttering with exultation. + +General MacArthur, whose headquarters were located near Hilgard, was +waiting for news of Fowler's Division, which had orders to advance on +the pass through the valleys on the left wing. They were to try and +outflank the enemy's right wing, but word was sent that they had met +with unexpected resistance. It appeared, therefore, that the enemy had +not yet begun to retreat at that point. + +On the other hand, things were going better in the center. But what was +the good of this reckless advance, of this bold rush, which built +bridges of human bodies across the enemy's trenches and formed living +ladders composed of whole companies before the enemy's earthworks--what +was the good of all this heroic courage in the face of Marshal Nogi's +relentless calculations? He was overjoyed to see regiment after +regiment storm towards him, while from his tent he gave directions for +the sharp tongs of the Japanese flanks to close in the rear of General +MacArthur's army. + +About seven o'clock in the evening the surprising news came from the +right wing that the batteries which had begun firing on the enemy's +lines retreating along the railway line were suddenly being shelled from +the rear, and begged for reënforcements. But there were no reserves +left; the last battalion, the last man had been pushed to the front! How +did the enemy manage to outflank us? + +Imploringly, eagerly, the telephone begged for reënforcements, for +batteries, for machine-guns, for ammunition. The transport section of +the army service corps had been exhausted long ago, and all the +ammunition we had was in front, while a wide chasm yawned between the +fighting troops and the depots far away in the blue distance. General +MacArthur had nothing left to send. + +And now from Indian Valley came the request for more machine-guns, but +there wasn't one left. General MacArthur telegraphed to Union, the +terminus of the field-railway, but the answer came that no assistance +could be given for several hours, as the roadbed had first to be +repaired. From Toll Gate, too, came stormy demands for more +ammunition--all in vain. + +And then, at eight o'clock, when the sun had sunk like a ball of fire in +the west, and the Blue Mountains, above which hovered puffs of smoke +from the bursting shrapnel, were bathed in the golden evening light and +the valley became gradually veiled in darkness, the crushing news came +from Baker City that large, compact bodies of Japanese troops had been +seen on the stretch of broken-down railroad near Sumpter. Soon +afterwards Union reported the interruption of railway communication +with the rear and an attack with machine-guns by Japanese dismounted +cavalry, while Wood's division in the front continued to report the +capture of Japanese positions. + +With relentless accuracy the arms of the gigantic tongs with which Nogi +threatened to surround the entire Army of the North began to close. The +American troops attacking both flanks had not noticed the Japanese +reserves, which had been held concealed in the depressions and shallow +valleys under cover of the woods. Two miles more to the right and left, +and our cavalry would have come upon the steel teeth of the huge tongs, +but there was the rub: they hadn't gone far enough. + +About ten o'clock in the evening Baker City, which was in flames, was +stormed by the Japanese, Indian Valley having already fallen into their +hands. The attack in front, high up in the mountains, began to waver, +then to stop; a few captured positions had to be abandoned, and down in +the valley near La Grande, whence the field-hospitals were being removed +to the rear, the ambulances and Red Cross transports encountered the +troops streaming back from Baker City. One retreating force caught up +with the other, and then night came--that terrible night of destruction. +Again the cannon thundered across the valley, again the machine-guns +joined in the tumult, while the infantry fire surged to and fro. + +You may be able to urge an exhausted or famished troop on to a final +assault, you may even gain the victory with their last vestige of +energy, their last bit of strength, provided you can inspire them with +sufficient enthusiasm; but it is impossible to save a lost cause with +troops who have been hunted up and down for twenty-four hours and whose +nerves are positively blunt from the strain of the prolonged battle. + +The exhausted regiments went back, back into the basin of the Blue +Mountains, into a flaming pit that hid death and destruction in its +midst. The headquarters, too, had to be moved back. General MacArthur +lost his way in the darkness, and, accompanied by a single officer, rode +across the bloody battle-field right through the enemy's line of fire. + +He soon ran across a cavalry brigade belonging to Longworth's division, +and at once placed himself at its head and led an onslaught on a +Japanese regiment. A wild _mêlée_ ensued in the darkness, and, although +only a few hundred riders remained in their saddles, the attack had +cleared the atmosphere and the wavering battalions gained new courage. + +General MacArthur ordered a retreat by way of Union, employing Wood's +division, which was slowly making its way back to Hilgard, to cover the +retreat. Regiment after regiment threatened to become disbanded, and +only the determined action of the officers prevented a general rout. The +decimated regiments of Wood's division stood like a wall before the +ruins of Hilgard; they formed a rock against which the enemy's troops +dashed themselves in vain. In this way Fowler's and Longworth's +divisions succeeded in making a fair retreat, especially as the enemy's +strength was beginning to become exhausted. The uncertainty of a night +attack, when the fighting is done with bandaged eyes, as it were, and it +becomes impossible to control the effect of one's own firing, +contributed also towards weakening the Japanese attacks. The thin lines +of hostile troops from Baker City and from the north, which had +threatened to surround our army, were pierced by the determined assaults +of the American regiments; and although our entire transport service and +numerous guns remained in possession of the enemy, our retreat by way of +Union was open. + +At dawn on the seventeenth of August the remains of Wood's division +began to leave Hilgard, which they had so bravely and stubbornly +defended, the heroes retreating step by step in face of the enemy's +artillery fire. + +General MacArthur stopped just outside of Union and watched the +regiments--often consisting only of a single company--pass in silence. +He frowned with displeasure when he saw Colonel Smeaton riding alone in +the middle of the road, followed by two foot-soldiers. The colonel was +bleeding from a wound in his forehead. + +General MacArthur gave spurs to his horse and rode towards the colonel, +saying: "Colonel, how can you desert your regiment?" + +Colonel Smeaton raised himself in his stirrups, saluted, and said: "I +have the honor to report that only these two, Dan Woodlark and Abraham +Bent, are left of my regiment. They are brave men, general, and I +herewith recommend them for promotion." + +The general's eyes grew moist, and, stifling a sigh, he held out his +hand to Colonel Smeaton: "Forgive me," he said simply, "I did not intend +to hurt your feelings." + +"Nonsense!" cried the colonel. "We'll begin over again, general, we'll +simply start all over again. As long as we don't lose faith in +ourselves, nothing is lost." + +Those were significant words spoken that seventeenth day of August. + + + + +_Chapter XX_ + +A FRIEND IN NEED + + +The attitude towards the war in Australia was entirely different from +that of Europe. Everyone realized that this was not an ordinary war, but +a war upon which the future of Australia depended. If the Japanese +succeeded in conquering a foot of land in North America, if a single +star was extinguished on the blue field of the American flag, it would +mean that the whole continent lying in Asia's shadow would also fall a +prey to the yellow race. + +The early reports from the Philippines and from San Francisco, and the +crushing news of the destruction of the Pacific fleet, swept like a +whirlwind through the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wellington +and Auckland, and gave rise to tremendous public demonstrations. +Business came to a stand-still, for the Australian people had ears only +for the far-off thunder of cannon, and their thoughts were occupied with +the future. Huge open-air mass-meetings and innumerable demonstrations +before the American consulates bore witness to Australia's honest +sympathy. The time had arrived for the fifth continent to establish its +political status in the council of nations. + +In Sydney the mob had smashed the windows of the Japanese consulate. +Satisfaction was at once categorically demanded from London, where the +government trembled at the bare idea of a hostile demonstration against +its ally. The apology was to take the form of a salute to the Japanese +flag on the consulate by a coast battery, etc. But the Australian +government refused point blank to do this, and contented itself with a +simple declaration of regret; and as there was no other course open to +him, the Japanese Consul had to be satisfied. But in Tokio this affair +was entered on the credit side of the Anglo-Japanese ledger, offsetting +the debt of gratitude for August 10, 1904, when the English fleet +constituted the shifting scenery behind Togo's battleships. + +A great many of the Japanese located in Australia had left the country +before the outbreak of the war to join the army of invasion, and those +who remained behind soon recognized that there was no work for them +anywhere on the continent. When they refused to take this hint and make +themselves scarce, Australian fists began to remind them that the period +of Anglo-Mongolian brotherhood was a thing of the past. The last of the +Japanese settlers were put aboard an English steamer at Sydney and told +to shift for themselves. The Chinese, too, began to leave the country, +and wherever they did not go of their own accord, they were told in +pretty plain language that the yellow man's day in Australia was ended. + +Australia, up to this time merely an appendage of the Old World, a +colony which had received its blood from the heart of the British Empire +and its ideas from the nerve-center in Downing Street, which had +hitherto led a purely dependent existence, now awoke and began to +develop a political life of its own. And this development, born of the +outbreak of Mongolian hostilities, could not be restrained. The time had +passed when the European nations could say: The world's history is +created by us, other nations are of no account. + +Once before Australia had taken an active part in politics. That was +when the Union Jack was threatened, when British regiments were melting +away before the rifles of a peasant people at Magersfontein, Colenso and +Graspan, when Ladysmith was being besieged, and Downing Street trembled +for the safety of the empire. Then, in the hour of dire need, a cry for +help went out to all the peoples dwelling beneath the Union Jack, whose +flagstaff was being shaken by sturdy peasant hands. And the colonial +troops heard the call and responded nobly. Australian and Canadian +heroism was ushered into being on the grassy plains and kopjes of the +Transvaal. They may not have been good to look at and their manners were +not those of the drawing-room, but England opened her arms to those +splendid fellows from the Australian bush and was glad to use them in +her hour of need--but afterwards she forgot them. But those days were +not so soon forgotten in Australia; there are too many men still going +around with one arm or a wooden leg. The gentlemen in Downing Street, +however, have short memories, and the debt of thanks they owed the +colonies quickly slipped their minds. + +For the sake of her bales of cotton, her export lists, and her Indian +possessions, the London government threw all the traditions of the +British world empire overboard and forgot that Old England's problem of +civilization was the conquest of the world for the Anglo-Saxon race. For +the sake of her London merchants, Old England betrayed Greater Britain, +which in the calculations of the London statesmen was only a +geographical conception, while the nations without credulously accepted +the decisions of English politics as the gospel of British power. + +England offered the hand of fellowship to the Japanese parvenu simply +because she wanted some one to hold her Russian rival in check. + +What the Manchurian campaign cost England can be figured out exactly, +to the pound and shilling. She simply purchased the downfall of Russia +with the loan of a few hundred millions to Japan--an excellent bargain. + +But Sir Charles Dilke was beginning to open the people's eyes. "Another +Japanese loan," he cried, "will slip a sharp dagger into the hand of our +greatest commercial rival." + +England, however, would not listen, and after the war she only drew the +bonds of the alliance closer for fear of the Japanese ants who were +creeping secretly into India and whispering into the people's ears that +the dominion of a few hundred thousand white men over three hundred +million Indians was based solely on the legend of the superiority of the +white race, a legend which Mukden and Tsushima had completely nullified. + +After all, London was at liberty to adopt any policy it liked; but in +this particular case the colonies were expected to bear the entire +costs. And this was the gratitude for the aid given in South Africa for +customs favors extended to English goods at Ottawa, Cape Town, and +Melbourne. Deliberately disregarding the warnings of Sir Wilfred +Laurier, of Seddon, and of Deakin, who clearly recognized the proximity +of the danger, the gentlemen in London insisted upon unrestricted +Japanese immigration into the colonies, although Hawaii furnished an +eloquent example of how quickly coolie immigrants can transform an +Anglo-Saxon colony into a Japanese one. + +In South Africa, too, England was sowing trouble with Mongolian miners, +until the Africanders took it upon themselves to rid their country of +this yellow plague. + +In consideration of the existing alliance with Japan, Downing Street +demanded of Canada and Australia that the Japanese settlers should be +granted equal privileges with the white man. New Zealand's prime +minister, Seddon, a resolute man whose greatness is not appreciated in +Europe, brought his fist down on the table with a vengeance at the last +Colonial Conference in London and appealed to Old England's conscience +in the face of the yellow danger. All in vain. Although he persisted in +proclaiming New Zealand's right to adhere to her exclusive immigration +laws, it was several years before Australia and Canada awoke to a +realization of the dangers which the influx of Japanese coolies held in +store for them, and before they began to prepare for an energetic +resistance. + +Then, in August, 1908, came the American fleet. Great was the rejoicing +in all the Australian coast towns, and the welcome extended to the +American sailors and marines proved to the world that hearts were +beating in unison here in the fear of future catastrophes. Never has the +feeling of the homogeneousness of the white race, of the Anglo-Saxon +race, celebrated such festivals, and when the Australians and Americans +shook hands at parting, the former realized that a brother was leaving +with whom they would one day fight side by side--when the crisis came +and the die was cast which was to decide whether the Pacific should be +ruled by the Anglo-Saxon or the Mongolian race. + +And now the danger that had been regarded as likely to make itself felt +decades hence had become a terrible reality in less than no time. The +joint Japanese foe was actually on American soil, the American dominion +over the Philippines and Hawaii had been swept away at the first onset, +and the great brother nation of the United States was struggling for its +existence as a nation and for the future of the white race. + +What had become of Great Britain's imperialism, of the All-British idea, +for the sake of which Australia, Canada, and New Zealand had sent their +sons to South Africa? England, whose grand mission it was to protect +the palladium of Anglo-Saxon dominion, stood aloof in this conflict. + +The cabinet of St. James had sent a warning to Ottawa not to permit +Canadian volunteers to enter the United States, and similar instructions +had been forwarded to Melbourne and Wellington. + +But when England, at Japan's instigation, tried to persuade the European +powers to compel Mexico to prevent American volunteer regiments from +crossing the frontier by concentrating her army opposite El Paso, +Germany frustrated this plan by declaring that the acknowledgment of the +Monroe Doctrine as a political principle in 1903 rendered it impossible +for her to meddle in America's political affairs. In spite of this +failure, the cabinet of St. James continued to play the rôle of +international watchman, and employed the influence secured by _ententes_ +in previous years to carefully prevent other European governments from +violating the laws of neutrality towards Japan. It was, of course, the +worry over India which made the English government, generally very +elastic in its views regarding neutrality, all at once so extremely +virtuous. + +London felt very uncomfortable when, in July, a Canadian paper published +an alleged conversation between a Japanese and an English diplomatist. +"What will Great Britain do in case of war?" the Japanese is said to +have asked, whereupon he received the ambiguous answer: "Her duty." +Then, with the daring candor assumed by these people when they feel that +they are masters of the situation, the Japanese had declared: "The +London government must bear in mind that the continuation of British +rule in India depends absolutely on the wishes of Japan; that England, +in other words, can support the United States only at the price of an +Indian insurrection." + +This conversation, which was published by a curious act of indiscretion, +and of course at once denied in London, nevertheless threw a flood of +light on England's political situation. Japan did not directly ask for +military aid, which, as a matter of fact, she had no right to expect +under the terms of the second Anglo-Japanese agreement, but she did +demand favorable neutrality on the part of Great Britain as the guardian +of the mobile forces of the Anglo-Saxon world-empire; in other words, +Japan insisted that England should betray her own race for the sake of +India. + +This political trick of the Japanese government was the yellow man's +revenge for the half promises with which England had driven Japan into +the conflict with Russia, and then; after the outbreak of the war, had +offered only meager messages of sympathy instead of furnishing the +expected military assistance. + +England's destiny now hung in the balance; the threads reaching from +Ottawa, Cape Town, Melbourne, and Wellington to Downing Street were +becoming severed, not by a sword-cut, but by England's own policy. + +If imperialism should leave no room for a "white" policy, then Australia +and Canada must throw off the burdensome fetters which threatened to +hand over the white man under the Union Jack, bound hand and foot, to +the Mongolians. + +It was not easy to come to such a decision, and it was months before it +was finally reached. But one day, towards the end of August, the entire +Australian press advertised for volunteers for the American army. +Thousands responded, and no one asked where the large sums of money came +from with which these men were provided with arms and uniforms. + +A vehement Japanese protest, sent by way of London, only elicited the +reply that the Australian government had received no official +notification of the enlistment of volunteers for the United States, and +was therefore not in a position to interfere in any such movement. + +A feeling of joyous confidence reigned among the volunteers; they were +going to take the field and fight for their big brother. The racial +feeling, so strong in every white man, had been aroused and could +withstand any Mongolian attack. By October the first steamers of +volunteers left for America. As there were no Japanese or Chinese spies +left, and as the government kept a strict watch on the entire news and +telegraph service, the departure of the steamers remained concealed from +the enemy. As Japanese ships were cruising in the Straits of Magellan, +the route via Suez was chosen, and in due course the steamers arrived +safely at Hampton Roads. + +Wherever the conscience of the Anglo-Saxon race was not wrapped in bales +of cotton and in stock quotations, wherever the feeling of Anglo-Saxon +solidarity still inspired the people, there was a stir. And so the +objections of the London government were not heeded in the colonies. + +Why should the citizen of Canada, of British Columbia, care for Downing +Street's consideration for India, when he was suffering commercially +from the yellow invasion just as much as the citizen of the United +States, and when he realized that he would surely be the next victim if +the Japanese should be victorious this time? + +In this epoch-making hour of the world's history, England had neglected +her bounden duty, because she was indissolubly bound to Japan. By the +same right with which George Washington had once raised the flag, crowds +of men streamed across the frontier from Canada and British Columbia, +and by that same right Ottawa now categorically demanded the removal of +the Japanese ships from the harbor of Esquimault. "They must either +lower their flag and disarm, or they must leave the harbor!" wrote the +Canadian papers, and the Canadian Secretary of State, William Mackenzie, +couched the protest which he sent to London in similar terms. It was +recognized in London that threats were no longer of avail in the face of +this spontaneous enthusiasm. England had staked much and lost. + +Canadian and Australian regiments were soon found fighting side by side +with their American brothers. And now at last, with the united good-will +of two continents behind us, there was a fair prospect of the early +realization of the boastful words uttered by the American press at the +beginning of the war: "We'll drive the yellow monkeys into the +Pacific." + + + + +_Chapter XXI_ + +DARK SHADOWS + + +Autumn had come, and all was serene at the seat of war, except for a few +insignificant skirmishes. Slowly, far more slowly than the impatience of +our people could stand, the new bodies of troops were prepared for +action, and before we could possibly think of again assuming the +offensive, winter was at the door. + +In the middle of November, three Japanese orderlies, bearing a white +flag of truce, rode up to our outposts, and a few days later it was +learned from Washington that the enemy had offered to make peace, the +terms of which, however, remained a mystery for a short time, until they +were ultimately published in the capital. + +The States of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California were to become +Japanese possessions, but at the same time continue as members of the +Union. They were to have Japanese garrisons and to permit Japanese +immigration; the strength of the garrisons was to be regulated later. In +the various State legislatures and in the municipal administration half +the members were to be Americans and half Japanese. If these terms were +accepted, Japan would relinquish all claim to further immigration of +Japanese to the other States of the Union. The United States was to pay +Japan a war-indemnity of two billion dollars, in installments, exclusive +of the sums previously levied in the Pacific States. San Francisco was +to be Japan's naval port on the Pacific coast, and the navy-yard and +arsenals located there were to pass into the hands of the Japanese. The +Philippines, Hawaii and Guam were to be ceded to Japan. + +A universal cry of indignation resounded from the Atlantic to the +Rockies in answer to these humiliating terms of peace. To acknowledge +defeat and keep the enemy in the country, would be sealing the doom of +American honor with a stroke of the pen. No! anything but that! Let us +fight on at any price! At thousands of mass meetings the same cry was +heard: Let us fight on until the last enemy has been driven out of the +country. + +But what is public opinion? Nothing more than the naïve feeling of the +masses of yesterday, to-day and perhaps the day after to-morrow. The +terrible sacrifices claimed by the war had not been without effect. Of +course there was no hesitation on the part of the old American citizens +nor of the German, Scandinavian and Irish settlers--they would all +remain faithful to the Star Spangled Banner. But the others, the +thousands and hundreds of thousands of Romanic and Slavonic descent, the +Italian and Russian proletariat, and the scum of the peoples of Asia +Minor, all these elements, who regarded the United States merely as a +promising market for employment and not as a home, were of a different +opinion. + +And these elements of the population now demanded the reëstablishment of +opportunities for profitable employment, insisting upon their rights as +naturalized citizens, which had been so readily accorded them. Scarcely +had the first storm of indignation passed, when other public meetings +began to be held--loud, stormy demonstrations, which usually ended in a +grand street row--and to this were added passionate appeals from the +Socialist leaders to accept Japan's terms and conclude peace, in order +that the idle laborer might once more return to work. + +And this feeling spread more and more and gradually became a force in +public life and in the press, and unfortunately the agitation was not +entirely without effect on those elements of the population whose +American citizenship was not yet deeply rooted. However indignant the +better elements may have felt at first over this cowardly desertion of +the flag, the continual repetition of such arguments evoked +faint-hearted considerations of the desirability of peace in ever +widening circles. + +The fighting of our troops on the plateaus of the Rocky Mountains no +longer formed the chief topic of conversation, but rather the proffered +terms of peace, which were discussed before the bars, on the street, at +meetings, and in the family-circle. + +Scarcely a fortnight after the presentation of the Japanese offer of +peace, two bitterly hostile parties confronted each other in the Union: +the one gathered round the country's flag full of determination and +enthusiasm, the other was willing to sacrifice the dollar on the altar +of Buddha. + +And other forces were also at work. Enthusiastic preachers arose in +numerous sects and religious denominations, applying the mysterious +revelations of the prophet of Patmos--revelations employed in all ages +for the forging of mystic weapons--to the events of the time. In the dim +light of evening meetings they spoke of the "beast with the seven heads" +to whom was given power "over all kindreds, tongues and nations," and +fanatical men and women came after months of infinite misery and +hopeless woe to look upon the occupant of the White House as the +Antichrist. They conceived it their bounden duty to oppose his will, and +quite gradually these evening prayer-meetings began to influence our +people to such a degree that the Japanese terms were no longer regarded +as insulting, and peace without honor was preferred to a continuance of +the fight to the bitter end. Had God really turned the light of his +countenance from us? + +While the enemy was waiting for an answer to his message, the voices at +home became louder and louder in their demands for the conclusion of +peace and the acceptance of the enemy's terms. The sound common-sense +and the buoyant patriotism of those who had their country's interests +close at heart struggled in vain against the selfish doctrine of those +who preferred to vegetate peacefully without one brave effort for +freedom. Our whole past history, replete with acts of bravery and +self-sacrifice, seemed to be disappearing in the horrors of night. + +And while the socialist agitators were goading on the starving workmen +everywhere to oppose the continuation of the war, while innumerable +forces were apparently uniting to retire the God of War, who determines +the fate of nations on bloody fields, there remained at least one +possibility of clearing the sultry atmosphere: a battle. But how dared +we continue the fight before our armies were absolutely prepared to +begin the attack, how dared we attempt what would no doubt prove the +decisive battle before we were certain of success? The battle of Hilgard +furnished an eloquent reply. The War Department said no, it said no with +a heavy heart; weeks must pass, weeks must be borne and overcome, before +we could assume the offensive once more. + +The Japanese terms of peace were therefore declined. At the seat of war +skirmishes continued to take place, the soldiers freezing in their thin +coats, while restless activity was shown in all the encampments. + + * * * * * + +Extras were being sold on the streets of Washington, telling of a naval +engagement off the Argentine coast. They were eagerly bought and read, +but no one believed the news, for we had lost hope and faith. Excited +crowds had collected in front of the Army and Navy building in the hope +of obtaining more detailed news; but no one could give any information. +An automobile suddenly drew up in front of the south side of the long +building, before the entrance to the offices of the Committee on Foreign +Affairs. + +The Secretary of State, who had not been able to get the President by +'phone at the White House but learned that he was somewhere in the naval +barracks, had decided to look him up. Scarcely had he entered his car, +before he was surrounded by hundreds of people clamoring for +verification of the news from Buenos Ayres. He declared again and again +that he knew nothing more than what he had just read in the extras, but +no one believed him. Several policemen cleared the way in front of the +puffing machine, which at last managed to get clear of the crowd, but a +few blocks further on the chauffeur was again compelled to stop. + +An immense mob was pouring out of a side street, where they had just +smashed the windows of the offices of a socialist newspaper, which had +supplemented the Argentine dispatch with spiteful comments under the +headlines: "Another Patriotic Swindle." + +The Secretary of State told the chauffeur to take a different route to +the naval barracks, and this order saved his life, for as he bent +forward to speak to the chauffeur, the force of an explosion threw him +against the front seat. Behind him, on the upper edge of the rear seat, +a bomb had exploded with a burst of blinding white light. The secretary, +whose coat was torn by some splinters of glass, stood up and showed +himself to the multitude. + +"Murder, murder," yelled the mob, "down with the assassin." And the +secretary saw them seize a degenerate-looking wretch and begin pounding +him with their fists. After a little while he was thrown to the ground, +but was dragged up again and at last, as the chauffeur was guiding his +car backwards through the crowd, the secretary heard a man say: + +"Thank God, they've strung him up on a lamp-post!" + +The mob had administered quick justice. + +Utterly exhausted by this experience, the Secretary of State returned to +his home, where he gave orders that the President should be informed at +once of what had occurred. + +The servant had scarcely left the secretary's study when his wife +entered. She threw her arms passionately around his neck and refused to +be quieted. "It's all right, Edith, I haven't been scratched." + +"But you'll be killed the next time," she sobbed. + +"It makes but little difference, Edith, whether I die here on the +pavement or out yonder on the battle-field: we must all die at our posts +if need be. Death may come to us any day here as well as there, but," +and freeing himself from his wife's embrace, he walked to his desk and +pointed to a picture of Abraham Lincoln hanging over it, saying, "if I +fall as that man fell, there are hundreds who are ready to step into my +shoes without the slightest fuss and with the same solemn sense of +duty." + +A servant entered and announced that the British Ambassador asked to be +received by the secretary. "One minute," was the answer, "ask His +Excellency to wait one minute." + +The sound of many voices could be heard outside. The secretary walked to +the window and looked out. + +"Look," he said to his wife, "there are some people at least who are +glad that the bomb failed to accomplish its purpose." His appearance at +the window was a signal for loud cheers from the people on the street. +Holding the hand of his faithful wife in his own, he said: "Edith, I +know we are on the right road. We can read our destiny only in the stars +on our banner. There is only one future for the United States, only one, +that beneath the Stars and Stripes, and not a single star must be +missing--neither that of Washington, nor that of Oregon, nor that of +California. We had a hard fight to establish our independence, and the +inheritance of our fathers we must ever cherish as sacred and +inviolable. The yellow men have won their place in the world by an +inexorable sense of national duty, and we can conquer them only if we +employ the same weapons. I know what we have at stake in this war, and I +am quite ready to answer to myself and to our people for each life lost +on the field of battle. I am only one of many, and if I fall, it will be +in the knowledge that I have done my duty. Let the cowardly mob step +over my corpse, it won't matter to me nor to my successor if he will +only hold our drooping flag with a firm hand. The favor of the people is +here to-day and gone to-morrow, and we must not be led astray by it. The +blind creatures who inspired that miserable wretch to hurl the bomb +regard us, the bearers of responsible posts, with the same feelings as +the lions do their tamer when he enters the cage. If he comes out alive, +well and good; if he is torn to pieces it makes no difference, for +there'll be some one else to take his place the next day. It is my duty +to fight against desertion in our own ranks and to shield American +citizenship against the foreign elements gathered here who have no +fatherland, and to whom the Stars and Stripes have no deeper meaning +than a piece of cloth; that is the duty, in the performance of which I +shall live or die." + +Mad cheers from below induced the secretary to open the window, and +immediately the sounds of the "Star Spangled Banner" came floating up +from thousands of throats. Suddenly his wife touched his arm saying: +"James, here's a telegram." + +The secretary turned around and literally tore the telegram out of the +servant's hand. He ran his eye over it hurriedly and then drew a deep +breath. And with tears in his eyes at the almost incredible news, he +said softly to his wife: + +"This will deliver us from the dark slough of despair." + +Then he returned to the window, but his emotion made it impossible for +him to speak; he made a sign with his hand and gradually the noise of +the crowd ceased and all became still. + +"Fellow Citizens," began the secretary, "I have just this moment +received--" Loud cheers interrupted him, but quiet was soon restored, +and then in a clear voice he read the following dispatch: + + "Bahia Blanca, December 8: The torpedo-destroyer _Paul Jones_ arrived + here this morning with the following message from Admiral Dayton: 'On + the 4th of December I found the Japanese cruisers _Adzuma_ and + _Asama_ and three destroyers coaling in the harbor of Port Stanley + (Falkland Islands). I demanded of the British authorities that the + Japanese ships be forced to leave the harbor at once, as I should + otherwise be obliged to attack them in the harbor on the morning of + the following day. On the afternoon of the 4th I opened fire on the + Japanese ships four miles outside of Port Stanley. After an hour's + fighting all five Japanese ships were sunk. On our side the destroyer + _Dale_ was sunk. Total loss, 180 men. Damaged cruiser _Maryland_ sent + to Buenos Ayres. Sighted the Japanese cruisers _Idzumo_, _Tokiwa_, + _Jakumo_ and four destroyers at the entrance to the Straits of + Magellan on the morning of December 6th. Pursued them with entire + fleet. Battle with the _Idzumo_ and _Tokiwa_ at noon, in which former + was sunk. Battle temporarily suspended on account of appearance of + two hostile battleships. Destroyers keeping in touch with the + Japanese squadron.' + + DAYTON." + +Perfect silence greeted these words; no one seemed able to believe the +news of this American victory: the first joyful tidings after almost +nine months of constant adversity. But then the enthusiasm of the people +broke loose in a perfect hurricane that swept everything before it. In +the rear the crowd began to thin out rapidly, for everybody was anxious +to spread the glad tidings of victory, but their places were soon taken +by others pouring in from all sides to hear the telegram read once more. + +And now on the opposite side of 17th Street the American flag suddenly +ran up the bare flagstaff on the roof of the Winders Building, unfurling +with a rustle in the fresh breeze. The secretary pointed up to it, and +at once the jubilant crowd joined once more in the air of the "Star +Spangled Banner." + +"This is a day," said the secretary, taking his wife's hand, "which our +country will never forget. But now I must get to work and then I'm off +to the President." + +As his wife left the room, he rang the bell and asked the servant who +appeared in answer to his summons to show in the British Ambassador. + +The man disappeared noiselessly, and the next moment the ambassador +entered. + +"I must ask Your Excellency's pardon for having kept you waiting," said +the secretary, advancing a few steps to meet him. "To what do I owe the +honor of this visit----" + +"I have come to reply to the protest lodged against us by the United +States government for permitting the Japanese to use the harbor of +Esquimault as a station for their ships. The British government fully +recognizes the justice of the protest, and will see to it that in future +only damages that affect a ship's seaworthiness are repaired at +Esquimault, and that no other ships are allowed to enter the harbor. The +British government is desirous of observing the strictest neutrality and +is determined to employ every means in its power to maintain it." + +"I thank Your Excellency and thoroughly appreciate the efforts of your +government, but regret exceedingly that they are made somewhat late in +the day. I am convinced the English government would not consider it +within the bounds of strict neutrality for a Japanese squadron to employ +an English port as its base of operations----" + +"Certainly not," said the ambassador emphatically, "and I am certain +such a thing has never happened." + +"Indeed?" answered the secretary seriously, "our latest dispatches tell +a different story. May I ask Your Excellency to glance over this +telegram?" + +He handed the telegram from Bahia Blanca to the ambassador, who read it +and handed it back. + +The two men regarded each other in silence for a few moments. Then the +ambassador lowered his eyes, saying, "I have no instructions with regard +to this case. It really comes as a great surprise to me," he added, "a +very great surprise," and then seizing the secretary's hand he shook it +heartily, saying: "Allow me to extend my private but most sincere +congratulations on this success of your arms." + +"Thank you, Your Excellency. The United States have learned during the +past few months to distinguish between correct and friendly relations +with other powers. The English government has taken a warm interest in +the military successes of its Japanese ally, as is apparently stipulated +in their agreement. We are sorry to have been obliged to upset some of +England's calculations by turning Japanese ships out of an English +harbor. If we succeed in gaining the upper hand, we may perhaps look +forward to similar favors being shown us by the English government as +have thus far been extended to victorious Japan?" + +"That would depend," said the ambassador rather dubiously, "on the +extent to which such friendly relations would interfere with our +conceptions of neutrality." + +At this moment the President was announced and the ambassador took his +leave. + + + + +_Chapter XXII_ + +REMEMBER HILGARD! + + +Just as in the war between Russia and Japan, the paper strategists found +comfort in the thought that the Japanese successes on American soil were +only temporary and that their victorious career would soon come to an +end. The supposition that Japan had no money to carry on the war was +soon seen to lack all real foundation. Thus far the war had cost Japan +not even two hundred millions, for it was not Japan, but the Pacific +States that had borne the brunt of the expense. Japan had already levied +in the States occupied by her troops a sum larger by far than the total +amount of the indemnity which they had hoped to collect at Portsmouth +several years before. + +The overwhelming defeat of the Army of the North at Hilgard had taken +the wind out of a great many sails. The terrible catastrophe even +succeeded in stirring up the nations of the Old World, who had been +watching developments at a safe distance, to a proper realization of the +seriousness and proximity of the yellow peril. + +Even England began to edge quietly away from Japan, this change in +British policy being at once recognized in Tokio when, at Canada's +request, England refused to allow Japanese ships to continue to use the +docks and coal depots at Esquimault. Later, when after the victories of +the American fleet off Port Stanley and near the Straits of Magellan, +the governor of the Falkland Islands was made the scape-goat and +banished--he had at first intended exposing the cabinet of St. James by +publishing the instructions received from them in July, but finally +thought better of it--and when the governors of all the British colonies +were ordered to observe strict neutrality, Japan interpreted this action +correctly. But she was prepared for this emergency, and now came the +retribution for having fooled the Japanese nation with hopes of a +permanent alliance. Japan pressed a button, and Great Britain was made +to realize the danger of playing with the destiny of a nation. + +Apparently without the slightest connection with the war in America, an +insurrection suddenly broke out in Bengal, at the foot of the Himalayas +and on the plateaus of Deccan, which threatened to shake the very +foundations of British sovereignty. It was as much as England could do +to dispatch enough troops to India in time to stop the flood from +bursting all the dams. At the same time an insurrection broke out in +French Indo-China, and while England and France were sending +transport-ships, escorted by cruisers, to the Far East, great upheavals +took place in all parts of Africa. The Europeans had their hands full in +dozens of different directions: garrisons and naval stations required +reënforcements, and all had to be on guard constantly in order to avoid +a surprise. + +These were Japan's last resources for preventing the white races from +coming to the aid of the United States. + +Remember Hilgard! This was the shibboleth with which Congress passed the +bill providing for the creation of a standing militia-army and making +the military training of every American citizen a national duty. And how +willingly they all responded to their country's call--every one realized +that the final decision was approaching. + +Remember Hilgard! That was the war-cry, and that was the thought which +trembled in every heart and proved to the world that when the American +nation once comes to its senses, it is utterly irresistible. + +What did we care for the theories of diplomats about international law +and neutrality; they were swept away like cobwebs. Just as Japan during +the Russian war had been provided with arms and equipment from the East, +because the crippling of the Russian fleet had left the road to the +Japanese harbors open and complaints were consequently not to be feared, +so German steamers especially now brought to our Atlantic ports +war-materials and weapons that had been manufactured in Germany for the +new American armies, since the American factories could not possibly +supply the enormous demand within such a short period. + +Remember Hilgard! were the words which accompanied every command at +drill and in the encampments where our new army was being trained. The +regiments waited impatiently for the moment when they would be led +against the enemy, but we dared not again make the mistake of leading an +unprepared army against such an experienced foe. Week after week, month +after month passed, before we could begin our march in the winter snow. + +The Pacific Army, which advanced in January to attack the Japanese +position on the high plateaus of the Rocky Mountains towards Granger, +numbered more than a third of a million. After three days of severe +fighting, this important stronghold of the Japanese center was captured +and the enemy forced to retreat. + +Great rejoicing rang through the whole land. A complete victory at last! +Fourteen Japanese guns were captured by the two Missouri regiments after +four assaults and with the loss of half their men. The guns were dragged +in triumph through the States, and the slightly wounded soldiers on the +ammunition-carts declared, after the triumphal entry into St. Louis, +that the tumultuous embraces and thousands of handclasps from the +enthusiastic crowds had used them up more than the three days' battle. + +The capture of Granger had interrupted the communication between the +Union Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Short Line branching off to the +northwest; but this didn't bother the enemy much, for he simply sent his +transports over the line from Pocatello to the South via Ogden, so that +when the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Army renewed the attack on +the Japanese positions, he found them stronger than he had anticipated. + +The attack on Fort Bridger began on the second of February, but the +enemy's position on the mountain heights remained unshaken. Several +captive balloons and two motor air-ships (one of which was destroyed, +shortly after its ascent, by hostile shots) brought the information that +the Japanese artillery and entrenchments on the face of the mountain +formed an almost impregnable position. Thus while the people were still +rejoicing over the latest victory, the Pacific Army was in a position +where each step forward was sure to be accompanied by a severe loss of +life. + +Six fresh divisions from different encampments arrived on the field of +battle on the fourth and fifth of February. They received orders to +attack the seemingly weak positions of the enemy near Bell's Pass, and +then to cross the snow-covered pass and fall upon the left flank of the +Japanese center. All manner of obstacles interfered with the advance, +which was at last begun. Whole companies had to be harnessed to the +guns; but they pressed forward somehow. The small detachments of +Japanese cavalry defending the pass were compelled to retreat, and the +pass itself was taken by a night assault. Frost now set in, and the guns +and baggage wagons were drawn up the mountain paths by means of ropes. +The men suffered terribly from the cold, but the knowledge that they +were making progress prevented them from grumbling. + +On the seventh of February, just as Fisher's division, the first of +General Elliott's army to pass Bell's Pass, had reached the valley of +the Bear River preparatory to marching southward, via Almy and Evanston, +in the rear of the Japanese positions, cavalry scouts, who had been +patrolling downstream as far as Georgetown, reported that large bodies +of hostile troops were approaching from the North. General Elliott +ordered Fisher's division to continue its advance on Almy, and also +dispatched Hardy's and Livingstone's divisions to the South, while +Wilson's division remained behind to guard the pass, and the divisions +of Milton and Stranger were sent to the North to stop the advance of the +enemy's reënforcements. Milton's division was to advance along the left +bank of the Bear River and to occupy the passes in the Bear River Range, +in order to prevent the enemy from making a diversion via Logan. Mounted +engineers destroyed the tracks at several spots in front of and behind +Logan. + +It will be seen, therefore, that General Elliott's six divisions were +all stationed in the narrow Bear River Valley between the two hostile +armies: Fisher's, Hardy's and Livingstone's divisions were headed South +to fall upon the left wing of the enemy's main army, commanded by +Marshal Oyama; while Milton's and Stranger's divisions were marching to +the North, and came upon the enemy, who was on his way from Pocatello, +at Georgetown. General Elliott therefore had to conduct a battle in two +directions: In the South he had to assume the offensive against Oyama's +wing as quickly and energetically as possible, whereas at Georgetown he +would be on the defensive. Bell's Pass lay almost exactly between the +two lines, and there General Elliott had posted only the reserves, +consisting of the three weak brigades belonging to Wilson's division. If +the Japanese succeeded in gaining a decisive victory at Georgetown, +General Elliott's whole army would be in a position of the utmost +danger. + + + + +_Chapter XXIII_ + +IN THE WHITE HOUSE + + +On the streets of Washington there was a wild scramble for the extras +containing the latest news from the front. The people stood for hours in +front of the newspaper offices, but definite news was so long in coming, +that despair once more seized their hearts and they again became +sceptical of ultimate victory. + +Seven long anxious days of waiting! Were we fighting against +supernatural forces, which no human heroism could overcome? + +A telegraph instrument had been set up next to the President's study in +the White House so that all news from the front might reach him without +delay. On a table lay a large map of the battle-field where the fighting +was now going on, and his private secretary had marked the positions of +the American troops with little wooden blocks and colored flags. + +Suddenly the instrument began to click, a fresh report from the general +staff of the Pacific Army appeared on the tape: + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 8, 6 p.m. Our captive balloon reports that the + enemy seems to be shifting his troops on the left flank. Two Japanese + battalions have abandoned their positions, which were at once + occupied by a line of skirmishers from the 86th Regiment supported by + two machine-guns. An assault of the second battalion of the 64th + Regiment on the Japanese infantry position was repulsed, as the enemy + quite unexpectedly brought several masked machine-guns into action. + The firing continues, and General Elliott reports that the battle + with the hostile forces advancing along the Bear River Valley began + at 3 p.m. south of Georgetown. As the enemy has appeared in + unexpectedly large numbers, two brigades of Wood's division have been + sent from Bell's Pass to the North. + + MAJOR GENERAL ILLING." + +The private secretary changed the position of several blocks on the map, +moving the flags at Bell's Pass and pushing two little blue flags in the +direction of Georgetown. Then he took the report to the President. + +At midnight the report came that the stubborn resistance of the enemy at +Georgetown had made it advisable to send Wilson's last brigade from +Bell's Pass to the North. + +"Our last reserves," said the President, looking at the map; "we're +playing a venturesome game." Then he glanced at his secretary and saw +that the latter was utterly exhausted. And no wonder, for he hadn't +slept a wink in three nights. "Go and take a nap, Johnson," said the +President; "I'll stay up, as I have some work to finish. Take a nap, +Johnson, I don't need you just now." + +"What about the instrument, sir?" asked the secretary. + +"I can hear everything in the next room. I'll have no peace anyhow till +it is all over. Besides, the Secretary of War is coming over, so I'll +get along all right." + +The President sat down at his desk and affixed his signature to a number +of documents. Half an hour later the Secretary of War was announced. + +"Sit down, Harry," said the President, pointing to a chair, "I'll be +ready in five minutes." And while the President was finishing his work, +the Secretary of War settled down in his chair and took up a book. But +the next moment he laid it down again and took up a paper instead; then +he took up another one and read a few lines mechanically, stopping every +now and then to stare vacantly over the edge of the paper into space. At +last he jumped up and began pacing slowly up and down. Then he went into +the telegraph-room, and glanced over the report, a copy of which he had +received half an hour ago. Then he examined the various positions on the +map, placing some of the blocks more accurately. + +Then a bell rang and steps could be heard in the hall. The door of the +adjacent room opened and shut, and he heard the President fold up the +documents and say: "Take these with you, they are all signed. Tomorrow +morning--oh, I forgot, it's morning now--the ninth of February." + +Then some one went out and closed the door and the President was alone +again. The next moment he joined the Secretary of War in the +telegraph-room. + +"Harry," he said in a low voice, "our destiny will be decided within the +next few hours. I sent Johnson off to bed; he needed some sleep. +Besides, we want to be alone when the fate of our country is decided." + +The Secretary of War walked up and down the room with his hands in his +pockets, puffing away at a cigar. Both men avoided looking at each +other; neither wished the other to see how nervous he was. Both were +listening intently for the sound of the telegraph-bell. + +"A message arrived from Fort Bridger about ten o'clock," said the +President after a long pause, "to the effect that our captive balloons +reported a change in the positions of the enemy's left wing. This may +mean----" + +"Yes, it may mean--" repeated the Secretary of War mechanically. + +Then they both became silent once more, puffing vigorously at their +cigars. + +"Suppose it's all in vain again, suppose the enemy--" began the +Secretary of War, when he was interrupted by the ringing of the bell in +the next room. + +The message ran: + + "Bell's Pass, Feb. 9, 12.15 a.m. Milton's division has succeeded in + wresting several important positions from the enemy after a night of + severe fighting. Unimportant reverses suffered by Stranger's division + more than offset with the aid of reënforcements from Bell's Pass. + + COLONEL TARDITT." + +"If they can only hold Georgetown," said the Secretary of War, "our last +reserves have gone there now." + +"God grant they may." + +Then they both went back to the study. The President remained standing +in front of the portrait of Lincoln hanging on the wall. + +"He went through just such hours as these," he said quietly, "just such +hours, and perhaps in this very room, when the battle between the +_Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_ was being fought at Hampton Roads, and news +was being sent to him hour by hour. Oh, Abraham Lincoln, if you were +only here to-day to deliver your message over the length and breadth of +our land." + +The Secretary of War looked hard at the President as he answered: "Yes, +we have need of men, but we have men, too, some perhaps who are even +greater than Lincoln." + +The President shook his head sadly, saying: "I don't know, we've done +everything we could, we've done our duty, yet perhaps we might have made +even greater efforts. I'm so nervous over the outcome of this battle; it +seems to me we are facing the enemy without weapons, or at best with +very blunt ones." + +Again the bell rang and the President moved towards the door, but +stopped halfway and said: "You better go and see what it is, Harry." + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 8, 11.50 p.m. From Fisher's division the report + comes via Bell's Pass that two of his regiments have driven the enemy + from their positions with the aid of searchlights, and that they are + now in hot pursuit. MAJOR GENERAL ILLING." + +Without saying a word the Secretary of War moved the blocks representing +Fisher's division further South. Then he remarked quietly: "It doesn't +make much difference what happens at Georgetown, the decision rests +right here now and the next hour may decide it all," and he put his +finger on the spot in the mountains occupied by the enemy's left wing. +"If an attack on the enemy's front should make a gap----" + +He didn't complete the sentence, for the President's hand rested heavily +on his shoulder. "Yes, Harry," he said, "if--that's what we've been +saying for nine months. If--and our If has always been followed by a +But--the enemy's But." + +He threw himself into a chair and shaded his tired eyes with his hand, +while the Secretary of War walked incessantly up and down, puffing on a +fresh cigar.-- + +The night was almost over.--The shrill little bell rang again, causing +the President to start violently. Slowly, inch by inch, the white strip +of paper was rolled off, and stooping together over the ticking +instrument, the two men watched one letter, one word, one sentence after +another appear, until at last it was all there: + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 1.15 a.m. A returning motor air-ship reports a + furious artillery fight in the rear of the enemy's left wing. Have + just issued orders for a general attack on the hostile positions on + the heights. Cannonade raging all along the line. Reports from Bell's + Pass state that enemy is retreating from Georgetown. Twelve of the + enemy's guns captured. + + "MAJOR GENERAL ILLING." + +"Harry!" cried the President, seizing his friend's hand, "suppose this +means victory!" + +"It does, it must," was the answer. "Look here," he said, as he +rearranged the blocks on the map, "the whole pressure of General +Elliott's three divisions is concentrated on the enemy's left wing. All +that's necessary is a determined attack----" + +"On the entrenchments in the dark?" broke in the President, "when the +men are so apt to lose touch with their leaders, when they're shooting +at random, when a mere chance may wrest away the victory and give it to +the enemy?" + +The Secretary of War shook his head, saying: "The fate of battles rests +in the hands of God; we must have faith in our troops." + +He walked around the table with long strides, while the President +compared the positions of the armies on the map with the contents of the +last telegram. + +"Harry," he said, looking up, "do you remember the speech I made at +Harvard years ago on the unity of nations? That was my first speech, and +who would have thought that we should now be sitting together in this +room? It's strange how it all comes back to me now. Even then, as a +young man, I was deeply interested in the development of the idea of +German national unity as expressed in German poetry; and much that I +read then has become full of meaning for us, too, especially in these +latter days. One of those German songs is ringing in my ears to-night. +Oh, if it could only come true, if our brave men over there storming the +rocky heights could only make it come true--" At this moment the +telegraph-bell again rang sharply: + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 2.36 a.m. With enormous losses the brigades of + Lennox and Malmberg have stormed the positions occupied by the + artillery on the enemy's left wing, and have captured numerous guns. + The thunder of cannon coming from the valley can be distinctly heard + here on the heights. Fisher's division has signaled that they have + successfully driven back the enemy. The Japanese are beginning to + retreat all along the line. Our troops----" + +The President could read no further, for the words were dancing before +his eyes. This stern man, whom nothing could bend or break, now had +tears in his eyes as he folded his hands over the telegraph instrument, +from which the tape continued to come forth, and said in a deeply moved +voice: "Harry, this hour is greater than the Fourth of July. And now, +Harry, I remember it, that song of the German poet; may it become our +prayer of thanksgiving:" + + "From tower to tower let the bells be rung, + Throughout our land let our joy be sung! + Light every beacon far and near, + To show that God hath helped us here! + Praise be to God on High!" + +Then the President stepped over to the window and pushing aside the +curtains, opened it and looked out into the cold winter morning for a +long time. + +"Harry," he called presently, "doesn't it seem as though the bells were +ringing? Thus far no one knows the glad tidings but you and I; but very +soon they'll awake to pæans of victory and then our flag will wave +proudly once more and we'll have no trouble in winning back the missing +stars." + +It was a moment of the highest national exaltation, such as a nation +experiences only once in a hundred years. + +A solitary policeman was patrolling up and down before the White House, +and he started violently as he heard a voice above him calling out: + +"Run as hard as you can and call out on all the streets: The enemy is +defeated, our troops have conquered, the Japanese army is in full +retreat! Knock at the doors and windows and shout into every home: we +have won, the enemy is retreating." + +The policeman hurried off, leaving big black footprints in the white +snow, and he could be heard yelling out: "Victory, victory, we've beaten +the Japs!" as he ran. + +People began to collect in the streets and a coachman jumped down from +his box and ran towards the White House, looking up at its lighted +windows. + +"Leave your carriage here," shouted the President, "and run as hard as +you can and tell everybody you meet that we have won and that the +Japanese are in full retreat! Our country will be free once more!" + +Shouts were heard in the distance, and the noise of loud knocking. And +then the President closed the window and came back into the room. But +when the Secretary of War wanted to read the balance of the message, he +said: "Don't, Harry; I couldn't listen to another word now, but please +rouse everybody in the house." + +Then bells rang in the halls and people were heard to stir in the rooms. +There was a joyous awakening in the quiet capital that ninth day of +February, the day that dispelled the darkness and the gloom. + +That day marked the beginning of the end. _The yellow peril had been +averted!_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Banzai!, by Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BANZAI! *** + +***** This file should be named 19498-8.txt or 19498-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/9/19498/ + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19498-8.zip b/19498-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec7757f --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-8.zip diff --git a/19498-h.zip b/19498-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..72cdcb3 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h.zip diff --git a/19498-h/19498-h.htm b/19498-h/19498-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..569d2c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h/19498-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10862 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Banzai!, by Parabellum. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + img {border:0;} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + + + .TOC {list-style-type: upper-roman; + margin-left: 3em; + text-align: left; + line-height: 150%} + + + a {text-decoration: none} /* no lines under links */ + + + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Banzai!, by Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Banzai! + +Author: Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +Release Date: October 9, 2006 [EBook #19498] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BANZAI! *** + + + + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<h1>BANZAI!</h1> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus01.jpg" alt="ships" /> +</p> + +<p class="center"> "That's the Japanese <i>Satsuma</i>, Togo's <i>Satsuma</i>!"</p> + + + + + +<h2>BANZAI!</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>PARABELLUM</h2> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;"><small>LEIPZIG<br /> +THEODOR WEICHER, <span class="smcap">Publisher</span><br /> +<br /> +NEW YORK<br /> +THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., <span class="smcap">Sales Agents</span><br /> +33 <span class="smcap">East 17th Street (Union Square)</span></small> +</p> + + + + +<p class="center" style="margin-top: 5em;"><small> +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1908, by</span><br /> +THEODOR WEICHER<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1908, by</span><br /> +THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO.<br /> +<i>All rights reserved</i><br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class="smcap">Entered at Stationers' Hall, London</span><br /> +<br /> +Published, January, 1909<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +THE TROW PRESS, NEW YORK<br /></small> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4>CONTENTS</h4> + + +<p><b> +<a href="#FOREWORD"><span style="margin-left: 5em;"><span class="smcap">Foreword</span></span></a> +<br /> +<a href="#INTRODUCTION"><span style="margin-left: 5em;"><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></span></a> +</b> +</p> +<ul class="TOC"> + + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_I">—<span class="smcap">In Manila</span></a> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_II">—<span class="smcap">On the High Seas</span></a> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_III">—<span class="smcap">How It Began</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_IV">—<span class="smcap">Echoes in New York</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_V">—<span class="smcap">Father and Son</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_VI">—<span class="smcap">A Night in New York</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_VII">—<span class="smcap">The Red Sun Over the Golden Gate</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_VIII">—<span class="smcap">In the Bowels of the Earth</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_IX">—-<span class="smcap">A Forty-eight-hour Balance</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_X">—<span class="smcap">Admiral Perry's Fate</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XI">—<span class="smcap">Captain Winstanley</span></a> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XII">—<span class="smcap">Are You Winstanley?</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XIII">—<span class="smcap">The Revenge for Portsmouth</span></a> +</li> +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XIV">—<span class="smcap">On the Other Side of the Whirlpool</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XV">—<span class="smcap">A Ray of Light</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XVI">—<span class="smcap">Through Fire and Smoke</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XVII">—<span class="smcap">What Happened at Corpus Christi</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XVIII">—<span class="smcap">The Battle of the Blue Mountains</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XIX">—<span class="smcap">The Assault on Hilgard</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XX">—-<span class="smcap">A Friend in Need</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XXI">—<span class="smcap">Dark Shadows</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XXII">—<span class="smcap">Remember Hilgard</span></a> +</li> + +<li> +<a href="#Chapter_XXIII">—<span class="smcap">In the White House</span></a> +</li> + +</ul> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h4> + + +<p>Every American familiar with the modern international political horizon +must have experienced a feeling of solid satisfaction at the news that a +formidable American fleet was to be dispatched to the waters of the +Pacific, and the cruise of our warships has been followed with intense +interest by every loyal citizen of our Republic. The reasons that +rendered the long and dramatic voyage of our fleet most opportune are +identical with the motives that actuated the publication of this +translation from the German of a work which exhibits a remarkable grasp +of facts coupled with a marvelously vivid power of description. It is no +secret that our ships were sent to the Pacific to minimize the danger of +a conflict with our great commercial rival in the Far East, if not to +avert it altogether, and <i>Banzai</i>! it seems to me, should perform a +similar mission. The graphic recital, I take it, is not intended to +incite a feeling of animosity between two nations which have every +reason to maintain friendly relations, but rather to call the attention +of the American people to the present woeful lack of preparedness, and +at the same time to assist in developing a spirit of sound patriotism +that prefers silent action to blatant braggadocio. That the Pacific +Ocean may become, in truth, the Peaceful Ocean, and never resound to the +clash of American arms, is the devout wish of one who +believes—implicitly—with Moltke in the old proverb, <i>Si vis pacem, +para bellum</i>—If you wish for Peace, prepare for War.</p> + + +<p style="margin-left: 35em;">P.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>INTRODUCTION</h4> + + +<p>As usual, it had begun quite harmlessly and inconspicuously. It is not +my business to tell how it all came to pass, how the way was prepared. +That may be left to the spinners of yarns and to those on the trail of +the sources of history. I shall leave it to them to ascertain when the +idea that there must be a conflict, and that the fruit must be plucked +before it had time to ripen, first took root in the minds of the +Japanese people.</p> + +<p>We Americans realize now that we had been living for years like one who +has a presentiment that something dreadful is hanging over him which +will suddenly descend upon his head, and who carries this feeling of +dread about with him with an uneasy conscience, trying to drown it in +the tumult and restlessness of daily life. We realize the situation now, +because we know where we should have fixed our gaze and understand the +task to the accomplishment of which we should have bent our energies, +but we went about like sleep-walkers and refused to see what thousands +of others knew, what thousands saw in astonishment and concern at our +heedlessness.</p> + +<p>We might easily have peeped through the curtain that hid the future from +us, for it had plenty of holes, but we passed them by unnoticed. And, +nevertheless, there were many who did peep through. Some, while reading +their paper, let it fall into their lap and stared into space, letting +their thoughts wander far away to a spot whence the subdued clash of +arms and tumult of war reached their soul like the mysterious roll and +roar of the breakers. Others were struck by a chance word overheard in +the rush of the street, which they would remember until it was driven +out by the strenuous struggle that each day brought with it. But the +word itself had not died; it continued to live in the foundation of the +consciousness where our burning thoughts cannot enter, and sometimes in +the night it would be born afresh in the shape of wild squadrons of +cavalry galloping across the short grass of the prairie with noiseless +hoofs. The thunder of cannon could be heard in the air long before the +guns were loaded.</p> + +<p>I saw no more than others, and when the grim horrors of the future first +breathed coldly upon me I, too, soon forgot it. It happened at San +Francisco in the spring of 1907. We were standing before a bar, and from +outside came the sounds of an uproar in the street. Two men were being +thrown out of a Japanese restaurant across the way, and the Japanese +proprietor, who was standing in the doorway, kicked the hat of one of +them across the pavement so that it rolled over the street like a +football.</p> + +<p>"Well, what do you think of that," cried my friend, Arthur Wilcox, "the +Jap is attacking the white men."</p> + +<p>I held him back by the arm, for a tall Irish policeman had already +seized the Jap, who protested loudly and would not submit to arrest. The +policeman took good hold of him, but before he knew it he lay like a log +on the pavement, the Japanese dwarf apparently having thrown him without +the least trouble. A wild brawl followed. Half an hour later only a few +policemen, taking notes, were walking about in the Japanese restaurant, +which had been completely demolished by a frenzied mob. We remained at +the bar for some time afterwards engaged in earnest conversation.</p> + +<p>"Our grandchildren," said Arthur, "will have to answer for that little +affair and fight it out some day or other."</p> + +<p>"Not our grandchildren, but we ourselves," I answered, not knowing in +the least why I said it.</p> + +<p>"We ourselves?" said Wilcox, laughing at me, "not much; look at me, look +at yourself, look at our people, and then look at those dwarfs."</p> + +<p>"The Russians said the same thing: Look at the dwarfs."</p> + +<p>They all laughed at me and presently I joined in the laugh, but I could +not forget the Irishman as he lay in the grip of the Jap. And quite +suddenly I remembered something which I had almost forgotten. It +happened at Heidelberg, during my student days in Germany; a professor +was telling us how, after the inglorious retreat of the Prussian army +from Valmy, the officers, with young Goethe in their midst, were sitting +round the camp fires discussing the reasons for the defeat. When they +asked Goethe what he thought about it, he answered, as though gifted +with second sight: "At this spot and at this moment a new epoch in the +world's history will begin, and you will all be able to say that you +were present." And in imagination I could see the red glow of the +bivouac fires and the officers of Frederick the Great's famous army, who +could not understand how anyone could have fled before the ragged +recruits of the Revolution. And near them I saw a man of higher caliber +standing on tiptoe to look through the dark curtain into the future.</p> + +<p>At the time I soon forgot all these things; I forgot the apparently +insignificant street affray and the icy breath of premonition which +swept over me then, and not until the disaster had occurred did it again +enter my mind. But then when the swords were clashing I realized, for +the first time, that all the incidents we had observed on the dusty +highway of History, and passed by with indifference, had been sure signs +of the coming catastrophe.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 35em;"><span class="smcap">Parabellum</span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><br /></p> +<h2>BANZAI!</h2> +<p><br /></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><i>Chapter I</i></h4> + +<h4>IN MANILA</h4> + + +<p>"For God's sake, do leave me in peace with your damned yellow monkeys!" +cried Colonel Webster, banging his fist on the table so hard that the +whisky and soda glasses jumped up in a fright, then came down again +irritably and wagged their heads disapprovingly, so that the +amber-colored fluid spilled over the edge and lay on the table in little +pearly puddles.</p> + +<p>"As you like, colonel. I shall give up arguing with you," returned +Lieutenant Commander Harryman curtly. "You won't allow yourself to be +warned."</p> + +<p>"Warned—that's not the question. But this desire of yours to scent +Japanese intrigues everywhere, to figure out all politics by the +Japanese common denominator, and to see a Japanese spy in every coolie +is becoming a positive mania. No, I can't agree with you there," added +Webster, who seemed to regret the passionate outburst into which his +temperament had betrayed him.</p> + +<p>"Really not?" asked Harryman, turning in his comfortable wicker chair +toward Webster and looking at him half encouragingly with twinkling +eyes.</p> + +<p>Such discussions were not at all unusual in the Club at Manila, for they +presented the only antidote to the leaden, soul-killing tedium of the +dull monotony of garrison duty. Since the new insurrection on Mindanao +and in the whole southern portion of the archipelago, the question as to +the actual causes of the uprising, or rather the secret authors thereof, +continually gave rise to heated discussions. And when both parties, of +which one ascribed everything to Japanese intrigue and the other found +an explanation in elementary causes, began to liven up, the debate was +apt to wax pretty warm. If these discussions did nothing else, they at +least produced a sort of mental excitement after the heat of the day +which wore out body and mind alike, not even cooling down toward +evening.</p> + +<p>The Chinese boy, passing quickly and quietly between the chairs, removed +the traces of the Webster thunderbolt and placed fresh bottles of soda +water on the table, whereupon the officers carefully prepared new +drinks.</p> + +<p>"He's a spy, too, I suppose?" asked Webster of Harryman, pointing with +his thumb over his shoulder at the disappearing boy.</p> + +<p>"Of course. Did you ever imagine him to be anything else?"</p> + +<p>Webster shrugged his shoulders. A dull silence ensued, during which they +tried to recover the lost threads of their thoughts in the drowsy +twilight. Harryman irritably chewed the ends of his mustache. The smoke +from two dozen shag pipes settled like streaks of mist in the sultry air +of the tropical night, which came in at the open windows. Lazily and +with long pauses, conversation was kept up at the separate tables. The +silence was only broken by the creaking of the wicker chairs and the +gurgling and splashing of the soda water, when one of the officers, +after having put it off as long as possible, at last found sufficient +energy to refill his glass. Motionless as seals on the sandhills in the +heat of midday, the officers lolled in their chairs, waiting for the +moment when they could turn in with some show of decency.</p> + +<p>"It's awful!" groaned Colonel McCabe. "This damned hole is enough to +make one childish. I shall go crazy soon." And then he cracked his +standing joke of the evening: "My daily morning prayer is: 'Let it soon +be evening, O God; the morrow will come of itself.'" The jest was +greeted with a dutiful grunt of approval from the occupants of the +various chairs.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Parrington, officer in command of the little gunboat +<i>Mindoro</i>, which had been captured from the Spaniards some years ago and +since the departure of the cruiser squadron for Mindanao been put in +commission as substitute guardship in the harbor of Manila, entered the +room and dropped into a chair near Harryman; whereupon the Chinese boy, +almost inaudible in his broad felt shoes, suddenly appeared beside him +and set down the bottle with the pain expeller of the tropics before +him.</p> + +<p>"Any cable news, Parrington?" asked Colonel McCabe from the other table.</p> + +<p>"Not a word," yawned Parrington; "everything is still smashed. We might +just as well be sitting under the receiver of an air pump."</p> + +<p>Harryman noticed that the boy stared at Parrington for a moment as if +startled; but he instantly resumed his Mongolian expression of absolute +innocence, and with his customary grin slipped sinuously through the +door.</p> + +<p>Harryman experienced an unpleasant feeling of momentary discomfort, but, +not being able to locate his ideas clearly, he irritably gave up the +attempt to arrive at a solution of this instinctive sensation, mumbling +to himself: "This tropical hell is enough to set one crazy."</p> + +<p>"No news of the fleet, either?" began Colonel McCabe again.</p> + +<p>"Positively nothing, either by wire or wireless. It seems as though the +rest of the world had sunk into a bottomless pit. Not a single word has +reached us from the outer world for six days."</p> + +<p>"Do you believe in the seaquake?" struck in Harryman mockingly.</p> + +<p>"Why not?" returned the colonel.</p> + +<p>Harryman jumped up, walked over to the window with long strides, threw +out the end of his cigarette and lighted a new one. In the bright light +of the flaming match one could see the commander's features twitching +ironically; he was on the warpath again.</p> + +<p>"All the same, it's a queer state of affairs. Our home cable snaps +between Guam and here, the Hong-Kong cable won't work, and even our +island wire has been put out of commission; it must have been a pretty +violent catastrophe—" came from another table.</p> + +<p>"—All the more violent considering the fact that we noticed nothing of +it on land," said Harryman, thoughtfully blowing out a cloud of smoke +and swinging himself up backward on the window-sill.</p> + +<p>"Exactly," rang out a voice; "but how do you account for that?"</p> + +<p>"Account for it!" cried Colonel Webster, in a thundering voice. "Our +comrade of the illustrious navy of the United States of America has only +one explanation for everything: his Japanese logarithms, by means of +which he figures out everything. Now we shall hear that this seaquake +can be traced to Japanese villainy, probably brought about by Japanese +divers, or even submarine boats." And the colonel began to laugh +heartily.</p> + +<p>Harryman ignored this attempt to resume their recent dispute, and with +head thrown back continued to blow clouds of smoke nervously into the +air.</p> + +<p>"But seriously, Harryman," began the colonel again, "can you give any +explanation?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Harryman curtly; "but perhaps you will remember who was +the first to furnish an explanation of the breakdown of the cable. It +was the captain of the Japanese <i>Kanga Maru</i>, which has been anchored +since Tuesday beside the <i>Monadnock</i>, which I have the honor to +command."</p> + +<p>"But, my good Harryman, you have hallucinations," interrupted the +colonel. "The Japanese captain gave the latest Hong-Kong papers to the +Harbor Bureau, and was quite astonished to hear that our cable did not +work——"</p> + +<p>"When he was going to send a cablegram to Hong-Kong," added Harryman +sharply.</p> + +<p>"To announce his arrival at Manila," remarked Colonel Webster dryly.</p> + +<p>"And the Hong-Kong papers had already published descriptions of the +destruction caused by the seaquake, of the tidal waves, and the +accidents to ships," came from another quarter.</p> + +<p>"The news being of especial interest to this archipelago, where we have +the misfortune to be and where we noticed nothing of the whole affair," +returned Harryman.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to imply," broke in the colonel, "that the news of this +catastrophe is a pure invention—an invention of the English papers in +Hong-Kong?"</p> + +<p>"Don't know, I'm sure," said Harryman. "Hong-Kong papers are no +criterion for me." And then he added quietly: "Yes, man is great, and +the newspaper is his prophet."</p> + +<p>"But you can't dispute the fact that a seaquake may have taken place, +when you consider the striking results as shown by the cable +interruptions which we have been experiencing for the last six days," +began Webster again.</p> + +<p>"Have we really?" said Harryman. "Are you quite sure of it? So far the +only authority we have for this supposed seaquake is a Japanese +captain—whom, by the way, I am having sharply watched—and a bundle of +worthless Hong-Kong newspapers. And as for the rest of my +hallucinations"—he jumped down from the window-sill and, going up to +Webster, held out a sheet of paper toward him—"I'm in the habit of +using other sources of information than the English-Japanese +fingerposts."</p> + +<p>Webster glanced at the paper and then looked at Harryman questioningly.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Do you understand it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," snapped Harryman. "These little pictures portray our war of +extermination against the red man. They are terribly exaggerated and +distorted, which was not at all necessary, by the way, for the events of +that war do not add to the fame of our nation. Up here," explained +Harryman, while several officers, among them the colonel, stepped up to +the table, "you see the story of the infected blankets from the fever +hospitals which were sent to the Indians; here the butchery of an Indian +tribe; here, for comparison, the fight on the summit of the volcano of +Ilo-Ilo, where the Tagala were finally driven into the open crater; and +here, at the end, the practical application for the Tagala: 'As the +Americans have destroyed the red man, so will you slowly perish under +the American rule. They have hurled your countrymen into the chasm of +the volcano. This crater will devour you all if you do not turn those +weapons which were once broken by Spanish bondage against your +deliverers of 1898, who have since become your oppressors.'"</p> + +<p>"Where did you get the scrawl?" asked the colonel excitedly.</p> + +<p>"Do you want me to procure hundreds, thousands like it for you?" +returned Harryman coolly.</p> + +<p>The colonel pressed down the ashes in his pipe with his thumb, and asked +indifferently: "You understand Japanese?"</p> + +<p>"Tagala also," supplemented Harryman simply.</p> + +<p>"And you mean to say that thousands——?"</p> + +<p>"Millions of these pictures, with Japanese and Malayan text, are being +circulated in the Philippines," said Harryman positively.</p> + +<p>"Under our eyes?" asked a lieutenant naïvely.</p> + +<p>"Under our eyes," replied Harryman, smiling, "our eyes which carelessly +overlook such things."</p> + +<p>Colonel Webster rose and offered Harryman his hand. "I have misjudged +you," he said heartily. "I belong to your party from now on."</p> + +<p>"It isn't a question of party," answered Harryman warmly, "or rather +there will soon be only the one party."</p> + +<p>"Do you think," asked Colonel McCabe, "that the supposed Japanese plan +of attack on the Philippines, published at the beginning of the year in +the <i>North China Daily News</i>, was authentic?"</p> + +<p>"That question cannot be answered unless you know who gave the document +to the Shanghai paper, and what object he had in doing so," replied +Harryman.</p> + +<p>"How do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Well," continued Harryman, "only two possibilities can exist: the +document was either genuine or false. If genuine, then it was an +indiscretion on the part of a Japanese who betrayed his country to an +English paper—an English paper which no sooner gets possession of this +important document than it immediately proceeds to publish its contents, +thereby getting its ally into a nice pickle. You will at once observe +here three improbabilities: treason, indiscretion, and, finally, England +in the act of tripping her ally. These actions would be incompatible, in +the first place, with the almost hysterical sense of patriotism of the +Japanese; in the second, with their absolute silence and secrecy, and, +in the third place, with the behavior of our English cousin since his +marriage to Madame Chrysanthemum——"</p> + +<p>"The document was therefore not genuine?" asked the colonel.</p> + +<p>"Think it over. What was it that the supposed plan of attack set forth? +A Japanese invasion of Manila with the fleet and a landing force of +eighty thousand men, and then, following the example of Cuba, an +insurrection of the natives, which would gradually exhaust our troops, +while the Japanese would calmly settle matters at sea, Roschestwenski's +tracks being regarded as a sufficient scare for our admirals."</p> + +<p>"That would no doubt be the best course to pursue in an endeavor to +pocket the Philippines," answered the colonel thoughtfully; "and the +plan would be aided by the widespread and growing opposition at home to +keeping the archipelago and putting more and more millions into the +Asiatic branch business."</p> + +<p>"Quite so," continued Harryman quickly, "if Japan wanted nothing else +but the Philippines."</p> + +<p>"What on earth does she want in addition?" asked Webster.</p> + +<p>"The <i>mastery of the Pacific</i>," said Harryman in a decided voice.</p> + +<p>"Commercial mastery?" asked Parrington, "or——"</p> + +<p>"No; political, too, and with solid foundations," answered Harryman.</p> + +<p>Colonel McCabe had sat down again, and was studying the pamphlet, +Parrington picked at the label on his whisky bottle, and the others +remained silent, but buried in thought. In the next room a clock struck +ten with a hurried, tinkling sound which seemed to break up the uneasy +silence into so many small pieces.</p> + +<p>"And if it was not genuine?" began Colonel McCabe again, hoarsely. He +cleared his throat and repeated the question in a low tone of voice: +"And if it was not genuine?"</p> + +<p>Harryman shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Then it would be a trap for us to have us secure our information from +the wrong quarter," said the colonel, answering his own question.</p> + +<p>"A trap into which we are rushing at full speed," continued Webster, +laying stress on each word, though his thoughts seemed to be far in +advance of what he was saying.</p> + +<p>Harryman nodded and twisted his mustache.</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" asked Parrington, jumping up and looking from +Webster to Harryman, neither of whom, however, volunteered a reply. "We +are stumbling into a trap?"</p> + +<p>"Two regiments," said Webster, more to himself than to the others. And +then, turning to Harryman, he asked briskly: "When are the transports +expected to arrive?"</p> + +<p>"The steamers with two regiments on board left 'Frisco on April 10th, +therefore—he counted the days on his fingers—they should be here by +now."</p> + +<p>"No, they were to go straight to Mindanao," said Parrington.</p> + +<p>"Straight to Mindanao?" Colonel McCabe meditated silently. Then, as +though waking up suddenly, he went on: "And the cable has not been +working for six days——"</p> + +<p>"Exactly," interrupted Parrington, "we have known nothing, either of +the fleet or of anything else, for the last six days."</p> + +<p>"Harryman," said Colonel McCabe seriously, "do you think there is +danger? If it is all a trap, it would be the most stupid thing that we +could do to send our transports unprotected— But that's all nonsense! +This heat positively dries up your thoughts. No, no, it's impossible; +they're hallucinations bred by the fermented vapors of this God-forsaken +country!" He pressed the electric button, and the boy appeared at the +door behind him. "Some soda, Pailung!"</p> + +<p>"Parrington, are you coming? I ordered my boat for ten o'clock," said +Harryman.</p> + +<p>"As early as this, Harryman?" remonstrated Webster. "You'll be on board +your boat quite soon enough, or do you want to keep a night watch also +on your Japanese of the— What sort of a Maru was it?" he broke off, +because Colonel McCabe pointed angrily at the approaching boy.</p> + +<p>"Oh, nonsense!" growled Webster ill-humoredly. "A creature like that +doesn't see or hear a thing."</p> + +<p>The colonel glared at Webster, and then noisily mixed his drink.</p> + +<p>Harryman and Parrington walked along the quay in silence, their steps +resounding loudly in the stillness of the night. On the other side of +the street fleeting shadows showed at the lighted windows of several +harbor dens, over the entrance to which hung murky lamps and from which +loud voices issued, proving that all was still in full swing there. +There were only a few more steps to the spot where the yellow circle of +light from the lanterns rendered the white uniforms of the sailors in +the two boats visible. Parrington stood still. "Harryman," he said, +repeating his former question, "do you believe there is danger——"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I really don't know," said Harryman nervously. Then, +seizing Parrington's hands, he continued hurriedly, but in a low voice: +"For days I have been living as if in a trance. It is as if I were lying +in the delirium of fever; my head burns and my thoughts always return to +the same spot, boring and burrowing; I feel as though a horrible eye +were fixed on me from whose glance I cannot escape. I feel that I may at +any moment awake from the trance, and that the awakening will be still +more dreadful."</p> + +<p>"You're feverish, Harryman; you're ill, and you'll infect others. You +must take some quinine." With these words Parrington climbed into his +gig, the sailors gave way with the oars, and the boat rushed through the +water and disappeared into the darkness, where the bow oarsman was +silhouetted against the pale yellow light of the boat's lantern like a +strange phantom.</p> + +<p>Harryman looked musingly after the boat of the <i>Mindoro</i> for a few +minutes, and murmured: "He certainly has no fever which quinine will not +cure." Then he got into his own boat, which also soon disappeared into +the sultry summer night, while the dark water splashed and gurgled +against the planks. The high quay wall, with its row of yellow and white +lights, remained behind, and gradually sank down to the water line. They +rowed past the side of a huge English steamer, which sent back the +splash of the oars in a strange hollow echo, and then across to the +<i>Monadnock</i>.</p> + +<p>Harryman could not sleep, and joined the officer on duty on the bridge, +where the slight breeze which came from the mountains afforded a little +coolness.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>On board the <i>Mindoro</i> Parrington had found orders to take the relief +guard for the wireless telegraph station to Mariveles the next morning. +At six o'clock the little gunboat had taken the men on board, and was +now steering across the blue Bay of Manila toward the little rocky +island of Corregidor, which had recently been strongly fortified, and +which lies like a block of stone between gigantic mountain wings in the +very middle of the entrance to the Bay of Manila. Under a gray sail, +which served as a slight protection from the sun, the soldiers squatted +sullenly on their kits. Some were asleep, others stared over the railing +into the blue, transparent water that rippled away in long waves before +the bow of the little vessel. From the open skylight of the engine room +sounded the sharp beat of the engine, and the smell of hot oil spread +over the deck, making the burning heat even more unbearable. Parrington +stood on the bridge and through his glass examined the steep cliffs at +the entrance to the bay, and the bizarre forms of the little volcanic +islands.</p> + +<p>Except for a few fishing boats with their brown sails, not a ship was to +be seen on the whole expanse of the water. The gunboat now turned into +the northern entrance, and the long, glistening guns in the +fortifications of Corregidor became visible. Up above, on the batteries +hewn in the rocks, not a living soul could be seen, but below, on the +little platform where the signal-post stood near the northern battery, +an armed sentry marched up and down. Parrington called out to the +signalman near him: "Send this signal across to Corregidor: 'We are +going to relieve the wireless telegraph detachment at Mariveles, and +shall call at Corregidor on our way back.'" The Corregidor battery +answered the signal, and informed Parrington that Colonel Prettyman +expected him for lunch later on. Slowly the <i>Mindoro</i> crept along the +coast to the rocky Bay of Mariveles, where, before the few neglected +houses of the place, the guard of the wireless telegraph station, which +stood on the heights of Sierra de Mariveles, was awaiting the arrival of +the gunboat.</p> + +<p>The <i>Mindoro</i> was made fast to the pier. The exchange of men took place +quickly, and the relief guard piled their kits on two mule-carts, in +which they were to be carried up the steep hillside to the top, where a +few flat, white houses showed the position of the wireless station, the +high post of which, with its numerous wires, stood out alone against the +blue sky. The relieved men, who plainly showed their delight at getting +away from this God-forsaken, tedious outpost, made themselves +comfortable in the shade afforded by the sail, and began to chat with +the crew of the <i>Mindoro</i> about the commonplaces of military service. A +shrill screech from the whistle of the <i>Mindoro</i> resounded from the +mountain side as a farewell greeting to the little troop that was +climbing slowly upward, followed by the baggage-carts. The <i>Mindoro</i> +cast off from the pier, and, having rounded the neck of land on which +Mariveles stood, was just on the point of starting in the direction of +Corregidor, when the signalman on the bridge called Parrington's +attention to a black steamer which was apparently steaming at full speed +from the sea toward the entrance to the Bay of Manila.</p> + +<p>"A ship at last," said Parrington. "Let's wait and see what sort of a +craft it is."</p> + +<p>While the <i>Mindoro</i> reduced her speed noticeably, Parrington looked +across at the strange vessel through his glasses. The ship had also +attracted the attention of the crew, who began to conjecture excitedly +as to the nationality of the visitor, for during the past week a strange +vessel had become a rather unusual sight in Manila. The wireless +detachment said that they had seen the steamer two hours ago from the +hill.</p> + +<p>Parrington put down his glass and said: "About four thousand tons, but +she has no flag. We can soon remedy that." And turning to the signalman +he added: "Ask her to show her colors." At the same time he pulled the +rope of the whistle in order to attract the stranger's attention.</p> + +<p>In a few seconds the German colors appeared at the stern of the +approaching steamer, and the signal flag, which at the same time was +quickly hoisted at the foretopmast, proclaimed the ship to be the German +steamer <i>Danzig</i>, hailing from Hong-Kong. Immediately afterwards a boat +was lowered from the <i>Danzig</i> and the steamer stopped; then the white +cutter put to sea and headed straight for the <i>Mindoro</i>.</p> + +<p>"It is certainly kind of them to send us a boat," said Parrington. "I +wonder what they want, anyhow." He gave orders to stop the boat and to +clear the gangway, and then, watching the German cutter with interest, +awaited its arrival. Ten minutes later the commander of the <i>Danzig</i> +stepped on the bridge of the <i>Mindoro</i>, introduced himself to her +commander, and asked for a pilot to take him through the mines in the +roads.</p> + +<p>Parrington regarded him with astonishment. "Mines, my dear sir, mines? +There are no mines here."</p> + +<p>The German stared at Parrington unbelievingly. "You have no mines?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Parrington. "It is not our custom to blockade our harbors +with mines except in time of war."</p> + +<p>"In time of war?" said the German, who did not appear to comprehend +Parrington's answer. "But you are at war."</p> + +<p>"We, at war?" returned Parrington, utterly disconcerted. "And with whom, +if I may be allowed to ask?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me that the matter is too serious to be a subject for +jesting," answered the German sharply.</p> + +<p>At this moment loud voices were heard from the after-deck of the +<i>Mindoro</i>, the crew of which were swearing with great gusto. Parrington +hurried to the railing and looked over angrily. A hot dispute was going +on between the crew of the German cutter and the American sailors, but +only the oft-repeated words "damned Japs" could be distinguished. He +turned again to the German officer, and looked at him hesitatingly. The +latter, apparently in a bad temper, looked out to sea, whistling softly +to himself.</p> + +<p>Parrington walked toward him and, seizing his hand, said: "It's clear +that we don't understand each other. What's up?"</p> + +<p>"I am here to inform you," answered the German sharply and decisively, +"that the steamer <i>Danzig</i> ran the blockade last night, and that its +captain politely requests you to give him a pilot through the mines, in +order that we may reach the harbor of Manila."</p> + +<p>"You have run the blockade?" shouted Parrington, in a state of the +greatest excitement. "You have run the blockade, man? What the deuce do +you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean," answered the German coolly, "that the Government of the United +States of America—a fact, by the way, of which you, as commander of one +of her war vessels, ought to be aware—has been at war with Japan for +the last week, and that a steamer which has succeeded in running the +enemy's blockade and which carries contraband goods for Manila surely +has the right to ask to be guided through the mines."</p> + +<p>Parrington felt for the railing behind him and leaned against it for +support. His face became ashen pale, and he seemed so utterly nonplussed +at the German officer's statement that the latter, gradually beginning +to comprehend the extraordinary situation, continued his explanation.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he repeated, "for six days your country has been at war with +Japan, and it was only natural we should suppose that you, as one of +those most nearly concerned, would be aware of this fact."</p> + +<p>Parrington, regaining his self-control, said: "Then the cable +disturbances—" He stopped, then continued disjointedly: "But this is +terrible; this is a surprise such as we— I beg your pardon," he went on +in a firm voice to the German, "I am sure I need not assure you that +your communication has taken me completely by surprise. Not a soul in +Manila has any idea of all this. The cable disturbances of the last six +days were explained to us by a Japanese steamer as being the result of a +volcanic outbreak, and since then, through the interruption of all +connections, we have been completely shut off from the outside world. If +Japan, in defiance of all international law, has declared war, we here +in Manila have noticed nothing of it, except, perhaps, for the entire +absence, during the last few days, of the regular steamers and, indeed, +of all trading ships, a circumstance that appeared to some of us rather +suspicious. But excuse me, we must act at once. Please remain on board."</p> + +<p>The <i>Mindoro's</i> whistle emitted three shrill screeches, while the +gunboat steamed at full speed toward Corregidor.</p> + +<p>Parrington went into his cabin, opened his desk, and searched through it +with nervous haste. "At last!" He seized the war-signal code and ran +upstairs to the bridge, shouting to the signalman: "Signal to +Corregidor: 'War-signal code, important communication.'" Then he +himself, hastily turning over the leaves of the book, called out the +signals and had them hoisted. Then he shouted to the man at the helm: +"Tell them not to spare the engines."</p> + +<p>Parrington stood in feverish expectation on the bridge, his hands +clinched round the hot iron bars of the breastwork and his eyes +measuring the rapidly diminishing distance between the <i>Mindoro</i> and +the landing place of Corregidor. As the <i>Mindoro</i> turned into the +northern passage between Corregidor and the mainland, the chain of +mountains, looking like banks of clouds, which surrounded Manila, became +visible in the far distance across the blue, apparently boundless +surface of the Bay, while the town itself, wrapped in the white mist +that veiled the horizon, remained invisible. At this moment Parrington +observed a dark cloud of smoke in the direction of the harbor of Manila +suddenly detaching itself from below and sailing upward like a fumarole +above the summit of a volcano, where it dispersed in bizarre shapes +resembling ragged balls of cotton. Almost immediately a dull report like +a distant thunderclap boomed across the water.</p> + +<p>"Can that be another of their devilish tricks?" asked Parrington of the +German, drawing his attention to the rising cloud, the edges of which +glistened white as snow in the bright sunshine.</p> + +<p>"Possibly," was the laconic answer.</p> + +<p>The wharf of Corregidor was in a state of confused hubbub. The +artillerymen stood shoulder to shoulder, awaiting the arrival of the +<i>Mindoro</i>. Suddenly an officer forced his way through the crowd, and, +standing on the very edge of the wharf, called out to the rapidly +approaching <i>Mindoro</i>: "Parrington, what's all this about?"</p> + +<p>"It's true, every word of it," roared the latter through the megaphone. +"The Japanese are attacking us, and the German steamer over there is the +first to bring us news of it. War broke out six days ago."</p> + +<p>The <i>Mindoro</i> stopped and threw a line, which was caught by many willing +hands and made fast to the landing place.</p> + +<p>"Here's my witness," shouted Parrington across to Colonel Prettyman, +"the commander of the German steamer <i>Danzig</i>."</p> + +<p>"I'll join you on board," answered Prettyman. "I've just despatched the +news to Manila by wireless. Of course they won't believe it there."</p> + +<p>"Then you've done a very stupid thing," cried Parrington, horrified. +"Look there," he added, pointing to the cloud above the harbor of +Manila; "that has most certainly cost our friend Harryman, of the +<i>Monadnock</i>, his life. His presentiments did not deceive him after all!"</p> + +<p>"Cost Harryman, on board the <i>Monadnock</i>, his life?" asked Prettyman in +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so," answered Parrington. "The Japanese steamer which +brought us the news of the famous seaquake has been anchored beside him +for four days. When you sent your wireless message to Manila, the +Japanese must have intercepted it, for they have a wireless apparatus on +board—I noticed it only this morning."</p> + +<p>The <i>Mindoro</i> now lay fast beside the wharf, and Colonel Prettyman +hurried across the gangway to the gunboat and went straight to +Parrington's cabin, where the two shut themselves up with the German +officer.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later an excited orderly rushed on board and demanded to +see the colonel at once; he was let into the cabin, and it was found +that he had brought a confirmation of Parrington's suspicions, for a +wireless message from Manila informed them that the <i>Monadnock</i> had been +destroyed in the roads of Manila through some inexplicable explosion.</p> + +<p>Parrington sprang from his chair and cried to the colonel: "Won't you at +least pay those cursed Japs back by sending the message, 'We suspect +that the Japanese steamer anchored beside the <i>Monadnock</i> has blown her +up by means of a torpedo?' Otherwise it is just possible that they will +be naïve enough in Manila to let the scoundrel get out of the harbor. +No, no," he shouted, interrupting himself, "we can't wait for that; we +must get to work ourselves at once. Colonel, you go ashore, and I'll +steam toward Manila and cut off the rogue's escape. And you"—turning to +the German—"you can return to your ship and enter the bay; there are +no"—here his voice broke—"no mines here."</p> + +<p>Then he rushed up on the bridge again. The hawsers were cast off in +feverish haste, and the <i>Mindoro</i> once more steamed out into the bay at +the fastest speed of which the old craft was capable. Parrington had +regained his self-command in face of the new task that the events just +described, which followed so rapidly upon one another's heels, laid out +for him. An expression of fierce joy came over his features when, +looking through his glass an hour later, he discovered the <i>Kanga Maru</i> +holding a straight course for Corregidor.</p> + +<p>As calmly as if it were only a question of everyday maneuvers, +Parrington gave his orders. The artillerymen stood on either side of the +small guns, and everything was made ready for action.</p> + +<p>The distance between the two ships slowly diminished.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is the Japanese steamer," said Parrington to himself. "And now +to avenge Harryman! There'll be no sentimentality; we'll shoot them +down like pirates! No signal, no warning—nothing, nothing!" he +murmured.</p> + +<p>"Stand by with the forward gun," he called down from the bridge to the +men standing at the little 12 pounder on the foredeck of the <i>Mindoro</i>. +The <i>Mindoro</i> turned a little to starboard, so as to get at the +broadside of the Japanese, and thus be able to fire on him with both the +forward and after guns.</p> + +<p>"Five hundred yards! Aim at the engine room! Number one gun, fire!" The +shot boomed across the sunny, blue expanse of water, driving a white +puff of smoke before it. The shell disappeared in the waves about one +hundred yards ahead of the Japanese steamer. The next shot struck the +ship, leaving in her side a black hole with jagged edges just above the +waterline.</p> + +<p>"Splendid!" cried Parrington. "Keep that up and we'll have the villain +in ten shots."</p> + +<p>Quickly the 12 pounder was reloaded; the gunners stood quietly beside +their gun, and shot after shot was fired at the Japanese ship, of which +five or six hit her right at the waterline. The stern gun of the +<i>Mindoro</i> devoted itself in the meantime to destroying things on the +enemy's deck. Gaping holes appeared everywhere in the ship's side, and +the funnels received several enormous rents, out of which brown smoke +poured forth. In a quarter of an hour the deck resembled the primeval +chaos, being covered with bent and broken iron rods, iron plates riddled +with shot, and woodwork torn to splinters. Suddenly clouds of white +steam burst out from all the holes in the ship's sides, from the +skylights, and from the remnants of the funnels; the deck in the middle +of the steamer rose slowly, and the exploding boilers tossed broken bits +of engines and deck apparatus high up into the air. The <i>Kanga Maru</i> +listed to port and disappeared in the waves, over which a few straggling +American shots swept.</p> + +<p>"Cease firing!" commanded Parrington. Then the <i>Mindoro</i> came about and +again steered straight for Manila. The act of retribution had been +accomplished; the treacherous murder of the crew of the <i>Monadnock</i> had +been avenged.</p> + +<p>When the <i>Mindoro</i> arrived at the harbor of Manila, the town was in a +tremendous state of excitement. The drums were beating the alarm in the +streets. The spot where only that morning the <i>Monadnock</i> had lain in +idle calm was empty.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The explosion of the <i>Monadnock</i> had at first been regarded as an +accident. In spite of its being the dinner hour, a number of boats +appeared in the roads, all making toward the scene of the accident, +where a broad, thick veil of smoke crept slowly over the surface of the +water. As no one knew what new horrors might be hidden in this cloud, +none of the boats dared go nearer. Only two white naval cutters +belonging to the gunboats lying in the harbor glided into the mist, +driven forward by strong arms; and they actually succeeded in saving a +few of the crew.</p> + +<p>One of the rescued men told the following story: About two minutes after +the <i>Monadnock</i> had received a wireless message, which, however, was +never deciphered, a dull concussion was felt throughout the ship, +followed almost immediately by another one. On the starboard side of the +<i>Monadnock</i> two white, bubbling, hissing columns of water had shot up, +which completely flooded the low deck; then a third explosion, possibly +caused by a mine striking the ammunition room and setting it off, +practically tore the ship asunder. There could be no doubt that these +torpedoes came from the Japanese steamer anchored beside the +<i>Monadnock</i>, for the <i>Kanga Maru</i> had suddenly slipped her anchor and +hurried off as fast as she could. It was now remembered that the +Japanese ship had had steam up constantly for the last few days, +ostensibly because they were daily expecting their cargo in lighters, +from which they intended to load without delay. It was therefore pretty +certain that the <i>Kanga Maru</i> had entered the harbor merely for the +purpose of destroying the <i>Monadnock</i>, the only monitor in Manila. +Torpedo tubes had probably been built in the Japanese merchant steamer +under water, and this made it possible to blow up the <i>Monadnock</i> the +moment there was the least suspicion that the Americans in Manila were +aware of the fact that war had broken out. Thus the wireless message +from Corregidor had indeed sealed the fate of the <i>Monadnock</i>. The +<i>Kanga Maru</i> had launched her torpedoes, and then tried to escape. The +meeting with the <i>Mindoro</i> the Japanese had not reckoned with, for they +had counted on getting away during the confusion which the destruction +of the <i>Monadnock</i> would naturally cause in Manila.</p> + +<p>As a result of these occurrences the few ships in the roads of Manila +soon stopped loading and discharging; most of the steamers weighed +anchor, and, as soon as they could get up steam, went farther out into +the roads, for a rumor had spread that the <i>Kanga Maru</i> had laid mines. +The report turned out to be entirely unfounded, but it succeeded in +causing a regular panic on some of the ships. From the town came the +noise of the beating of drums and the shrill call to arms to alarm the +garrison; one could see the quays being cleared by detachments of +soldiers, and sentries were posted before all the public buildings.</p> + +<p>American troops hurried on the double-quick through the streets of the +European quarter, and the sight of the soldiers furnished the first +element of reassurance to the white population, whose excitement had +been tremendous ever since the alarm of the garrison. The old Spanish +batteries, or rather what was still left of them, were occupied by +artillerymen, while one battalion went on sentry duty on the ramparts of +the section of the town called <i>Intra muros</i>, and five other battalions +left the town at once in order to help garrison the redoubts and forts +in the line of defense on the land side.</p> + +<p>The town of Manila and the arsenal at Cavite, where measures for defense +were also taken, thus gave no cause for apprehension; but, on the other +hand, it was noticeable that the natives showed signs of insubordination +toward the American military authorities, and that they did not attempt +to conceal the fact that they had been better informed as to the +political situation than the Americans. These were the first indications +as to how the land lay, and gradually it began to be remembered that +similar observations had been made within the last few days: for +example, a number of revolutionary flags had had to be removed in the +town.</p> + +<p>The Americans were in a very precarious position, and at the council of +war held by the governor in the afternoon it was decided that should the +Filipinos show the slightest signs of insurrection, the whole military +strength would be concentrated to defend Manila, Cavite, and the single +railway running north, while all the other garrisons were to be +withdrawn and the rest of the archipelago left to its own devices. In +this way the Americans might at least hope, with some chance of success, +to remain masters of Manila and vicinity. The island was, of course, +proclaimed to be in a state of siege, and a strong military patrol was +put in charge of the night watch.</p> + +<p>A serious encounter took place in the afternoon before the Government +building. As soon as it became known that proclamation of martial law +had been made the population streamed in great crowds toward the +Government buildings; and when the American flag was suddenly hauled +down—it has never been ascertained by whom—and the Catipunàn flag, +formerly the standard of the rebels—the tri-color with the sun in a +triangular field—appeared in its place, a moment of wild enthusiasm +ensued, so wild that it required an American company with fixed bayonets +to clear the square of the fanatics. The sudden appearance of this huge +Catipunàn flag seemed mysterious enough, but the next few days were to +demonstrate clearly how carefully the rebellion among the natives had +been prepared.</p> + +<p>When the officers of the garrison assembled at the customary place on +the evening of the same day, they were depressed and uneasy, as men who +find themselves confronted by an invisible enemy. There was no longer +any difference of opinion as to the danger that threatened from the +Mongolians, and those officers who had been exonerated from the charge +of being too suspicious by the rapid developments of the last few hours +were considerate enough not to make their less far-sighted comrades feel +that they had undervalued their adversaries. No one had expected a +catastrophe to occur quite so suddenly, and the uncertainty as to what +was going on elsewhere had a paralyzing effect on all decisions. What +one could do in the way of defense had been or was being done, but there +were absolutely no indications as to the side from which the enemy might +be expected.</p> + +<p>The chief cause for anxiety at the moment was furnished by the question +whether the squadron which had started for Mindanao was already aware of +the outbreak of war. In any case, it was necessary to warn both it and +the transports expected from San Francisco before they arrived at +Mindanao. The only ships available for this purpose were the few little +gunboats taken from the Spaniards in 1898; these had been made fit for +service in all haste to be used in the harbor when the cruiser squadron +left. Although they left much to be desired in the way of speed—a +handicap of six days could, however, hardly have been made up even by +the swiftest turbine—there was nevertheless a fair chance that these +insignificant-looking little vessels, which could hardly be +distinguished from the merchant type, might be able to slip past the +Japanese blockading ships, which were probably cruising outside of +Manila. This, however, would only be possible in case the Japanese had +thus far ignored the squadron near Mindanao as they had Manila, for the +purpose of concentrating their strength somewhere else. But where? At +any rate, it was worth while taking even such a faint chance of being +able to warn the squadron, for the destruction of the <i>Monadnock</i> could +have had no other reason than to prevent communications between Manila +and the squadron. The enemy had evidently not given a thought to the +rickety little gunboats. Or could it be that all was already at an end +out at Mindanao? At all events, the attempt had to be made.</p> + +<p>Two gunboats coaled and slipped out of the harbor the same evening, +heading in a southeasterly direction among the little islands straight +through the archipelago in order to reach the eastern coast of Mindanao +and there intercept the transport steamers, and eventually accompany +them to Manila. Neither of these vessels was ever heard from again; it +is supposed that they went down after bravely defending themselves +against a Japanese cruiser. Their mission had meanwhile been rendered +useless, for the five mail-steamers had encountered the Japanese +torpedo-boats east of Mindanao three days before, and upon their +indignant refusal to haul down their flags and surrender, had been sunk +by several torpedoes. Only a few members of the crew had been fished up +by the Japanese.</p> + +<p>As a reward for his decisive action in destroying the <i>Kanga Maru</i>, the +commander of the <i>Mindoro</i> was ordered to try, with the assistance of +three other gunboats, to locate the commander of the cruiser squadron +somewhere in the neighborhood of Mindanao, probably to the southwest of +that island, in order to notify him of the outbreak of the war and to +hand him the order to return to Manila.</p> + +<p>The gunboats started on their voyage at dawn. In order to conceal the +real reason for the expedition from the natives, it was openly declared +that they were only going to do sentry duty at the entrance to the Bay +of Manila. Each of the four vessels had been provided with a wireless +apparatus, which, however, was not to be installed until the ships were +under way, so that the four commanders might always be in touch with one +another, and with the cruiser squadron as well, even should the latter +be some distance away.</p> + +<p>The next morning the gunboats found themselves in the Strait of Mindoro. +They must have passed the enemy's line of blockade unnoticed, under the +cover of darkness. At all events, they had seen nothing of the Japanese, +and concluded that the blockade before Manila must be pretty slack. On +leaving the Strait of Mindoro, the gunboats, proceeding abreast at small +distances from one another, sighted a steamer—apparently an +Englishman—crossing their course. They tried to signal to it, but no +sooner did the English vessel observe this, than she began to increase +her speed. It became clear at once that she was faster than the +gunboats, and unless, therefore, the latter wished to engage in a +useless chase, the hope of receiving news from the English captain had +to be abandoned. So the gunboats continued on their course—the only +ships to be seen on the wide expanse of inland sea.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon a white steamer, going in the opposite direction, was +sighted. Opinions clashed as to whether it was a warship or a +merchant-vessel. In order to make certain the commander of the <i>Mindoro</i> +ordered a turn to starboard, whereupon it was discovered that the +strange ship was an ocean-steamer of about three thousand tons, whose +nationality could not be distinguished at that distance. Still it might +be an auxiliary cruiser from the Japanese merchant service. The +commander of the <i>Mindoro</i> therefore ordered his vessels to clear for +action.</p> + +<p>The actions of the strange steamer were followed with eager attention, +and it was seen that she continued her direct northward course. When she +was about five hundred yards to port of the <i>Mindoro</i>, the latter +requested the stranger to show her flag, whereupon the English flag +appeared at the stern. Eager for battle, the Americans had hoped she +would turn out to be a Japanese ship, for which, being four against one, +they would have been more than a match; the English colors therefore +produced universal disappointment. Suddenly one of the officers of the +<i>Mindoro</i> drew Parrington's attention to the fact that the whole build +of the strange steamer characterized her as one of the ships of the +"Nippon Yusen Kaisha" with which he had become acquainted during his +service at Shanghai; he begged Parrington not to be deceived by the +English flag. The latter at once ordered a blank shot to be fired for +the purpose of stopping the strange vessel, but when the latter calmly +continued on her course, a ball was sent after her from the bow of the +<i>Mindoro</i>, the shell splashing into the water just ahead of the steamer. +The stranger now appeared to stop, but it was only to make a sharp turn +to starboard, whereupon he tried to escape at full speed. At the same +time the English flag disappeared from the stern, and was replaced by +the red sun banner of Nippon.</p> + +<p>Parrington at once opened fire on the hostile ship, and in a few minutes +the latter had to pay heavily for her carelessness. Her commander had +evidently reckoned upon the fact that the Americans were not yet aware +of the outbreak of war, and had hoped to pass the gunboats under cover +of a neutral flag. It also seemed unlikely that four little gunboats +should have run the blockade before Manila; it was far more natural to +suppose that these ships, still ignorant of the true state of affairs, +were bound on some expedition in connection with the rising of the +natives. The firing had scarcely lasted ten minutes before the Japanese +auxiliary cruiser, which had answered with a few shots from two light +guns cleverly concealed behind the deck-house near the stern of the +boat, sank stern first. It was at any rate a slight victory which +greatly raised the spirits of the crews of the gunboats.</p> + +<p>Within the next few hours the Americans caught up with a few Malayan +sailing ships, to which they paid no attention; later on a little black +freight steamer, apparently on the way from Borneo to Manila, came in +sight. The little vessel worked its way heavily through the water, +tossed about by the ever increasing swell. About three o'clock the +strange ship was near enough for its flag—that of Holland—to be +recognized. Signals were made asking her to bring to, whereupon an +officer from the <i>Mindoro</i> was pulled over to her in a gig. Half an hour +later he left the <i>Rotterdam</i>, and the latter turned and steamed away in +the direction from which she had come. The American officer had informed +the captain of the <i>Rotterdam</i> of the blockade of Manila, and the latter +had at once abandoned the idea of touching at that port.</p> + +<p>The news which he had to impart gave cause for considerable anxiety. The +<i>Rotterdam</i> came from the harbor of Labuan, where pretty definite news +had been received concerning a battle between some Japanese ships and +the American cruiser squadron stationed at Mindanao. It was reported +that the battle had taken place about five days ago, immediately after +war had been declared, that the American ships had fallen a prey to the +superior forces of the enemy, and that the entire American squadron had +been destroyed.</p> + +<p>At all events, it was quite clear that the squadron no longer needed to +be informed of the outbreak of hostilities, so Parrington decided to +carry out his orders and return to Manila with his four ships. As the +flotilla toward evening, just before sunset, was again passing through +the Strait of Mindoro, the last gunboat reported that a big white ship, +apparently a war vessel, had been sighted coming from the southeast, and +that it was heading for the flotilla at full speed. It was soon possible +to distinguish a white steamer, standing high out of the water, whose +fighting tops left no room for doubt as to its warlike character. It was +soon ascertained that the steamer was making about fifteen knots, and +that escape was therefore impossible.</p> + +<p>Parrington ordered his gunboats to form in a line and to get up full +steam, as it was just possible that they might be able to elude the +enemy under cover of darkness, although there was still a whole hour to +that time.</p> + +<p>Slowly the hull of the hostile ship rose above the horizon, and when she +was still at a distance of about four thousand yards there was a flash +at her bows, and the thunder of a shot boomed across the waters, echoed +faintly from the mountains of Mindoro.</p> + +<p>"They're too far away," said Parrington, as the enemy's shell splashed +into the waves far ahead of the line of gunboats. A second shot followed +a few minutes later, and whizzed between the <i>Mindoro</i> and her neighbor, +throwing up white sprays of water whose drops, in the rays of the +setting sun, fell back into the sea like golden mist. And now came shot +after shot, while the Americans were unable to answer with their small +guns at that great distance.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a shell swept the whole length of the <i>Mindoro's</i> deck, on the +port side, tearing up the planks of the foredeck as it burst. Things +were getting serious! Slowly the sun sank in the west, turning the sky +into one huge red flame, streaked with yellow lights and deep green +patches. The clouds, which looked like spots of black velvet floating +above the semicircle of the sun, had jagged edges of gleaming white and +unearthly ruby red. Fiery red, yellow, and green reflections played +tremblingly over the water, while in the east the deep blue shadows of +night slowly overspread the sky.</p> + +<p>The whole formed a picture of rare coloring: the four little American +ships, pushing forward with all the strength of their puffing engines +and throwing up a white line of foam before them with their sharp bows; +on the bridges the weather-beaten forms of their commanders, and beside +the dull-brown gun muzzles the gun crews, waiting impatiently for the +moment when the decreasing distance would at last allow them to use +their weapons; far away in the blue shadows of the departing day, like a +spirit of the sea, the white steamer, from whose sides poured +unceasingly the yellow flashes from the mouths of the cannon. Several +shots had caused a good deal of damage among the rigging of the +gunboats. The <i>Callao</i> had only half a funnel left, from which +gray-brown smoke and red sparks poured forth.</p> + +<p>Suddenly there was a loud explosion, and the <i>Callao</i> listed to port. A +six-inch shell had hit her squarely in the stern, passing through the +middle of the ship, and exploded in the upper part of the engine-room. +The little gunboat was eliminated from the contest before it could fire +a single shot, and now it lay broadside to the enemy, and utterly at the +latter's mercy. In a few minutes the <i>Callao</i> sank, her flags waving. +Almost directly afterwards another boat shared her fate. The other two +gunboats continued on their course, the quickly descending darkness +making them a more difficult target for the enemy. Suddenly a lantern +signal informed the commander of the <i>Mindoro</i> that the third ship had +become disabled through some damage to the engines. Parrington at once +ordered the gunboat to be run ashore on the island of Mindoro and blown +up during the night. Then he was compelled to leave the last of his +comrades to its fate. His wireless apparatus had felt disturbances, +evidently caused by the enemy's warning to the ships blockading Manila, +so that his chances of entering the harbor unmolested appeared +exceedingly slim.</p> + +<p>The Japanese cruiser ceased firing as it grew darker, but curiously +enough had made no use whatever of her searchlights. Only the flying +sparks from her funnel enabled the <i>Mindoro</i> to follow the course of the +hostile vessel, which soon passed the gunboat. Either the enemy thought +that all four American ships had been destroyed or else they didn't +think it worth while to worry about a disabled little gunboat. At all +events, this carelessness or mistake on the part of the enemy proved the +salvation of the <i>Mindoro</i>. During the night she struck a northwesterly +course, so as to try to gain an entrance to the Bay of Manila from the +north at daybreak, depending on the batteries of Corregidor to assist +her in the attempt. Once during the night the <i>Mindoro</i> almost collided +with one of the enemy's blockading ships, which was traveling with +shaded lights, but she passed by unnoticed and gained an entrance at the +north of the bay at dawn, while the batteries on the high, rocky +terraces of Corregidor, with their long-range guns, kept the enemy at a +distance. It was now ascertained that the Japanese blockading fleet +consisted only of ships belonging to the merchant service, armed with a +few guns, and of the old, unprotected cruiser <i>Takatshio</i>, which had had +the encounter with the gunboats. The bold expedition of the latter had +cleared up the situation in so far that it was now pretty certain that +the entire American cruiser squadron had been destroyed or disabled, and +that Manila was therefore entirely cut off from the sea.</p> + +<p>The batteries at Corregidor now expected an attack from the enemy's +ships, but none came. The Japanese contented themselves with an +extraordinarily slack blockade—so much so that at times one could +scarcely distinguish the outlines of the ships on the horizon. As all +commerce had stopped and only a few gunboats comprised the entire naval +strength of Manila, Japan could well afford to regard this mockery of a +blockade as perfectly sufficient. Day by day the Americans stood at +their guns, day by day they expected the appearance of a hostile ship; +but the horizon remained undisturbed and an uncanny silence lay over the +town and harbor. Of what use were the best of guns, and what was the +good of possessing heroic courage and a burning desire for battle, if +the enemy did not put in an appearance? And he never did.</p> + +<p>When Parrington appeared at the Club on the evening after his scouting +expedition he was hailed as a hero, and the officers stayed together a +long time discussing the naval engagement. In the early hours of the +morning he accompanied his friend, Colonel Hawkins of the Twelfth +Infantry Regiment, through the quiet streets of the northern suburbs of +Manila to the latter's barracks. As they reached the gate they saw, +standing before it in the pale light of dawn, a mule cart, on which lay +an enormous barrel. The colonel called the sentry, and learned that the +cart had been standing before the gate since the preceding evening. The +colonel went into the guard-room while Parrington remained in the +street. He was suddenly struck by a label affixed to the cask, which +contained the words, "From Colonel Pemberton to his friend Colonel +Hawkins." Parrington followed the colonel into the guard-room and drew +his attention to the scrap of paper. Hawkins ordered some soldiers to +take the barrel down from the car and break open one end of it. The +colonel had strong nerves, and was apt to boast of them to the novices +in the colonial service, but what he saw now was too much even for such +an old veteran. He stepped back and seized the wall for support, while +his eyes grew moist.</p> + +<p>In the cask lay the corpse of his friend Colonel Pemberton, formerly +commander of the military station of San José, with his skull smashed +in. The Filipinos had surprised the station of San José and slaughtered +the whole garrison after a short battle. Pemberton's corpse—his love +for whisky was well known—they had put into a cask and driven to the +infantry barracks at Manila. Parrington, deeply touched, pressed his +comrade's hand. The insurrection of the Filipinos! In Manila the bells +of the Dominican church of <i>Intra muros</i> rang out their monotonous call +to early mass.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a><i>Chapter II</i></h4> + +<h4>ON THE HIGH SEAS</h4> + + +<p>The <i>Tacoma</i> was expected to arrive at Yokohama early the next morning; +the gong had already sounded, calling the passengers to the farewell +meal in the dining-saloon, which looked quite festive with its colored +flags and lanterns.</p> + +<p>There was a deafening noise of voices in the handsome room, which was +beginning to be overpoweringly hot in spite of the ever-revolving +electric fans. As the sea was quite smooth, there was scarcely an empty +place at the tables. A spirit of parting and farewell pervaded the +conversation; the passengers were assembled for the last time, for on +the morrow the merry party, which chance had brought together for two +weeks, would be scattered to the four winds. Naturally the conversation +turned upon the country whose celebrated wonders they were to behold on +the following day. The old globe-trotters and several merchants who had +settled in East Asia were besieged with questions, occasionally very +naïve ones, about Japan and the best way for foreigners to get along +there. With calm superiority they paraded their knowledge, and eager +ladies made note on the backs of their menus of all the hotels, temples, +and mountains recommended to them. Some groups were making arrangements +for joint excursions in the Island Kingdom of Tenno; others discussed +questions of finance and commerce, each one trying to impress his +companions by a display of superior knowledge.</p> + +<p>Here and there politics formed the subject of conversation; one lady in +particular, the wife of a Baltimore merchant, sitting opposite the +secretary of a small European legation who was on his way to Pekin to +take up his duties there, plied him with questions and did her level +best to get at the secrets of international politics. The secretary, who +had no wonderful secrets to disclose, had recourse to the ordinary +political topics of the day, and entertained his fair listener with a +discussion of the problems that would arise in case of hostilities +between America and Japan. "Of course," he declared, vaunting his +diplomatic knowledge, "in case of war the Japanese would first surprise +Manila and try to effect a landing, and in this they would very likely +be successful. It is true that Manila with her strong defenses is pretty +well protected against a sudden raid, and the Japanese gunners would +have no easy task in an encounter with the American coast batteries. +Even though Manila may not turn out to be a second Port Arthur, the +Americans should experience no difficulty in repelling all Japanese +attacks for at least six months; meanwhile America could send +reinforcements to Manila under the protection of her fleet, and then +there would probably be a decisive battle somewhere in the Malayan +archipelago between the Japanese and American fleets, the results of +which——"</p> + +<p>"I thought," interrupted a wealthy young lady from Chicago, "I thought +we had some ships in the Philippines." The diplomat waved his hand +deprecatingly, and smiled knowingly at this interruption. He was master +of the situation and well qualified to cast the horoscope of the +future—and so he was left in possession of the field.</p> + +<p>The lady opposite him was, however, not yet satisfied; with the new +wisdom just obtained she now besieged the German major sitting beside +her, who was on his way to Kiao-chau via San Francisco. He had not been +paying much attention to the conversation, but the subject broached to +him for discussion was such a familiar one, that he was at once posted +when his neighbor asked him his opinion as to the outcome of such a war.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless it was an awkward question, and the German, out of +consideration for his environment on board the American steamer, did not +allow himself to be drawn out of his usual reserve. He simply inquired +what basis they had for the supposition that, in case of war, Japan +would occupy herself exclusively with the Philippines.</p> + +<p>The secretary of legation had gradually descended from the clouds of +diplomatic self-conceit to the level of the ordinary mortal and, +overhearing the major's question through the confusion of voices and +clatter of plates, shook his head disapprovingly and asked the major: +"Don't you think it's likely that Japan will try first of all to get +possession of the prize she has been longing for ever since the Peace of +Paris?"</p> + +<p>"I know as little as anyone else not in diplomatic circles what the +plans and hopes of the Japanese Government are, but I do think there is +not the slightest prospect of an outbreak of hostilities in the near +future; there is, accordingly, not much sense in trying to imagine what +might happen in case of a war," answered the German coolly.</p> + +<p>"There are only two possibilities," said the English merchant from +Shanghai, one of the chief stockholders of the line, who sat next to the +captain. "According to my experience"—and here he paused in order to +draw the attention of his listeners to this experience—"according to my +experience," he repeated, "there are only two possibilities. Japan is +overpeopled and is compelled to send her surplus population out of the +country. The Manchuria experiment turned cut to be a failure, for the +teeming Chinese population leaves no room now for more Japanese +emigrants and small tradesmen than there were before the war with +Russia; besides, there was no capital at hand for large enterprises. +Japan requires a strong foothold for her emigrants where"—and here he +threw an encouraging glance at the captain—"she can keep her people +together economically and politically, as in Hawaii. The emigration to +the States has for years been severely restricted by law."</p> + +<p>"And at the same time they are pouring into our country in droves by way +of the Mexican frontier," mumbled the American colonel, who was on his +way back to his post, from his seat beside the captain.</p> + +<p>"That leaves only the islands of the Pacific, the Philippines, and +perhaps Australia," continued the Shanghai merchant undisturbed. "In any +such endeavors Japan would of course have to reckon with the States and +with England. The other possibility, that of providing employment and +support for the ever-increasing population within the borders of their +own country, would be to organize large Japanese manufacturing +interests. Many efforts have already been made in this direction, but, +owing to the enormous sums swallowed up by the army and navy, the +requisite capital seems to be lacking."</p> + +<p>"In my opinion," interposed the captain at this juncture, "there is a +third possibility—namely, to render additional land available for the +cultivation of crops. As you are all no doubt aware, not more than one +third of Japan is under cultivation; the second third, consisting of +stone deserts among the mountains, must of necessity be excluded, but +the remaining third, properly cultivated, would provide a livelihood +for millions of Japanese peasants. But right here we encounter a +peculiar Japanese trait; they are dead set on the growth of rice, and +where, in the higher districts, no rice will grow, they refuse to engage +in agriculture altogether and prefer to leave the land idle. If they +would grow wheat, corn, and grass in such sections, Japan would not only +become independent of other countries with respect to her importation of +provisions, but, as I said before, it would also provide for the +settlement of millions of Japanese peasants; and, furthermore, we should +then get some decent bread to eat in Japan."</p> + +<p>This conception of the Japanese problem seemed to open new vistas to the +secretary of legation. He listened attentively to the captain's words +and threw inquiring glances toward the Shanghai merchant. The latter, +however, was completely absorbed in the dissection of a fish, whose +numerous bones continually presented fresh anatomical riddles. In his +stead the thread of the conversation was taken up by Dr. Morris, of +Brighton, an unusually cadaverous-looking individual, who sometimes +maintained absolute silence for days at a time, and who was supposed to +possess Japanese bronzes of untold value and to be on his way to +Hokkaido to complete his collection.</p> + +<p>"You must not believe everything you see in the papers," he said. "If +the Japanese were only better farmers, nobody in Japan need go hungry; +there is no question of her being overpeopled, and this mania for +emigration is nothing but a disease, a fashion, of which the government +at Tokio, to be sure, makes very good use for political purposes. +Whoever speaks in all seriousness of Japan's being overpeopled is merely +quoting newspaper editorials, and is not acquainted with the conditions +of the country."</p> + +<p>Dr. Morris had scarcely said as much as this during the whole of his +two weeks' stay on board the <i>Tacoma</i>. It is true that he had got to +know Japan very thoroughly during his many years' sojourn in the +interior in search of old bronzes, and he knew what he was talking +about. His views, however, were not in accord with those current at the +moment, and consequently, although his words were listened to +attentively, they did not produce much effect.</p> + +<p>The conversation continued along the same lines, and the possibility of +a war again came up for discussion. The German officer was the only one +to whom they could put military questions, and it was no light task for +him to find satisfactory answers. He could only repeat again and again +that such a war would offer such endless possibilities of attack and +defense, that it was absolutely impossible to forecast the probable +course of events. The Shanghai merchant conversed with the captain in a +low tone of voice about the system of Japanese spies in America, and +related a few anecdotes of his experiences in China in this connection.</p> + +<p>"But one can distinguish between a Jap and a Chinaman at a glance," +interrupted the son of a New York multi-millionaire sitting opposite +him. "I could never understand why the Japanese spies are so overrated."</p> + +<p>"If you can tell one from the other, you are more observant than the +ordinary mortal," remarked the Englishman dryly. "I can't for one, and +if you'll look me up in Shanghai, I'll give myself the pleasure of +putting you to the test. I'll invite a party of Chinamen and ask you to +pick out from among them a Japanese naval officer who has been in +Shanghai for a year and a half on a secret, I had better say, a +perfectly open mission."</p> + +<p>"You'll lose your bet," said the captain to the New Yorker, "for I've +lost a similar wager under the same circumstances."</p> + +<p>"But the Japanese don't wear pigtails," said the New Yorker, somewhat +abashed.</p> + +<p>"Those Japanese do wear pigtails," said the Englishman with a grin.</p> + +<p>"What's up?" said the captain, looking involuntarily towards the +entrance to the dining-saloon. "What's up? We're only going at half +speed."</p> + +<p>The dull throbbing of the engine had indeed stopped, and any one who +noticed the vibration of the ship could tell that the propeller was +revolving only slightly.</p> + +<p>The captain got up quietly to go on deck, but as he was making his way +out between the long rows of chairs, he met one of the crew, who +whispered to him that the first mate begged him to come on the bridge.</p> + +<p>"We're not moving," said some one near the center of the table. "We +can't have arrived this soon."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps we have met a disabled ship," said a young French girl; "that +would be awfully interesting."</p> + +<p>The captain remained away, while the dinner continued to be served. +Suddenly all conversation was stopped by the dull howl of the steam +whistle, and when two more calls followed the first, an old globe +trotter thought he had discovered the reason for the ship's slowing +down, and declared with certainty: "This is the third time on my way to +Japan that we have run into a fog just before entering the harbor; the +last time it made us a day and a half late. I tell you it was no joke to +sit in that gray mist with nothing to do but wait for the fog to +lift——" and then he narrated a few anecdotes about that particular +voyage, which at once introduced the subject of fog at his table, a +subject that was greedily pounced upon by all. London fog and other fogs +were discussed, and no one noticed that the ship had come to a full stop +and was gradually beginning to pitch heavily, a motion that soon had +the effect of causing several of the ladies to abandon the conversation +and play nervously with their coffee-spoons, as the nightmare of +seasickness forced itself every moment more disagreeably on their +memories.</p> + +<p>A few of the men got up and went on deck. A merchant from San Francisco +came down and told his wife that a strange ship not far from the +<i>Tacoma</i> had its searchlights turned on her. No reason for this +extraordinary proceeding could be given, as the officers seemed to know +as little about it as the passengers.</p> + +<p>The fourth officer, whose place was at the head of one of the long +tables, now appeared in the dining-saloon, and was at once besieged with +questions from all sides. In a loud voice he announced that the captain +wished him to say that there was no cause for alarm. A strange ship had +its searchlights turned on the <i>Tacoma</i>, probably a man-of-war that had +some communication to make. The captain begged the passengers not to +allow themselves to be disturbed in their dinner. The next course was +served immediately afterwards, the reason for the interruption was soon +forgotten, and conversation continued as before.</p> + +<p>"But we're not moving yet," said a young woman about ten minutes later +to her husband, with whom she was taking a honeymoon trip round the +world, "we're not moving yet."</p> + +<p>The fourth officer gave an evasive answer in order to reassure his +neighbor, but, as a matter of fact, the ship had not yet got under way +again. To complicate the situation, another member of the crew came in +at this moment and whispered something to the officer, who at once +hurried on deck.</p> + +<p>It was a positive relief to him to escape from the smell of food and the +loud voices into the fresh air. It seemed like another world on deck. +The stars twinkled in the silent sky, and the soft night air refreshed +the nerves that had been exhausted by the heat of the day. The fourth +officer mounted quickly to the bridge and reported to the captain.</p> + +<p>The latter gave him the following brief order: "Mr. Warren, I shall ask +you to see that the passengers are not unnecessarily alarmed; let the +band play a few pieces, and see that the dinner proceeds quietly. Make a +short speech in my stead, tell the passengers what a pleasant time we +have all had on this voyage, and say a few words of farewell to them for +me. We've been signaled by a Japanese warship," he continued, "and asked +to stop and wait for a Japanese boat. I haven't the slightest idea what +the fellows want, but we must obey orders; the matter will no doubt be +settled in a few minutes as soon as the boat has arrived."</p> + +<p>The officer disappeared, and the captain, standing by the port yardarm +on the bridge, waited anxiously for the cutter which was approaching at +full speed. The gangway had already been lowered. The cutter, after +describing a sharp curve, came alongside, and two marines armed with +rifles immediately jumped on the gangway.</p> + +<p>"Halloo," said the captain, "a double guard! I wonder what that means?"</p> + +<p>The Japanese officer got out of the cutter and came up the gangway, +followed by four more soldiers, two of whom were posted at the upper +entrance to the gangway. The other two followed the officer to the +bridge. A seventh man got out of the boat and carried a square box on +the bridge, while finally two soldiers brought a long heavy object up +the gangway and set it down against the wall of the cabin in the stern.</p> + +<p>The Japanese officer ordered the two marines to take up their stand at +the foot of the steps leading to the bridge, and with a wave of his hand +ordered the third to station himself with his square box at the port +railing. At the same time he gave him an order in Japanese, and the +rattling noise which followed made it clear that the apparatus was a +lantern which was signaling across to the man-of-war.</p> + +<p>"This is carrying the joke a little too far. What does it all mean?" +cried the captain of the <i>Tacoma</i>, starting to pull the man with the +lantern back from the railing. But the Japanese officer laid his hand +firmly on his right arm and said in a decisive tone: "Captain, in the +name of the Japanese Government I declare the American steamer <i>Tacoma</i> +a lawful prize and her whole crew prisoners of war."</p> + +<p>The captain shook off the grasp of the Japanese, and stepping back a +pace shouted: "You must be crazy; we have nothing to do with the +Japanese naval maneuvers, and I shall have to ask you not to carry your +maneuver game too far. If you must have naval maneuvers, please practice +on your own merchant vessels and leave neutral ships alone."</p> + +<p>The Japanese saluted and said: "I am very sorry, captain, to have to +correct your impression that this is part of our maneuvers. Japan is at +war with the United States of America, and every merchantman flying the +American flag is from now on a lawful prize."</p> + +<p>The captain, a strapping fellow, seized the little Japanese, and pushed +him toward the railing, evidently with the intention of throwing the +impertinent fellow overboard. But in the same instant he noticed two +Japanese rifles pointed at him, whereupon he let his arms drop with an +oath and stared at the two Japanese marines in utter astonishment. The +lantern signal continued to rattle behind him, and suddenly the pale +blue searchlight from the man-of-war was thrown on the bridge of the +<i>Tacoma</i>, lighting up the strange scene as if by moonlight. At the same +time the shot from a gun boomed across the quiet surface of the water. +Things really seemed to be getting serious.</p> + +<p>From below, through the open skylights of the dining-saloon came the +cheers of the passengers for the captain at the close of the fourth +officer's speech, and the band at once struck up the "Star Spangled +Banner." Everybody seemed to be cheerful and happy in the dining-saloon, +and one and all seemed to have forgotten that the <i>Tacoma</i> was not +moving.</p> + +<p>And while from below the inspiring strains of the "Star Spangled Banner" +passed out into the night, twenty Japanese marines came alongside in a +second cutter and, climbing up the gangway, occupied all the entrances +leading from below to the deck—a double guard with loaded guns being +stationed at each door.</p> + +<p>"I must ask you," said the Japanese officer to the captain, "to continue +to direct the ship's course under my supervision. You will take the +<i>Tacoma</i>, according to your original plans, into the harbor of Yokohama; +there the passengers will leave the ship, without any explanations being +offered, and you and the crew will be prisoners of the Japanese +Government. The prize-court will decide what is to be done with your +cargo. The baggage of the passengers, the captain, and the crew will, of +course, remain in their possession. There are now twenty of our marines +on board the <i>Tacoma</i>, but in case you should imagine that they would be +unable to command the situation in the event of any resistance being +offered by you or your crew, I consider it advisable to inform you that +for the last ten minutes there has been a powerful bomb in the stern of +the <i>Tacoma</i>, guarded by two men, who have orders to turn on the current +and blow up your ship at the first signs of serious resistance. It is +entirely to the advantage of the passengers in your care to bow to the +inevitable and avoid all insubordination—<i>à la guerre comme à la +guerre</i>."</p> + +<p>The Japanese saluted and continued: "You will remain in command on the +bridge for the next four hours, when you will be relieved by the first +mate. Meanwhile the latter can acquaint the passengers with the altered +circumstances." And, waving his hand toward the first mate, who had +listened in silent rage, he added: "Please, sir!"</p> + +<p>The officer addressed looked inquiringly across to the captain, who +hesitated a moment and then said in suppressed emotion: "Hardy, go down +and tell the passengers that the <i>Tacoma</i>, through an unheard-of, +treacherous surprise, has fallen into the hands of a Japanese cruiser, +but that the passengers, on whose account we are obliged to submit to +this treatment, need not be startled, for they and all their possessions +will be landed safely at Yokohama to-morrow morning."</p> + +<p>Hardy's soles seemed positively to stick to the steps as he went down, +and he was almost overcome by the warm air at the entrance to the +dining-saloon, where the noise of boisterous laughter and lively +conversation greeted him.</p> + +<p>"Halloo, when are we going on?" he was asked from all sides.</p> + +<p>Mr. Hardy shook his head silently and went to the captain's place.</p> + +<p>"We must drink your health," called several, holding their glasses +towards him. "Where's the captain?"</p> + +<p>Hardy was silent, but remained standing and the words seemed to choke +him.</p> + +<p>"Be quiet! Listen! Mr. Hardy is going to speak——"</p> + +<p>"It's high time we heard something from the captain," called out a stout +German brewer from Milwaukee over the heads of the others. "Three +cheers for Mr. Hardy!" came from one corner of the room. "Three cheers +for Mr. Hardy!" shouted the passengers on the other side, and all joined +in the chorus: "For he is a jolly good fellow." "Do let Mr. Hardy +speak," said the Secretary of Legation, turning to the passengers +reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"Silence!" came from the other side. The hum of voices ceased gradually +and silence ensued.</p> + +<p>"First give Mr. Hardy something to drink!" said some one, while another +passenger laughed out loud.</p> + +<p>Hardy wiped the perspiration from his brow with the captain's napkin, +which the latter had left on his plate.</p> + +<p>"Shocking!" said an English lady quite distinctly; "seamen haven't any +manners."</p> + +<p>Hardy had not yet found words, but finally began in a low, stammering +voice: "The captain wishes me to tell you that the <i>Tacoma</i> has just +been captured by a Japanese cruiser. The United States of America are +said to be at war with Japan. There is a Japanese guard on board, which +has occupied all the companionways. The captain requests the passengers +to submit quietly to the inevitable. You will all be landed safely at +Yokohama early to-morrow and—" Hardy tried to continue, but the words +would not come and he sank back exhausted into his chair.</p> + +<p>"Three cheers for the captain!" came the ringing shout from one of the +end tables, to be repeated in different parts of the room. The German +brewer shook with laughter and exclaimed: "That's a splendid joke of the +captain's; he ought to have a medal for it."</p> + +<p>"Stop your nonsense," said some one to the brewer.</p> + +<p>"No, but really, that's a famous joke," persisted the latter. "I've +never enjoyed myself so much on a trip before."</p> + +<p>"Be quiet, man; it's a serious matter."</p> + +<p>"Ha! ha! You've been taken in, too, have you?" was the answer, +accompanied by a roar of laughter.</p> + +<p>An American jumped up, crying: "I'm going to get my revolver; I guess we +can handle those chaps," and several others joined in with "Yes, yes, +we'll get our revolvers and chuck the yellow monkeys overboard!"</p> + +<p>At this point the German major jumped up from his seat and called out to +the excited company in a sharp tone of command: "Really, gentlemen, the +affair is serious; it's not a joke, as some of you gentlemen seem to +think; you may take my word for it that it is no laughing matter."</p> + +<p>Hardy still sat silent in his chair. The Englishman from Shanghai +overwhelmed him with questions and even the Secretary of Legation +emerged from his diplomatic reserve.</p> + +<p>The six men who had gone to get their revolvers now returned to the +dining-saloon with their spirits considerably damped, and one of them +called out: "It's not a joke at all; the Japanese are stationed up there +with loaded rifles."</p> + +<p>Some of the ladies screamed hysterically and asked complete strangers to +take them to their cabins. All of the passengers had jumped up from +their chairs, and a number were busily engaged looking after those +ladies who had shown sufficient discretion to withdraw at once from the +general excitement by the simple expedient of fainting. In the meantime +Hardy had regained control of himself and of the situation, and standing +behind his chair as though he were on the captain's bridge declared +simply and decisively: "On the captain's behalf I must beg the +passengers not to attempt any resistance. Your life and safety are +guaranteed by the word of the captain and the bearing of our crew, who +have also been forced to submit to the inevitable. I beg you all to +remain here and to await the further orders of the captain. There is no +danger so long as no resistance is offered; we are in the hands of the +Japanese navy, and must accustom ourselves to the altered +circumstances."</p> + +<p>It was long after midnight before all grew quiet on board the <i>Tacoma</i>; +the passengers were busy packing their trunks, and it was quite late +before the cabin lights were extinguished on both sides of the ship, +which continued her voyage quietly and majestically in the direction of +Yokohama. The deck, generally a scene of cheerful life and gaiety until +a late hour, was empty, and only the subdued steps of the Japanese +marines echoed through the still night.</p> + +<p>Twice more the searchlights were thrown on the <i>Tacoma</i>, but a +clattering answer from the signal lantern at once conveyed the +information that all was in order, whereupon the glaring ball of light +disappeared silently, and there was nothing on the whole expanse of dark +water to indicate that invisible eyes were on the lookout for every ship +whose keel was ploughing the deep.</p> + +<p>The <i>Tacoma</i> arrived at Yokohama the next morning, the passengers were +sent ashore, and the steamer herself was added as an auxiliary cruiser +to the Japanese fleet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a><i>Chapter III</i></h4> + +<h4>HOW IT BEGAN</h4> + + +<p>Ding-ding-ding-ding—Ding-ding-ding-ding—went the bell of the railway +telegraph—Ding-ding-ding-ding——</p> + +<p>Tom Gardner looked up from his work and leaned his ax against the wall +of the low tin-roofed shanty which represented both his home and the +station Swallowtown on the Oregon Railway. "Nine o'clock already," he +mumbled, and refilling his pipe from a greasy paper-bag, he lighted it +and puffed out clouds of bluish smoke into the clear air of the hot May +morning. Then he looked at the position of the sun and verified the fact +that his nickel watch had stopped again. The shaky little house hung +like a chance knot in an endless wire in the middle of the glittering +double row of rails that stretched from east to west across the flowery +prairie. It looked like a ridiculous freak in the midst of the wide +desert, for nowhere, so far as the eye could reach, was it possible to +discover a plausible excuse for the washed-out inscription "Swallowtown" +on the old box-lid which was nailed up over the door. Only a broad band +of golden-yellow flowers crossing the tracks not far from the shanty and +disappearing in the distance in both directions showed where heavy +cart-wheels and horses' hoofs had torn up the ground.</p> + +<p>By following this curious yellow track, which testified to the existence +of human intercourse even in the great lonely prairie, in a southerly +direction, one could notice about a mile from the station a slight +rising of the ground covered with low shrubs and a tangled mass of +thistles and creepers: This was Swallowtown No. 1, the spot where once +upon a time a dozen people or more, thrown together by chance, had +founded a homestead, but whose traces had been utterly obliterated +since. The little waves of the great national migration to this virgin +soil had after a few years washed everything away and had carried the +inhabitants of the huts with them on their backs several miles farther +south, where by another mere chance they had located on the banks of the +river. The only permanent sign of this ebb and flow was the tin-roofed +shanty near the tracks of the Oregon Railway, and the proud name of +Swallowtown, fast disappearing under the ravages of storm and rain, on +the box-lid over Tom Gardner's door.</p> + +<p>Tom Gardner regarded his morning's work complacently. With the aid of +his ax he had transformed the tree-stump that had lain behind the +station for years into a hitching-post, which he was going to set up for +the farmers, so that they could tie their horses to it when they came to +the station. Tom had had enough of fastening the iron ring into the +outer wall of his shanty, for it had been torn out four times by the +shying of the wild horses harnessed to the vehicles sent from +Swallowtown to meet passengers. And the day before yesterday Bob +Cratchit's horses had added insult to injury by running off with a board +out of the back wall. Tom was sick and tired of it; the day before he +had temporarily stopped up the hole with a tin advertisement, which +notified the inhabitants of Swallowtown who wanted to take the train +that Millner's pills were the best remedy for indigestion. Tom decided +to set up his post at midday.</p> + +<p>He stopped work for the present in order to be ready for station-duty +when the express from Pendleton passed through in half an hour. From +force of habit and half unconsciously, he glanced along the yellow road +running south, wondering whether in spite of its being Sunday there +might not be some traveler from Swallowtown coming to catch the local +train which stopped at the station an hour later. He shaded his eyes +with his right hand and after a careful search did discover a cart with +two persons in it approaching slowly over the waving expanse of the +flower-bedecked prairie. Tom muttered something to himself and traipsed +through the station house, being joined as usual by his dog, who had +been sleeping outside in the sun. Then he walked a little way along the +tracks and finally turned back to his dwelling, the trampled-down +flowers and grass before the entrance being the only signs that the foot +of man ever disturbed its solitary peace. The dog now seemed suddenly to +become aware of the rapidly approaching cart and barked in that +direction. Tom sent him into the house and shut the door behind him, +whereupon the dog grew frantic. The cart approached almost noiselessly +over the flowery carpet, but soon the creaking and squeaking of the +leather harness and the snorting of the horses became clearly audible.</p> + +<p>"Halloo, Tom!" called out one of the men.</p> + +<p>"Halloo, Winston!" was the answer; "where are you off to?"</p> + +<p>"Going over to Pendleton."</p> + +<p>"You're early; the express hasn't passed yet," answered Tom.</p> + +<p>Winston jumped down from the cart, swung a sack over his shoulder, and +stepped toward the shanty.</p> + +<p>"Who's that with you?" asked Tom, pointing with his thumb over his right +shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Nelly's brother-in-law, Bill Parker," said the other shortly.</p> + +<p>Nelly's brother-in-law was in the act of turning the cart round to drive +back to Swallowtown when Tom, making a megaphone of his hands, shouted +across: "Won't the gentleman do me the honor of having a drink on me?"</p> + +<p>"All right," rang out the answer, and Nelly's brother-in-law drove the +horses to the rear of the station.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the ring's gone," said Tom. "Bob Cratchit's horses walked off with +it yesterday. You can hunt for it out there somewhere if you want to."</p> + +<p>Bill jumped down and fastened the horses with a rope which he tied to +Tom's old tree-stump.</p> + +<p>"Come on, fellows!" said Tom, going toward the house. Scarcely had he +opened the door when his dog rushed madly past him out into the open, +barking with all his might at something about a hundred yards behind the +station.</p> + +<p>"I guess he's found a gopher," said Tom, and then the three entered the +hut, and Tom, taking a half-empty whisky bottle out of a cupboard, +poured some into a cup without a handle, a shaving-cup, and an old tin +cup.</p> + +<p>"The express ought to pass in about ten minutes," said Tom, and then +began the usual chat about the commonplaces of farm life, about the +crops, and the price of cattle, while hunting anecdotes followed. Now +and then Tom listened through the open door for sounds of the express, +which was long overdue, till suddenly the back door was slammed shut by +the wind.</p> + +<p>It was Bill Parker's turn to treat, and he then told of how he had sold +his foals at a good profit, and Bob launched out into all sorts of vague +hints as to a big deal that he expected to pull off at Pendleton the +next day. Bill kept an eye on his two horses, which he could just see +through the window in the rear wall of the shanty.</p> + +<p>"Don't let them run away from you," warned Tom; "horses as fresh as +those generally skip off when the express passes by."</p> + +<p>"Nothing like that!" said Bill Parker, glancing again through the open +window, "but they are unusually restless just the same."</p> + +<p>... "He was willing to give twenty dollars, was he?" asked Tom, resuming +the former conversation.</p> + +<p>But Bill gave no answer and continued to stare out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Here's how, gentlemen!" cried Tom encouragingly, touching Bill's tin +cup with his shaving-cup.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me a minute," answered the latter; "I want to look after my—" +He had got up and was moving toward the door, but stopped halfway, +staring fixedly at the open window with a glassy expression in his eyes. +The other two regarded him with unfeigned astonishment, but when they +followed the direction of his glance, they also started with fright as +they looked through the window.</p> + +<p>Yes, it was the same window as before, and beyond it stood the same team +of stamping, snorting horses before the same cart; but on the ledge of +the window there rested two objects like black, bristling hedgehogs, and +under their prickly skins glistened two pairs of hostile eyes, and +slowly and cautiously two gun-barrels were pushed over the ledge of the +window into the room. At the same moment the door-knob moved, the door +was pushed open, and in the blinding sunlight which suddenly poured into +the room appeared two more men in khaki clothes and also armed with +guns. "Hands up, gentlemen!" cried one of them threateningly.</p> + +<p>The three obeyed the order mechanically, Tom unconsciously holding up +his shaving-cup as well, so that the good whisky flowed down his arm +into his coat. He looked utterly foolish. Bill was the first to +recover, and inquired with apparent nonchalance: "What are you gentlemen +after?" In the meantime he had noticed that the two men at the door wore +soldiers' caps with broad peaks, and he construed this as a new holdup +trick.</p> + +<p>The men outside were conversing in an unintelligible lingo, and their +leader, who was armed only with a Browning pistol, looked into the hut +and asked: "Which of you gentlemen is the station-master?" Tom lowered +his shaving-cup and took a step forward, whereupon he was at once halted +by the sharp command: "Hands up!"</p> + +<p>But this one step toward the door had enabled Tom to see that there were +at least a dozen of these brown fellows standing behind the wall of his +shanty. At the same time he saw his dog slinking about outside with his +tail between his legs and choking over something. He called the dog, and +the poor creature crept along the ground toward him, evidently making +vain attempts to bark.</p> + +<p>"The damned gang," growled Tom to himself; "they have evidently given +the poor beast something to eat which prevents his barking."</p> + +<p>The man with the Browning pistol now turned to Tom and said: "Has the +express passed yet?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"No? I thought it was due at 9.30." The highwayman looked at his watch. +"Past ten already," he said to himself. "And when is the local train +from Umatilla expected?"</p> + +<p>"It ought to be here at 10.30."</p> + +<p>"The express goes through without stopping, doesn't it?" began the other +again. "Good! Now you go out as if nothing had happened and let the +express pass! The other two will remain here in the meantime and my men +will see that they don't stir. One move and you can arrange your funeral +for to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The two bristly-headed chaps at the window remained motionless, and +followed the proceedings with a broad grin. The two men from Swallowtown +were compelled to stand with uplifted hands against the wall opposite +the window, so that the gun-barrels on the window-sill were pointing +straight at them. Winston had had sufficient time to study the two +highwaymen at the window and it gradually dawned upon him what sort of +robbers they were; in a low tone of voice he said to Tom: "They're +Japs."</p> + +<p>The man with the Browning overheard the remark; he turned around quickly +and repeated in a determined voice: "If you move you'll die on the +spot."</p> + +<p>Then he allowed Tom to leave the station, and showed him how two of his +men opened the shutters of the windows that looked out on the tracks and +cut two oblong holes in them down on the side, through which they stuck +the barrels of their guns. Then Bill's cart was pushed forward, so that +only the horses were hidden by the station. One of the men held the +horses to prevent their running away when the train came, and two armed +men climbed into the cart and kneeled ready to shoot, concealing +themselves from the railroad side behind two large bags of corn. +Thereupon the leader told Tom once more that he was to stand in front of +the station as usual when the train approached. If he attempted to make +any sign which might cause the train to stop, or if he merely opened his +mouth, not only he, but also the occupants of the train, would have to +pay for it with their lives.</p> + +<p>Ding—ding—ding—ding went the railway telegraph, +ding—ding—ding—ding. The man with the Browning consulted his +note-book and asked Tom: "What signal is that? Where is the express +now?"</p> + +<p>Tom did not answer.</p> + +<p>"Go out on the platform!" commanded the other. With a hasty glance along +the tracks, Tom assured himself that the spot back there, where the two +tracks, which glittered like silver in the sun, crossed, was still +empty. So there was still a little more time to think. Then he began to +stroll slowly up and down. Fifteen steps forward, fifteen back, eighteen +forward, twenty back. Suppose he ran to meet the train——</p> + +<p>"Halloo! Where are you going?" shouted the leader to him. "Don't you +dare go five steps beyond the station house!"</p> + +<p>Fifteen steps forward, fifteen back. And suppose now that he did jump +across and run along the tracks? What would it matter—he, one among +millions, without wife or child? Yes, he would warn the engineer; and if +they shot at him, perhaps the people on the train also had revolvers. +The express must come soon—it must be nearly half past ten. +Mechanically, he read the name Swallowtown on the old box-lid.</p> + +<p>Not a sound from the interior of the station. Would they hit him or miss +him when the train came? He examined the rickety old shutters. Yes, +there was a white incision in the wood near the bottom, and above it the +tin was bent back almost imperceptibly, while below it there was a +small, blackish-brown ring. On the other side there was another little +hole, and here the tin was bent back rather more, showing a second +small, blackish-brown ring. And suppose he did call out as the train +rushed by? He would call out!—A burst of flame from the two +blackish-brown rings—If he could only first explain everything to the +engineer—then they could shoot all they wanted to.</p> + +<p>Horrid to be wounded in the back! Long ago at school there had often +been talk about wounds in the back and in the chest—the former were +disgraceful, because they were a sign of running away. But this was not +running away—this was an effort to save others.</p> + +<p>Were the rails vibrating? Four steps more, then a quiet turn, one look +into the air, one far away over the prairie. He knew that the eyes +behind the dark-brown rings were following his every movement. Now along +the tracks—is there anything coming way back there? No, not yet. He +walked past the station, then along the tracks again, and looked to the +left across the prairie.</p> + +<p>Now his glance rested on the cart. It stood perfectly still. Sure +enough, there, between the sacks, was another one of those bristly +heads! Where on earth had the fellows come from, and what in the world +did they want? Winston had said they were Japs.</p> + +<p>Could this be war? Nonsense! How could the fellows have come so far +across country? A short time ago some one had said that a troop of Japs +had been seen far away, down in Nevada, but that they had all +disappeared in the mountains. That was two months ago. Could these be +the same?</p> + +<p>But it couldn't be a war. War begins at the borders of a country, not +right in the middle. It is true that the Japanese immigrants were all +said to be drilled soldiers. Had they brought arms along? These +certainly had!</p> + +<p>Now the turn again. Ah! there was the train at last. Far away along the +tracks a black square rose and quite slowly became wider and higher. +Good God! if the next ten minutes were only over—if one could only wipe +such a span as this out of one's life! Only ten minutes older! If one +could only look back on those ten minutes from the other side! But no; +one must go through the horror, second by second, taste every moment of +it. What would happen to the two inside? This didn't matter much after +all—they couldn't, in any case, overpower the others without weapons. A +thousand yards more perhaps and then the train would be there! And then +a thousand yards more, and he would either be nothing but an unconscious +mass of flesh and bones, or——</p> + +<p>Now the rails were reverberating—from far away he heard the rumble of +the approaching mass of iron and steel. And now, very low but distinct, +the ringing of the bell could be distinguished—gang, gang, gang, gang, +gang, gang— He threw a hasty glance at the two blackish-brown rings; +four steps further and he could again see the cart. The next time——</p> + +<p>"Stand straight in front of the station and let the train pass!" sounded +close behind him. He obeyed mechanically.</p> + +<p>"Nearer to the house—right against the wall!" He obeyed.</p> + +<p>All his muscles tightened. If he could now take a leap forward and +manage to get hold of something—a railing or something—as the train +rushed by, then they could shoot as much as they liked. A rumbling and +roaring noise reached his ears, and he could hear the increasing thunder +of the wheels on the rails, the noise of the bell—gang, gang, +gang—growing more and more distinct. The engine, with its long row of +clattering cars behind, assumed gigantic dimensions before his wide-open +eyes.</p> + +<p>Not a sound came from the house; now the rails trembled; now he heard +the hissing of the steam and the rattle of the rods; he saw the little +curls of steam playing above the dome of the boiler. Like a black wall, +the express came nearer, rushing, rumbling, hammering along the tracks. +Yes, he would jump now—now that the engine was almost in front of him! +The rush of air almost took his breath away. Now!</p> + +<p>The engineer popped his head out of the little cab-window. Now! Tom bent +double, and, with one tremendous leap he was across the narrow platform +in front of his shanty, and flew like a ball against the line of rushing +cars, of railings and steps and wheels. He felt his hand touching +something—nothing but flat, smooth surfaces. At last! He had caught +hold of something! With a tremendous swing, Tom's body was torn to the +left, and his back banged against something. Something in his body +seemed to give way. As in a dream, he heard two shots ring out above the +fearful noise of the roaring train.</p> + +<p>Too late! Tom was clinging to a railing between two cars and being +dragged relentlessly along. He was almost unconscious, but could hear +the wheels squeaking under the pressure of the brakes as he was hurled +to and fro. But his hand held fast as in a vise. The wheels scraped, +squeaked, and groaned. The train began to slow down! He had won! The +train stood still.</p> + +<p>Tom's body fell on the rail between two cars, almost lifeless; he heard +a lot of steps all about him; people spoke to him and asked him +questions. But his jaws were shut as if paralyzed; he couldn't speak a +word. He felt the neck of a bottle being pushed between his lips, and +the liquid running down his throat. It was something strong and +invigorating, and he drank greedily. And then he suddenly shouted out +loud, so that all the people stepped back horrified: "The station has +been attacked by Japs."</p> + +<p>Excited questions poured in from all sides. "Where from? What for?" Tom +only cried: "Save the two others; they're shut up in the station!" More +people collected round him. "Quick, quick!" he cried. "Run the train +back and try to save them!"</p> + +<p>Tom was lifted into a car and stretched out on a soft end-seat. Some of +the passengers stood round him with their revolvers: "Tell us where it +is! Tell us where they are!" Slowly the train moved back, slowly the +telegraph poles slipped past the windows in the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>Now they were there, and Tom heard wild cries on the platform. Then a +door was pulled open and some one asked: "Where are the robbers?" Tom +was lifted out, for his right shin-bone had been smashed and he couldn't +stand. A stretcher was improvised, and he was carried out. Dozens of +people were standing round the station. The wagon was gone, and so were +the horses. Where to? The wide, deserted prairie gave no answer. A great +many footprints in the sand showed at least that Tom had spoken the +truth. He pointed out the holes made in the shutters by the bandits, and +told the whole story a dozen times, until at last he fainted away again. +When he came to half an hour later it all seemed like a horrible +dream—like a scene from a robber's tale. He found himself in a +comfortable Pullman car on the way to Umatilla, where he had to tell his +story all over again, in order that the fairly hopeless pursuit of the +highwaymen might be begun from there.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a><i>Chapter IV</i></h4> + +<h4>ECHOES IN NEW YORK</h4> + + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p style="margin-left: 30em;"> +<span class="smcap">Walla Walla</span>, May 7.<br /> +</p> + +<p>"This morning, at ten o'clock, the station Swallowtown, on the Oregon +line, was surprised by bandits. They captured the station in order to +hold up the express train to Umatilla. The plot was frustrated by the +decisive action of the station official, who jumped on the passing +train and warned the passengers. Unfortunately, the robbers succeeded +in escaping, but the Umatilla police have started in pursuit. The +majority of the bandits are said to have been Japanese."</p></div> + +<p>In these words the attack on Swallowtown was wired to New York, and when +John Halifax went to the office of the <i>New York Daily Telegraph</i> at +midnight, to work up the telegrams which had come in during Sunday for +the morning paper, his chief drew his attention in particular to the +remark at the end of the message, and asked him to make some reference +in his article to the dangers of the Japanese immigration, which seemed +to be going on unhindered over the Mexican and Canadian frontiers. John +Halifax would have preferred to comment editorially on the necessity of +night rest for newspaper men, but settled down in smothered wrath to +write up the highwaymen who had committed the double crime of +desecrating the Sabbath and robbing the train.</p> + +<p>But scarcely had he begun his article under the large headlines +"Japanese Bandits—A Danger no longer Confined to the Frontier, but +Stalking about in the Heart of the Country,"—he was just on the point +of setting off Tom's brave deed against the rascality of the bandits, +when another package of telegrams was laid on the table. He was going to +push them irritably aside when his glance fell on the top telegram, +which began with the words, "This morning at ten o'clock the station at +Connell, Wash., was attacked by robbers, who——"</p> + +<p>"Hm!" said John Halifax, "there seems to be some connection here, for +they probably meant to hold up the express at Connell, too." He turned +over a few more telegrams; the next message began: "This morning at +eleven o'clock—" and the two following ones: "This morning at twelve +o'clock—" They all reported the holding up of trains, which had in +almost every instance been successful. John Halifax got up, and with the +bundle of telegrams went over to the map hanging on the wall and marked +with a pencil the places where the various attacks had taken place. The +result was an irregular line through the State of Washington running +from north to south, along which the train robbers, apparently working +in unison, had begun their operations at the same time. Nowhere had it +been possible to capture them.</p> + +<p>John Halifax threw his article into the waste basket and began again +with the headlines, "A Gang of Train-Robbers at Work in Washington," and +then gave a list of the places where the gang had held up the trains. He +wrote a spirited article, which closed with a warning to the police in +Washington and Oregon to put an end to this state of affairs as soon as +possible, and if necessary to call upon the militia for aid in catching +the bandits. While Halifax was writing, the news was communicated from +the electric bulletin-board to the people hurrying through the streets +at that late hour.</p> + +<p>John Halifax read the whole story through once more with considerable +satisfaction, and was pleased to think that the <i>New York Daily +Telegraph</i> would treat its readers Monday morning to a thoroughly +sensational bit of news. When he had finished, it struck him that all +these attacks had been directed against trains running from west to +east, and that the train held up at Swallowtown was the only one going +in the opposite direction. He intended in conclusion to add a suggestive +remark about this fact, but it slipped out of his mind somehow, and, +yawning loudly, he threw his article as it was into the box near his +writing table, touched a button, and saw the result of his labors +swallowed noiselessly by a small lift. Then the author yawned again, +and, going over to his chief, reported that he had finished, wished him +a gruff "good morning," and started on his way home.</p> + +<p>As he left the newspaper offices he observed the same sight that had met +his eyes night after night for many years—a crowd of people standing on +the opposite side of the street, with their heads thrown back, staring +up at the white board upon which, in enormous letters, appeared the +story of how Tom, with his bold leap, had saved the train. The last +sentence, explaining that the robbers had been recognized as Japanese, +elicited vigorous curses against the "damned Japs."</p> + +<p>High up in the air the apparatus noiselessly and untiringly flashed +forth one message after the other in big, black letters on the white +ground—telling of one train attack after another. But of that living +machine in the far West, working with clocklike regularity and slowly +adding one link after the other to the chain, that machine which at this +very moment had already separated three of the States by an impenetrable +wall from the others and had thus blotted out three of the stars on the +blue field of the Union flag—of that uncanny machine neither John +Halifax nor the people loitering opposite the newspaper building in +order to take a last sensation home with them, had the remotest idea. +Not till the next morning was the meaning of these first flaming signs +to be made clear.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>At ten o'clock the telephone bell rang noisily beside John Halifax's +bed. He seized the receiver and swore under his breath on learning that +important telegrams required his presence at the office. "There isn't +any reason why Harry Springley shouldn't go on with those old +train-robbers," he grumbled; "I don't see what they want of me, but I +suppose the stupid fellow doesn't know what to do, as usual."</p> + +<p>An hour later, when he entered the editorial rooms of the <i>New York +Daily Telegraph</i>, he found his colleagues in a great state of +excitement. Judging by the loud talk going on in the conference room, he +concluded at once that something out of the common must have happened. +The editor-in-chief quickly explained to him that an hour ago the news, +already disseminated through an "extra," had arrived, that not only were +all messages from the Pacific coast, especially from San Francisco, held +up, but the Canadian wire had furnished the news that a foreign strange +squadron had been observed on Sunday at Port Townsend, and that it had +continued its voyage through Puget Sound toward Seattle. In addition the +news came from Walla Walla that since Sunday noon all telegraphic +communication between Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland had been broken off. +Attempts to reach Seattle and Tacoma over the Canadian wire had also +proved vain while, on the other hand, the report came from Ogden that +no trains from the west, from the direction of San Francisco, had +arrived since Sunday noon, and that the noon express had been attacked +this side of Reno by bandits, some of whom had been distinctly +recognized as Japanese.</p> + +<p>John Halifax recalled the first message of the evening before, in which +there was a mention of the Japanese. He quickly put the separate news +items together, and, after having glanced hurriedly at the messages in +the extra, turned to the managing editor and in a low voice, which +sounded strange and hard even to himself, said: "I believe this means +war!"</p> + +<p>The latter slapped him on the back in his brusque fashion, crying: "John +Halifax, we're not making war on Japan."</p> + +<p>"But they're making war on us," answered Halifax.</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to imply that the Japanese are surprising us?" asked the +editor, staring at Halifax.</p> + +<p>"Exactly, and it makes no difference whether you believe it or not," was +the reply.</p> + +<p>"The Japanese fleet is lying off the Pacific coast, there's no doubt +about that," remarked a reporter.</p> + +<p>"And, what's more, they're right in our country," said Halifax, looking +up.</p> + +<p>"Who? The fleet?" inquired Harry Springley in a lame effort to be funny.</p> + +<p>"No, the enemy," answered Halifax coldly; "the so-called bandits," he +added sarcastically.</p> + +<p>"But if you really mean it," began the editor again, "then it must be a +gigantic plot. If you think that the bandits—the Japanese——" he said, +correcting himself.</p> + +<p>"The Japanese outposts," interposed Halifax.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, the Japanese outposts, if you wish; if they have succeeded +in destroying all railway connections with the West, then the enemy is +no longer off our coast, but——"</p> + +<p>A stenographer now rushed into the room with a new message. The editor +glanced over it and then handed it to Halifax, who took the paper in +both hands, and, while all listened attentively, read aloud the +following telegram from Denver:</p> + +<p>"According to uncertain dispatches, Sunday's attacks on trains were not +made by gangs of robbers, but by detachments of Japanese troops, who +have suddenly and in the most incomprehensible manner sprung up all over +the country. Not only have single stations on the Union Pacific line +been seized, but whole towns have been occupied by hostile regiments, +the inhabitants having been taken so completely by surprise, that no +resistance could be offered. The rumor of a battle between the Japanese +ships and the coast defences at San Francisco has gained considerable +currency. The concerted attacks on the various trans-continental lines +have cut off the western States entirely from telegraphic communication +and in addition interrupted all railway traffic."</p> + +<p>The telegram shook in John Halifax's hands; he ran his fingers through +his hair and looked at the editor, who could only repeat the words +spoken by Halifax a few minutes before: "Gentlemen, I fear this means +war."</p> + +<p>Halifax collected the telegrams and went silently into his room, where +he dropped into the chair before his desk, and sat staring in front of +him with his head, full of confused thoughts, resting on his hands. +"This means war," he repeated softly. Mechanically he took up his pen +with the intention of putting his thoughts on paper, but not a line, not +a word could he produce under the stress of these whirling sensations. +Unable to construct a single sentence, he drew circles and meaningless +figures on the white paper, scribbled insignificant words, only to cross +them out immediately afterwards, and repeated again and again: "This +means war."</p> + +<p>Outside in the halls people hurried past; some one seized the door-knob, +so he got up and locked himself in. Then he sat down again. The fresh, +mild air blew in through the wide open windows, and the dull roar of the +immense crowds in the street, now swelling and now retreating, floated +up to him. His thoughts flew to the far West, and everywhere he could +see the eager, industrious Asiatics pouring like a yellow flood over his +country. He saw Togo's gray ships, with the sun-banner of Nippon, +ploughing the waves of the Pacific; he saw the tremendous many-hued +picture of a great international struggle; he saw regiments rush upon +each other and clash on the vast prairies; he saw bayonets flashing in +the sun; and he saw glittering troops of cavalry galloping over the +bleak plains. High up in the air, over the two great opposing hosts, he +saw the white smoke of bursting shells. He saw this gigantic drama of a +racial war, which caused the very axis of the earth to quiver, unraveled +before his eyes, and with ardent enthusiasm he seized his pen, at last +master of himself once more.</p> + +<p>Suddenly his mood of exaltation vanished; it seemed as though the sun +had been extinguished, and cold, dark shadows fell across the brilliant +picture of his imagination, subduing its colors with an ashy light. He +began slowly to realize that this did not only mean war, but that it was +his war, his country's war—a bitter struggle for which they were but +poorly prepared. At this thought he shivered, and the man who had +weathered many a storm laid his head down on both arms and cried +bitterly. The mental shock had been too great, and it was in vain that +they knocked at and shook his door. It was some time before John +Halifax recovered his self-possession. Then he lifted his head bravely +and proudly, and going to the door with a firm step, gave directions to +the staff with the calmness of a veteran general.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a><i>Chapter V</i></h4> + +<h4>FATHER AND SON</h4> + + +<p>Mr. Horace Hanbury paced restlessly up and down his study, and presently +stopped before a huge map on the wall and carefully traced the long +lines of the trans-continental railroads across the Rocky Mountains. +"Will Harriman sell? No, he'll buy, of course he'll buy; he'd be an +idiot if he didn't. Of course he'll buy, and Gould and Stillman will +buy, too. Well, there'll be a fine tussle in Wall Street to-day." Thus +he soliloquized, puffing thoughtfully at his short pipe. Then he picked +up the heap of narrow tape on his desk containing the latest news from +the West, and read the reports once more as the paper slipped through +his fingers.</p> + +<p>"This fiendish plot of the yellow curs seems to be a pretty clever one," +he murmured; "they've simply cut off all railway connections. I can't +help admiring the fellows—they've learned a lot since 1904." He threw +himself into his comfortable Morris chair, and after having carefully +studied the Stock Exchange quotations of Saturday, went once more to the +map on the wall, and marked several spots with a blue pencil; these he +connected by means of a long line which cut off the Pacific States of +Washington, Oregon, and California, and large districts of Nevada and +Arizona from all communication with points to the East. He then looked +at his watch and pressed one of the electric buttons on his desk.</p> + +<p>The door opened noiselessly, and an East Indian, dressed in the bright +costume of his native country, entered, and, crossing his arms, made a +deep bow. "When Mr. Gerald Hanbury returns, tell him I want to see him +immediately." The Indian disappeared, and Mr. Hanbury sat down on his +desk, folded his hands under his knees, and swung his feet to and fro, +puffing out the smoke of his pipe from between his teeth. "If only the +boy won't spoil everything with his ridiculous altruistic ideas— Ah, +Gerald, there you are!"</p> + +<p>"Did you send for me, father?"</p> + +<p>"Sit down, my boy," said the old gentleman, pointing to a chair; but he +himself remained sitting on the desk.</p> + +<p>The son was the very image of his father—the same slender, muscular +figure, the same piercing eyes, the same energetic mouth. "Well, father, +what do you think of it?"</p> + +<p>"Think of it? What do <i>you</i> think of it?"</p> + +<p>"Isn't it awful, this sudden attack on our country? Isn't it awful the +way we have been taken by surprise? Think of it, three of our States in +the enemy's hands!"</p> + +<p>"We'll soon get them back, don't worry about that," said the old +gentleman calmly.</p> + +<p>"Have you read the orders for mobilization?"</p> + +<p>"I haven't read them, and don't intend to."</p> + +<p>"Colonel Smiles told me just now that it will not be possible to +dispatch our troops to the West in less than three weeks. Fortunately +there are about a dozen ships of the Pacific fleet off the west coast, +and they will be able to attack the Japanese in the rear."</p> + +<p>"If there's still time," supplemented his father. "Anyhow, we can leave +these matters to others. It's none of our business; they can attend to +all that at Washington. War is purely and simply a question of finances +so far as the United States is concerned, and it's as plain as day that +we can hold out ten times longer than those yellow monkeys. That the +money will be forthcoming goes without saying; Congress will do all that +is needed in that direction, and the subscriptions for the war-loan will +show that we are fully prepared along that line. So let us drop that +subject. The question is, what shall we do? What do you propose doing +with our factory during the war?"</p> + +<p>"Go on working, of course, father."</p> + +<p>"Go on working—that is to say, produce surplus stock. If we go on +working we shall have goods on our hands which no one will buy, and be +compelled to store them. Ironclads, cannon, powder, uniforms, guns, +these are the things for which there is a demand now; whisky, too, will +be bought and bread will be baked, and the meat trust will make money +hand over fist; but do you suppose the United States Government is going +to buy our pianos to play tunes to the soldiers?"</p> + +<p>"But what about our workmen?" interposed Gerald.</p> + +<p>"Yes, our workmen," said the old gentleman, jumping energetically off +the desk and standing before his son with his legs wide apart and his +hands in his pockets: "Our workmen—that brings us to your favorite +subject, to which you devote your entire time and interest!" He +transferred his pipe into the right-hand corner of his mouth and +continued: "I intend to dismiss our workmen, my boy, and shut up shop; +we couldn't earn a cent more even if we kept the machines going. +Besides, our Government needs soldiers now, not workmen. Let your dear +workmen shoulder their guns and march to the West. When I was your age, +and starting in with one hundred and fifty dollars in my pocket, no one +offered me pensions for sickness and old age or insurance against +non-employment or whatever this new-fangled nonsense is called. We +ought to increase the energy of the people, instead of stuffing pillows +for them. A man who has anything in him will make his way even in these +times."</p> + +<p>"Father!" The young man jumped up from his chair and faced his father +with all the idealistic enthusiasm of youth.</p> + +<p>"Keep your seat, my boy, subjects of this nature can be better discussed +sitting."</p> + +<p>"No, father, I can't keep still. This question concerns four thousand +workmen and their families."</p> + +<p>"Three thousand of whom I shall dismiss at noon to-day," interrupted the +old gentleman decisively.</p> + +<p>"What! You don't mean to say you'll send three thousand workmen, quiet, +industrious, faithful, reliable workmen, begging to-day? Why, father! +That would be perfectly barbarous, that would be a crime against +humanity! The people have stuck by us in days of prosperity, and now +when our sales may perhaps," he emphasized the last word, "may perhaps +be diminished, you will stop the wheels and shut down the factory?"</p> + +<p>"Look here, my son, I'm not a socialists' meeting. Such sentiments may +sound very nice from the platform, but there's no need of your trying +your speeches on me. The question at issue is, shall we suffer the +consequences or shall they, and I don't mind telling you that I prefer +the latter. Do you suppose that I've worked hard all my life and worn +myself out for the express purpose of turning our factory into a +workingmen's home? No, my boy, I can't support you in your little +hobby."</p> + +<p>"But, father, capital and labor——"</p> + +<p>"O, cut out those silly phrases," interrupted the old gentleman +irritably, "Karl Marx and Henry George and all your other stand-bys may +be all right in your library, and help to decorate your bookshelves, but +I prefer to settle our practical problems on the basis of my experience +and not of your books. As manager and proprietor of our plant I want to +tell you that when the whistle blows at noon to-day I shall notify our +workingmen that in consequence of the totally unforeseen breaking out of +hostilities—here I shall insert a few words about the sacred duty of +patriotism and of defending one's country—we are unwillingly forced to +dismiss three thousand of our workmen. We'll pay wages for, let's say, a +fortnight longer, but then good-by to the men; we'll shut up shop, and +the thousand men that are left can finish the standing orders and any +new ones that may come in. And if no new ones turn up, then the +remaining workingmen will be dismissed at once. In the meantime I'll +subscribe one hundred thousand dollars to the war-loan, and then engage +passage on a Lloyd steamer, the most expensive cabins with every +possible luxury, for your mother, your two sisters, myself, and I hope +for you, too, and we'll be off to old Europe. Shall we make it the +Riviera? We've been there before, and, besides, it's a little too hot +there now—let's say Norway or Switzerland. In my humble opinion we had +better watch developments from a distance, and, as I said, I earnestly +hope that my only son and heir will join our party, unless he should +prefer to remain here and become a lieutenant in our glorious army and +draw his sword against the enemy? This is my final decision and the last +word I have to say on the subject, unless you think that some friend of +ours in the financial world may have a better suggestion to offer."</p> + +<p>"I should never have thought, father, that you could be so hard-hearted +and unfeeling, that you could be capable of ruining the lives of +thousands with one stroke of your pen. Your attitude towards the +relations between employer and employee is absolutely incomprehensible +to me; the socialistic conscience——"</p> + +<p>"Listen, my boy," said the old gentleman, going over to his son and +laying his hand gently on his shoulder: "I've always allowed you an +absolutely free hand in your schemes, and you know we've always tried to +meet our employees more than half way in all their wishes, but now it's +a question of who's to suffer—we or they? In times of peace there may +be some excuse for these nice socialistic ideas: they give a man a +certain standing and bring him into the public eye. There's a good man, +they say; he understands the demands of the times. But there's a limit +to everything. One man rides one hobby, and some one else another. One +keeps a racing-stable, another sports a steam-yacht, and still another +swears by polo or cricket, but these things must not be carried to +excess. The minute the owner of the racing-stable turns jockey, he +ceases to be a business man, and the same is true of the man who keeps a +racing-yacht and spends all of his time at the start, and, after all is +said and done, it's our business we want to live on. You've selected the +workingman as your favorite sport, and that also has its limits. If we +squander our hard-earned millions on socialistic improvements now, we'll +have to begin over again in about two years' time. I doubt whether I +should have sufficient genius left to discover a new piano-hammer, and I +entertain still more serious doubts as to your ability to invent a +panacea that will render the whole world happy and make you richer +instead of poorer. <i>Ergo</i>, we'll shut up shop. In Hoboken we'll sing +Yankee Doodle and as we pass the Statue of Liberty The Star Spangled +Banner, in token of farewell, and then off we go! If things turn out +better than we anticipate, we can come back, but this is my last word +for the present: At noon the following notice will be posted at all the +entrances and in all the rooms of our factory: 'Three thousand workmen +are herewith dismissed; wages will be paid for a fortnight longer, when +the factory will be closed indefinitely.' By the way, are you going to +the Stock Exchange to-day?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not in a mood for the Stock Exchange, father. If that is your last +word, then my last word is: I am your partner——"</p> + +<p>"So much the worse," said the father.</p> + +<p>"—and therefore have a right to dispose as I please of my interest in +the business. I therefore demand the immediate payment of so much of my +inheritance as will be required to pay the wages of the workmen you've +dismissed for at least another year, with the exception of the single +men who enter the army."</p> + +<p>"No, my boy, we won't do anything of the sort. Don't forget that I'm +running this business. According to the contract made when you came of +age, you may demand a million dollars upon severing your connection with +the firm. This sum will be at your disposal at the bank to-day at noon, +but not a cent more. What you do with it is a matter of complete +indifference to me, but let me remind you that ordinarily when a man +throws money out of the window, he at least likes to hear it drop."</p> + +<p>"That surely cannot be your last word, father, otherwise we must part."</p> + +<p>"All right, my boy, let's part till dinner-time. I hope to find you in a +more sensible frame of mind when the family assembles this evening. I've +told you what will be done in the factory in the meantime, and as for +our trip, we'll discuss that to-night with your mother. Now leave me, I +must get ready for Wall Street."</p> + +<p>The door closed noiselessly after Mr. Hanbury, Junior. "The scamp," said +the father to himself, "I can't help admiring him. Thirty years ago I +entertained just such ideas, but what has become of them!" He thought a +moment, passed his hand over his forehead, then jumped up quickly and +exclaimed: "Now to work!" He pressed a button on the desk, his secretary +entered, and the conversation that ensued dealt exclusively with coming +events in Wall Street.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a><i>Chapter VI</i></h4> + +<h4>A NIGHT IN NEW YORK</h4> + + +<p>The <i>New York Daily Telegraph</i> had already issued several regular +editions and a number of extras, without really having conveyed much +definite information, for the dispatches consisted for the most part of +rumors that arose like distant lightning on the western horizon, and it +was quite impossible to ascertain just where. A dark bank of clouds lay +over the Pacific States, completely shutting in the territory that had +been cut off from all communication, both by wire and rail. The natural +supposition was, that the Japanese outposts were stationed at the points +just beyond which to the east telegraphic communication had not yet been +interrupted, but the messages that were constantly pouring in from +places along this border-line revealed clearly that these outposts were +continually pushing further eastwards. A serious battle didn't seem to +have occurred anywhere. The utter surprise caused by the sudden +appearance of the Japanese troops, who seemed to spring up out of the +ground, had from the very beginning destroyed every chance of successful +resistance.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the first vague rumors of battles said to have been fought +at San Francisco, Port Townsend, and Seattle, had arisen, even these +sources of information ran dry. The question from where all the hostile +troops had come, remained as much of a riddle as ever. That was a matter +of indifference after all; the chief consideration was to adopt +measures of defense as speedily as possible.</p> + +<p>But the War Department worked slowly, and the news received from +headquarters at Washington consisted only of the declaration that the +regulars were going to be sent to the West immediately, that the +President had already called out the reserves, and that Congress would +meet on May eleventh to discuss means for placing the militia on a +war-footing and for creating an army of volunteers. The regular army! +Three States with their regiments and their coast-defenses had to be +deducted at the very start. What had become of them? Had they been able +to hold their own between the enemy and the coast? What had happened to +the Philippines and to Hawaii? Where was the fleet? None of these +questions could be answered, simply because all telegraphic connection +was cut off. The strength of the enemy was an absolutely unknown +quantity, unless one cared to rely on the figures found in the ordinary +military statistics, which had probably been doctored by the Japanese. +Was this the Japanese army at all? Was it an invading force? Could such +a force have pushed so far to the East in such a short space of time +after landing? The press could find no satisfactory answer to these +questions, and therefore contented itself with estimating the number of +American soldiers available after subtracting the three coast States. +The newspapers also indulged in rather awkward calculations as to when +and how the troops could best be dispatched to the invaded territory. +But this optimism did not last long and it convinced nobody.</p> + +<p>Another serious question was, how would the masses behave upon the +breaking-out of this sudden danger, and what attitude would be assumed +by the foreign elements of the population. It was most important to +have some inkling as to how the Germans, the Irish, the Scandinavians, +the Italians and the various people of Slavonic nationality would act +when called upon to defend their new country. It was of course +absolutely certain that the two great political parties—the Republicans +and the Democrats—would work together harmoniously under the stress of +a common danger.</p> + +<p>Francis Robertson, the well-known reporter of the <i>New York Daily +Telegraph</i>—called the Flying Fish on account of his streaming +coat-tails—had been on the go all day. He had scarcely finished +dictating the shorthand notes made on his last tour of inspection, to +the typewriter, when he received orders—it was at seven o'clock in the +evening—to make another trip through the streets and to visit the +headquarters of the various national and political societies. First he +went to a restaurant a few doors away, and in five minutes succeeded in +making way with a steak that had apparently been manufactured out of the +hide of a hippopotamus. Then he jumped into a taxicab and directed the +chauffeur at the corner of Twenty-ninth Street to drive as quickly as +possible through the crowd down Broadway. But it was impossible for the +chauffeur on account of the mob to move at more than a snail's pace, and +the cab finally came to a dead stop at Madison Square, which was packed +with excited people. Robertson left the cab and hurled himself boldly +into the seething mass of humanity, but soon discovered that if he +wished to make any progress at all he would have to allow himself to be +carried forward by the slowly moving crowd. At the corner of +Twenty-second Street he managed to disentangle himself and hurried +through the block, only to find a new crowd on Fourth Avenue.</p> + +<p>He intended to cross Fourth Avenue and then push on to Third Avenue, in +order to reach Tammany Hall by that route, but he was doomed to +disappointment, for the human stream simply carried him down Fourth +Avenue as far as Union Square, where it ceased moving for a time. +Presently it got under way again, proceeding even more slowly than +before, and Robertson soon found himself in the middle of the square, +being suddenly pushed against the basin of the fountain upon which he +climbed for the double purpose of regaining his breath and of looking +around to see if it were possible to make his way through to Tammany +Hall. In vain! His eyes were greeted by an interminable sea of heads and +hats, which did not offer the slightest chance of his being able to slip +through. The trees, the statues and the fountain in the square appeared +to be buried to a height of two yards in a black flood. He looked +longingly across Sixteenth Street over to Third Avenue, but nowhere +could he find an opening.</p> + +<p>He felt like a ship-wrecked mariner cast ashore on a desert island. The +sullen roar of the crowd echoed against the buildings enclosing the +square like the dull boom of the surf. Over on Third Avenue the yellow +lights of the elevated cars crossed the dark opening of Sixteenth Street +at regular intervals, and recalled to Robertson a piece of scenery at a +fair, where a lighted train ran continually between the mouths of two +tunnels in the mountains. He pulled out his note-book and by the light +of the electric arc-lamp made a note of the observation.</p> + +<p>Then he jumped down from the ledge where he had taken refuge and once +more joined the human stream. The latter, as if animated by a common +purpose, was moving downtown, and if Robertson's neighbors were properly +posted, it was headed for the Chinese quarter. It was evident that they +intended to vent their fury for the present on these allies of the +Japanese. This longing for revenge, this elementary hatred of the yellow +race kept the crowd in Union Square in motion and shoved everyone +without discrimination towards Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The square +resembled a huge machine, which by means of some hidden automatic power +forced tens of thousands of unresisting bodies into the narrow channels. +The crowd rolled on unceasingly. Here and there a hat flew off into the +air, came down again, bobbed up and down once or twice, and then +continued its journey somewhere else on the surface. It was fortunate +that those who had become insensible from the dreadful noise and the +foul, dusty air were unable to fall down; they were simply held up by +the close pressure of their neighbors and were carried along until a few +blocks farther on they regained consciousness. Nevertheless a few fell +and disappeared in the stream without leaving a trace behind them. No +pen could describe their terrible fate; they must have been relentlessly +ground to pieces like stones on the rocky bed of a glacier.</p> + +<p>Above this roaring stream of human beings there swept unceasingly, in +short blasts like a tearing whirlwind, the hoarse cry of a people's +passion: "Down with the yellow race! Down with the Japanese! Three +cheers for the Stars and Stripes!" The passionate cry of a crowd +thirsting for revenge rose again and again, as if from a giant's lungs, +until the cheers and yells of "down" turned into a wild, deafening, +inarticulate howl which was echoed and re-echoed a thousand times by the +tall buildings on both sides of the avenue. Now and then an electric +street-car, to which clung hundreds of people, towered like a stranded +vessel above the waving mass of heads and hats.</p> + +<p>Robertson decided to give up the idea of reaching Tammany Hall and to +drift with the crowd to the Chinese quarter. At Astor Place a branch of +the human stream carried him to the Bowery, where he found himself on +the edge of the crowd and was scraped roughly along the fronts of +several houses. He stood this for another block, but determined to +escape at the next corner into a side street. Before he could reach it, +however, he was crushed violently against the wall of a house and turned +round three or four times by the advancing throng; during this maneuver +his right coat-tail got caught on something and before he knew it, he +had left the coat-tail behind. At last he reached the corner and clung +tightly to a railing with his right hand, but the next moment he flew +like a cork from a champagne-bottle into the quiet darkness of Fifth +Street, bumping violently against several men who had been similarly +ejected from the current and who pushed him roughly aside.</p> + +<p>Robertson was bursting with rage, for just before he had been propelled +into Fifth Street, he had caught a glimpse of the grinning face of Bob +Traddles, of the <i>Tribune</i>, his worst competitor, only a few feet away. +The latter showed clearly how delighted he was at this involuntary +discomfiture of his rival in the mad race for the latest sensational +news. Robertson attempted for a while to get back into the current, but +all of his efforts proved futile. Then he tried at least to find out +what the people intended to do, and in spite of the contradictory +information he received, he was pretty well convinced that they were +really going to make an attack on the inhabitants of the Chinese +quarter. Although hopelessly separated from Tammany Hall by the +countercurrent of the human stream, he at last succeeded in reaching the +Eighth Street station of the Second Avenue Elevated, where he took an +uptown train to Forty-second Street. Then he walked over to Third Avenue +and took a downtown train, which was crowded to suffocation, as far as +Grand Street, for the purpose of reaching the Chinese quarter from the +uptown side. The trip had consumed fully two hours. At the crossing of +Grand and Mott Streets he found the entrance to the latter barred by a +line of policemen standing three deep. He showed his badge to a sergeant +and received permission to pass.</p> + +<p>The dead silence of Mott Street seemed almost uncanny after the noisy +roar of the mob, the echoes of which still rang in his ears. The +basements of the houses were all barricaded with shutters or boards, the +doors were locked, and there was scarcely a light to be seen in the +windows of the upper stories. A person paying his first visit to this +busy, bustling ant-hill of yore would, if he had not been reminded by +the peculiar penetrating smell of the yellow race of their proximity, +scarcely have believed that he was really in the notorious Chinese +quarter of New York.</p> + +<p>The policeman who acted as Robertson's guide told him that they had +known all about the movements and intentions of the mob long before it +had reached the police headquarters, by way of the Bowery and Elm +Street, and begun to force its way from the Bowery through some of the +side streets into the Chinese quarter. Fearing that the latter would be +set on fire, the chief of police had given orders to protect it from the +irresponsible mob by barricading the streets with all the available +members of the force. In this attempt, however, they had been only +partially successful. It was out of the question for six hundred men to +hold out against tens of thousands; the enormous pressure from the rear +had hurled the front rows like driftwood against the thin chain of +policemen, which, after a stubborn resistance, had simply been broken +through at several spots.</p> + +<p>A hand-to-hand fight had ensued and shots were soon fired on both sides, +so that the police had to content themselves with an effort to check the +worst excesses. Then, too, the spirit of patriotism was just as rampant +in the breasts of the police as it was in the breasts of those who urged +on the mob. As it was impossible to catch hold of the treacherous +invaders themselves, their natural allies should at least not escape +unscathed. The Chinese were of course prepared for such an attack. The +howling, raging mob found barricaded doors and windows wherever they +went, and even when they did succeed, after considerable labor, in +breaking these down, it was usually only to find that the birds had +flown, that the occupants had made their escape in time. Wherever +resistance had been offered by the Chinese, the mob had gone beyond all +bounds in its frenzy.</p> + +<p>"Several hundred Chinamen must have been killed," said the policeman, +"and it would be best for the papers to hush up what went on inside the +houses." Robertson and his companion stopped near a lamp-post, and the +former hurriedly made some shorthand notes of all the information he had +received.</p> + +<p>"Look," said the policeman, "Judge Lynch has done his work well," and he +pointed with his club to a lamp-post on the other side of the street +from which two dark bodies were hanging. "Simply hanged 'em," he added +laconically.</p> + +<p>As the policeman would not allow him to enter any of the houses because, +as he said, it meant certain death, Robertson decided to go to the +nearest telephone pay-station in order to 'phone his story to the paper. +The policeman went with him as far as the police-station. By the +uncertain light of the street-lamps they stumbled along the pavement, +which was often almost entirely hidden by heaps of rubbish and regular +mountains of refuse. They saw several more bodies suspended from +lamp-posts, and the blood on the pavement before many of the mutilated +houses testified eloquently to the manner in which the mob had wreaked +its vengeance on the sons of the Celestial Kingdom. Ambulance officers +were carrying away the wounded and dead on stretchers, and after +Robertson had stayed a little while at the police-station and received +information as to the number of people killed thus far, he walked in the +direction of Broadway, having found the entrance to the Subway closed.</p> + +<p>At Broadway he again came upon a chain of police, and learned that the +troops had been called out and that a battalion was marching up +Broadway.</p> + +<p>Robertson plunged once more into the seething human whirlpool, but made +little progress. For about fifteen minutes he stood, unable to move, +near a highly excited individual, who, with a bloody handkerchief tied +around his head and with wild gesticulations was reciting his +experiences during the storming of a Chinese house. This was his man. A +momentary lull in the roar around him gave him a chance of getting +closer to him and screaming into his ear: "I'll give you two dollars if +you'll step into the nearest hallway with me and tell me that story!"</p> + +<p>The man stared at him in astonishment but when Robertson added, "It's +for the <i>New York Daily Telegraph</i>," he was posted at once. They made +their way with considerable difficulty to the edge of the crowd and +managed to squeeze into a wide doorway full of people, whose attention, +however, was not directed to the doings on Broadway, but rather to a +meeting that was being held in a large rear room. Robertson managed to +find an unoccupied chair in a neighboring room, which was packed to the +door, and sitting astride it, proceeded to use the back of the chair as +a rest for his note-book. The story turned out to be somewhat +disjointed, for every time a push from the crowd sent the man flying +against the hard wall, he uttered a long series of oaths.</p> + +<p>"For Heaven's sake," said Robertson, "quit your swearing! Make a hole in +the wall behind you and hustle with your story!"</p> + +<p>"This'll mean at least a column in the <i>Telegraph</i>," mused Robertson as +the story neared its end. But he was already listening with one ear to +what was going on in the big room, whence the sharp, clear tones of a +speaker could be heard through the suffocating tobacco fumes. Over the +heads of the attentive crowd hung a few gas-lamps, the globes of which +looked like large oranges. Robertson gave his Mott Street hero the +promised two dollar bill and then made his way to the rear room. +Standing in the doorway, he could clearly distinguish the words of the +speaker, who was apparently protesting in the name of some workmen +against a large manufacturer who had at noon dismissed three thousand of +them.</p> + +<p>The orator, who was standing on a table in the rear of the room, looked +like a swaying shadow through the smoke, but his loud appeal completely +filled the room, and the soul-stirring pictures he drew of the misery of +the workmen, who had been turned out on the streets at the word of the +millionaire manufacturer, caused his hearers' cheeks to burn with +excitement.</p> + +<p>"—and therefore," concluded the speaker, "we will not submit to the +absolutely selfish action of Mr. Hanbury. As leader of our Union I ask +you all to return to work at the factory to-morrow at the usual hour, +and we will then assert our right to employment by simply continuing our +work and ignoring our dismissal. Of course the simplest and most +convenient thing for Mr. Hanbury is to shut down his plant and skip with +his millions to the other side. But we demand that the factory be kept +running, and if our wages aren't paid, we'll find means for getting +them. Our country cannot fight the enemy even with a thousand +millionaires. When the American people take the field to fight for the +maintenance of American society and the American state, they have a +right to demand that the families they are compelled to leave at home +shall at least be suitably cared for. Again I say: We'll keep Mr. +Hanbury's factory open."</p> + +<p>The air shook with thunderous applause, and a firm determination lighted +up hundreds of faces, wrinkled and scarred from work and worry. And who +would have dared oppose these men when animated by a single thought and +a common purpose? Again and again enthusiastic shouts filled the room, +and the speaker was assured that not a man present would fail to be on +hand the next morning.</p> + +<p>Leaning against the door-post, Robertson made notes of this occurrence +also and then looked round in a vain endeavor to find a means of escape +from the suffocating atmosphere. While doing so his glance fell on the +spot where only a few moments before he had observed the swaying shadow +of the speaker. The latter's place had been taken by another, who was +making a frantic but vain effort to secure quiet and attention. With his +arms waving in the air he looked through the murky atmosphere for all +the world like a quickly turning wind-mill.</p> + +<p>Gradually the applause ceased, while everybody in the room, Robertson +included, was startled by the announcement of the chairman that Mr. +Hanbury was most anxious to address the assemblage. A moment of +astonished silence and then Bedlam broke loose. "What, Mr. Hanbury wants +to speak?" "Not the old one, the young one!" "He must be mad. What does +he want here?" "Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" "Down with him! We don't +want him here, we can manage our own affairs!" "Let him speak!" "Three +cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" "Be quiet, damn you, why don't you shut up?" +These and other similarly emphatic shouts reached Robertson's ears. He +hunted for his last pencil in his vest-pocket, and when he looked up +again, he saw through the cloud of smoke a tall, refined person standing +on the table.</p> + +<p>"We don't want to be discharged! Don't let our wives starve!" the voices +began again, and it was some time before it became possible for the +speaker to make himself heard.</p> + +<p>"Is that really Mr. Hanbury?" Robertson asked one of his neighbors.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the son."</p> + +<p>"It seems incredible! He's taking his life in his hands."</p> + +<p>Gerald Hanbury's first words were lost in the uproar, but gradually the +crowd began to listen. He spoke only a few sentences, and these +Robertson took down in shorthand:</p> + +<p>"—The demand just made by your speaker, and supported by all present, +that my father's factory should not be shut down in these turbulent +times, was made by myself this very morning, the moment I heard the news +of the base attack on our country. I don't want any credit for having +presented the matter to my father in most vigorous fashion, and I regret +to say I have accomplished nothing thus far. But the same reasons which +you have just heard from the lips of Mr. Bright have guided me. I, too, +should consider it a crime against the free American people, if we +manufacturers were to desert them in this hour of national danger. I am +not going to make a long speech; I have come here simply to tell you +that I shall go straight to my father from here and offer him the whole +of my fortune from which to pay you your wages so long as the war lasts, +and not only those employed in the factory, but also the families of +those who may enter the army to defend their homes and their country."</p> + +<p>Such an outburst of passionate enthusiasm, such wild expressions of joy +as greeted this speech Robertson had never witnessed. The crowd screamed +and yelled itself hoarse, hats were thrown into the air, and pandemonium +reigned supreme. Mr. Hanbury was seized by dozens of strong arms as he +jumped down from the table and was carried through the room over the +heads of the crowd. After he had made the rounds of the hall several +times and shaken hundreds of rough hands, the group of workmen +surrounding the foreman on whose shoulders young Hanbury was enthroned +marched to the entrance, while the whole assembly joined in a marching +song.</p> + +<p>By pure chance Robertson found himself near this group as they came to a +halt before the door, just in time to save Mr. Hanbury from having his +skull smashed against the top. So they let him slide down to the ground, +and then the whole crowd made a rush for the Broadway entrance. Such a +jam ensued here, that another meeting was held on the spot, which, +however, consisted chiefly in cheers for Mr. Hanbury.</p> + +<p>Suddenly some one shouted: "We'll go with Mr. Hanbury to his father!" +Inch by inch they moved towards Broadway, whence a terrific roar and +wild shouts greeted the ears of the closely packed mass at the entrance.</p> + +<p>Robertson was standing close to Mr. Hanbury, whose face shone with happy +excitement. Just as they reached the entrance to the street, the crowd +outside suddenly started to run north in mad haste.</p> + +<p>"This is the proudest day of my life as an American citizen!" said +Robertson to Hanbury. Hardly had he finished the sentence, when a +crashing sound like thunder rent the air and resounded down the whole +length of Broadway, as if the latter were a cañon surrounded by +precipitous walls of rock.</p> + +<p>"They're firing on the people," burst from thousands of lips in the +wildest indignation.</p> + +<p>Some one shouted: "Pull out your revolvers!" and in response red sparks +flashed here and there in the crowd and the rattle of shots greeted the +troops marching up Broadway. The mob seemed to be made up largely of +Russians.</p> + +<p>Just in front of Robertson and Gerald Hanbury a young woman, who had +been wounded by a stray shot, lay on the pavement screaming with pain +and tossing her arms wildly about.</p> + +<p>"Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" came the loud cry once more from the +entrance. At this instant a big workman, apparently drunk, and dressed +only in shirt and trousers, stepped in front of the door, and swinging +the spoke of a large wheel in his right hand shouted: "Where's Mr. +Hanbury?" And some one shouted as in reply: "The blackguard has turned +three thousand workmen out on the streets to-day so that he can go +traveling with his millions." The workman yelled once more: "Where is +Mr. Hanbury?" Gerald moved forward a step and, looking the questioner +straight in the eye, said: "I'm Mr. Hanbury, what do you want?"</p> + +<p>The workman glared at him with wild, bloodshot eyes and cried in a +fierce rage: "That's what I want," and quick as a flash the heavy spoke +descended on Hanbury's head. The terrific blow felled Gerald to the +ground, and he sank without uttering a sound beside the body of the +wounded woman lying at his feet.</p> + +<p>Robertson flew at the drunken brute as he prepared for a second blow, +but some of the other laborers had already torn his weapon out of his +hand, and, as if in answer to this base murder, the troops discharged a +fresh volley only a hundred yards away, which was again received with +shots from dozens of revolvers.</p> + +<p>Robertson felt a stinging pain in his left arm and, in a sudden access +of weakness, he leaned for support against the doorway. His senses left +him for a moment, and when he came to, he saw a company of soldiers +passing the spot where he stood. The next instant the butt-end of a +musket pushed him backwards into the doorway.</p> + +<p>"This is madness!" he cried. "You're firing on the people."</p> + +<p>"Because the people are murdering and plundering downtown!" answered an +officer. Gradually the tumult calmed down. Another company passed by +Robertson, who had sat down on the step before the door. He examined his +arm and found that he was uninjured; a stone splinter must have struck +his left elbow, for the violent pain soon disappeared. The mob was +quickly lost to view up Broadway, while some ambulance surgeons appeared +on the other side of the street. Robertson called over to them and told +them Mr. Hanbury had been murdered, whereupon they crossed the street at +once.</p> + +<p>Gerald Hanbury's corpse was lifted on a stretcher.</p> + +<p>"How terrible, they've broken in his skull," said one of the surgeons, +and taking a gray shawl from the shoulders of the charwoman who was +writhing with agony, he threw it over the upper part of Gerald's body.</p> + +<p>"Where shall we take it?" asked one of the surgeons.</p> + +<p>"To Mr. Hanbury's house, two blocks north," directed Robertson, and +going up to one of the surgeons he added: "I'll take your place at the +stretcher, for you can make yourself useful elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"How about her?" asked one of the ambulance attendants, pointing to the +woman on the ground.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid we can't do much for her," replied one of the surgeons, "she +seems to be near death's door."</p> + +<p>Then the men lifted their burden and slowly the sad procession walked up +Broadway, which was now almost deserted.</p> + +<p>A few shots could still be heard from the direction of Union Square; to +the left the sky was fiery red while clouds of smoke traveled over the +high buildings on Broadway, shutting out the light of the stars. +Robertson looked back. The street lay dark and still. Suddenly far away +in the middle of the street two glaring white lights appeared and above +them flared and waved the smoky flames of the petroleum torches, while +gongs and sirens announced the approach of the fire-engines. And now +they thundered past, the glaring lights from the acetylene lamps in +front of the fire-engines lighting up the whole pavement. Streams of +light and rushing black shadows played up and down the walls of the +buildings. Next came the rattling hook and ladder wagons and the +hosecarts, the light from the torches dancing in red and yellow stripes +on the helmets of the firemen. And then another puffing, snorting +engine, with hundreds of sparks and thick smoke pouring out of its wide +funnel, hiding the vehicle behind it in dark clouds. They're here one +moment, and gone the next, only to make way for another hook and ladder, +which sways and rattles past. The clanging of the gongs and the yells of +the sirens grow fainter and fainter, and finally, through the clouds of +sparks and smoke the whole weird cavalcade was seen to disappear into a +side-street. Little bits of smoldering wood and pieces of red-hot coal +remained lying on the street and burned with quivering, quick little +flames.</p> + +<p>As they walked on the man next to Robertson told him why the troops had +been compelled to interfere. The excited mob which had tasted blood, as +it were, in the Chinese quarter and become more and more frantic, had +continued plundering in some of the downtown streets without any +discrimination—simply yielding to an uncontrollable desire for +destruction. As a result a regular battle ensued between this mob, which +consisted chiefly of Russian and Italian rabble, on one hand, and Irish +workingmen who were defending their homes, on the other. The Russian +contingent seemed to consist largely of the riff-raff which had found +such a ready refuge in New York during the Russian Revolution, and some +of these undesirable citizens now had recourse to dynamite. Some of the +bombs caused great loss of life among the Irish people living in that +part of town, and several policemen had also been killed in the +performance of their duty. It was at this point that the authorities +deemed it advisable to call out the troops, with whose arrival affairs +immediately began to take on a different turn.</p> + +<p>The soldiers did not hesitate to use their bayonets against the rabble. +At several corners they encountered barricades, but they hesitated +resorting to their firearms until several bombs were thrown among the +troops while they were storming a barricade defended by Russian +Terrorists. That was the last straw. With several volleys the soldiers +drove the gang of foreign looters up Broadway, where a volley discharged +near the spot where Gerald Hanbury had been murdered, dispersed the last +compact mass of plunderers.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the men had reached Mr. Hanbury's house and Robertson +rang the bell. Not until they had rung loudly several times did the +butler appear, and then only to announce gruffly that there was no one +at home. A policeman ordered him to open the door at once, so that Mr. +Hanbury's dead body might be brought in.</p> + +<p>"But Mr. Hanbury is at home, you can't possibly have his dead body +there!"</p> + +<p>"Tell Mr. Hanbury right away!" interrupted the policeman. "It's young +Mr. Hanbury, and he's been murdered. Open the door, do you hear!"</p> + +<p>Silently the heavy bronze door turned on its hinges and, with the +policeman in the lead, the men were ushered into the high marble +entrance-hall of the Hanbury palace. They carried the stretcher on which +lay the murdered body of the son of the house up the broad staircase, +the thick carpets deadening the sound of their steps. At the top of the +stairs they lowered their burden and waited in silence. Doors opened and +shut in the distance; from one of them a bright stream of light fell on +the shining onyx pillars and on the gilt frames of the paintings, which +in the light from strange swinging lamps looked like huge black patches. +Then the light from the door disappeared, a bell rang somewhere and +figures hurried to and fro. A fantastically dressed East Indian next +appeared and made signs to the ambulance-men to carry the stretcher into +a room which, in its fabulous, Oriental splendor represented one of the +most beautiful of the Indian mosques. The men carried their burden +carefully into the middle of the room and then set it down and looked at +one another in embarrassment. The policeman assumed a dignified posture +and cleared his throat. Suddenly the heavy gold-embroidered curtain +before one of the doors was pushed aside by a brown hand and fell back +in heavy folds; an old white-haired man stood for a moment in the +doorway and then advanced towards the officer with a firm step.</p> + +<p>The latter cleared his throat again and then began in a dry and +business-like tone to give his report of Gerald Hanbury's murder, +ending with the words "—and these gentlemen picked him up and brought +him here."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, gentlemen," said the old man, and taking out his +pocket-book he handed each of them, including Robertson, a twenty-dollar +bill. Then he sat down wearily on the edge of the stretcher and rested +his head in his hands. He seemed to be oblivious of his surroundings. +The men stood round for a few moments not knowing what to do, until +finally the policeman led the ambulance-men and Robertson to the door, +which opened automatically.</p> + +<p>As the Indian closed the door behind them the officer said to Robertson: +"This is like the last act in a Third Avenue melodrama."</p> + +<p>"Life has a liking for such plays," answered Robertson. As they left the +Hanbury mansion the clock of Grace Church struck midnight. Robertson +glanced down Broadway once more and saw that the long thoroughfare was +almost deserted; only here and there the bluish-white light from the +electric lamps shone on the bayonets of the sentinels patrolling up and +down at long intervals. Then he repaired to the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> +offices to dictate his notes, so that the huge rolls of printed paper +might announce to the world to-morrow that the first victims of the +terrible war had fallen on the streets of New York.</p> + +<p>The factory of Horace Hanbury & Son was not shut down.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a><i>Chapter VII</i></h4> + +<h4>THE RED SUN OVER THE GOLDEN GATE</h4> + + +<p>Too-oo-ot, bellowed the whistle of a big steamer that was proceeding +gingerly through the fog which enveloped the broad Bay of San Francisco +early on the morning of May seventh. The soft, white mist crept through +the Golden Gate among the masts and funnels of the ships made fast to +the docks, enveloped the yellow flame of the lanterns on the foremast in +a misty veil, descended from the rigging again, and threatened to +extinguish the long series of lights along the endless row of docks. The +glistening bands of light on the Oakland shore tried their best to +pierce the fog, but became fainter and fainter in the damp, penetrating, +constantly moving masses of mist. Even the bright eye on Angel Island +was shut out at last. Too-oo-ot, again sounded the sullen cry of warning +from the steamer in the Golden Gate—Too-oo-ot. And then from Tiburon +opposite the shrill whistle of the ferry-boat was heard announcing its +departure to the passengers on the early train from San Rafael. The +flickering misty atmosphere seemed like a boundless aquarium, an +aquarium in which gigantic prehistoric, fabulous creatures stretched +their limbs and glared at one another with fiery eyes. Trembling beams +of light hovered between the dancing lights on and between the ships, +rising and falling like transparent bars when the shivering sentries on +deck moved their lanterns, and threw into relief now some dripping bits +of rigging, and again the black outline of a deck-house as the sailor +hurried below for a drink to refresh his torpid spirits.</p> + +<p>The cold wind blew the damp fog into Market Street, forced it uphill and +then let it roll down again, filling every street with its gray +substance.</p> + +<p>Too-oo-ot, came the whistle from the Golden Gate again and further off +still another whistle could be heard. Over in Tiburon the ferry-boat had +calmed down, as it found itself unable to budge in the fog. One after +the other, the tower-clocks struck half-past four, the strokes sounding +loud and unnatural in the fog. From Telegraph Hill at the northern end +of San Francisco a splendid view could be obtained of this undulating +sea of mist. A few of the isolated houses situated in the higher parts +of the town looked like islands floating on the ever-moving glossy gray +billows, while the top stories of several sky-scrapers rose up here and +there like solemn black cliffs. A faint light in the east heralded the +approach of day. Too-oo-ot, sounded the whistle of the approaching +steamer once again; then its voice broke and died out in a discordant +sob, which was drowned in the nervous gang, gang, gang of the ship's +bell. The steamer had been obliged to anchor on account of the fog. +Too-oo-ot, came from the other steamer further out. Then life in the bay +came to a stand-still: nothing could be done till the sun rose and +brought warmth in its train.</p> + +<p>"This damned fog," said Tom Hallock, a telegraph boy, to his colleague, +Johnny Kirkby, as he jumped off his bicycle in front of the Post Office, +"this damned fog is enough to make one choke."</p> + +<p>Johnny muttered some unintelligible words, for he was still half asleep; +the effect of last night's eighteen drinks had not yet quite worn off. +"You can't see the nearest lamp-post," he blurted out after a while. "I +nearly ran into a company of infantry just now that suddenly popped up +in front of me out of the fog. What's going on this morning, anyhow? +What are they marching out to Golden Gate for?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you jay," said Tom, "naval maneuvers, of course! Are you blind? +Haven't you read the <i>Evening Standard</i>? There are to be naval maneuvers +this morning, and Admiral Perry is going to attack San Francisco."</p> + +<p>"This war-game is a crazy scheme," grumbled Johnny. They both left their +bicycles downstairs in a room in the Post Office and then went up to +their quarters on the first story.</p> + +<p>"Naval maneuvers?" began Johnny again. "I really don't know anything +about them. It was in last night's <i>Evening Standard</i>. It said that the +orders had been changed quite unexpectedly, and that the maneuvers would +take place outside the bay to-day."</p> + +<p>"It looks as though we'd have a long wait before daylight appears," said +Tom impatiently, pointing out of the windows, while Johnny tackled the +dilapidated tea-kettle in an effort to make himself an early morning +drink. Tom stamped up and down the room to warm himself, remarking: +"Thank the Lord it's Sunday and there isn't much going on, otherwise +we'd all get sick chasing around with telegrams in this beastly fog."</p> + +<p>Boom! The roar of a distant cannon suddenly made the windows rattle; +boom again! It sounded as though it came from the Fort. "There you are," +said Tom, "there's your naval maneuvers. Perry won't stand any nonsense. +He's not afraid of the fog; in fact, it gives him a fine chance for an +attack."</p> + +<p>Johnny didn't answer, for he had meanwhile dozed off. As soon as he had +with considerable trouble got his tea-kettle into working order, he had +fallen fast asleep, and now began to snore with his nose pressed flat +on the table, as if he meant to saw it through before his tea was ready.</p> + +<p>Tom shrugged his shoulders in disgust, and said: "Those blamed drinks."</p> + +<p>Another boom! from outside. The door opened behind Tom and a telegraph +official looked in. "One, two," he counted, "two are there," and then he +closed the door again.</p> + +<p>Downstairs in the street a motor-cycle hurried past puffing and +rattling, the rider's figure looking like a gigantic elusive shadow +through the fog.</p> + +<p>Tom started to walk up and down again as the clock in the hall struck a +quarter to five. A bell rung in the next room. Steps were heard coming +up the stairs and a colleague of the other two came in, swearing at the +fog. He passed Johnny, poured out some of the latter's tea for himself +and drank it, meanwhile looking at the sleeper inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"It's the drinks," said Tom, grinning.</p> + +<p>"H'm," growled the other. Another motor-cycle went by on the street +below, and then another.</p> + +<p>Later on a group of ten motor-cycles rode past.</p> + +<p>"Did you see that, Harry?" asked Tom, who was standing at the window.</p> + +<p>"What?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't they have guns?"</p> + +<p>"They probably have something to do with the naval maneuvers."</p> + +<p>At this moment another group of ten men passed, and there was no doubt +of the fact that they carried guns.</p> + +<p>"I guess it is the naval maneuvers," asserted Tom.</p> + +<p>Boom! came the sound of another shot.</p> + +<p>"That's queer," said Tom. "What do you suppose it is?" He opened the +window and listened. "Do you hear it?" he asked Harry, who admitted +that he could also hear a rattling, scraping noise as though drums were +being beaten far away or as though a handful of peas had been thrown +against a pane of glass.</p> + +<p>Tom leaned further out of the window in time to see a bicycle rider stop +in front of the Post Office, take a big sheet of paper, moisten it with +a large brush, and stick it on the wall near the entrance; then he rode +off. Tom shut the window, for the fog seemed to be getting thicker and +thicker, and now, in the pale light of approaching dawn, it was almost +impossible to recognize the yellow spots of light on the lamp-posts. By +this time Johnny had awakened and they all had some tea together.</p> + +<p>They were interrupted by a fourth messenger boy, who entered the room at +this moment and exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"That's a great scheme of Admiral Perry's, and the fog seems to have +helped him a lot. What do you think? He has surprised San Francisco. +There's a notice posted downstairs stating that the Japanese have taken +possession of San Francisco and that the Japanese military governor of +San Francisco asks the citizens to remain quiet or the city will be +bombarded from the harbor by the Japanese fleet."</p> + +<p>"Perry is a great fellow, there's no use trying to fool with him," said +Tom. "San Francisco surprised by the Japs—that's a mighty fine scheme."</p> + +<p>Outside some one was tearing up the stairs two at a time, doors banged +noisily, and several bells rang. "Somebody's in a h—- of a hurry," said +Harry; "we'll have something to do in a minute."</p> + +<p>A telegraph operator hurriedly opened the door and with great beads of +perspiration rolling down his face, shouted at the top of his lungs: +"Boys, the Japanese have surprised San Francisco."</p> + +<p>A roar of laughter greeted this piece of information.</p> + +<p>"Stung!" cried Harry. "Stung! Perry is the Jap."</p> + +<p>"Perry?" inquired the newcomer, staring at the other four. "Who's +Perry?"</p> + +<p>"Don't you know, Mr. Allen, that there are naval maneuvers going on +to-day and that Admiral Perry is to surprise San Francisco with the +fleet?"</p> + +<p>"But there are notices at all the street-corners saying that the +Japanese governor of San Francisco begs the citizens——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's where the joke comes in. Perry is going to attack the town +as a Jap—that's his scheme."</p> + +<p>"You haven't had enough sleep," cried Tom. "If all the Japs looked like +Admiral Perry, then——"</p> + +<p>Tom broke off short and dropped his tea-cup on the floor, staring +blankly at the door as if he saw a ghost. Just behind Mr. Allen stood a +Jap, with a friendly grin on his face, but a Jap all the same, most +certainly and without the slightest doubt a Jap. He looked around the +bare office and said in fluent English: "I must ask you to remain in +this room for the present." With these words he raised his revolver and +kept a sharp eye on the five occupants.</p> + +<p>Johnny jumped up and felt instinctively for the revolver in his hip +pocket, but in a flash the muzzle of the Jap's gun was pointed straight +at him and mechanically he obeyed the order "Hands up!"</p> + +<p>"Hand that thing over here," said the Jap; "you might take it into your +head to use it," and he took Johnny's revolver and put it in his pocket. +Several Japanese soldiers passed by outside. Mr. Allen sank down on a +chair; not one of them could make head or tail of the situation.</p> + +<p>They were kept waiting for half an hour. Down below in the street, where +the wagons were beginning to rattle over the pavement, could be heard +the steady march of bodies of soldiers, frequently interrupted by the +noise of motor-cycles. There could no longer be any doubt—the affair +was getting serious.</p> + +<p>The lamps were extinguished and the gray light of dawn filled the rooms +as the head Postmaster made his rounds, guarded by a Japanese officer.</p> + +<p>The official was perspiring profusely from sheer nervousness. He begged +the employees to keep calm, and assured them that it was no joke, but +that San Francisco was really in the hands of the Japanese. It was the +duty of the employees and the citizens, he said, to refrain from all +resistance, so that a worse misfortune—a bombardment, he added in a +whisper—might not befall the city.</p> + +<p>The men were obliged to give up any weapons they had in their +possession, and these were collected by the Japanese. At seven o'clock, +when these details had been attended to, and the few telegraph +instruments which were kept in commission were being used by Japanese +operators—all the others had been rendered useless by the removal of +some parts of the mechanism—one of the regular operators asked to be +allowed to speak to the Postmaster. Permission having been granted by +the Japanese guard, he told his chief, in a low voice, that the moment +the Japanese soldiers had taken possession of the telegraph room he had +hurriedly dispatched a message to Sacramento, telling them that San +Francisco had been surprised by the Japanese fleet and that the whole +city was occupied by Japanese troops.</p> + +<p>"I thank you in the name of our poor country," said the Postmaster, +shaking the operator's hand, "I thank you with all my heart; you have +done a brave deed."</p> + +<p>Just at the time when the operator sent off his telegram to Sacramento, +a little, yellow, narrow-eyed fellow, lying in a ditch many miles +inland, far to the east of San Francisco, connected his Morse apparatus +with the San Francisco-Sacramento telegraph-wire, and intercepted the +following message: "Chief of Police, Sacramento.—San Francisco attacked +by Japanese fleet this morning; whole city in hands of Japanese army. +Resistance impossible, as attack took place in thick fog before dawn. +Help imperative."</p> + +<p>The little yellow man smiled contentedly, tore off the strip, and handed +it to the officer standing near him. The latter drew a deep breath and +said: "Thank Heaven, that's settled."</p> + +<p>At the time of the occupation of the Post Office building, the Japanese +outposts had already spun their fine, almost invisible silver threads +around all the telegraph-wires far inland and thus cut off all +telegraphic communication with the east. The telegram just quoted +therefore served only to tell the Japanese outposts of the overwhelming +success of the Japanese arms at the Golden Gate.</p> + +<p>But how had all this been accomplished? The enemy could not possibly +have depended on the fog from the outset. Nevertheless an unusual +barometrical depression had brought in its train several days of +disagreeable, stormy weather. The Japanese had been fully prepared for a +battle with the San Francisco forts and with the few warships stationed +in the harbor. The fact that they found such a strong ally in the fog +was beyond all their hopes and strategical calculations.</p> + +<p>When the sun sank in the waves of the Pacific on the sixth of May, every +Japanese had his orders for the next few hours, and the five thousand +men whose part it was to attend to the work to be accomplished in San +Francisco on the morning of the seventh, disappeared silently into the +subterranean caves and cellars of the Chinese quarter, to fetch their +weapons and be ready for action soon after midnight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a><i>Chapter VIII</i></h4> + +<h4>IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH</h4> + + +<p>It was thought that the earthquake had done away forever with the +underground labyrinth of the Chinese quarter—those thousands of pens +inhabited by creatures that shunned the light of day, those mole-holes +which served as headquarters for a subterranean agitation, the +mysterious methods of which have never been revealed to the eye of the +white man. When had the old Chinatown been laid out; when had those +hidden warehouses, those opium dens and hiding-places of the Mongolian +proletariat been erected, those dens in which all manner of criminals +celebrated their indescribable orgies and which silently hid all these +evil-doers from the far-reaching arm of the police? When had the new +Chinatown sprung up? When had the new quarter been provided with an +endless network of subterranean passages, so that soon all was just as +it had been before the earthquake? No one had paid any attention to +these things. The Mongolian secret societies never paused for a moment +in their invisible conspiracy against the ruling whites, and succeeded +in creating a new underground world, over which the street traffic +rolled on obliviously.</p> + +<p>A narrow cellar entrance and greasy, slippery steps led into Hung Wapu's +store, behind which there was a chop-house, which in turn led into an +opium-den. The rooms behind the latter, from which daylight was forever +excluded, were reserved for still worse things. No policeman would ever +have succeeded in raiding these dens of iniquity; he would have found +nothing but empty rooms or bunks filled with snoring Chinese; the +abominable stench would soon have driven him out again, but if, by any +chance, he had attempted to penetrate further and to explore the walls +for the purpose of discovering hidden openings, the only result would +have been a story in the next day's papers about a "missing" policeman.</p> + +<p>Hung Wapu, whose plump face, with its enormous spectacles, resembled +that of an old fat boarding-house keeper, was standing at the entrance +to his cellar-shop late on the evening of May sixth. A disgusting odor +and the murmur of many voices reached the street from the cellar. The +policeman had just made his rounds, and Hung Wapu looked after him with +a cunning grin as his heavy steps died away in the distance.</p> + +<p>The coast was clear for two hours. Hung Wapu went in and locked the +door, above which a green paper-lantern swung gently to and fro in the +soft night wind. Hung Wapu passed through the store to the chop-house, +where several dozen Chinese were squatting on the ground dining on +unmentionable Chinese delicacies, which consisted of anything and +everything soft enough to be chewed. No one watching the vacant +expression of these people would have dreamed for a moment that anything +was wrong; no one observing these chattering, shouting sons of the +Celestial Kingdom would have guessed that anything out of the ordinary +was on foot. They kept on eating, and did not even look up when several +Japs stole, one by one, through their midst and disappeared through a +door at the back. The Japs apparently attracted no attention whatsoever, +but a keen observer would have noticed that Hung Wapu placed a little +saki-bowl on a low table for every Japanese visitor that had entered his +shop.</p> + +<p>The Japs all went through a side-door of the opium-den into a large +room, where they took off their outer clothing and put on uniforms +instead. Then they lay down to sleep either on the mats on the floor or +on the bundles of clothing which were stacked on the floor along the +walls of the room.</p> + +<p>Hung Wapu now accompanied one of his Chinese guests up the cellar-steps +to the street, and sitting down on the top step began to chat in a low +voice with his apparently half-intoxicated countryman. At the same time +he polished about two dozen little saki-bowls with an old rag, +afterwards arranging them in long rows on the pavement.</p> + +<p>The animated traffic in the narrow alley gradually died down. One by one +most of the gas-lamps closed their tired eyes, and only the green +paper-lantern above Hung Wapu's door continued to swing to and fro in +the night-wind, while similar spots of colored light were visible in +front of a few of the neighboring houses. Far away a clock struck the +hour of midnight, and somewhere else, high up in the air, a bell rang +out twelve strokes with a metallic sound. A cool current of air coming +from the harbor swept through the hot, ill-smelling alley.</p> + +<p>Hung Wapu went on whispering with his companion, and all the time he +continued to polish his little saki-bowls. After a while the visitor +fell asleep against the door-post and snored with all his might. Misty +shadows began to fall slowly and the lights of the street lamps took on +a red glow. Suddenly the figure of a drunken man appeared a little +distance away; he was carefully feeling his way along the houses, but as +soon as he came in sight of Hung Wapu's cellar, he suddenly seemed to +sober up for a minute and made directly for it. "Saki!" he stammered, +planting himself in front of Hung Wapu, whereupon the latter made a +sign. The drunken man, a Japanese, whose face looked ghastly pale in the +green light from the lantern, stared stupidly at the saki-bowls, which +Hung Wapu was trying to shield from the tottering wretch with his arm.</p> + +<p>"Twenty-eight bowls," he stammered to himself, "twenty-eight +saki-bowls——"</p> + +<p>At this moment the sleeping Chinaman awoke and looked at the drunken man +with a silly laugh.</p> + +<p>"Yes, twenty-eight saki-bowls; it's all right—twenty-eight saki-bowls," +repeated the drunken Jap, and reeled on along the houses.</p> + +<p>Hung Wapu seemed to have ended his day's work with the polishing of the +twenty-eight saki-bowls; he piled them up in a heap and disappeared with +them into his cellar, followed with extraordinary agility by the Chinese +sleeper. He hurried through the chop-house, the occupants of which were +all fast asleep on their straw mats, passed through the opium-den, and +then, in the third room, divested himself of his Chinese coat. The +silk-cap with the pigtail attached was flung into a corner, and then, +dressed in a khaki uniform, he seated himself at a table and studied a +map of the city of San Francisco, making notes in a small book by the +light of a smoky oil lamp.</p> + +<p>The drunken Jap, who had apparently had doubts about entering Hung +Wapu's chop-house, tottered on down the quiet street and made for +another paper-lantern, which hung above another cellar door about ten +houses farther on.</p> + +<p>Here too, curiously enough, he found the Chinese landlord sitting on the +top step. He wanted to push him aside and stumble down the steps, but +the Chinaman stopped him.</p> + +<p>"How much?" stuttered the drunken man.</p> + +<p>"How much?" answered the Chinaman. "How much money will the great +stranger pay for a meal for his illustrious stomach in Si Wafang's +miserable hut? Forty kasch, forty kasch the noble son of the Rising Sun +must pay for a shabby meal in Si Wafang's wretched hut."</p> + +<p>"Forty kasch? I'll bring the forty kasch, most noble Si Wafang. 'I won't +go home till morning, till daylight does appear,'" bawled the tipsy man, +and staggered on down the street, whereupon this landlord also +disappeared in his cellar, after extinguishing the paper lantern over +the doorway.</p> + +<p>A death-like stillness reigned in the street, and no one imagined that +the rats were assembling, that the underground passages were full of +them, and that it only needed a sign to bring the swarming masses to the +surface.</p> + +<p>A cold breeze from the sea swept through the deserted streets and a +misty veil enveloped the yellow light of the gas-lamps. The lanterns +hanging in front of the Chinese cellars were extinguished one by one, +and everyone apparently turned in. The fog became thicker and thicker, +and covered the pavement with moisture.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the door of Hung Wapu's cellar squeaked; it was opened +cautiously and a low clatter came up from below. Thirty dark forms crept +slowly up the steps, one after the other, and without a word they began +their march. Ten houses farther on a similar detachment poured out of +the other Chinese cellar and joined their ranks.</p> + +<p>The gas-lamps shed a dull, yellowish-red light on the gun-barrels of the +Japanese company, which was marching down to the docks.</p> + +<p>Two thousand steps farther on it had become a battalion, which marched +rapidly in the direction of the barracks of the Fifth Regiment of +regulars in the old Presidio. At the next corner the leader of the +battalion unobtrusively saluted a man in uniform who stepped suddenly +out of a doorway. A few Japanese words were exchanged in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"This is an unexpected ally," said the Japanese colonel, holding out his +hand in the dense fog.</p> + +<p>Four o'clock struck from the tower of the Union Ferry Depot, and out +from the sea, from the Golden Gate, came the bellowing voice of a +steamer's whistle. The two officers looked at each other and smiled, and +the troops continued their march.</p> + +<p>"Halloo!" shouted a roundsman to a policeman who had been leaning +against a lamp-post half asleep. "Halloo, Tom, wake up! Who are those +fellows over there; where the deuce are they going?"</p> + +<p>Tom opened his eyes, and up on the hill, a few blocks away, he could +faintly distinguish through the thick fog the outline of a group of +rapidly moving soldiers. "I guess they are some of our boys taking part +in the naval maneuver. You know, Perry's going to attack us to-day."</p> + +<p>"Well, I didn't know that," replied the roundsman. "They're great boys, +all right; up and about at four in the morning." Just then the angry +bellow from a steamer's whistle came across the water and abruptly ended +this early morning conversation.</p> + +<p>"I suppose that's Perry now," said Tom. "Well, he can't do much in this +beastly fog, anyway."</p> + +<p>"So long, Tom," answered the roundsman curtly as he slowly proceeded to +resume his interrupted rounds.</p> + +<p>An advance guard of a few men had been sent ahead. They found the sentry +at the barrack-gates fast asleep. When he awoke it was to discover +himself surrounded by a dozen men. He stared at them, still heavy with +sleep, and then reached mechanically for his gun; it was gone. He tried +to pull himself together, felt something cold pressed against his right +temple, and saw the barrel of a Browning pistol in the hand of the man +in front of him.</p> + +<p>"Hands up!" came the command in a low tone, and a few seconds later he +was bound and gagged. As he lay on the ground, he saw a whole battalion +of foreign soldiers half in the court-yard before the barracks, and +vague thoughts of naval maneuvers and surprises, of Admiral Perry and +the Japs went through his mind, till all at once the notion "Japs" +caused him to sit up mentally—weren't these men real Japanese? And if +so, what did it all mean?</p> + +<p>In the meantime double guards had occupied all the men's quarters, in +which Uncle Sam's soldiers began gradually to wake up. The guns and +ammunition had long ago passed into the hands of the Japs, and when at +last the reveille from a Japanese bugle woke up the garrison completely, +there was nothing to be done but to grind their teeth with rage and +submit to the inevitable. They had to form in line in the court-yard at +eight o'clock, and then, disarmed and escorted by Japanese troops, they +had to board the ferry-boats and cross over to Angel Island, while the +cannon on Fort Point (Winfield Scott) thundered out the last notes of +American resistance in San Francisco.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When, shortly after midnight, the guard had been relieved for the last +time, and only a few sleepy soldiers remained in the sentry-boxes of the +coast batteries of San Francisco, the enemy lay in ambush behind the +coast-line, ready, to the last man, to rise at a given signal and render +the unsuspecting American troops <i>hors de combat</i> in their sleep. And +thus, before the sentinels had any idea what was going on, they were +disarmed and gagged. Not a single cry or shot was heard to warn the +sleeping soldiers. They awoke to find themselves confronted by Japanese +bayonets and gun-barrels, and resistance was utterly useless, for the +enemy, who seemed to be remarkably well posted, had already taken +possession of the ammunition and arms.</p> + +<p>And where, all this time, was Admiral Perry with his fleet? Nowhere. The +Japanese had made no mistake in relying on the traditional love of +sensation of the American press. The telegram sent on May sixth from Los +Angeles to the San Francisco <i>Evening Standard</i> was nothing but a +Japanese trick. It notified the <i>Standard</i> that Admiral Perry intended +during the naval maneuvers (which were actually to take place within the +next fortnight) to gain an entrance through the Golden Gate, and the +Japanese felt certain that the editor would not make inquiries at the +last moment as to the veracity of this report, which was not at all in +accord with previous arrangements, but would print it as it was, more +especially as it was signed by their usual correspondent.</p> + +<p>Thus the Japanese had reason to hope that no immediate suspicions would +be aroused by the appearance of warships in the Bay of San Francisco. +And so it turned out. The five Japanese armored cruisers and the torpedo +flotilla, which were to surprise and destroy the naval station and the +docks, were able to cross the entire bay under cover of the fog without +being recognized and to occupy the docks and the arsenal. Four +mortar-boats threatened Point Bonita and Lime Point, till they both +surrendered.</p> + +<p>What could the two cruisers <i>New York</i> and <i>Brooklyn</i>, lying in dock for +repairs, do without a single ball-cartridge on board? What was the good +of the deck guards using up their cartridges before the red flag of +Nippon was hoisted above the Stars and Stripes?</p> + +<p>It is true there was a fight at one spot—out at Winfield Scott. +Although the fog proved of great assistance to the Japanese in a hundred +cases, the stipulated signal for attack, that is, the whistle of the +Japanese auxiliary cruiser <i>Pelung Maru</i>, for example, being taken for a +fog-signal, nevertheless an annoying surprise awaited the enemy +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>A steamer headed towards the Golden Gate in the wake of the <i>Pelung +Maru</i> heard the roar of the sealions, and as this showed how near they +were to the cliffs, the vessel dropped anchor and instead of blowing its +whistle ordered the ship's bell to be rung. This was heard by the +<i>Pelung Maru</i> a short distance ahead and interpreted as a sign that +something had occurred to disturb the plan of attack. A steamlaunch was +therefore sent out to look for the anchored ship.</p> + +<p>The latter was the German steamer <i>Siegismund</i>, whose captain, standing +on the bridge, suddenly saw a dripping little launch approaching with +its flag trailing behind it in the water. And just as in every cleverly +arranged plan one stupid oversight is apt to occur so it happened now. +The launch carried the Japanese flag and the lieutenant at the helm +called to the <i>Siegismund</i> in Japanese. As they were directly before the +guns of the American batteries, the German captain didn't know what to +make of it. He couldn't imagine what the launch from a Japanese warship +could be doing here at dawn before the Golden Gate fortifications, and +thinking that the fact would be likely to be of interest to the +commander of the fort, he sent him the following wireless message: "Have +just met launch of a Japanese warship off Seal-Rocks; what does it +mean?"</p> + +<p>This information alarmed the garrison at Winfield Scott, and the men at +once received orders to man the guns. Then they waited breathlessly to +see what would happen next.</p> + +<p>An inquiry sent by wireless to the other stations remained unanswered, +because these were already in the hands of the Japanese, whose operators +were not quick-witted enough to send back a reassuring answer. As the +commander of the fort received no answer, he became suspicious, and +these suspicions were soon justified when a number of soldiers were +discovered trying to force their way into the narrow land entrance of +the fort. A few shots fired during the first bayonet assault and the +bullets landing within the fort showed that it was a serious matter. +Besides, a puff of wind dispersed the fog for a few seconds just then, +and the shadowy silhouettes of several large ships became visible. +Without a moment's hesitation the commander of Winfield Scott ordered +the men to open fire on them from the heavy guns. These were the shots +that had been heard at the San Francisco Post Office and Tom was quite +right in thinking that he heard the rattle of musketry directly +afterwards.</p> + +<p>But with the small stock of ammunition doled out to the coast defenses +in times of peace—there were plenty of blank cartridges for salutes—it +was impossible to hold Winfield Scott. The fort sent out a few dozen +shells into the fog pretty blindly, and, as a matter of fact, they hit +nothing. Then began the hopeless battle between the garrison and the +Japanese machine-guns, and although the shots from the latter were +powerless to affect the walls and the armor-plating, still they worked +havoc among the men. And the ammunition of the Americans disappeared +even more quickly than their men, so that when at ten o'clock two +Japanese regiments undertook to capture the fort by storm, the last +defender fell with practically the last cartridge. Then the Rising Sun +of Dai Nippon was substituted on the flagstaff of Winfield Scott for +the Stars and Stripes.</p> + +<p>In the city itself small Japanese guards were posted at the railway +station, the Post Office and the telegraph offices, at the City Hall and +at most of the public buildings, and as early as this, on the morning of +May seventh, troops for the march eastward were being landed at the pier +at Oakland. A standing garrison of only five thousand men was left in +San Francisco, and these at once occupied the coast-batteries and +prepared them for defense. The same thing was of course done with the +docks and the naval station, with Oakland and all the other towns +situated on the bay.</p> + +<p>The sudden appearance of the enemy had in every case had a positively +paralyzing effect. Among the inhabitants of the coast the terrible +feeling prevailed everywhere that this was the end, that nothing could +be done against an enemy whose soldiers crept out of every hole and +cranny, and even when a few courageous men did unite for the purpose of +defending their homes, they found no followers. It is a pity that others +did not show the resolute courage of a Mexican fisherman's wife, who +reached the harbor of San Francisco with a good catch early on Monday +morning and made fast to the pier close to a Japanese destroyer. Almost +immediately a Japanese petty officer came on board and demanded the +catch for the use of the Japanese army. The woman, a coarse beauty with +a fine mustache, planted herself in front of the Jap and shouted: "What, +you shrimp, you want our fish, do you?" and seizing a good-sized silver +fish lying on the deck, she boxed the astonished warrior's ears right +and left till he fell over backwards into the water and swam quickly +back to the destroyer, snorting like a seal, amidst the laughter of the +bystanders.</p> + +<p>The question naturally suggests itself at this point: Why didn't a +people as determined as the Americans rise like one man and, arming +themselves with revolvers and pistols and if it came to the worst with +such primitive weapons as knives and spokes, attack the various small +Japanese garrisons and free their country from this flood of swarming +yellow ants? The white handbills posted up at every street corner +furnished the answer to the question.</p> + +<p>The municipal authorities were made responsible to the Japanese military +governor, who was clever enough to leave the entire American municipal +administration unaltered, even down to the smallest detail. Even the +local police remained in office. The whole civil life went on as before, +and only the machine-guns in front of the Japanese guard-houses situated +at the various centers of traffic showed who was now ruler in the land. +All the officials and the whole city administration were bound by a +marvelously clever and effective system.</p> + +<p>In the proclamations issued by the Japanese military governor the city +was threatened, should the slightest sign of resistance occur, with acts +of vengeance that positively took one's breath away. Three Japanese +cruisers, with their guns constantly loaded and manned and aimed +directly at the two cities, lay between Oakland and San Francisco. They +had orders to show no mercy and to commence a bombardment at the first +sign of trouble. It did not seem to have occurred to any one that +although the bombardment of a town like San Francisco by a few dozen +guns might indeed have a bad moral effect, it would nevertheless be +impossible to do much harm. But the Japanese had other trump cards up +their sleeves. The military governor declared that the moment they were +compelled to use the guns, he would cut off all the available supply of +water and light, by which means all resistance would be broken down +within twenty-four hours. For this reason all the gas-works and +electric plants were transformed into little forts and protected by +cannon and machine-guns. Tens of thousands might try, in vain, to take +them by storm; the city would remain wrapped in darkness, except, as the +Japanese general remarked with a polite smile to the Mayor of San +Francisco, for the bright light of bursting shells.</p> + +<p>In the same way the municipal waterworks in San Francisco and all the +other towns occupied by the Japanese were insured against attack. Not +one drop of water would the town receive, and what that meant could be +best explained to the Mayor by his wife. And thus, in spite of their +often ridiculously small numbers, the Japanese troops were safe from +surprise, for the awful punishment meted out to the town of Stockton, +where a bold and quickly organized band of citizens destroyed the +Japanese garrison, consisting only of a single company, was not likely +to be disregarded. The entire population of the Pacific Coast was forced +to submit quietly, though boiling with rage, while at the same time all +listened eagerly for the report of cannon from the American army in the +east. But was there such a thing as an American army? Was there any +sense in hoping when months must pass before an American army could take +the field?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The deception of the <i>Evening Standard</i> by means of the fatal telegram +was preceded by an instructive episode. Indeed, it might well be asked +whether anything that happened in this terrible time could not be traced +back pretty far. In order that the news of the naval maneuvers in the +<i>Evening Standard</i> should receive sufficient attention on the critical +day, this paper and consequently the inhabitants of San Francisco had +for some months past been taught to expect over the signature "Our +Naval Correspondent," amazingly correct accounts of the movements of the +American fleet and all matters pertaining to the navy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Alfred Stephenson had hard work to keep his head above water as +editor of the <i>Los Angeles Advertiser</i> at Los Angeles. The struggle for +existence gave him considerable cause for worry, and this was due to the +fact that Mrs. Olinda Stephenson wished to cut a figure in society, a +figure that was not at all compatible with her husband's income. Mr. +Stephenson was therefore often called upon to battle with temptation, +but for a long time he successfully withstood all offers the acceptance +of which would have lowered him in his own estimation. The consequence +was that financial discussion had become chronic in the Stephenson +household, and, like a Minister of Finance, he was compelled to develop +considerable energy in order to diminish the financial demands of the +opposition or render them void by having recourse to passive resistance. +This constant worry gradually exhausted Mr. Stephenson, however, and the +check-book, which, to save his face, he always carried with him, was +nothing more than a piece of useless bluff.</p> + +<p>He could therefore scarcely be blamed for eagerly seizing the +opportunity offered him one evening at a bar in Los Angeles, when a +stranger agreed to furnish him regularly with news from the Navy +Department for the <i>Evening Standard</i>. The affair had, of course, to be +conducted with the greatest secrecy. The stranger told Stephenson that a +clerk in the Navy Department was willing to send him such news for two +hundred dollars per annum. The result was astonishing. The articles +signed "Our Naval Correspondent" soon attracted wide attention, and the +large fees received from San Francisco quite covered the deficits in the +Stephenson household. Mrs. Olinda was soon rolling in money and the +tiresome financial discussions came to a speedy end. From that time on +Stephenson regularly received secret communications, which were mailed +at Pasadena, and as to the origin of which he himself remained in +complete ignorance. But these same messages enabled the <i>Evening +Standard</i> in a brief space of time to establish a national reputation +for its naval news, which was at no time officially contradicted.</p> + +<p>The matter did not, of course, pass unnoticed in Washington, for it soon +became evident that secret dispatches were being misappropriated. +Vigorous efforts were made to discover the guilty person in the Navy +Department, but they all proved vain for the following reason: Among the +wireless stations used for maintaining constant communication between +the Navy Department at Washington and the various naval ports and naval +stations, and the fleet itself when at sea, was the large station on +Wilson's Peak near the observatory, whose shining tin-roof can be seen +plainly from Los Angeles when the sun strikes it. All messages arriving +there for transmission to San Diego and Mare Island could be readily +intercepted by the wireless apparatus attached inconspicuously to the +huge wind-wheel on an orange plantation between Pasadena and Los +Angeles. The uninitiated would have concluded that the wires had +something to do with a lightning-rod. The Japanese proprietor of the +plantation had simply to read the messages from the Morse key of his +apparatus and forward what he considered advisable to Mr. Stephenson by +mail. A few hours later the <i>Evening Standard</i> was in a position to make +a scoop with the dispatches of its infallible naval correspondent.</p> + +<p>Thus Stephenson, without having the slightest suspicion of it, formed a +wheel in the great chain which prepared the way for the enemy, and since +the <i>Evening Standard</i> had earned a reputation for publishing +absolutely reliable news in this field, no one for a moment doubted the +announcement of Admiral Perry's attack, although this was the first +spurious message which Stephenson had furnished to his paper.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a><i>Chapter IX</i></h4> + +<h4>A FORTY-EIGHT-HOUR BALANCE</h4> + + +<p>A steamer is lying at the pier taking in cargo. Long-legged cranes are +taking hold of bales and barrels and boxes and lowering them through the +ship's hatches with a rattle of chains. Wooden cases bound with steel +ropes and containing heavy machinery are being hoisted slowly from the +lorries on the railway tracks; the swaying burden is turning round and +round in the air, knocking against the railing with a groaning noise, +and tearing off large splinters of wood. The overseer is swearing at the +men at the windlass and comparing his papers with the slips of the +customs officer, the one making a blue check on the bill of lading and +the other taking note of each article on his long list. Suddenly a small +box comes to light, which has been waiting patiently since yesterday +under the sheltering tarpaulin. "A box of optical instruments," says the +customs officer, making a blue check. "A box of optical instruments," +repeats the overseer, making a mark with his moistened pencil-stump: +"Careful!" he adds, as a workman is on the point of tipping the heavy +box over. Then the hook of the crane seizes the loop in the steel rope +and with a stuttering rattling sound the wheels of the windlass set to +work, the steel wire grips the side of the box tightly, the barrel +beside it is pushed aside, and a wooden case enclosing a piece of +cast-iron machinery is scraped angrily over the slippery cobble-stones. +Heave ho, heave ho, chant the men, pushing with all their might. To the +accompaniment of splashing drops of oily water, puffs of steam, groans +of the windlass and the yells and curses of the stevedores, the whole +load, including the box of optical instruments, at last disappears in +the hold of the ship. It is placed securely between rolls of cardboard +next to some nice white boxes filled with shining steel goods. But when +the noise up above has died down, when with the approach of darkness the +rattling of the chains and the groaning of the windlasses has ceased, +when only the slow step of the deck-watch finds an echo—then it can be +heard. Inside the box you can hear a gentle but steady tick, tick, tick. +The clock-work is wound up and set to the exact second. Tick, tick, tick +it goes. When the ship is far out at sea and the passengers are asleep +and the watch calls out: "Lights are burning. All's well!" then the +works will have run down, the spring will stop and loosen a little +hammer. Ten kilograms of dynamite suffice. A quarter of an hour later +there'll be nothing left of the proud steamer but a few boats loaded +down with people and threatening every moment to be engulfed in the +waves.</p> + +<p>Tick, tick, tick, it goes down in the hold; the clock is set. Tick, +tick, tick, it goes on unceasingly, till the unknown hour arrives. No +one suspects the true nature of a piece of the cargo which certainly +looked innocent enough. Yet the hour is bound to come sooner or later, +but no one knows just when.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Nor had the country at large recognized that the hour was at hand. In +the time that it took the short hand of the clock to complete its round +four times, our country had completely changed its complexion, and the +balance drawn by the press on Tuesday morning after an interval of +forty-eight hours, had a perfectly crushing effect. Of course the +appearance of the enemy in the West at once produced a financial panic +in New York. On Monday morning the Wall Street stock-quotations of the +trans-continental railroads fell to the lowest possible figure, +rendering the shares about as valuable as the paper upon which they were +printed. Apparently enormous numbers of shares had been thrown on the +market in the first wild panic, but an hour after the opening of the +Stock Exchange, after billions had changed hands in mad haste, a slight +rise set in as a result of wholesale purchases by a single individual. +Yet even before this fact had been clearly recognized, the railway +magnates of the West had bought up all the floating stock without +exception. They could afford to wait for the millions they would pocket +until the American army had driven the enemy from the country.</p> + +<p>At the same time selling orders came pouring in from the other side by +way of London. The Old World lost no time in trying to get rid of its +American stocks, and the United States were made to realize that in the +hour of a political catastrophe every nation has to stand on its own +feet, and that all the diplomatic notes and the harmless +sentimentalities of foreign states will avail nothing. So it was after +the terrible night of Port Arthur and so it was now.</p> + +<p>It was of course as yet impossible to figure out in detail how the +Japanese had managed to take possession of the Pacific States within +twenty-four hours. But from the dispatches received from all parts of +the country during the next few days and weeks the following picture +could be drawn. The number of Japanese on American soil was in round +numbers one hundred thousand. The Japanese had not only established +themselves as small tradesmen and shopkeepers in the towns, but had also +settled everywhere as farmers and fruit-growers; Japanese coolies and +Mongolian workmen were to be found wherever new buildings were going up +as well as on all the railways. The yellow flood was threatening to +destroy the very foundations of our domestic economy by forcing down all +wage-values. The yellow immigrant who wrested spade and shovel, ax and +saw, from the American workman, who pushed his way into the factory and +the workshop and acted as a heartless strike breaker, was not only found +in the Pacific States but had pushed his way across the Rockies into the +very heart of the eastern section. And scarcely had he settled anywhere, +before, with the typical Tsushima grin, he demanded his political +rights. The individual Jap excited no suspicion and did not become +troublesome, but the Mongolians always managed to distribute their +outposts on American soil in such a way that the Japanese element never +attracted undue attention in any one particular spot. Nevertheless they +were to be found everywhere.</p> + +<p>We had often been told that every Japanese who landed on the Pacific +Coast or crossed the Mexican or Canadian borders was a trained soldier. +But we had always regarded this fact more as a political curiosity or a +Japanese peculiarity than as a warning. We never for a moment realized +that this whole immigration scheme was regulated by a perfect system, +and that every Japanese immigrant had received his military orders and +was in constant touch with the secret military centers at San Francisco, +who at stated periods sent out Japanese traders and agents—in reality +they were officers of the general staff, who at the same time made +important topographical notes for use in case of war—to control their +movements. Both the lumber companies in the State of Washington, which +brought hundreds of Japanese over from Canada, and the railways which +employed Japanese workmen were equally ignorant of the fact that they +had taken a Japanese regiment into their employ.</p> + +<p>Thus preparations for the coming war were conducted on a large scale +during the year 1907, until the ever-increasing flow of Japanese +immigrants finally led to those conflicts with which we are familiar. At +the time we regarded it as a triumph of American diplomacy when Japan, +in the face of California's threatening attitude, apparently gave in +after a little diplomatic bickering and issued the well-known +proclamation concerning emigration to Hawaii and the Pacific States, at +the same time dissolving several emigration companies at home.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact Japan had already completed her military +preparations in our country in times of absolute peace, the sole +difficulty experienced being in connection with the concentration of the +remaining coolie importations. The Japanese invasion, which our +politicians dismissed as possible only in the dim and distant future, +was actually completed at the beginning of the year 1908. A Japanese +army stood prepared and fully armed right in our midst, merely waiting +until the military and financial conditions at home rendered the attack +feasible.</p> + +<p>When we glance to-day through the newspapers of that period, we cannot +help but smile at allowing ourselves to be persuaded that the Japanese +danger had been removed by the diplomatic retreat in Tokio and the +prohibition of emigration to North America. Our papers stated at the +time that Japan had recognized that she had drawn the bow too tight and +that she had yielded because Admiral Evans's fleet had demonstrated +conclusively that we were prepared. That only goes to show how little we +knew of the Mongolian character!</p> + +<p>We had become so accustomed to the large Japanese element in the +population of our Western States, that we entirely neglected to control +the harmless looking individuals. To be sure there wasn't a great deal +to be seen on the surface, but it would have been interesting to examine +some of the goods smuggled so regularly across the Mexican and Canadian +borders. Why were we content to allow the smuggling to continue without +interference, simply because we felt it couldn't be stamped out anyhow? +The Japanese did not resort to the hackneyed piano-cases and farming +machinery; they knew better than to employ such clumsy methods. The +goods they sent over the line consisted of neat little boxes full of +guns and other weapons which had been taken apart. And when a Japanese +farmer ordered a hay-cart from Canada, it was no pure chance that the +remarkably strong wheels of this cart exactly fitted a field-gun. The +barrel was brought over by a neighbor, who ordered iron columns for his +new house, inside of which the separate parts of the barrel were +soldered. It was in this way that, in the course of several years, the +entire equipment for the Japanese army came quietly and inconspicuously +across our borders.</p> + +<p>And then the Japanese are so clever, clever in putting together and +mounting their guns, clever in disguising them. Did it ever enter +anyone's head that the amiable landlord who cracked so many jokes at the +Japanese inn not far from the railroad station at Reno commanded a +battalion? Did anyone suppose that the casks of California wine in his +cellar in reality enclosed six machine-guns, and that in the yard behind +the house there was sufficient material to equip an entire company of +artillery inside of two hours, and that plenty of ammunition was stored +away in the attic in boxes and trunks ostensibly left by travelers to be +held until called for? As long as there's sufficient time at disposal, +all these things can be imported into the country bit by bit, and +without ever coming into conflict with the government.</p> + +<p>Things began to stir about the end of April. A great many Japs were +traveling about the country, but there was no reason why this +circumstance should have attracted special notice in a country like ours +where so much traveling is constantly done. The enemy were assembling. +The people arrived at the various stations and at once disappeared in +the country, bound for the different headquarters in the solitudes of +the mountains. There each one found his ammunition, his gun and his +uniform exactly as it was described in Japanese characters on the paper +which he had received on landing, and which had more than once been +officially revised or supplemented as the result of information received +from chance acquaintances who had paid him a visit.</p> + +<p>Everything worked like a charm; there wasn't a hitch anywhere. No one +had paid any particular attention to the fact, for example, in +connection with the fair to be held in the small town of Irvington on +May eighth, that numerous carts with Japanese farmers had arrived on the +Saturday before and that they had brought several dozen horses with +them. And who could object to their putting up at the Japanese inn +which, with its big stables, was specially suited to their purpose. At +first the Japanese owner had been laughed at, but later on he was +admired for his business ability in keeping the horse trade of Irvington +entirely in his own hands.</p> + +<p>When on the following day during church hours—the Japanese being +heathens—the streets lay deserted in their Sunday calm, the few people +who happened to be on Main Street and saw a field battery consisting of +six guns and six ammunition wagons turn out of the gate next to the +Japanese inn thought they had seen an apparition. The battery started +off at once at a sharp trot and left the town to take up a position out +in a field in the suburbs, where a dozen men were already busily at work +with spades and pick-axes digging a trench.</p> + +<p>The police of Irvington were at once notified, a sleepy official at the +Post Office was roused out of his slumbers, and a telegram was directed +to the nearest military post, but the latter proceeding was useless and +no answer was received, since the copper wires were long ago in the +control of the enemy. Even if it had got through, the telegraphic +warning would have come too late, for the military post in question, of +which half of the troops were, as usual, on leave, had been attacked and +captured by the Japanese at nine o'clock in the morning.</p> + +<p>A hundred thousand Japanese had established the line of an eastern +advance-guard long before the Pacific States had any idea of what was +up. During Sunday, after the capture of San Francisco, the occupation of +Seattle, San Diego and the other fortified towns on the coast, the +landing of the second detachment of the Japanese army began, and by +Monday evening the Pacific States were in the grip of no less than one +hundred and seventy thousand men.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When, on Sunday morning, the Japanese had cut off the railway +connections, they adopted the plan of allowing all trains going from +east to west to pass unmolested, so that there was soon quite a +collection of engines and cars to be found within the zone bounded by +the Japanese outposts. On the other hand, all the trains running +eastward were held up, some being sent back and others being used for +conveying the Japanese troops to advance posts or for bringing the +various lines of communication into touch with one another. In some +cases these trains were also used for pushing boldly much farther east, +the enemy thus surprising and overpowering a number of military posts +and arsenals in which the guns and ammunition for the militia were +stored.</p> + +<p>Only in a very few instances did this gigantic mechanism fail. One of +these accidents occurred at Swallowtown, where the mistake was made of +attacking the express-train to Umatilla instead of the local train to +Pendleton. The lateness of the former and the occupation of the station +too long before the expected arrival of the latter, and coupled to this +the heroic deed of the station-master, interfered unexpectedly with the +execution of the plan. The reader will remember that when the express +returned to Swallowtown, Tom's shanty was empty. The enemy had +disappeared and had taken the two captive farmers with them. The mounted +police, who had been summoned immediately from Walla Walla, found the +two men during the afternoon in their wagon, bound hand and foot, in a +hollow a few miles to the west of the station. They also discovered a +time-table of the Oregon Railway in the wagon, with a note in Japanese +characters beside the time for the arrival of the local train from +Umatilla. This time-table had evidently been lost by the leader of the +party on his flight. Soon after the police had returned to the +Swallowtown station that same evening, a Japanese military train passed +through, going in the direction of Pendleton. The train was moving +slowly and those within opened fire on the policeman, who lost no time +in replying. But the odds were too great, and it was all over in a few +minutes.</p> + +<p>By Monday evening the enemy had secured an immense quantity of railway +material, which had simply poured into their arms automatically, and +which was more than sufficient for their needs.</p> + +<p>The information received from Victoria (British Columbia) that a fleet +had been sighted in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, whence it was said +to have proceeded to Port Townsend and Puget Sound, was quite correct. A +cruiser squadron had indeed passed Esquimault and Victoria at dawn on +Sunday, and a few hours later firing had been heard coming from the +direction of Port Townsend. The British harbor officials had suddenly +become extremely timid and had not allowed the regular steamer to leave +for Seattle. When, therefore, on Monday morning telegraphic inquiries +came from the American side concerning the foreign warships, which, by +the way, had carried no flag, ambiguous answers could be made without +arousing suspicion. Considerable excitement prevailed in Victoria on +account of the innumerable vague rumors of the outbreak of war; the +naval station, however, remained perfectly quiet. On Monday morning a +cruiser started out in the direction of Port Townsend, and after +exchanging numerous signals with Esquimault, continued on her course +towards Cape Flattery and the open sea. It will be seen, therefore, that +no particular zeal was shown in endeavoring to get at the bottom of the +matter.</p> + +<p>A battle between the Japanese ships and the forts of Port Townsend had +actually taken place. Part of the hostile fleet had escorted the +transport steamers to Puget Sound and had there found the naval depots +and the fortifications, the arsenal and the docks in the hands of their +countrymen, who had also destroyed the second-class battleship <i>Texas</i> +lying off Port Orchard by firing at her from the coast forts previously +stormed and captured by them. They had surprised Seattle at dawn much in +the same way as San Francisco had been surprised, and they at once +began to land troops and unload their war materials. On the other hand, +an attempt to surprise Port Townsend with an insufficient force had +failed. The Americans had had enough sense to prohibit the Japanese from +coming too near to the newly armed coast defenses, and the better watch +which the little town had been able to keep over the Asiatics had made +it difficult for them to assemble a sufficiently large fighting +contingent. The work here had to be attended to by the guns, and the +enemy had included this factor in their calculations from the beginning.</p> + +<p>How thoroughly informed the Japanese were as to every detail of our +coast defenses and how well acquainted they were with each separate +battery, with its guns as well as with its ammunition, was clearly +demonstrated by the new weapon brought into the field in connection with +the real attack on the fortifications. Of course Japanese laborers had +been employed in erecting the works—they worked for such ridiculously +low wages, those Japanese engineers disguised as coolies. With the eight +million two hundred thousand dollars squeezed out of Congress in the +spring of 1908—in face of the unholy fear on the part of the nation's +representatives of a deficit, it had been impossible to get more—two +new mortar batteries had been built on the rocky heights of Port +Townsend. These batteries, themselves inaccessible to all ships' guns, +were in a position to pour down a perpendicular fire on hostile decks +and could thus make short work of every armored vessel.</p> + +<p>Now the Japanese had already had a very unpleasant experience with the +strong coast fortifications of Port Arthur. In the first place, +bombarding of this nature was very injurious to the bores of the ships' +guns, and secondly, the results on land were for the most part nominal. +Not without reason had Togo tried to get at the shore batteries of Port +Arthur by indirect fire from Pigeon Bay. But even that, in spite of +careful observations taken from the water, had little effect. And even +the strongest man-of-war was helpless against the perpendicular fire of +the Port Townsend mortar batteries, because it was simply impossible for +its guns, with their slight angle of elevation, to reach the forts +situated so high above them. And if the road to Seattle, that important +base of operations in the North, was not to be perpetually menaced, then +Port Townsend must be put out of commission.</p> + +<p>But for every weapon a counter-weapon is usually invented, and every new +discovery is apt to be counterbalanced by another. The world has never +yet been overturned by a new triumph of skill in military technics, +because it is at once paralyzed by another equally ingenious. And now, +at Port Townsend, very much the same thing happened as on March ninth, +1862. In much the same way that the appearance of the <i>Merrimac</i> had +brought destruction to the wooden fleet until she was herself forced to +flee before Ericsson's <i>Monitor</i> at Hampton Roads, so now at Port +Townsend on May seventh a new weapon was made to stand the crucial test. +Only this time we were not the pathfinders of the new era.</p> + +<p>While the Japanese cruisers, keeping carefully beyond the line of fire +from the forts, sailed on to Seattle, four ships were brought into +action against the mortar batteries of Port Townsend which appeared to +set at defiance all known rules of ship-building, and which, +indestructible as they were, threatened to annihilate all existing +systems. They were low vessels which floated on the water like huge +tortoises. These mortar-boats, which were destined to astound not only +the Americans but the whole world, had been constructed in Japanese +shipyards, to which no stranger had ever been admitted. In place of the +ordinary level-firing guns found on a modern warship, these uncanny gray +things carried 17.7-inch howitzers, a kind of mortar of Japanese +construction. There was nothing to be seen above the low deck but a +short heavily protected funnel and four little armored domes which +contained the sighting telescopes for the guns, the mouths of which lay +in the arch of the whaleback deck. Four such vessels had also been +constructed for use at San Francisco, but the quick capture of the forts +had rendered the mortar-boats unnecessary.</p> + +<p>We were constantly being attacked in places where no thought had been +given to the defense, and the fortifications we did possess were never +shot at from the direction they faced. Our coast defenses were +everywhere splendidly protected against level-firing guns, which the +Japanese, however, unfortunately refrained from using. With their +mortar-boats they attacked our forts in their most vulnerable spot, that +is, from above. With the exception of Winfield Scott, the batteries at +Port Townsend were the only ones on our western coast which at once +construed the appearance of suspicious-looking ships on May seventh as +signs of a Japanese attack, and they immediately opened fire on the four +Japanese cruisers and on the transport steamers. But before this fire +had any effect, the hostile fleet changed its course to the North and +the four mortar-boats began their attack. They approached to within two +nautical miles and opened fire at once.</p> + +<p>What was the use of our gunners aiming at the flat, gray arches of these +uncanny ocean-tortoises? The heavy shells splashed into the water all +around them, and when one did succeed in hitting one of the boats, it +was simply dashed to pieces against the armor-plate, which was several +feet thick, or else it glanced off harmlessly like hail dancing off the +domed roof of a pavilion. The only targets were the flames which shot +incessantly out of the mouths of the hostile guns like out of a +funnel-shaped crater.</p> + +<p>By noon all the armored domes of the Port Townsend batteries had been +destroyed and one gun after another had ceased firing. The horizontal +armor-plates, too, which protected the disappearing gun-carriages +belonging to the huge guns of the other forts, had not been able to +withstand the masses of steel which came down almost perpendicularly +from above them. One single well-aimed shot had usually sufficed to +cripple the complicated mechanism and once that was injured, it was +impossible to bring the gun back into position for firing. The concrete +roofs of the ammunition rooms and barracks were shot to pieces and the +traverses were reduced to rubbish heaps by the bursting of the numerous +shells of the enemy. And all that was finally left round the tattered +Stars and Stripes was a little group of heavily wounded gunners, +performing their duty to the bitter end, and these heroes were honored +by the enemy by being permitted to keep their arms. They were sent by +steamer from Seattle to the Canadian Naval Station at Esquimault on the +seventh of May, and their arrival inspired the populace to stormy +demonstrations against the Japanese, this being the first outward +expression of Canadian sympathy for the United States. The Canadians +felt that the time had come for all white men to join hands against the +common danger, and the policy of the Court of St. James soon became +intensely unpopular throughout Canada. What did Canada care about what +was considered the proper policy in London, when here at their very door +necessity pressed hard on their heels, and the noise of war from across +the border sounded a shrill Mene Tekel in the white man's ear?</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>There were therefore no less than one hundred and seventy thousand +Japanese soldiers on American soil on Tuesday morning, May ninth. In the +north, the line of outposts ran along the eastern border of the States +of Washington and Oregon and continued through the southern portion of +Idaho, always keeping several miles to the east of the tracks of the +Oregon Short Line, which thus formed an excellent line of communication +behind the enemy's front. At Granger, the junction of the Oregon Short +Line and the Union Pacific, the Japanese reached their easternmost +bastion, and here they dug trenches, which were soon fortified by means +of heavy artillery. From here their line ran southward along the Wasatch +Mountains, crossed the great Colorado plateau and then continued along +the high section of Arizona, reaching the Mexican boundary by way of +Fort Bowie.</p> + +<p>Only in the south and in the extreme north did railroads in any +respectable number lead up to the Japanese front. In the center, +however, the roads by way of which an American assault could be made, +namely the Union Pacific at Granger, the Denver and Rio Grande at Grand +Junction, and further south the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fé, approached +the Japanese positions at right angles, and at these points captive +balloons and several air-ships kept constant watch toward the east, so +that there was no possibility of an American surprise. In the north +strong field fortifications along the border-line of Washington and +Idaho furnished sufficient protection, and in the south the sunbaked +sandy deserts of New Mexico served the same purpose. Then, too, the +almost unbroken railway connection between the north and the south +allowed the enemy to transport his reserves at a moment's notice to any +point of danger, and the Japs were clever enough not to leave their +unique position to push further eastward. Any advance of large bodies +of troops would have weakened all the manifold advantages of this +position, and besides the Japanese numbers were not considerable enough +to warrant an unnecessary division of forces.</p> + +<p>And what had we in the way of troops to oppose this hostile invasion? +Our regular army consisted, on paper, of sixty thousand men. Fifteen +thousand of these had been stationed in the Pacific States, composed +principally of the garrisons of the coast forts; all of these without +exception were, by Monday morning, in the hands of the Japanese. This at +once reduced the strength of our regular army to forty-five thousand +men. Of this number eighteen thousand were in the Philippines and, +although they were not aware of it, they had to all intents and purposes +been placed <i>hors de combat</i>, both at Mindanao and in the fortifications +of Manila. Besides these the two regiments on the way from San Francisco +to Manila and the garrison of Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, +could be similarly deducted. It will be seen, therefore, that, only +twenty-five thousand men of our regular army were available, and these +were scattered over the entire country: some were in the numerous +prairie-forts, others on the Atlantic coast, still others in Cuba and in +Porto Rico. Thus twenty-five thousand men were pitted against a force +not only seven times as large, but one that was augmented hourly by +hundreds of newcomers. On Monday the President had called out the +organized militia and on the following day he sent a special message to +Congress recommending the formation of a volunteer army. The calls to +arms were posted in the form of huge placards at all the street-corners +and at the entrances to the speedily organized recruiting-offices. In +this way it was possible, to be sure, within a few months to raise an +army equal to that of the enemy so far as mere numbers were concerned, +and the American citizen could be relied upon. But where were the +leaders, where was the entire organization of the transport, of the +commissariat, of the ambulance corps—we possessed no military +train-corps at all—and most important of all, where were the arms to +come from?</p> + +<p>The arsenals and ammunition-depots in the Pacific States were in the +hands of the enemy, the cannon of our far western field-artillery depots +had aided in forming Japanese batteries, and the Japanese flag was +waving above our heavy coast guns. The terrible truth that we were for +the present absolutely helpless before the enemy had a thoroughly +disheartening effect on all classes of the population as soon as it was +clearly recognized. In impotent rage at this condition of utter +helplessness and in their eagerness to be revenged on the all-powerful +enemy, men hurried to the recruiting-offices in large numbers, and the +lists for the volunteer regiments were soon covered with signatures. The +citizens of the country dropped the plow, stood their tools in the +corner and laid their pens away; the clattering typewriters became +silent, and in the offices of the sky-scrapers business came to a +stand-still. Only in the factories where war materials were manufactured +did great activity reign.</p> + +<p>For the present there was at least one dim hope left, namely the fleet. +But where was the fleet? After our battle-fleet had crossed the Pacific +to Australia and Eastern Asia, it returned to the Atlantic, while a +squadron of twelve battleships and four armored cruisers was sent under +Admiral Perry to the west coast and stationed there, with headquarters +at San Francisco. To these ships must be added the regular Pacific +squadron and Philippine squadron. The remaining ships of our fleet were +in Atlantic waters.</p> + +<p>That was the fatal mistake committed in the year of our Lord 1909. In +vain, all in vain, had been the oft-repeated warning that in face of the +menacing Japanese danger the United States navy should be kept together, +either in the west or in the east. Only when concentrated, only in the +condition in which it was taken through the Straits of Magellan by +Admiral Evans, was our fleet absolutely superior to the Japanese. Every +dispersal, every separation of single divisions was bound to prove +fatal. Article upon article and pamphlet upon pamphlet were written +anent the splitting-up of our navy! And yet what a multitude of entirely +different and mutually exclusive tasks were set her at one and the same +time! Manila was to be protected, Pearl Harbor was to have a naval +station, the Pacific coast was to be protected, and there was to be a +reserve fleet off the eastern coast.</p> + +<p>And yet it was perfectly clear that any part of the fleet which happened +to be stationed at Manila or Hawaii would be lost to the Americans +immediately on the outbreak of hostilities. But we deluded ourselves +with the idea that Japan would not dare send her ships across the +Pacific in the face of our little Philippine squadron, whereas not even +a large squadron stationed at Manila would have hindered the Japanese +from attacking us. Even such a squadron they could easily have destroyed +with a detachment of equal strength, without in any way hindering their +advance against our western shores, while the idea of attempting to +protect an isolated colony with a few ships against a great sea-power +was perfectly ridiculous. The strong coast fortifications and a division +of submarines—the two stationed there at the time, however, were really +not fit for use—would have sufficed for the defense of Manila, and +anything beyond that simply meant an unnecessary sacrifice of forces +which might be far more useful elsewhere.</p> + +<p>After our fleet had been divided between the east and the west, both the +Pacific fleet and the reserve Atlantic fleet were individually far +inferior to the Japanese fleet. The maintenance of a fleet in the +Pacific as well as of one in the Atlantic was a fatal luxury. It was +superfluous to keep on tap a whole division of ships in our Atlantic +harbors merely posing as maritime ornaments before the eyes of Europe or +at the most coming in handy for an imposing demonstration against a +refractory South-American Republic. All this could have been done just +as well with a few cruisers. English money and Japanese intrigues, it is +true, succeeded in always keeping the Venezuelan wound open, so that we +were constantly obliged to steal furtive glances at that corner of the +world, one that had caused us so much political vexation. Matters had +indeed reached a sorry pass if our political prestige was so shaky, that +it was made to depend on Mr. Castro's valuation of the forces at the +disposal of the United States!</p> + +<p>In consideration of the many unforeseen delays that had occurred in the +work of digging the Panama Canal, there was only one policy for us to +adopt until its completion, and that was to keep our fleet together and +either to concentrate it in the Pacific and thus deter the enemy from +attacking our coasts, regardless of what might be thought of our action +in Tokio, or to keep only a few cruisers in the Pacific, as formerly, +and to concentrate the fleet in the Atlantic, so as to be able to attack +the enemy from the rear with the full force of our naval power. But +these amateur commissioners of the public safety who wished to have an +imposing squadron on view wherever our flag floated—as if the Stars and +Stripes were a signal of distress instead of a token of +strength—condemned our fleet to utter helplessness. In 1908, when +there was no mistaking the danger, we, the American people, one of the +richest and most energetic nations of the world, nevertheless allowed +ourselves in the course of the debate on the naval appropriations to be +frightened by Senator Maine's threat of a deficit of a few dollars in +our budget, should the sums that were absolutely needed in case our +fleet was to fulfill the most immediate national tasks be voted. This +was the short-sighted policy of a narrow-minded politician who, when a +country's fate is hanging in the balance, complains only of the costs. +It was most assuredly a short-sighted policy, and we were compelled to +pay dearly for it.</p> + +<p>The voyage of our fleet around South America had shown the world that +the value of a navy is not impaired because a few drunken sailors +occasionally forget to return to their ship when in port: on the +contrary, foreign critics had been obliged to admit that our navy in +point of equipment and of crews was second to none. And lo and behold, +this remarkable exhibition of power—the only sensible idea evolved by +our navy department in years—is followed by the insane dispersal of our +ships to so many different stations.</p> + +<p>How foolish had it been, furthermore, to boast as we did about having +kept up communication with Washington by wireless during the whole of +our journey around South America. Had not the experience at Trinidad, +where a wireless message intercepted by an English steamer had warned +the coal-boats that our fleet would arrive a day sooner, taught us a +lesson? And had not the way in which the Japanese steamer, also provided +with a wireless apparatus, stuck to us so persistently between +Valparaiso and Callao shown us plainly that every new technical +discovery has its shady side?</p> + +<p>No, we had learned nothing. In Washington they insisted on sending all +orders from the Navy Department to the different harbors and naval +stations by wireless, yet each of the stations along the whole distance +from east to west provided possibilities of indiscretion and treachery +and of unofficial interception. Why had we not made wireless telegraphy +a government monopoly, instead of giving each inhabitant of the United +States the right to erect an apparatus of his own if he so wished? Did +it never occur to anybody in Washington that long before the orders of +the Navy Department had reached Mare Island, Puget Sound and San Diego +they had been read with the greatest ease by hundreds of strangers? It +required the success of the enemy to make all this clear to us, when we +might just as well have listened to those who drew conclusions from +obvious facts and recommended caution.</p> + +<p>In spite of all this, the press on Tuesday morning still adhered to the +hope that Admiral Perry would attack the enemy from the rear with his +twelve battleships of the Pacific squadron, and that, meeting the +Japanese at their base of operations, he would cut off all threads of +communication between San Francisco and Tokio. It was no longer possible +to warn Perry of his danger, since the wireless stations beyond the +Rockies were already in the enemy's hands. The American people could +therefore only trust to luck; but blind chance has never yet saved a +country in its hour of direst need. It can only be saved by the energy, +the steady eye and the strong hand of men. All hope centered in Admiral +Perry, in his energy and his courage, but the people became uneasy when +no answer was received to the oft-repeated question: "Where is the +Pacific fleet?" Yes, where was Admiral Perry?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a><i>Chapter X</i></h4> + +<h4>ADMIRAL PERRY'S FATE</h4> + + +<p>The wireless apparatus on board Admiral Perry's flag-ship, the +<i>Connecticut</i>, rattled and crackled and on the strip of white paper +slowly ejected by the Morse machine appeared the words: "Magdalen Bay to +Commander-in-chief of Squadron, May 7, 8h. 25. A cruiser and two +torpedo-boats sighted four miles N.W. with course set towards Magdalen +Bay; uncertain whether friend or foe. Captain Pancoast."</p> + +<p>The man at the instrument tore off the duplicate of the strip and pasted +it on the bulletin, touched the button of an electric bell and handed +the message to the signalman who answered the ring. The telephone bell +rang directly afterwards and from the bridge came the order: "Magdalen +Bay to establish immediate connection by wireless with cruiser and +torpedoes; ascertain whether they belong to blue or yellow party."</p> + +<p>The officer ticked off the message at great speed.</p> + +<p>"This looks like bad weather," he said to himself, while waiting for the +answer. The increased rocking of the ship showed that the sea was +getting rougher. A black pencil, which had been lying in the corner +between the wall and the edge of the table, suddenly came to life and +began rolling aimlessly about. The officer picked it up and drew a map +of the location of Magdalen Bay as far as he could remember it. "Four +miles," he murmured, "they ought to be able to identify the ships at +that distance with the aid of a glass."</p> + +<p>Suddenly the instrument began to buzz and rattle and amidst a discharge +of little electric sparks the strip of white paper began to move out +slowly from beneath the letter roller.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Magdalen Bay to Commander-in-chief of Squadron, May 7, 8 h. 53: +Approaching cruiser, probably yellow armored cruiser <i>New York</i>; does +not answer call. Captain Pancoast."</p></div> + +<p>The officer hadn't had time to get the message ready for the bridge, +when the instrument again began to rattle madly:</p> + +<p>"Take care of Kxj31mpTwB8d—951SR7—J," warned the strip in its mute +language; then nothing further; complete silence reigned. "What does +this mean?" said the officer, "this can't be all."</p> + +<p>He knocked on the coherer, then put in a new one: not a sign. He took a +third, a fourth, he knocked and shook the instrument, but it remained +dumb. With his Morse-key he asked back:</p> + +<p>"Magdalen Bay, repeat message!"</p> + +<p>No answer.</p> + +<p>Then he asked: "Did you understand question?"</p> + +<p>No answer.</p> + +<p>The signalman was standing beside him, and he handed him the message +with the order to take it at once to the bridge; then he went to the +telephone and took off the receiver. "This is Sergeant Medlow. I've just +received from Magdalen Bay the message now on the way to the bridge: +'Take care of—' then the connection was cut off.... All right, sir."</p> + +<p>Two minutes later an excited lieutenant rushed in crying: "What's the +matter with the apparatus?"</p> + +<p>"It won't work, sir; it stopped in the middle of a sentence."</p> + +<p>"Take a new coherer!"</p> + +<p>"I've tried four."</p> + +<p>They both tapped the coherer, but nothing happened. All questions +remained unanswered, and they seemed to be telegraphing into space.</p> + +<p>"Probably a breakdown," said the lieutenant naïvely.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, probably a breakdown," repeated Medlow; and then he was alone +once more.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The officer on duty on the bridge of the <i>Connecticut</i> had informed +Captain Farlow, commander of the ship, of the latest messages from +Magdalen Bay, and when he now appeared on the bridge in company with +Admiral Perry, the officer held out the two bulletins. The admiral +studied them thoughtfully and murmured: "<i>New York</i>, it's true she +belongs to the yellow fleet, but what brings her to Magdalen Bay? +Admiral Crane cannot possibly be so far to the southeast with his +squadron, for the latest news from our outposts led us to believe that +he intended to attack us from the west."</p> + +<p>"But he may be going to surprise Magdalen Bay, Admiral," said Captain +Farlow.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," replied the Admiral, rather sharply, "but will you tell me +what for? There are only two torpedo-boats at Magdalen Bay, and to +destroy a wireless station from which there are no messages to be sent +would be a rather silly thing for an overzealous commander of the yellow +fleet to do. And besides we have special orders from Washington to draw +Magdalen Bay as little as possible into the maneuvers, so as to avoid +all unpleasantness with Mexico and not to attract the attention of +foreigners to the importance which the bay would assume in case of war."</p> + +<p>A lieutenant stepped up to Captain Farlow and reported, saluting: "All +attempts to establish connection with Magdalen Bay have failed."</p> + +<p>"Well, let it go," grumbled Admiral Perry, "Crane seems to have deprived +us of Magdalen Bay, but the commander of the <i>New York</i> will reap a fine +reprimand from Washington for this."</p> + +<p>With these words Admiral Perry left the bridge, steadying himself by +holding on to the railing on both sides of the steps, as the sea was +becoming rougher every minute.</p> + +<p>The increasing northeast wind tore through the rigging, whistled in the +wires, howled through all the openings, screamed its bad temper down the +companionways, pulled savagely at the gun-covers and caused the long +copper-wires belonging to the wireless apparatus to snap like huge +whips. The bluish-gray waves broke with a hollow sound against the sides +of the six battleships of the <i>Connecticut</i> class, which were running +abreast in a northwesterly direction through the dreary watery wastes of +the Pacific at the rate of ten knots an hour.</p> + +<p>There was a high sea on. A barometric depression that was quite unusual +in these sunny latitudes at that particular time of year had brought +nasty weather in its train. During the night violent rain-storms had +flooded the decks. Now the wind freshened and swept low-hanging clouds +before it. The sharp white bow of the <i>Connecticut</i> with the pressure of +16,000 tons of steel behind it plowed its way through the water, +throwing up a hissing foaming wave on each side. The wind lashed the +waves on the starboard-side so that they splashed over the forepart of +the cruiser like a shower of rain, enveloping it in a gray mist. The +thick, black smoke pouring out of the three long funnels was blown +obliquely down to the edge of the water and hung there like a thick +cloud which shut off the western horizon and made the passage of the +squadron visible a long distance off. The small openings in the +casemates of the armored guns had been closed up long before, because +the waves had begun to wash over them, and even the turrets on the upper +deck had received a few heavy showers which had flooded their interiors. +It was indeed nasty weather.</p> + +<p>Captain Farlow had taken up his stand on the upper conning-tower of the +<i>Connecticut</i> the better to examine the horizon with his glass, but a +thick curtain of rain rendered it almost invisible.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to be seen of our cruisers," he said to the navigating officer +of the squadron, "this is disgusting weather for maneuvers."</p> + +<p>Then he gave the command to telephone across to the two leading cruisers +<i>California</i> and <i>Colorado</i> and ask if, on account of the thick weather, +they required the assistance of two small cruisers in order to be +sufficiently protected against the yellow fleet?</p> + +<p>The commander of the <i>California</i> answered in the affirmative and asked +that the three destroyers in the van, which had all they could do to +maintain their course in such a heavy sea, and were therefore of little +use in their present position, be recalled and replaced by two cruisers.</p> + +<p>The admiral recalled the three destroyers by a wireless signal and +ordered them to take up their position in the rear beside the other +three destroyers and to assist in protecting the rear of the squadron. +At the same time he strengthened his front line by sending the cruisers +<i>Galveston</i> and <i>Chattanooga</i>, which had formed the port and starboard +flank, respectively, to the van. His advance, consisting now of the two +last-named cruisers and the two armored cruisers, proceeded in a flat +wedge formation, while the cruiser <i>Denver</i> to starboard and the +<i>Cleveland</i> to port, at a distance of three knots from the squadron, +established the connection between the van and the rather dubious +rear-guard of destroyers, which could scarcely do much in such weather.</p> + +<p>The <i>Galveston</i> and <i>Chattanooga</i>, both pouring forth clouds of smoke, +quickly assumed their positions at the head of the line.</p> + +<p>Captain Farlow paced restlessly up and down the bridge in his oilskins. +"I suppose this is the last remnant of the spring storms," he said to +his navigating officer, "but it's a good-sized one. If we didn't have a +fairly good formation the yellow fleet could play us a nasty trick by +taking us by surprise in such weather."</p> + +<p>"A wireless message from the cruiser <i>California</i>," said a lieutenant, +handing it to the captain, who read:</p> + +<p>"<i>Chattanooga</i> and <i>Galveston</i> stationed on right and left flanks of +advance guard; <i>Denver</i> and <i>Cleveland</i> establish connection between +latter and squadron. No sign of yellow fleet."</p> + +<p>Just then an orderly appeared and requested Captain Farlow to report to +Admiral Perry.</p> + +<p>The squadron continued on its way. The northeast wind increased, driving +black scurrying clouds before it which swept across the foaming waves +and suddenly enveloped everything in glimmering darkness. The rain +poured down on the decks in sheets and everything was swimming in a +splashing flood. What with the downpour of the rain and the splashing of +the waves, it was often impossible for the lookouts to see a yard ahead. +Added to all this was a disagreeable sticky, humid heat. It was surely +more comfortable below deck.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What do you think of this Magdalen Bay affair?" asked the admiral of +the captain as the latter entered the admiral's cabin; "it is worrying +me considerably."</p> + +<p>"In my opinion," was the answer, "it's a piece of crass stupidity on +the part of the commander of the <i>New York</i>. It is all nonsense to play +such tricks with a country where we are not particularly welcome guests +at any time, in spite of all the diplomatic courtesies of Porfirio Díaz. +The gentlemen over in Tokio have every movement of ours in the bay +watched by their many spies, and their diplomatic protests are always +ready."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said the admiral, "certainly, but our maneuvers are +supposed to reflect actual war, and—between ourselves—there's no doubt +but that we should treat Magdalen Bay in time of war just as though it +were American soil."</p> + +<p>"In time of war, yes," answered the captain eagerly, "but it's foolish +to show our hand in a maneuver, in time of peace. Even if we do act as +though Magdalen Bay belonged to us, whereas in reality we have only been +permitted to use it as a coaling-station and had no right to erect a +wireless station as we did, it is nevertheless inexcusable to use that +particular spot for maneuver operations. If it once becomes known in +Mexico, the diplomats there, who are always dying of ennui, will make +trouble at once, and as we don't suffer from a surplus of good friends +at any time, we ought to avoid every opportunity of giving them a +diplomatic lever through maneuver blunders."</p> + +<p>"Then the best plan," said the admiral in a thoughtful tone, "would be +to report the circumstances to Washington at once, and suggest to them +that it would be advisable to represent the attack on Magdalen Bay as +the result of too much zeal on the part of a poorly posted commander and +to apologize to Mexico for the mistake."</p> + +<p>"That would certainly be the correct thing to do," answered Farlow, +adding, "for when we do have our reckoning with the yellow...."</p> + +<p>Here the telephone bell in the cabin rang madly and Captain Farlow +jumped up to answer it; but in his excitement he had forgotten all about +the rolling of the ship, and consequently stumbled and slipped along the +floor to the telephone. The admiral could not help smiling, but at once +transformed the smile into a frown when the door opened to admit an +orderly, who was thus also a witness of Captain Farlow's sliding party. +The latter picked himself up with a muttered oath and went to the +telephone.</p> + +<p>"What," he shouted, "what's that, Higgins? You must be crazy, man! +Admiral Crane's fleet, the yellow fleet? It's impossible, we've got our +scouts out on all sides!"</p> + +<p>Then he turned halfway round to the admiral, saying: "The navigator is +seeing ghosts, sir; he reports that Admiral Crane with the yellow fleet +has been sighted to windward three knots off!" He hurried towards the +door and there ran plumb against the orderly, whom he asked sharply: +"What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p>"The navigator, Lieutenant Higgins, reports that several ships have been +sighted to starboard three miles ahead. Lieutenant Higgins thinks...."</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Higgins thinks, of course, that it is Admiral Crane's yellow +fleet," snarled Farlow.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," answered the orderly, "the yellow fleet," and stared in +astonishment at the commander of the <i>Connecticut</i>, who, followed by +Admiral Perry, rushed up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my oilskins!..." With this exclamation the commander reached the +top of the staircase leading to the bridge deck, where a violent rush of +greenish-gray water from a particularly enormous wave drenched him from +head to foot.</p> + +<p>"Now, then, Mr. Higgins," he called, wiping the water from his eyes and +mustache, "where is the yellow fleet?"</p> + +<p>The navigator was staring out to sea through his glass trying to +penetrate the thick veil of rain. The storm howled and showers of foam +burst over the decks of the <i>Connecticut</i>, the water washing over +everything with a dull roar.</p> + +<p>Captain Farlow had no need to inquire further. That was Admiral Crane +and his yellow fleet sure enough!</p> + +<p>The silhouettes of six large battleships looking like phantom-ships +rising from the depths of the boiling ocean could be plainly seen +through the rain and waves about six thousand yards to starboard of the +<i>Connecticut</i>.</p> + +<p>"Clear ships for action!" commanded the captain. The navigator and +another lieutenant hurried to the telephones and transmitted the order. +The flag lieutenant of the squadron rushed to the telephone leading to +the wireless room, and ordered a message forwarded to all of the ships +of the squadron to proceed at full speed. For safety's sake the order +was repeated by means of flag signals.</p> + +<p>While from the bridge the officers were watching the gray phantoms of +the strange armored fleet, it continued calmly on its course. The +leading ship threw up great masses of foam like huge exploding +fountains, which covered the bow with showers of gray water.</p> + +<p>In a few minutes things began to get lively within the steel body of the +<i>Connecticut</i>. The sounds of shrill bugle-calls, of the loud ringing of +bells, of excited calls and a hurried running to and fro, came up from +below.</p> + +<p>In the midst of the water pouring over the deck appeared the sailors in +their white uniforms. They at once removed the gun-coverings, while +peculiarly shrill commands resounded above the roar of the wind and the +waves.</p> + +<p>Great quantities of thick, black smoke poured from the yellowish brown +funnels, to be immediately seized and broken up by the wind. The reserve +signalmen for duty on the bridge as well as the fire-control detail took +up their positions.</p> + +<p>One lieutenant climbed hastily up into the military top of the foremast. +Two other officers and a few midshipmen followed him as far as the +platform above the conning-tower, where the instruments connected with +the fire-control were kept. Orderlies came and went with messages. All +this was the work of a few minutes. Captain Farlow was inwardly +delighted that everything should have gone off so well before the +admiral. Now the other ships reported that they were clear for action. +Just as the bright ensigns were being run to the mastheads, the sun +broke through the black clouds for a moment. The six monster ships +continued on their way in the sunlight like sliding masses of white +iron, with their long yellowish brown funnels emitting clouds of smoke +and their rigid masts pointing upward into the angry sky. The sunshine +made the deck structures sparkle with thousands of glistening drops for +a brief moment; then the sun disappeared and the majestic picture was +swallowed up once more by the gray clouds.</p> + +<p>"Shall we go up to the conning-tower?" inquired the flag lieutenant of +the admiral.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, we'll stay here," said the latter, carefully examining the +yellow fleet through his glass. "Can you make out which ship the first +one is?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"I think it's the <i>Iowa</i>," said the commander, who was standing near +him. But the wind tore the words from his lips.</p> + +<p>"What did you say?" screamed back the admiral.</p> + +<p>"<i>Iowa</i>," repeated Farlow.</p> + +<p>"No such thing, the <i>Iowa</i> is much smaller and has only one mast. The +ship over there also has an additional turret in the center."</p> + +<p>"No, it's not the <i>Iowa</i>," corroborated the captain, "but two funnels +... what ship can it be...?"</p> + +<p>"Those ships are painted gray, too, not white like ours. It's not the +yellow fleet at all," interrupted the admiral, "it's, it's—my God, what +is it?"</p> + +<p>He examined the ships again and saw numerous little flags running up the +mast of the leading ship, undoubtedly a signal, then the forward turret +with its two enormously long gun-barrels swung slowly over to starboard, +the other turrets turned at the same time, and then a tongue of flame +shot out of the mouths of both barrels in the forward turret; the wind +quickly dispersed the cloud of smoke, and three seconds later a shell +burst with a fearful noise on the deck of the <i>Connecticut</i> between the +base of the bridge and the first gun-turret, throwing the splinters +right on the bridge and tearing off the head of the lieutenant who was +doing duty at the signal apparatus. The second shell hit the armored +plate right above the openings for the two 12-inch guns in the +fore-turret, leaving behind a great hole with jagged edges out of which +burst sheets of flame and clouds of smoke, which were blown away in long +strips by the wind. A heartrending scream from within followed this +explosion of the cartridges lying in readiness beside the guns. The +forward turret had been put out of action.</p> + +<p>For several seconds everyone on the bridge seemed dazed, while thoughts +raced through their heads with lightning-like rapidity.</p> + +<p>Could it be chance...? Impossible, for in the same moment that the two +shots were fired by the leading ship, the whole fleet opened fire on +Admiral Perry's squadron with shells of all calibers. The admiral +seized Farlow's arm and shook it to and fro in a blind rage.</p> + +<p>"Those," he cried, "those ... why, man, those are the Japanese! That's +the enemy and he has surprised us right in the midst of peace! Now God +give me a clear head, and let us never forget that we are American men!" +He scarcely heard the words of the flag lieutenant who called out to +him: "That's the Japanese <i>Satsuma</i>, Togo's <i>Satsuma</i>!"</p> + +<p>The admiral reached the telephone-board in one bound and yelled down the +artillery connection: "Hostile attack!... Japanese. We've been +surprised!"</p> + +<p>And it was indeed high time, for scarcely had the admiral reached the +conning-tower, stumbling over the dead body of a signalman on the way, +when a hail-storm of bullets swept the bridge, killing all who were on +it.</p> + +<p>As there was no other officer near, Captain Farlow went to the signaling +instrument himself to send the admiral's orders to those below deck.</p> + +<p>The <i>Connecticut</i>, which had been without a helmsman for a moment +because the man at the helm had been killed by a bursting shell that had +literally forced his body between the spokes of the wheel, was swaying +about like a drunken person owing to the heavy blows of the enemy's +shells. Now she recovered her course and the commander issued his orders +from the bridge in a calm and decisive voice.</p> + +<p>We have seen what a paralyzing effect the opening of fire from the +Japanese ships had had on the commander and officers of the +<i>Connecticut</i> on the bridge, and the reader can imagine the effect it +must have had on the crew—they were dumfounded with terror. The +crashing of the heavy steel projectiles above deck, the explosion in the +foreward gun-turret, and several shots which had passed through the +unarmored starboard side of the forepart of the ship in rapid +succession—they were explosive shells which created fearful havoc and +filled all the rooms with the poisonous gases of the Shimose-powder—all +this, added to the continual ring of the alarm-signals, had completely +robbed the crew below deck of their senses and of all deliberation.</p> + +<p>At first it was thought to be an accident, and without waiting for +orders from above, the fire-extinguishing apparatus was got ready. But +the bells continued to ring on all sides, and the crashing blows that +shook the ship continually became worse and worse. On top of this came +the perfectly incomprehensible news that, unprepared as they were, they +were confronted by the enemy, by a Japanese fleet.</p> + +<p>All this happened with lightning-like rapidity—so quickly, indeed, that +it was more than human nerves could grasp and at the same time remain +calm and collected. The reverberations of the bursting shells and the +dull rumbling crashes against the armored sides of the casemates and +turrets produced an infernal noise which completely drowned the human +voice. Frightful horror was depicted on all faces. It took some time to +rally from the oppressive, heartrending sensation caused by the +knowledge that a peaceful maneuver voyage had suddenly been transformed +into the bloody seriousness of war. It is easy enough to turn a machine +from right to left in a few seconds with the aid of a lever, but not so +a human being.</p> + +<p>The men, to be sure, heard the commands and after a few moments' +reflection, grasped the terrible truth, but their limbs failed them. It +had all come about too quickly, and it was simply impossible to get +control of the situation and translate commands into deeds as quickly as +the hostile shots demolished things above deck. Many of the crew stood +around as though they were rooted to the spot, staring straight in front +of them. Some laughed or cried, others did absolutely senseless things, +such as turning the valves of the hot-air pipes or carrying useless +things from one place to another, until the energetic efforts of the +officers brought them to their senses.</p> + +<p>Someone called for the keys of the ammunition chambers, and then began a +search for the ordnance officer in the passages filled with the +poisonous fumes of the Shimose-powder. But it was all in vain, for he +lay on the front bridge torn into an unrecognizable mass by the enemy's +shells.</p> + +<p>At last a young lieutenant with the blood pouring down his cheek in +bright red streaks, rushed into the captain's cabin, broke open the +closet beside the desk with a bayonet and seized the keys of the +ammunition rooms. Now down the stairs and through the narrow openings in +the bulkheads, where the thud of the hostile projectiles sounds more and +more hollow, and here, at last, is the door of the shell-chamber +containing the shells for the 8-inch guns in the forward starboard +turret.</p> + +<p>Inside the bells rang and rattled, calling in vain for ammunition; but +the guns of the <i>Connecticut</i> still remained silent.</p> + +<p>The petty officer, hurrying on before his three men, now stood at the +telephone.</p> + +<p>"Armor-piercing shells, quickly!" came the urgent order from above. And +when the electric lever refused to work, the two sailors raised the +shell weighing over two hundredweight in their brawny arms and shoved it +into the frame of the lift, which began to move automatically.</p> + +<p>"Thank God," said the lieutenant in command of the turret, as the first +shell appeared at the mouth of the dark tube. Into the breech with it +and the two cartridges after it. When the lieutenant had taken his +position at the telescope sight in order to determine the direction and +distance for firing, orders came down from the commander to fire at the +enemy's leading ship, the <i>Satsuma</i>. The distance was only 2800 yards, +so near had the enemy come. And at this ridiculously short distance, +contrary to all the rules of naval warfare, the Americans opened fire.</p> + +<p>"2800 yards, to the right beneath the first gun-turret of the +<i>Satsuma</i>," called the lieutenant to the two gunners. They took the +elevation and then waited for the ship that was rolling to port to +regain the level after being lifted up by the waves. Detached clouds +hurried across the field of the telescope, but suddenly the sun appeared +like a bright spot above the horizon and dark brown smoke became +visible. The foremast of the <i>Satsuma</i> with its multicolored +signal-flags appeared in the field of vision.... A final quick +correction for elevation ... a slight pressure of the electric trigger. +Fire! The gray silhouette of the <i>Satsuma</i>, across which quivered the +flash from the gun, rose quickly in the round field; then came foaming, +plunging waves, and columns of water that rose up as the shells struck +the water.</p> + +<p>The loud reverberation of the shot—the first one fired on the American +side—acted as a nerve-tonic all round, and all felt as though they had +been relieved from an intolerable burden.</p> + +<p>While the right gun was being reloaded and the stinking gases escaping +from the gun filled the narrow chamber with their fumes, the lieutenant +looked for traces of the effect of the shot. The wind whistled through +the peep-hole and made his eyes smart. The shot did not seem to have +touched the <i>Satsuma</i> at all. The foam seen in the bow was that produced +by the ship's motion.</p> + +<p>"Two hundred and fifty yards over," came through the telephone, and on +the glass-plate of the distance-register, faintly illuminated by an +electric lamp, appeared the number 2550.</p> + +<p>"2550 yards!" repeated the lieutenant to the captain of the left gun, +giving the angle of direction himself. The <i>Connecticut</i> again heaved +over to port, and the thunder of cannon rolled over the waves of the +Pacific.</p> + +<p>"The shell burst at a thousand yards!" called the lieutenant. "What +miserable fuses!"</p> + +<p>"Bad shot," came down reproachfully through the telephone, "use +percussion fuses."</p> + +<p>"I am, but they're no good, they won't work," roared back the +lieutenant. Then he went down into the turret and examined the new shell +on the lift before it was pushed into the breech.</p> + +<p>"All right," he said aloud, but added under his breath, suppressing an +oath: "We mustn't let the men notice there's anything wrong, for the +world!"</p> + +<p>Another shot rang out, and again the shell burst a few hundred yards +from the <i>Connecticut</i>, sending the water flying in every direction.</p> + +<p>Again came the reproachful voice from above: "Bad shot, take percussion +fuses!"</p> + +<p>"That's what these are supposed to be," replied the lieutenant in a +terrible state of excitement; "the shells are absolutely useless."</p> + +<p>"Fire at the forepart of the <i>Satsuma</i> with shrapnel," rang out the +command from the wall.</p> + +<p>"Shrapnels from below!" ordered the lieutenant, and "shrapnels from +below" was repeated by the man at the lift into the 'phone leading to +the ammunition chamber.</p> + +<p>But the lift continued to bring up the blue armor-piercing shells; five +times more and then it stopped.</p> + +<p>During a momentary pause in the firing on both sides, the buzzing and +whirring of the electric apparatus of the lift could be distinctly +heard. Then the lift appeared once more, this time with a red explosive +shell.</p> + +<p>"Aim at the forepart of the <i>Satsuma</i>, 1950 yards!"</p> + +<p>The <i>Connecticut</i> rolled over heavily to starboard, the water splashed +over the railing, rushing like a torrent between the turrets; then the +ship heeled over to the other side. The shot rang out.</p> + +<p>"At last," cried the lieutenant proudly, pointing through the peep-hole. +High up in the side of the <i>Satsuma</i>, close to the little 12-cm. +quick-firing gun, a piece was seen to be missing when the smoke from the +bursting shell had disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Good shot," came from above; "go on firing with shrapnel!"</p> + +<p>The distance-register silently showed the number 1850. Then came a +deafening roar from below and the sharp ring of tearing iron. A hostile +shell had passed obliquely below the turret into the forepart of the +<i>Connecticut</i>, and clouds of thick black smoke completely obscured the +view through the peep-hole.</p> + +<p>"Four degrees higher!" commanded the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"Not yet correct," he grumbled; "three degrees higher still!" He waited +for the <i>Connecticut</i> to roll to port.</p> + +<p>"What's the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Use higher elevation in turrets. The <i>Connecticut</i> has a leak and is +listing to starboard," said the telephone. "Three degrees higher!" +ordered the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>A shot from the left barrel.</p> + +<p>"Splendid," cried the lieutenant; "that was a fine shot! But lower, +lower, we're merely shooting their upper plates to bits," and the gun +went on steadily firing.</p> + +<p>The turrets on the starboard side were hit again and again, the hostile +shells bursting perpetually against their armored sides. As if struck by +electric discharges the gunners were continually thrown back from the +rumbling walls, and they were almost deaf from the fearful din, so that +all commands had to be yelled out at the top of the lungs.</p> + +<p>The raging storm and the rough sea prevented the Americans from using a +part of their guns. While the explosive shells from the enemy's heavy +intermediate battery were able to demolish everything on deck and to +pass through the unarmored portions of the sides, working fearful havoc +in the interior and among the crew, the light American secondary battery +was compelled to keep silence.</p> + +<p>An attempt had been made, to be sure, to bring the 7-inch guns into +action, but it proved of no avail. The gunners stood ready at their +posts to discharge the shells at the enemy, but it was utterly +impossible, for no sooner had they taken aim, than they lost it again as +the hostile ships disappeared in the foaming glassy-green waves that +broke against their sides. The water penetrated with the force of a +stream from a nozzle through the cracks in the plates and poured into +the casemates till the men were standing up to their knees in water. At +last the only thing that could be done was to open the doors behind the +guns in order to let the water out; but this arrangement had the +disadvantage of allowing a good deal of the water which had run out to +return in full force and pile up in one corner the next time the ship +rolled over, and on account of this perpetual battle with the waves +outside and the rolling water inside, it was impossible for the men to +aim properly or to achieve any results with their shots. It was +therefore deemed best to stop the firing here, and to have the gunners +relieve the men at the turret-guns, who had suffered greatly from the +enemy's fire. The men in charge of the completely demolished small guns +on the upper deck had already been assigned to similar duty.</p> + +<p>We therefore had to depend entirely on our 12-inch and 8-inch guns in +the turrets, while the enemy was able to bring into action all his +broadside guns on the starboard side, which was only little affected by +the storm. And this superiority had been used to such advantage in the +first eleven minutes of the battle, before the surprised Americans could +reply, that the decks of the latter's ships, especially of the admiral's +flag-ship, were a mass of wreckage even before the first American shot +had been fired. The decks were strewn with broken bridges, planks, +stanchions and torn rigging, and into the midst of this chaos now fell +the tall funnels and pieces of the steel masts. In most instances the +water continually pouring over the decks put out the fires; but the +<i>Vermont</i> was nevertheless burning aft and the angry flames could be +seen bursting out of the gaping holes made by the shells.</p> + +<p>Admiral Perry, in company with the commander and staff-officers, watched +the progress of the battle from the conning-tower. The officers on duty +at the odometers calmly furnished the distance between their ship and +the enemy to the turrets and casemates, and the lieutenant in command of +the fire-control on the platform above the conning-tower coolly and +laconically reported the results of the shots, at the same time giving +the necessary corrections, which were at once transmitted to the various +turrets by telephone. The rolling of the ships in the heavy seas made +occasional pauses in the firing absolutely necessary.</p> + +<p>The report that a series of shells belonging to the 8-inch guns in the +front turret had unreliable fuses led to considerable swearing in the +conning-tower, but while the officers were still cursing the commission +for accepting such useless stuff, a still greater cause for anxiety +became apparent.</p> + +<p>Even before the Americans had begun their fire, the Japanese shells had +made a few enormous holes in the unprotected starboard side of the +<i>Connecticut</i>, behind the stem and just above the armored belt, and +through these the water poured in and flooded all the inner chambers. As +the armored gratings above the hatchways leading below had also been +destroyed or had not yet been closed, several compartments in the +forepart of the ship filled with water. The streams of water continually +pouring in through the huge holes rendered it impossible to enter the +rooms beneath the armored deck or to close the hatchways. The pumps +availed nothing, but fortunately the adjacent bulkheads proved to be +watertight. Nevertheless the <i>Connecticut</i> buried her nose deep into the +sea and thereby offered ever-increasing resistance to the oncoming +waves. Captain Farlow therefore ordered some of the watertight +compartments aft to be filled with water in order to restore the ship's +balance. Similar conditions were reported from other ships.</p> + +<p>But scarcely had this damage been thus fairly well adjusted, when a new +misfortune was reported. Two Japanese projectiles had struck the ship +simultaneously just below her narrow armor-belt as she heaved over to +port, the shells entering the unprotected side just in front of the +engine-rooms, and as the adjacent bulkheads could not offer sufficient +resistance to the pressure of the inpouring water, they were forced in, +and as a result the <i>Connecticut</i> heeled over badly to starboard, making +it necessary to fill some of the port compartments with water, since the +guns could not otherwise obtain the required elevation. This caused the +ship to sink deeper and deeper, until the armor-belt was entirely below +the standard waterline and the water which had rushed in through the +many holes had already reached the passageways above the armored deck. +The splashing about in these rushing floods, the continual bursting of +the enemy's shells, the groans and moans of the wounded, and the vain +attempts to get out the collision-mats on the starboard +side—precautions that savored of preservation measures while at the +same time causing a great loss of life—all this began to impair the +crew's powers of resistance.</p> + +<p>As the reports from below grew more and more discouraging, Captain +Farlow sent Lieutenant Meade down to examine into the state of the +chambers above the armored deck. The latter asked his comrade, Curtis, +to take his place at the telephone, but receiving no answer, he looked +around, and saw poor Curtis with his face torn off by a piece of shell +still bending over his telephone between two dead signalmen.... +Lieutenant Meade turned away with a shiver, and, calling a midshipman to +take his place, he left the conning-tower, which was being struck +continually by hissing splinters from bursting shells.</p> + +<p>Everywhere below the same picture presented itself—rushing water +splashing high up against the walls in all the passages, through which +ambulance transports were making their way with difficulty. In a corner +not far from the staircase leading to the hospital lay a young +midshipman, Malion by name, pressing both hands against a gaping wound +in his abdomen, out of which the viscera protruded, and crying to some +one to put him out of his misery with a bullet. What an end to a bright +young life! Anything but think! One could only press on, for individual +lives and human suffering were of small moment here compared with the +portentous question whether the steel sides of the ship and the engines +would hold out.</p> + +<p>"Shoot me; deliver me from my torture!" rang out the cry of the +lieutenant's dying friend behind him; and there before him, right +against the wall, lay the sailor Ralling, that fine chap from Maryland +who was one of the men who had won the gig-race at Newport News; now he +stared vacantly into space, his mouth covered with blood and foam. "Shot +in the lung!" thought Meade, hurrying on and trying, oh so hard, not to +think!</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus02.jpg" alt="balloon" /> + +</p> + + +<p class="center"> "It went up in a slanting direction and then, ... it +steered straight for the enemy's balloon...."</p> + +<p>The black water gurgled and splashed around his feet as he rushed on, +dashing with a hollow sound against one side of the passage when the +ship heeled over, only to be tossed back in a moment with equal force.</p> + +<p>What was that?—Lieutenant Meade had reached the officers' mess—was it +music or were his ears playing him a trick? Meade opened the door and +thought at first he must be dreaming. There sat his friend and comrade, +Lieutenant Besser, at the piano, hammering wildly on the keys. That same +Johnny Besser who, on account of his theological predilections went by +the nickname of "The Reverend," and who could argue until long after +midnight over the most profound Biblical problems, that same Johnny +Besser, who was perpetually on the water-wagon. There he sat, banging +away as hard as he could on the piano! Meade rushed at him angrily and +seizing him by the arm cried: "Johnny, what are you doing here? Are you +crazy?"</p> + +<p>Johnny took no notice of him whatever, but went on playing and began in +a strange uncanny voice to sing the old mariner's song:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"Tom Brown's mother she likes whisky in her tea,<br /> +As we go rolling home.<br /> +Glory, Glory Hallelujah."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Horror seized Meade, and he tried to pull Johnny away from the piano, +but the resistance offered by the poor fellow who had become mentally +deranged from sheer terror was too great, and he had to give up the +struggle.</p> + +<p>From the outside came the din of battle. Meade threw the door of the +mess shut behind him, shivering with horror. Once more he heard the +strains of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah," and then he hurried upstairs. He +kept the condition in which he had found Johnny to himself.</p> + +<p>When Lieutenant Meade got back to the conning-tower to make his report, +the two fleets had passed each other in a parallel course. The enemy's +shells had swept the decks of the <i>Connecticut</i> with the force of a +hurricane. The gunners from the port side had already been called on to +fill up the gaps in the turrets on the starboard side. By this time dead +bodies were removed only where they were in the way, and even the +wounded were left to lie where they had fallen.</p> + +<p>When large pieces of wood from the burning boats began to be thrown on +deck by the bursting shells, a fresh danger was created, and the attempt +was made to toss them overboard with the aid of the cranes. But this +succeeded only on the port side. The starboard crane was smashed to bits +by a Japanese explosive shell just as it was raising a launch, the same +shot carrying off the third funnel just behind it. When Togo's last ship +had left the <i>Connecticut</i> behind, only one funnel full of gaping holes +and half of the mainmast were left standing on the deck of the admiral's +flag-ship, which presented a wild chaos of bent and broken ironwork. +Through the ruins of the deck structures rose the flames and thick smoke +from the boilers.</p> + +<p>The Japanese ships seemed to be invulnerable in their vital parts. It is +true that the <i>Satsuma</i> had lost a funnel, and that both masts of the +<i>Kashima</i> were broken off, but except for a few holes above the +armor-belt and one or two guns that had been put out of action and the +barrels of which pointed helplessly into the air, the enemy showed +little sign of damage. Those first eleven minutes, during which the +enemy had had things all to himself, had given him an advantage which no +amount of bravery or determined energy could counteract. In addition to +this, many of the American telescope-sights began to get out of order, +as they bent under the blows of the enemy's shells against the turrets. +Thus the aim of the Americans, which owing to the heavy seas and to the +smoke from the Japanese guns blown into their eyes by the wind was poor +enough as it was, became more uncertain still. As the enemy passed, +several torpedoes had been cleared by the Americans, but the shining +metal-fish could not keep their course against the oncoming waves, and +Admiral Perry was forced to notify his ships by wireless to desist from +further attempts to use them, in order that his own ships might not be +endangered by them.</p> + +<p>The enemy, on the contrary, used his torpedoes with better success. A +great mass of boiling foam rose suddenly beside the <i>Kansas</i>, which was +just heeling to port, and this was followed immediately by sheets of +flame and black clouds of smoke which burst from every hole and crevice +in the sides and the turrets. The <i>Kansas</i> listed heavily to starboard +and then disappeared immediately in the waves. The torpedo must have +exploded in an ammunition chamber. On the burning <i>Vermont</i> the +steering-gear seemed to be out of order. The battleship sheered sharply +to port, thus presenting its stern, which was almost hidden in heavy +clouds of smoke, to the enemy, who immediately raked and tore it with +shells. The <i>Minnesota</i> was drifting in a helpless condition with her +starboard-railing deep under water, while thick streams of water poured +from her bilge-pumps on the port side. She gradually fell behind, +whereupon the last ship of the line, the <i>New Hampshire</i>, passed her on +the fire side, covering her riddled hull for a moment, but then steamed +on to join the only two ships in Admiral Perry's fleet which were still +in fairly good condition, namely the <i>Connecticut</i> and the <i>Louisiana</i>.</p> + +<p>When the hostile fleet began to fall slowly back—the battle had been in +progress for barely half an hour—Admiral Perry hoped for a moment that +by swinging his three ships around to starboard he would be able to get +to windward of the enemy and thus succeed in bringing his almost intact +port artillery into action. But even before he could issue his commands, +he saw the six Japanese ironclads turn to port and steam towards the +Americans at full speed, pouring out tremendous clouds of smoke. +Misfortunes never come singly; at this moment came the report that the +boilers of the <i>New Hampshire</i> had been badly damaged. Unless the +admiral wished to leave the injured ship to her fate, he was now forced +to reduce the speed of the other two ships to six knots. This was the +beginning of the end.</p> + +<p>It was of no use for Admiral Perry to swing his three ships around to +starboard. The enemy, owing to his superior speed, could always keep a +parallel course and remain on the starboard side. One turret after the +other was put out of action. When the casemate with its three intact +7-inch guns could at last be brought into play on the lee-side, it was +too late. At such close quarters the steel-walls of the casemates and +the mountings were shot to pieces by the enemy's shells. The +fire-control refused to act, the wires and speaking-tubes were +destroyed, and each gun had to depend on itself. The electric +installation had been put out of commission on the <i>Louisiana</i> by a +shell bursting through the armored deck and destroying the dynamos. As +the gun-turrets could no longer be swung around and the ammunition-lifts +had come to a stand-still in consequence, the <i>Louisiana</i> was reduced to +a helpless wreck. She sank in the waves at 11.15, and shortly afterwards +the <i>New Hampshire</i>, which was already listing far to starboard because +the water had risen above the armored deck, capsized. By 12.30 the +<i>Connecticut</i> was the sole survivor. She continued firing from the +12-inch guns in the rear turret and from the two 8-inch starboard +turrets.</p> + +<p>At this point a large piece of shell slipped through the peep-hole of +the conning-tower and smashed its heavy armored dome. The next shot +might prove fatal. Admiral Perry was compelled to leave the spot he had +maintained so bravely; in a hail of splinters he at last managed to +reach the steps leading from the bridge; they were wet with the blood of +the dead and dying and the last four had been shot away altogether. The +other mode of egress, the armored tube inside the turret, was stopped up +with the bodies of two dead signalmen. The admiral let himself carefully +down by holding on to the bent railing of the steps, and was just in +time to catch the blood-covered body of his faithful comrade, Captain +Farlow, who had been struck by a shell as he stood on the lowest step. +The admiral leaned the body gently against the side of the +military-mast, which had been dyed yellow by the deposits of the hostile +shells.</p> + +<p>Stepping over smoldering ruins and through passages filled with dead and +wounded men, over whose bodies the water splashed and gurgled, the +admiral at last reached his post below the armored deck.</p> + +<p>To this spot were brought the reports from the fire-control stationed at +the rear mast and from the last active stations. It was a mournful +picture that the admiral received here of the condition of the +<i>Connecticut</i>. The dull din of battle, the crashing and rumbling of the +hostile shells, the suffocating smoke which penetrated even here below, +the rhythmic groaning of the engine and the noise of the pumps were +united here into an uncanny symphony. The ventilators had to be closed, +as they sent down biting smoke from the burning deck instead of fresh +air. The nerves of the officers and crews were in a state of fearful +tension; they had reached the point where nothing matters and where +destruction is looked forward to as a deliverance.</p> + +<p>Who was that beside the admiral who said something about the white flag, +to him, the head of the squadron, to the man who had been intrusted with +the honor of the Stars and Stripes? It was only a severely wounded +petty-officer murmuring to himself in the wild delirium of fever. For +God's sake, anything but that! The admiral turned around sharply and +called into the tube leading to the stern turret: "Watch over the flag; +it must not be struck!"</p> + +<p>No one answered—dead iron, dead metal, not a human sound could be heard +in that steel tomb. And now some of the electric lights suddenly went +out. "I won't die here in this smoky steel box," said the admiral to +himself; "I won't drown here like a mouse in a trap." There was nothing +more to be done down here anyway, for most of the connections had been +cut off, and so Admiral Perry turned over the command of the +<i>Connecticut</i> to a young lieutenant with the words: "Keep them firing as +long as you can." Then murmuring softly to himself, "It's of no use +anyhow," he crept through a narrow bulkhead-opening to a stairway and +groped his way up step by step. Suddenly he touched something soft and +warm; it groaned loudly. Heavens! it was a sailor who had dragged his +shattered limbs into this corner. "Poor fellow," said the admiral, and +climbed up, solitary and alone, to the deck of his lost ship. The din +of battle sounded louder and louder, and at last he reached the deck +beneath the rear bridge. A badly wounded signalman was leaning against a +bit of railing that had remained standing, staring at the admiral with +vacant eyes. "Are the signal-halyards still clear?" asked Perry. "Yes," +answered the man feebly.</p> + +<p>"Then signal at once: Three cheers for the United States!" The little +colored flags flew up to the yardarm like lightning, and it grew quiet +on the <i>Connecticut</i>.</p> + +<p>The last shell, the last cartridge was shoved into the breech, one more +shot was aimed at the enemy from the heated barrels, and then all was +still except for the crash of the hostile projectiles, the crackling of +the flames and the howling of the wind. The other side, too, gradually +ceased firing. With the <i>Satsuma</i> and the <i>Aki</i> in the van and the four +other ships following, the enemy's squadron advanced, enveloped in a +thin veil of smoke.</p> + +<p>High up in the stern of the <i>Connecticut</i> and at her mastheads waved the +tattered Stars and Stripes. The few gunners, who had served the guns to +the end, crept out of the turrets and worked their way up over broken +steps. There were fifty-seven of them, all that remained of the proud +squadron. Three cheers for their country came from the parched throats +of these last heroes of the <i>Connecticut</i>. "Three cheers for the United +States!" Admiral Perry drew his sword, and "Hurrah" it rang once more +across the water to the ships sailing under the flag which bore the +device of a crimson Rising Sun on a white field. There memories of the +old days of the Samurai knighthood were aroused, and a signal appeared +on the rear top mast of the <i>Satsuma</i>, whereupon all six battleships +lowered their flags as a last tribute to a brave enemy.</p> + +<p>Then the <i>Connecticut</i> listed heavily to starboard, and the next wave +could not raise the heavy ship, bleeding from a thousand wounds. It sank +and sank, and while Admiral Perry held fast to a bit of railing and +waited with moist eyes for the end, the words of the old "Star-Spangled +Banner," which had been heard more than once in times of storm and +peril, rang out from the deck of the <i>Connecticut</i>. Then, with her flag +waving to the last, the admiral's flag-ship sank slowly beneath the +waves, leaving a bloody glow behind her. That was the end.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a><i>Chapter XI</i></h4> + +<h4>CAPTAIN WINSTANLEY</h4> + + +<p>Captain Winstanley slowly opened his eyes and stared at the low ceiling +of his cabin on the white oil-paint of which the sunbeams, entering +through the porthole, were painting numerous circles and quivering +reflections. Slowly he began to collect his thoughts. Could it have been +a dream or the raving of delirium? He tried to raise himself on his +narrow bed, but fell back as he felt a sharp pain. There was no mistake +about the pain—that was certainly real. What on earth had happened? He +asked himself this question again and again as he watched the thousands +of circles and quivering lines drawn by the light on the ceiling.</p> + +<p>Winstanley stared about him and suddenly started violently. Then it was +all real, a terrible reality? Yes, for there sat his friend Longstreet +of the <i>Nebraska</i> with his back against the wall of the cabin, in a +dripping wet uniform, fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"Longstreet!" he called.</p> + +<p>His friend awoke and stared at him in astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Longstreet, did it all really happen, or have I been dreaming?"</p> + +<p>No answer.</p> + +<p>"Longstreet," he began again more urgently, "tell me, is it all over, +can it be true?"</p> + +<p>Longstreet nodded, incapable of speech.</p> + +<p>"Our poor, poor country," whispered Winstanley.</p> + +<p>After a long pause Longstreet suddenly broke the silence by remarking: +"The <i>Nebraska</i> went down at about six o'clock."</p> + +<p>"And the <i>Georgia</i> a little earlier," said Winstanley; "but where are +we? How did I get here?"</p> + +<p>"The torpedo boat <i>Farragut</i> fished us up after the battle. We are on +board the hospital ship <i>Ontario</i> with about five hundred other +survivors."</p> + +<p>"And what has become of the rest of our squadron?" asked Winstanley +apprehensively. Longstreet only shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>Then they both dozed again and listened to the splashing and gurgling of +the water against the ship's side and to the dull, regular thud of the +engine which by degrees began to form words in Winstanley's fever-heated +imagination—meaningless words which seemed to pierce his brain with +painful sharpness: "Oh, won't you come across," rose and fell the oily +melody, keeping time with the action of the piston-rods of the engine, +"Oh, won't you come across," repeated the walls, and "Oh, won't you come +across," clattered the water-bottle over in the wooden rack. Again and +again Winstanley said the words to himself in an everlasting, dull +repetition.</p> + +<p>Longstreet looked at him compassionately, and murmured: "Another attack +of fever." Then he got up, and bending over his comrade, looked out of +the porthole.</p> + +<p>Water everywhere; nothing but sparkling, glistening water, broad, blue, +rolling waves to be seen as far as the eye could reach. Not a sign of a +ship anywhere.</p> + +<p>"Oh, won't you come across," repeated Longstreet, listlessly joining in +the rhythm of the engines. Then he stretched himself and sank back on +his chair in a somnolent state, thinking over the experiences of the +night.</p> + +<p>So this was all that was left of the Pacific Fleet—a hospital ship with +a few hundred wounded officers and men, all that remained of Admiral +Crane's fleet, which had been attacked with torpedo boats by Admiral +Kamimura at three o'clock on the night of May eighth, after Togo had +destroyed Perry's squadron.</p> + +<p>It had been a horrible surprise. The enemy must have intercepted the +signals between the squadron and the scouts, but as the Japanese had not +employed their wireless telegraph at all, none of the American +reconnoitering cruisers had had its suspicions aroused. Then the +wireless apparatus had suddenly got out of order and all further +intercommunication among the American ships was cut off, while a few +minutes later came the first torpedo explosions, followed by fountains +of foam, the dazzling light of the searchlights and sparks from the +falling shells. The Americans could not reply to the hostile fire until +much, much later, and then it was almost over. When the gray light of +dawn spread over the surface of the water, it only lighted up a few +drifting, sinking wrecks, the irrecognizable ruins of Admiral Crane's +proud squadron, which were soon completely destroyed by the enemy's +torpedoes.</p> + +<p>Kamimura had already disappeared beyond the horizon with his ships, not +being interested in his enemy's remains.</p> + +<p>"Oh, won't you come across," groaned and wailed the engine quite loudly +as a door to the engine-room was opened. Longstreet jumped up with a +start, and then climbed wearily and heavily up the stairs. The entire +deck had been turned into a hospital, and the few doctors were hurrying +from one patient to another.</p> + +<p>Longstreet went up to a lieutenant in a torn uniform who was leaning +against the railing with his head between his hands, staring across the +water. "Where are we going, Harry?" asked Longstreet.</p> + +<p>"I don't know; somewhere or other; it doesn't matter much where."</p> + +<p>Longstreet left him and climbed up to the bridge. Here he shook hands in +silence with a few comrades and then asked the captain of the <i>Ontario</i> +where they were going.</p> + +<p>"If possible, to San Francisco," was the answer. "But I'm afraid the +Japanese will be attacking the coast-batteries by this time, and besides +that chap over there seems to have his eyes on us," he added, pointing +to port.</p> + +<p>Longstreet looked in the direction indicated and saw a gray cruiser with +three high funnels making straight for the <i>Ontario</i>. At this moment a +signalman delivered a wireless message to the captain: "The cruiser +yonder wants to know our name and destination."</p> + +<p>"Signal back: United States hospital ship <i>Ontario</i> making for San +Francisco," said the captain. This signal was followed by the dull boom +of a shot across the water; but the <i>Ontario</i> continued on her course.</p> + +<p>Then a flash was seen from a forward gun of the cruiser and a shell +splashed into the water about one hundred yards in front of the +<i>Ontario</i>, bursting with a deafening noise.</p> + +<p>The captain hesitated a second, then he ordered the engines to stop, +turned over the command on the bridge to the first officer and went +himself to the signaling apparatus to send the following message: +"United States hospital ship <i>Ontario</i> with five hundred wounded on +board relies on protection of ambulance-flag."</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later, the Japanese armored cruiser <i>Idzumo</i> +stopped close to the <i>Ontario</i> and lowered a cutter, which took several +Japanese officers and two doctors over to the <i>Ontario</i>.</p> + +<p>While a Japanese officer of high rank was received by the captain in his +cabin in order to discuss the best method of providing for the wounded, +Longstreet went down to Winstanley.</p> + +<p>"Well, old man, how are you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Pretty miserable, Longstreet; what's going to become of us?"</p> + +<p>Longstreet hesitated, but Winstanley insisted: "Tell me, old chap, tell +me the truth. Where are we bound to—what's going to become of us?"</p> + +<p>"We're going to San Francisco," said Longstreet evasively.</p> + +<p>"And the enemy?"</p> + +<p>Longstreet remained silent again.</p> + +<p>"But the enemy, Longstreet, where's the enemy? We mustn't fall into his +hands!"</p> + +<p>"Brace up, Winstanley," said Longstreet, "we're in the hands of the +Japanese now."</p> + +<p>Winstanley started up from his bed, but sank back exhausted by the +terrible pain in his right arm which had been badly wounded.</p> + +<p>"No, no, anything but that! I'd rather be thrown overboard than fall +into the hands of the Japanese! It's all over, there's no use struggling +any more!"</p> + +<p>"Longstreet," he cried, with eyes burning with fever, "Longstreet, +promise me that you'll throw me overboard rather than give me up to the +Japanese!"</p> + +<p>"No, Winstanley, no; think of our country, remember that it is in sore +need of men, of men to restore the honor of the Stars and Stripes, of +men to drive the enemy from the field and conquer them in the end."</p> + +<p>At this moment the door opened and a Japanese lieutenant entered, +carrying a small note-book in his hand.</p> + +<p>At sight of him Winstanley shouted: "Longstreet, hand me a weapon of +some sort; that fellow——"</p> + +<p>The Jap saluted and said: "Gentlemen, I am sorry for the circumstances +which compel me to ask you to give me your names and ships. Rest assured +that a wounded enemy may safely rely on Japanese chivalry. If you will +follow the example of all the other officers and give your word of honor +not to escape, you will receive all possible care and attention in the +hospital at San Francisco without any irksome guard. Will you be so good +as to give me your names?"</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Longstreet of the <i>Nebraska</i>."</p> + +<p>"Thank you."</p> + +<p>"Captain Winstanley, commander of the <i>Georgia</i>," added Longstreet for +Winstanley.</p> + +<p>"Will you give me your word of honor?"</p> + +<p>Longstreet gave his, but Winstanley shook his head and said: "<i>You can +do what you like with me; I refuse to give my word of honor.</i>"</p> + +<p>The Jap shrugged his shoulders and disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Longstreet, nursed in San Francisco, is that what the Jap said? Then +San Francisco must be in their hands." At these words the wounded +captain of the <i>Georgia</i> burst into bitter tears and sobs shook the body +of the poor man, who in his ravings fancied himself back on board his +ship giving orders for the big guns to fire at the enemy. Longstreet +held his friend's hand and stared in silence at the white ceiling upon +which the sunbeams painted myriads of quivering lines and circles.</p> + +<p>At one o'clock the <i>Ontario</i> came in sight of the Golden Gate, where the +white banner with its crimson sun was seen to be waving above all the +fortifications.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>While the Japanese were attacking San Francisco early on the morning of +May seventh, their fleet was stationed off San Diego on the lookout for +the two American maneuvering fleets. The intercepted orders from the +Navy Department had informed the enemy that Admiral Perry, with his blue +squadron of six battleships of the <i>Connecticut</i> class, intended to +attack San Francisco and the other ports and naval-stations on the +Pacific, and that the yellow fleet, under command of Admiral Crane, was +to carry out the defense. The latter had drawn up his squadron in front +of San Francisco on May second, and on May fifth Admiral Perry had left +Magdalen Bay. From this time on every report sent by wireless was read +by harmless looking Japanese trading-vessels sailing under the English +flag.</p> + +<p>The first thing to be done on the morning of the seventh was to render +Magdalen Bay useless, in order to prevent all communication with distant +ships. A trick put the station in the enemy's possession. Here, too, +there were several Japanese shopkeepers who did good business with their +stores along the Bay. Early on Sunday morning these busy yellow +tradesmen were suddenly transformed into a company of troops who soon +overpowered the weak garrison in charge of the signal-station. The +Japanese cruiser <i>Yakumo</i>, approaching from the North, had been painted +white like the American cruisers, and this is why she had been taken, as +the reader will remember, for the armored cruiser <i>New York</i>, which was +actually lying off San Francisco assigned to Admiral Crane's yellow +fleet. The <i>Yakumo</i> was to prevent the two destroyers <i>Hull</i> and +<i>Hopkins</i> from escaping from the Bay, and both boats were literally shot +to pieces when they made the attempt. This action hopelessly isolated +the maneuvering fleets.</p> + +<p>By eight o'clock in the morning Togo's squadron, consisting of the +flag-ships <i>Satsuma</i>, the <i>Aki</i>, <i>Katou</i>, <i>Kashimi</i>, <i>Mikasa</i> and +<i>Akahi</i>, and forming the backbone of the Japanese battle-fleet, had +succeeded in locating Admiral Perry's squadron, thanks to intercepted +wireless dispatches. The Japanese refrained from using their wireless +apparatus, so as to avoid attracting the attention of the American +squadron. The unfinished message sent at nine o'clock from Magdalen Bay +told Togo that the surprise there had been successful, and a little +later the order to strengthen the American advance, sent in the same +way, enabled him to ascertain the exact position of both the main group +of cruisers and the scouts and lookout ships. Similarly it was learned +that the latter were extremely weak, and accordingly Togo detached four +armored cruisers, the huge new 25-knot <i>Tokio</i> and <i>Osaka</i>, and the +<i>Ibuki</i> and <i>Kurama</i>, to destroy the American van, and this he succeeded +in accomplishing after a short engagement which took place at the same +time as the attack on Perry's armored ships.</p> + +<p>The <i>Denver</i> and <i>Chattanooga</i> were soon put out of business by a few +shells which entered their unprotected hulls, and the five destroyers, +which were unable to use their torpedoes in such a heavy sea, were +likewise soon done for.</p> + +<p>Under cover of a torrent of rain, Togo came in sight of the American +ships when the distance between the two squadrons was only 5,500 yards.</p> + +<p>At the moment when Admiral Perry's ships emerged out of the rain, +Admiral Togo opened the battle by sending the following signal from the +<i>Satsuma</i>:</p> + +<p>"To-day must avenge Kanagawa. As Commodore Perry then knocked with his +sword at the gate of Nippon, so will we to-day burst open San +Francisco's Golden Gate."<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>The signal was greeted with enthusiasm and loud cries of "<i>Banzai</i>!" on +board all the ships. Then the battle began, and by the time the sun had +reached its zenith, Admiral Perry's squadron had disappeared in the +waves of the Pacific. The first eleven minutes, before the Americans +could bring their guns into action, had determined the outcome of the +battle. The ultimate outcome of the battle had, of course, been +accelerated by the fact that the first shells had created such fearful +havoc in the fore-parts of three of the American ships, quantities of +water pouring in which caused the ships to list and made it necessary to +fill the compartments on the opposite side in order to restore the +equilibrium.</p> + +<p>Admiral Kamimura was less fortunate at first with the second squadron. +He was led astray by the wrong interpretation of a wireless signal and +did not sight Admiral Crane's fleet till towards evening, and then it +was not advisable to begin the attack at once, lest the Americans should +escape under cover of darkness. Kamimura, therefore, decided to wait +until shortly after midnight, and then to commence operations with his +eight destroyers and apply the finishing touches with his heavy guns.</p> + +<p>Admiral Crane's squadron consisted of six battleships—the three new +battleships <i>Virginia</i>, <i>Nebraska</i> and <i>Georgia</i>, the two older vessels +<i>Kearsage</i> and <i>Kentucky</i>, and, lastly, the <i>Iowa</i>. Then there were the +two armored cruisers <i>St. Louis</i> and <i>Milwaukee</i>, and the unprotected +cruisers <i>Tacoma</i> and <i>Des Moines</i>, which, on account of their speed of +16.5 knots and their lack of any armor, were as useless as cruisers as +were their sister ships in Admiral Perry's squadron. One single +well-aimed shell would suffice to put them out of action.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible surprise when the Japanese destroyers began the attack +under cover of the night. Not until dawn did the Americans actually +catch sight of their enemy, and that was when Kamimura left the field of +battle, which was strewn with sinking American ships, with his six +practically unharmed battleships headed in a southwesterly direction to +join Togo's fleet, who had already been informed of the victory. The +work of cleaning up was left to the destroyers, who sank the badly +damaged American ships with their torpedoes. The hospital ship +<i>Ontario</i>, attached to the yellow fleet, and a torpedo boat fished up +the survivors of this short battle. Then the <i>Ontario</i> started for San +Francisco, while the leaking <i>Farragut</i> remained behind.</p> + +<p>The Americans had been able to distinguish, with a fair degree of +certainty, that Kamimura's squadron consisted of the <i>Shikishima</i>, the +battleships <i>Iwami</i> (ex <i>Orel</i>), the <i>Sagami</i> (ex <i>Peresvjet</i>), and +<i>Tumo</i> (ex <i>Pobjeda</i>), all three old Russian ships, and of the two new +armored cruisers <i>Ikoma</i> and <i>Tsukuba</i>. Then there were the two enormous +battleships which were not included in the Japanese Navy List at all, +and the two huge cruisers <i>Yokohama</i> and <i>Shimonoseki</i> which, according +to Japanese reports, were still building, while in reality they had been +finished and added to the fleet long ago.</p> + +<p>The circumstances connected with these two battleships were rather +peculiar. The report was spread in 1906 that China was going to build a +new fleet and that she had ordered two big battleships from the docks at +Yokosuka. This rumor was contradicted both at Pekin and at Tokio. The +Americans and everybody in Europe wondered who was going to pay for the +ships. The trouble is, we ask altogether too many questions, instead of +investigating for ourselves. As a matter of fact, the ships were laid +down in 1908, though everybody outside the walls of the Japanese +shipyard was made to believe that only gunboats were being built. We +have probably forgotten how, at the time, a German newspaper called our +attention to the fact that not only these two battleships—of the +English <i>Dreadnought</i> type—but also the two armored cruisers building +at Kure ostensibly for China, would probably never sail under the yellow +dragon banner, but in case of war, would either be added directly to +Japan's fleet or be bought back from China.</p> + +<p>And so it turned out. Just before the outbreak of the war, the Sun +Banner was hoisted quietly on the two battleships and they were given +the names of <i>Nippon</i> and <i>Hokkaido</i>, respectively; but they were +omitted from the official Japanese Navy List and left out of our +calculations. How Pekin and Tokio came to terms with regard to these two +ships remains one of the many secrets of east Asiatic politics. The +generally accepted political belief that China was not financially +strong enough to build a new fleet and that Japan, supposedly on the +very verge of bankruptcy, could not possibly carry out her <i>postbellum</i> +programme, was found to have rested on empty phrases employed by the +press on both sides of the ocean merely for the sake of running a story. +There has never yet been a time in the history of the world when war was +prevented by a lack of funds. How could Prussia, absolutely devoid of +resources, have carried on the war it did against Napoleon a hundred +years ago, unless this were so?</p> + +<p>In the redistribution of our war vessels in the Atlantic and the Pacific +after the return of the fleet from its journey round the world, the Navy +Department had calculated as follows: Japan had fifteen battleships, six +large new ones and nine older ones; in addition she had six large new +and eight older armored cruisers. We have one armored cruiser and three +cruisers in Manila, and these can take care of at least five Japanese +armored cruisers. Japan therefore has fifteen battleships and nine +armored cruisers left for making an attack. Now if we keep two +squadrons, each consisting of six battleships—the <i>Texas</i> among +them—off the Pacific coast and add to these the coast-batteries, the +mines and the submarines, we shall possess a naval force which the enemy +will never dare attack.</p> + +<p>Japan, on the other hand, figured as follows: We have two squadrons, +each consisting of six battleships, among which there are six that are +superior to any American fighting ship; these with the nine armored +cruisers and the advantage of a complete surprise, give us such a +handicap that we have nothing to fear. As a reserve, lying off San +Francisco, are the ironclads <i>Hizen</i> (ex <i>Retvisan</i>), <i>Tango</i> (ex +<i>Poltawa</i>), <i>Iki</i> (ex <i>Nicolai</i>), and the armored cruisers <i>Azuma</i>, +<i>Idzumo</i>, <i>Asama</i>, <i>Tokiwa</i>, and <i>Yakumo</i>. Besides these there are the +two mortar-boat divisions and the cruisers sent to Seattle, while the +armored cruiser <i>Iwate</i> and two destroyers were sent to Magdalen Bay. +All that remained in home waters were the fourth squadron, consisting of +former Russian ships, and the cruisers which would soon be relieved at +the Philippines.</p> + +<p>The enemy had figured correctly and we had not. The two battles of the +seventh and eighth of May were decided in the first ten minutes, before +we had fired a single shot. And would the Japanese calculation have been +correct also if Perry had beaten Togo or Crane Kamimura? Most decidedly +so, for not a single naval harbor or coaling-station, or repairing-dock +on the Pacific coast would have been ready to receive Perry or Crane +with their badly damaged squadrons. On the other hand, the remnants of +our fleet would have had all the Japanese battleships, all the armored +cruisers and a large collection of torpedo-boats continually on their +heels, and would thus have been forced to another battle in which, being +entirely without a base of operations, they would without a doubt have +suffered a complete defeat.</p> + +<p>Our mines in the various arsenals and our three submarines at the Mare +Island Wharf in San Francisco fell into the enemy's hands like ripe +plums. It was quite superfluous for the Japanese to take their steamer +for transporting submarines, which had been built for them in England, +to San Francisco.</p> + +<p>Nothing remained to us but the glory that not one of our ships had +surrendered to the enemy—all had sunk with their flags flying. After +all, it was one thing to fight against the demoralized fleet of the Czar +and quite another to fight against the Stars and Stripes. Our +blue-jackets had saved the honor of the white race in the eyes of the +yellow race on the waves of the Pacific, even if they had thus far shown +them only how brave American sailors die. But the loss of more than half +our officers and trained men was even a more severe blow than the +sinking of our ships. These could not be replaced at a moment's notice, +but months and months of hard work would be required and new squadrons +must be found. But from where were they to come?</p> + +<p>Only a single vessel of the Pacific fleet escaped from the battle and +the pursuing Japanese cruisers: this was the torpedo-destroyer <i>Barry</i>, +commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Dayton, who had been in command of the +torpedo flotilla attached to Admiral Perry's squadron. He had attempted +twice, advancing boldly into the teeth of the gale, to launch a torpedo +in the direction of the <i>Satsuma</i>, but the sea was too rough and each +time took the torpedo out of its course.</p> + +<p>The badly damaged destroyer entered the harbor of Buenaventura on the +coast of Colombia on May eleventh, followed closely by the Japanese +steamer <i>Iwate</i>, which had been lying off the coast of Panama. Grinding +his teeth with rage, Dayton had to look on while a Colombian officer in +ragged uniform, plentifully supplied with gilt, who was in the habit of +commanding his tiny antediluvian gunboat from the door of a harbor +saloon, came on board the <i>Barry</i> and ordered the breeches of the guns +and the engine-valves to be removed, at the same time depriving the crew +of their arms. The Japanese waiting outside the harbor had categorically +demanded this action of the government in Bogota. This humiliating +degradation before all the harbor loafers and criminals, before the +crowds of exulting Chinese and Japanese coolies, who were only too +delighted to see the white man compelled to submit to a handful of +marines the entire batch of whom were not worth one American sailor, was +far harder to bear than all the days of battle put together. And even +now, when Admiral Dayton's fame reaches beyond the seas and the name of +James Dayton is in every sailor's mouth as the savior of his people, +yes, even now, he will tell you how at the moment when, outside the +Straits of Magellan, he crushed the Japanese cruisers with his +cruiser-squadron, thereby once again restoring the Star Spangled Banner +to its place of honor, the vision of that grinning row of faces exulting +in the degradation of a severely damaged American torpedo-boat appeared +before him. It is only such men as he, men who experienced the horrors +of our downfall to the bitter end, who could lead us to victory—such +men as Dayton and Winstanley.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Perry, the American commodore, with a fleet of only eight +ships, forced Japan to sign the agreement of Kanagawa, opening the chief +harbors in Japan to American trading-vessels, in the year 1854.</p></div></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a><i>Chapter XII</i></h4> + +<h4>ARE YOU WINSTANLEY?</h4> + + +<p>The bow of the English freighter <i>Port Elizabeth</i> was plowing its way +through the broad waves of the Pacific on the evening of the fourteenth +of September. The captain and the first mate were keeping a sharp +lookout on the bridge, for they were approaching San Francisco. The +steamer had taken a cargo of machinery and rails on board at Esquimault +for San Francisco, as was duly set forth in the ship's papers. In +Esquimault, too, the second mate enlisted, though the captain was not +particularly eager to take a man who carried his arm in a sling. Since, +however, he could find no one else to take the place of the former +second mate, who had gone astray in the harbor saloons of Victoria, the +captain engaged the volunteer, who called himself Henry Wilson, and thus +far he had had no cause to regret his choice, as Wilson turned out to be +a quiet, sober man, thoroughly familiar with the waters along the +Pacific coast.</p> + +<p>Wilson was in the chart-room, carefully examining the entrance to San +Francisco; suddenly he turned and called through the open door to the +captain on the bridge: "Captain, we are now eight miles from the Golden +Gate; it's a wonder the Japs haven't discovered us yet."</p> + +<p>"I should think they would station their cruisers as far out as this," +answered the captain.</p> + +<p>"After all, why should they?" asked Wilson, "there's nothing more to be +done here, and the allies of our illustrious government can scarcely be +asked to show much interest in an English steamer with a harmless +cargo."</p> + +<p>Wilson joined the captain and the first mate on the bridge, and all +three leaned against the railing and tried through their glasses to +discover the fires of the Golden Gate through the darkness; but not a +gleam of light was to be seen.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe we'll be allowed to enter the harbor at night," began +the first mate again, "more especially as our instructions are to reach +the Golden Gate at noon."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but if the engines won't work properly, how the devil can they +expect us to be punctual!" grumbled the captain.</p> + +<p>"Look," cried Wilson, pointing to the blinding flash of a searchlight in +front of them, "they've got us at last!" A few minutes later the +brilliant bluish white beam of a searchlight was fixed on the <i>Port +Elizabeth</i>.</p> + +<p>"We'll keep right on our course," said the captain rather hurriedly to +the man at the helm, "they'll soon let us know what they want. Wilson, +you might get the ship's papers ready, we'll have visitors in a minute."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had Wilson reached the captain's cabin when a bell rang sharply +in the engine-room, and soon after this the engines began to slow down. +When he returned to the bridge, the masts and low funnels of a ship and +a thick trailing cloud of smoke could be seen crossing the reflection of +the searchlight a few hundred yards away from the <i>Port Elizabeth</i>. Then +a long black torpedo-boat with four low funnels emerged from the +darkness, turned, and took the same course as the freighter. A boat was +lowered and four sailors, a pilot and an officer stepped on board the +<i>Port Elizabeth</i>.</p> + +<p>The captain welcomed the Japanese lieutenant at the gangway and spoke a +few words to him in a low tone, whereupon they both went into the +captain's cabin. The Jap must have been satisfied by his examination of +the ship's papers, for he returned to the bridge conversing with the +captain in a most friendly and animated manner.</p> + +<p>"This is my first mate, Hornberg," said the captain.</p> + +<p>"An Englishman?" asked the Japanese.</p> + +<p>"No, a German."</p> + +<p>"A German?" repeated the Jap slowly. "The Germans are friends of Japan, +are they not?" he asked, smiling pleasantly at the first mate, who, +however, did not appear to have heard the question and turned away to go +to the engine-room telephone.</p> + +<p>"And this is my second mate, Wilson."</p> + +<p>"An Englishman?" asked the Jap again.</p> + +<p>"Yes, an Englishman," answered Wilson himself.</p> + +<p>The Japanese officer looked at him keenly and said: "I seem to know +you."</p> + +<p>"It is not impossible," said Wilson, "I have been navigating Japanese +waters for several years."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" asked the lieutenant, "may I inquire on which line?"</p> + +<p>"On several lines; I know Shanghai, I have been from Hongkong to +Yokohama in tramp steamers, and once during the Russian war I got to +Nagasaki—also with a cargo of machinery," he added after a pause. "That +was a dangerous voyage, for the Russians had just sailed from +Vladivostock."</p> + +<p>"With a cargo of machinery," repeated the Japanese officer, adding, "and +you are familiar with these waters also?"</p> + +<p>"Fairly so," said Wilson.</p> + +<p>"Have you any relatives in the American Navy?" asked the Jap sharply.</p> + +<p>"Not that I know of," answered Wilson, "my family is a large one, and as +an Englishman I have relatives in all parts of the world, but none in +the American Navy, so far as I know."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Wilson, you will please take charge of the ship under the direction +of the pilot brought along by the lieutenant. Mr. Hornberg's watch is +up," said the captain, and went off with the Jap to his cabin.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later the captain sent for the first mate, who returned to +the bridge almost directly, saying: "Mr. Wilson, I am to take your place +at the helm. The captain would like to see you."</p> + +<p>"Certainly," answered Wilson curtly. The captain and the Jap were +sitting together in the cabin over a glass of whisky. "The lieutenant," +said the captain, "wants to know something about Esquimault; you know +the harbor there, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"Very slightly," answered Wilson, "I was only there three days."</p> + +<p>"Were there any Japanese ships at Esquimault when you were there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, there was a Japanese cruiser in dock."</p> + +<p>"What was her name?"</p> + +<p>Wilson shrugged his shoulders and answered: "I couldn't say, I don't +know the names of the Japanese ships."</p> + +<p>"Won't you sit down and join us in a glass of whisky?" said the captain.</p> + +<p>"What did you do to your arm?" asked the Japanese.</p> + +<p>"I was thrown against the railing in a storm and broke it on the way +from Shanghai to Victoria."</p> + +<p>A long pause ensued which was at last broken by the Jap, who inquired: +"Do you know Lieutenant Longstreet of the American Navy?"</p> + +<p>"I know no one of that name in the American Navy."</p> + +<p>The Jap scrutinized Wilson's face, but the latter remained perfectly +unconcerned.</p> + +<p>"You told the captain that you've been in San Francisco often," began +the Jap again; "on what line were you?"</p> + +<p>"On no line, I was at San Francisco for pleasure."</p> + +<p>"When?"</p> + +<p>"The last time was two years ago."</p> + +<p>"May I see your papers?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," said Wilson, getting up to fetch them from his cabin.</p> + +<p>The Japanese studied them closely.</p> + +<p>"Curious," he said at last, "I could have sworn that I've seen you +before."</p> + +<p>Then he glanced again at one of the certificates and looking up at +Wilson suddenly, over the edge of the paper, asked sharply: "Why have +you two names?"</p> + +<p>"I have only one," returned Wilson.</p> + +<p>"Winstanley and Wilson," said the Jap with a decided emphasis on both +names.</p> + +<p>"I'm very sorry," said Wilson, "but I don't know anyone of the name of +Winstanley, or whatever you called it. The name cannot very well be in +my papers."</p> + +<p>"Then I must be mistaken," said the Jap peevishly.</p> + +<p>Wilson left the captain's cabin and went up to the bridge, where he drew +a deep breath of relief.</p> + +<p>The pilot gave directions for the ship's course, and the torpedo-boat +steamed along on her port side like a shadow.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why we have a wireless apparatus on board?" asked Hornberg.</p> + +<p>"It never occurred to me until you mentioned it. I imagine it's merely +an experiment of the owners," answered Wilson. Then they both lapsed +into silence and only attended to the pilot's directions for the ship's +course.</p> + +<p>Wilson presently looked at his watch and remarked: "We must be about +two miles from the Golden Gate by this time."</p> + +<p>"It's possible," said Hornberg, "but as all the ships use shaded lights, +it's a difficult thing to determine."</p> + +<p>"Can we enter the harbor by night?" he asked of the Japanese pilot.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir, whenever you like, under our pilotage you can enter the +harbor by day or night."</p> + +<p>"How's that?"</p> + +<p>"You'll see directly."</p> + +<p>At this moment the torpedo-boat's siren bellowed sharply three times, +and immediately the red lights at the masthead and the side of a steamer +about half a mile off became visible, and the bright flash of her +searchlight was thrown on the <i>Port Elizabeth</i>. The pilot sent a short +signal across, which was immediately answered by the Japanese guardship.</p> + +<p>"Now you'll see the channel," said the pilot to Wilson, "it's really an +American invention, but we were the first to put it to practical use. We +can't possibly lose our way now."</p> + +<p>"Yes, captain, you'll see something wonderful now," said the lieutenant, +as he came on the bridge with the captain. "You'll open your eyes when +you see us steering through the mines."</p> + +<p>Suddenly a bright circle of light appeared on the surface of the water, +which was reflected from some source of light about ten yards below the +surface. "It's an anchored light-buoy," explained the lieutenant, "which +forms the end of the electric light cable, and there to the right is +another one. All we have to do now is to keep a straight course between +the two rows of lantern-buoys which are connected with the cable, and in +that way we'll be able to steer with perfect safety between the mines +into the harbor of San Francisco." And indeed, about a hundred yards +ahead a second shining circle of light appeared on the water, and +further on a whole chain of round disks was seen to make a turn to the +left and then disappear in the distance. The same kind of a line +appeared on the right. Half an hour later three bright red reflections, +looking like transparent floating balls of light filled with ruby-red, +bubbling billows, marked a spot where the helm had to be turned to port +in order to bring the ship through a gap in the line of mines. Thus the +<i>Port Elizabeth</i> reached San Francisco early in the morning. She did not +make fast at the quay, but at the arsenal on Mare Island, her crew then +being given shore leave. When the last man had gone, the <i>Port +Elizabeth</i>, unloaded her cargo of machinery and rails which, in the +hands of the Chinese coolies, was transformed into gun-barrels, +ammunition and shells in the most marvelous manner. "<i>Le pavilion couvre +la marchandise</i>, especially under the Union Jack," said Hornberg +sarcastically, as he watched this metamorphosis, but the captain only +looked at him angrily.</p> + +<p>That was the second time during the war that Captain Winstanley of the +United States Navy, and late commander of the battleship <i>Georgia</i>, saw +San Francisco, whence he had escaped by night from the naval hospital +two months before. The Japanese lieutenant was the same who had received +the word of honor of the officers on board the hospital ship <i>Ontario</i> +on May eighth, and to whom Winstanley had refused to give his. Two +months after his voyage as second mate on board the <i>Port Elizabeth</i>, +which enabled him to gather information concerning the Japanese measures +for the defense of San Francisco, Winstanley stood on the bridge of the +battleship <i>Delaware</i> as commander of the second Atlantic squadron. And +four months later the name of the victor in the naval battle off the +Galapagos Islands went the rounds of the world!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XIII" id="Chapter_XIII"></a><i>Chapter XIII</i></h4> + +<h4>THE REVENGE FOR PORTSMOUTH</h4> + + +<p>The more one examined the complicated machinery of the Japanese plan of +attack, the more one was forced to admire the cleverness and the energy +of the Mongolians in preparing for the war, and the more distinctly +these were recognized, the clearer became the wide gulf between the +Mongolian's and the white man's point of view concerning all these +matters.</p> + +<p>We might have learned a lesson in 1904, if we had not so carelessly and +thoughtlessly looked upon the Russo-Japanese war as a mere episode, +instead of regarding it as a war whose roots were firmly embedded in the +inner life of a nation that had suddenly come to the surface of a rapid +political development. The interference of the European powers in the +Peace of Shimonoseki in 1895 robbed Japan of nearly all the fruits of +her victory over China. Japan had been forced to vacate the conquered +province of Liaotung on the mainland because she was unable to prevail +against three European powers, who were for once agreed in maintaining +that all Chinese booty belonged to Europe, for they regarded China as a +bankrupt estate to be divided among her creditors. When, therefore, +after the second Peace of Shimonoseki, Japan was compelled to relinquish +all her possessions on the mainland and to console herself for her +shattered hopes with a few million taels, every Japanese knew that the +lost booty would at some time or other be demanded from Russia at the +point of the sword. With the millions paid by China as war indemnity, +Japan procured a new military armament, built an armored fleet and +slowly but surely taught the nation to prepare for the hour of revenge. +Remember Shimonoseki! That was the secret shibboleth, the free-mason's +sign, which for nine long years kept the thoughts of the Japanese people +continually centered on one object.</p> + +<p>"One country, one people, one God!" were words once emphatically +pronounced by Kaiser Wilhelm. But with the Japanese such high-sounding +words as these are quite unnecessary. In the heart of all, from the +Tenno to the lowest rickshaw coolie, there exists a jealous national +consciousness, as natural as the beating of the heart itself, which +unites the forces of religion, of the political idea and of intellectual +culture into one indivisible element, differing in the individual only +in intensity and in form of expression. When a citizen of Japan leaves +his native land, he nevertheless remains a Japanese from the crown of +his head to the soles of his feet, and can no more mix with members of +another nation than a drop of oil can mix with water: a drop of oil +poured on water will remain on its surface as an alien element, and so +does a Japanese among another people. While the streams of emigrants +passing over the boundaries of Europe into other countries soon adapt +themselves to new conditions and eventually adopt not only the outward +but also the inward symbols of their environment, until finally they +think and feel like those round about them, the Japanese remains a Jap +for all time. The former sometimes retain a sentimental memory of their +former home, but the Mongolian is never sentimental or romantic. He is +sober and sensible, with very little imagination, and his whole energy, +all his thoughts and endeavors are directed towards the upholding of the +national, intellectual and religious unity of Japan. His country is his +conscience, his faith, his deity.</p> + +<p>Ordinary nations require hundreds and even thousands of years to inspire +their people with a national consciousness, but this was not necessary +in Japan, for there patriotism is inborn in the people, among whom an +act of treason against the fatherland would be impossible because it is +looked upon as spiritual suicide. The inner solidarity of the national +character, the positive assurance of the fulfillment of all national +duties, and the absolute silence of the people towards strangers—these +are the weapons with which Japan enters the arena, clothed in a rattling +ready-made steel armor, the like of which her opponents have yet to +manufacture. The discretion shown by the Japanese press in all questions +relating to foreign policy is regarded as the fulfillment of a patriotic +duty just as much as the joyous self-sacrifice of the soldier on the +field of battle.</p> + +<p>From the moment that Marquis Ito had returned from Portsmouth (in 1905) +empty-handed and the Japanese had been sorely disappointed in their +hopes through President Roosevelt's instrumentality in bringing about +peace, every Japanese knew whose turn would come next. The Japanese +people were at first exceedingly angry at the way in which they had been +deprived of their expected indemnity, but the government only allowed +them to let off steam enough to prevent the boilers from bursting. Here +and there, where it could do no harm, they let the excited mob have its +way, but very soon both government and press began their new work of +turning the people's patriotic passions away from the past to prepare +for the future control of the Pacific. When in return for the +prohibition of Chinese immigration to the United States, China boycotted +our goods, and the ensuing panic in Wall Street forced the government +in Washington to grant large concessions, Japan did not attempt to make +use of this sharp weapon, for one of their most extensive industries, +namely the silk industry, depended upon the export to the United States. +Japan continued to place orders in America and treated the American +importers with special politeness, even when she saw that the beginning +of the boycott gave the gentlemen in Washington a terrible scare, +prompting them to collect funds to relieve the famine in China and even +renouncing all claim to the war indemnity of 1901 to smooth matters +over. But Japan apparently took no notice of all this and continued to +be deferential and polite, even when the growing heaps of unsold goods +in the warehouses at Shanghai made the Americans ready to sacrifice some +of their national pride. Since Japan wished to take the enemy by +surprise, she had to be very careful not to arouse suspicions +beforehand.</p> + +<p>"Never speak of it, but think of it always," was the watchword given out +by the little Jewish lawyer in the president's chair of France, when the +longing for revenge filled the soul of every Frenchman during the slow +retreat of the German army after its victorious campaign; "never speak +of it, but think of it always," that was the watchword of the Japanese +people also, although never expressed in words. It was nine years before +the bill of exchange issued at Shimonoseki was presented on that +February night in the roads of Port Arthur; for nine years the Japanese +had kept silence and thought about it, had drilled and armed their +soldiers, built ships and instructed their crews. The world had seen all +this going on, but had no idea of the real reason for these warlike +preparations on a tremendous scale. It was not Japan who had deceived +the world, for everything went on quite openly, it being impossible to +hide an army of over a million men under a bushel basket; but the world +had deceived itself. When ships are built and cannon cast in other parts +of the world, everyone knows for whom they are intended, and should +anyone be ignorant, he will soon be enlightened by the after-dinner +speeches of diplomats or indiscreet newspaper articles. The military and +naval plans of the old world are common property, and this political +indiscretion is characteristic of America as well as of Europe. In +striking contrast thereto are the cool calculation, the silent +observation and the perfect harmony of the peoples of Asia and Africa, +all of whom, without exception, are inspired by a deep and undying +hatred of the white race.</p> + +<p>You may live for years among disciples of Mohammed, know all in your +environment, penetrate into their thoughts and feelings, and still be +utterly incapable of judging when the little spark that occasionally +glows in their eyes in moments of great enthusiasm, will suddenly +develop into an immense flame, when a force will make its appearance of +the existence of which you have never dreamed, and which will, without a +sign of warning, devastate and destroy all around it. But when this does +happen and the corpses of the slain encumber the streets, when the +quiet, peaceful, apparently indolent Moslem who for years has worked +faithfully for you, is transformed in a few hours into a fanatical hero, +whom thousands follow like so many sheep, then, at the sight of the +burning ruins you will be forced to admit that the white man will +forever be excluded from the thoughts and the national sentiment of the +followers of Islam.</p> + +<p>You walk across a sandy plain in the heat of the midday sun and you +return the same way the next morning after a rainy night—what has +happened? The ground which yesterday looked so parched and barren is now +covered with millions of tiny blades. Where has this sudden life come +from? It was there all the time. There is always latent life beneath the +surface, but it is invisible. And as soon as a fertilizing rain comes, +it springs up, and everyone perceives what has been slumbering beneath +the crust.</p> + +<p>In the dense jungles from which the sacred Nile receives its waters, +there stands a tent and before it a saddled horse. From the tent steps +forth a man with large glowing eyes, dressed all in white, who is +greeted by his followers with fanatical cries of Allah, Allah! He mounts +his steed, the camels rise, and the long caravan swings slowly out of +sight and disappears in the bush. Once more dead silence reigns in the +African jungle. Whither are they going? You don't know; you see only a +rider dressed in a white burnoose, only a few dozen men hailing a +prophet, but in the very same moment in which you see only a sheik +riding off, millions know that the Caliph, the Blessed of Allah, has +started on his journey through the lands whose inhabitants he intends to +lead either to victory or to destruction. In the same moment millions of +hearts from Mogador to Cape Guardafui, from Tripoli to the burning salt +deserts of Kalahari, rejoice in the thought that the hour of deliverance +has come for the peoples of Islam. A victorious feeling of buoyant hope +arises in the hearts of the Faithful simply because a plain Arabian +sheik has started on the road pointed out by Allah. How they happen to +know it and all at the same time, will forever remain a mystery to the +white man, as much of a mystery as the secret inner life of the yellow +races of Asia.</p> + +<p>"Never speak of it, but think of it always," had been the watchword, and +everything that had transpired, even the apparently inconsistent and +senseless things, had been ruled by it. The world could not be deceived +about the things that were plainly visible; all the Japanese had to do +was to make sure that the world would deceive itself as it had done +during the preparations for Port Arthur. A perfectly equipped army could +be seen by all on the fields of Nippon, Hokkaido and Kiushiu, and the +fleet was surely not hidden from view. It was the world's own fault that +it could not interpret what it saw, that it imagined the little yellow +monkey would never dare attack the clumsy polar-bear. Because the +diplomatic quill-drivers would only see what fitted into their schemes, +because they were capable only of moving in a circle about their own +ideas, they could not understand the thoughts of others, and the few +warning voices died away unheeded. It was not Japan's fault that the +roads at Port Arthur roused the world out of its slumber. What business +had the world to be asleep?</p> + +<p>"Never speak of it, but think of it always"—the adversary must be put +to sleep again, he must be lulled into security and his thoughts +directed towards the points where there was nothing to be seen, where no +preparations were in progress. He must be kept in the dark about the +true nature of the preparations, and on the other hand put on as many +false scents as possible, so that he might not get the faintest idea of +the real plan.</p> + +<p>This is the reason why all those things were done, why the quarrel over +the admission of Japanese children to the public schools of San +Francisco was cooked up, why so much national anger was exhibited, why +the Japanese press took up the quarrel like a hungry dog pouncing upon a +bone, why so much noise was made about it at public meetings that one +would have thought the fate of Japan hung on the result. And then, as +soon as Washington began to back down, the dogs were whipped back to +their kennels and the "national anger" died out as soon as Japan had +"saved her face." The Americans were allowed to doze off again, fully +persuaded that the school question was settled once and for all and that +there was nothing further to fear in that direction. Then, too, Japan +apparently yielded in the vexed question of Japanese immigration to the +United States, but instead of sending the immigrants to San Francisco +and Seattle, as she had done hitherto, they were simply dispatched +across the Mexican frontier, where it was impossible to exercise control +over such things, for no one could be expected to patrol the sandy +deserts of Arizona and New Mexico merely to watch whether a few Japs +slipped across the border now and then. It was therefore impossible to +keep track of the number of Japanese who entered the country in this +way, more especially as the official emigration figures issued at Tokio +were purposely inaccurate, so as to confuse the statistics still more.</p> + +<p>"Never speak of it, but think of it always!" That is why a Japanese +photographer was sent to San Diego to photograph the walls of Fort +Rosecrans. He was to get himself arrested. But of course we had to let +the fellow go when he proved that better and more accurate photos than +he had taken could be purchased in almost any store in San Diego. The +object of this game was the same as that practiced in Manila, where we +were induced to arrest a spy who was ostentatiously taking photographs. +Both of these little maneuvers were intended to persuade us that Japan +was densely ignorant with regard to these forts which as a matter of +fact would play no rôle at all in her plan of attack; America was to be +led to believe that Japan's system of espionage was in its infancy, +while in reality the government at Tokio was in possession of the exact +diagram of every fort, was thoroughly familiar with every beam of our +warships—thanks to the Japanese stewards who had been employed by the +Navy Department up to a few years ago—knew the peculiarities of every +one of our commanders and their hobbies in maneuvers, and finally was +informed down to the smallest detail of our plans of mobilization, and +of the location of our war headquarters and of our armories and +ammunition depots.</p> + +<p>For the same reason the Japanese press, and the English press in Eastern +Asia which was inspired by Japan, continually drew attention to the +Philippines, as though that archipelago were to be the first point of +attack. For this reason, too, the English-Chinese press published at the +beginning of the year the well-known plans for Japan's offensive naval +attack and the transport of two of her army corps to the Philippines. +And the ruse proved successful. Just as Russia had been taken completely +by surprise because she would persist in her theory that Japan would +begin by marching upon Manchuria, so now the idea that Japan would first +try to capture the Philippines and Hawaii had become an American and an +international dogma. The world had allowed itself to be deceived a +second time, and, convinced that the first blow would be struck at +Manila and Hawaii, they spent their time in figuring out how soon the +American fleet would be able to arrive on the scene of action in order +to save the situation in the Far East.</p> + +<p>"Never speak of it, but think of it always!" While Japan was +disseminating these false notions as to the probable course of a war, +the actual preparations for it were being conducted in an entirely +different place, and the adversary was induced to concentrate his +strength at a point where there was no intention of making an attack. +The Japanese were overjoyed to observe the strengthening of the +Philippine garrison when the insurrection inspired by Japanese agents +broke out at Mindanao as well as the concentration of the cruiser +squadron off that island, for Manila, the naval base, was thus left +unprotected. With the same malignant joy they noticed how the United +States stationed half of its fleet off the Pacific coast and, relying on +her mobile means of defense, provided insufficient garrisons for the +coast-defenses, on the supposition that there would be plenty of time to +put the garrisons on a war-footing after the outbreak of hostilities.</p> + +<p>Japan's next move came in March and April, when she quietly withdrew all +the regular troops from the Manchurian garrisons and replaced them with +reserve regiments fully able to repulse for a time any attack on the +part of Russia. The meaning of this move was not revealed until weeks +later, when it became known that the transport ships from Dalny and +Gensan, which were supposed to have returned to Japan, were really on +their way to San Francisco and Seattle with the second detachment of the +invading army.</p> + +<p>After the destruction of the Philippine squadron, the Japanese reduced +their blockade of the Bay of Manila to a few old cruisers and armed +merchant-steamers, at the same time isolating the American garrisons in +the archipelago, whose fate was soon decided. The blockading ships could +not of course venture near the heavy guns of the Corregidor batteries, +but that was not their task. They had merely to see that Manila had no +intercourse with the outside world, and this they did most efficiently. +The Japanese ships had at first feared an attack by the two little +submarines <i>Shark</i> and <i>Porpoise</i> stationed at Cavite; they learned from +their spies on land, however, that the government shipyards at Cavite +had tried in vain to render the little boats seaworthy: they returned +from each diving-trial with defective gasoline-engines. And when, weeks +later, they at last reached Corregidor, the four Japanese submarines +quickly put an end to them. The strongly fortified city of Manila had +thus become a naval base without a fleet and was accordingly overpowered +from the land side.</p> + +<p>As the far too weak garrison of scarcely more than ten thousand men was +insufficient to defend the extensive line of forts and barricades, the +unfinished works at Olongapo on Subig Bay were blown up with dynamite +and vacated, then the railways were abandoned, and finally only Manila +and Cavite were retained. But the repeated attacks of the natives under +the leadership of Japanese officers soon depleted the little garrison, +which was entirely cut off from outside assistance and dependent +absolutely on the supplies left in Manila itself. The only article of +which they had more than enough was coal; but you can't bake bread with +coal, and so finally, on August twenty-fourth, Manila capitulated. +Twenty-eight hundred starving soldiers surrendered their arms while the +balance lay either in the hospitals or on the field of battle. Thus the +Philippines became a Japanese possession with the loss of a single man, +Lieutenant Shirawa. All the rest had been accomplished by the Filipinos +and by the climate that was so conducive to the propagation of +mosquitoes and scorpions.</p> + +<p>Hawaii's fate had been decided even more quickly than that of the +Philippines. The sixty thousand Japanese inhabitants of the archipelago +were more than enough to put an end to American rule. The half-finished +works at Pearl Harbor fell at the first assault, while the three +destroyers and the little gunboat were surprised by the enemy. Guam, and +Pago-Pago on Tutuila, were also captured, quite incidentally. About the +middle of May, a Japanese transport fleet returning from San Francisco +appeared at Honolulu and took forty thousand inhabitants to Seattle, +where they formed the reserve corps of the Northern Japanese Army.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Japan's rising imperialism, the feeling that the sovereignty of the +Pacific rightly belonged to the leading power in yellow Asia had, long +before the storms of war swept across the plains of Manchuria, come into +conflict with the imperialistic policy of the United States, although +invisibly at first. Prior to that time the Asiatic races had looked upon +the dominion of the white man as a kind of fate, as an irrevocable +universal law, but the fall of Port Arthur had shattered this idol once +and for all. And after the days of Mukden and Tsushima had destroyed the +belief in the invincibility of the European arms, the Japanese agents +found fertile soil everywhere for their seeds of secret political +agitation. In India, in Siam, and in China also, the people began to +prick their ears when it was quite openly declared that after the +destruction of the czar's fleet the Pacific and the lands bordering on +it could belong only to the Mongolians. The discovery was made that the +white man was not invincible. And beside England, only the United States +remained to be considered—the United States who were still hard at work +on their Philippine inheritance and could not make up their mind to +establish their loudly heralded imperialistic policy on a firm footing +by providing the necessary armaments.</p> + +<p>Then came the Peace of Portsmouth. Absolutely convinced that his country +would have to bear the brunt of the next Asiatic thunder-storm, Theodore +Roosevelt gained one of the most momentous victories in the history of +the world when he removed the payment of a war indemnity from the +conditions of peace. And he did this not because he had any particular +love for the Russians, but because he wished to prevent the +strengthening of Japan's financial position until after the completion +of the Panama Canal. America did exactly what Germany, Russia and France +had done at the Peace of Shimonoseki, and we had to be prepared for +similar results. But how long did it take the American people, who had +helped to celebrate the victories of Oyama, Nogi and Togo, to recognize +that a day of vengeance for Portsmouth was bound to come. In those days +we regarded the Manchurian campaign merely as a spectacle and applauded +the victors. We had no idea that it was only the prelude of the great +drama of the struggle for the sovereignty of the Pacific. We wanted +imperialism, but took no steps to establish it on a firm basis, and it +is foolish to dream of imperial dominion when one is afraid to lay the +sword in the scales. We might bluff the enemy for the time being by +sending our fleet to the Pacific; but we could not keep him deceived +long as to the weakness of our equipment on land and at sea, especially +on land.</p> + +<p>The wholesale immigration of Mongolians to our Pacific States and to the +western shores of South America was clearly understood across the sea. +But we looked quietly on while the Japanese overran Chili, Peru and +Bolivia, all the harbors on the western coast of South America; and +while the yellow man penetrated there unhindered and the decisive events +of the future were in process of preparation, we continued to look +anxiously eastward from the platform of the Monroe Doctrine and to keep +a sharp lookout on the modest remnants of the European colonial dominion +in the Caribbean Sea, as if danger could threaten us from that corner. +We seemed to think that the Monroe Doctrine had an eastern exposure +only, and when we were occasionally reminded that it embraced the entire +continent, we allowed our thoughts to be distracted by the London press +with its talk of the "German danger" in South America, just as though +any European state would think for a moment of seizing three Brazilian +provinces overnight, as it were.</p> + +<p>We have always tumbled through history as though we were deaf and dumb, +regarding those who warned us in time against the Japanese danger as +backward people whose intellects were too weak to grasp the victorious +march of Japanese culture. Any one who would not acknowledge the +undeniable advance of Japan to be the greatest event of the present +generation was stamped by us an enemy of civilization. We recognized +only two categories of people—Japanophobes and Japanophiles. It never +entered our heads that we might recognize the weighty significance of +Japan's sudden development into a great political power, but at the same +time warn our people most urgently against regarding this development +merely as a phase of feuilletonistic culture. Right here lies the basis +for all our political mistakes of the last few years. The revenge for +Portsmouth came as such a terrible surprise, because, misled by common +opinion, we believed the enemy to be breaking down under the weight of +his armor and therefore incapable of conducting a new war and, in this +way undervaluing our adversary, we neglected all necessary preparations. +No diplomatic conflict, not the slightest disturbance of our relations +with Japan prepared the way for the great surprise. The world was the +richer by one experience—that a war need have no prelude on the +diplomatic stage provided enough circumstances have led up to it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XIV" id="Chapter_XIV"></a><i>Chapter XIV</i></h4> + +<h4>ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WHIRLPOOL</h4> + + +<p>On the rear deck of a ferry-boat bound for Hoboken on the morning of May +12th stood Randolph Taney, with his hands in his pockets, gazing +intently at the foaming waters of the Hudson plowed up by the screw. It +was all over: he had speculated in Wall Street, putting his money on +Harriman, and had lost every cent he had. What Harriman could safely do +with a million, Randolph Taney could not do with a quarter of a million. +That's why he had lost. Fortunately only his own money. The whole bundle +of papers wasn't worth any more than the copy of the <i>Times</i> tossed +about in the swirling water in the wake of the boat.</p> + +<p>Randolph Taney kept on thinking. Just why he was going to Hoboken he +really didn't know, but it made little difference what he did.</p> + +<p>"Halloo, Taney," called out an acquaintance, "where are you going?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know."</p> + +<p>"You don't know? How's that?"</p> + +<p>"I'm done for."</p> + +<p>"You're not the only one; Wall Street is a dangerous vortex."</p> + +<p>"But I'm absolutely cleaned out."</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"Do you know what I'm going to do, James Harrison?" asked Taney, with +bitter irony in his voice. "I'll apprentice myself to a paperhanger, +and learn to paper my rooms with my worthless railway shares. I imagine +I can still learn that much."</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's the way the wind blows!" cried the other, whistling softly.</p> + +<p>"What did you think?"</p> + +<p>"It was pretty bad, I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"Bad? It was hell——"</p> + +<p>"Were you in Wall Street on Monday?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and on Tuesday, too."</p> + +<p>"And now you want to learn paperhanging?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Does it have to be that?"</p> + +<p>"Can you suggest anything else?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Well?"</p> + +<p>Hubert pointed to the button-hole in the lapel of his coat and said: "Do +you see this?"</p> + +<p>"What is it?"</p> + +<p>"A volunteer button."</p> + +<p>Taney looked with interest at the little white button with the American +flag, and then said: "Have I got to that point? The last chance, I +suppose?" he added after a pause.</p> + +<p>"Not the last, but the first!"</p> + +<p>"How so?"</p> + +<p>"At any rate it's better than paperhanging. Look here, Taney, you'll +only worry yourself to death. It would be far more sensible of you to +take the bull by the horns and join our ranks. You can at least try to +retrieve your fortunes by that means."</p> + +<p>The ferry-boat entered the slip at Hoboken and both men left the boat.</p> + +<p>"Now, Taney, which is it to be, paperhanging or—," and James Harrison +pointed to the button.</p> + +<p>"I'll come with you," said Taney indifferently. They went further along +the docks towards the Governor's Island ferry-boat.</p> + +<p>"I have a friend over there," said Harrison, "a major in the 8th +Regulars; he'll be sure to find room for us, and we may be at the front +in a month's time."</p> + +<p>Taney stuffed his pipe and answered: "In a month? That suits me; I have +no affairs to arrange."</p> + +<p>The two men looked across in silence at Manhattan Island, where the +buildings were piled up in huge terraces. All the color-tones were +accentuated in the bright clear morning air. The sky-scrapers of the +Empire City, mighty turreted palaces almost reaching into the clouds, +stood out like gigantic silhouettes. The dome of the Singer Building +glistened and glittered in the sun, crowning a region in which strenuous +work was the order of the day, while directly before them stretched the +broad waters of the Hudson with its swarm of hurrying ferry-boats. +Further on, between the piers and the low warehouses, could be seen a +long row of serious-looking ocean-steamers, whose iron lungs emitted +little clouds of steam as the cranes fed their huge bodies with nice +little morsels.</p> + +<p>The two men had seen this picture hundreds of times, but were impressed +once again by its grandeur.</p> + +<p>"Taney," said Harrison, "isn't that the most beautiful city in the +world? I've been around the world twice, but I've never seen anything to +equal it. That's our home, and we are going to protect it by shouldering +our guns. Come on, old chap, leave everything else behind and come with +me!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I'll come, I certainly shall!" came the quick response. Then they +took the boat to Governor's Island and Taney enlisted. They promised to +make him a lieutenant when the troops took the field.</p> + +<p>When they returned two hours later Randolph Taney also wore the button +with the flag in the center: he was a full-fledged volunteer in the +United States Army.</p> + +<p>On the return trip Taney became communicative, and told the story of the +eighth of May, that terrible day in Wall Street when billions melted +away like butter, when thousands of persons were tossed about in the +whirlpool of the Stock Exchange, when the very foundations of economic +life seemed to be slipping away. He described the wild scenes when +desperate financiers rushed about like madmen, and told how some of them +actually lost their reason during the bitter struggle for existence, +when not an inch of ground was vacated without resistance. Men fought +for every projecting rock, every piece of wreckage, every straw, as they +must have fought in the waves of the Flood, and yet one victim after +another was swallowed by the vortex. In the midst of the mad scrimmage +on the floor of the Exchange one excited individual, the general manager +of a large railroad—with his hair disheveled and the perspiration +streaming down his face, one of his sleeves ripped out and his collar +torn off—suddenly climbed on a platform and began to preach a confused +sermon accompanied by wild gestures; others, whose nerves were utterly +unstrung by the terrible strain, joined in vulgar street-songs.</p> + +<p>Harrison had read about these things in the papers, but his friend's +graphic description brought it all vividly to mind again and caused him +to shudder. He seemed to see all the ruined existences, which the +maelstrom in Wall Street had dragged down into the depths, staring at +him with haggard faces. He thought of his own simple, plain life as +compared with the neurasthenic existence of the men on the Stock +Exchange, who were now compelled to look on in complete apathy and let +things go as they were. The rich man, whom in the bottom of his heart +he had often envied, was now poorer than the Italian bootblack standing +beside him.</p> + +<p>The ferry-boat now turned sharply aside to make room for the giant +<i>Mauretania</i>, which was steaming out majestically from its pier into the +broad Hudson River.</p> + +<p>The thrilling notes of the "Star Spangled Banner" had just died away, +and a sea of handkerchiefs fluttered over the railings, which were +crowded with passengers waving their last farewells to those left +behind. Then the ship's band struck up a new tune, and the enormous +steamer plowed through the waves towards the open sea.</p> + +<p>"There go the rats who have deserted the sinking ship," said Randolph +Taney bitterly, "our leading men of finance are said to have offered +fabulous prices for the plainest berths."</p> + +<p>The flight of the homeless had begun.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XV" id="Chapter_XV"></a><i>Chapter XV</i></h4> + +<h4>A RAY OF LIGHT</h4> + + +<p>Only a small Japanese garrison was left at Seattle after the first +transports of troops had turned eastward on the seventh and eighth of +May, and the northern army under Marshal Nogi had, after a few +insignificant skirmishes with small American detachments, taken up its +position in, and to the south of, the Blue Mountains. Then, in the +beginning of June, the first transport-ships arrived from Hawaii, +bringing the reserve corps for the northern army, with orders to occupy +the harbors and coast-towns behind the front and to guard the lines of +communication to the East.</p> + +<p>Communication by rail had been stopped everywhere. No American was +allowed to board a train, and only with the greatest difficulty did a +few succeed in securing special permission in very urgent cases. The +stations had one and all been turned into little forts, being occupied +by Japanese detachments who at the same time attended to the Japanese +passenger and freight-service.</p> + +<p>In all places occupied by the Japanese the press had been silenced, +except for one paper in each town, which was allowed to continue its +existence because the Japs needed it for the publication of edicts and +proclamations issued to the inhabitants, and for the dissemination of +news from the seat of war, the latter point being considered of great +importance. This entire absence of news from other than Japanese sources +gave rise to thousands of rumors, which seemed to circulate more +rapidly by word of mouth than the former telegraphic dispatches had +through the newspapers.</p> + +<p>On the morning of June eighth the news was spread in Tacoma that the +city would that day receive a Japanese garrison, as several +transport-steamers had arrived at Seattle. Up to that time only one +Japanese company had been stationed at Tacoma, and they had occupied the +railroad station and the gas and electric works and intrenched +themselves in the new waterworks outside the town. Through some strange +trick of fortune the gun-depot for the arming of the national guard +which had been removed to Tacoma a year ago and which contained about +five thousand 1903 Springfield rifles had escaped the notice of the +enemy. The guns had been stored provisionally in the cellars of a large +grain elevator and it had been possible to keep them concealed from the +eyes of the Japs, but it was feared that their hiding-place might be +betrayed any day. This danger would of course be greatly increased the +moment Tacoma received a stronger garrison.</p> + +<p>Martin Engelmann, a German who had immigrated to the great Northwest +some twenty years ago, owned a pretty little home in the suburbs of +Tacoma. The family had just sat down to dinner when the youngest son, +who was employed in a large mercantile establishment in the city, +entered hurriedly and called out excitedly:</p> + +<p>"They're coming, father, they're in the harbor."</p> + +<p>Then he sat down and began to eat his soup in haste.</p> + +<p>"They're coming?" asked old Engelmann in a serious tone of voice, "then +I fear it is too late."</p> + +<p>The old man got up from the table and going over to the window looked +out into the street. Not a living thing was to be seen far and wide +except a little white poodle gnawing a bone in the middle of the +street. Engelmann stared attentively at the poodle, buried in thought.</p> + +<p>"How many of them are there?" he asked after a pause.</p> + +<p>"At least a whole battalion, I'm told," answered the son, finishing his +soup in short order.</p> + +<p>"Then it's all over, of course. Just twenty-four hours too soon," sighed +Engelmann softly as he watched the poodle, who at that moment was +jumping about on the street playing with the gnawed bone.</p> + +<p>Engelmann tried hard to control himself, but he did not dare turn his +head, for he could hear low, suppressed sobbing behind him. Martha, the +faithful companion of his busy life, sat at the table with her face +buried in her hands, the tears rolling uninterruptedly down her cheeks, +while her two daughters were trying their best to comfort her.</p> + +<p>Old Engelmann opened the window and listened.</p> + +<p>"Nothing to be heard yet; but they'll have to pass here to get to the +waterworks," he said. Then he joined his family, and turning to his +wife, said: "Courage, mother! Arthur will do his duty."</p> + +<p>"But if anything should happen to him—" sobbed his wife.</p> + +<p>"Then it will be for his country, and his death and that of his comrades +will give us an example of the sacrifices we must all make until the +last of the yellow race has been driven out."</p> + +<p>The mother went on crying quietly, her handkerchief up to her eyes: +"When was it to be? Tell me!" she cried.</p> + +<p>"To-night," said the father, "and they would surely have been +successful, for they could easily have overpowered the few men at the +station and in the town. Listen, there are the Japs!"</p> + +<p>From outside came the regular beat of the drums. Bum—bum—bum, bum, bum +they went, and then the shrill squeaking of the fifes could also be +heard.</p> + +<p>"Yes, there they are, the deuce take 'em," said Engelmann. The sound of +the drums became more and more distinct and presently the sound of +troops marching in step could be clearly distinguished. Then the steps +became firmer, and the window-panes began to rattle as the leader of the +battalion appeared on horseback in the middle of the street, followed by +the fife and drum corps, and with the little white poodle barking at his +heels. It was a Japanese battalion of reserves marching in the direction +of the new waterworks outside the town.</p> + +<p>"Courage, mother!" comforted the old man. "If they only stay at the +waterworks all may yet be well."</p> + +<p>"Wouldn't it be possible to warn Arthur?" began the mother again.</p> + +<p>"Warn him?" said Engelmann, shrugging his shoulders, "all you have to do +is to go to the telegraph office and hand in a telegram to the Japanese +official, telling them to remain where they are."</p> + +<p>"But couldn't we make it a go after all?" asked the youngest son +thoughtfully. "The boxes are all ready, and can be packed in half an +hour. We have three hundred men and thirty wagons. The latter were to be +loaded at eleven o'clock to-night. And then at them with our revolvers! +There aren't more than twenty men at the station," he went on with +sparkling eyes. "At eleven o'clock sharp the telegraph-wire to the +waterworks will be cut, also the wires to all the stations; then let +them telegraph all they like. The minute the train arrives, the engine +will be switched to another track and then backed in front of the train. +Meanwhile the boxes will be packed in the cars and then we'll be off +with the throttle wide open. At each station a car will be dropped, and +wagons will be waiting to receive their loads and get away as fast as +the horses can pull them. Safe hiding-places have been found for all the +boxes, and whatever hasn't been captured by to-morrow morning will +certainly never fall into the enemy's hands."</p> + +<p>"Where is the telegraph-wire to the waterworks?" asked the father.</p> + +<p>"That's my job, to cut the wire just before the arrival of the train," +said his son proudly.</p> + +<p>"Richard," cried the mother in a horrified voice, "are you in it, too?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother, you didn't suppose I'd stand and look on while Arthur was +risking his life, did you? What would they think of us on the other side +if we were to hesitate at such a time as this? 'Germans to the front,' +that's our slogan now, and we'll show the people in Washington that the +German-Americans treat the duties of their new country seriously."</p> + +<p>Old Engelmann laid his hand on his son's shoulder, saying: "Right you +are, my boy, and my blessing go with you! So you are to cut the +telegraph-wire?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, father. We happen to know where it is. The Japs were of course +clever enough to lay it underground, but we have discovered it under the +paving near Brown & Co.'s store. We dug through to it very carefully +from the cellar, and so as to make quite sure in case they should notice +anything out of the way at the waterworks, we attached a Morse apparatus +to the wire in the cellar. In case they suspect anything at the works +and begin to telegraph, I'm to work the keys a little so that they won't +know the wire is cut. In addition we laid a wire to the station last +night, which will give a loud bell-signal in case any danger threatens."</p> + +<p>The young fellow had talked himself into a state of great excitement, +and his two sisters, watching him proudly, began to be infected by his +enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>The shades of night were falling slowly as Richard Engelmann bade a +touching farewell to his family and left the house, whistling a lively +tune as he walked towards the town.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XVI" id="Chapter_XVI"></a><i>Chapter XVI</i></h4> + +<h4>THROUGH FIRE AND SMOKE</h4> + + +<p>A train was always kept in readiness at Centralia on the Northern +Pacific Railway, which could get up full steam at a moment's notice in +case of necessity. Two Japanese, the engineer and the fireman, were +squatting on the floor of the tender in front of the glistening black +heaps of coal, over which played the red reflections from the furnace. +They had just made their tea with hot water from the boiler and eaten +their modest supper. Then the engineer pulled out his pipe and stuffing +its little metal bowl with a few crumbs of tobacco, took one or two +puffs at it and said, "Akoki, it is time," whereupon the stoker seized +his shovel, dug into the heap of coals and threw the black lumps with a +sure aim into the open door of the furnace. With a hissing sound the +draft rushed into the glowing fire, and the engine sent out masses of +black smoke which, mixed with hundreds of tiny sparks, was driven like a +pillar of fire over the dark row of cars. The engineer climbed down the +little iron steps and examined the steel rods of his engine with +clinking knocks from his hammer.</p> + +<p>Up and down in front of the dark station walked a Japanese sentinel and +each time that he passed beyond the ring of light thrown by the two +dimly burning lamps he seemed to be swallowed up in the darkness. Only +two little windows at one end of the station were lighted up; they +belonged to the Japanese guard-room and had been walled up so that they +were no wider than loop-holes. The train which inspected this district +regularly between eight and nine o'clock each evening had passed by at +8.30 and proceeded in the direction of Portland. With the exception of +the non-commissioned officer and the man in charge of the three +arc-lamps on the roof that were to light up the surrounding country in +case of a night-attack most of the soldiers had gone to sleep, although +a few were engaged in a whispered conversation.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the sergeant sprang up as a muffled cry was heard from the +outside. "The lamps!" he yelled to the man at the electric instrument. +The latter pushed the lever, but everything remained pitch dark outside.</p> + +<p>The soldiers were up in a second. The sergeant took a few steps towards +the door, but before he could reach it, it was torn open from the +outside.</p> + +<p>A determined looking man with a rifle slung over his shoulder appeared +in the doorway, and the next moment a dark object flew through the air +and was dashed against the wall. A deafening report followed, and then +the guard-room was filled with yellow light caused by the blinding +explosion, while thick black smoke forced its way out through the +loop-holes. Armed men were running up and down in front of the station, +and when the man who had thrown the bomb and who was only slightly +injured but bleeding at the nose and ears from the force of the +concussion, was picked up by them, they were able to assure him +triumphantly that his work had been successful and that the guard-room +had become a coffin for the small Japanese detachment.</p> + +<p>Stumbling over the dead body of the sentinel lying on the platform, the +leader of the attacking party rushed towards the engine, out of the +discharge-valves of which clouds of boiling steam poured forth. With one +bound he was up in the cab, where he found the Japanese fireman killed +by a blow from an ax. Other dark figures climbed up from the opposite +side bumping into their comrades.</p> + +<p>"Halloo, Dick, I call that a good job!" And then it began to liven up +along the row of cars. Wild looking men with rifles over their shoulders +and revolvers in their right hands tore open the carriage doors and +rushed quickly through the whole train.</p> + +<p>"Dick, where's Forster?"</p> + +<p>"Here," answered a rough voice.</p> + +<p>"Off to the engine! Into the cars, quick! Are you ready? Is anyone +missing? Arthur! Where's Arthur?"</p> + +<p>"Here, Dick!"</p> + +<p>"Good work, Arthur, that's what I call good work," said the leader; +"well done, my boys! We're all right so far! Now for the rest of it."</p> + +<p>Fighting Dick distributed his men among the different cars and then he +and Forster, formerly an engineer on the Northern Pacific, climbed into +the cab.</p> + +<p>"They've made it easy for us," said Forster, "they've only just put +fresh coal on! We can start at once! And if it isn't my old engine at +that! I only hope we won't have to give her up! The Japs shan't have her +again, anyhow, even if she has to swallow some dynamite and cough a +little to prevent it."</p> + +<p>"We're off," shouted Fighting Dick, whose fame as a desperado had spread +far beyond the borders of the State of Washington. With such men as +these we were destined to win back our native land. They were a wild +lot, but each of them was a hero: farmers, hunters, workmen from shop +and factory, numerous tramps and half-blooded Indian horse-thieves made +up the company. Only a few days ago Fighting Dick's band had had a +regular battle in the mountains with a troop of Japanese cavalry, and in +the woods of Tacoma more than one Japanese patrol had never found its +way back to the city. These little encounters were no doubt also +responsible for the strengthening of the Japanese garrison at Tacoma.</p> + +<p>The thing to do now was to get the five thousand guns and ammunition +cases out of Tacoma by surprising the enemy.</p> + +<p>Thus far, nothing but the explosion of the bomb at the Centralia station +could have betrayed the plot. It is true that the distant mountains had +sent the echoes of the detonation far and wide, but a single shot didn't +have much significance at a time like this when our country resounded +with the thunder of cannon day in day out!</p> + +<p>The train rushed through the darkness at full speed. A misplaced switch, +a loose rail, might at any moment turn the whole train into a heap of +ruins and stop the beating of a hundred brave American hearts. The +headlight of Forster's engine lighted up the long rows of shining rails, +and in the silent woods on both sides of the track, beneath the branches +of the huge trees, lights could be seen here and there in the windows of +the houses, where the dwellers were anxiously awaiting the return of the +train from Tacoma! And now a hollow roll of thunder came up from below.</p> + +<p>"The bridges?" asked Fighting Dick.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the bridges," said Forster, nodding.</p> + +<p>Then a faint light appeared in the distance. The train was nearing +Tacoma.</p> + +<p>Houses began to spring up more frequently out of the darkness, now to +the right and now to the left; dancing lights popped up and disappeared. +Tall, black buildings near the tracks gave out a thundering noise like +the crash of hammers and accompanied the roar of the passing train. A +beam of light is suddenly thrown across the rails, green and red +lanterns slip by with the speed of lightning, and then the brakes +squeak and the train runs noisily into the dark station.</p> + +<p>A few figures hurry across the platform. Shots ring out from all sides. +A mortally-wounded Jap is leaning against a post, breathing heavily.</p> + +<p>The wheels groan beneath the pressure of the brakes and then, with a +mighty jerk that shakes everybody up, the train comes to a stand-still. +Down from the cars! Fighting Dick in the lead, revolver in hand, and the +others right on his heels. They entered the station only to find every +Jap dead—the men of Tacoma had done their duty.</p> + +<p>Now the clatter of hoofs was heard out in the street. The heavy wagons +with their heaps of rifles and long tin boxes full of cartridges were +driven up at a mad pace. A wild tumult ensued as the boxes were rushed +to the train—two men to a box—and the doors slammed to. Then the empty +wagons rattled back through the silent streets. Meanwhile Forster ran +his engine on the turntable, where it was quickly reversed, and in a few +moments it stood, puffing and snorting, at the other end of the train.</p> + +<p>All this consumed less than half an hour. Suddenly shots rang out in the +neighboring streets, but as no detachment of hostile troops appeared, +the Americans concluded that they had been fired by a patrol which was +coming from the electric-works to see what the noise at the station was +about. Several rockets with their blinding magnesium light appeared in +the dark sky and illumined the roofs of the houses. Was it a warning +signal?</p> + +<p>All at once the electric gongs near the station which were connected +with Brown & Co.'s cellar began to ring, a sign that something +suspicious had been noticed at the waterworks. Forster was waiting +impatiently in his engine for the signal of departure and could not +imagine why Fighting Dick was postponing it so long. He was standing in +the doorway of the station and now called out: "Where is Arthur +Engelmann?"</p> + +<p>"Not here," came the answer from the train.</p> + +<p>"Where can he be?"</p> + +<p>The name was called out several times, but no one answered. The train +was ready to start and the men were distributing the boxes carefully +inside the cars, so as to be able to unload them without loss of time at +their respective destinations. And now, at last, Arthur Engelmann came +running into the station.</p> + +<p>"Hurry up!" called Fighting Dick.</p> + +<p>"No, wait a minute! We'll have to take this fellow along," cried +Engelmann, pointing to a wounded man, who was being carried by two +comrades.</p> + +<p>"Put him down! We'll have to be off! We've got plenty of men, but not +enough guns."</p> + +<p>"You must take him!"</p> + +<p>"No, we're off!"</p> + +<p>"You'll wait," said Arthur Engelmann, seizing Dick's arm; "it's my +brother."</p> + +<p>"I can't help it, you'll have to leave him behind."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll stay too!"</p> + +<p>"Go ahead, if you want to."</p> + +<p>At this moment shrill bugle-calls resounded from one of the nearby +streets.</p> + +<p>"The Japanese!" roared Fighting Dick; "come on, Arthur!"</p> + +<p>But Arthur snatched his wounded brother from the two men who were +carrying him and lifted him across his own shoulder, while the others, +led by Fighting Dick, rushed past him and jumped on the train.</p> + +<p>Bullets were whizzing past and several had entered the walls of the +station when Fighting Dick's voice gave the command: "Let her go, +Forster! Let her go!"</p> + +<p>Puffing and snorting, and with the pistons turning the high wheels, +which could not get a hold on the slippery rails, at lightning speed, +the engine started just as the Japanese soldiers ran into the station, +from the windows of which they commenced to fire blindly at the +departing train. The bullets poured into the rear cars like hail-stones, +smashing the wooden walls and window-panes.</p> + +<p>Fighting Dick, standing beside Forster, looked back and saw the station +full of soldiers. The two Germans must have fallen into their hands, he +thought.</p> + +<p>But they must hustle with the train now, for although the telegraph +wires had been cut all along the line, they still had light-signals to +fear! And even as this thought occurred to him, a glare appeared in the +sky in the direction of the waterworks, then went out and appeared again +at regular intervals. Those silent signs certainly had some meaning. +Perhaps it was a signal to the nearest watch to pull up the rails in +front of the approaching train? With his teeth set and his hand on the +throttle, Forster stood in his engine while the fireman kept shoveling +coals into the furnace.</p> + +<p>"Forster," said Dick suddenly, "what's that in front of us? Heavens, +it's burning!"</p> + +<p>"The bridges are burning, Fighting Dick!"</p> + +<p>"That's just what I thought, the damned yellow monkeys! Never mind, +we'll have to go on. Do you think you can get the engine across?"</p> + +<p>"The bridges will hold us all right. It would take half a day to burn +the wood through and we'll be there in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>Now fluttering little flames could be seen running along the rails and +licking the blood-red beams of the long wooden bridges, giant monuments +of American extravagance in the use of wood. Clouds of smoke crept +towards the train, hiding the rails from view, and soon the engine +rolled into a veritable sea of flames and smoke. Forster screamed to +his companion: "They've poured petroleum over the wood."</p> + +<p>"We'll have to get across," answered Fighting Dick, "even if we all burn +to death."</p> + +<p>Biting smoke and the burning breath of the fiery sea almost suffocated +the two men. The air was quivering with heat, and all clearly defined +lines disappeared as the angry flames now arose on both sides.</p> + +<p>"Press hard against the front," screamed Forster; "that's the only way +to get a little air, otherwise we'll suffocate."</p> + +<p>The high-pressure steam of the speeding locomotive hissed out of all the +valves, shaking the mighty steel frame with all its force; the heat of +the flames cracked the windows, and wherever the hand sought support, +pieces of skin were left on the red-hot spots. A few shots were fired +from the outside.</p> + +<p>"One minute more," yelled Forster, "and we'll be over."</p> + +<p>Fighting Dick collapsed under the influence of the poisonous gases and +fainted away on the floor of the cab. And now the flames grew smaller +and smaller and gradually became hidden in clouds of smoke.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried Forster; "there's a clear stretch ahead of us!" Then he +leaned out of the cab-window to look at the train behind him and saw +that the last two cars were in flames. He blew the whistle as a signal +that the last car was to be uncoupled and left where it was, for he had +just noticed a man standing near the track, swinging his bicycle lamp +high above his head.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps they'll be able to unload the car after all," he said to +Fighting Dick, who was slowly coming to. But the sound of the explosion +of some of the boxes of cartridges in the uncoupled car made it fairly +certain that there wouldn't be much left to unload.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later, after they had passed a dark station, the same +signal was noticed, and another car was uncoupled, and similarly one car +after another was left on the track. The guns and ammunition-boxes were +unloaded as expeditiously as possible and transferred to the wagons that +were waiting to receive them. The moment they were ready, the horses +galloped off as fast as they could go and disappeared in the darkness, +leaving the burning cars behind as a shining beacon.</p> + +<p>When, on the morning of June ninth, a Japanese military train from +Portland traveled slowly along the line, it came first upon the ruins of +an engine which had been blown up by dynamite, and after that it was as +much as the Japanese could do to clear away the remnants of the various +ruined cars by the end of the day. The bridge, which had been set on +fire by a Japanese detachment with the help of several barrels of +petroleum, was completely burned down.</p> + +<p>But the plot had been successful and Fighting Dick's fame resounded from +one ocean to the other, and proved to the nations across the sea that +the old energy of the American people had been revived and that the war +of extermination against the yellow race had begun, though as yet only +on a small scale. And the Japanese troops, too, began to appreciate that +the same irresistible force—a patriotic self-sacrifice that swept +everything before it—which had in one generation raised Japan to the +heights of political power, was now being directed against the foreign +invader.</p> + +<p>Half the town had known of the plan for removing the rifles and +ammunition from Tacoma, but a strong self-control had taken the place of +the thoughtless garrulousness of former times. Not a sign, not a word +had betrayed the plot to the enemy; every man controlled his feverish +emotion and wore an air of stolid indifference. We had learned a lesson +from the enemy.</p> + +<p>Fourteen Americans were captured with weapons in hand, and in addition +about twenty-eight badly wounded. The Japanese commander of Tacoma +issued a proclamation the following evening that all the prisoners, +without exception, would be tried by court-martial in the course of the +next day and condemned to death—the penalty that had been threatened in +case of insurrection. The Japanese court-martial arrived in the city on +June ninth with a regiment from Seattle. The Tacoma board of aldermen +were invited to send two of their number to be present at the trial, but +the offer being promptly refused, the Japanese pronounced judgment on +the prisoners alone. As had been expected, they were all condemned to +death by hanging, but at the earnest pleading of the mayor of Tacoma, +the sentence was afterwards mitigated to death by shooting.</p> + +<p>Old Martin Engelmann tried in vain to secure permission to see his sons +once more; his request was brusquely refused.</p> + +<p>In the light of early dawn on June eleventh the condemned men were led +out to the waterworks to be executed, the wounded being conveyed in +wagons. Thousands of the inhabitants took part in this funeral +procession—in dead silence.</p> + +<p>Old Engelmann was standing, drawn up to his full height, at the window +of his home, and mutely he caught the farewell glances of his two sons +as they passed by, the one marching in the midst of his comrades, the +other lying in the first wagon among the wounded. Frau Martha had +summoned sufficient courage to stand beside her husband, but the moment +the procession had passed, she burst into bitter tears. Her life was +bereft of all hope and the future stretched out dark and melancholy +before her.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a gentle hand was laid on her white head. "Mother," said one of +her daughters, "do you hear it? I heard it yesterday. They're singing +the song of Fighting Dick and of our dear boys. No one knows who +composed it, it seems to have sprung up of itself. They were singing it +on the street last night, the song of Arthur Engelmann, who sacrificed +his life for his brother."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said the father, "it's true, mother, they are singing of our +lads; be brave, mother, and remember that those who are taken from us +to-day will live forever in the hearts of the American people."</p> + +<p>And louder and louder rang out the notes of that proud song of the +citizens of Tacoma—the first pæan of victory in those sad days.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XVII" id="Chapter_XVII"></a><i>Chapter XVII</i></h4> + +<h4>WHAT HAPPENED AT CORPUS CHRISTI</h4> + + +<p>The attitude of the European press left no room for doubt as to the +honest indignation of the Old World at the treacherous attack on our +country. But what good could this scathing denunciation of the Japanese +policy do us? A newspaper article wouldn't hurt a single Japanese +soldier, and what good could all the resolutions passed at enthusiastic +public meetings in Germany and France do us, or the daily cablegrams +giving us the assurance of their sympathy and good-will?</p> + +<p>These expressions of public opinion did, however, prove that the Old +World realized at last that the yellow danger was of universal interest, +that it was not merely forcing a single country to the wall, casually as +it were, but that it was of deep and immediate concern to every European +nation without exception. They began to look beyond the wisdom of the +pulpit orators who preached about the wonderful growth of culture in +Japan, and to recognize that if the United States did not succeed in +conquering Japan and driving the enemy out of the country, the +victorious Japanese would not hesitate a moment to take the next step +and knock loudly and peremptorily at Europe's door, and this would put +an end once and for all to every single European colonial empire.</p> + +<p>But while European authorities on international law were busily parading +their paper wisdom, and wondering how a war without a declaration of war +and without a diplomatic prelude could fit into the political scheme of +the world's history, at least one real item of assistance was at hand.</p> + +<p>The American press, it is true, still suffered from the delusion that +our militia—consisting of hundreds of thousands of men—and our +volunteers would be prepared to take the field in three or four weeks, +but the indescribable confusion existing in all the military camps told +a different story. What was needed most were capable officers. The sad +experiences of the Spanish-American campaign were repeated, only on a +greatly magnified scale. We possessed splendid material in the matter of +men and plenty of good-will, but we lacked completely the practical +experience necessary for adapting the military apparatus of our small +force of regular soldiers to the requirements of a great national army. +We felt that we could with the aid of money and common-sense transform a +large group of able-bodied men accustomed to healthy exercise into a +serviceable and even a victorious army, but we made a great mistake. The +commissariat and sanitary service and especially the military +train-corps would have to be created out of nothing. When in June the +governor of one State reported that his infantry regiment was formed and +only waiting for rifles, uniforms and the necessary military wagons, and +when another declared that his two regiments of cavalry and six +batteries were ready to leave for the front as soon as horses, guns, +ammunition-carts and harness could be procured, it showed with horrible +distinctness how utterly ridiculous our methods of mobilization were.</p> + +<p>The London diplomats went around like whipped curs, for all the early +enthusiasm for the Japanese alliance disappeared as soon as the English +merchants began to have such unpleasant experiences with the +unscrupulousness of the Japanese in business matters. As a matter of +fact the alliance had fulfilled its object as soon as Japan had fought +England's war with Russia for her. But the cabinet of St. James adhered +to the treaty, because they feared that if they let go of the hawser, a +word from Tokio would incite India to revolt. The soil there had for +years been prepared for this very contingency, and London, therefore, +turned a deaf ear to the indignation expressed by the rest of the world +at Japan's treacherous violation of peace.</p> + +<p>At last at the end of July the transportation of troops to the West +began. But when the police kept a sharp lookout for Japanese or Chinese +spies at the stations where the troops were boarding the trains, they +were looking in the wrong place, for the enemy was smart enough not to +expose himself unnecessarily or to send spies who, as Mongolians, would +at once have fallen victims to the rage of the people if seen anywhere +near the camps.</p> + +<p>Besides, such a system of espionage was rendered unnecessary by the +American press, which, instead of benefiting by past experience, took +good care to keep the Japanese well informed concerning the military +measures of the government, and even discussed the organization of the +army and the possibilities of the strategical advance in a way that +seemed particularly reprehensible in the light of the fearful reverses +of the last few months. The government warnings were disregarded +especially by the large dailies, who seemed to find it absolutely +impossible to regard the events of the day in any other light than that +of sensational news to be eagerly competed for.</p> + +<p>This competition for news from the seat of war and from the camps had +first to lead to a real catastrophe, before strict discipline could be +enforced in this respect. A few patriotic editors, to be sure, refused +to make use of the material offered them; but the cable dispatches sent +to Europe, the news forwarded triumphantly as a proof that the Americans +were now in a position "to toss the yellow monkeys into the Pacific," +quite sufficed to enable the Japanese to adopt preventive measures in +time.</p> + +<p>While the American Army of the North was advancing on Nogi's forces in +the Blue Mountains, the Army of the South was to attack the Japanese +position in Arizona by way of Texas. For this purpose the three brigades +stationed in the mountains of New Mexico were to be reënforced by the +troops from Cuba and Porto Rico and the two Florida regiments. All of +these forces were to be transported to Corpus Christi by water, as it +was hoped in this way to keep the movement concealed from the enemy, in +order that the attack in the South might come as far as possible in the +nature of a surprise, and thus prevent the sending of reënforcements to +the North where, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, the main battle was +to be fought. But unfortunately our plan of attack did not remain +secret. Before a single soldier had set foot on the transport ships +which had been lying for weeks in the harbors of Havana and Tampa, the +Japanese news bureaus in Kingston (Jamaica) and Havana had been fully +informed as to where the blow was to fall, partly by West Indian +half-breed spies and partly by the obliging American press. One regiment +of cavalry had already arrived at Corpus Christi from Tampa on July +30th, and the Cuban troops were expected on the following day.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Two American naval officers were standing on the small gallery of the +white light-house situated at the extreme end of the narrow tongue of +land lying before the lagoon of Corpus Christi, gazing through their +glasses at the boundless expanse of blue water glittering with myriads +of spots in the rays of the midday sun. Out in the roads lay seven large +freight steamers whose cargoes of horses and baggage, belonging to the +2d Florida Cavalry Regiment, were being transferred to lighters. A small +tug, throwing up two glittering streaks of spray with its broad bow, was +towing three barges through the narrow opening of the lagoon to Corpus +Christi, whose docks showed signs of unusual bustle. Short-winded +engines were pulling long freight-trains over the tracks that ran along +the docks, ringing their bells uninterruptedly. From the camps outside +the town the low murmur of drums and long bugle-calls could be heard +through the drowsy noon heat. A long gray snake, spotted with the dull +glitter of bright metal, wound its way between the white tents: a +detachment of troops marching to the station. Beyond the town one could +follow the silver rails through the green plantations for miles, as +plainly as on a map, until they finally disappeared on the horizon.</p> + +<p>Now the whistle of the tug sounded shrilly, blowing scattered flakes of +white steam into the air. The quick, clear tolling of church-bells rang +over the roofs of the bright houses of the city. It was twelve o'clock +and the sun's rays were scorching hot.</p> + +<p>One of the naval officers pulled out his watch to see if it were +correct, and then said: "Shall we go down and get something to eat +first, Ben?"</p> + +<p>"The steamers from Havana ought really to be in sight by this time," +answered Ben Wood; "they left on the twenty-sixth."</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, on the twenty-sixth. But some of those transport-ships +palmed off on us are the limit and can't even make ten knots an hour. +Their rickety engines set the pace for the fleet, and unless the +<i>Olympia</i> wishes to abandon the shaky old hulks to their fate, she must +keep step with them."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Gibson Spencer swept the horizon once more with his +marine-glass and stopped searchingly at one spot. "If that's not the +<i>Flying Dutchman</i>, they're ships," he remarked, "probably our ships."</p> + +<p>The light-house keeper, a slender Mexican, came on the gallery, saying: +"Ships are coming over there, sir," as he pointed in the direction which +Spencer had indicated. Lieutenant Ben Wood stepped to the stationary +telescope in the light-room below the place for the lamps, and started +to adjust the screws, but the heat of the metal, which had become +red-hot beneath the burning rays of the sun, made him start: "Hot hole," +he swore under his breath.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Spencer conversed a moment with the keeper and then looked +again through his glass at Corpus Christi, where the tug was just making +fast to the pier. The third barge knocked violently against the piles, +so that a whole shower of splinters fell into the water.</p> + +<p>"Gibson," cried Lieutenant Wood suddenly from his place in the +light-room, his voice sounding muffled on account of the small space, +"those are not our ships."</p> + +<p>Spencer looked through the telescope and arrived at the same conclusion. +"No," he said; "we have no ships like that, but they're coming nearer +and we'll soon be able to make out what they are!"</p> + +<p>"Those ships certainly don't belong to our fleet," he repeated after +another long look at the vessels slowly growing larger on the horizon. +They had two enormous funnels and only one mast and even the arched +roofs of their turrets could now be clearly distinguished.</p> + +<p>"If I didn't know that our English friends owned the only ships of that +caliber, and that our own are unhappily still in process of equipment +at Newport News, I should say that those were two <i>Dreadnoughts</i>."</p> + +<p>"I guess you've had a sunstroke," rang out the answer.</p> + +<p>"Sunstroke or no sunstroke, those are two <i>Dreadnoughts</i>."</p> + +<p>"But where can they come from?"</p> + +<p>The three men examined the horizon in silence, till Lieutenant Wood +suddenly broke it by exclaiming: "There, do you see, to the left, just +appearing on the horizon, that's our transport fleet—eight—ten ships; +the one in front is probably the <i>Olympia</i>."</p> + +<p>"Twelve ships," counted the keeper,"and if I may be allowed to say so, +the two in front are battleships."</p> + +<p>"There they are then," said Ben Wood, "and now we'll get something to +eat in a jiffy, for we'll have our work cut out for us in an hour!"</p> + +<p>"Where shall we eat?" asked Spencer, "I'll gladly dispense with the grub +at Signor Morrosini's to-day."</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what," said the other, "we'll go across to one of the +transport-steamers; or, better still, we'll go to the captain of the +<i>Marietta</i>—we'll be sure to get something decent to eat there."</p> + +<p>"Right you are!" said Spencer, peering down over the edge of the +railing. "Our cutter is down there," he added.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the light-house lay a small, white cutter with its brass +appointments glittering in the sunlight. Her crew, consisting of three +men, had crept into the little cabin, while the black stoker was resting +on a bench near the boiler.</p> + +<p>"Ho, Dodge!" shouted Spencer, "get up steam. We're going over to the +transport-ships in ten minutes."</p> + +<p>The firemen threw several shovels of coal into the furnace, whereupon a +cloud of smoke poured out of the funnel straight up along the +light-house. Lieutenant Wood telephoned over to Corpus Christi that the +transports with the troops on board had been sighted and that they would +probably arrive in the roads in about two hours.</p> + +<p>"We're going over to one of the transport-ships meanwhile," he added, +"and will await the arrival of the squadron out there."</p> + +<p>While Lieutenant Spencer was climbing down the narrow staircase, +Lieutenant Wood once more examined the horizon and suddenly started. The +thunder of a shot boomed across the water. Boom—came the sound of +another one!</p> + +<p>The lieutenant clapped his marine-glasses to his eyes. Yes, there were +two <i>Dreadnoughts</i> out there, evidently saluting. But why at such a +distance?</p> + +<p>"Gibson," he called down the staircase.</p> + +<p>"Come on, Ben!" came the impatient answer from below.</p> + +<p>"I can't, I wish you'd come up again for a minute, I'm sure something's +wrong!"</p> + +<p>The gun-shots were booming loudly across the water as Lieutenant Spencer +reached the gallery, covered with perspiration.</p> + +<p>"I suppose they're saluting," exclaimed Spencer somewhat uncertainly.</p> + +<p>Ben Wood said nothing, but with a quick jerk turned the telescope to the +right and began examining the transport-ships.</p> + +<p>"Heavens," he shouted, "they mean business. I can see shells splashing +into the water in front of the <i>Olympia</i>—no, there in the middle—away +back there, too— One of the transports listed. What can it mean? Can +they be Japanese?"</p> + +<p>Again the roar of guns rolled across the quiet waters.</p> + +<p>"Now the <i>Olympia</i> is beginning to shoot," cried Ben Wood. "Oh, that +shot struck the turret. Great, that must have done some good work! But +what in Heaven's name are we going to do?"</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Spencer answered by pushing the light-house keeper, who was +in abject fear, aside, and rushing to the telephone. Trembling with +excitement, he stamped his foot and swore loudly when no notice was +taken of his ring.</p> + +<p>"All asleep over there as usual! Ah, at last!"</p> + +<p>"Halloo! what's up?"</p> + +<p>"This is the light-house. Notify the commander at Corpus Christi at once +that the Japanese are in the roads and are attacking the transports."</p> + +<p>Over in Corpus Christi people began to collect on the piers, the bells +stopped ringing, but the sound of bugles could still be heard coming +from the encampments.</p> + +<p>Now the light-house telephone rang madly and Spencer seized the +receiver. "They are, I tell you. Can't you hear the shots?" he shouted +into the instrument. "There are two large Japanese ships out in the +roads shooting at the <i>Olympia</i> and the transports. Impossible or not, +it's a fact!"</p> + +<p>Suddenly a thick column of smoke began to ascend from the funnel of the +little American gunboat <i>Marietta</i>, which was lying among the transports +out in the roads. The whistles and bugle-calls could be heard +distinctly, and the crew could be seen on deck busy at the guns. The +steam-winch rattled and began to haul up the anchor, while the water +whirled at the stern as the vessel made a turn. Even before the anchor +appeared at the surface the gunboat had put to sea with her course set +towards the ships on the horizon, which were enveloped in clouds of +black smoke.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing for us to do," said Spencer despairingly, "but stand +here helplessly and look on. There isn't a single torpedo-boat, not a +single submarine here! For Heaven's sake, Ben, tell us what's happening +out there!"</p> + +<p>"It's awful!" answered Wood; "two of the transport-ships are in flames, +two seem to have been sunk, and some of those further back have listed +badly. The <i>Olympia</i> is heading straight for the enemy, but she seems to +be damaged and is burning aft. There are two more cruisers in the +background, but they are hidden by the smoke from the burning steamers; +I can't see them any more."</p> + +<p>"Where on earth have the Japanese ships come from? I thought their whole +fleet was stationed in the Pacific. Not one of their ships has ever come +around Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan; if they had, our +cruisers off the Argentine coast would have seen them. And besides it +would be utter madness to send just two battleships to the Atlantic. But +where else can they have come from?"</p> + +<p>"There's no use asking where they come from," cried Wood excitedly, "the +chief point is, they're there!"</p> + +<p>He gave up his place at the telescope to his comrade, thought for a +moment, and then went to the telephone.</p> + +<p>His orders into town were short and decisive: "Send all the tugs out to +sea immediately. Have them hoist the ambulance-flag and try to rescue +the men of the transports."</p> + +<p>"And you, Spencer," he continued, "take the cutter and hurry over to the +transport-steamers in the roads and have them hoist the Red Cross flag +and get to sea as quickly as possible to help in the work of rescue. +That's the only thing left for us to do. I'll take command of the +<i>President Cleveland</i> and you take charge of the Swedish steamer +<i>Olsen</i>. And now let's get to work! Signor Alvares can play the rôle of +idle onlooker better than we can. Our place is out there!"</p> + +<p>Both officers rushed down the stairs and jumped into the cutter, which +steamed off at full speed and took them to their ships.</p> + +<p>Three-quarters of an hour later the tug mentioned in the beginning of +the chapter appeared again at the entrance to the lagoon. Several men +could be seen in the stern holding a large white sheet upon which a man +was painting a large red cross, and when the symbol of human love and +assistance was finished, the sheet was hoisted at the flagstaff. Two +other tugs followed the example of the first one.</p> + +<p>But could the enemy have taken the three little tugs for torpedo-boats? +It seemed so, for suddenly a shell, which touched the surface of the +water twice, whizzed past and hit the first steamer amidships just below +the funnel. And while the little vessel was still enveloped by the black +smoke caused by the bursting of the shell, her bow and stern rose high +out of the water and she sank immediately, torn in two. The thunder of +the shot sounded far over the water and found an echo among the houses +at Corpus Christi.</p> + +<p>"Now they're even shooting at the ambulance flag," roared Ben Wood, who +was rushing about on the deck of the <i>President Cleveland</i> and exhorting +the crew to hoist the anchor as fast as possible so as to get out to the +field of battle. But as the boiler-fires were low, this seemed to take +an eternity.</p> + +<p>At last, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they succeeded in +reaching a spot where a few hundred men were clinging to the floating +wreckage. The rest had been attended to by the enemy's shots, the sea +and the sharks.</p> + +<p>The enemy had wasted only a few shots on the transport-steamers, as a +single well-aimed explosive shell was quite sufficient to entirely +destroy one of the merchant-vessels, and the battle with the <i>Olympia</i> +had lasted only a very short time, as the distance had evidently been +too great to enable the American shots to reach the enemy. That was the +end of the <i>Olympia</i>, Admiral Dewey's flag-ship at Cavite! The two +smaller cruisers had been shot to pieces just as rapidly.</p> + +<p>The results of this unexpected setback were terribly disheartening, +since all idea of a flank attack on the Japanese positions in the South +had to be abandoned.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>But where had the two <i>Dreadnoughts</i> come from? They had not been seen +by a living soul until they had appeared in the roads of Corpus Christi. +They had risen from the sea for a few hours, like an incarnation of the +ghostly rumors of flying squadrons of Japanese cruisers, and they had +disappeared from the field of action just as suddenly as they had come. +If it had not been for the cruel reality of the destruction of the +transport fleet, no one would soon have believed in the existence of +these phantom ships. But the frenzied fear of the inhabitants of the +coast-towns cannot well take the form of iron and steel, and nightmares, +no matter how vivid, cannot produce ships whose shells sweep an American +squadron off the face of the sea.</p> + +<p>It had been known for years that two monster ships of the <i>Dreadnought</i> +type were being built for Brazil in the English shipyards. No one knew +where Brazil was going to get the money to pay for the battleships or +what the Brazilian fleet wanted with such huge ships, but they continued +to be built. It was generally supposed that England was building them as +a sort of reserve for her own fleet; but once again was public opinion +mistaken. Only those who years before had raised a warning protest and +been ridiculed for seeing ghosts, proved to be right. They had +prophesied long ago that these ships were not intended for England, but +for her ally, Japan.</p> + +<p>The vessels were finished by the end of June and during the last days of +the month the Brazilian flag was openly hoisted on board the <i>San Paulo</i> +and <i>Minas Geraes</i>, as they were called, the English shipbuilders having +indignantly refused to sell them to the United States on the plea of +feeling bound to observe strict neutrality. The two armored battleships +started on their voyage across the Atlantic with Brazilian crews on +board; but when they arrived at a spot in the wide ocean where no +spectators were to be feared, they were met by six transport-steamers +conveying the Japanese crews for the two warships, no others than the +thousand Japs who had been landed at Rio de Janeiro as coolies for the +Brazilian coffee plantations in the summer of 1908. They had been +followed in November by four hundred more.</p> + +<p>We were greatly puzzled at the time over this striking exception to the +Japanese political programme of concentrating streams of immigrants on +our Pacific coasts. Without a word of warning a thousand Japanese +coolies were shipped to Brazil, where they accepted starvation wages +greatly to the disgust and indignation of the German and Italian +workmen—not to speak of the lazy Brazilians themselves. This isolated +advance of the Japs into Brazil struck observers as a dissipation of +energy, but the Government in Tokio continued to carry out its plans, +undisturbed by our expressions of astonishment. Silently, but no less +surely, the diligent hands of the coolies and the industrious spirit of +Japanese merchants in Brazil created funds with which the two warships +were paid at least in part. The public interpreted it as an act of +commendable patriotism when, in June, the one thousand four hundred Japs +turned their backs on their new home, in order to defend their country's +flag. They left Rio in six transport-steamers.</p> + +<p>Brazil thereupon sold her two battleships to a Greek inn-keeper at +Santos, named Petrokakos, and he turned them over to the merchant Pietro +Alvares Cortes di Mendoza at Bahia. This noble Don was on board one of +the transport-steamers with the Japanese "volunteers," and on board this +Glasgow steamer, the <i>Kirkwall</i>, the bill of sale was signed on July +14th, by the terms of which the "armed steamers" <i>Kure</i> and <i>Sasebo</i> +passed into the possession of Japan. The Brazilian crews and some +English engineers went on board the transports and were landed quietly +two weeks later at various Brazilian ports.</p> + +<p>These one thousand four hundred Japanese plantation-laborers, traders, +artisans, and engineers—in reality they were trained men belonging to +the naval reserve—at once took over the management of the two mighty +ships, and set out immediately in the direction of the West Indies. At +Kingston (Jamaica) a friendly steamer supplied them with the latest news +of the departure of the American transports from Cuba, and the latter +met their fate, as we saw, in the roads of Corpus Christi.</p> + +<p>A terrible panic seized all our cities on the Gulf of Mexico and the +Atlantic coast, as the Japanese monsters were heard from, now here, now +there. For example, several shells exploded suddenly in the middle of +the night in the harbor of Galveston when not a warship had been +observed in the neighborhood, and again several American +merchant-vessels were sent to the bottom by the mysterious ships, which +began constantly to assume more gigantic proportions in the reports of +the sailors. At last a squadron was dispatched from Newport News to +seek and destroy the enemy, whereupon the phantom-ships disappeared as +suddenly as they had come. Not until Admiral Dayton ferreted out the +Japanese cruisers at the Falkland Islands did our sailors again set eyes +on the two battleships.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XVIII" id="Chapter_XVIII"></a><i>Chapter XVIII</i></h4> + +<h4>THE BATTLE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS</h4> + + +<p>It had been found expedient to send a few militia regiments to the front +in May, and these regiments, together with what still remained of our +regular army, made a brave stand against the Japanese outposts in the +mountains. Insufficiently trained and poorly fed as they were, they +nevertheless accomplished some excellent work under the guidance of +efficient officers; but the continual engagements with the enemy soon +thinned their ranks. These regiments got to know what it means to face a +brave, trained enemy of over half a million soldiers with a small force +of fifty thousand; they learned what it means to be always in the +minority on the field of battle, and thus constant experience on the +battle-field soon transformed these men into splendid soldiers. +Especially the rough-riders from the prairies and the mountains, from +which the cavalry regiments were largely recruited, and the exceedingly +useful Indian and half-breed scouts, to whom all the tricks of earlier +days seemed to return instinctively, kept the Japanese outposts busy. +Their machine-guns, which were conveyed from place to place on the backs +of horses, proved a very handy weapon. But their numbers were few, and +although this sort of skirmishing might tire the enemy, it could not +effectually break up his strong positions.</p> + +<p>Ever on the track of the enemy, surprising their sentries and bivouacs, +rushing upon the unsuspecting Japs like a whirlwind and then pursuing +them across scorching plains and through the dark, rocky defiles of the +Rockies, always avoiding large detachments and attacking their +commissariat and ammunition columns from the rear, popping up here, +there and everywhere on their indefatigable horses and disappearing with +the speed of lightning, this is how those weather-beaten rough-riders in +their torn uniforms kept up the war and stood faithful guard! Brave +fellows they were, ever ready to push on vigorously, even when the blood +from their torn feet dyed the rocks a deep red! No matter how weary they +were, the sound of the bugle never failed to endow their limbs with +renewed energy, and they could be depended on to the last man to do +whatever was required of them.</p> + +<p>It was on these endless marches, these reckless rides through rocky +wastes and silent forests—to the accompaniment of the tramp of horses, +the creaking of saddles and the rush and roar of rolling stones on +lonely mountain-trails—that those strange, weird rhythms and melodies +arose, which lived on long afterwards in the minds and hearts of the +people.</p> + +<p>By the end of July affairs had reached the stage where it was possible +for the Northern army, commanded by General MacArthur and consisting of +one hundred and ten thousand men, to start for the Blue Mountains in the +eastern part of Oregon, and the Pacific army of almost equal strength to +set out for Granger on the Union Pacific Railway. The troops from Cuba +and Florida, together with the three brigades stationed at New Mexico, +were to have advanced against the extreme right wing of the Japanese +army, but the grievous disaster at Corpus Christi had completely +frustrated this plan.</p> + +<p>The German and Irish volunteer regiments were formed into special +brigades in the Northern and Pacific armies, whereas the other militia +and volunteer regiments were attached to the various divisions +promiscuously. General MacArthur's corps was composed of three +divisions, commanded by Fowler, Longworth and Wood, respectively, each +consisting of thirty thousand men. To these must be added one German and +one Irish brigade of three regiments each, about sixteen thousand men +altogether, so that the Northern army numbered about one hundred and ten +thousand men and one hundred and forty guns.</p> + +<p>Wood's division left the encampment near Omaha the last week of July. +They went by rail to Monida, where the Oregon Short Line crosses the +boundary of Montana and Idaho. The same picture of utter confusion was +presented at all the stops and all the stations on the way. Soldiers of +all arms, exasperated staff-officers, excited station officials, guns +waiting for their horses and horses waiting for their guns, cavalry-men +whose horses had been sent on the wrong train, freight-cars full of +ammunition intended for no one knew whom, wagons loaded with camp +equipment where food was wanted and with canned goods where forage was +needed, long military trains blocking the line between stations, and +engines being switched about aimlessly: perfect chaos reigned, and the +shortness of the station platforms only added to the confusion and the +waste of precious time. If it had not been for the Americans' strongly +developed sense of humor, which served as an antidote for all the anger +and worry, this execrably handled army apparatus must have broken down +altogether. But as it was, everybody made the best of the situation and +thanked the Lord that each revolution of the wheels brought the troops +nearer to the enemy. The worst of it was that the trains had to stop at +the stations time and time again in order to allow the empty trains +returning from the front to pass.</p> + +<p>The 28th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, under command of Colonel +Katterfeld, had at last, after what seemed to both officers and soldiers +an endless journey, reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the +twenty-second of July via the Northern Pacific Railway. A warm meal had +been prepared for the regiment at a little station; then the roll was +called once more and the three long trains transporting the regiment +started off again.</p> + +<p>Colonel Katterfeld had soon won the affection of his men. He was a thin +little man with grizzly hair and beard; a soldier of fortune, who had an +eventful life behind him, having seen war on three continents. But he +never spoke of his experiences. His commands were short and decisive, +and each man felt instinctively that he was facing an able officer. He +had given up his practice as a physician in Milwaukee, and when, at the +outbreak of the war, he had offered his services to the Governor of +Wisconsin, the latter was at once convinced that here was a man upon +whom he could rely, and it had not taken Colonel Katterfeld long to +establish the correctness of the Governor's judgment. He succeeded in +being the first to raise the full complement of men for his regiment in +Wisconsin, and was therefore the first to leave for the front. The rush +for officers' commissions was tremendous and the staff of officers was +therefore excellent. One day an officer, named Walter Lange, presented +himself at the recruiting office of the regiment. When the colonel heard +the name, he glanced up from his writing, and looking inquiringly at the +newcomer, asked in an off-hand fashion: "Will you take command of the +Seventh Company as captain?"</p> + +<p>"Sir?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know, you were at Elandslaagte and afterwards at Cronstadt, were +you not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p>"We need some officers like you who can keep their men together when +under fire. Do you accept or not?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, but——"</p> + +<p>"We'll have no buts."</p> + +<p>And so the two became war-comrades for the second time, Captain Lange +taking command of the Seventh Company.</p> + +<p>In thousands of ways the colonel gave proof of his practical experience; +above all else he possessed the knack of putting the right people in the +right place, and his just praise and blame aroused the ambition of +officers and men to such an extent, that the 28th Militia Regiment soon +became conspicuous for its excellence. But no one, not even his comrade +from Elandslaagte, succeeded in getting nearer to the colonel's heart. +Colonel Katterfeld was a reticent man, whom no one dared bother with +questions.</p> + +<p>In order to make the best possible use of what little room there was in +the cars, the colonel had ordered two-hour watches to be kept. Half the +men slept on the seats and on blankets on the floor, while the other +half had to stand until the order, Relieve watch! rang out at the end of +two hours.</p> + +<p>Captain Lange was standing at the window looking out at the moonlit +landscape through which the train was rushing. Wide valleys, rugged +mountain peaks and steep, rocky bastions flew past. A whistle—a low +rumble in the distance—the sound of approaching wheels—a flash of +light on the track—and then the hot breath of the speeding engine +sweeps across the captain's face, as a long row of black cars belonging +to an empty train returning from the mountains tears past on its way to +the encampments.</p> + +<p>And then on and on, over bridges and viaducts, where the rolling wheels +awaken echo after echo, on into the narrow ravine, above the +forest-crowned edges of which the quiet light of the stars twinkles and +gleams in the purple sky of night.</p> + +<p>The captain was thinking of the colonel. He could not remember having +met him on any of the South African battle-fields, and he had never +heard the name of Katterfeld. And yet he was positive he had seen those +penetrating blue eyes beneath their bushy brows before. No one who had +once seen it could ever forget that glance. But he racked his brain in +vain. He looked at the time and found that the present watch still had a +whole hour to run. The soldiers were leaning sleepily against the sides +of the car, and loud snores came from the seats and the floor. Suddenly +a rifle fell to the ground with a clatter and several men woke up and +swore at the noise. On went the train, and the monotonous melody of the +rolling wheels gradually lulled the weary thoughts to sleep.</p> + +<p>Captain Lange thought of Elandslaagte again and of Colonel Schiel and +Dinizulu, the Kafir chief, and of the story the colonel had told, as +they bivouacked round the fire, of the latter's royal anointment with +castor-oil. They had made the fire with the covers of "Mellin's Food" +boxes—Mellin's Food—a fine chap, Mellin—Mellin?— Wasn't that the +name of the captain with whom he had once sailed to Baltimore? And Daisy +Wilford had been on board with her two cats—cats— My, how he used to +chase cats when he was a boy—it was a regular hunt— No, it hadn't been +his fault, but Walter Wells'— But he had been caught and shut up in the +attic, where his father gave him a chance to recollect that it is cruel +to torment animals—but it really had been Walter's fault, only he +wasn't going to tell on him—and then, after he had been alone, he had +knocked his head against the wall in his rage at the injustice of the +world—always—knocked—his—head—against—the—wall—always—knocked——</p> + +<p>Bang! went the captain's head against the window-frame and he woke up +with a start and put his hand up to his aching forehead. Where under the +sun was he? Ah, of course—there were the soldiers snoring all around +him and tossing about in their sleep. He felt dead tired. Had he been +asleep? He looked at the time again—still fifty-five minutes to the +next watch.</p> + +<p>The roaring and clattering of the wheels came to his ears on the fresh +night air as he again looked out of the window. The train had just +rounded a curve, and the other two trains could be seen coming on +behind. Now they were passing through a gorge between bright rocky +banks, which gleamed like snow in the moonlight. Whirling, foaming +waters rushed down the mountain-side to join the dark river far below. +Then on into a dark snowshed where the hurrying beat of the revolving +wheels resounded shrilly and produced a meaningless rhythm in his +thoughts. Kat—ter—feld, Kat—ter—feld, Kat—ter—feld, came the echo +from the black beams of the shed. Katter—feld, Kat—ter—feld, +Kat—ter—feld, came the reply from the other side. Then the rattling +noise spreads over a wider area. There is a final echo and the beams of +the shed disappear in the distance, and on they go in the silent night +until the sergeant on duty pulls out his watch and awakens the sleepers +with the unwelcome call, Relieve the guard!</p> + +<p>Two days later the regiment arrived at Monida, where they had to leave +the train. The line running from there to Baker City was only to be used +for the transportation of baggage, while the troops had to march the +rest of the way—about two hundred and fifty miles. While the +field-kitchen wagons were being used for the first time near Monida, +the men received new boots, for the two pairs of shoes which each had +received in camp had turned out such marvels of American manufacture, +that they were absolutely worn out in less than no time. It was thought +wiser, in consideration of the long marches before the soldiers, to do +away with shoes altogether and to provide strong boots in their stead. +The hard leather of which the latter were made gave the soldiers no end +of trouble, and the strange foot-gear caused a good deal of grumbling +and discomfort.</p> + +<p>It was here that the experience of the old troopers was of value. The +old devices of former campaigns were revived. An old, gray-bearded +sergeant, who had been in the Manchurian campaign against the Japanese, +advised his comrades to burn a piece of paper in their boots, as the hot +air would enable them to slip the boots on much more easily. Captain +Lange employed a more drastic method. He made his company march through +a brook until the leather had become wet and soft, and as a result his +men suffered least from sore feet on the march.</p> + +<p>During the ten days' march to Baker City, officers and men became +thoroughly acquainted with one another, and the many obstacles they had +had to overcome in common cemented the regiments into real living +organisms. And when, on the tenth of August, the different columns +reached Baker City, the Northern Army had firmly established its +marching ability. The transport-service, too, had got over its first +difficulties. From the front, where small detachments were continually +skirmishing with the enemy, came the news that the Japanese had +retreated from Baker City after pulling up the rails. On the evening of +the eleventh of August the 28th Militia Regiment was bivouacking a few +miles east of Baker City. The outposts towards the enemy on the other +side of the town were composed of a battalion of Regulars.</p> + +<p>Every stone still burned with the glowing heat of the day, which spread +over the warm ground in trembling waves. The dust raised by the marching +columns filled the air like brown smoke.</p> + +<p>The last glimmer of the August day died down on the western horizon in a +crimson glow, and a pale gleam of light surrounded the dark silhouettes +of the mountains, throwing bluish gray shadows on their sides. Then all +the colors died out and only the stars twinkled in the dark blue +heavens. Far away in the mountains the white flashes of signal-lanterns +could occasionally be seen, telling of the nearness of the enemy. +Colonel Katterfeld had ordered the officers of his regiment to come to +his quarters in a farm-house lying near the road, and a captain of +Regulars was asked to report on the number of skirmishes which had taken +place in the last few days and on the enemy's position. It was learned +that Marshal Nogi had retreated from Baker City and had withdrawn his +troops to the Blue Mountains, taking up his central position at the +point of the pass crossed by the railroad. It had not been possible to +ascertain how far the wings of the Japanese army extended to the North +or South. It was certain that the enemy maintained strong lines of +communication in both directions, but it was difficult to determine just +how far their lines penetrated into the wooded slopes and valleys.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>When the guard was relieved at 5 o'clock in the morning, one of the +non-commissioned officers was struck by a curiously-shaped bright cloud +the size of a hand, which hung like a ball over the mountains in the +west in the early morning light.</p> + +<p>"It must be an air-ship!" said some one.</p> + +<p>"It evidently is; it's moving!" said the sergeant, and he at once gave +orders to awaken Captain Lange.</p> + +<p>The captain, who had gone to sleep with the telephone beside him, jumped +up and could not at first make out where the voice came from: "A +Japanese air-ship has been sighted over the mountains." He was up in a +second and looking through his glasses! Sure enough! It was an air-ship!</p> + +<p>Its light-colored body hovered above the mountains in the pale-blue sky +like a small silver-gray tube.</p> + +<p>"Spread the report at once!" called the captain to the telephone +operator; and bustle ensued on all sides.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do?" asked a lieutenant. "There's no use in shooting at +it; by the time it gets within range we should shoot our own men."</p> + +<p>The air-ship came slowly nearer, and at last it was directly over the +American line of outposts.</p> + +<p>"They can see our whole position!" said Captain Lange, "they can see all +our arrangements from up there."</p> + +<p>Boom! came the sound of a shot from the right.</p> + +<p>"That probably won't do much good."</p> + +<p>A few hundred yards below the air-ship a little flame burst out. The +smoke from a shrapnel hung in the air for a moment like a ball of +cotton, and then that, too, disappeared. Boom! it went again.</p> + +<p>"We shall never reach it with shrapnel," said the lieutenant, "there's +no use trying to beat it except on its own ground."</p> + +<p>"We have some newly constructed shrapnel," answered the captain, "the +bullets of which are connected with spiral wires that tear the envelope +of the balloon."</p> + +<p>Now two shots went off at the same time.</p> + +<p>"Those seem to be the balloon-guns," said the lieutenant.</p> + +<p>Far below the air-ship hovered the clouds of two shrapnel shots.</p> + +<p>"They're getting our air-ship ready over there," cried the captain; +"that's the only sensible thing to do." He pointed to a spot far off +where a large, yellow motor-balloon could be seen hanging in the air +like a large bubble.</p> + +<p>It went up in a slanting direction, and then, after describing several +uncertain curves, steered straight for the enemy's balloon, which also +began to rise at once.</p> + +<p>Hundreds of thousands of eyes were following the course of those two +little yellow dots up in the clear, early morning air, as the mountain +edges began to be tipped with pink. The Japanese air-ship had reached a +position a little to one side of that occupied by the 28th Regiment, +when a tiny black speck was seen to leave it and to gain in size as it +fell with increasing velocity. When it reached the ground a vivid red +flame shot up. Tremendous clouds of smoke followed, mixed with dark +objects, and the distant mountains resounded with loud peals of thunder +which died away amid the angry rumblings in the gorges.</p> + +<p>"That was a big bomb," said the captain, "and it seems to have done +considerable mischief."</p> + +<p>Now a little puff of white smoke issued from the American air-ship and +ten seconds later an explosive body of some sort burst against a wall of +rock.</p> + +<p>"If they keep on like that they'll only hit our own men," said the +lieutenant.</p> + +<p>"The Jap is ascending," cried some one, and again all the field-glasses +were directed towards the two ships.</p> + +<p>Now both were seen to rise.</p> + +<p>"The Japs are throwing down everything they've got in the way of +explosives," cried the captain. A whole row of black spots came rushing +down and again came the thunder caused by the bursting of several bombs +one after the other.</p> + +<p>The Jap went up rapidly and then crossed the path of the American +balloon about two hundred yards above it.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the yellow envelope of the American air-ship burst into flames, +lost its shape and shrunk together, and the ship fell rapidly among the +valleys to the left, looking like the skeleton of an umbrella that has +been out in a gale of wind.</p> + +<p>"All over," said the lieutenant with a sigh. "What a shame! We might +just as well have done that ourselves."</p> + +<p>High up in the blue ether hovered the Japanese air-ship; then it +described a curve to the left, went straight ahead and then seemed +suddenly to be swallowed up in the morning light. But soon it appeared +again as a gray speck against the clear blue sky, and turning to the +right once more, got bigger and bigger, came nearer, and finally steered +back straight for the Blue Mountains. And then the thunder of cannon was +heard from the right.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The assault on Hilgard, the center of the Japanese position in the broad +valley of the Blue Mountains, had failed; two regiments had bled to +death on the wire barricades outside the little town, and then all was +over. It would be necessary to break up the enemy's position by flank +movements from both sides before another attack on their center could be +attempted. For two long days the artillery contest waged; then +Longworth's division on our right wing gained a little ground, and when +the sun sank to rest behind the Blue Mountains on August 14th, we had +reason to be satisfied with our day's work, for we had succeeded, at a +great sacrifice, it is true, in wresting from the enemy several +important positions on the sides of the mountains.</p> + +<p>Towards evening six fresh batteries were sent forward to the captured +positions, whence they were to push on towards the left wing of the +Japanese center the next morning. Telephone messages to headquarters +from the front reported the mountain-pass leading to Walla Walla free +from the enemy, so that a transport of ammunition could be sent that way +in the evening to replenish the sadly diminished store for the decisive +battle to be fought the next day.</p> + +<p>While the newspapers all over the East were spreading the news of this +first victory of the American arms, Lieutenant Esher was commanded by +General Longworth to carry the orders for the next day to the officer in +charge of the Tenth Brigade, which had taken up its position before the +mountain-pass on the right wing. For safety's sake General Longworth had +decided to send his orders by word of mouth, only giving instructions +that the receipt of each message should be reported to headquarters by +each detachment either by field-telegraph or telephone.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Esher, on his motor-cycle, passed an endless chain of +ammunition wagons on his way. For a long time he could make only slow +progress on account of the numerous ambulances and other vehicles which +the temporary field-hospitals were beginning to send back from the +front; but after a time the road gradually became clear.</p> + +<p>The motor rattled on loudly through the silent night, which was +disturbed only now and then by the echo of a shot. Here and there along +the road a sentry challenged the solitary traveler, who gave the +password and puffed on.</p> + +<p>He had been informed that the quickest way to reach General Lawrence +would be by way of the narrow mountain-path that turned off to the left +of the road, which had now become absolutely impassable again on account +of innumerable transports. It was a dangerous ride, for any moment the +bicycle might smash into some unseen obstacle and topple over into the +abyss on the right, into which stones and loose earth were continually +falling as the cycle pushed them to one side.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Esher therefore got off his wheel and pushed it along. At the +edge of a wood he stopped for a moment to study his map by the light of +an electric pocket-lamp, when he heard a sharp call just above him. He +could not quite make it out, but gave the password, and two shots rang +out simultaneously close to him.—When Lieutenant Esher came to, he +found a Japanese army doctor bending over him.</p> + +<p>He had an uncertain feeling of having been carried over a rocky desert, +and when he at last succeeded in collecting his thoughts, he came to the +conclusion that he must have strayed from the path and run straight into +the enemy's arms.</p> + +<p>He tried to raise his head to see where he was, but a violent pain in +his shoulder forced him to lie still. The noises all around made it +clear to him, however, that he was among Japanese outposts. The doctor +exchanged a few words with an officer who had just come up, but they +spoke Japanese and Esher could not understand a word they said.</p> + +<p>"Am I wounded?" he asked of the ambulance soldier beside him. The latter +pointed to the doctor, who said, "You will soon be all right again."</p> + +<p>"Where am I wounded?"</p> + +<p>"In the right thigh," answered the doctor, sitting down on a stone near +Esher. The doctor didn't seem to have much work to do.</p> + +<p>The stinging pain in his right shoulder robbed Esher of his senses for a +moment, but he soon came to again and remembered his orders to +Lawrence's brigade. Thank God he had no written message on his person. +As it was, the enemy had succeeded in capturing only a broken +motor-cycle and a wounded, unimportant officer. The division staff would +soon discover by telephoning that General Lawrence had not received his +orders and then repeat the message.</p> + +<p>Esher managed to turn his head, and watched the Japanese officer copying +an order by the light of a bicycle lamp. The order had just been +delivered by a mounted messenger, who sat immovable as a statue on his +exhausted and panting steed.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the Japanese cavalryman seemed to grow enormous bats' wings, +which spread out until they obscured the whole sky. The ghostly figure +resembled a wild creature of fable, born of the weird fancy of a Doré, +or an avenging angel of the Apocalypse. Then the rider shrank together +again and seemed to be bouncing up and down on the back of his horse +like a little grinning monkey.</p> + +<p>The wounded man rubbed his eyes. What was that? Was he awake or had he +been dreaming?</p> + +<p>He asked the ambulance soldier for a drink, and the latter at once +handed him some water in a tin cup. Now a real Japanese cavalryman was +once more sitting up there on his horse, while the officer was still +writing. Then the officer's arm began to grow longer and longer, until +at last he was writing on the sky with a fiery pencil:</p> + +<p>"In case there is no Japanese attack on August 15th, the Tenth Brigade +under General Lawrence is to retain its present positions until the +attack of our center——"</p> + +<p>Good Lord, what was that? Yes, those were the very words of the message +he was to have delivered to the Tenth Brigade, and not only were the +words identical, but the hand-writing was the same, for the flaming +letters had burnt themselves into his memory stroke for stroke and word +for word and line for line.</p> + +<p>He tried to get up, but could not. The lieutenant kept on writing, while +the horseman stood beside him. The horse was brushing off the flies with +his tail.</p> + +<p>Then the awful, maddening thought came to him: This must be the +beginning of wound-fever. If it kept up and he began to get delirious, +he might betray his orders for Lawrence's brigade to the enemy.</p> + +<p>And he saw hundreds of Japanese standing around him, all stretching +their necks to catch his words, and more and more came from over the +mountain ridges like a swarm of ants, and they all wanted to hear the +secrets that he was trying to keep in his aching head, while the officer +waved his note-book over him like a fluttering flag. Then the doctor +seized him, and arm in arm they hopped to and fro—to and fro—to and +fro.</p> + +<p>Yes, he was certainly delirious. Lieutenant Esher thought of his home. +He saw his little house on 148th Street. He came home from business, he +walked through the garden, hung up his coat on the rack, opened the +door, his young wife welcomed him, she nodded to him—Eveline—groaned +the lieutenant, and then his thoughts turned to God.</p> + +<p>Then the writing officer again, the rider on his horse, and the dark +night-sky, in which the stars were dancing like silver gnats. Collecting +his whole willpower, he succeeded in getting into a sitting posture, and +the Japanese soldier attending him awoke out of a doze only to find his +revolver in the American's hands. But it was too late, for a shot +resounded at the same moment. Lieutenant Esher had brought his weary +brain to rest; his head toppled over and landed hard on the rocky +ground.</p> + +<p>Thus died a real hero, and those were hard times when men of stout heart +and iron courage were sorely needed.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Opposite Hilgard, the center of the enemy's position in the Blue +Mountains, trenches had been thrown up, and the 28th Militia Regiment +had occupied them in the night of August 13th-14th. The Japanese were +apparently not aware of their presence, as the regiment had taken no +part in the fighting on the fourteenth. On the evening of the same day, +the 32d Regiment was pushed forward to the same position, while the +searchlights were playing over the plain and on the mountain sides, and +dazzling the eyes of the sentries who were keeping a sharp lookout for +the enemy from various ambushes. And whenever the beam of light landed +on dark shadows, which jumped quickly aside, flames shot out on the +opposite side and flashes of fire from bursting shrapnel drew trembling +streaks across the sky and lighted up the immediate neighborhood.</p> + +<p>The wires which connected the headquarters with all the sentries and +outposts vibrated perpetually with the thoughts and commands of a single +individual, who managed this whole apparatus from a little schoolroom in +Baker City far behind the front, allowing himself scarcely a moment for +much-needed night-rest.</p> + +<p>The 28th Regiment had thrown up trenches the height of a man in the hard +ground opposite the little town of Hilgard on the night of August +13th-14th. Now a company of pioneers was busy widening them and building +stands for the troops where they would be safe from splinters, for it +was highly probable that the assault on Hilgard would be undertaken +from here on the following evening. The covering for these stands was +made of thick boards and planks taken from a saw-mill near by, and over +these the dug up earth was spread. The enemy's attention seemed to be +directed elsewhere, for the reflections from the searchlights were +continually crossing one another over to the right. In this direction +music could be distinctly heard coming from Longworth's Division—a +lively march waking the echoes of the night with its clear full tones.</p> + +<p>Music? Those who were swearing at the stupidity of allowing the band to +play in the very face of the enemy, did not know that the troops over +there on their way to quarters had marched over forty miles that day, +and that only the inspiring power of music could help the stumbling men +to gather their remaining strength and press forward.</p> + +<p>The cheerful melody of the old Scotch song,</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"Gin a body, meet a body,<br /> +Comin' thro' the rye,"<br /> +</p> + +<p>rang out in common time across the silent battle-field, fifes squeaking +and drums rolling, while the silent searchlights continued flashing in +the dark sky.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"Gin a body, meet a body,<br /> +Comin' thro' the rye."<br /> +</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the picks and spades were kept going in the trenches of the +28th Regiment. The earth and stones flew with a rattle over the top of +the breastworks, making them stronger and stronger, pioneers and +infantry working side by side in the dark, hollow space. The battalion +on guard kept strict watch in the direction of the enemy, continually +expecting to see creeping figures suddenly pop up out of the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Didn't you hear something, captain?" asked one of the men on watch.</p> + +<p>"No, where?"</p> + +<p>A curious purring sound like the whizzing of a small dynamo became +audible.</p> + +<p>Some one gave a low whistle, and the pioneers stopped work, and leaned +on their spades. All the men listened intently, but no one could make +out whence the strange sound came.</p> + +<p>Suddenly some one spoke quite loudly and another voice replied. Up in +the air—that's where it was! A black shadow swept across the sky. "An +air-ship!" cried one of the men in the trench, and sure enough the +whirring of the screw of a motor balloon could be distinctly heard. +Bang—bang—bang, went a few shots into the air.</p> + +<p>"Stop the fire!" called a commanding voice from above.</p> + +<p>"Stop! It is our own balloon!"</p> + +<p>"No, it's a Japanese one!"</p> + +<p>Bang—bang, it went again. From the rear came the deep bass of a big gun +and close by sounded the sharp bang—bang—bang of a little balloon-gun +in the second trench. There was a burst of flame up in the air, followed +by a hail of metal splinters. "Cut that out. You're shooting at us!" +roared Captain Lange across to the battery.</p> + +<p>"Stop firing!" came a quick order from there. A few cannon shots were +heard coming from the rear.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a bright light appeared up in the air and a white magnesium +cluster descended slowly, lighting up all the trenches in a sudden blaze +which made the pioneers look like ghosts peering over the black brink of +the pits. Then the light went out, and the eyes trying in vain to +pierce the darkness saw nothing but glittering fiery red circles. The +Japanese batteries on the other side opened fire. The air-ship had +entirely disappeared, and no one knew whether the uncanny night-bird had +been friend or foe.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The assault on Hilgard was to be begun by the 28th and 32d Volunteers: +General MacArthur had originally planned to have the attempt made at +dawn on August 15th; but as one brigade of Wood's Division had not yet +arrived, he postponed the attack for twenty-four hours, to the sixteenth +of August, while the fifteenth was to be taken up with heavy firing on +the enemy's position, which seemed to have been somewhat weakened. As +soon, therefore, as day broke, the Americans opened fire, and all the +time that almost sixty American guns were bombarding Hilgard and sending +shell after shell over the town, and the white flakes of cotton from the +bursting shrapnels hovered over the houses and almost obscured the view +of the mountains and the shells tore up the ground, sowing iron seed in +the furrows, the 28th and 32d Volunteers lay in the trenches without +firing a single shot.</p> + +<p>The commander of the 16th Brigade, to which the two regiments belonged, +was in the first trench during the morning, and, in company with Colonel +Katterfeld, inspected the results of the bombardment through his +telescope, which had been set up in the trench. A shrapnel had just +destroyed the top of the copper church tower, which the Japanese were +using as a lookout.</p> + +<p>Although the American shells had already created a great deal of havoc +in Hilgard, the walls of the houses offered considerable resistance to +the hail of bullets from the shrapnels. The brigadier-general therefore +sent orders to the battery stationed behind and to the right of the +trenches to shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into +Hilgard.</p> + +<p>"Shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into Hilgard! +Shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into +Hilgard—Shell—Hilgard," was the command which was passed along from +mouth to mouth through the trenches, until it reached the battery amid +the roar of battle.</p> + +<p>"—Shells—we have no shells—shrapnels—the battery has no shells, only +shrapnels—" came back the answer after a while.</p> + +<p>"No shells, I might have known it, only those everlasting shrapnels. How +on earth can I shoot a town to pieces with shrapnel!" growled the +brigadier-general, going into the protected stand where the telephone +had been set up.</p> + +<p>"Send two hundred shells immediately by automobile from Union to the 8th +Battery Volunteers stationed before Hilgard," ordered the general +through the telephone— "What, there aren't any shells at Union? The +last have been forwarded to Longworth's Division?— But I must have at +least a hundred; have them brought back at once from the right wing— No +automobile, either?" It was a wonder that the telephone didn't burst +with righteous indignation at the vigorous curses the brigadier-general +roared into it.</p> + +<p>But unfortunately the statement made at Union, where the field railway +built from Monida for the transport service terminated, was correct. +Just as in most European armies, the number of shells provided was out +of all proportion to the shrapnel, and the supply of shells was +consequently low at all times. Besides, most of the ammunition-motors +had been put out of commission early in the game. The advantage of +higher speed possessed by the automobiles was more than offset by their +greater conspicuousness the moment they came within range of the enemy's +guns. The clouds of dust which they threw up at once showed the enemy in +which direction they were going, and as they were obliged to keep to the +main road, the Japanese had only to make a target of the highway and do +a little figuring to make short work of these modern vehicles. The great +number of wrecked motor cars strewn along the road proved rather +conclusively that the horse has not yet outlived its usefulness in +modern warfare.</p> + +<p>The officers, including the generals, had willingly dispensed with such +a dangerous mode of locomotion after the first fatal experiences, for +the staring fiery eyes of the motor betrayed its whereabouts by night, +and the clouds of dust betrayed it by day. The moment an auto came +puffing along, the enemy's shots began to fall to the right and left of +it, and it was only natural, therefore, that the horse came into its own +again, both because the rider was not bound to the main road and because +he did not offer such a conspicuous target for the enemy's shots.</p> + +<p>Towards noon the Japanese batteries entrenched before Hilgard began +bombarding the 28th Regiment with shrapnel. Colonel Katterfeld therefore +ordered half his men to seek protection under the stands.</p> + +<p>The howling and crashing of the bursting shrapnel of course had its +effect on those troops who were here under fire for the first time. But +the shrapnel bullets rained on the wooden roofs without being able to +penetrate them, and after half an hour this fact imbued the men in their +retreats with a certain feeling of security. The enemy soon stopped this +ineffective fire from his field-guns, however, and on the basis of +careful observations made from a captive balloon behind Hilgard, the +Japanese began using explosive shells in place of the shrapnel.</p> + +<p>The very first shots produced terrible devastation. The long planks were +tossed about like matches in the smoke of the bursting Shimose shells, +and the slaughter when one of them landed right in the midst of the +closely packed men in one of these subterranean mole-holes was +absolutely indescribable. Back into the trenches, therefore! But the +enemy had observed this change of position from his balloon, and the +shots began to rain unceasingly into the trenches. And so perfect was +the Japanese marksmanship that the position of the long line of trenches +could easily be recognized by the parallel line of little white clouds +of smoke up above them. There was nothing more to be concealed, and +accordingly Colonel Katterfeld ordered his regiment to open fire on +Hilgard and on the hostile artillery entrenched before the town.</p> + +<p>Captain Lange lay with his nose pressed against the breastworks, +carefully observing the effect of the fire through his field glasses. +Although this was not his first campaign, he had nevertheless had some +trouble in ridding himself of that miserable feeling with which every +novice has to contend, the feeling that every single hostile gun and +cannon is pointed straight at him. But the moment the first men of his +company fell and he was obliged to arrange for the removal of the +wounded to the rear, his self-possession returned at once. It was his +bounden duty, moreover, to set an example of cool-headed courage to his +men, so he calmly and with some fuss lighted a cigarette, yet in spite +of the apparent indifference with which he puffed at it, it moved up and +down rather suspiciously between his lips.</p> + +<p>A volunteer by the name of Singley, the war-correspondent of the <i>New +York Herald</i>, worked with much greater equanimity, but then he had been +through five battles before he gained permission to join the 7th Company +for the purpose of making pencil sketches and taking photographs of the +incidents of the battle.</p> + +<p>He now arranged a regular rest for his kodak in the breastwork of the +trench and stooped down behind the apparatus, which was directed towards +the six Japanese guns to the left in front of the houses at Hilgard, the +position of which could only be recognized by the clouds of smoke which +ascended after each shot was fired. Just then he heard the order being +passed along to the 8th battery to give these guns a broadside of +shrapnel, and as it would probably take a few minutes before this order +could be carried out, Singley pulled out his note-book and glanced over +the entries made during the last hour:</p> + + +<table width="600" summary="messages"> +<tr> +<td>No.</td> +<td>843.</td> +<td> Japanese shell bursts through a plank covering.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> "</td> +<td>844.</td> +<td>Trench manned afresh.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> "</td> +<td> 845.</td> +<td>Captain Lange smoking while under fire.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td> "</td> +<td>846.</td> +<td>Japanese shrapnels indicate the line of our trenches in the air.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<p>Then he put his note-book down beside him and crept under his kodak +again, carefully fixing the object-glass on the battery opposite. Now +then! A streak of solid lightning flashed in front of the second gun, +and a black funnel of smoke shot up. Click!</p> + + +<table width="600" summary="messages"> +<tr> +<td>No.</td> +<td>847.</td> +<td> Firing at the Japanese battery before Hilgard.</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p>Singley exchanged the film for a new one, and then looked about for +another subject for his camera. He took off his cap and peeped carefully +over the edge of the trench. Could he be mistaken? He saw a little +black speck making straight for the spot where he was. "A shell" rushed +through his thoughts like a flash, and he threw himself flat on the +bottom of the trench.</p> + +<p>With a whirring noise the heavy shell struck the back wall of the +trench. "An explosive shell!" shouted Captain Lange, "everybody down!"</p> + +<p>The air shook with a tremendous detonation; sand and stones flew all +around, and the suffocating powder-gas took everybody's breath away; but +gradually the soldiers began to recognize one another through the dust +and smoke, thankful at finding themselves uninjured.</p> + +<p>"Captain!" called a weak voice from the bottom of the trench, "Captain +Lange, I'm wounded." The captain bent down to assist the +war-correspondent, who was almost buried under a pile of earth.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my legs," groaned Singley. Two soldiers took hold of him and placed +him with his back against the wall of earth. The lower part of both his +thighs had been smashed by pieces from the shell. "Will you please do me +a last service?" he asked of Captain Lange.</p> + +<p>"Of course, Singley, what is it?"</p> + +<p>"Please take my kodak!"</p> + +<p>Singley himself arranged the exposure and handed the camera to the +captain, saying: "There, it is set at one twentieth of a second. Now +please take my picture— Thank you, that's all right! And now you can +have me removed to the hospital!"</p> + +<p>Before the men came to fetch him, Singley managed to add to his list:</p> + +<table width="600" summary="messages"> +<tr> +<td>No.</td> +<td>848.</td> +<td>Our war-correspondent, Singley, mortally wounded by a +Japanese shell. Hail Columbia!</td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<p>Then he closed his book and put it in his breast pocket. Five minutes +later two ambulance men carried him off to have his wounds attended to, +and in the evening he was conveyed to the hospital.</p> + +<p>A week later Captain Lange's snapshot of the war-correspondent was +paraded in the <i>New York Herald</i> as the dramatic close of Singley's +journalistic career. In his way he, too, had been a hero. He died in the +hospital at Salubria.</p> + +<p>He could claim the credit of having made the war plain to those at home. +Or was that not the war after all? Were the black shadows on the +photographic plate anything more than what is left of a flower after the +botanist has pressed the faded semblance of its former self between the +leaves of his collection? Certainly not much more.</p> + +<p>No, that is not war. Just a bursting—silently bursting shell, the +scattering of a company—that is not war.</p> + +<p>Thousands of bursting shells, the howls of the whizzing bullets, the +constant nerve-racking crashing and roaring overhead, the deafening +cracking of splitting iron everywhere—that is war. And accompanying it +all the hopeless sensation that this will never, never stop, that it +will go on like this forever, until one's thoughts are dulled by some +terrible, cruel, incomprehensible, demoralizing force. Those bounding +puffs of smoke everywhere on the ground, rifle shots which have been +aimed too short and every one of which— That abominable sharp singing +as of a swarm of mosquitoes, buzz, buzz, like the buzzing of angry +hornets continually knocking their heads against a window-pane. Bang! +That hit a stone. Bang! two inches nearer, then—"Aim carefully, fire +slowly!" calls the lieutenant in a hoarse, dry voice. You aim carefully +and fire slowly and reload. Buzz— And then you fume with a fierce +uncontrollable rage because you must aim carefully and fire slowly. And +the whole space in front of the trenches is covered with infantry +bullets glittering in the sunlight. Will it ever stop? Never! A day like +that has a hundred hours—two hundred. And if you had been there all by +yourself, you would never have dreamed of shooting over the edge of the +trenches—you would most probably have been crouching down in the pit. +But as you happen not to be alone, this can't be done. Will the enemy's +ammunition never give out? It's awful the way he keeps on shooting.</p> + +<p>And that terrible thirst! Your throat is parched and your teeth feel +blunt from grinding the grains of sand which fly into your face whenever +an impudent little puff of smoke jumps up directly in front of you. +Sssst. The mosquitoes keep on singing, and the bees buzz perpetually. +Those dogs over there, those wretches, those— Buzz, buzz, buzz—it +never stops, never. Over there to the right somebody cracks a joke and +several soldiers laugh. "Aim carefully, fire slowly!" sounds the warning +voice of the lieutenant. And it's all done on an empty stomach—a +perfectly empty stomach.</p> + +<p>Just as the field-kitchen wagon had arrived this morning, a shell had +exploded in the road and it was all over with the kitchen-wagon. How +long ago that seemed! And the bees keep on humming. Bang! that hit the +sergeant right in the middle of the forehead. Is this never going to +stop? Never? You chew sand, you breathe sand, burning dry sand, which +passes through your intestines like fire. And then that horrible, faint, +sickening feeling in the stomach when you feel the ambulance men +creeping up behind to take away another one of your comrades! How +terrible he looks, how he screams! You are quite incensed to think that +anybody can yell like that! What a fool! "Aim carefully, fire slowly," +warns the lieutenant. Bouncing puffs of smoke again! And sand in your +mouth and fire in your intestines. You think continually of water, +beautiful, clear, ice-cold water, never-ending streams of water— A +roaring, howling and crashing overhead, the clatter of splinters, a +sharp pain in your brain and a horrible feeling in your stomach and all +the time it goes buzz, buzz, buzz—ssst—ssst—buzz, buzz, buzz——</p> + +<p>That is war, not the pictures that people see at home, all those lucky +people who have lots of water, who can go where they like and are not +forced to stay where the bees keep up a continual buzz, buzz, buzz——</p> + +<p>Colonel Katterfeld was kneeling on the ground examining the map of +Hilgard and marking several positions with a pencil. He could overhear +the conversation of the soldiers under the board-covering next to his +own.</p> + +<p>"Do you think all this is on account of the Philippines?" asked one.</p> + +<p>"The Philippines? Not much. It would have come sooner or later anyhow. +The Japs want the whole Pacific to themselves. We wouldn't be here if it +were only for the Philippines."</p> + +<p>"We wouldn't? It's on account of imperialism, then, is it?"</p> + +<p>"Don't talk foolish. We know very well what the Japs want, imperialism +or no imperialism."</p> + +<p>"Well, why are the papers always talking so much about imperialism?"</p> + +<p>"They write from their own standpoint. Imperialism simply means that we +wish to rule wherever the Stars and Stripes are waving."</p> + +<p>The colonel peeped into the adjacent cover. It was Sergeant Benting who +was speaking.</p> + +<p>"Right you are, Benting," said the colonel, "imperialism is the desire +for power. Imperialism means looking at the world from a great altitude. +And the nation which is without it will never inherit the earth."</p> + +<p>Then the colonel gave the order to fire at a house on the right side of +the street, in which a bursting shrapnel had just effected a breach and +out of which a detachment of infantry was seen to run.</p> + +<p>Once again, just before twilight, the battle burst out on both sides +with tremendous fury. The whole valley was hidden in clouds of smoke and +dust, and flashes of fire and puffs of smoke flew up from the ground on +all sides. Then evening came and, bit by bit, it grew more quiet as one +battery after the other ceased firing. The shrill whistle of an engine +came from the mountain-pass. And now, from far away, the Japanese +bugle-call sounded through the silent starry night and was echoed softly +by the mountain-sides, warming the hearts of all who heard it:</p> + +<p class="center"> +<img src="images/illus03.png" alt="music" /> + +</p> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XIX" id="Chapter_XIX"></a><i>Chapter XIX</i></h4> + +<h4>THE ASSAULT ON HILGARD</h4> + + +<p>It was three o'clock in the morning. Only from the left wing of Fowler's +Division was the booming of cannon occasionally heard. From the +mountain-pass above came the noise of passing trains, the clash of +colliding cars and the dull rumble of wheels. On the right all was +still.</p> + +<p>A low whistle went through all the trenches! And then the regiments +intended for the assault on Hilgard crept slowly and carefully out of +the long furrows. The front ranks carried mattresses, straw-bags, planks +and sacks of earth to bridge the barbed wire barricades in case they +should not succeed in chopping down the posts to which the wires were +fastened. A few American batteries behind La Grande began firing. The +other side continued silent.</p> + +<p>Suddenly two red rockets rose quickly one after the other on the right +near the mountain, and they were followed directly by two blue ones; +they went out noiselessly high up in the air. Was it a signal of friend +or foe? The regiments came to a halt for a moment, but nothing further +happened, except that the two searchlights beyond Hilgard kept their +eyes fixed on the spot where the rockets had ascended. A dog barked in +the town, but was choked off in the middle of a howl. Then death-like +stillness reigned in front once more, but several cannon thundered in +the rear and a few isolated shots rang out from the wooded valleys on +the left.</p> + +<p>The front ranks had reached the wire barricades. Suddenly a sharp cry +of pain broke the silence and red flames shot forth from the ground, +lighting up the posts and the network of wires. Several soldiers were +seen to be caught in the wires, which were apparently charged with +electricity. Now was the time! The pioneers provided with rubber gloves +to protect them against the charged wires went at it with a vengeance, +and were soon hacking away with their axes. Loud curses and cries of +pain were heard here and there. "Shut up, you cowards!" yelled some one +in a subdued voice. The black silhouettes of the men, who were tossing +long boards and bags of earth on top of the wires, stood out sharply +against the light of the explosives with which the Americans were +attempting to loosen the supporting posts.</p> + +<p class="center"> +<a href="images/img289.jpg"><img src="images/img289-tb.jpg" alt="battle" /> +</a></p> + +<p class="center"> Diagram of the Battle of Hilgard</p> + +<p>The light of the dancing flames fell on swaying, leaping figures. Shots +rang out constantly, millions of sparks flew all around and through all +the din could be distinguished the short, sharp +rattatattatt—rrrrr—rattatattatt of the machine-guns, sounding more +like cobble-stones being emptied out of a cart than anything else.</p> + +<p>Hell had meanwhile broken loose on the other side. The attacking +regiments were exposed to a perfectly terrific rifle-fire from the +houses and streets of Hilgard, which was accompanied by a destructive +cannonade. But on they went! Over the corpses of the slain who had +breathed their last jammed in among the deadly wires, over the swaying +planks and through the gaps made by the exploding bombs, the battalions +swept on with loud shouts of Hurrah! What mattered it that the +machine-guns, which they had brought along, were sometimes dragged +through furrows of blood! On they went! The field-batteries to the right +and left of the first houses and two of the enemy's machine-guns just in +front of the barricade were in the hands of the 28th Regiment, and now +they advanced against the houses themselves. But it was utterly +impossible to get a foot further. A whole battalion was sacrificed +before the high barricade at the entrance to the main street, but still +they went on! There were no storming-ladders, and after all they were +hardly needed, for human pyramids were speedily run up against the +walls, and up these soldiers scrambled, assisted from below, until at +last they were high enough to shoot into the loop-holes. Others aided in +the work with axes and the butt-ends of their guns, and before long the +Americans had gained possession of several houses. All of the enemy's +searchlights concentrated their glare on the town, so that the fighting +was done in a brilliant light. The white top of the church-tower seemed +strangely near, while reddish-gold reflections played on the torn copper +roof.</p> + +<p>But no reënforcements came from the rear, and it was no wonder, for a +furious fire from the enemy's artillery and machine-guns swept across +the space in front of Hilgard, raining bullets and balls upon the +trenches, out of which new battalions climbed again and again; the shots +plowed up the land into glowing furrows and created an impassable +fire-zone between the trenches and the nearest houses of Hilgard, whence +shrieking bugle-calls begged for immediate assistance. If the enemy +should succeed in throwing reënforcements into Hilgard, he would have no +difficulty in dislodging the Americans from the positions they had won. +Suddenly an attack from the wooded valley on the left at last brought +relief. It was the Irish brigade under General O'Brien that came on like +a whirlwind, quite unexpectedly, and joined in the fight.</p> + +<p>This attack threw back the advancing Japanese reënforcements. The +regiments could be seen retreating in the pale light of dawn, and then +they were seen to form in line on the rising ground behind. Between +them and the rear of the town lay the Irish sharpshooters, who went +forward by leaps and bounds. But the furious artillery fire from the +enemy brought the fighting temporarily to a stand-still.</p> + +<p>Wild confusion reigned on all sides as dawn broke. The 17th Japanese +Infantry Regiment was still battling with the two American regiments for +the possession of the front houses of Hilgard, and the two Japanese +battalions in the rear of the town directed their fire on the compact +columns of the Third Irish Regiment, which had not yet been formed into +line for shooting. It was a critical moment, and everything depended +upon the rapidity with which the Japanese resistance in Hilgard could be +overcome.</p> + +<p>In the houses and on the illuminated streets a furious hand-to-hand +encounter was going on, the men rushing at one another with bayonets and +the butt-ends of their guns. No effort was made to keep the men or +regiments together. Where the weapons had been destroyed or lost in the +mad scramble, the soldiers fought like gorillas, tearing one another's +flesh with teeth and nails. On all sides houses were on fire, and the +falling beams and walls, the bursting flames, the showers of descending +sparks, and the bursting shrapnels killing friend and foe alike, created +an indescribable jumble.</p> + +<p>At last reënforcements arrived in the shape of a regiment which had lost +more than half its men in passing through the fire-zone in front of +Hilgard.</p> + +<p>"Where is Colonel Johnson?"</p> + +<p>"Over there, on the other side of the street."</p> + +<p>"A prisoner?" asked some one.</p> + +<p>"I guess not, they're not making prisoners and we aren't either."</p> + +<p>Slowly it grew lighter.</p> + +<p>The Irish in the rear of Hilgard had hard work to maintain their +position. To dislodge the enemy, it was absolutely necessary to turn his +flank; otherwise there was no chance of advancing further. Each line of +sharpshooters that leaped forward was partially mowed down by the +terrible machine-guns. The enemy didn't budge an inch.</p> + +<p>General O'Brien had already dispatched five orderlies to Fowler's +division with instructions to attack the enemy from the left, but all +five had been shot down the moment they left their cover. Something had +to be done at once, or the entire brigade would be destroyed.</p> + +<p>Suddenly Corporal Freeman, who had crept up along the ground, appeared +beside the General.</p> + +<p>"Here, sir," he cried, his face beaming, "here's the connection for +you." And he shoved a telephone apparatus towards O'Brien. He had +dragged the connecting wire behind him through the entire fire-zone.</p> + +<p>"You must be a wizard!" cried the General, and then seizing the +instrument he called: "Throw all the troops you can possibly get hold of +against the right wing of the Japanese in front of us! The enemy's +position is weakened, but we can't attack the ridge in the front from +here."</p> + +<p>Several minutes passed—minutes pregnant with destruction. The bursting +shells thinned the ranks terribly, while the infantry fire continued to +sweep along the ground, but worst of all, the ammunition of the Irish +regiments was getting low. Several batteries were planted between the +ruins of the houses in Hilgard, but even then the enemy did not budge.</p> + +<p>Then came a great rush from the left: Cavalry, Indian scouts, regular +cavalry, cavalry militia, volunteer regiments, and behind them all the +machine-guns and the field-artillery—a perfect avalanche of human +beings and horses wrapped in thick clouds of smoke from which showers of +sparks descended.</p> + +<p>That was our salvation. A wild shout of joy from the Irishmen rose above +the din of battle, and after that there was no restraining them. The +front ranks of the cavalry were mown down like sheaves of corn by the +bullets of the enemy's machine-guns; but that made no difference, on +they went, on, ever on! Whole regiments were cut to pieces. Hundreds of +saddles were emptied, but the riders came on just the same, and even +before they had reached the Irish sharpshooters, every man who wore the +green was headed for the ridge almost without waiting for the word of +command!</p> + +<p>It was an assault the enemy could not possibly repulse. The Irish and +the cavalry were right among their firing lines; a battery galloped up +into the hostile ranks, crushing dead and wounded beneath its wheels. +Bloody shreds of flesh were sticking to the gun-barrels, and torn limbs +and even whole bodies were whirled round and round in the spokes of the +wheels.</p> + +<p>Shrill bugle-calls resounded. The horses were wheeled around and the +battery unlimbered. A hostile shell suddenly struck the shaft of the +gun-carriage, and in a second the horses were a bloody mass of legs +wildly beating the air and of writhing, groaning bodies.</p> + +<p>But the gun was in position. And now out with the ammunition! Bang! went +the first shot, which had been in the barrel, and then everybody lent a +hand; an Indian scout, bleeding at the shoulder, and an engineer helped +pass the shells, while a mortally wounded gunner shoved the cartridge +into the barrel.</p> + +<p>"Aim up there to the left, near the two detached pine-trees, six hundred +yards," roared a lieutenant, whose blood-covered shirt could be seen +beneath his open uniform.</p> + +<p>"The two pines to the left," answered the gunner, lying across the +bracket-trail. Bang! off went the shot, and a line of Japanese +sharpshooters rose like a flock of quail.</p> + +<p>More cannon, more machine-guns, more ammunition-carts rushed up in mad +haste; the batteries kept up a continual fire.</p> + +<p>The battle moved on farther to the front. The houses of Hilgard were all +in flames; only the white top of the church-tower still projected above +the ruins. On the right of the town one column after another marched +past to the strains of regimental music.</p> + +<p>An orderly galloped past, and some one called out to him: "How are +things in front?" "Fine, fine, we're winning!" came the answer, which +was greeted with jubilant cheers. Gradually the enemy's shots became +scarcer as the battle advanced up the slopes.</p> + +<p>Engineers were hard at work getting the streets of Hilgard cleared so as +to save the troops the detour round the outside of the town. The burning +houses were blown up with dynamite, and a temporary hospital was +established near the city, to which the wounded were brought from all +parts of the battle-field.</p> + +<p>By noon Hilgard was sufficiently cleared to allow the 36th Militia +Regiment (Nebraska) to pass through. On both sides of the streets were +smoking ruins filled with dead and dying and charred remains. The steps +of the battalion sounded strangely hollow as the first company turned +into the square where the white church still stood almost intact in the +midst of the ruins. A wounded soldier was calling loudly for water.</p> + +<p>What was that? Were the bells tolling? The soldiers involuntarily +softened their step when they heard it. Yes, the bells were tolling, +slowly at first and low, but then the peals rang out louder and louder +until a great volume of sound burst through the little windows in the +white church-spire. Ding—dong, ding—dong——</p> + +<p>The flag-bearer of the first company lowered his flag and the soldiers +marched past in silence. The captain rode over to the entrance to the +tower and looked in. A little boy, about ten years old, was tugging and +straining at the heavy bell-ropes. There seemed to be a number of +wounded soldiers in the church, as loud groans could be heard through +the half-open door.</p> + +<p>The captain looked about him in astonishment. Near a post he saw two +Japanese, presenting a fearful spectacle in the convulsions of death. +Close to them lay an American foot-soldier, writhing with pain from a +bayonet-wound in the abdomen; and over in the farther corner he could +distinguish a woman, dressed in black, lying on a ragged mattress. +Ding—dong, ding—dong, rang the bells up above, but the noise of battle +did not penetrate here.</p> + +<p>"What are you doing, sonny?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"I'm ringing the bells for mother," said the little fellow.</p> + +<p>"For mother?"</p> + +<p>"General," called a weak voice from the corner, "please let the boy +alone. I want to hear our bells just once more before I die."</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, are you wounded?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"I feel that I'm dying," was the answer; "a bullet has entered my lung; +I think it's the lung."</p> + +<p>"I'll send you a doctor," said the captain, "although we——"</p> + +<p>"Don't bother, general; it wouldn't do any good."</p> + +<p>"How did you get here?"</p> + +<p>"My husband," came the answer in a weak voice, "is lying across the +street in our burning home. He was the minister here in Hilgard. These +last days have been fearful, general; you have no idea how fearful. +First they shot my husband, and then our little Elly was killed by a +piece of shell when I was running across the street to the church with +her and the boy." She paused a moment, and then continued with growing +agitation: "It's enough to make one lose faith in the wisdom of the Lord +to see this butchery—all the heartrending sorrow that's created in the +world when men begin to murder one another like this. You don't realize +it in the midst of the battle, but here— And as God has seen fit to +spare His church in the battle, I asked the boy to ring the bells once +more, for I thought it might be a comfort to some of those dying out +there to hear a voice from above proclaiming peace after these awful +days. Let him keep on ringing, general, won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Can I help you in any way?" asked the captain.</p> + +<p>"No, only I should like some water."</p> + +<p>The captain knelt down by the side of the poor, deserted woman and +handed her his flask.</p> + +<p>She drank greedily, and then thanked him and began to sob softly. "What +will become of my boy? My poor husband——"</p> + +<p>"My good woman," said the captain, forcing himself to speak bluntly, +"it's not a question of this boy, or of a single individual who has +fallen in battle, but rather of a great people which has just defeated +the enemy. The widows and orphans will be taken care of by the +survivors, now that the Lord has given us the victory. Those who are +lying outside the town and those here have surrendered their lives for +their country, and the country will not forget them."</p> + +<p>Ding—dong, ding—dong, went the bells as the captain left the church, +deeply affected. Ding—dong, ding—dong. Thousands out on the +battle-field in the throes of death, and the many unfortunates lying +with broken limbs in the burning houses and watching the flames +creeping towards them, heard that last call from on high, like a call +from God, Who seemed to have turned away from our people.</p> + +<p>And then evening came, the evening of the sixteenth of August, which is +recorded with bloody letters on the pages of our country's history. Soon +all the reserves were engaged in battle. Our splendid regiments could +not be checked, so eager were they to push forward, and they succeeded +in storming one of the enemy's positions after the other along the +mountain-side. At last the enemy began to retreat, and the thunder of +the cannon was again and again drowned in the frenzied cheers. General +MacArthur was continually receiving at his headquarters reports of fresh +victories in the front and on both wings.</p> + +<p>The telegraph wires had long ago spread the glad tidings over the length +and breadth of the land. Great joy reigned in every town, the Stars and +Stripes waved proudly from all the houses, and the people's hearts were +fluttering with exultation.</p> + +<p>General MacArthur, whose headquarters were located near Hilgard, was +waiting for news of Fowler's Division, which had orders to advance on +the pass through the valleys on the left wing. They were to try and +outflank the enemy's right wing, but word was sent that they had met +with unexpected resistance. It appeared, therefore, that the enemy had +not yet begun to retreat at that point.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, things were going better in the center. But what was +the good of this reckless advance, of this bold rush, which built +bridges of human bodies across the enemy's trenches and formed living +ladders composed of whole companies before the enemy's earthworks—what +was the good of all this heroic courage in the face of Marshal Nogi's +relentless calculations? He was overjoyed to see regiment after +regiment storm towards him, while from his tent he gave directions for +the sharp tongs of the Japanese flanks to close in the rear of General +MacArthur's army.</p> + +<p>About seven o'clock in the evening the surprising news came from the +right wing that the batteries which had begun firing on the enemy's +lines retreating along the railway line were suddenly being shelled from +the rear, and begged for reënforcements. But there were no reserves +left; the last battalion, the last man had been pushed to the front! How +did the enemy manage to outflank us?</p> + +<p>Imploringly, eagerly, the telephone begged for reënforcements, for +batteries, for machine-guns, for ammunition. The transport section of +the army service corps had been exhausted long ago, and all the +ammunition we had was in front, while a wide chasm yawned between the +fighting troops and the depots far away in the blue distance. General +MacArthur had nothing left to send.</p> + +<p>And now from Indian Valley came the request for more machine-guns, but +there wasn't one left. General MacArthur telegraphed to Union, the +terminus of the field-railway, but the answer came that no assistance +could be given for several hours, as the roadbed had first to be +repaired. From Toll Gate, too, came stormy demands for more +ammunition—all in vain.</p> + +<p>And then, at eight o'clock, when the sun had sunk like a ball of fire in +the west, and the Blue Mountains, above which hovered puffs of smoke +from the bursting shrapnel, were bathed in the golden evening light and +the valley became gradually veiled in darkness, the crushing news came +from Baker City that large, compact bodies of Japanese troops had been +seen on the stretch of broken-down railroad near Sumpter. Soon +afterwards Union reported the interruption of railway communication +with the rear and an attack with machine-guns by Japanese dismounted +cavalry, while Wood's division in the front continued to report the +capture of Japanese positions.</p> + +<p>With relentless accuracy the arms of the gigantic tongs with which Nogi +threatened to surround the entire Army of the North began to close. The +American troops attacking both flanks had not noticed the Japanese +reserves, which had been held concealed in the depressions and shallow +valleys under cover of the woods. Two miles more to the right and left, +and our cavalry would have come upon the steel teeth of the huge tongs, +but there was the rub: they hadn't gone far enough.</p> + +<p>About ten o'clock in the evening Baker City, which was in flames, was +stormed by the Japanese, Indian Valley having already fallen into their +hands. The attack in front, high up in the mountains, began to waver, +then to stop; a few captured positions had to be abandoned, and down in +the valley near La Grande, whence the field-hospitals were being removed +to the rear, the ambulances and Red Cross transports encountered the +troops streaming back from Baker City. One retreating force caught up +with the other, and then night came—that terrible night of destruction. +Again the cannon thundered across the valley, again the machine-guns +joined in the tumult, while the infantry fire surged to and fro.</p> + +<p>You may be able to urge an exhausted or famished troop on to a final +assault, you may even gain the victory with their last vestige of +energy, their last bit of strength, provided you can inspire them with +sufficient enthusiasm; but it is impossible to save a lost cause with +troops who have been hunted up and down for twenty-four hours and whose +nerves are positively blunt from the strain of the prolonged battle.</p> + +<p>The exhausted regiments went back, back into the basin of the Blue +Mountains, into a flaming pit that hid death and destruction in its +midst. The headquarters, too, had to be moved back. General MacArthur +lost his way in the darkness, and, accompanied by a single officer, rode +across the bloody battle-field right through the enemy's line of fire.</p> + +<p>He soon ran across a cavalry brigade belonging to Longworth's division, +and at once placed himself at its head and led an onslaught on a +Japanese regiment. A wild <i>mêlée</i> ensued in the darkness, and, although +only a few hundred riders remained in their saddles, the attack had +cleared the atmosphere and the wavering battalions gained new courage.</p> + +<p>General MacArthur ordered a retreat by way of Union, employing Wood's +division, which was slowly making its way back to Hilgard, to cover the +retreat. Regiment after regiment threatened to become disbanded, and +only the determined action of the officers prevented a general rout. The +decimated regiments of Wood's division stood like a wall before the +ruins of Hilgard; they formed a rock against which the enemy's troops +dashed themselves in vain. In this way Fowler's and Longworth's +divisions succeeded in making a fair retreat, especially as the enemy's +strength was beginning to become exhausted. The uncertainty of a night +attack, when the fighting is done with bandaged eyes, as it were, and it +becomes impossible to control the effect of one's own firing, +contributed also towards weakening the Japanese attacks. The thin lines +of hostile troops from Baker City and from the north, which had +threatened to surround our army, were pierced by the determined assaults +of the American regiments; and although our entire transport service and +numerous guns remained in possession of the enemy, our retreat by way of +Union was open.</p> + +<p>At dawn on the seventeenth of August the remains of Wood's division +began to leave Hilgard, which they had so bravely and stubbornly +defended, the heroes retreating step by step in face of the enemy's +artillery fire.</p> + +<p>General MacArthur stopped just outside of Union and watched the +regiments—often consisting only of a single company—pass in silence. +He frowned with displeasure when he saw Colonel Smeaton riding alone in +the middle of the road, followed by two foot-soldiers. The colonel was +bleeding from a wound in his forehead.</p> + +<p>General MacArthur gave spurs to his horse and rode towards the colonel, +saying: "Colonel, how can you desert your regiment?"</p> + +<p>Colonel Smeaton raised himself in his stirrups, saluted, and said: "I +have the honor to report that only these two, Dan Woodlark and Abraham +Bent, are left of my regiment. They are brave men, general, and I +herewith recommend them for promotion."</p> + +<p>The general's eyes grew moist, and, stifling a sigh, he held out his +hand to Colonel Smeaton: "Forgive me," he said simply, "I did not intend +to hurt your feelings."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense!" cried the colonel. "We'll begin over again, general, we'll +simply start all over again. As long as we don't lose faith in +ourselves, nothing is lost."</p> + +<p>Those were significant words spoken that seventeenth day of August.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XX" id="Chapter_XX"></a><i>Chapter XX</i></h4> + +<h4>A FRIEND IN NEED</h4> + + +<p>The attitude towards the war in Australia was entirely different from +that of Europe. Everyone realized that this was not an ordinary war, but +a war upon which the future of Australia depended. If the Japanese +succeeded in conquering a foot of land in North America, if a single +star was extinguished on the blue field of the American flag, it would +mean that the whole continent lying in Asia's shadow would also fall a +prey to the yellow race.</p> + +<p>The early reports from the Philippines and from San Francisco, and the +crushing news of the destruction of the Pacific fleet, swept like a +whirlwind through the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wellington +and Auckland, and gave rise to tremendous public demonstrations. +Business came to a stand-still, for the Australian people had ears only +for the far-off thunder of cannon, and their thoughts were occupied with +the future. Huge open-air mass-meetings and innumerable demonstrations +before the American consulates bore witness to Australia's honest +sympathy. The time had arrived for the fifth continent to establish its +political status in the council of nations.</p> + +<p>In Sydney the mob had smashed the windows of the Japanese consulate. +Satisfaction was at once categorically demanded from London, where the +government trembled at the bare idea of a hostile demonstration against +its ally. The apology was to take the form of a salute to the Japanese +flag on the consulate by a coast battery, etc. But the Australian +government refused point blank to do this, and contented itself with a +simple declaration of regret; and as there was no other course open to +him, the Japanese Consul had to be satisfied. But in Tokio this affair +was entered on the credit side of the Anglo-Japanese ledger, offsetting +the debt of gratitude for August 10, 1904, when the English fleet +constituted the shifting scenery behind Togo's battleships.</p> + +<p>A great many of the Japanese located in Australia had left the country +before the outbreak of the war to join the army of invasion, and those +who remained behind soon recognized that there was no work for them +anywhere on the continent. When they refused to take this hint and make +themselves scarce, Australian fists began to remind them that the period +of Anglo-Mongolian brotherhood was a thing of the past. The last of the +Japanese settlers were put aboard an English steamer at Sydney and told +to shift for themselves. The Chinese, too, began to leave the country, +and wherever they did not go of their own accord, they were told in +pretty plain language that the yellow man's day in Australia was ended.</p> + +<p>Australia, up to this time merely an appendage of the Old World, a +colony which had received its blood from the heart of the British Empire +and its ideas from the nerve-center in Downing Street, which had +hitherto led a purely dependent existence, now awoke and began to +develop a political life of its own. And this development, born of the +outbreak of Mongolian hostilities, could not be restrained. The time had +passed when the European nations could say: The world's history is +created by us, other nations are of no account.</p> + +<p>Once before Australia had taken an active part in politics. That was +when the Union Jack was threatened, when British regiments were melting +away before the rifles of a peasant people at Magersfontein, Colenso and +Graspan, when Ladysmith was being besieged, and Downing Street trembled +for the safety of the empire. Then, in the hour of dire need, a cry for +help went out to all the peoples dwelling beneath the Union Jack, whose +flagstaff was being shaken by sturdy peasant hands. And the colonial +troops heard the call and responded nobly. Australian and Canadian +heroism was ushered into being on the grassy plains and kopjes of the +Transvaal. They may not have been good to look at and their manners were +not those of the drawing-room, but England opened her arms to those +splendid fellows from the Australian bush and was glad to use them in +her hour of need—but afterwards she forgot them. But those days were +not so soon forgotten in Australia; there are too many men still going +around with one arm or a wooden leg. The gentlemen in Downing Street, +however, have short memories, and the debt of thanks they owed the +colonies quickly slipped their minds.</p> + +<p>For the sake of her bales of cotton, her export lists, and her Indian +possessions, the London government threw all the traditions of the +British world empire overboard and forgot that Old England's problem of +civilization was the conquest of the world for the Anglo-Saxon race. For +the sake of her London merchants, Old England betrayed Greater Britain, +which in the calculations of the London statesmen was only a +geographical conception, while the nations without credulously accepted +the decisions of English politics as the gospel of British power.</p> + +<p>England offered the hand of fellowship to the Japanese parvenu simply +because she wanted some one to hold her Russian rival in check.</p> + +<p>What the Manchurian campaign cost England can be figured out exactly, +to the pound and shilling. She simply purchased the downfall of Russia +with the loan of a few hundred millions to Japan—an excellent bargain.</p> + +<p>But Sir Charles Dilke was beginning to open the people's eyes. "Another +Japanese loan," he cried, "will slip a sharp dagger into the hand of our +greatest commercial rival."</p> + +<p>England, however, would not listen, and after the war she only drew the +bonds of the alliance closer for fear of the Japanese ants who were +creeping secretly into India and whispering into the people's ears that +the dominion of a few hundred thousand white men over three hundred +million Indians was based solely on the legend of the superiority of the +white race, a legend which Mukden and Tsushima had completely nullified.</p> + +<p>After all, London was at liberty to adopt any policy it liked; but in +this particular case the colonies were expected to bear the entire +costs. And this was the gratitude for the aid given in South Africa for +customs favors extended to English goods at Ottawa, Cape Town, and +Melbourne. Deliberately disregarding the warnings of Sir Wilfred +Laurier, of Seddon, and of Deakin, who clearly recognized the proximity +of the danger, the gentlemen in London insisted upon unrestricted +Japanese immigration into the colonies, although Hawaii furnished an +eloquent example of how quickly coolie immigrants can transform an +Anglo-Saxon colony into a Japanese one.</p> + +<p>In South Africa, too, England was sowing trouble with Mongolian miners, +until the Africanders took it upon themselves to rid their country of +this yellow plague.</p> + +<p>In consideration of the existing alliance with Japan, Downing Street +demanded of Canada and Australia that the Japanese settlers should be +granted equal privileges with the white man. New Zealand's prime +minister, Seddon, a resolute man whose greatness is not appreciated in +Europe, brought his fist down on the table with a vengeance at the last +Colonial Conference in London and appealed to Old England's conscience +in the face of the yellow danger. All in vain. Although he persisted in +proclaiming New Zealand's right to adhere to her exclusive immigration +laws, it was several years before Australia and Canada awoke to a +realization of the dangers which the influx of Japanese coolies held in +store for them, and before they began to prepare for an energetic +resistance.</p> + +<p>Then, in August, 1908, came the American fleet. Great was the rejoicing +in all the Australian coast towns, and the welcome extended to the +American sailors and marines proved to the world that hearts were +beating in unison here in the fear of future catastrophes. Never has the +feeling of the homogeneousness of the white race, of the Anglo-Saxon +race, celebrated such festivals, and when the Australians and Americans +shook hands at parting, the former realized that a brother was leaving +with whom they would one day fight side by side—when the crisis came +and the die was cast which was to decide whether the Pacific should be +ruled by the Anglo-Saxon or the Mongolian race.</p> + +<p>And now the danger that had been regarded as likely to make itself felt +decades hence had become a terrible reality in less than no time. The +joint Japanese foe was actually on American soil, the American dominion +over the Philippines and Hawaii had been swept away at the first onset, +and the great brother nation of the United States was struggling for its +existence as a nation and for the future of the white race.</p> + +<p>What had become of Great Britain's imperialism, of the All-British idea, +for the sake of which Australia, Canada, and New Zealand had sent their +sons to South Africa? England, whose grand mission it was to protect +the palladium of Anglo-Saxon dominion, stood aloof in this conflict.</p> + +<p>The cabinet of St. James had sent a warning to Ottawa not to permit +Canadian volunteers to enter the United States, and similar instructions +had been forwarded to Melbourne and Wellington.</p> + +<p>But when England, at Japan's instigation, tried to persuade the European +powers to compel Mexico to prevent American volunteer regiments from +crossing the frontier by concentrating her army opposite El Paso, +Germany frustrated this plan by declaring that the acknowledgment of the +Monroe Doctrine as a political principle in 1903 rendered it impossible +for her to meddle in America's political affairs. In spite of this +failure, the cabinet of St. James continued to play the rôle of +international watchman, and employed the influence secured by <i>ententes</i> +in previous years to carefully prevent other European governments from +violating the laws of neutrality towards Japan. It was, of course, the +worry over India which made the English government, generally very +elastic in its views regarding neutrality, all at once so extremely +virtuous.</p> + +<p>London felt very uncomfortable when, in July, a Canadian paper published +an alleged conversation between a Japanese and an English diplomatist. +"What will Great Britain do in case of war?" the Japanese is said to +have asked, whereupon he received the ambiguous answer: "Her duty." +Then, with the daring candor assumed by these people when they feel that +they are masters of the situation, the Japanese had declared: "The +London government must bear in mind that the continuation of British +rule in India depends absolutely on the wishes of Japan; that England, +in other words, can support the United States only at the price of an +Indian insurrection."</p> + +<p>This conversation, which was published by a curious act of indiscretion, +and of course at once denied in London, nevertheless threw a flood of +light on England's political situation. Japan did not directly ask for +military aid, which, as a matter of fact, she had no right to expect +under the terms of the second Anglo-Japanese agreement, but she did +demand favorable neutrality on the part of Great Britain as the guardian +of the mobile forces of the Anglo-Saxon world-empire; in other words, +Japan insisted that England should betray her own race for the sake of +India.</p> + +<p>This political trick of the Japanese government was the yellow man's +revenge for the half promises with which England had driven Japan into +the conflict with Russia, and then; after the outbreak of the war, had +offered only meager messages of sympathy instead of furnishing the +expected military assistance.</p> + +<p>England's destiny now hung in the balance; the threads reaching from +Ottawa, Cape Town, Melbourne, and Wellington to Downing Street were +becoming severed, not by a sword-cut, but by England's own policy.</p> + +<p>If imperialism should leave no room for a "white" policy, then Australia +and Canada must throw off the burdensome fetters which threatened to +hand over the white man under the Union Jack, bound hand and foot, to +the Mongolians.</p> + +<p>It was not easy to come to such a decision, and it was months before it +was finally reached. But one day, towards the end of August, the entire +Australian press advertised for volunteers for the American army. +Thousands responded, and no one asked where the large sums of money came +from with which these men were provided with arms and uniforms.</p> + +<p>A vehement Japanese protest, sent by way of London, only elicited the +reply that the Australian government had received no official +notification of the enlistment of volunteers for the United States, and +was therefore not in a position to interfere in any such movement.</p> + +<p>A feeling of joyous confidence reigned among the volunteers; they were +going to take the field and fight for their big brother. The racial +feeling, so strong in every white man, had been aroused and could +withstand any Mongolian attack. By October the first steamers of +volunteers left for America. As there were no Japanese or Chinese spies +left, and as the government kept a strict watch on the entire news and +telegraph service, the departure of the steamers remained concealed from +the enemy. As Japanese ships were cruising in the Straits of Magellan, +the route via Suez was chosen, and in due course the steamers arrived +safely at Hampton Roads.</p> + +<p>Wherever the conscience of the Anglo-Saxon race was not wrapped in bales +of cotton and in stock quotations, wherever the feeling of Anglo-Saxon +solidarity still inspired the people, there was a stir. And so the +objections of the London government were not heeded in the colonies.</p> + +<p>Why should the citizen of Canada, of British Columbia, care for Downing +Street's consideration for India, when he was suffering commercially +from the yellow invasion just as much as the citizen of the United +States, and when he realized that he would surely be the next victim if +the Japanese should be victorious this time?</p> + +<p>In this epoch-making hour of the world's history, England had neglected +her bounden duty, because she was indissolubly bound to Japan. By the +same right with which George Washington had once raised the flag, crowds +of men streamed across the frontier from Canada and British Columbia, +and by that same right Ottawa now categorically demanded the removal of +the Japanese ships from the harbor of Esquimault. "They must either +lower their flag and disarm, or they must leave the harbor!" wrote the +Canadian papers, and the Canadian Secretary of State, William Mackenzie, +couched the protest which he sent to London in similar terms. It was +recognized in London that threats were no longer of avail in the face of +this spontaneous enthusiasm. England had staked much and lost.</p> + +<p>Canadian and Australian regiments were soon found fighting side by side +with their American brothers. And now at last, with the united good-will +of two continents behind us, there was a fair prospect of the early +realization of the boastful words uttered by the American press at the +beginning of the war: "We'll drive the yellow monkeys into the +Pacific."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XXI" id="Chapter_XXI"></a><i>Chapter XXI</i></h4> + +<h4>DARK SHADOWS</h4> + + +<p>Autumn had come, and all was serene at the seat of war, except for a few +insignificant skirmishes. Slowly, far more slowly than the impatience of +our people could stand, the new bodies of troops were prepared for +action, and before we could possibly think of again assuming the +offensive, winter was at the door.</p> + +<p>In the middle of November, three Japanese orderlies, bearing a white +flag of truce, rode up to our outposts, and a few days later it was +learned from Washington that the enemy had offered to make peace, the +terms of which, however, remained a mystery for a short time, until they +were ultimately published in the capital.</p> + +<p>The States of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California were to become +Japanese possessions, but at the same time continue as members of the +Union. They were to have Japanese garrisons and to permit Japanese +immigration; the strength of the garrisons was to be regulated later. In +the various State legislatures and in the municipal administration half +the members were to be Americans and half Japanese. If these terms were +accepted, Japan would relinquish all claim to further immigration of +Japanese to the other States of the Union. The United States was to pay +Japan a war-indemnity of two billion dollars, in installments, exclusive +of the sums previously levied in the Pacific States. San Francisco was +to be Japan's naval port on the Pacific coast, and the navy-yard and +arsenals located there were to pass into the hands of the Japanese. The +Philippines, Hawaii and Guam were to be ceded to Japan.</p> + +<p>A universal cry of indignation resounded from the Atlantic to the +Rockies in answer to these humiliating terms of peace. To acknowledge +defeat and keep the enemy in the country, would be sealing the doom of +American honor with a stroke of the pen. No! anything but that! Let us +fight on at any price! At thousands of mass meetings the same cry was +heard: Let us fight on until the last enemy has been driven out of the +country.</p> + +<p>But what is public opinion? Nothing more than the naïve feeling of the +masses of yesterday, to-day and perhaps the day after to-morrow. The +terrible sacrifices claimed by the war had not been without effect. Of +course there was no hesitation on the part of the old American citizens +nor of the German, Scandinavian and Irish settlers—they would all +remain faithful to the Star Spangled Banner. But the others, the +thousands and hundreds of thousands of Romanic and Slavonic descent, the +Italian and Russian proletariat, and the scum of the peoples of Asia +Minor, all these elements, who regarded the United States merely as a +promising market for employment and not as a home, were of a different +opinion.</p> + +<p>And these elements of the population now demanded the reëstablishment of +opportunities for profitable employment, insisting upon their rights as +naturalized citizens, which had been so readily accorded them. Scarcely +had the first storm of indignation passed, when other public meetings +began to be held—loud, stormy demonstrations, which usually ended in a +grand street row—and to this were added passionate appeals from the +Socialist leaders to accept Japan's terms and conclude peace, in order +that the idle laborer might once more return to work.</p> + +<p>And this feeling spread more and more and gradually became a force in +public life and in the press, and unfortunately the agitation was not +entirely without effect on those elements of the population whose +American citizenship was not yet deeply rooted. However indignant the +better elements may have felt at first over this cowardly desertion of +the flag, the continual repetition of such arguments evoked +faint-hearted considerations of the desirability of peace in ever +widening circles.</p> + +<p>The fighting of our troops on the plateaus of the Rocky Mountains no +longer formed the chief topic of conversation, but rather the proffered +terms of peace, which were discussed before the bars, on the street, at +meetings, and in the family-circle.</p> + +<p>Scarcely a fortnight after the presentation of the Japanese offer of +peace, two bitterly hostile parties confronted each other in the Union: +the one gathered round the country's flag full of determination and +enthusiasm, the other was willing to sacrifice the dollar on the altar +of Buddha.</p> + +<p>And other forces were also at work. Enthusiastic preachers arose in +numerous sects and religious denominations, applying the mysterious +revelations of the prophet of Patmos—revelations employed in all ages +for the forging of mystic weapons—to the events of the time. In the dim +light of evening meetings they spoke of the "beast with the seven heads" +to whom was given power "over all kindreds, tongues and nations," and +fanatical men and women came after months of infinite misery and +hopeless woe to look upon the occupant of the White House as the +Antichrist. They conceived it their bounden duty to oppose his will, and +quite gradually these evening prayer-meetings began to influence our +people to such a degree that the Japanese terms were no longer regarded +as insulting, and peace without honor was preferred to a continuance of +the fight to the bitter end. Had God really turned the light of his +countenance from us?</p> + +<p>While the enemy was waiting for an answer to his message, the voices at +home became louder and louder in their demands for the conclusion of +peace and the acceptance of the enemy's terms. The sound common-sense +and the buoyant patriotism of those who had their country's interests +close at heart struggled in vain against the selfish doctrine of those +who preferred to vegetate peacefully without one brave effort for +freedom. Our whole past history, replete with acts of bravery and +self-sacrifice, seemed to be disappearing in the horrors of night.</p> + +<p>And while the socialist agitators were goading on the starving workmen +everywhere to oppose the continuation of the war, while innumerable +forces were apparently uniting to retire the God of War, who determines +the fate of nations on bloody fields, there remained at least one +possibility of clearing the sultry atmosphere: a battle. But how dared +we continue the fight before our armies were absolutely prepared to +begin the attack, how dared we attempt what would no doubt prove the +decisive battle before we were certain of success? The battle of Hilgard +furnished an eloquent reply. The War Department said no, it said no with +a heavy heart; weeks must pass, weeks must be borne and overcome, before +we could assume the offensive once more.</p> + +<p>The Japanese terms of peace were therefore declined. At the seat of war +skirmishes continued to take place, the soldiers freezing in their thin +coats, while restless activity was shown in all the encampments.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Extras were being sold on the streets of Washington, telling of a naval +engagement off the Argentine coast. They were eagerly bought and read, +but no one believed the news, for we had lost hope and faith. Excited +crowds had collected in front of the Army and Navy building in the hope +of obtaining more detailed news; but no one could give any information. +An automobile suddenly drew up in front of the south side of the long +building, before the entrance to the offices of the Committee on Foreign +Affairs.</p> + +<p>The Secretary of State, who had not been able to get the President by +'phone at the White House but learned that he was somewhere in the naval +barracks, had decided to look him up. Scarcely had he entered his car, +before he was surrounded by hundreds of people clamoring for +verification of the news from Buenos Ayres. He declared again and again +that he knew nothing more than what he had just read in the extras, but +no one believed him. Several policemen cleared the way in front of the +puffing machine, which at last managed to get clear of the crowd, but a +few blocks further on the chauffeur was again compelled to stop.</p> + +<p>An immense mob was pouring out of a side street, where they had just +smashed the windows of the offices of a socialist newspaper, which had +supplemented the Argentine dispatch with spiteful comments under the +headlines: "Another Patriotic Swindle."</p> + +<p>The Secretary of State told the chauffeur to take a different route to +the naval barracks, and this order saved his life, for as he bent +forward to speak to the chauffeur, the force of an explosion threw him +against the front seat. Behind him, on the upper edge of the rear seat, +a bomb had exploded with a burst of blinding white light. The secretary, +whose coat was torn by some splinters of glass, stood up and showed +himself to the multitude.</p> + +<p>"Murder, murder," yelled the mob, "down with the assassin." And the +secretary saw them seize a degenerate-looking wretch and begin pounding +him with their fists. After a little while he was thrown to the ground, +but was dragged up again and at last, as the chauffeur was guiding his +car backwards through the crowd, the secretary heard a man say:</p> + +<p>"Thank God, they've strung him up on a lamp-post!"</p> + +<p>The mob had administered quick justice.</p> + +<p>Utterly exhausted by this experience, the Secretary of State returned to +his home, where he gave orders that the President should be informed at +once of what had occurred.</p> + +<p>The servant had scarcely left the secretary's study when his wife +entered. She threw her arms passionately around his neck and refused to +be quieted. "It's all right, Edith, I haven't been scratched."</p> + +<p>"But you'll be killed the next time," she sobbed.</p> + +<p>"It makes but little difference, Edith, whether I die here on the +pavement or out yonder on the battle-field: we must all die at our posts +if need be. Death may come to us any day here as well as there, but," +and freeing himself from his wife's embrace, he walked to his desk and +pointed to a picture of Abraham Lincoln hanging over it, saying, "if I +fall as that man fell, there are hundreds who are ready to step into my +shoes without the slightest fuss and with the same solemn sense of +duty."</p> + +<p>A servant entered and announced that the British Ambassador asked to be +received by the secretary. "One minute," was the answer, "ask His +Excellency to wait one minute."</p> + +<p>The sound of many voices could be heard outside. The secretary walked to +the window and looked out.</p> + +<p>"Look," he said to his wife, "there are some people at least who are +glad that the bomb failed to accomplish its purpose." His appearance at +the window was a signal for loud cheers from the people on the street. +Holding the hand of his faithful wife in his own, he said: "Edith, I +know we are on the right road. We can read our destiny only in the stars +on our banner. There is only one future for the United States, only one, +that beneath the Stars and Stripes, and not a single star must be +missing—neither that of Washington, nor that of Oregon, nor that of +California. We had a hard fight to establish our independence, and the +inheritance of our fathers we must ever cherish as sacred and +inviolable. The yellow men have won their place in the world by an +inexorable sense of national duty, and we can conquer them only if we +employ the same weapons. I know what we have at stake in this war, and I +am quite ready to answer to myself and to our people for each life lost +on the field of battle. I am only one of many, and if I fall, it will be +in the knowledge that I have done my duty. Let the cowardly mob step +over my corpse, it won't matter to me nor to my successor if he will +only hold our drooping flag with a firm hand. The favor of the people is +here to-day and gone to-morrow, and we must not be led astray by it. The +blind creatures who inspired that miserable wretch to hurl the bomb +regard us, the bearers of responsible posts, with the same feelings as +the lions do their tamer when he enters the cage. If he comes out alive, +well and good; if he is torn to pieces it makes no difference, for +there'll be some one else to take his place the next day. It is my duty +to fight against desertion in our own ranks and to shield American +citizenship against the foreign elements gathered here who have no +fatherland, and to whom the Stars and Stripes have no deeper meaning +than a piece of cloth; that is the duty, in the performance of which I +shall live or die."</p> + +<p>Mad cheers from below induced the secretary to open the window, and +immediately the sounds of the "Star Spangled Banner" came floating up +from thousands of throats. Suddenly his wife touched his arm saying: +"James, here's a telegram."</p> + +<p>The secretary turned around and literally tore the telegram out of the +servant's hand. He ran his eye over it hurriedly and then drew a deep +breath. And with tears in his eyes at the almost incredible news, he +said softly to his wife:</p> + +<p>"This will deliver us from the dark slough of despair."</p> + +<p>Then he returned to the window, but his emotion made it impossible for +him to speak; he made a sign with his hand and gradually the noise of +the crowd ceased and all became still.</p> + +<p>"Fellow Citizens," began the secretary, "I have just this moment +received—" Loud cheers interrupted him, but quiet was soon restored, +and then in a clear voice he read the following dispatch:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Bahia Blanca, December 8: The torpedo-destroyer <i>Paul Jones</i> arrived +here this morning with the following message from Admiral Dayton: 'On +the 4th of December I found the Japanese cruisers <i>Adzuma</i> and +<i>Asama</i> and three destroyers coaling in the harbor of Port Stanley +(Falkland Islands). I demanded of the British authorities that the +Japanese ships be forced to leave the harbor at once, as I should +otherwise be obliged to attack them in the harbor on the morning of +the following day. On the afternoon of the 4th I opened fire on the +Japanese ships four miles outside of Port Stanley. After an hour's +fighting all five Japanese ships were sunk. On our side the destroyer +<i>Dale</i> was sunk. Total loss, 180 men. Damaged cruiser <i>Maryland</i> sent +to Buenos Ayres. Sighted the Japanese cruisers <i>Idzumo</i>, <i>Tokiwa</i>, +<i>Jakumo</i> and four destroyers at the entrance to the Straits of +Magellan on the morning of December 6th. Pursued them with entire +fleet. Battle with the <i>Idzumo</i> and <i>Tokiwa</i> at noon, in which former +was sunk. Battle temporarily suspended on account of appearance of +two hostile battleships. Destroyers keeping in touch with the +Japanese squadron.'</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 35em;"> +<span class="smcap">Dayton</span>."<br /> +</p></div> + +<p>Perfect silence greeted these words; no one seemed able to believe the +news of this American victory: the first joyful tidings after almost +nine months of constant adversity. But then the enthusiasm of the people +broke loose in a perfect hurricane that swept everything before it. In +the rear the crowd began to thin out rapidly, for everybody was anxious +to spread the glad tidings of victory, but their places were soon taken +by others pouring in from all sides to hear the telegram read once more.</p> + +<p>And now on the opposite side of 17th Street the American flag suddenly +ran up the bare flagstaff on the roof of the Winders Building, unfurling +with a rustle in the fresh breeze. The secretary pointed up to it, and +at once the jubilant crowd joined once more in the air of the "Star +Spangled Banner."</p> + +<p>"This is a day," said the secretary, taking his wife's hand, "which our +country will never forget. But now I must get to work and then I'm off +to the President."</p> + +<p>As his wife left the room, he rang the bell and asked the servant who +appeared in answer to his summons to show in the British Ambassador.</p> + +<p>The man disappeared noiselessly, and the next moment the ambassador +entered.</p> + +<p>"I must ask Your Excellency's pardon for having kept you waiting," said +the secretary, advancing a few steps to meet him. "To what do I owe the +honor of this visit——"</p> + +<p>"I have come to reply to the protest lodged against us by the United +States government for permitting the Japanese to use the harbor of +Esquimault as a station for their ships. The British government fully +recognizes the justice of the protest, and will see to it that in future +only damages that affect a ship's seaworthiness are repaired at +Esquimault, and that no other ships are allowed to enter the harbor. The +British government is desirous of observing the strictest neutrality and +is determined to employ every means in its power to maintain it."</p> + +<p>"I thank Your Excellency and thoroughly appreciate the efforts of your +government, but regret exceedingly that they are made somewhat late in +the day. I am convinced the English government would not consider it +within the bounds of strict neutrality for a Japanese squadron to employ +an English port as its base of operations——"</p> + +<p>"Certainly not," said the ambassador emphatically, "and I am certain +such a thing has never happened."</p> + +<p>"Indeed?" answered the secretary seriously, "our latest dispatches tell +a different story. May I ask Your Excellency to glance over this +telegram?"</p> + +<p>He handed the telegram from Bahia Blanca to the ambassador, who read it +and handed it back.</p> + +<p>The two men regarded each other in silence for a few moments. Then the +ambassador lowered his eyes, saying, "I have no instructions with regard +to this case. It really comes as a great surprise to me," he added, "a +very great surprise," and then seizing the secretary's hand he shook it +heartily, saying: "Allow me to extend my private but most sincere +congratulations on this success of your arms."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Your Excellency. The United States have learned during the +past few months to distinguish between correct and friendly relations +with other powers. The English government has taken a warm interest in +the military successes of its Japanese ally, as is apparently stipulated +in their agreement. We are sorry to have been obliged to upset some of +England's calculations by turning Japanese ships out of an English +harbor. If we succeed in gaining the upper hand, we may perhaps look +forward to similar favors being shown us by the English government as +have thus far been extended to victorious Japan?"</p> + +<p>"That would depend," said the ambassador rather dubiously, "on the +extent to which such friendly relations would interfere with our +conceptions of neutrality."</p> + +<p>At this moment the President was announced and the ambassador took his +leave.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XXII" id="Chapter_XXII"></a><i>Chapter XXII</i></h4> + +<h4>REMEMBER HILGARD!</h4> + + +<p>Just as in the war between Russia and Japan, the paper strategists found +comfort in the thought that the Japanese successes on American soil were +only temporary and that their victorious career would soon come to an +end. The supposition that Japan had no money to carry on the war was +soon seen to lack all real foundation. Thus far the war had cost Japan +not even two hundred millions, for it was not Japan, but the Pacific +States that had borne the brunt of the expense. Japan had already levied +in the States occupied by her troops a sum larger by far than the total +amount of the indemnity which they had hoped to collect at Portsmouth +several years before.</p> + +<p>The overwhelming defeat of the Army of the North at Hilgard had taken +the wind out of a great many sails. The terrible catastrophe even +succeeded in stirring up the nations of the Old World, who had been +watching developments at a safe distance, to a proper realization of the +seriousness and proximity of the yellow peril.</p> + +<p>Even England began to edge quietly away from Japan, this change in +British policy being at once recognized in Tokio when, at Canada's +request, England refused to allow Japanese ships to continue to use the +docks and coal depots at Esquimault. Later, when after the victories of +the American fleet off Port Stanley and near the Straits of Magellan, +the governor of the Falkland Islands was made the scape-goat and +banished—he had at first intended exposing the cabinet of St. James by +publishing the instructions received from them in July, but finally +thought better of it—and when the governors of all the British colonies +were ordered to observe strict neutrality, Japan interpreted this action +correctly. But she was prepared for this emergency, and now came the +retribution for having fooled the Japanese nation with hopes of a +permanent alliance. Japan pressed a button, and Great Britain was made +to realize the danger of playing with the destiny of a nation.</p> + +<p>Apparently without the slightest connection with the war in America, an +insurrection suddenly broke out in Bengal, at the foot of the Himalayas +and on the plateaus of Deccan, which threatened to shake the very +foundations of British sovereignty. It was as much as England could do +to dispatch enough troops to India in time to stop the flood from +bursting all the dams. At the same time an insurrection broke out in +French Indo-China, and while England and France were sending +transport-ships, escorted by cruisers, to the Far East, great upheavals +took place in all parts of Africa. The Europeans had their hands full in +dozens of different directions: garrisons and naval stations required +reënforcements, and all had to be on guard constantly in order to avoid +a surprise.</p> + +<p>These were Japan's last resources for preventing the white races from +coming to the aid of the United States.</p> + +<p>Remember Hilgard! This was the shibboleth with which Congress passed the +bill providing for the creation of a standing militia-army and making +the military training of every American citizen a national duty. And how +willingly they all responded to their country's call—every one realized +that the final decision was approaching.</p> + +<p>Remember Hilgard! That was the war-cry, and that was the thought which +trembled in every heart and proved to the world that when the American +nation once comes to its senses, it is utterly irresistible.</p> + +<p>What did we care for the theories of diplomats about international law +and neutrality; they were swept away like cobwebs. Just as Japan during +the Russian war had been provided with arms and equipment from the East, +because the crippling of the Russian fleet had left the road to the +Japanese harbors open and complaints were consequently not to be feared, +so German steamers especially now brought to our Atlantic ports +war-materials and weapons that had been manufactured in Germany for the +new American armies, since the American factories could not possibly +supply the enormous demand within such a short period.</p> + +<p>Remember Hilgard! were the words which accompanied every command at +drill and in the encampments where our new army was being trained. The +regiments waited impatiently for the moment when they would be led +against the enemy, but we dared not again make the mistake of leading an +unprepared army against such an experienced foe. Week after week, month +after month passed, before we could begin our march in the winter snow.</p> + +<p>The Pacific Army, which advanced in January to attack the Japanese +position on the high plateaus of the Rocky Mountains towards Granger, +numbered more than a third of a million. After three days of severe +fighting, this important stronghold of the Japanese center was captured +and the enemy forced to retreat.</p> + +<p>Great rejoicing rang through the whole land. A complete victory at last! +Fourteen Japanese guns were captured by the two Missouri regiments after +four assaults and with the loss of half their men. The guns were dragged +in triumph through the States, and the slightly wounded soldiers on the +ammunition-carts declared, after the triumphal entry into St. Louis, +that the tumultuous embraces and thousands of handclasps from the +enthusiastic crowds had used them up more than the three days' battle.</p> + +<p>The capture of Granger had interrupted the communication between the +Union Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Short Line branching off to the +northwest; but this didn't bother the enemy much, for he simply sent his +transports over the line from Pocatello to the South via Ogden, so that +when the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Army renewed the attack on +the Japanese positions, he found them stronger than he had anticipated.</p> + +<p>The attack on Fort Bridger began on the second of February, but the +enemy's position on the mountain heights remained unshaken. Several +captive balloons and two motor air-ships (one of which was destroyed, +shortly after its ascent, by hostile shots) brought the information that +the Japanese artillery and entrenchments on the face of the mountain +formed an almost impregnable position. Thus while the people were still +rejoicing over the latest victory, the Pacific Army was in a position +where each step forward was sure to be accompanied by a severe loss of +life.</p> + +<p>Six fresh divisions from different encampments arrived on the field of +battle on the fourth and fifth of February. They received orders to +attack the seemingly weak positions of the enemy near Bell's Pass, and +then to cross the snow-covered pass and fall upon the left flank of the +Japanese center. All manner of obstacles interfered with the advance, +which was at last begun. Whole companies had to be harnessed to the +guns; but they pressed forward somehow. The small detachments of +Japanese cavalry defending the pass were compelled to retreat, and the +pass itself was taken by a night assault. Frost now set in, and the guns +and baggage wagons were drawn up the mountain paths by means of ropes. +The men suffered terribly from the cold, but the knowledge that they +were making progress prevented them from grumbling.</p> + +<p>On the seventh of February, just as Fisher's division, the first of +General Elliott's army to pass Bell's Pass, had reached the valley of +the Bear River preparatory to marching southward, via Almy and Evanston, +in the rear of the Japanese positions, cavalry scouts, who had been +patrolling downstream as far as Georgetown, reported that large bodies +of hostile troops were approaching from the North. General Elliott +ordered Fisher's division to continue its advance on Almy, and also +dispatched Hardy's and Livingstone's divisions to the South, while +Wilson's division remained behind to guard the pass, and the divisions +of Milton and Stranger were sent to the North to stop the advance of the +enemy's reënforcements. Milton's division was to advance along the left +bank of the Bear River and to occupy the passes in the Bear River Range, +in order to prevent the enemy from making a diversion via Logan. Mounted +engineers destroyed the tracks at several spots in front of and behind +Logan.</p> + +<p>It will be seen, therefore, that General Elliott's six divisions were +all stationed in the narrow Bear River Valley between the two hostile +armies: Fisher's, Hardy's and Livingstone's divisions were headed South +to fall upon the left wing of the enemy's main army, commanded by +Marshal Oyama; while Milton's and Stranger's divisions were marching to +the North, and came upon the enemy, who was on his way from Pocatello, +at Georgetown. General Elliott therefore had to conduct a battle in two +directions: In the South he had to assume the offensive against Oyama's +wing as quickly and energetically as possible, whereas at Georgetown he +would be on the defensive. Bell's Pass lay almost exactly between the +two lines, and there General Elliott had posted only the reserves, +consisting of the three weak brigades belonging to Wilson's division. If +the Japanese succeeded in gaining a decisive victory at Georgetown, +General Elliott's whole army would be in a position of the utmost +danger.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Chapter_XXIII" id="Chapter_XXIII"></a><i>Chapter XXIII</i></h4> + +<h4>IN THE WHITE HOUSE</h4> + + +<p>On the streets of Washington there was a wild scramble for the extras +containing the latest news from the front. The people stood for hours in +front of the newspaper offices, but definite news was so long in coming, +that despair once more seized their hearts and they again became +sceptical of ultimate victory.</p> + +<p>Seven long anxious days of waiting! Were we fighting against +supernatural forces, which no human heroism could overcome?</p> + +<p>A telegraph instrument had been set up next to the President's study in +the White House so that all news from the front might reach him without +delay. On a table lay a large map of the battle-field where the fighting +was now going on, and his private secretary had marked the positions of +the American troops with little wooden blocks and colored flags.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the instrument began to click, a fresh report from the general +staff of the Pacific Army appeared on the tape:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Fort Bridger, Feb. 8, 6 p.m. Our captive balloon reports that the +enemy seems to be shifting his troops on the left flank. Two Japanese +battalions have abandoned their positions, which were at once +occupied by a line of skirmishers from the 86th Regiment supported by +two machine-guns. An assault of the second battalion of the 64th +Regiment on the Japanese infantry position was repulsed, as the enemy +quite unexpectedly brought several masked machine-guns into action. +The firing continues, and General Elliott reports that the battle +with the hostile forces advancing along the Bear River Valley began +at 3 p.m. south of Georgetown. As the enemy has appeared in +unexpectedly large numbers, two brigades of Wood's division have been +sent from Bell's Pass to the North.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Major General Illing</span>."</p></div> + +<p>The private secretary changed the position of several blocks on the map, +moving the flags at Bell's Pass and pushing two little blue flags in the +direction of Georgetown. Then he took the report to the President.</p> + +<p>At midnight the report came that the stubborn resistance of the enemy at +Georgetown had made it advisable to send Wilson's last brigade from +Bell's Pass to the North.</p> + +<p>"Our last reserves," said the President, looking at the map; "we're +playing a venturesome game." Then he glanced at his secretary and saw +that the latter was utterly exhausted. And no wonder, for he hadn't +slept a wink in three nights. "Go and take a nap, Johnson," said the +President; "I'll stay up, as I have some work to finish. Take a nap, +Johnson, I don't need you just now."</p> + +<p>"What about the instrument, sir?" asked the secretary.</p> + +<p>"I can hear everything in the next room. I'll have no peace anyhow till +it is all over. Besides, the Secretary of War is coming over, so I'll +get along all right."</p> + +<p>The President sat down at his desk and affixed his signature to a number +of documents. Half an hour later the Secretary of War was announced.</p> + +<p>"Sit down, Harry," said the President, pointing to a chair, "I'll be +ready in five minutes." And while the President was finishing his work, +the Secretary of War settled down in his chair and took up a book. But +the next moment he laid it down again and took up a paper instead; then +he took up another one and read a few lines mechanically, stopping every +now and then to stare vacantly over the edge of the paper into space. At +last he jumped up and began pacing slowly up and down. Then he went into +the telegraph-room, and glanced over the report, a copy of which he had +received half an hour ago. Then he examined the various positions on the +map, placing some of the blocks more accurately.</p> + +<p>Then a bell rang and steps could be heard in the hall. The door of the +adjacent room opened and shut, and he heard the President fold up the +documents and say: "Take these with you, they are all signed. Tomorrow +morning—oh, I forgot, it's morning now—the ninth of February."</p> + +<p>Then some one went out and closed the door and the President was alone +again. The next moment he joined the Secretary of War in the +telegraph-room.</p> + +<p>"Harry," he said in a low voice, "our destiny will be decided within the +next few hours. I sent Johnson off to bed; he needed some sleep. +Besides, we want to be alone when the fate of our country is decided."</p> + +<p>The Secretary of War walked up and down the room with his hands in his +pockets, puffing away at a cigar. Both men avoided looking at each +other; neither wished the other to see how nervous he was. Both were +listening intently for the sound of the telegraph-bell.</p> + +<p>"A message arrived from Fort Bridger about ten o'clock," said the +President after a long pause, "to the effect that our captive balloons +reported a change in the positions of the enemy's left wing. This may +mean——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, it may mean—" repeated the Secretary of War mechanically.</p> + +<p>Then they both became silent once more, puffing vigorously at their +cigars.</p> + +<p>"Suppose it's all in vain again, suppose the enemy—" began the +Secretary of War, when he was interrupted by the ringing of the bell in +the next room.</p> + +<p>The message ran:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Bell's Pass, Feb. 9, 12.15 a.m. Milton's division has succeeded in +wresting several important positions from the enemy after a night of +severe fighting. Unimportant reverses suffered by Stranger's division +more than offset with the aid of reënforcements from Bell's Pass.</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"><span class="smcap">Colonel Tarditt</span>."</p></div> + +<p>"If they can only hold Georgetown," said the Secretary of War, "our last +reserves have gone there now."</p> + +<p>"God grant they may."</p> + +<p>Then they both went back to the study. The President remained standing +in front of the portrait of Lincoln hanging on the wall.</p> + +<p>"He went through just such hours as these," he said quietly, "just such +hours, and perhaps in this very room, when the battle between the +<i>Monitor</i> and the <i>Merrimac</i> was being fought at Hampton Roads, and news +was being sent to him hour by hour. Oh, Abraham Lincoln, if you were +only here to-day to deliver your message over the length and breadth of +our land."</p> + +<p>The Secretary of War looked hard at the President as he answered: "Yes, +we have need of men, but we have men, too, some perhaps who are even +greater than Lincoln."</p> + +<p>The President shook his head sadly, saying: "I don't know, we've done +everything we could, we've done our duty, yet perhaps we might have made +even greater efforts. I'm so nervous over the outcome of this battle; it +seems to me we are facing the enemy without weapons, or at best with +very blunt ones."</p> + +<p>Again the bell rang and the President moved towards the door, but +stopped halfway and said: "You better go and see what it is, Harry."</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Fort Bridger, Feb. 8, 11.50 p.m. From Fisher's division the report +comes via Bell's Pass that two of his regiments have driven the enemy +from their positions with the aid of searchlights, and that they are +now in hot pursuit.</p></div> +<p style="margin-left: 25em;"> <span class="smcap">Major General Illing</span>."</p> + +<p>Without saying a word the Secretary of War moved the blocks representing +Fisher's division further South. Then he remarked quietly: "It doesn't +make much difference what happens at Georgetown, the decision rests +right here now and the next hour may decide it all," and he put his +finger on the spot in the mountains occupied by the enemy's left wing. +"If an attack on the enemy's front should make a gap——"</p> + +<p>He didn't complete the sentence, for the President's hand rested heavily +on his shoulder. "Yes, Harry," he said, "if—that's what we've been +saying for nine months. If—and our If has always been followed by a +But—the enemy's But."</p> + +<p>He threw himself into a chair and shaded his tired eyes with his hand, +while the Secretary of War walked incessantly up and down, puffing on a +fresh cigar.—</p> + +<p>The night was almost over.—The shrill little bell rang again, causing +the President to start violently. Slowly, inch by inch, the white strip +of paper was rolled off, and stooping together over the ticking +instrument, the two men watched one letter, one word, one sentence after +another appear, until at last it was all there:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 1.15 a.m. A returning motor air-ship reports a +furious artillery fight in the rear of the enemy's left wing. Have +just issued orders for a general attack on the hostile positions on +the heights. Cannonade raging all along the line. Reports from Bell's +Pass state that enemy is retreating from Georgetown. Twelve of the +enemy's guns captured.</p></div> + +<p style="margin-left: 25em;">"<span class="smcap">Major General Illing</span>."</p> + +<p>"Harry!" cried the President, seizing his friend's hand, "suppose this +means victory!"</p> + +<p>"It does, it must," was the answer. "Look here," he said, as he +rearranged the blocks on the map, "the whole pressure of General +Elliott's three divisions is concentrated on the enemy's left wing. All +that's necessary is a determined attack——"</p> + +<p>"On the entrenchments in the dark?" broke in the President, "when the +men are so apt to lose touch with their leaders, when they're shooting +at random, when a mere chance may wrest away the victory and give it to +the enemy?"</p> + +<p>The Secretary of War shook his head, saying: "The fate of battles rests +in the hands of God; we must have faith in our troops."</p> + +<p>He walked around the table with long strides, while the President +compared the positions of the armies on the map with the contents of the +last telegram.</p> + +<p>"Harry," he said, looking up, "do you remember the speech I made at +Harvard years ago on the unity of nations? That was my first speech, and +who would have thought that we should now be sitting together in this +room? It's strange how it all comes back to me now. Even then, as a +young man, I was deeply interested in the development of the idea of +German national unity as expressed in German poetry; and much that I +read then has become full of meaning for us, too, especially in these +latter days. One of those German songs is ringing in my ears to-night. +Oh, if it could only come true, if our brave men over there storming the +rocky heights could only make it come true—" At this moment the +telegraph-bell again rang sharply:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 2.36 a.m. With enormous losses the brigades of +Lennox and Malmberg have stormed the positions occupied by the +artillery on the enemy's left wing, and have captured numerous guns. +The thunder of cannon coming from the valley can be distinctly heard +here on the heights. Fisher's division has signaled that they have +successfully driven back the enemy. The Japanese are beginning to +retreat all along the line. Our troops——"</p></div> + +<p>The President could read no further, for the words were dancing before +his eyes. This stern man, whom nothing could bend or break, now had +tears in his eyes as he folded his hands over the telegraph instrument, +from which the tape continued to come forth, and said in a deeply moved +voice: "Harry, this hour is greater than the Fourth of July. And now, +Harry, I remember it, that song of the German poet; may it become our +prayer of thanksgiving:"</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 15em;"> +"From tower to tower let the bells be rung,<br /> +Throughout our land let our joy be sung!<br /> +Light every beacon far and near,<br /> +To show that God hath helped us here!<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Praise be to God on High!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then the President stepped over to the window and pushing aside the +curtains, opened it and looked out into the cold winter morning for a +long time.</p> + +<p>"Harry," he called presently, "doesn't it seem as though the bells were +ringing? Thus far no one knows the glad tidings but you and I; but very +soon they'll awake to pæans of victory and then our flag will wave +proudly once more and we'll have no trouble in winning back the missing +stars."</p> + +<p>It was a moment of the highest national exaltation, such as a nation +experiences only once in a hundred years.</p> + +<p>A solitary policeman was patrolling up and down before the White House, +and he started violently as he heard a voice above him calling out:</p> + +<p>"Run as hard as you can and call out on all the streets: The enemy is +defeated, our troops have conquered, the Japanese army is in full +retreat! Knock at the doors and windows and shout into every home: we +have won, the enemy is retreating."</p> + +<p>The policeman hurried off, leaving big black footprints in the white +snow, and he could be heard yelling out: "Victory, victory, we've beaten +the Japs!" as he ran.</p> + +<p>People began to collect in the streets and a coachman jumped down from +his box and ran towards the White House, looking up at its lighted +windows.</p> + +<p>"Leave your carriage here," shouted the President, "and run as hard as +you can and tell everybody you meet that we have won and that the +Japanese are in full retreat! Our country will be free once more!"</p> + +<p>Shouts were heard in the distance, and the noise of loud knocking. And +then the President closed the window and came back into the room. But +when the Secretary of War wanted to read the balance of the message, he +said: "Don't, Harry; I couldn't listen to another word now, but please +rouse everybody in the house."</p> + +<p>Then bells rang in the halls and people were heard to stir in the rooms. +There was a joyous awakening in the quiet capital that ninth day of +February, the day that dispelled the darkness and the gloom.</p> + +<p>That day marked the beginning of the end. <i>The yellow peril had been +averted!</i></p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Banzai!, by Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BANZAI! *** + +***** This file should be named 19498-h.htm or 19498-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/9/19498/ + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/19498-h/images/illus01.jpg b/19498-h/images/illus01.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73c8a98 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h/images/illus01.jpg diff --git a/19498-h/images/illus02.jpg b/19498-h/images/illus02.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..843965d --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h/images/illus02.jpg diff --git a/19498-h/images/illus03.png b/19498-h/images/illus03.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a708b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h/images/illus03.png diff --git a/19498-h/images/img289-tb.jpg b/19498-h/images/img289-tb.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ce9033f --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h/images/img289-tb.jpg diff --git a/19498-h/images/img289.jpg b/19498-h/images/img289.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f38d899 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498-h/images/img289.jpg diff --git a/19498.txt b/19498.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..92f26fc --- /dev/null +++ b/19498.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10636 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Banzai!, by Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Banzai! + +Author: Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +Release Date: October 9, 2006 [EBook #19498] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BANZAI! *** + + + + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +BANZAI! + +[Illustration: "That's the Japanese _Satsuma_, Togo's _Satsuma_!"] + + + + +BANZAI! + + +BY + +PARABELLUM + + +LEIPZIG +THEODOR WEICHER, PUBLISHER + +NEW YORK +THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., SALES AGENTS +33 EAST 17TH STREET (UNION SQUARE) + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY +THEODOR WEICHER + + +COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY +THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. +_All rights reserved_ + + +ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON + +Published, January, 1909 + + +THE TROW PRESS, NEW YORK + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +FOREWORD vii + +INTRODUCTION ix + +CHAPTER +I.--IN MANILA 1 + +II.--ON THE HIGH SEAS 34 + +III.--HOW IT BEGAN 49 + +IV.--ECHOES IN NEW YORK 61 + +V.--FATHER AND SON 69 + +VI.--A NIGHT IN NEW YORK 77 + +VII.--THE RED SUN OVER THE GOLDEN GATE 96 + +VIII.--IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH 105 + +IX.---A FORTY-EIGHT-HOUR BALANCE 121 + +X.--ADMIRAL PERRY'S FATE 142 + +XI.--CAPTAIN WINSTANLEY 171 + +XII.--ARE YOU WINSTANLEY? 185 + +XIII.--THE REVENGE FOR PORTSMOUTH 192 + +XIV.--ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WHIRLPOOL 206 + +XV.--A RAY OF LIGHT 211 + +XVI.--THROUGH FIRE AND SMOKE 217 + +XVII.--WHAT HAPPENED AT CORPUS CHRISTI 228 + +XVIII.--THE BATTLE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS 243 + +XIX.--THE ASSAULT ON HILGARD 272 + +XX.---A FRIEND IN NEED 286 + +XXI.--DARK SHADOWS 295 + +XXII.--REMEMBER HILGARD 306 + +XXIII.--IN THE WHITE HOUSE 312 + + + + +FOREWORD + + +Every American familiar with the modern international political horizon +must have experienced a feeling of solid satisfaction at the news that a +formidable American fleet was to be dispatched to the waters of the +Pacific, and the cruise of our warships has been followed with intense +interest by every loyal citizen of our Republic. The reasons that +rendered the long and dramatic voyage of our fleet most opportune are +identical with the motives that actuated the publication of this +translation from the German of a work which exhibits a remarkable grasp +of facts coupled with a marvelously vivid power of description. It is no +secret that our ships were sent to the Pacific to minimize the danger of +a conflict with our great commercial rival in the Far East, if not to +avert it altogether, and _Banzai_! it seems to me, should perform a +similar mission. The graphic recital, I take it, is not intended to +incite a feeling of animosity between two nations which have every +reason to maintain friendly relations, but rather to call the attention +of the American people to the present woeful lack of preparedness, and +at the same time to assist in developing a spirit of sound patriotism +that prefers silent action to blatant braggadocio. That the Pacific +Ocean may become, in truth, the Peaceful Ocean, and never resound +to the clash of American arms, is the devout wish of one who +believes--implicitly--with Moltke in the old proverb, _Si vis pacem, +para bellum_--If you wish for Peace, prepare for War. + +P. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +As usual, it had begun quite harmlessly and inconspicuously. It is not +my business to tell how it all came to pass, how the way was prepared. +That may be left to the spinners of yarns and to those on the trail of +the sources of history. I shall leave it to them to ascertain when the +idea that there must be a conflict, and that the fruit must be plucked +before it had time to ripen, first took root in the minds of the +Japanese people. + +We Americans realize now that we had been living for years like one who +has a presentiment that something dreadful is hanging over him which +will suddenly descend upon his head, and who carries this feeling of +dread about with him with an uneasy conscience, trying to drown it in +the tumult and restlessness of daily life. We realize the situation now, +because we know where we should have fixed our gaze and understand the +task to the accomplishment of which we should have bent our energies, +but we went about like sleep-walkers and refused to see what thousands +of others knew, what thousands saw in astonishment and concern at our +heedlessness. + +We might easily have peeped through the curtain that hid the future from +us, for it had plenty of holes, but we passed them by unnoticed. And, +nevertheless, there were many who did peep through. Some, while reading +their paper, let it fall into their lap and stared into space, letting +their thoughts wander far away to a spot whence the subdued clash of +arms and tumult of war reached their soul like the mysterious roll and +roar of the breakers. Others were struck by a chance word overheard in +the rush of the street, which they would remember until it was driven +out by the strenuous struggle that each day brought with it. But the +word itself had not died; it continued to live in the foundation of the +consciousness where our burning thoughts cannot enter, and sometimes in +the night it would be born afresh in the shape of wild squadrons of +cavalry galloping across the short grass of the prairie with noiseless +hoofs. The thunder of cannon could be heard in the air long before the +guns were loaded. + +I saw no more than others, and when the grim horrors of the future first +breathed coldly upon me I, too, soon forgot it. It happened at San +Francisco in the spring of 1907. We were standing before a bar, and from +outside came the sounds of an uproar in the street. Two men were being +thrown out of a Japanese restaurant across the way, and the Japanese +proprietor, who was standing in the doorway, kicked the hat of one of +them across the pavement so that it rolled over the street like a +football. + +"Well, what do you think of that," cried my friend, Arthur Wilcox, "the +Jap is attacking the white men." + +I held him back by the arm, for a tall Irish policeman had already +seized the Jap, who protested loudly and would not submit to arrest. The +policeman took good hold of him, but before he knew it he lay like a log +on the pavement, the Japanese dwarf apparently having thrown him without +the least trouble. A wild brawl followed. Half an hour later only a few +policemen, taking notes, were walking about in the Japanese restaurant, +which had been completely demolished by a frenzied mob. We remained at +the bar for some time afterwards engaged in earnest conversation. + +"Our grandchildren," said Arthur, "will have to answer for that little +affair and fight it out some day or other." + +"Not our grandchildren, but we ourselves," I answered, not knowing in +the least why I said it. + +"We ourselves?" said Wilcox, laughing at me, "not much; look at me, look +at yourself, look at our people, and then look at those dwarfs." + +"The Russians said the same thing: Look at the dwarfs." + +They all laughed at me and presently I joined in the laugh, but I could +not forget the Irishman as he lay in the grip of the Jap. And quite +suddenly I remembered something which I had almost forgotten. It +happened at Heidelberg, during my student days in Germany; a professor +was telling us how, after the inglorious retreat of the Prussian army +from Valmy, the officers, with young Goethe in their midst, were sitting +round the camp fires discussing the reasons for the defeat. When they +asked Goethe what he thought about it, he answered, as though gifted +with second sight: "At this spot and at this moment a new epoch in the +world's history will begin, and you will all be able to say that you +were present." And in imagination I could see the red glow of the +bivouac fires and the officers of Frederick the Great's famous army, who +could not understand how anyone could have fled before the ragged +recruits of the Revolution. And near them I saw a man of higher caliber +standing on tiptoe to look through the dark curtain into the future. + +At the time I soon forgot all these things; I forgot the apparently +insignificant street affray and the icy breath of premonition which +swept over me then, and not until the disaster had occurred did it again +enter my mind. But then when the swords were clashing I realized, for +the first time, that all the incidents we had observed on the dusty +highway of History, and passed by with indifference, had been sure signs +of the coming catastrophe. + +PARABELLUM + + + + +BANZAI! + + + + +_Chapter I_ + +IN MANILA + + +"For God's sake, do leave me in peace with your damned yellow monkeys!" +cried Colonel Webster, banging his fist on the table so hard that the +whisky and soda glasses jumped up in a fright, then came down again +irritably and wagged their heads disapprovingly, so that the +amber-colored fluid spilled over the edge and lay on the table in little +pearly puddles. + +"As you like, colonel. I shall give up arguing with you," returned +Lieutenant Commander Harryman curtly. "You won't allow yourself to be +warned." + +"Warned--that's not the question. But this desire of yours to scent +Japanese intrigues everywhere, to figure out all politics by the +Japanese common denominator, and to see a Japanese spy in every coolie +is becoming a positive mania. No, I can't agree with you there," added +Webster, who seemed to regret the passionate outburst into which his +temperament had betrayed him. + +"Really not?" asked Harryman, turning in his comfortable wicker chair +toward Webster and looking at him half encouragingly with twinkling +eyes. + +Such discussions were not at all unusual in the Club at Manila, for they +presented the only antidote to the leaden, soul-killing tedium of the +dull monotony of garrison duty. Since the new insurrection on Mindanao +and in the whole southern portion of the archipelago, the question as to +the actual causes of the uprising, or rather the secret authors thereof, +continually gave rise to heated discussions. And when both parties, of +which one ascribed everything to Japanese intrigue and the other found +an explanation in elementary causes, began to liven up, the debate was +apt to wax pretty warm. If these discussions did nothing else, they at +least produced a sort of mental excitement after the heat of the day +which wore out body and mind alike, not even cooling down toward +evening. + +The Chinese boy, passing quickly and quietly between the chairs, removed +the traces of the Webster thunderbolt and placed fresh bottles of soda +water on the table, whereupon the officers carefully prepared new +drinks. + +"He's a spy, too, I suppose?" asked Webster of Harryman, pointing with +his thumb over his shoulder at the disappearing boy. + +"Of course. Did you ever imagine him to be anything else?" + +Webster shrugged his shoulders. A dull silence ensued, during which they +tried to recover the lost threads of their thoughts in the drowsy +twilight. Harryman irritably chewed the ends of his mustache. The smoke +from two dozen shag pipes settled like streaks of mist in the sultry air +of the tropical night, which came in at the open windows. Lazily and +with long pauses, conversation was kept up at the separate tables. The +silence was only broken by the creaking of the wicker chairs and the +gurgling and splashing of the soda water, when one of the officers, +after having put it off as long as possible, at last found sufficient +energy to refill his glass. Motionless as seals on the sandhills in the +heat of midday, the officers lolled in their chairs, waiting for the +moment when they could turn in with some show of decency. + +"It's awful!" groaned Colonel McCabe. "This damned hole is enough to +make one childish. I shall go crazy soon." And then he cracked his +standing joke of the evening: "My daily morning prayer is: 'Let it soon +be evening, O God; the morrow will come of itself.'" The jest was +greeted with a dutiful grunt of approval from the occupants of the +various chairs. + +Lieutenant Parrington, officer in command of the little gunboat +_Mindoro_, which had been captured from the Spaniards some years ago and +since the departure of the cruiser squadron for Mindanao been put in +commission as substitute guardship in the harbor of Manila, entered the +room and dropped into a chair near Harryman; whereupon the Chinese boy, +almost inaudible in his broad felt shoes, suddenly appeared beside him +and set down the bottle with the pain expeller of the tropics before +him. + +"Any cable news, Parrington?" asked Colonel McCabe from the other table. + +"Not a word," yawned Parrington; "everything is still smashed. We might +just as well be sitting under the receiver of an air pump." + +Harryman noticed that the boy stared at Parrington for a moment as if +startled; but he instantly resumed his Mongolian expression of absolute +innocence, and with his customary grin slipped sinuously through the +door. + +Harryman experienced an unpleasant feeling of momentary discomfort, but, +not being able to locate his ideas clearly, he irritably gave up the +attempt to arrive at a solution of this instinctive sensation, mumbling +to himself: "This tropical hell is enough to set one crazy." + +"No news of the fleet, either?" began Colonel McCabe again. + +"Positively nothing, either by wire or wireless. It seems as though the +rest of the world had sunk into a bottomless pit. Not a single word has +reached us from the outer world for six days." + +"Do you believe in the seaquake?" struck in Harryman mockingly. + +"Why not?" returned the colonel. + +Harryman jumped up, walked over to the window with long strides, threw +out the end of his cigarette and lighted a new one. In the bright light +of the flaming match one could see the commander's features twitching +ironically; he was on the warpath again. + +"All the same, it's a queer state of affairs. Our home cable snaps +between Guam and here, the Hong-Kong cable won't work, and even our +island wire has been put out of commission; it must have been a pretty +violent catastrophe--" came from another table. + +"--All the more violent considering the fact that we noticed nothing of +it on land," said Harryman, thoughtfully blowing out a cloud of smoke +and swinging himself up backward on the window-sill. + +"Exactly," rang out a voice; "but how do you account for that?" + +"Account for it!" cried Colonel Webster, in a thundering voice. "Our +comrade of the illustrious navy of the United States of America has only +one explanation for everything: his Japanese logarithms, by means of +which he figures out everything. Now we shall hear that this seaquake +can be traced to Japanese villainy, probably brought about by Japanese +divers, or even submarine boats." And the colonel began to laugh +heartily. + +Harryman ignored this attempt to resume their recent dispute, and with +head thrown back continued to blow clouds of smoke nervously into the +air. + +"But seriously, Harryman," began the colonel again, "can you give any +explanation?" + +"No," answered Harryman curtly; "but perhaps you will remember who was +the first to furnish an explanation of the breakdown of the cable. It +was the captain of the Japanese _Kanga Maru_, which has been anchored +since Tuesday beside the _Monadnock_, which I have the honor to +command." + +"But, my good Harryman, you have hallucinations," interrupted the +colonel. "The Japanese captain gave the latest Hong-Kong papers to the +Harbor Bureau, and was quite astonished to hear that our cable did not +work----" + +"When he was going to send a cablegram to Hong-Kong," added Harryman +sharply. + +"To announce his arrival at Manila," remarked Colonel Webster dryly. + +"And the Hong-Kong papers had already published descriptions of the +destruction caused by the seaquake, of the tidal waves, and the +accidents to ships," came from another quarter. + +"The news being of especial interest to this archipelago, where we have +the misfortune to be and where we noticed nothing of the whole affair," +returned Harryman. + +"You don't mean to imply," broke in the colonel, "that the news of this +catastrophe is a pure invention--an invention of the English papers in +Hong-Kong?" + +"Don't know, I'm sure," said Harryman. "Hong-Kong papers are no +criterion for me." And then he added quietly: "Yes, man is great, and +the newspaper is his prophet." + +"But you can't dispute the fact that a seaquake may have taken place, +when you consider the striking results as shown by the cable +interruptions which we have been experiencing for the last six days," +began Webster again. + +"Have we really?" said Harryman. "Are you quite sure of it? So far the +only authority we have for this supposed seaquake is a Japanese +captain--whom, by the way, I am having sharply watched--and a bundle of +worthless Hong-Kong newspapers. And as for the rest of my +hallucinations"--he jumped down from the window-sill and, going up to +Webster, held out a sheet of paper toward him--"I'm in the habit of +using other sources of information than the English-Japanese +fingerposts." + +Webster glanced at the paper and then looked at Harryman questioningly. + +"What is it? Do you understand it?" + +"Yes," snapped Harryman. "These little pictures portray our war of +extermination against the red man. They are terribly exaggerated and +distorted, which was not at all necessary, by the way, for the events of +that war do not add to the fame of our nation. Up here," explained +Harryman, while several officers, among them the colonel, stepped up to +the table, "you see the story of the infected blankets from the fever +hospitals which were sent to the Indians; here the butchery of an Indian +tribe; here, for comparison, the fight on the summit of the volcano of +Ilo-Ilo, where the Tagala were finally driven into the open crater; and +here, at the end, the practical application for the Tagala: 'As the +Americans have destroyed the red man, so will you slowly perish under +the American rule. They have hurled your countrymen into the chasm of +the volcano. This crater will devour you all if you do not turn those +weapons which were once broken by Spanish bondage against your +deliverers of 1898, who have since become your oppressors.'" + +"Where did you get the scrawl?" asked the colonel excitedly. + +"Do you want me to procure hundreds, thousands like it for you?" +returned Harryman coolly. + +The colonel pressed down the ashes in his pipe with his thumb, and asked +indifferently: "You understand Japanese?" + +"Tagala also," supplemented Harryman simply. + +"And you mean to say that thousands----?" + +"Millions of these pictures, with Japanese and Malayan text, are being +circulated in the Philippines," said Harryman positively. + +"Under our eyes?" asked a lieutenant naively. + +"Under our eyes," replied Harryman, smiling, "our eyes which carelessly +overlook such things." + +Colonel Webster rose and offered Harryman his hand. "I have misjudged +you," he said heartily. "I belong to your party from now on." + +"It isn't a question of party," answered Harryman warmly, "or rather +there will soon be only the one party." + +"Do you think," asked Colonel McCabe, "that the supposed Japanese plan +of attack on the Philippines, published at the beginning of the year in +the _North China Daily News_, was authentic?" + +"That question cannot be answered unless you know who gave the document +to the Shanghai paper, and what object he had in doing so," replied +Harryman. + +"How do you mean?" + +"Well," continued Harryman, "only two possibilities can exist: the +document was either genuine or false. If genuine, then it was an +indiscretion on the part of a Japanese who betrayed his country to an +English paper--an English paper which no sooner gets possession of this +important document than it immediately proceeds to publish its contents, +thereby getting its ally into a nice pickle. You will at once observe +here three improbabilities: treason, indiscretion, and, finally, England +in the act of tripping her ally. These actions would be incompatible, in +the first place, with the almost hysterical sense of patriotism of the +Japanese; in the second, with their absolute silence and secrecy, and, +in the third place, with the behavior of our English cousin since his +marriage to Madame Chrysanthemum----" + +"The document was therefore not genuine?" asked the colonel. + +"Think it over. What was it that the supposed plan of attack set forth? +A Japanese invasion of Manila with the fleet and a landing force of +eighty thousand men, and then, following the example of Cuba, an +insurrection of the natives, which would gradually exhaust our troops, +while the Japanese would calmly settle matters at sea, Roschestwenski's +tracks being regarded as a sufficient scare for our admirals." + +"That would no doubt be the best course to pursue in an endeavor to +pocket the Philippines," answered the colonel thoughtfully; "and the +plan would be aided by the widespread and growing opposition at home to +keeping the archipelago and putting more and more millions into the +Asiatic branch business." + +"Quite so," continued Harryman quickly, "if Japan wanted nothing else +but the Philippines." + +"What on earth does she want in addition?" asked Webster. + +"The _mastery of the Pacific_," said Harryman in a decided voice. + +"Commercial mastery?" asked Parrington, "or----" + +"No; political, too, and with solid foundations," answered Harryman. + +Colonel McCabe had sat down again, and was studying the pamphlet, +Parrington picked at the label on his whisky bottle, and the others +remained silent, but buried in thought. In the next room a clock struck +ten with a hurried, tinkling sound which seemed to break up the uneasy +silence into so many small pieces. + +"And if it was not genuine?" began Colonel McCabe again, hoarsely. He +cleared his throat and repeated the question in a low tone of voice: +"And if it was not genuine?" + +Harryman shrugged his shoulders. + +"Then it would be a trap for us to have us secure our information from +the wrong quarter," said the colonel, answering his own question. + +"A trap into which we are rushing at full speed," continued Webster, +laying stress on each word, though his thoughts seemed to be far in +advance of what he was saying. + +Harryman nodded and twisted his mustache. + +"What did you say?" asked Parrington, jumping up and looking from +Webster to Harryman, neither of whom, however, volunteered a reply. "We +are stumbling into a trap?" + +"Two regiments," said Webster, more to himself than to the others. And +then, turning to Harryman, he asked briskly: "When are the transports +expected to arrive?" + +"The steamers with two regiments on board left 'Frisco on April 10th, +therefore--he counted the days on his fingers--they should be here by +now." + +"No, they were to go straight to Mindanao," said Parrington. + +"Straight to Mindanao?" Colonel McCabe meditated silently. Then, as +though waking up suddenly, he went on: "And the cable has not been +working for six days----" + +"Exactly," interrupted Parrington, "we have known nothing, either of +the fleet or of anything else, for the last six days." + +"Harryman," said Colonel McCabe seriously, "do you think there is +danger? If it is all a trap, it would be the most stupid thing that we +could do to send our transports unprotected-- But that's all nonsense! +This heat positively dries up your thoughts. No, no, it's impossible; +they're hallucinations bred by the fermented vapors of this God-forsaken +country!" He pressed the electric button, and the boy appeared at the +door behind him. "Some soda, Pailung!" + +"Parrington, are you coming? I ordered my boat for ten o'clock," said +Harryman. + +"As early as this, Harryman?" remonstrated Webster. "You'll be on board +your boat quite soon enough, or do you want to keep a night watch also +on your Japanese of the-- What sort of a Maru was it?" he broke off, +because Colonel McCabe pointed angrily at the approaching boy. + +"Oh, nonsense!" growled Webster ill-humoredly. "A creature like that +doesn't see or hear a thing." + +The colonel glared at Webster, and then noisily mixed his drink. + +Harryman and Parrington walked along the quay in silence, their steps +resounding loudly in the stillness of the night. On the other side of +the street fleeting shadows showed at the lighted windows of several +harbor dens, over the entrance to which hung murky lamps and from which +loud voices issued, proving that all was still in full swing there. +There were only a few more steps to the spot where the yellow circle of +light from the lanterns rendered the white uniforms of the sailors in +the two boats visible. Parrington stood still. "Harryman," he said, +repeating his former question, "do you believe there is danger----" + +"I don't know, I really don't know," said Harryman nervously. Then, +seizing Parrington's hands, he continued hurriedly, but in a low voice: +"For days I have been living as if in a trance. It is as if I were lying +in the delirium of fever; my head burns and my thoughts always return to +the same spot, boring and burrowing; I feel as though a horrible eye +were fixed on me from whose glance I cannot escape. I feel that I may at +any moment awake from the trance, and that the awakening will be still +more dreadful." + +"You're feverish, Harryman; you're ill, and you'll infect others. You +must take some quinine." With these words Parrington climbed into his +gig, the sailors gave way with the oars, and the boat rushed through the +water and disappeared into the darkness, where the bow oarsman was +silhouetted against the pale yellow light of the boat's lantern like a +strange phantom. + +Harryman looked musingly after the boat of the _Mindoro_ for a few +minutes, and murmured: "He certainly has no fever which quinine will not +cure." Then he got into his own boat, which also soon disappeared into +the sultry summer night, while the dark water splashed and gurgled +against the planks. The high quay wall, with its row of yellow and white +lights, remained behind, and gradually sank down to the water line. They +rowed past the side of a huge English steamer, which sent back the +splash of the oars in a strange hollow echo, and then across to the +_Monadnock_. + +Harryman could not sleep, and joined the officer on duty on the bridge, +where the slight breeze which came from the mountains afforded a little +coolness. + + * * * * * + +On board the _Mindoro_ Parrington had found orders to take the relief +guard for the wireless telegraph station to Mariveles the next morning. +At six o'clock the little gunboat had taken the men on board, and was +now steering across the blue Bay of Manila toward the little rocky +island of Corregidor, which had recently been strongly fortified, and +which lies like a block of stone between gigantic mountain wings in the +very middle of the entrance to the Bay of Manila. Under a gray sail, +which served as a slight protection from the sun, the soldiers squatted +sullenly on their kits. Some were asleep, others stared over the railing +into the blue, transparent water that rippled away in long waves before +the bow of the little vessel. From the open skylight of the engine room +sounded the sharp beat of the engine, and the smell of hot oil spread +over the deck, making the burning heat even more unbearable. Parrington +stood on the bridge and through his glass examined the steep cliffs at +the entrance to the bay, and the bizarre forms of the little volcanic +islands. + +Except for a few fishing boats with their brown sails, not a ship was to +be seen on the whole expanse of the water. The gunboat now turned into +the northern entrance, and the long, glistening guns in the +fortifications of Corregidor became visible. Up above, on the batteries +hewn in the rocks, not a living soul could be seen, but below, on the +little platform where the signal-post stood near the northern battery, +an armed sentry marched up and down. Parrington called out to the +signalman near him: "Send this signal across to Corregidor: 'We are +going to relieve the wireless telegraph detachment at Mariveles, and +shall call at Corregidor on our way back.'" The Corregidor battery +answered the signal, and informed Parrington that Colonel Prettyman +expected him for lunch later on. Slowly the _Mindoro_ crept along the +coast to the rocky Bay of Mariveles, where, before the few neglected +houses of the place, the guard of the wireless telegraph station, which +stood on the heights of Sierra de Mariveles, was awaiting the arrival of +the gunboat. + +The _Mindoro_ was made fast to the pier. The exchange of men took place +quickly, and the relief guard piled their kits on two mule-carts, in +which they were to be carried up the steep hillside to the top, where a +few flat, white houses showed the position of the wireless station, the +high post of which, with its numerous wires, stood out alone against the +blue sky. The relieved men, who plainly showed their delight at getting +away from this God-forsaken, tedious outpost, made themselves +comfortable in the shade afforded by the sail, and began to chat with +the crew of the _Mindoro_ about the commonplaces of military service. A +shrill screech from the whistle of the _Mindoro_ resounded from the +mountain side as a farewell greeting to the little troop that was +climbing slowly upward, followed by the baggage-carts. The _Mindoro_ +cast off from the pier, and, having rounded the neck of land on which +Mariveles stood, was just on the point of starting in the direction of +Corregidor, when the signalman on the bridge called Parrington's +attention to a black steamer which was apparently steaming at full speed +from the sea toward the entrance to the Bay of Manila. + +"A ship at last," said Parrington. "Let's wait and see what sort of a +craft it is." + +While the _Mindoro_ reduced her speed noticeably, Parrington looked +across at the strange vessel through his glasses. The ship had also +attracted the attention of the crew, who began to conjecture excitedly +as to the nationality of the visitor, for during the past week a strange +vessel had become a rather unusual sight in Manila. The wireless +detachment said that they had seen the steamer two hours ago from the +hill. + +Parrington put down his glass and said: "About four thousand tons, but +she has no flag. We can soon remedy that." And turning to the signalman +he added: "Ask her to show her colors." At the same time he pulled the +rope of the whistle in order to attract the stranger's attention. + +In a few seconds the German colors appeared at the stern of the +approaching steamer, and the signal flag, which at the same time was +quickly hoisted at the foretopmast, proclaimed the ship to be the German +steamer _Danzig_, hailing from Hong-Kong. Immediately afterwards a boat +was lowered from the _Danzig_ and the steamer stopped; then the white +cutter put to sea and headed straight for the _Mindoro_. + +"It is certainly kind of them to send us a boat," said Parrington. "I +wonder what they want, anyhow." He gave orders to stop the boat and to +clear the gangway, and then, watching the German cutter with interest, +awaited its arrival. Ten minutes later the commander of the _Danzig_ +stepped on the bridge of the _Mindoro_, introduced himself to her +commander, and asked for a pilot to take him through the mines in the +roads. + +Parrington regarded him with astonishment. "Mines, my dear sir, mines? +There are no mines here." + +The German stared at Parrington unbelievingly. "You have no mines?" + +"No," said Parrington. "It is not our custom to blockade our harbors +with mines except in time of war." + +"In time of war?" said the German, who did not appear to comprehend +Parrington's answer. "But you are at war." + +"We, at war?" returned Parrington, utterly disconcerted. "And with whom, +if I may be allowed to ask?" + +"It seems to me that the matter is too serious to be a subject for +jesting," answered the German sharply. + +At this moment loud voices were heard from the after-deck of the +_Mindoro_, the crew of which were swearing with great gusto. Parrington +hurried to the railing and looked over angrily. A hot dispute was going +on between the crew of the German cutter and the American sailors, but +only the oft-repeated words "damned Japs" could be distinguished. He +turned again to the German officer, and looked at him hesitatingly. The +latter, apparently in a bad temper, looked out to sea, whistling softly +to himself. + +Parrington walked toward him and, seizing his hand, said: "It's clear +that we don't understand each other. What's up?" + +"I am here to inform you," answered the German sharply and decisively, +"that the steamer _Danzig_ ran the blockade last night, and that its +captain politely requests you to give him a pilot through the mines, in +order that we may reach the harbor of Manila." + +"You have run the blockade?" shouted Parrington, in a state of the +greatest excitement. "You have run the blockade, man? What the deuce do +you mean?" + +"I mean," answered the German coolly, "that the Government of the United +States of America--a fact, by the way, of which you, as commander of one +of her war vessels, ought to be aware--has been at war with Japan for +the last week, and that a steamer which has succeeded in running the +enemy's blockade and which carries contraband goods for Manila surely +has the right to ask to be guided through the mines." + +Parrington felt for the railing behind him and leaned against it for +support. His face became ashen pale, and he seemed so utterly nonplussed +at the German officer's statement that the latter, gradually beginning +to comprehend the extraordinary situation, continued his explanation. + +"Yes," he repeated, "for six days your country has been at war with +Japan, and it was only natural we should suppose that you, as one of +those most nearly concerned, would be aware of this fact." + +Parrington, regaining his self-control, said: "Then the cable +disturbances--" He stopped, then continued disjointedly: "But this is +terrible; this is a surprise such as we-- I beg your pardon," he went on +in a firm voice to the German, "I am sure I need not assure you that +your communication has taken me completely by surprise. Not a soul in +Manila has any idea of all this. The cable disturbances of the last six +days were explained to us by a Japanese steamer as being the result of a +volcanic outbreak, and since then, through the interruption of all +connections, we have been completely shut off from the outside world. If +Japan, in defiance of all international law, has declared war, we here +in Manila have noticed nothing of it, except, perhaps, for the entire +absence, during the last few days, of the regular steamers and, indeed, +of all trading ships, a circumstance that appeared to some of us rather +suspicious. But excuse me, we must act at once. Please remain on board." + +The _Mindoro's_ whistle emitted three shrill screeches, while the +gunboat steamed at full speed toward Corregidor. + +Parrington went into his cabin, opened his desk, and searched through it +with nervous haste. "At last!" He seized the war-signal code and ran +upstairs to the bridge, shouting to the signalman: "Signal to +Corregidor: 'War-signal code, important communication.'" Then he +himself, hastily turning over the leaves of the book, called out the +signals and had them hoisted. Then he shouted to the man at the helm: +"Tell them not to spare the engines." + +Parrington stood in feverish expectation on the bridge, his hands +clinched round the hot iron bars of the breastwork and his eyes +measuring the rapidly diminishing distance between the _Mindoro_ and +the landing place of Corregidor. As the _Mindoro_ turned into the +northern passage between Corregidor and the mainland, the chain of +mountains, looking like banks of clouds, which surrounded Manila, became +visible in the far distance across the blue, apparently boundless +surface of the Bay, while the town itself, wrapped in the white mist +that veiled the horizon, remained invisible. At this moment Parrington +observed a dark cloud of smoke in the direction of the harbor of Manila +suddenly detaching itself from below and sailing upward like a fumarole +above the summit of a volcano, where it dispersed in bizarre shapes +resembling ragged balls of cotton. Almost immediately a dull report like +a distant thunderclap boomed across the water. + +"Can that be another of their devilish tricks?" asked Parrington of the +German, drawing his attention to the rising cloud, the edges of which +glistened white as snow in the bright sunshine. + +"Possibly," was the laconic answer. + +The wharf of Corregidor was in a state of confused hubbub. The +artillerymen stood shoulder to shoulder, awaiting the arrival of the +_Mindoro_. Suddenly an officer forced his way through the crowd, and, +standing on the very edge of the wharf, called out to the rapidly +approaching _Mindoro_: "Parrington, what's all this about?" + +"It's true, every word of it," roared the latter through the megaphone. +"The Japanese are attacking us, and the German steamer over there is the +first to bring us news of it. War broke out six days ago." + +The _Mindoro_ stopped and threw a line, which was caught by many willing +hands and made fast to the landing place. + +"Here's my witness," shouted Parrington across to Colonel Prettyman, +"the commander of the German steamer _Danzig_." + +"I'll join you on board," answered Prettyman. "I've just despatched the +news to Manila by wireless. Of course they won't believe it there." + +"Then you've done a very stupid thing," cried Parrington, horrified. +"Look there," he added, pointing to the cloud above the harbor of +Manila; "that has most certainly cost our friend Harryman, of the +_Monadnock_, his life. His presentiments did not deceive him after all!" + +"Cost Harryman, on board the _Monadnock_, his life?" asked Prettyman in +astonishment. + +"I'm afraid so," answered Parrington. "The Japanese steamer which +brought us the news of the famous seaquake has been anchored beside him +for four days. When you sent your wireless message to Manila, the +Japanese must have intercepted it, for they have a wireless apparatus on +board--I noticed it only this morning." + +The _Mindoro_ now lay fast beside the wharf, and Colonel Prettyman +hurried across the gangway to the gunboat and went straight to +Parrington's cabin, where the two shut themselves up with the German +officer. + +A few minutes later an excited orderly rushed on board and demanded to +see the colonel at once; he was let into the cabin, and it was found +that he had brought a confirmation of Parrington's suspicions, for a +wireless message from Manila informed them that the _Monadnock_ had been +destroyed in the roads of Manila through some inexplicable explosion. + +Parrington sprang from his chair and cried to the colonel: "Won't you at +least pay those cursed Japs back by sending the message, 'We suspect +that the Japanese steamer anchored beside the _Monadnock_ has blown her +up by means of a torpedo?' Otherwise it is just possible that they will +be naive enough in Manila to let the scoundrel get out of the harbor. +No, no," he shouted, interrupting himself, "we can't wait for that; we +must get to work ourselves at once. Colonel, you go ashore, and I'll +steam toward Manila and cut off the rogue's escape. And you"--turning to +the German--"you can return to your ship and enter the bay; there are +no"--here his voice broke--"no mines here." + +Then he rushed up on the bridge again. The hawsers were cast off in +feverish haste, and the _Mindoro_ once more steamed out into the bay at +the fastest speed of which the old craft was capable. Parrington had +regained his self-command in face of the new task that the events just +described, which followed so rapidly upon one another's heels, laid out +for him. An expression of fierce joy came over his features when, +looking through his glass an hour later, he discovered the _Kanga Maru_ +holding a straight course for Corregidor. + +As calmly as if it were only a question of everyday maneuvers, +Parrington gave his orders. The artillerymen stood on either side of the +small guns, and everything was made ready for action. + +The distance between the two ships slowly diminished. + +"Yes, it is the Japanese steamer," said Parrington to himself. "And now +to avenge Harryman! There'll be no sentimentality; we'll shoot them +down like pirates! No signal, no warning--nothing, nothing!" he +murmured. + +"Stand by with the forward gun," he called down from the bridge to the +men standing at the little 12 pounder on the foredeck of the _Mindoro_. +The _Mindoro_ turned a little to starboard, so as to get at the +broadside of the Japanese, and thus be able to fire on him with both the +forward and after guns. + +"Five hundred yards! Aim at the engine room! Number one gun, fire!" The +shot boomed across the sunny, blue expanse of water, driving a white +puff of smoke before it. The shell disappeared in the waves about one +hundred yards ahead of the Japanese steamer. The next shot struck the +ship, leaving in her side a black hole with jagged edges just above the +waterline. + +"Splendid!" cried Parrington. "Keep that up and we'll have the villain +in ten shots." + +Quickly the 12 pounder was reloaded; the gunners stood quietly beside +their gun, and shot after shot was fired at the Japanese ship, of which +five or six hit her right at the waterline. The stern gun of the +_Mindoro_ devoted itself in the meantime to destroying things on the +enemy's deck. Gaping holes appeared everywhere in the ship's side, and +the funnels received several enormous rents, out of which brown smoke +poured forth. In a quarter of an hour the deck resembled the primeval +chaos, being covered with bent and broken iron rods, iron plates riddled +with shot, and woodwork torn to splinters. Suddenly clouds of white +steam burst out from all the holes in the ship's sides, from the +skylights, and from the remnants of the funnels; the deck in the middle +of the steamer rose slowly, and the exploding boilers tossed broken bits +of engines and deck apparatus high up into the air. The _Kanga Maru_ +listed to port and disappeared in the waves, over which a few straggling +American shots swept. + +"Cease firing!" commanded Parrington. Then the _Mindoro_ came about and +again steered straight for Manila. The act of retribution had been +accomplished; the treacherous murder of the crew of the _Monadnock_ had +been avenged. + +When the _Mindoro_ arrived at the harbor of Manila, the town was in a +tremendous state of excitement. The drums were beating the alarm in the +streets. The spot where only that morning the _Monadnock_ had lain in +idle calm was empty. + + * * * * * + +The explosion of the _Monadnock_ had at first been regarded as an +accident. In spite of its being the dinner hour, a number of boats +appeared in the roads, all making toward the scene of the accident, +where a broad, thick veil of smoke crept slowly over the surface of the +water. As no one knew what new horrors might be hidden in this cloud, +none of the boats dared go nearer. Only two white naval cutters +belonging to the gunboats lying in the harbor glided into the mist, +driven forward by strong arms; and they actually succeeded in saving a +few of the crew. + +One of the rescued men told the following story: About two minutes after +the _Monadnock_ had received a wireless message, which, however, was +never deciphered, a dull concussion was felt throughout the ship, +followed almost immediately by another one. On the starboard side of the +_Monadnock_ two white, bubbling, hissing columns of water had shot up, +which completely flooded the low deck; then a third explosion, possibly +caused by a mine striking the ammunition room and setting it off, +practically tore the ship asunder. There could be no doubt that these +torpedoes came from the Japanese steamer anchored beside the +_Monadnock_, for the _Kanga Maru_ had suddenly slipped her anchor and +hurried off as fast as she could. It was now remembered that the +Japanese ship had had steam up constantly for the last few days, +ostensibly because they were daily expecting their cargo in lighters, +from which they intended to load without delay. It was therefore pretty +certain that the _Kanga Maru_ had entered the harbor merely for the +purpose of destroying the _Monadnock_, the only monitor in Manila. +Torpedo tubes had probably been built in the Japanese merchant steamer +under water, and this made it possible to blow up the _Monadnock_ the +moment there was the least suspicion that the Americans in Manila were +aware of the fact that war had broken out. Thus the wireless message +from Corregidor had indeed sealed the fate of the _Monadnock_. The +_Kanga Maru_ had launched her torpedoes, and then tried to escape. The +meeting with the _Mindoro_ the Japanese had not reckoned with, for they +had counted on getting away during the confusion which the destruction +of the _Monadnock_ would naturally cause in Manila. + +As a result of these occurrences the few ships in the roads of Manila +soon stopped loading and discharging; most of the steamers weighed +anchor, and, as soon as they could get up steam, went farther out into +the roads, for a rumor had spread that the _Kanga Maru_ had laid mines. +The report turned out to be entirely unfounded, but it succeeded in +causing a regular panic on some of the ships. From the town came the +noise of the beating of drums and the shrill call to arms to alarm the +garrison; one could see the quays being cleared by detachments of +soldiers, and sentries were posted before all the public buildings. + +American troops hurried on the double-quick through the streets of the +European quarter, and the sight of the soldiers furnished the first +element of reassurance to the white population, whose excitement had +been tremendous ever since the alarm of the garrison. The old Spanish +batteries, or rather what was still left of them, were occupied by +artillerymen, while one battalion went on sentry duty on the ramparts of +the section of the town called _Intra muros_, and five other battalions +left the town at once in order to help garrison the redoubts and forts +in the line of defense on the land side. + +The town of Manila and the arsenal at Cavite, where measures for defense +were also taken, thus gave no cause for apprehension; but, on the other +hand, it was noticeable that the natives showed signs of insubordination +toward the American military authorities, and that they did not attempt +to conceal the fact that they had been better informed as to the +political situation than the Americans. These were the first indications +as to how the land lay, and gradually it began to be remembered that +similar observations had been made within the last few days: for +example, a number of revolutionary flags had had to be removed in the +town. + +The Americans were in a very precarious position, and at the council of +war held by the governor in the afternoon it was decided that should the +Filipinos show the slightest signs of insurrection, the whole military +strength would be concentrated to defend Manila, Cavite, and the single +railway running north, while all the other garrisons were to be +withdrawn and the rest of the archipelago left to its own devices. In +this way the Americans might at least hope, with some chance of success, +to remain masters of Manila and vicinity. The island was, of course, +proclaimed to be in a state of siege, and a strong military patrol was +put in charge of the night watch. + +A serious encounter took place in the afternoon before the Government +building. As soon as it became known that proclamation of martial law +had been made the population streamed in great crowds toward the +Government buildings; and when the American flag was suddenly hauled +down--it has never been ascertained by whom--and the Catipunan flag, +formerly the standard of the rebels--the tri-color with the sun in a +triangular field--appeared in its place, a moment of wild enthusiasm +ensued, so wild that it required an American company with fixed bayonets +to clear the square of the fanatics. The sudden appearance of this huge +Catipunan flag seemed mysterious enough, but the next few days were to +demonstrate clearly how carefully the rebellion among the natives had +been prepared. + +When the officers of the garrison assembled at the customary place on +the evening of the same day, they were depressed and uneasy, as men who +find themselves confronted by an invisible enemy. There was no longer +any difference of opinion as to the danger that threatened from the +Mongolians, and those officers who had been exonerated from the charge +of being too suspicious by the rapid developments of the last few hours +were considerate enough not to make their less far-sighted comrades feel +that they had undervalued their adversaries. No one had expected a +catastrophe to occur quite so suddenly, and the uncertainty as to what +was going on elsewhere had a paralyzing effect on all decisions. What +one could do in the way of defense had been or was being done, but there +were absolutely no indications as to the side from which the enemy might +be expected. + +The chief cause for anxiety at the moment was furnished by the question +whether the squadron which had started for Mindanao was already aware of +the outbreak of war. In any case, it was necessary to warn both it and +the transports expected from San Francisco before they arrived at +Mindanao. The only ships available for this purpose were the few little +gunboats taken from the Spaniards in 1898; these had been made fit for +service in all haste to be used in the harbor when the cruiser squadron +left. Although they left much to be desired in the way of speed--a +handicap of six days could, however, hardly have been made up even by +the swiftest turbine--there was nevertheless a fair chance that these +insignificant-looking little vessels, which could hardly be +distinguished from the merchant type, might be able to slip past the +Japanese blockading ships, which were probably cruising outside of +Manila. This, however, would only be possible in case the Japanese had +thus far ignored the squadron near Mindanao as they had Manila, for the +purpose of concentrating their strength somewhere else. But where? At +any rate, it was worth while taking even such a faint chance of being +able to warn the squadron, for the destruction of the _Monadnock_ could +have had no other reason than to prevent communications between Manila +and the squadron. The enemy had evidently not given a thought to the +rickety little gunboats. Or could it be that all was already at an end +out at Mindanao? At all events, the attempt had to be made. + +Two gunboats coaled and slipped out of the harbor the same evening, +heading in a southeasterly direction among the little islands straight +through the archipelago in order to reach the eastern coast of Mindanao +and there intercept the transport steamers, and eventually accompany +them to Manila. Neither of these vessels was ever heard from again; it +is supposed that they went down after bravely defending themselves +against a Japanese cruiser. Their mission had meanwhile been rendered +useless, for the five mail-steamers had encountered the Japanese +torpedo-boats east of Mindanao three days before, and upon their +indignant refusal to haul down their flags and surrender, had been sunk +by several torpedoes. Only a few members of the crew had been fished up +by the Japanese. + +As a reward for his decisive action in destroying the _Kanga Maru_, the +commander of the _Mindoro_ was ordered to try, with the assistance of +three other gunboats, to locate the commander of the cruiser squadron +somewhere in the neighborhood of Mindanao, probably to the southwest of +that island, in order to notify him of the outbreak of the war and to +hand him the order to return to Manila. + +The gunboats started on their voyage at dawn. In order to conceal the +real reason for the expedition from the natives, it was openly declared +that they were only going to do sentry duty at the entrance to the Bay +of Manila. Each of the four vessels had been provided with a wireless +apparatus, which, however, was not to be installed until the ships were +under way, so that the four commanders might always be in touch with one +another, and with the cruiser squadron as well, even should the latter +be some distance away. + +The next morning the gunboats found themselves in the Strait of Mindoro. +They must have passed the enemy's line of blockade unnoticed, under the +cover of darkness. At all events, they had seen nothing of the Japanese, +and concluded that the blockade before Manila must be pretty slack. On +leaving the Strait of Mindoro, the gunboats, proceeding abreast at small +distances from one another, sighted a steamer--apparently an +Englishman--crossing their course. They tried to signal to it, but no +sooner did the English vessel observe this, than she began to increase +her speed. It became clear at once that she was faster than the +gunboats, and unless, therefore, the latter wished to engage in a +useless chase, the hope of receiving news from the English captain had +to be abandoned. So the gunboats continued on their course--the only +ships to be seen on the wide expanse of inland sea. + +In the afternoon a white steamer, going in the opposite direction, was +sighted. Opinions clashed as to whether it was a warship or a +merchant-vessel. In order to make certain the commander of the _Mindoro_ +ordered a turn to starboard, whereupon it was discovered that the +strange ship was an ocean-steamer of about three thousand tons, whose +nationality could not be distinguished at that distance. Still it might +be an auxiliary cruiser from the Japanese merchant service. The +commander of the _Mindoro_ therefore ordered his vessels to clear for +action. + +The actions of the strange steamer were followed with eager attention, +and it was seen that she continued her direct northward course. When she +was about five hundred yards to port of the _Mindoro_, the latter +requested the stranger to show her flag, whereupon the English flag +appeared at the stern. Eager for battle, the Americans had hoped she +would turn out to be a Japanese ship, for which, being four against one, +they would have been more than a match; the English colors therefore +produced universal disappointment. Suddenly one of the officers of the +_Mindoro_ drew Parrington's attention to the fact that the whole build +of the strange steamer characterized her as one of the ships of the +"Nippon Yusen Kaisha" with which he had become acquainted during his +service at Shanghai; he begged Parrington not to be deceived by the +English flag. The latter at once ordered a blank shot to be fired for +the purpose of stopping the strange vessel, but when the latter calmly +continued on her course, a ball was sent after her from the bow of the +_Mindoro_, the shell splashing into the water just ahead of the steamer. +The stranger now appeared to stop, but it was only to make a sharp turn +to starboard, whereupon he tried to escape at full speed. At the same +time the English flag disappeared from the stern, and was replaced by +the red sun banner of Nippon. + +Parrington at once opened fire on the hostile ship, and in a few minutes +the latter had to pay heavily for her carelessness. Her commander had +evidently reckoned upon the fact that the Americans were not yet aware +of the outbreak of war, and had hoped to pass the gunboats under cover +of a neutral flag. It also seemed unlikely that four little gunboats +should have run the blockade before Manila; it was far more natural to +suppose that these ships, still ignorant of the true state of affairs, +were bound on some expedition in connection with the rising of the +natives. The firing had scarcely lasted ten minutes before the Japanese +auxiliary cruiser, which had answered with a few shots from two light +guns cleverly concealed behind the deck-house near the stern of the +boat, sank stern first. It was at any rate a slight victory which +greatly raised the spirits of the crews of the gunboats. + +Within the next few hours the Americans caught up with a few Malayan +sailing ships, to which they paid no attention; later on a little black +freight steamer, apparently on the way from Borneo to Manila, came in +sight. The little vessel worked its way heavily through the water, +tossed about by the ever increasing swell. About three o'clock the +strange ship was near enough for its flag--that of Holland--to be +recognized. Signals were made asking her to bring to, whereupon an +officer from the _Mindoro_ was pulled over to her in a gig. Half an hour +later he left the _Rotterdam_, and the latter turned and steamed away in +the direction from which she had come. The American officer had informed +the captain of the _Rotterdam_ of the blockade of Manila, and the latter +had at once abandoned the idea of touching at that port. + +The news which he had to impart gave cause for considerable anxiety. The +_Rotterdam_ came from the harbor of Labuan, where pretty definite news +had been received concerning a battle between some Japanese ships and +the American cruiser squadron stationed at Mindanao. It was reported +that the battle had taken place about five days ago, immediately after +war had been declared, that the American ships had fallen a prey to the +superior forces of the enemy, and that the entire American squadron had +been destroyed. + +At all events, it was quite clear that the squadron no longer needed to +be informed of the outbreak of hostilities, so Parrington decided to +carry out his orders and return to Manila with his four ships. As the +flotilla toward evening, just before sunset, was again passing through +the Strait of Mindoro, the last gunboat reported that a big white ship, +apparently a war vessel, had been sighted coming from the southeast, and +that it was heading for the flotilla at full speed. It was soon possible +to distinguish a white steamer, standing high out of the water, whose +fighting tops left no room for doubt as to its warlike character. It was +soon ascertained that the steamer was making about fifteen knots, and +that escape was therefore impossible. + +Parrington ordered his gunboats to form in a line and to get up full +steam, as it was just possible that they might be able to elude the +enemy under cover of darkness, although there was still a whole hour to +that time. + +Slowly the hull of the hostile ship rose above the horizon, and when she +was still at a distance of about four thousand yards there was a flash +at her bows, and the thunder of a shot boomed across the waters, echoed +faintly from the mountains of Mindoro. + +"They're too far away," said Parrington, as the enemy's shell splashed +into the waves far ahead of the line of gunboats. A second shot followed +a few minutes later, and whizzed between the _Mindoro_ and her neighbor, +throwing up white sprays of water whose drops, in the rays of the +setting sun, fell back into the sea like golden mist. And now came shot +after shot, while the Americans were unable to answer with their small +guns at that great distance. + +Suddenly a shell swept the whole length of the _Mindoro's_ deck, on the +port side, tearing up the planks of the foredeck as it burst. Things +were getting serious! Slowly the sun sank in the west, turning the sky +into one huge red flame, streaked with yellow lights and deep green +patches. The clouds, which looked like spots of black velvet floating +above the semicircle of the sun, had jagged edges of gleaming white and +unearthly ruby red. Fiery red, yellow, and green reflections played +tremblingly over the water, while in the east the deep blue shadows of +night slowly overspread the sky. + +The whole formed a picture of rare coloring: the four little American +ships, pushing forward with all the strength of their puffing engines +and throwing up a white line of foam before them with their sharp bows; +on the bridges the weather-beaten forms of their commanders, and beside +the dull-brown gun muzzles the gun crews, waiting impatiently for the +moment when the decreasing distance would at last allow them to use +their weapons; far away in the blue shadows of the departing day, like a +spirit of the sea, the white steamer, from whose sides poured +unceasingly the yellow flashes from the mouths of the cannon. Several +shots had caused a good deal of damage among the rigging of the +gunboats. The _Callao_ had only half a funnel left, from which +gray-brown smoke and red sparks poured forth. + +Suddenly there was a loud explosion, and the _Callao_ listed to port. A +six-inch shell had hit her squarely in the stern, passing through the +middle of the ship, and exploded in the upper part of the engine-room. +The little gunboat was eliminated from the contest before it could fire +a single shot, and now it lay broadside to the enemy, and utterly at the +latter's mercy. In a few minutes the _Callao_ sank, her flags waving. +Almost directly afterwards another boat shared her fate. The other two +gunboats continued on their course, the quickly descending darkness +making them a more difficult target for the enemy. Suddenly a lantern +signal informed the commander of the _Mindoro_ that the third ship had +become disabled through some damage to the engines. Parrington at once +ordered the gunboat to be run ashore on the island of Mindoro and blown +up during the night. Then he was compelled to leave the last of his +comrades to its fate. His wireless apparatus had felt disturbances, +evidently caused by the enemy's warning to the ships blockading Manila, +so that his chances of entering the harbor unmolested appeared +exceedingly slim. + +The Japanese cruiser ceased firing as it grew darker, but curiously +enough had made no use whatever of her searchlights. Only the flying +sparks from her funnel enabled the _Mindoro_ to follow the course of the +hostile vessel, which soon passed the gunboat. Either the enemy thought +that all four American ships had been destroyed or else they didn't +think it worth while to worry about a disabled little gunboat. At all +events, this carelessness or mistake on the part of the enemy proved the +salvation of the _Mindoro_. During the night she struck a northwesterly +course, so as to try to gain an entrance to the Bay of Manila from the +north at daybreak, depending on the batteries of Corregidor to assist +her in the attempt. Once during the night the _Mindoro_ almost collided +with one of the enemy's blockading ships, which was traveling with +shaded lights, but she passed by unnoticed and gained an entrance at the +north of the bay at dawn, while the batteries on the high, rocky +terraces of Corregidor, with their long-range guns, kept the enemy at a +distance. It was now ascertained that the Japanese blockading fleet +consisted only of ships belonging to the merchant service, armed with a +few guns, and of the old, unprotected cruiser _Takatshio_, which had had +the encounter with the gunboats. The bold expedition of the latter had +cleared up the situation in so far that it was now pretty certain that +the entire American cruiser squadron had been destroyed or disabled, and +that Manila was therefore entirely cut off from the sea. + +The batteries at Corregidor now expected an attack from the enemy's +ships, but none came. The Japanese contented themselves with an +extraordinarily slack blockade--so much so that at times one could +scarcely distinguish the outlines of the ships on the horizon. As all +commerce had stopped and only a few gunboats comprised the entire naval +strength of Manila, Japan could well afford to regard this mockery of a +blockade as perfectly sufficient. Day by day the Americans stood at +their guns, day by day they expected the appearance of a hostile ship; +but the horizon remained undisturbed and an uncanny silence lay over the +town and harbor. Of what use were the best of guns, and what was the +good of possessing heroic courage and a burning desire for battle, if +the enemy did not put in an appearance? And he never did. + +When Parrington appeared at the Club on the evening after his scouting +expedition he was hailed as a hero, and the officers stayed together a +long time discussing the naval engagement. In the early hours of the +morning he accompanied his friend, Colonel Hawkins of the Twelfth +Infantry Regiment, through the quiet streets of the northern suburbs of +Manila to the latter's barracks. As they reached the gate they saw, +standing before it in the pale light of dawn, a mule cart, on which lay +an enormous barrel. The colonel called the sentry, and learned that the +cart had been standing before the gate since the preceding evening. The +colonel went into the guard-room while Parrington remained in the +street. He was suddenly struck by a label affixed to the cask, which +contained the words, "From Colonel Pemberton to his friend Colonel +Hawkins." Parrington followed the colonel into the guard-room and drew +his attention to the scrap of paper. Hawkins ordered some soldiers to +take the barrel down from the car and break open one end of it. The +colonel had strong nerves, and was apt to boast of them to the novices +in the colonial service, but what he saw now was too much even for such +an old veteran. He stepped back and seized the wall for support, while +his eyes grew moist. + +In the cask lay the corpse of his friend Colonel Pemberton, formerly +commander of the military station of San Jose, with his skull smashed +in. The Filipinos had surprised the station of San Jose and slaughtered +the whole garrison after a short battle. Pemberton's corpse--his love +for whisky was well known--they had put into a cask and driven to the +infantry barracks at Manila. Parrington, deeply touched, pressed his +comrade's hand. The insurrection of the Filipinos! In Manila the bells +of the Dominican church of _Intra muros_ rang out their monotonous call +to early mass. + + + + +_Chapter II_ + +ON THE HIGH SEAS + + +The _Tacoma_ was expected to arrive at Yokohama early the next morning; +the gong had already sounded, calling the passengers to the farewell +meal in the dining-saloon, which looked quite festive with its colored +flags and lanterns. + +There was a deafening noise of voices in the handsome room, which was +beginning to be overpoweringly hot in spite of the ever-revolving +electric fans. As the sea was quite smooth, there was scarcely an empty +place at the tables. A spirit of parting and farewell pervaded the +conversation; the passengers were assembled for the last time, for on +the morrow the merry party, which chance had brought together for two +weeks, would be scattered to the four winds. Naturally the conversation +turned upon the country whose celebrated wonders they were to behold on +the following day. The old globe-trotters and several merchants who had +settled in East Asia were besieged with questions, occasionally very +naive ones, about Japan and the best way for foreigners to get along +there. With calm superiority they paraded their knowledge, and eager +ladies made note on the backs of their menus of all the hotels, temples, +and mountains recommended to them. Some groups were making arrangements +for joint excursions in the Island Kingdom of Tenno; others discussed +questions of finance and commerce, each one trying to impress his +companions by a display of superior knowledge. + +Here and there politics formed the subject of conversation; one lady in +particular, the wife of a Baltimore merchant, sitting opposite the +secretary of a small European legation who was on his way to Pekin to +take up his duties there, plied him with questions and did her level +best to get at the secrets of international politics. The secretary, who +had no wonderful secrets to disclose, had recourse to the ordinary +political topics of the day, and entertained his fair listener with a +discussion of the problems that would arise in case of hostilities +between America and Japan. "Of course," he declared, vaunting his +diplomatic knowledge, "in case of war the Japanese would first surprise +Manila and try to effect a landing, and in this they would very likely +be successful. It is true that Manila with her strong defenses is pretty +well protected against a sudden raid, and the Japanese gunners would +have no easy task in an encounter with the American coast batteries. +Even though Manila may not turn out to be a second Port Arthur, the +Americans should experience no difficulty in repelling all Japanese +attacks for at least six months; meanwhile America could send +reinforcements to Manila under the protection of her fleet, and then +there would probably be a decisive battle somewhere in the Malayan +archipelago between the Japanese and American fleets, the results of +which----" + +"I thought," interrupted a wealthy young lady from Chicago, "I thought +we had some ships in the Philippines." The diplomat waved his hand +deprecatingly, and smiled knowingly at this interruption. He was master +of the situation and well qualified to cast the horoscope of the +future--and so he was left in possession of the field. + +The lady opposite him was, however, not yet satisfied; with the new +wisdom just obtained she now besieged the German major sitting beside +her, who was on his way to Kiao-chau via San Francisco. He had not been +paying much attention to the conversation, but the subject broached to +him for discussion was such a familiar one, that he was at once posted +when his neighbor asked him his opinion as to the outcome of such a war. + +Nevertheless it was an awkward question, and the German, out of +consideration for his environment on board the American steamer, did not +allow himself to be drawn out of his usual reserve. He simply inquired +what basis they had for the supposition that, in case of war, Japan +would occupy herself exclusively with the Philippines. + +The secretary of legation had gradually descended from the clouds of +diplomatic self-conceit to the level of the ordinary mortal and, +overhearing the major's question through the confusion of voices and +clatter of plates, shook his head disapprovingly and asked the major: +"Don't you think it's likely that Japan will try first of all to get +possession of the prize she has been longing for ever since the Peace of +Paris?" + +"I know as little as anyone else not in diplomatic circles what the +plans and hopes of the Japanese Government are, but I do think there is +not the slightest prospect of an outbreak of hostilities in the near +future; there is, accordingly, not much sense in trying to imagine what +might happen in case of a war," answered the German coolly. + +"There are only two possibilities," said the English merchant from +Shanghai, one of the chief stockholders of the line, who sat next to the +captain. "According to my experience"--and here he paused in order to +draw the attention of his listeners to this experience--"according to my +experience," he repeated, "there are only two possibilities. Japan is +overpeopled and is compelled to send her surplus population out of the +country. The Manchuria experiment turned cut to be a failure, for the +teeming Chinese population leaves no room now for more Japanese +emigrants and small tradesmen than there were before the war with +Russia; besides, there was no capital at hand for large enterprises. +Japan requires a strong foothold for her emigrants where"--and here he +threw an encouraging glance at the captain--"she can keep her people +together economically and politically, as in Hawaii. The emigration to +the States has for years been severely restricted by law." + +"And at the same time they are pouring into our country in droves by way +of the Mexican frontier," mumbled the American colonel, who was on his +way back to his post, from his seat beside the captain. + +"That leaves only the islands of the Pacific, the Philippines, and +perhaps Australia," continued the Shanghai merchant undisturbed. "In any +such endeavors Japan would of course have to reckon with the States and +with England. The other possibility, that of providing employment and +support for the ever-increasing population within the borders of their +own country, would be to organize large Japanese manufacturing +interests. Many efforts have already been made in this direction, but, +owing to the enormous sums swallowed up by the army and navy, the +requisite capital seems to be lacking." + +"In my opinion," interposed the captain at this juncture, "there is a +third possibility--namely, to render additional land available for the +cultivation of crops. As you are all no doubt aware, not more than one +third of Japan is under cultivation; the second third, consisting of +stone deserts among the mountains, must of necessity be excluded, but +the remaining third, properly cultivated, would provide a livelihood +for millions of Japanese peasants. But right here we encounter a +peculiar Japanese trait; they are dead set on the growth of rice, and +where, in the higher districts, no rice will grow, they refuse to engage +in agriculture altogether and prefer to leave the land idle. If they +would grow wheat, corn, and grass in such sections, Japan would not only +become independent of other countries with respect to her importation of +provisions, but, as I said before, it would also provide for the +settlement of millions of Japanese peasants; and, furthermore, we should +then get some decent bread to eat in Japan." + +This conception of the Japanese problem seemed to open new vistas to the +secretary of legation. He listened attentively to the captain's words +and threw inquiring glances toward the Shanghai merchant. The latter, +however, was completely absorbed in the dissection of a fish, whose +numerous bones continually presented fresh anatomical riddles. In his +stead the thread of the conversation was taken up by Dr. Morris, of +Brighton, an unusually cadaverous-looking individual, who sometimes +maintained absolute silence for days at a time, and who was supposed to +possess Japanese bronzes of untold value and to be on his way to +Hokkaido to complete his collection. + +"You must not believe everything you see in the papers," he said. "If +the Japanese were only better farmers, nobody in Japan need go hungry; +there is no question of her being overpeopled, and this mania for +emigration is nothing but a disease, a fashion, of which the government +at Tokio, to be sure, makes very good use for political purposes. +Whoever speaks in all seriousness of Japan's being overpeopled is merely +quoting newspaper editorials, and is not acquainted with the conditions +of the country." + +Dr. Morris had scarcely said as much as this during the whole of his +two weeks' stay on board the _Tacoma_. It is true that he had got to +know Japan very thoroughly during his many years' sojourn in the +interior in search of old bronzes, and he knew what he was talking +about. His views, however, were not in accord with those current at the +moment, and consequently, although his words were listened to +attentively, they did not produce much effect. + +The conversation continued along the same lines, and the possibility of +a war again came up for discussion. The German officer was the only one +to whom they could put military questions, and it was no light task for +him to find satisfactory answers. He could only repeat again and again +that such a war would offer such endless possibilities of attack and +defense, that it was absolutely impossible to forecast the probable +course of events. The Shanghai merchant conversed with the captain in a +low tone of voice about the system of Japanese spies in America, and +related a few anecdotes of his experiences in China in this connection. + +"But one can distinguish between a Jap and a Chinaman at a glance," +interrupted the son of a New York multi-millionaire sitting opposite +him. "I could never understand why the Japanese spies are so overrated." + +"If you can tell one from the other, you are more observant than the +ordinary mortal," remarked the Englishman dryly. "I can't for one, and +if you'll look me up in Shanghai, I'll give myself the pleasure of +putting you to the test. I'll invite a party of Chinamen and ask you to +pick out from among them a Japanese naval officer who has been in +Shanghai for a year and a half on a secret, I had better say, a +perfectly open mission." + +"You'll lose your bet," said the captain to the New Yorker, "for I've +lost a similar wager under the same circumstances." + +"But the Japanese don't wear pigtails," said the New Yorker, somewhat +abashed. + +"Those Japanese do wear pigtails," said the Englishman with a grin. + +"What's up?" said the captain, looking involuntarily towards the +entrance to the dining-saloon. "What's up? We're only going at half +speed." + +The dull throbbing of the engine had indeed stopped, and any one who +noticed the vibration of the ship could tell that the propeller was +revolving only slightly. + +The captain got up quietly to go on deck, but as he was making his way +out between the long rows of chairs, he met one of the crew, who +whispered to him that the first mate begged him to come on the bridge. + +"We're not moving," said some one near the center of the table. "We +can't have arrived this soon." + +"Perhaps we have met a disabled ship," said a young French girl; "that +would be awfully interesting." + +The captain remained away, while the dinner continued to be served. +Suddenly all conversation was stopped by the dull howl of the steam +whistle, and when two more calls followed the first, an old globe +trotter thought he had discovered the reason for the ship's slowing +down, and declared with certainty: "This is the third time on my way to +Japan that we have run into a fog just before entering the harbor; the +last time it made us a day and a half late. I tell you it was no joke to +sit in that gray mist with nothing to do but wait for the fog to +lift----" and then he narrated a few anecdotes about that particular +voyage, which at once introduced the subject of fog at his table, a +subject that was greedily pounced upon by all. London fog and other fogs +were discussed, and no one noticed that the ship had come to a full stop +and was gradually beginning to pitch heavily, a motion that soon had +the effect of causing several of the ladies to abandon the conversation +and play nervously with their coffee-spoons, as the nightmare of +seasickness forced itself every moment more disagreeably on their +memories. + +A few of the men got up and went on deck. A merchant from San Francisco +came down and told his wife that a strange ship not far from the +_Tacoma_ had its searchlights turned on her. No reason for this +extraordinary proceeding could be given, as the officers seemed to know +as little about it as the passengers. + +The fourth officer, whose place was at the head of one of the long +tables, now appeared in the dining-saloon, and was at once besieged with +questions from all sides. In a loud voice he announced that the captain +wished him to say that there was no cause for alarm. A strange ship had +its searchlights turned on the _Tacoma_, probably a man-of-war that had +some communication to make. The captain begged the passengers not to +allow themselves to be disturbed in their dinner. The next course was +served immediately afterwards, the reason for the interruption was soon +forgotten, and conversation continued as before. + +"But we're not moving yet," said a young woman about ten minutes later +to her husband, with whom she was taking a honeymoon trip round the +world, "we're not moving yet." + +The fourth officer gave an evasive answer in order to reassure his +neighbor, but, as a matter of fact, the ship had not yet got under way +again. To complicate the situation, another member of the crew came in +at this moment and whispered something to the officer, who at once +hurried on deck. + +It was a positive relief to him to escape from the smell of food and the +loud voices into the fresh air. It seemed like another world on deck. +The stars twinkled in the silent sky, and the soft night air refreshed +the nerves that had been exhausted by the heat of the day. The fourth +officer mounted quickly to the bridge and reported to the captain. + +The latter gave him the following brief order: "Mr. Warren, I shall ask +you to see that the passengers are not unnecessarily alarmed; let the +band play a few pieces, and see that the dinner proceeds quietly. Make a +short speech in my stead, tell the passengers what a pleasant time we +have all had on this voyage, and say a few words of farewell to them for +me. We've been signaled by a Japanese warship," he continued, "and asked +to stop and wait for a Japanese boat. I haven't the slightest idea what +the fellows want, but we must obey orders; the matter will no doubt be +settled in a few minutes as soon as the boat has arrived." + +The officer disappeared, and the captain, standing by the port yardarm +on the bridge, waited anxiously for the cutter which was approaching at +full speed. The gangway had already been lowered. The cutter, after +describing a sharp curve, came alongside, and two marines armed with +rifles immediately jumped on the gangway. + +"Halloo," said the captain, "a double guard! I wonder what that means?" + +The Japanese officer got out of the cutter and came up the gangway, +followed by four more soldiers, two of whom were posted at the upper +entrance to the gangway. The other two followed the officer to the +bridge. A seventh man got out of the boat and carried a square box on +the bridge, while finally two soldiers brought a long heavy object up +the gangway and set it down against the wall of the cabin in the stern. + +The Japanese officer ordered the two marines to take up their stand at +the foot of the steps leading to the bridge, and with a wave of his hand +ordered the third to station himself with his square box at the port +railing. At the same time he gave him an order in Japanese, and the +rattling noise which followed made it clear that the apparatus was a +lantern which was signaling across to the man-of-war. + +"This is carrying the joke a little too far. What does it all mean?" +cried the captain of the _Tacoma_, starting to pull the man with the +lantern back from the railing. But the Japanese officer laid his hand +firmly on his right arm and said in a decisive tone: "Captain, in the +name of the Japanese Government I declare the American steamer _Tacoma_ +a lawful prize and her whole crew prisoners of war." + +The captain shook off the grasp of the Japanese, and stepping back a +pace shouted: "You must be crazy; we have nothing to do with the +Japanese naval maneuvers, and I shall have to ask you not to carry your +maneuver game too far. If you must have naval maneuvers, please practice +on your own merchant vessels and leave neutral ships alone." + +The Japanese saluted and said: "I am very sorry, captain, to have to +correct your impression that this is part of our maneuvers. Japan is at +war with the United States of America, and every merchantman flying the +American flag is from now on a lawful prize." + +The captain, a strapping fellow, seized the little Japanese, and pushed +him toward the railing, evidently with the intention of throwing the +impertinent fellow overboard. But in the same instant he noticed two +Japanese rifles pointed at him, whereupon he let his arms drop with an +oath and stared at the two Japanese marines in utter astonishment. The +lantern signal continued to rattle behind him, and suddenly the pale +blue searchlight from the man-of-war was thrown on the bridge of the +_Tacoma_, lighting up the strange scene as if by moonlight. At the same +time the shot from a gun boomed across the quiet surface of the water. +Things really seemed to be getting serious. + +From below, through the open skylights of the dining-saloon came the +cheers of the passengers for the captain at the close of the fourth +officer's speech, and the band at once struck up the "Star Spangled +Banner." Everybody seemed to be cheerful and happy in the dining-saloon, +and one and all seemed to have forgotten that the _Tacoma_ was not +moving. + +And while from below the inspiring strains of the "Star Spangled Banner" +passed out into the night, twenty Japanese marines came alongside in a +second cutter and, climbing up the gangway, occupied all the entrances +leading from below to the deck--a double guard with loaded guns being +stationed at each door. + +"I must ask you," said the Japanese officer to the captain, "to continue +to direct the ship's course under my supervision. You will take the +_Tacoma_, according to your original plans, into the harbor of Yokohama; +there the passengers will leave the ship, without any explanations being +offered, and you and the crew will be prisoners of the Japanese +Government. The prize-court will decide what is to be done with your +cargo. The baggage of the passengers, the captain, and the crew will, of +course, remain in their possession. There are now twenty of our marines +on board the _Tacoma_, but in case you should imagine that they would be +unable to command the situation in the event of any resistance being +offered by you or your crew, I consider it advisable to inform you that +for the last ten minutes there has been a powerful bomb in the stern of +the _Tacoma_, guarded by two men, who have orders to turn on the current +and blow up your ship at the first signs of serious resistance. It is +entirely to the advantage of the passengers in your care to bow to the +inevitable and avoid all insubordination--_a la guerre comme a la +guerre_." + +The Japanese saluted and continued: "You will remain in command on the +bridge for the next four hours, when you will be relieved by the first +mate. Meanwhile the latter can acquaint the passengers with the altered +circumstances." And, waving his hand toward the first mate, who had +listened in silent rage, he added: "Please, sir!" + +The officer addressed looked inquiringly across to the captain, who +hesitated a moment and then said in suppressed emotion: "Hardy, go down +and tell the passengers that the _Tacoma_, through an unheard-of, +treacherous surprise, has fallen into the hands of a Japanese cruiser, +but that the passengers, on whose account we are obliged to submit to +this treatment, need not be startled, for they and all their possessions +will be landed safely at Yokohama to-morrow morning." + +Hardy's soles seemed positively to stick to the steps as he went down, +and he was almost overcome by the warm air at the entrance to the +dining-saloon, where the noise of boisterous laughter and lively +conversation greeted him. + +"Halloo, when are we going on?" he was asked from all sides. + +Mr. Hardy shook his head silently and went to the captain's place. + +"We must drink your health," called several, holding their glasses +towards him. "Where's the captain?" + +Hardy was silent, but remained standing and the words seemed to choke +him. + +"Be quiet! Listen! Mr. Hardy is going to speak----" + +"It's high time we heard something from the captain," called out a stout +German brewer from Milwaukee over the heads of the others. "Three +cheers for Mr. Hardy!" came from one corner of the room. "Three cheers +for Mr. Hardy!" shouted the passengers on the other side, and all joined +in the chorus: "For he is a jolly good fellow." "Do let Mr. Hardy +speak," said the Secretary of Legation, turning to the passengers +reprovingly. + +"Silence!" came from the other side. The hum of voices ceased gradually +and silence ensued. + +"First give Mr. Hardy something to drink!" said some one, while another +passenger laughed out loud. + +Hardy wiped the perspiration from his brow with the captain's napkin, +which the latter had left on his plate. + +"Shocking!" said an English lady quite distinctly; "seamen haven't any +manners." + +Hardy had not yet found words, but finally began in a low, stammering +voice: "The captain wishes me to tell you that the _Tacoma_ has just +been captured by a Japanese cruiser. The United States of America are +said to be at war with Japan. There is a Japanese guard on board, which +has occupied all the companionways. The captain requests the passengers +to submit quietly to the inevitable. You will all be landed safely at +Yokohama early to-morrow and--" Hardy tried to continue, but the words +would not come and he sank back exhausted into his chair. + +"Three cheers for the captain!" came the ringing shout from one of the +end tables, to be repeated in different parts of the room. The German +brewer shook with laughter and exclaimed: "That's a splendid joke of the +captain's; he ought to have a medal for it." + +"Stop your nonsense," said some one to the brewer. + +"No, but really, that's a famous joke," persisted the latter. "I've +never enjoyed myself so much on a trip before." + +"Be quiet, man; it's a serious matter." + +"Ha! ha! You've been taken in, too, have you?" was the answer, +accompanied by a roar of laughter. + +An American jumped up, crying: "I'm going to get my revolver; I guess we +can handle those chaps," and several others joined in with "Yes, yes, +we'll get our revolvers and chuck the yellow monkeys overboard!" + +At this point the German major jumped up from his seat and called out to +the excited company in a sharp tone of command: "Really, gentlemen, the +affair is serious; it's not a joke, as some of you gentlemen seem to +think; you may take my word for it that it is no laughing matter." + +Hardy still sat silent in his chair. The Englishman from Shanghai +overwhelmed him with questions and even the Secretary of Legation +emerged from his diplomatic reserve. + +The six men who had gone to get their revolvers now returned to the +dining-saloon with their spirits considerably damped, and one of them +called out: "It's not a joke at all; the Japanese are stationed up there +with loaded rifles." + +Some of the ladies screamed hysterically and asked complete strangers to +take them to their cabins. All of the passengers had jumped up from +their chairs, and a number were busily engaged looking after those +ladies who had shown sufficient discretion to withdraw at once from the +general excitement by the simple expedient of fainting. In the meantime +Hardy had regained control of himself and of the situation, and standing +behind his chair as though he were on the captain's bridge declared +simply and decisively: "On the captain's behalf I must beg the +passengers not to attempt any resistance. Your life and safety are +guaranteed by the word of the captain and the bearing of our crew, who +have also been forced to submit to the inevitable. I beg you all to +remain here and to await the further orders of the captain. There is no +danger so long as no resistance is offered; we are in the hands of the +Japanese navy, and must accustom ourselves to the altered +circumstances." + +It was long after midnight before all grew quiet on board the _Tacoma_; +the passengers were busy packing their trunks, and it was quite late +before the cabin lights were extinguished on both sides of the ship, +which continued her voyage quietly and majestically in the direction of +Yokohama. The deck, generally a scene of cheerful life and gaiety until +a late hour, was empty, and only the subdued steps of the Japanese +marines echoed through the still night. + +Twice more the searchlights were thrown on the _Tacoma_, but a +clattering answer from the signal lantern at once conveyed the +information that all was in order, whereupon the glaring ball of light +disappeared silently, and there was nothing on the whole expanse of dark +water to indicate that invisible eyes were on the lookout for every ship +whose keel was ploughing the deep. + +The _Tacoma_ arrived at Yokohama the next morning, the passengers were +sent ashore, and the steamer herself was added as an auxiliary cruiser +to the Japanese fleet. + + + + +_Chapter III_ + +HOW IT BEGAN + + +Ding-ding-ding-ding--Ding-ding-ding-ding--went the bell of the railway +telegraph--Ding-ding-ding-ding---- + +Tom Gardner looked up from his work and leaned his ax against the wall +of the low tin-roofed shanty which represented both his home and the +station Swallowtown on the Oregon Railway. "Nine o'clock already," he +mumbled, and refilling his pipe from a greasy paper-bag, he lighted it +and puffed out clouds of bluish smoke into the clear air of the hot May +morning. Then he looked at the position of the sun and verified the fact +that his nickel watch had stopped again. The shaky little house hung +like a chance knot in an endless wire in the middle of the glittering +double row of rails that stretched from east to west across the flowery +prairie. It looked like a ridiculous freak in the midst of the wide +desert, for nowhere, so far as the eye could reach, was it possible to +discover a plausible excuse for the washed-out inscription "Swallowtown" +on the old box-lid which was nailed up over the door. Only a broad band +of golden-yellow flowers crossing the tracks not far from the shanty and +disappearing in the distance in both directions showed where heavy +cart-wheels and horses' hoofs had torn up the ground. + +By following this curious yellow track, which testified to the existence +of human intercourse even in the great lonely prairie, in a southerly +direction, one could notice about a mile from the station a slight +rising of the ground covered with low shrubs and a tangled mass of +thistles and creepers: This was Swallowtown No. 1, the spot where once +upon a time a dozen people or more, thrown together by chance, had +founded a homestead, but whose traces had been utterly obliterated +since. The little waves of the great national migration to this virgin +soil had after a few years washed everything away and had carried the +inhabitants of the huts with them on their backs several miles farther +south, where by another mere chance they had located on the banks of the +river. The only permanent sign of this ebb and flow was the tin-roofed +shanty near the tracks of the Oregon Railway, and the proud name of +Swallowtown, fast disappearing under the ravages of storm and rain, on +the box-lid over Tom Gardner's door. + +Tom Gardner regarded his morning's work complacently. With the aid of +his ax he had transformed the tree-stump that had lain behind the +station for years into a hitching-post, which he was going to set up for +the farmers, so that they could tie their horses to it when they came to +the station. Tom had had enough of fastening the iron ring into the +outer wall of his shanty, for it had been torn out four times by the +shying of the wild horses harnessed to the vehicles sent from +Swallowtown to meet passengers. And the day before yesterday Bob +Cratchit's horses had added insult to injury by running off with a board +out of the back wall. Tom was sick and tired of it; the day before he +had temporarily stopped up the hole with a tin advertisement, which +notified the inhabitants of Swallowtown who wanted to take the train +that Millner's pills were the best remedy for indigestion. Tom decided +to set up his post at midday. + +He stopped work for the present in order to be ready for station-duty +when the express from Pendleton passed through in half an hour. From +force of habit and half unconsciously, he glanced along the yellow road +running south, wondering whether in spite of its being Sunday there +might not be some traveler from Swallowtown coming to catch the local +train which stopped at the station an hour later. He shaded his eyes +with his right hand and after a careful search did discover a cart with +two persons in it approaching slowly over the waving expanse of the +flower-bedecked prairie. Tom muttered something to himself and traipsed +through the station house, being joined as usual by his dog, who had +been sleeping outside in the sun. Then he walked a little way along the +tracks and finally turned back to his dwelling, the trampled-down +flowers and grass before the entrance being the only signs that the foot +of man ever disturbed its solitary peace. The dog now seemed suddenly to +become aware of the rapidly approaching cart and barked in that +direction. Tom sent him into the house and shut the door behind him, +whereupon the dog grew frantic. The cart approached almost noiselessly +over the flowery carpet, but soon the creaking and squeaking of the +leather harness and the snorting of the horses became clearly audible. + +"Halloo, Tom!" called out one of the men. + +"Halloo, Winston!" was the answer; "where are you off to?" + +"Going over to Pendleton." + +"You're early; the express hasn't passed yet," answered Tom. + +Winston jumped down from the cart, swung a sack over his shoulder, and +stepped toward the shanty. + +"Who's that with you?" asked Tom, pointing with his thumb over his right +shoulder. + +"Nelly's brother-in-law, Bill Parker," said the other shortly. + +Nelly's brother-in-law was in the act of turning the cart round to drive +back to Swallowtown when Tom, making a megaphone of his hands, shouted +across: "Won't the gentleman do me the honor of having a drink on me?" + +"All right," rang out the answer, and Nelly's brother-in-law drove the +horses to the rear of the station. + +"Yes, the ring's gone," said Tom. "Bob Cratchit's horses walked off with +it yesterday. You can hunt for it out there somewhere if you want to." + +Bill jumped down and fastened the horses with a rope which he tied to +Tom's old tree-stump. + +"Come on, fellows!" said Tom, going toward the house. Scarcely had he +opened the door when his dog rushed madly past him out into the open, +barking with all his might at something about a hundred yards behind the +station. + +"I guess he's found a gopher," said Tom, and then the three entered the +hut, and Tom, taking a half-empty whisky bottle out of a cupboard, +poured some into a cup without a handle, a shaving-cup, and an old tin +cup. + +"The express ought to pass in about ten minutes," said Tom, and then +began the usual chat about the commonplaces of farm life, about the +crops, and the price of cattle, while hunting anecdotes followed. Now +and then Tom listened through the open door for sounds of the express, +which was long overdue, till suddenly the back door was slammed shut by +the wind. + +It was Bill Parker's turn to treat, and he then told of how he had sold +his foals at a good profit, and Bob launched out into all sorts of vague +hints as to a big deal that he expected to pull off at Pendleton the +next day. Bill kept an eye on his two horses, which he could just see +through the window in the rear wall of the shanty. + +"Don't let them run away from you," warned Tom; "horses as fresh as +those generally skip off when the express passes by." + +"Nothing like that!" said Bill Parker, glancing again through the open +window, "but they are unusually restless just the same." + +... "He was willing to give twenty dollars, was he?" asked Tom, resuming +the former conversation. + +But Bill gave no answer and continued to stare out of the window. + +"Here's how, gentlemen!" cried Tom encouragingly, touching Bill's tin +cup with his shaving-cup. + +"Excuse me a minute," answered the latter; "I want to look after my--" +He had got up and was moving toward the door, but stopped halfway, +staring fixedly at the open window with a glassy expression in his eyes. +The other two regarded him with unfeigned astonishment, but when they +followed the direction of his glance, they also started with fright as +they looked through the window. + +Yes, it was the same window as before, and beyond it stood the same team +of stamping, snorting horses before the same cart; but on the ledge of +the window there rested two objects like black, bristling hedgehogs, and +under their prickly skins glistened two pairs of hostile eyes, and +slowly and cautiously two gun-barrels were pushed over the ledge of the +window into the room. At the same moment the door-knob moved, the door +was pushed open, and in the blinding sunlight which suddenly poured into +the room appeared two more men in khaki clothes and also armed with +guns. "Hands up, gentlemen!" cried one of them threateningly. + +The three obeyed the order mechanically, Tom unconsciously holding up +his shaving-cup as well, so that the good whisky flowed down his arm +into his coat. He looked utterly foolish. Bill was the first to +recover, and inquired with apparent nonchalance: "What are you gentlemen +after?" In the meantime he had noticed that the two men at the door wore +soldiers' caps with broad peaks, and he construed this as a new holdup +trick. + +The men outside were conversing in an unintelligible lingo, and their +leader, who was armed only with a Browning pistol, looked into the hut +and asked: "Which of you gentlemen is the station-master?" Tom lowered +his shaving-cup and took a step forward, whereupon he was at once halted +by the sharp command: "Hands up!" + +But this one step toward the door had enabled Tom to see that there were +at least a dozen of these brown fellows standing behind the wall of his +shanty. At the same time he saw his dog slinking about outside with his +tail between his legs and choking over something. He called the dog, and +the poor creature crept along the ground toward him, evidently making +vain attempts to bark. + +"The damned gang," growled Tom to himself; "they have evidently given +the poor beast something to eat which prevents his barking." + +The man with the Browning pistol now turned to Tom and said: "Has the +express passed yet?" + +"No." + +"No? I thought it was due at 9.30." The highwayman looked at his watch. +"Past ten already," he said to himself. "And when is the local train +from Umatilla expected?" + +"It ought to be here at 10.30." + +"The express goes through without stopping, doesn't it?" began the other +again. "Good! Now you go out as if nothing had happened and let the +express pass! The other two will remain here in the meantime and my men +will see that they don't stir. One move and you can arrange your funeral +for to-morrow." + +The two bristly-headed chaps at the window remained motionless, and +followed the proceedings with a broad grin. The two men from Swallowtown +were compelled to stand with uplifted hands against the wall opposite +the window, so that the gun-barrels on the window-sill were pointing +straight at them. Winston had had sufficient time to study the two +highwaymen at the window and it gradually dawned upon him what sort of +robbers they were; in a low tone of voice he said to Tom: "They're +Japs." + +The man with the Browning overheard the remark; he turned around quickly +and repeated in a determined voice: "If you move you'll die on the +spot." + +Then he allowed Tom to leave the station, and showed him how two of his +men opened the shutters of the windows that looked out on the tracks and +cut two oblong holes in them down on the side, through which they stuck +the barrels of their guns. Then Bill's cart was pushed forward, so that +only the horses were hidden by the station. One of the men held the +horses to prevent their running away when the train came, and two armed +men climbed into the cart and kneeled ready to shoot, concealing +themselves from the railroad side behind two large bags of corn. +Thereupon the leader told Tom once more that he was to stand in front of +the station as usual when the train approached. If he attempted to make +any sign which might cause the train to stop, or if he merely opened his +mouth, not only he, but also the occupants of the train, would have to +pay for it with their lives. + +Ding--ding--ding--ding went the railway telegraph, +ding--ding--ding--ding. The man with the Browning consulted his +note-book and asked Tom: "What signal is that? Where is the express +now?" + +Tom did not answer. + +"Go out on the platform!" commanded the other. With a hasty glance along +the tracks, Tom assured himself that the spot back there, where the two +tracks, which glittered like silver in the sun, crossed, was still +empty. So there was still a little more time to think. Then he began to +stroll slowly up and down. Fifteen steps forward, fifteen back, eighteen +forward, twenty back. Suppose he ran to meet the train---- + +"Halloo! Where are you going?" shouted the leader to him. "Don't you +dare go five steps beyond the station house!" + +Fifteen steps forward, fifteen back. And suppose now that he did jump +across and run along the tracks? What would it matter--he, one among +millions, without wife or child? Yes, he would warn the engineer; and if +they shot at him, perhaps the people on the train also had revolvers. +The express must come soon--it must be nearly half past ten. +Mechanically, he read the name Swallowtown on the old box-lid. + +Not a sound from the interior of the station. Would they hit him or miss +him when the train came? He examined the rickety old shutters. Yes, +there was a white incision in the wood near the bottom, and above it the +tin was bent back almost imperceptibly, while below it there was a +small, blackish-brown ring. On the other side there was another little +hole, and here the tin was bent back rather more, showing a second +small, blackish-brown ring. And suppose he did call out as the train +rushed by? He would call out!--A burst of flame from the two +blackish-brown rings--If he could only first explain everything to the +engineer--then they could shoot all they wanted to. + +Horrid to be wounded in the back! Long ago at school there had often +been talk about wounds in the back and in the chest--the former were +disgraceful, because they were a sign of running away. But this was not +running away--this was an effort to save others. + +Were the rails vibrating? Four steps more, then a quiet turn, one look +into the air, one far away over the prairie. He knew that the eyes +behind the dark-brown rings were following his every movement. Now along +the tracks--is there anything coming way back there? No, not yet. He +walked past the station, then along the tracks again, and looked to the +left across the prairie. + +Now his glance rested on the cart. It stood perfectly still. Sure +enough, there, between the sacks, was another one of those bristly +heads! Where on earth had the fellows come from, and what in the world +did they want? Winston had said they were Japs. + +Could this be war? Nonsense! How could the fellows have come so far +across country? A short time ago some one had said that a troop of Japs +had been seen far away, down in Nevada, but that they had all +disappeared in the mountains. That was two months ago. Could these be +the same? + +But it couldn't be a war. War begins at the borders of a country, not +right in the middle. It is true that the Japanese immigrants were all +said to be drilled soldiers. Had they brought arms along? These +certainly had! + +Now the turn again. Ah! there was the train at last. Far away along the +tracks a black square rose and quite slowly became wider and higher. +Good God! if the next ten minutes were only over--if one could only wipe +such a span as this out of one's life! Only ten minutes older! If one +could only look back on those ten minutes from the other side! But no; +one must go through the horror, second by second, taste every moment of +it. What would happen to the two inside? This didn't matter much after +all--they couldn't, in any case, overpower the others without weapons. A +thousand yards more perhaps and then the train would be there! And then +a thousand yards more, and he would either be nothing but an unconscious +mass of flesh and bones, or---- + +Now the rails were reverberating--from far away he heard the rumble of +the approaching mass of iron and steel. And now, very low but distinct, +the ringing of the bell could be distinguished--gang, gang, gang, gang, +gang, gang-- He threw a hasty glance at the two blackish-brown rings; +four steps further and he could again see the cart. The next time---- + +"Stand straight in front of the station and let the train pass!" sounded +close behind him. He obeyed mechanically. + +"Nearer to the house--right against the wall!" He obeyed. + +All his muscles tightened. If he could now take a leap forward and +manage to get hold of something--a railing or something--as the train +rushed by, then they could shoot as much as they liked. A rumbling and +roaring noise reached his ears, and he could hear the increasing thunder +of the wheels on the rails, the noise of the bell--gang, gang, +gang--growing more and more distinct. The engine, with its long row of +clattering cars behind, assumed gigantic dimensions before his wide-open +eyes. + +Not a sound came from the house; now the rails trembled; now he heard +the hissing of the steam and the rattle of the rods; he saw the little +curls of steam playing above the dome of the boiler. Like a black wall, +the express came nearer, rushing, rumbling, hammering along the tracks. +Yes, he would jump now--now that the engine was almost in front of him! +The rush of air almost took his breath away. Now! + +The engineer popped his head out of the little cab-window. Now! Tom bent +double, and, with one tremendous leap he was across the narrow platform +in front of his shanty, and flew like a ball against the line of rushing +cars, of railings and steps and wheels. He felt his hand touching +something--nothing but flat, smooth surfaces. At last! He had caught +hold of something! With a tremendous swing, Tom's body was torn to the +left, and his back banged against something. Something in his body +seemed to give way. As in a dream, he heard two shots ring out above the +fearful noise of the roaring train. + +Too late! Tom was clinging to a railing between two cars and being +dragged relentlessly along. He was almost unconscious, but could hear +the wheels squeaking under the pressure of the brakes as he was hurled +to and fro. But his hand held fast as in a vise. The wheels scraped, +squeaked, and groaned. The train began to slow down! He had won! The +train stood still. + +Tom's body fell on the rail between two cars, almost lifeless; he heard +a lot of steps all about him; people spoke to him and asked him +questions. But his jaws were shut as if paralyzed; he couldn't speak a +word. He felt the neck of a bottle being pushed between his lips, and +the liquid running down his throat. It was something strong and +invigorating, and he drank greedily. And then he suddenly shouted out +loud, so that all the people stepped back horrified: "The station has +been attacked by Japs." + +Excited questions poured in from all sides. "Where from? What for?" Tom +only cried: "Save the two others; they're shut up in the station!" More +people collected round him. "Quick, quick!" he cried. "Run the train +back and try to save them!" + +Tom was lifted into a car and stretched out on a soft end-seat. Some of +the passengers stood round him with their revolvers: "Tell us where it +is! Tell us where they are!" Slowly the train moved back, slowly the +telegraph poles slipped past the windows in the opposite direction. + +Now they were there, and Tom heard wild cries on the platform. Then a +door was pulled open and some one asked: "Where are the robbers?" Tom +was lifted out, for his right shin-bone had been smashed and he couldn't +stand. A stretcher was improvised, and he was carried out. Dozens of +people were standing round the station. The wagon was gone, and so were +the horses. Where to? The wide, deserted prairie gave no answer. A great +many footprints in the sand showed at least that Tom had spoken the +truth. He pointed out the holes made in the shutters by the bandits, and +told the whole story a dozen times, until at last he fainted away again. +When he came to half an hour later it all seemed like a horrible +dream--like a scene from a robber's tale. He found himself in a +comfortable Pullman car on the way to Umatilla, where he had to tell his +story all over again, in order that the fairly hopeless pursuit of the +highwaymen might be begun from there. + + + + +_Chapter IV_ + +ECHOES IN NEW YORK + + + WALLA WALLA, May 7. + + "This morning, at ten o'clock, the station Swallowtown, on the Oregon + line, was surprised by bandits. They captured the station in order to + hold up the express train to Umatilla. The plot was frustrated by the + decisive action of the station official, who jumped on the passing + train and warned the passengers. Unfortunately, the robbers succeeded + in escaping, but the Umatilla police have started in pursuit. The + majority of the bandits are said to have been Japanese." + +In these words the attack on Swallowtown was wired to New York, and when +John Halifax went to the office of the _New York Daily Telegraph_ at +midnight, to work up the telegrams which had come in during Sunday for +the morning paper, his chief drew his attention in particular to the +remark at the end of the message, and asked him to make some reference +in his article to the dangers of the Japanese immigration, which seemed +to be going on unhindered over the Mexican and Canadian frontiers. John +Halifax would have preferred to comment editorially on the necessity of +night rest for newspaper men, but settled down in smothered wrath to +write up the highwaymen who had committed the double crime of +desecrating the Sabbath and robbing the train. + +But scarcely had he begun his article under the large headlines +"Japanese Bandits--A Danger no longer Confined to the Frontier, but +Stalking about in the Heart of the Country,"--he was just on the point +of setting off Tom's brave deed against the rascality of the bandits, +when another package of telegrams was laid on the table. He was going to +push them irritably aside when his glance fell on the top telegram, +which began with the words, "This morning at ten o'clock the station at +Connell, Wash., was attacked by robbers, who----" + +"Hm!" said John Halifax, "there seems to be some connection here, for +they probably meant to hold up the express at Connell, too." He turned +over a few more telegrams; the next message began: "This morning at +eleven o'clock--" and the two following ones: "This morning at twelve +o'clock--" They all reported the holding up of trains, which had in +almost every instance been successful. John Halifax got up, and with the +bundle of telegrams went over to the map hanging on the wall and marked +with a pencil the places where the various attacks had taken place. The +result was an irregular line through the State of Washington running +from north to south, along which the train robbers, apparently working +in unison, had begun their operations at the same time. Nowhere had it +been possible to capture them. + +John Halifax threw his article into the waste basket and began again +with the headlines, "A Gang of Train-Robbers at Work in Washington," and +then gave a list of the places where the gang had held up the trains. He +wrote a spirited article, which closed with a warning to the police in +Washington and Oregon to put an end to this state of affairs as soon as +possible, and if necessary to call upon the militia for aid in catching +the bandits. While Halifax was writing, the news was communicated from +the electric bulletin-board to the people hurrying through the streets +at that late hour. + +John Halifax read the whole story through once more with considerable +satisfaction, and was pleased to think that the _New York Daily +Telegraph_ would treat its readers Monday morning to a thoroughly +sensational bit of news. When he had finished, it struck him that all +these attacks had been directed against trains running from west to +east, and that the train held up at Swallowtown was the only one going +in the opposite direction. He intended in conclusion to add a suggestive +remark about this fact, but it slipped out of his mind somehow, and, +yawning loudly, he threw his article as it was into the box near his +writing table, touched a button, and saw the result of his labors +swallowed noiselessly by a small lift. Then the author yawned again, +and, going over to his chief, reported that he had finished, wished him +a gruff "good morning," and started on his way home. + +As he left the newspaper offices he observed the same sight that had met +his eyes night after night for many years--a crowd of people standing on +the opposite side of the street, with their heads thrown back, staring +up at the white board upon which, in enormous letters, appeared the +story of how Tom, with his bold leap, had saved the train. The last +sentence, explaining that the robbers had been recognized as Japanese, +elicited vigorous curses against the "damned Japs." + +High up in the air the apparatus noiselessly and untiringly flashed +forth one message after the other in big, black letters on the white +ground--telling of one train attack after another. But of that living +machine in the far West, working with clocklike regularity and slowly +adding one link after the other to the chain, that machine which at this +very moment had already separated three of the States by an impenetrable +wall from the others and had thus blotted out three of the stars on the +blue field of the Union flag--of that uncanny machine neither John +Halifax nor the people loitering opposite the newspaper building in +order to take a last sensation home with them, had the remotest idea. +Not till the next morning was the meaning of these first flaming signs +to be made clear. + + * * * * * + +At ten o'clock the telephone bell rang noisily beside John Halifax's +bed. He seized the receiver and swore under his breath on learning that +important telegrams required his presence at the office. "There isn't +any reason why Harry Springley shouldn't go on with those old +train-robbers," he grumbled; "I don't see what they want of me, but I +suppose the stupid fellow doesn't know what to do, as usual." + +An hour later, when he entered the editorial rooms of the _New York +Daily Telegraph_, he found his colleagues in a great state of +excitement. Judging by the loud talk going on in the conference room, he +concluded at once that something out of the common must have happened. +The editor-in-chief quickly explained to him that an hour ago the news, +already disseminated through an "extra," had arrived, that not only were +all messages from the Pacific coast, especially from San Francisco, held +up, but the Canadian wire had furnished the news that a foreign strange +squadron had been observed on Sunday at Port Townsend, and that it had +continued its voyage through Puget Sound toward Seattle. In addition the +news came from Walla Walla that since Sunday noon all telegraphic +communication between Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland had been broken off. +Attempts to reach Seattle and Tacoma over the Canadian wire had also +proved vain while, on the other hand, the report came from Ogden that +no trains from the west, from the direction of San Francisco, had +arrived since Sunday noon, and that the noon express had been attacked +this side of Reno by bandits, some of whom had been distinctly +recognized as Japanese. + +John Halifax recalled the first message of the evening before, in which +there was a mention of the Japanese. He quickly put the separate news +items together, and, after having glanced hurriedly at the messages in +the extra, turned to the managing editor and in a low voice, which +sounded strange and hard even to himself, said: "I believe this means +war!" + +The latter slapped him on the back in his brusque fashion, crying: "John +Halifax, we're not making war on Japan." + +"But they're making war on us," answered Halifax. + +"Do you mean to imply that the Japanese are surprising us?" asked the +editor, staring at Halifax. + +"Exactly, and it makes no difference whether you believe it or not," was +the reply. + +"The Japanese fleet is lying off the Pacific coast, there's no doubt +about that," remarked a reporter. + +"And, what's more, they're right in our country," said Halifax, looking +up. + +"Who? The fleet?" inquired Harry Springley in a lame effort to be funny. + +"No, the enemy," answered Halifax coldly; "the so-called bandits," he +added sarcastically. + +"But if you really mean it," began the editor again, "then it must be a +gigantic plot. If you think that the bandits--the Japanese----" he said, +correcting himself. + +"The Japanese outposts," interposed Halifax. + +"Well, yes, the Japanese outposts, if you wish; if they have succeeded +in destroying all railway connections with the West, then the enemy is +no longer off our coast, but----" + +A stenographer now rushed into the room with a new message. The editor +glanced over it and then handed it to Halifax, who took the paper in +both hands, and, while all listened attentively, read aloud the +following telegram from Denver: + +"According to uncertain dispatches, Sunday's attacks on trains were not +made by gangs of robbers, but by detachments of Japanese troops, who +have suddenly and in the most incomprehensible manner sprung up all over +the country. Not only have single stations on the Union Pacific line +been seized, but whole towns have been occupied by hostile regiments, +the inhabitants having been taken so completely by surprise, that no +resistance could be offered. The rumor of a battle between the Japanese +ships and the coast defences at San Francisco has gained considerable +currency. The concerted attacks on the various trans-continental lines +have cut off the western States entirely from telegraphic communication +and in addition interrupted all railway traffic." + +The telegram shook in John Halifax's hands; he ran his fingers through +his hair and looked at the editor, who could only repeat the words +spoken by Halifax a few minutes before: "Gentlemen, I fear this means +war." + +Halifax collected the telegrams and went silently into his room, where +he dropped into the chair before his desk, and sat staring in front of +him with his head, full of confused thoughts, resting on his hands. +"This means war," he repeated softly. Mechanically he took up his pen +with the intention of putting his thoughts on paper, but not a line, not +a word could he produce under the stress of these whirling sensations. +Unable to construct a single sentence, he drew circles and meaningless +figures on the white paper, scribbled insignificant words, only to cross +them out immediately afterwards, and repeated again and again: "This +means war." + +Outside in the halls people hurried past; some one seized the door-knob, +so he got up and locked himself in. Then he sat down again. The fresh, +mild air blew in through the wide open windows, and the dull roar of the +immense crowds in the street, now swelling and now retreating, floated +up to him. His thoughts flew to the far West, and everywhere he could +see the eager, industrious Asiatics pouring like a yellow flood over his +country. He saw Togo's gray ships, with the sun-banner of Nippon, +ploughing the waves of the Pacific; he saw the tremendous many-hued +picture of a great international struggle; he saw regiments rush upon +each other and clash on the vast prairies; he saw bayonets flashing in +the sun; and he saw glittering troops of cavalry galloping over the +bleak plains. High up in the air, over the two great opposing hosts, he +saw the white smoke of bursting shells. He saw this gigantic drama of a +racial war, which caused the very axis of the earth to quiver, unraveled +before his eyes, and with ardent enthusiasm he seized his pen, at last +master of himself once more. + +Suddenly his mood of exaltation vanished; it seemed as though the sun +had been extinguished, and cold, dark shadows fell across the brilliant +picture of his imagination, subduing its colors with an ashy light. He +began slowly to realize that this did not only mean war, but that it was +his war, his country's war--a bitter struggle for which they were but +poorly prepared. At this thought he shivered, and the man who had +weathered many a storm laid his head down on both arms and cried +bitterly. The mental shock had been too great, and it was in vain that +they knocked at and shook his door. It was some time before John +Halifax recovered his self-possession. Then he lifted his head bravely +and proudly, and going to the door with a firm step, gave directions to +the staff with the calmness of a veteran general. + + + + +_Chapter V_ + +FATHER AND SON + + +Mr. Horace Hanbury paced restlessly up and down his study, and presently +stopped before a huge map on the wall and carefully traced the long +lines of the trans-continental railroads across the Rocky Mountains. +"Will Harriman sell? No, he'll buy, of course he'll buy; he'd be an +idiot if he didn't. Of course he'll buy, and Gould and Stillman will +buy, too. Well, there'll be a fine tussle in Wall Street to-day." Thus +he soliloquized, puffing thoughtfully at his short pipe. Then he picked +up the heap of narrow tape on his desk containing the latest news from +the West, and read the reports once more as the paper slipped through +his fingers. + +"This fiendish plot of the yellow curs seems to be a pretty clever one," +he murmured; "they've simply cut off all railway connections. I can't +help admiring the fellows--they've learned a lot since 1904." He threw +himself into his comfortable Morris chair, and after having carefully +studied the Stock Exchange quotations of Saturday, went once more to the +map on the wall, and marked several spots with a blue pencil; these he +connected by means of a long line which cut off the Pacific States of +Washington, Oregon, and California, and large districts of Nevada and +Arizona from all communication with points to the East. He then looked +at his watch and pressed one of the electric buttons on his desk. + +The door opened noiselessly, and an East Indian, dressed in the bright +costume of his native country, entered, and, crossing his arms, made a +deep bow. "When Mr. Gerald Hanbury returns, tell him I want to see him +immediately." The Indian disappeared, and Mr. Hanbury sat down on his +desk, folded his hands under his knees, and swung his feet to and fro, +puffing out the smoke of his pipe from between his teeth. "If only the +boy won't spoil everything with his ridiculous altruistic ideas-- Ah, +Gerald, there you are!" + +"Did you send for me, father?" + +"Sit down, my boy," said the old gentleman, pointing to a chair; but he +himself remained sitting on the desk. + +The son was the very image of his father--the same slender, muscular +figure, the same piercing eyes, the same energetic mouth. "Well, father, +what do you think of it?" + +"Think of it? What do _you_ think of it?" + +"Isn't it awful, this sudden attack on our country? Isn't it awful the +way we have been taken by surprise? Think of it, three of our States in +the enemy's hands!" + +"We'll soon get them back, don't worry about that," said the old +gentleman calmly. + +"Have you read the orders for mobilization?" + +"I haven't read them, and don't intend to." + +"Colonel Smiles told me just now that it will not be possible to +dispatch our troops to the West in less than three weeks. Fortunately +there are about a dozen ships of the Pacific fleet off the west coast, +and they will be able to attack the Japanese in the rear." + +"If there's still time," supplemented his father. "Anyhow, we can leave +these matters to others. It's none of our business; they can attend to +all that at Washington. War is purely and simply a question of finances +so far as the United States is concerned, and it's as plain as day that +we can hold out ten times longer than those yellow monkeys. That the +money will be forthcoming goes without saying; Congress will do all that +is needed in that direction, and the subscriptions for the war-loan will +show that we are fully prepared along that line. So let us drop that +subject. The question is, what shall we do? What do you propose doing +with our factory during the war?" + +"Go on working, of course, father." + +"Go on working--that is to say, produce surplus stock. If we go on +working we shall have goods on our hands which no one will buy, and be +compelled to store them. Ironclads, cannon, powder, uniforms, guns, +these are the things for which there is a demand now; whisky, too, will +be bought and bread will be baked, and the meat trust will make money +hand over fist; but do you suppose the United States Government is going +to buy our pianos to play tunes to the soldiers?" + +"But what about our workmen?" interposed Gerald. + +"Yes, our workmen," said the old gentleman, jumping energetically off +the desk and standing before his son with his legs wide apart and his +hands in his pockets: "Our workmen--that brings us to your favorite +subject, to which you devote your entire time and interest!" He +transferred his pipe into the right-hand corner of his mouth and +continued: "I intend to dismiss our workmen, my boy, and shut up shop; +we couldn't earn a cent more even if we kept the machines going. +Besides, our Government needs soldiers now, not workmen. Let your dear +workmen shoulder their guns and march to the West. When I was your age, +and starting in with one hundred and fifty dollars in my pocket, no one +offered me pensions for sickness and old age or insurance against +non-employment or whatever this new-fangled nonsense is called. We +ought to increase the energy of the people, instead of stuffing pillows +for them. A man who has anything in him will make his way even in these +times." + +"Father!" The young man jumped up from his chair and faced his father +with all the idealistic enthusiasm of youth. + +"Keep your seat, my boy, subjects of this nature can be better discussed +sitting." + +"No, father, I can't keep still. This question concerns four thousand +workmen and their families." + +"Three thousand of whom I shall dismiss at noon to-day," interrupted the +old gentleman decisively. + +"What! You don't mean to say you'll send three thousand workmen, quiet, +industrious, faithful, reliable workmen, begging to-day? Why, father! +That would be perfectly barbarous, that would be a crime against +humanity! The people have stuck by us in days of prosperity, and now +when our sales may perhaps," he emphasized the last word, "may perhaps +be diminished, you will stop the wheels and shut down the factory?" + +"Look here, my son, I'm not a socialists' meeting. Such sentiments may +sound very nice from the platform, but there's no need of your trying +your speeches on me. The question at issue is, shall we suffer the +consequences or shall they, and I don't mind telling you that I prefer +the latter. Do you suppose that I've worked hard all my life and worn +myself out for the express purpose of turning our factory into a +workingmen's home? No, my boy, I can't support you in your little +hobby." + +"But, father, capital and labor----" + +"O, cut out those silly phrases," interrupted the old gentleman +irritably, "Karl Marx and Henry George and all your other stand-bys may +be all right in your library, and help to decorate your bookshelves, but +I prefer to settle our practical problems on the basis of my experience +and not of your books. As manager and proprietor of our plant I want to +tell you that when the whistle blows at noon to-day I shall notify our +workingmen that in consequence of the totally unforeseen breaking out of +hostilities--here I shall insert a few words about the sacred duty of +patriotism and of defending one's country--we are unwillingly forced to +dismiss three thousand of our workmen. We'll pay wages for, let's say, a +fortnight longer, but then good-by to the men; we'll shut up shop, and +the thousand men that are left can finish the standing orders and any +new ones that may come in. And if no new ones turn up, then the +remaining workingmen will be dismissed at once. In the meantime I'll +subscribe one hundred thousand dollars to the war-loan, and then engage +passage on a Lloyd steamer, the most expensive cabins with every +possible luxury, for your mother, your two sisters, myself, and I hope +for you, too, and we'll be off to old Europe. Shall we make it the +Riviera? We've been there before, and, besides, it's a little too hot +there now--let's say Norway or Switzerland. In my humble opinion we had +better watch developments from a distance, and, as I said, I earnestly +hope that my only son and heir will join our party, unless he should +prefer to remain here and become a lieutenant in our glorious army and +draw his sword against the enemy? This is my final decision and the last +word I have to say on the subject, unless you think that some friend of +ours in the financial world may have a better suggestion to offer." + +"I should never have thought, father, that you could be so hard-hearted +and unfeeling, that you could be capable of ruining the lives of +thousands with one stroke of your pen. Your attitude towards the +relations between employer and employee is absolutely incomprehensible +to me; the socialistic conscience----" + +"Listen, my boy," said the old gentleman, going over to his son and +laying his hand gently on his shoulder: "I've always allowed you an +absolutely free hand in your schemes, and you know we've always tried to +meet our employees more than half way in all their wishes, but now it's +a question of who's to suffer--we or they? In times of peace there may +be some excuse for these nice socialistic ideas: they give a man a +certain standing and bring him into the public eye. There's a good man, +they say; he understands the demands of the times. But there's a limit +to everything. One man rides one hobby, and some one else another. One +keeps a racing-stable, another sports a steam-yacht, and still another +swears by polo or cricket, but these things must not be carried to +excess. The minute the owner of the racing-stable turns jockey, he +ceases to be a business man, and the same is true of the man who keeps a +racing-yacht and spends all of his time at the start, and, after all is +said and done, it's our business we want to live on. You've selected the +workingman as your favorite sport, and that also has its limits. If we +squander our hard-earned millions on socialistic improvements now, we'll +have to begin over again in about two years' time. I doubt whether I +should have sufficient genius left to discover a new piano-hammer, and I +entertain still more serious doubts as to your ability to invent a +panacea that will render the whole world happy and make you richer +instead of poorer. _Ergo_, we'll shut up shop. In Hoboken we'll sing +Yankee Doodle and as we pass the Statue of Liberty The Star Spangled +Banner, in token of farewell, and then off we go! If things turn out +better than we anticipate, we can come back, but this is my last word +for the present: At noon the following notice will be posted at all the +entrances and in all the rooms of our factory: 'Three thousand workmen +are herewith dismissed; wages will be paid for a fortnight longer, when +the factory will be closed indefinitely.' By the way, are you going to +the Stock Exchange to-day?" + +"I'm not in a mood for the Stock Exchange, father. If that is your last +word, then my last word is: I am your partner----" + +"So much the worse," said the father. + +"--and therefore have a right to dispose as I please of my interest in +the business. I therefore demand the immediate payment of so much of my +inheritance as will be required to pay the wages of the workmen you've +dismissed for at least another year, with the exception of the single +men who enter the army." + +"No, my boy, we won't do anything of the sort. Don't forget that I'm +running this business. According to the contract made when you came of +age, you may demand a million dollars upon severing your connection with +the firm. This sum will be at your disposal at the bank to-day at noon, +but not a cent more. What you do with it is a matter of complete +indifference to me, but let me remind you that ordinarily when a man +throws money out of the window, he at least likes to hear it drop." + +"That surely cannot be your last word, father, otherwise we must part." + +"All right, my boy, let's part till dinner-time. I hope to find you in a +more sensible frame of mind when the family assembles this evening. I've +told you what will be done in the factory in the meantime, and as for +our trip, we'll discuss that to-night with your mother. Now leave me, I +must get ready for Wall Street." + +The door closed noiselessly after Mr. Hanbury, Junior. "The scamp," said +the father to himself, "I can't help admiring him. Thirty years ago I +entertained just such ideas, but what has become of them!" He thought a +moment, passed his hand over his forehead, then jumped up quickly and +exclaimed: "Now to work!" He pressed a button on the desk, his secretary +entered, and the conversation that ensued dealt exclusively with coming +events in Wall Street. + + + + +_Chapter VI_ + +A NIGHT IN NEW YORK + + +The _New York Daily Telegraph_ had already issued several regular +editions and a number of extras, without really having conveyed much +definite information, for the dispatches consisted for the most part of +rumors that arose like distant lightning on the western horizon, and it +was quite impossible to ascertain just where. A dark bank of clouds lay +over the Pacific States, completely shutting in the territory that had +been cut off from all communication, both by wire and rail. The natural +supposition was, that the Japanese outposts were stationed at the points +just beyond which to the east telegraphic communication had not yet been +interrupted, but the messages that were constantly pouring in from +places along this border-line revealed clearly that these outposts were +continually pushing further eastwards. A serious battle didn't seem to +have occurred anywhere. The utter surprise caused by the sudden +appearance of the Japanese troops, who seemed to spring up out of the +ground, had from the very beginning destroyed every chance of successful +resistance. + +Shortly after the first vague rumors of battles said to have been fought +at San Francisco, Port Townsend, and Seattle, had arisen, even these +sources of information ran dry. The question from where all the hostile +troops had come, remained as much of a riddle as ever. That was a matter +of indifference after all; the chief consideration was to adopt +measures of defense as speedily as possible. + +But the War Department worked slowly, and the news received from +headquarters at Washington consisted only of the declaration that the +regulars were going to be sent to the West immediately, that the +President had already called out the reserves, and that Congress would +meet on May eleventh to discuss means for placing the militia on a +war-footing and for creating an army of volunteers. The regular army! +Three States with their regiments and their coast-defenses had to be +deducted at the very start. What had become of them? Had they been able +to hold their own between the enemy and the coast? What had happened to +the Philippines and to Hawaii? Where was the fleet? None of these +questions could be answered, simply because all telegraphic connection +was cut off. The strength of the enemy was an absolutely unknown +quantity, unless one cared to rely on the figures found in the ordinary +military statistics, which had probably been doctored by the Japanese. +Was this the Japanese army at all? Was it an invading force? Could such +a force have pushed so far to the East in such a short space of time +after landing? The press could find no satisfactory answer to these +questions, and therefore contented itself with estimating the number of +American soldiers available after subtracting the three coast States. +The newspapers also indulged in rather awkward calculations as to when +and how the troops could best be dispatched to the invaded territory. +But this optimism did not last long and it convinced nobody. + +Another serious question was, how would the masses behave upon the +breaking-out of this sudden danger, and what attitude would be assumed +by the foreign elements of the population. It was most important to +have some inkling as to how the Germans, the Irish, the Scandinavians, +the Italians and the various people of Slavonic nationality would act +when called upon to defend their new country. It was of course +absolutely certain that the two great political parties--the Republicans +and the Democrats--would work together harmoniously under the stress of +a common danger. + +Francis Robertson, the well-known reporter of the _New York Daily +Telegraph_--called the Flying Fish on account of his streaming +coat-tails--had been on the go all day. He had scarcely finished +dictating the shorthand notes made on his last tour of inspection, to +the typewriter, when he received orders--it was at seven o'clock in the +evening--to make another trip through the streets and to visit the +headquarters of the various national and political societies. First he +went to a restaurant a few doors away, and in five minutes succeeded in +making way with a steak that had apparently been manufactured out of the +hide of a hippopotamus. Then he jumped into a taxicab and directed the +chauffeur at the corner of Twenty-ninth Street to drive as quickly as +possible through the crowd down Broadway. But it was impossible for the +chauffeur on account of the mob to move at more than a snail's pace, and +the cab finally came to a dead stop at Madison Square, which was packed +with excited people. Robertson left the cab and hurled himself boldly +into the seething mass of humanity, but soon discovered that if he +wished to make any progress at all he would have to allow himself to be +carried forward by the slowly moving crowd. At the corner of +Twenty-second Street he managed to disentangle himself and hurried +through the block, only to find a new crowd on Fourth Avenue. + +He intended to cross Fourth Avenue and then push on to Third Avenue, in +order to reach Tammany Hall by that route, but he was doomed to +disappointment, for the human stream simply carried him down Fourth +Avenue as far as Union Square, where it ceased moving for a time. +Presently it got under way again, proceeding even more slowly than +before, and Robertson soon found himself in the middle of the square, +being suddenly pushed against the basin of the fountain upon which he +climbed for the double purpose of regaining his breath and of looking +around to see if it were possible to make his way through to Tammany +Hall. In vain! His eyes were greeted by an interminable sea of heads and +hats, which did not offer the slightest chance of his being able to slip +through. The trees, the statues and the fountain in the square appeared +to be buried to a height of two yards in a black flood. He looked +longingly across Sixteenth Street over to Third Avenue, but nowhere +could he find an opening. + +He felt like a ship-wrecked mariner cast ashore on a desert island. The +sullen roar of the crowd echoed against the buildings enclosing the +square like the dull boom of the surf. Over on Third Avenue the yellow +lights of the elevated cars crossed the dark opening of Sixteenth Street +at regular intervals, and recalled to Robertson a piece of scenery at a +fair, where a lighted train ran continually between the mouths of two +tunnels in the mountains. He pulled out his note-book and by the light +of the electric arc-lamp made a note of the observation. + +Then he jumped down from the ledge where he had taken refuge and once +more joined the human stream. The latter, as if animated by a common +purpose, was moving downtown, and if Robertson's neighbors were properly +posted, it was headed for the Chinese quarter. It was evident that they +intended to vent their fury for the present on these allies of the +Japanese. This longing for revenge, this elementary hatred of the yellow +race kept the crowd in Union Square in motion and shoved everyone +without discrimination towards Broadway and Fourth Avenue. The square +resembled a huge machine, which by means of some hidden automatic power +forced tens of thousands of unresisting bodies into the narrow channels. +The crowd rolled on unceasingly. Here and there a hat flew off into the +air, came down again, bobbed up and down once or twice, and then +continued its journey somewhere else on the surface. It was fortunate +that those who had become insensible from the dreadful noise and the +foul, dusty air were unable to fall down; they were simply held up by +the close pressure of their neighbors and were carried along until a few +blocks farther on they regained consciousness. Nevertheless a few fell +and disappeared in the stream without leaving a trace behind them. No +pen could describe their terrible fate; they must have been relentlessly +ground to pieces like stones on the rocky bed of a glacier. + +Above this roaring stream of human beings there swept unceasingly, in +short blasts like a tearing whirlwind, the hoarse cry of a people's +passion: "Down with the yellow race! Down with the Japanese! Three +cheers for the Stars and Stripes!" The passionate cry of a crowd +thirsting for revenge rose again and again, as if from a giant's lungs, +until the cheers and yells of "down" turned into a wild, deafening, +inarticulate howl which was echoed and re-echoed a thousand times by the +tall buildings on both sides of the avenue. Now and then an electric +street-car, to which clung hundreds of people, towered like a stranded +vessel above the waving mass of heads and hats. + +Robertson decided to give up the idea of reaching Tammany Hall and to +drift with the crowd to the Chinese quarter. At Astor Place a branch of +the human stream carried him to the Bowery, where he found himself on +the edge of the crowd and was scraped roughly along the fronts of +several houses. He stood this for another block, but determined to +escape at the next corner into a side street. Before he could reach it, +however, he was crushed violently against the wall of a house and turned +round three or four times by the advancing throng; during this maneuver +his right coat-tail got caught on something and before he knew it, he +had left the coat-tail behind. At last he reached the corner and clung +tightly to a railing with his right hand, but the next moment he flew +like a cork from a champagne-bottle into the quiet darkness of Fifth +Street, bumping violently against several men who had been similarly +ejected from the current and who pushed him roughly aside. + +Robertson was bursting with rage, for just before he had been propelled +into Fifth Street, he had caught a glimpse of the grinning face of Bob +Traddles, of the _Tribune_, his worst competitor, only a few feet away. +The latter showed clearly how delighted he was at this involuntary +discomfiture of his rival in the mad race for the latest sensational +news. Robertson attempted for a while to get back into the current, but +all of his efforts proved futile. Then he tried at least to find out +what the people intended to do, and in spite of the contradictory +information he received, he was pretty well convinced that they were +really going to make an attack on the inhabitants of the Chinese +quarter. Although hopelessly separated from Tammany Hall by the +countercurrent of the human stream, he at last succeeded in reaching the +Eighth Street station of the Second Avenue Elevated, where he took an +uptown train to Forty-second Street. Then he walked over to Third Avenue +and took a downtown train, which was crowded to suffocation, as far as +Grand Street, for the purpose of reaching the Chinese quarter from the +uptown side. The trip had consumed fully two hours. At the crossing of +Grand and Mott Streets he found the entrance to the latter barred by a +line of policemen standing three deep. He showed his badge to a sergeant +and received permission to pass. + +The dead silence of Mott Street seemed almost uncanny after the noisy +roar of the mob, the echoes of which still rang in his ears. The +basements of the houses were all barricaded with shutters or boards, the +doors were locked, and there was scarcely a light to be seen in the +windows of the upper stories. A person paying his first visit to this +busy, bustling ant-hill of yore would, if he had not been reminded by +the peculiar penetrating smell of the yellow race of their proximity, +scarcely have believed that he was really in the notorious Chinese +quarter of New York. + +The policeman who acted as Robertson's guide told him that they had +known all about the movements and intentions of the mob long before it +had reached the police headquarters, by way of the Bowery and Elm +Street, and begun to force its way from the Bowery through some of the +side streets into the Chinese quarter. Fearing that the latter would be +set on fire, the chief of police had given orders to protect it from the +irresponsible mob by barricading the streets with all the available +members of the force. In this attempt, however, they had been only +partially successful. It was out of the question for six hundred men to +hold out against tens of thousands; the enormous pressure from the rear +had hurled the front rows like driftwood against the thin chain of +policemen, which, after a stubborn resistance, had simply been broken +through at several spots. + +A hand-to-hand fight had ensued and shots were soon fired on both sides, +so that the police had to content themselves with an effort to check the +worst excesses. Then, too, the spirit of patriotism was just as rampant +in the breasts of the police as it was in the breasts of those who urged +on the mob. As it was impossible to catch hold of the treacherous +invaders themselves, their natural allies should at least not escape +unscathed. The Chinese were of course prepared for such an attack. The +howling, raging mob found barricaded doors and windows wherever they +went, and even when they did succeed, after considerable labor, in +breaking these down, it was usually only to find that the birds had +flown, that the occupants had made their escape in time. Wherever +resistance had been offered by the Chinese, the mob had gone beyond all +bounds in its frenzy. + +"Several hundred Chinamen must have been killed," said the policeman, +"and it would be best for the papers to hush up what went on inside the +houses." Robertson and his companion stopped near a lamp-post, and the +former hurriedly made some shorthand notes of all the information he had +received. + +"Look," said the policeman, "Judge Lynch has done his work well," and he +pointed with his club to a lamp-post on the other side of the street +from which two dark bodies were hanging. "Simply hanged 'em," he added +laconically. + +As the policeman would not allow him to enter any of the houses because, +as he said, it meant certain death, Robertson decided to go to the +nearest telephone pay-station in order to 'phone his story to the paper. +The policeman went with him as far as the police-station. By the +uncertain light of the street-lamps they stumbled along the pavement, +which was often almost entirely hidden by heaps of rubbish and regular +mountains of refuse. They saw several more bodies suspended from +lamp-posts, and the blood on the pavement before many of the mutilated +houses testified eloquently to the manner in which the mob had wreaked +its vengeance on the sons of the Celestial Kingdom. Ambulance officers +were carrying away the wounded and dead on stretchers, and after +Robertson had stayed a little while at the police-station and received +information as to the number of people killed thus far, he walked in the +direction of Broadway, having found the entrance to the Subway closed. + +At Broadway he again came upon a chain of police, and learned that the +troops had been called out and that a battalion was marching up +Broadway. + +Robertson plunged once more into the seething human whirlpool, but made +little progress. For about fifteen minutes he stood, unable to move, +near a highly excited individual, who, with a bloody handkerchief tied +around his head and with wild gesticulations was reciting his +experiences during the storming of a Chinese house. This was his man. A +momentary lull in the roar around him gave him a chance of getting +closer to him and screaming into his ear: "I'll give you two dollars if +you'll step into the nearest hallway with me and tell me that story!" + +The man stared at him in astonishment but when Robertson added, "It's +for the _New York Daily Telegraph_," he was posted at once. They made +their way with considerable difficulty to the edge of the crowd and +managed to squeeze into a wide doorway full of people, whose attention, +however, was not directed to the doings on Broadway, but rather to a +meeting that was being held in a large rear room. Robertson managed to +find an unoccupied chair in a neighboring room, which was packed to the +door, and sitting astride it, proceeded to use the back of the chair as +a rest for his note-book. The story turned out to be somewhat +disjointed, for every time a push from the crowd sent the man flying +against the hard wall, he uttered a long series of oaths. + +"For Heaven's sake," said Robertson, "quit your swearing! Make a hole in +the wall behind you and hustle with your story!" + +"This'll mean at least a column in the _Telegraph_," mused Robertson as +the story neared its end. But he was already listening with one ear to +what was going on in the big room, whence the sharp, clear tones of a +speaker could be heard through the suffocating tobacco fumes. Over the +heads of the attentive crowd hung a few gas-lamps, the globes of which +looked like large oranges. Robertson gave his Mott Street hero the +promised two dollar bill and then made his way to the rear room. +Standing in the doorway, he could clearly distinguish the words of the +speaker, who was apparently protesting in the name of some workmen +against a large manufacturer who had at noon dismissed three thousand of +them. + +The orator, who was standing on a table in the rear of the room, looked +like a swaying shadow through the smoke, but his loud appeal completely +filled the room, and the soul-stirring pictures he drew of the misery of +the workmen, who had been turned out on the streets at the word of the +millionaire manufacturer, caused his hearers' cheeks to burn with +excitement. + +"--and therefore," concluded the speaker, "we will not submit to the +absolutely selfish action of Mr. Hanbury. As leader of our Union I ask +you all to return to work at the factory to-morrow at the usual hour, +and we will then assert our right to employment by simply continuing our +work and ignoring our dismissal. Of course the simplest and most +convenient thing for Mr. Hanbury is to shut down his plant and skip with +his millions to the other side. But we demand that the factory be kept +running, and if our wages aren't paid, we'll find means for getting +them. Our country cannot fight the enemy even with a thousand +millionaires. When the American people take the field to fight for the +maintenance of American society and the American state, they have a +right to demand that the families they are compelled to leave at home +shall at least be suitably cared for. Again I say: We'll keep Mr. +Hanbury's factory open." + +The air shook with thunderous applause, and a firm determination lighted +up hundreds of faces, wrinkled and scarred from work and worry. And who +would have dared oppose these men when animated by a single thought and +a common purpose? Again and again enthusiastic shouts filled the room, +and the speaker was assured that not a man present would fail to be on +hand the next morning. + +Leaning against the door-post, Robertson made notes of this occurrence +also and then looked round in a vain endeavor to find a means of escape +from the suffocating atmosphere. While doing so his glance fell on the +spot where only a few moments before he had observed the swaying shadow +of the speaker. The latter's place had been taken by another, who was +making a frantic but vain effort to secure quiet and attention. With his +arms waving in the air he looked through the murky atmosphere for all +the world like a quickly turning wind-mill. + +Gradually the applause ceased, while everybody in the room, Robertson +included, was startled by the announcement of the chairman that Mr. +Hanbury was most anxious to address the assemblage. A moment of +astonished silence and then Bedlam broke loose. "What, Mr. Hanbury wants +to speak?" "Not the old one, the young one!" "He must be mad. What does +he want here?" "Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" "Down with him! We don't +want him here, we can manage our own affairs!" "Let him speak!" "Three +cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" "Be quiet, damn you, why don't you shut up?" +These and other similarly emphatic shouts reached Robertson's ears. He +hunted for his last pencil in his vest-pocket, and when he looked up +again, he saw through the cloud of smoke a tall, refined person standing +on the table. + +"We don't want to be discharged! Don't let our wives starve!" the voices +began again, and it was some time before it became possible for the +speaker to make himself heard. + +"Is that really Mr. Hanbury?" Robertson asked one of his neighbors. + +"Yes, the son." + +"It seems incredible! He's taking his life in his hands." + +Gerald Hanbury's first words were lost in the uproar, but gradually the +crowd began to listen. He spoke only a few sentences, and these +Robertson took down in shorthand: + +"--The demand just made by your speaker, and supported by all present, +that my father's factory should not be shut down in these turbulent +times, was made by myself this very morning, the moment I heard the news +of the base attack on our country. I don't want any credit for having +presented the matter to my father in most vigorous fashion, and I regret +to say I have accomplished nothing thus far. But the same reasons which +you have just heard from the lips of Mr. Bright have guided me. I, too, +should consider it a crime against the free American people, if we +manufacturers were to desert them in this hour of national danger. I am +not going to make a long speech; I have come here simply to tell you +that I shall go straight to my father from here and offer him the whole +of my fortune from which to pay you your wages so long as the war lasts, +and not only those employed in the factory, but also the families of +those who may enter the army to defend their homes and their country." + +Such an outburst of passionate enthusiasm, such wild expressions of joy +as greeted this speech Robertson had never witnessed. The crowd screamed +and yelled itself hoarse, hats were thrown into the air, and pandemonium +reigned supreme. Mr. Hanbury was seized by dozens of strong arms as he +jumped down from the table and was carried through the room over the +heads of the crowd. After he had made the rounds of the hall several +times and shaken hundreds of rough hands, the group of workmen +surrounding the foreman on whose shoulders young Hanbury was enthroned +marched to the entrance, while the whole assembly joined in a marching +song. + +By pure chance Robertson found himself near this group as they came to a +halt before the door, just in time to save Mr. Hanbury from having his +skull smashed against the top. So they let him slide down to the ground, +and then the whole crowd made a rush for the Broadway entrance. Such a +jam ensued here, that another meeting was held on the spot, which, +however, consisted chiefly in cheers for Mr. Hanbury. + +Suddenly some one shouted: "We'll go with Mr. Hanbury to his father!" +Inch by inch they moved towards Broadway, whence a terrific roar and +wild shouts greeted the ears of the closely packed mass at the entrance. + +Robertson was standing close to Mr. Hanbury, whose face shone with happy +excitement. Just as they reached the entrance to the street, the crowd +outside suddenly started to run north in mad haste. + +"This is the proudest day of my life as an American citizen!" said +Robertson to Hanbury. Hardly had he finished the sentence, when a +crashing sound like thunder rent the air and resounded down the whole +length of Broadway, as if the latter were a canon surrounded by +precipitous walls of rock. + +"They're firing on the people," burst from thousands of lips in the +wildest indignation. + +Some one shouted: "Pull out your revolvers!" and in response red sparks +flashed here and there in the crowd and the rattle of shots greeted the +troops marching up Broadway. The mob seemed to be made up largely of +Russians. + +Just in front of Robertson and Gerald Hanbury a young woman, who had +been wounded by a stray shot, lay on the pavement screaming with pain +and tossing her arms wildly about. + +"Three cheers for Mr. Hanbury!" came the loud cry once more from the +entrance. At this instant a big workman, apparently drunk, and dressed +only in shirt and trousers, stepped in front of the door, and swinging +the spoke of a large wheel in his right hand shouted: "Where's Mr. +Hanbury?" And some one shouted as in reply: "The blackguard has turned +three thousand workmen out on the streets to-day so that he can go +traveling with his millions." The workman yelled once more: "Where is +Mr. Hanbury?" Gerald moved forward a step and, looking the questioner +straight in the eye, said: "I'm Mr. Hanbury, what do you want?" + +The workman glared at him with wild, bloodshot eyes and cried in a +fierce rage: "That's what I want," and quick as a flash the heavy spoke +descended on Hanbury's head. The terrific blow felled Gerald to the +ground, and he sank without uttering a sound beside the body of the +wounded woman lying at his feet. + +Robertson flew at the drunken brute as he prepared for a second blow, +but some of the other laborers had already torn his weapon out of his +hand, and, as if in answer to this base murder, the troops discharged a +fresh volley only a hundred yards away, which was again received with +shots from dozens of revolvers. + +Robertson felt a stinging pain in his left arm and, in a sudden access +of weakness, he leaned for support against the doorway. His senses left +him for a moment, and when he came to, he saw a company of soldiers +passing the spot where he stood. The next instant the butt-end of a +musket pushed him backwards into the doorway. + +"This is madness!" he cried. "You're firing on the people." + +"Because the people are murdering and plundering downtown!" answered an +officer. Gradually the tumult calmed down. Another company passed by +Robertson, who had sat down on the step before the door. He examined his +arm and found that he was uninjured; a stone splinter must have struck +his left elbow, for the violent pain soon disappeared. The mob was +quickly lost to view up Broadway, while some ambulance surgeons appeared +on the other side of the street. Robertson called over to them and told +them Mr. Hanbury had been murdered, whereupon they crossed the street at +once. + +Gerald Hanbury's corpse was lifted on a stretcher. + +"How terrible, they've broken in his skull," said one of the surgeons, +and taking a gray shawl from the shoulders of the charwoman who was +writhing with agony, he threw it over the upper part of Gerald's body. + +"Where shall we take it?" asked one of the surgeons. + +"To Mr. Hanbury's house, two blocks north," directed Robertson, and +going up to one of the surgeons he added: "I'll take your place at the +stretcher, for you can make yourself useful elsewhere." + +"How about her?" asked one of the ambulance attendants, pointing to the +woman on the ground. + +"I'm afraid we can't do much for her," replied one of the surgeons, "she +seems to be near death's door." + +Then the men lifted their burden and slowly the sad procession walked up +Broadway, which was now almost deserted. + +A few shots could still be heard from the direction of Union Square; to +the left the sky was fiery red while clouds of smoke traveled over the +high buildings on Broadway, shutting out the light of the stars. +Robertson looked back. The street lay dark and still. Suddenly far away +in the middle of the street two glaring white lights appeared and above +them flared and waved the smoky flames of the petroleum torches, while +gongs and sirens announced the approach of the fire-engines. And now +they thundered past, the glaring lights from the acetylene lamps in +front of the fire-engines lighting up the whole pavement. Streams of +light and rushing black shadows played up and down the walls of the +buildings. Next came the rattling hook and ladder wagons and the +hosecarts, the light from the torches dancing in red and yellow stripes +on the helmets of the firemen. And then another puffing, snorting +engine, with hundreds of sparks and thick smoke pouring out of its wide +funnel, hiding the vehicle behind it in dark clouds. They're here one +moment, and gone the next, only to make way for another hook and ladder, +which sways and rattles past. The clanging of the gongs and the yells of +the sirens grow fainter and fainter, and finally, through the clouds of +sparks and smoke the whole weird cavalcade was seen to disappear into a +side-street. Little bits of smoldering wood and pieces of red-hot coal +remained lying on the street and burned with quivering, quick little +flames. + +As they walked on the man next to Robertson told him why the troops had +been compelled to interfere. The excited mob which had tasted blood, as +it were, in the Chinese quarter and become more and more frantic, had +continued plundering in some of the downtown streets without any +discrimination--simply yielding to an uncontrollable desire for +destruction. As a result a regular battle ensued between this mob, which +consisted chiefly of Russian and Italian rabble, on one hand, and Irish +workingmen who were defending their homes, on the other. The Russian +contingent seemed to consist largely of the riff-raff which had found +such a ready refuge in New York during the Russian Revolution, and some +of these undesirable citizens now had recourse to dynamite. Some of the +bombs caused great loss of life among the Irish people living in that +part of town, and several policemen had also been killed in the +performance of their duty. It was at this point that the authorities +deemed it advisable to call out the troops, with whose arrival affairs +immediately began to take on a different turn. + +The soldiers did not hesitate to use their bayonets against the rabble. +At several corners they encountered barricades, but they hesitated +resorting to their firearms until several bombs were thrown among the +troops while they were storming a barricade defended by Russian +Terrorists. That was the last straw. With several volleys the soldiers +drove the gang of foreign looters up Broadway, where a volley discharged +near the spot where Gerald Hanbury had been murdered, dispersed the last +compact mass of plunderers. + +In the meantime the men had reached Mr. Hanbury's house and Robertson +rang the bell. Not until they had rung loudly several times did the +butler appear, and then only to announce gruffly that there was no one +at home. A policeman ordered him to open the door at once, so that Mr. +Hanbury's dead body might be brought in. + +"But Mr. Hanbury is at home, you can't possibly have his dead body +there!" + +"Tell Mr. Hanbury right away!" interrupted the policeman. "It's young +Mr. Hanbury, and he's been murdered. Open the door, do you hear!" + +Silently the heavy bronze door turned on its hinges and, with the +policeman in the lead, the men were ushered into the high marble +entrance-hall of the Hanbury palace. They carried the stretcher on which +lay the murdered body of the son of the house up the broad staircase, +the thick carpets deadening the sound of their steps. At the top of the +stairs they lowered their burden and waited in silence. Doors opened and +shut in the distance; from one of them a bright stream of light fell on +the shining onyx pillars and on the gilt frames of the paintings, which +in the light from strange swinging lamps looked like huge black patches. +Then the light from the door disappeared, a bell rang somewhere and +figures hurried to and fro. A fantastically dressed East Indian next +appeared and made signs to the ambulance-men to carry the stretcher into +a room which, in its fabulous, Oriental splendor represented one of the +most beautiful of the Indian mosques. The men carried their burden +carefully into the middle of the room and then set it down and looked at +one another in embarrassment. The policeman assumed a dignified posture +and cleared his throat. Suddenly the heavy gold-embroidered curtain +before one of the doors was pushed aside by a brown hand and fell back +in heavy folds; an old white-haired man stood for a moment in the +doorway and then advanced towards the officer with a firm step. + +The latter cleared his throat again and then began in a dry and +business-like tone to give his report of Gerald Hanbury's murder, +ending with the words "--and these gentlemen picked him up and brought +him here." + +"I thank you, gentlemen," said the old man, and taking out his +pocket-book he handed each of them, including Robertson, a twenty-dollar +bill. Then he sat down wearily on the edge of the stretcher and rested +his head in his hands. He seemed to be oblivious of his surroundings. +The men stood round for a few moments not knowing what to do, until +finally the policeman led the ambulance-men and Robertson to the door, +which opened automatically. + +As the Indian closed the door behind them the officer said to Robertson: +"This is like the last act in a Third Avenue melodrama." + +"Life has a liking for such plays," answered Robertson. As they left the +Hanbury mansion the clock of Grace Church struck midnight. Robertson +glanced down Broadway once more and saw that the long thoroughfare was +almost deserted; only here and there the bluish-white light from the +electric lamps shone on the bayonets of the sentinels patrolling up and +down at long intervals. Then he repaired to the _Daily Telegraph_ +offices to dictate his notes, so that the huge rolls of printed paper +might announce to the world to-morrow that the first victims of the +terrible war had fallen on the streets of New York. + +The factory of Horace Hanbury & Son was not shut down. + + + + +_Chapter VII_ + +THE RED SUN OVER THE GOLDEN GATE + + +Too-oo-ot, bellowed the whistle of a big steamer that was proceeding +gingerly through the fog which enveloped the broad Bay of San Francisco +early on the morning of May seventh. The soft, white mist crept through +the Golden Gate among the masts and funnels of the ships made fast to +the docks, enveloped the yellow flame of the lanterns on the foremast in +a misty veil, descended from the rigging again, and threatened to +extinguish the long series of lights along the endless row of docks. The +glistening bands of light on the Oakland shore tried their best to +pierce the fog, but became fainter and fainter in the damp, penetrating, +constantly moving masses of mist. Even the bright eye on Angel Island +was shut out at last. Too-oo-ot, again sounded the sullen cry of warning +from the steamer in the Golden Gate--Too-oo-ot. And then from Tiburon +opposite the shrill whistle of the ferry-boat was heard announcing its +departure to the passengers on the early train from San Rafael. The +flickering misty atmosphere seemed like a boundless aquarium, an +aquarium in which gigantic prehistoric, fabulous creatures stretched +their limbs and glared at one another with fiery eyes. Trembling beams +of light hovered between the dancing lights on and between the ships, +rising and falling like transparent bars when the shivering sentries on +deck moved their lanterns, and threw into relief now some dripping bits +of rigging, and again the black outline of a deck-house as the sailor +hurried below for a drink to refresh his torpid spirits. + +The cold wind blew the damp fog into Market Street, forced it uphill and +then let it roll down again, filling every street with its gray +substance. + +Too-oo-ot, came the whistle from the Golden Gate again and further off +still another whistle could be heard. Over in Tiburon the ferry-boat had +calmed down, as it found itself unable to budge in the fog. One after +the other, the tower-clocks struck half-past four, the strokes sounding +loud and unnatural in the fog. From Telegraph Hill at the northern end +of San Francisco a splendid view could be obtained of this undulating +sea of mist. A few of the isolated houses situated in the higher parts +of the town looked like islands floating on the ever-moving glossy gray +billows, while the top stories of several sky-scrapers rose up here and +there like solemn black cliffs. A faint light in the east heralded the +approach of day. Too-oo-ot, sounded the whistle of the approaching +steamer once again; then its voice broke and died out in a discordant +sob, which was drowned in the nervous gang, gang, gang of the ship's +bell. The steamer had been obliged to anchor on account of the fog. +Too-oo-ot, came from the other steamer further out. Then life in the bay +came to a stand-still: nothing could be done till the sun rose and +brought warmth in its train. + +"This damned fog," said Tom Hallock, a telegraph boy, to his colleague, +Johnny Kirkby, as he jumped off his bicycle in front of the Post Office, +"this damned fog is enough to make one choke." + +Johnny muttered some unintelligible words, for he was still half asleep; +the effect of last night's eighteen drinks had not yet quite worn off. +"You can't see the nearest lamp-post," he blurted out after a while. "I +nearly ran into a company of infantry just now that suddenly popped up +in front of me out of the fog. What's going on this morning, anyhow? +What are they marching out to Golden Gate for?" + +"Oh, you jay," said Tom, "naval maneuvers, of course! Are you blind? +Haven't you read the _Evening Standard_? There are to be naval maneuvers +this morning, and Admiral Perry is going to attack San Francisco." + +"This war-game is a crazy scheme," grumbled Johnny. They both left their +bicycles downstairs in a room in the Post Office and then went up to +their quarters on the first story. + +"Naval maneuvers?" began Johnny again. "I really don't know anything +about them. It was in last night's _Evening Standard_. It said that the +orders had been changed quite unexpectedly, and that the maneuvers would +take place outside the bay to-day." + +"It looks as though we'd have a long wait before daylight appears," said +Tom impatiently, pointing out of the windows, while Johnny tackled the +dilapidated tea-kettle in an effort to make himself an early morning +drink. Tom stamped up and down the room to warm himself, remarking: +"Thank the Lord it's Sunday and there isn't much going on, otherwise +we'd all get sick chasing around with telegrams in this beastly fog." + +Boom! The roar of a distant cannon suddenly made the windows rattle; +boom again! It sounded as though it came from the Fort. "There you are," +said Tom, "there's your naval maneuvers. Perry won't stand any nonsense. +He's not afraid of the fog; in fact, it gives him a fine chance for an +attack." + +Johnny didn't answer, for he had meanwhile dozed off. As soon as he had +with considerable trouble got his tea-kettle into working order, he had +fallen fast asleep, and now began to snore with his nose pressed flat +on the table, as if he meant to saw it through before his tea was ready. + +Tom shrugged his shoulders in disgust, and said: "Those blamed drinks." + +Another boom! from outside. The door opened behind Tom and a telegraph +official looked in. "One, two," he counted, "two are there," and then he +closed the door again. + +Downstairs in the street a motor-cycle hurried past puffing and +rattling, the rider's figure looking like a gigantic elusive shadow +through the fog. + +Tom started to walk up and down again as the clock in the hall struck a +quarter to five. A bell rung in the next room. Steps were heard coming +up the stairs and a colleague of the other two came in, swearing at the +fog. He passed Johnny, poured out some of the latter's tea for himself +and drank it, meanwhile looking at the sleeper inquiringly. + +"It's the drinks," said Tom, grinning. + +"H'm," growled the other. Another motor-cycle went by on the street +below, and then another. + +Later on a group of ten motor-cycles rode past. + +"Did you see that, Harry?" asked Tom, who was standing at the window. + +"What?" + +"Didn't they have guns?" + +"They probably have something to do with the naval maneuvers." + +At this moment another group of ten men passed, and there was no doubt +of the fact that they carried guns. + +"I guess it is the naval maneuvers," asserted Tom. + +Boom! came the sound of another shot. + +"That's queer," said Tom. "What do you suppose it is?" He opened the +window and listened. "Do you hear it?" he asked Harry, who admitted +that he could also hear a rattling, scraping noise as though drums were +being beaten far away or as though a handful of peas had been thrown +against a pane of glass. + +Tom leaned further out of the window in time to see a bicycle rider stop +in front of the Post Office, take a big sheet of paper, moisten it with +a large brush, and stick it on the wall near the entrance; then he rode +off. Tom shut the window, for the fog seemed to be getting thicker and +thicker, and now, in the pale light of approaching dawn, it was almost +impossible to recognize the yellow spots of light on the lamp-posts. By +this time Johnny had awakened and they all had some tea together. + +They were interrupted by a fourth messenger boy, who entered the room at +this moment and exclaimed: + +"That's a great scheme of Admiral Perry's, and the fog seems to have +helped him a lot. What do you think? He has surprised San Francisco. +There's a notice posted downstairs stating that the Japanese have taken +possession of San Francisco and that the Japanese military governor of +San Francisco asks the citizens to remain quiet or the city will be +bombarded from the harbor by the Japanese fleet." + +"Perry is a great fellow, there's no use trying to fool with him," said +Tom. "San Francisco surprised by the Japs--that's a mighty fine scheme." + +Outside some one was tearing up the stairs two at a time, doors banged +noisily, and several bells rang. "Somebody's in a h--- of a hurry," said +Harry; "we'll have something to do in a minute." + +A telegraph operator hurriedly opened the door and with great beads of +perspiration rolling down his face, shouted at the top of his lungs: +"Boys, the Japanese have surprised San Francisco." + +A roar of laughter greeted this piece of information. + +"Stung!" cried Harry. "Stung! Perry is the Jap." + +"Perry?" inquired the newcomer, staring at the other four. "Who's +Perry?" + +"Don't you know, Mr. Allen, that there are naval maneuvers going on +to-day and that Admiral Perry is to surprise San Francisco with the +fleet?" + +"But there are notices at all the street-corners saying that the +Japanese governor of San Francisco begs the citizens----" + +"Yes, that's where the joke comes in. Perry is going to attack the town +as a Jap--that's his scheme." + +"You haven't had enough sleep," cried Tom. "If all the Japs looked like +Admiral Perry, then----" + +Tom broke off short and dropped his tea-cup on the floor, staring +blankly at the door as if he saw a ghost. Just behind Mr. Allen stood a +Jap, with a friendly grin on his face, but a Jap all the same, most +certainly and without the slightest doubt a Jap. He looked around the +bare office and said in fluent English: "I must ask you to remain in +this room for the present." With these words he raised his revolver and +kept a sharp eye on the five occupants. + +Johnny jumped up and felt instinctively for the revolver in his hip +pocket, but in a flash the muzzle of the Jap's gun was pointed straight +at him and mechanically he obeyed the order "Hands up!" + +"Hand that thing over here," said the Jap; "you might take it into your +head to use it," and he took Johnny's revolver and put it in his pocket. +Several Japanese soldiers passed by outside. Mr. Allen sank down on a +chair; not one of them could make head or tail of the situation. + +They were kept waiting for half an hour. Down below in the street, where +the wagons were beginning to rattle over the pavement, could be heard +the steady march of bodies of soldiers, frequently interrupted by the +noise of motor-cycles. There could no longer be any doubt--the affair +was getting serious. + +The lamps were extinguished and the gray light of dawn filled the rooms +as the head Postmaster made his rounds, guarded by a Japanese officer. + +The official was perspiring profusely from sheer nervousness. He begged +the employees to keep calm, and assured them that it was no joke, but +that San Francisco was really in the hands of the Japanese. It was the +duty of the employees and the citizens, he said, to refrain from all +resistance, so that a worse misfortune--a bombardment, he added in a +whisper--might not befall the city. + +The men were obliged to give up any weapons they had in their +possession, and these were collected by the Japanese. At seven o'clock, +when these details had been attended to, and the few telegraph +instruments which were kept in commission were being used by Japanese +operators--all the others had been rendered useless by the removal of +some parts of the mechanism--one of the regular operators asked to be +allowed to speak to the Postmaster. Permission having been granted by +the Japanese guard, he told his chief, in a low voice, that the moment +the Japanese soldiers had taken possession of the telegraph room he had +hurriedly dispatched a message to Sacramento, telling them that San +Francisco had been surprised by the Japanese fleet and that the whole +city was occupied by Japanese troops. + +"I thank you in the name of our poor country," said the Postmaster, +shaking the operator's hand, "I thank you with all my heart; you have +done a brave deed." + +Just at the time when the operator sent off his telegram to Sacramento, +a little, yellow, narrow-eyed fellow, lying in a ditch many miles +inland, far to the east of San Francisco, connected his Morse apparatus +with the San Francisco-Sacramento telegraph-wire, and intercepted the +following message: "Chief of Police, Sacramento.--San Francisco attacked +by Japanese fleet this morning; whole city in hands of Japanese army. +Resistance impossible, as attack took place in thick fog before dawn. +Help imperative." + +The little yellow man smiled contentedly, tore off the strip, and handed +it to the officer standing near him. The latter drew a deep breath and +said: "Thank Heaven, that's settled." + +At the time of the occupation of the Post Office building, the Japanese +outposts had already spun their fine, almost invisible silver threads +around all the telegraph-wires far inland and thus cut off all +telegraphic communication with the east. The telegram just quoted +therefore served only to tell the Japanese outposts of the overwhelming +success of the Japanese arms at the Golden Gate. + +But how had all this been accomplished? The enemy could not possibly +have depended on the fog from the outset. Nevertheless an unusual +barometrical depression had brought in its train several days of +disagreeable, stormy weather. The Japanese had been fully prepared for a +battle with the San Francisco forts and with the few warships stationed +in the harbor. The fact that they found such a strong ally in the fog +was beyond all their hopes and strategical calculations. + +When the sun sank in the waves of the Pacific on the sixth of May, every +Japanese had his orders for the next few hours, and the five thousand +men whose part it was to attend to the work to be accomplished in San +Francisco on the morning of the seventh, disappeared silently into the +subterranean caves and cellars of the Chinese quarter, to fetch their +weapons and be ready for action soon after midnight. + + + + +_Chapter VIII_ + +IN THE BOWELS OF THE EARTH + + +It was thought that the earthquake had done away forever with the +underground labyrinth of the Chinese quarter--those thousands of pens +inhabited by creatures that shunned the light of day, those mole-holes +which served as headquarters for a subterranean agitation, the +mysterious methods of which have never been revealed to the eye of the +white man. When had the old Chinatown been laid out; when had those +hidden warehouses, those opium dens and hiding-places of the Mongolian +proletariat been erected, those dens in which all manner of criminals +celebrated their indescribable orgies and which silently hid all these +evil-doers from the far-reaching arm of the police? When had the new +Chinatown sprung up? When had the new quarter been provided with an +endless network of subterranean passages, so that soon all was just as +it had been before the earthquake? No one had paid any attention to +these things. The Mongolian secret societies never paused for a moment +in their invisible conspiracy against the ruling whites, and succeeded +in creating a new underground world, over which the street traffic +rolled on obliviously. + +A narrow cellar entrance and greasy, slippery steps led into Hung Wapu's +store, behind which there was a chop-house, which in turn led into an +opium-den. The rooms behind the latter, from which daylight was forever +excluded, were reserved for still worse things. No policeman would ever +have succeeded in raiding these dens of iniquity; he would have found +nothing but empty rooms or bunks filled with snoring Chinese; the +abominable stench would soon have driven him out again, but if, by any +chance, he had attempted to penetrate further and to explore the walls +for the purpose of discovering hidden openings, the only result would +have been a story in the next day's papers about a "missing" policeman. + +Hung Wapu, whose plump face, with its enormous spectacles, resembled +that of an old fat boarding-house keeper, was standing at the entrance +to his cellar-shop late on the evening of May sixth. A disgusting odor +and the murmur of many voices reached the street from the cellar. The +policeman had just made his rounds, and Hung Wapu looked after him with +a cunning grin as his heavy steps died away in the distance. + +The coast was clear for two hours. Hung Wapu went in and locked the +door, above which a green paper-lantern swung gently to and fro in the +soft night wind. Hung Wapu passed through the store to the chop-house, +where several dozen Chinese were squatting on the ground dining on +unmentionable Chinese delicacies, which consisted of anything and +everything soft enough to be chewed. No one watching the vacant +expression of these people would have dreamed for a moment that anything +was wrong; no one observing these chattering, shouting sons of the +Celestial Kingdom would have guessed that anything out of the ordinary +was on foot. They kept on eating, and did not even look up when several +Japs stole, one by one, through their midst and disappeared through a +door at the back. The Japs apparently attracted no attention whatsoever, +but a keen observer would have noticed that Hung Wapu placed a little +saki-bowl on a low table for every Japanese visitor that had entered his +shop. + +The Japs all went through a side-door of the opium-den into a large +room, where they took off their outer clothing and put on uniforms +instead. Then they lay down to sleep either on the mats on the floor or +on the bundles of clothing which were stacked on the floor along the +walls of the room. + +Hung Wapu now accompanied one of his Chinese guests up the cellar-steps +to the street, and sitting down on the top step began to chat in a low +voice with his apparently half-intoxicated countryman. At the same time +he polished about two dozen little saki-bowls with an old rag, +afterwards arranging them in long rows on the pavement. + +The animated traffic in the narrow alley gradually died down. One by one +most of the gas-lamps closed their tired eyes, and only the green +paper-lantern above Hung Wapu's door continued to swing to and fro in +the night-wind, while similar spots of colored light were visible in +front of a few of the neighboring houses. Far away a clock struck the +hour of midnight, and somewhere else, high up in the air, a bell rang +out twelve strokes with a metallic sound. A cool current of air coming +from the harbor swept through the hot, ill-smelling alley. + +Hung Wapu went on whispering with his companion, and all the time he +continued to polish his little saki-bowls. After a while the visitor +fell asleep against the door-post and snored with all his might. Misty +shadows began to fall slowly and the lights of the street lamps took on +a red glow. Suddenly the figure of a drunken man appeared a little +distance away; he was carefully feeling his way along the houses, but as +soon as he came in sight of Hung Wapu's cellar, he suddenly seemed to +sober up for a minute and made directly for it. "Saki!" he stammered, +planting himself in front of Hung Wapu, whereupon the latter made a +sign. The drunken man, a Japanese, whose face looked ghastly pale in the +green light from the lantern, stared stupidly at the saki-bowls, which +Hung Wapu was trying to shield from the tottering wretch with his arm. + +"Twenty-eight bowls," he stammered to himself, "twenty-eight +saki-bowls----" + +At this moment the sleeping Chinaman awoke and looked at the drunken man +with a silly laugh. + +"Yes, twenty-eight saki-bowls; it's all right--twenty-eight saki-bowls," +repeated the drunken Jap, and reeled on along the houses. + +Hung Wapu seemed to have ended his day's work with the polishing of the +twenty-eight saki-bowls; he piled them up in a heap and disappeared with +them into his cellar, followed with extraordinary agility by the Chinese +sleeper. He hurried through the chop-house, the occupants of which were +all fast asleep on their straw mats, passed through the opium-den, and +then, in the third room, divested himself of his Chinese coat. The +silk-cap with the pigtail attached was flung into a corner, and then, +dressed in a khaki uniform, he seated himself at a table and studied a +map of the city of San Francisco, making notes in a small book by the +light of a smoky oil lamp. + +The drunken Jap, who had apparently had doubts about entering Hung +Wapu's chop-house, tottered on down the quiet street and made for +another paper-lantern, which hung above another cellar door about ten +houses farther on. + +Here too, curiously enough, he found the Chinese landlord sitting on the +top step. He wanted to push him aside and stumble down the steps, but +the Chinaman stopped him. + +"How much?" stuttered the drunken man. + +"How much?" answered the Chinaman. "How much money will the great +stranger pay for a meal for his illustrious stomach in Si Wafang's +miserable hut? Forty kasch, forty kasch the noble son of the Rising Sun +must pay for a shabby meal in Si Wafang's wretched hut." + +"Forty kasch? I'll bring the forty kasch, most noble Si Wafang. 'I won't +go home till morning, till daylight does appear,'" bawled the tipsy man, +and staggered on down the street, whereupon this landlord also +disappeared in his cellar, after extinguishing the paper lantern over +the doorway. + +A death-like stillness reigned in the street, and no one imagined that +the rats were assembling, that the underground passages were full of +them, and that it only needed a sign to bring the swarming masses to the +surface. + +A cold breeze from the sea swept through the deserted streets and a +misty veil enveloped the yellow light of the gas-lamps. The lanterns +hanging in front of the Chinese cellars were extinguished one by one, +and everyone apparently turned in. The fog became thicker and thicker, +and covered the pavement with moisture. + +Suddenly the door of Hung Wapu's cellar squeaked; it was opened +cautiously and a low clatter came up from below. Thirty dark forms crept +slowly up the steps, one after the other, and without a word they began +their march. Ten houses farther on a similar detachment poured out of +the other Chinese cellar and joined their ranks. + +The gas-lamps shed a dull, yellowish-red light on the gun-barrels of the +Japanese company, which was marching down to the docks. + +Two thousand steps farther on it had become a battalion, which marched +rapidly in the direction of the barracks of the Fifth Regiment of +regulars in the old Presidio. At the next corner the leader of the +battalion unobtrusively saluted a man in uniform who stepped suddenly +out of a doorway. A few Japanese words were exchanged in a low tone. + +"This is an unexpected ally," said the Japanese colonel, holding out his +hand in the dense fog. + +Four o'clock struck from the tower of the Union Ferry Depot, and out +from the sea, from the Golden Gate, came the bellowing voice of a +steamer's whistle. The two officers looked at each other and smiled, and +the troops continued their march. + +"Halloo!" shouted a roundsman to a policeman who had been leaning +against a lamp-post half asleep. "Halloo, Tom, wake up! Who are those +fellows over there; where the deuce are they going?" + +Tom opened his eyes, and up on the hill, a few blocks away, he could +faintly distinguish through the thick fog the outline of a group of +rapidly moving soldiers. "I guess they are some of our boys taking part +in the naval maneuver. You know, Perry's going to attack us to-day." + +"Well, I didn't know that," replied the roundsman. "They're great boys, +all right; up and about at four in the morning." Just then the angry +bellow from a steamer's whistle came across the water and abruptly ended +this early morning conversation. + +"I suppose that's Perry now," said Tom. "Well, he can't do much in this +beastly fog, anyway." + +"So long, Tom," answered the roundsman curtly as he slowly proceeded to +resume his interrupted rounds. + +An advance guard of a few men had been sent ahead. They found the sentry +at the barrack-gates fast asleep. When he awoke it was to discover +himself surrounded by a dozen men. He stared at them, still heavy with +sleep, and then reached mechanically for his gun; it was gone. He tried +to pull himself together, felt something cold pressed against his right +temple, and saw the barrel of a Browning pistol in the hand of the man +in front of him. + +"Hands up!" came the command in a low tone, and a few seconds later he +was bound and gagged. As he lay on the ground, he saw a whole battalion +of foreign soldiers half in the court-yard before the barracks, and +vague thoughts of naval maneuvers and surprises, of Admiral Perry and +the Japs went through his mind, till all at once the notion "Japs" +caused him to sit up mentally--weren't these men real Japanese? And if +so, what did it all mean? + +In the meantime double guards had occupied all the men's quarters, in +which Uncle Sam's soldiers began gradually to wake up. The guns and +ammunition had long ago passed into the hands of the Japs, and when at +last the reveille from a Japanese bugle woke up the garrison completely, +there was nothing to be done but to grind their teeth with rage and +submit to the inevitable. They had to form in line in the court-yard at +eight o'clock, and then, disarmed and escorted by Japanese troops, they +had to board the ferry-boats and cross over to Angel Island, while the +cannon on Fort Point (Winfield Scott) thundered out the last notes of +American resistance in San Francisco. + + * * * * * + +When, shortly after midnight, the guard had been relieved for the last +time, and only a few sleepy soldiers remained in the sentry-boxes of the +coast batteries of San Francisco, the enemy lay in ambush behind the +coast-line, ready, to the last man, to rise at a given signal and render +the unsuspecting American troops _hors de combat_ in their sleep. And +thus, before the sentinels had any idea what was going on, they were +disarmed and gagged. Not a single cry or shot was heard to warn the +sleeping soldiers. They awoke to find themselves confronted by Japanese +bayonets and gun-barrels, and resistance was utterly useless, for the +enemy, who seemed to be remarkably well posted, had already taken +possession of the ammunition and arms. + +And where, all this time, was Admiral Perry with his fleet? Nowhere. The +Japanese had made no mistake in relying on the traditional love of +sensation of the American press. The telegram sent on May sixth from Los +Angeles to the San Francisco _Evening Standard_ was nothing but a +Japanese trick. It notified the _Standard_ that Admiral Perry intended +during the naval maneuvers (which were actually to take place within the +next fortnight) to gain an entrance through the Golden Gate, and the +Japanese felt certain that the editor would not make inquiries at the +last moment as to the veracity of this report, which was not at all in +accord with previous arrangements, but would print it as it was, more +especially as it was signed by their usual correspondent. + +Thus the Japanese had reason to hope that no immediate suspicions would +be aroused by the appearance of warships in the Bay of San Francisco. +And so it turned out. The five Japanese armored cruisers and the torpedo +flotilla, which were to surprise and destroy the naval station and the +docks, were able to cross the entire bay under cover of the fog without +being recognized and to occupy the docks and the arsenal. Four +mortar-boats threatened Point Bonita and Lime Point, till they both +surrendered. + +What could the two cruisers _New York_ and _Brooklyn_, lying in dock for +repairs, do without a single ball-cartridge on board? What was the good +of the deck guards using up their cartridges before the red flag of +Nippon was hoisted above the Stars and Stripes? + +It is true there was a fight at one spot--out at Winfield Scott. +Although the fog proved of great assistance to the Japanese in a hundred +cases, the stipulated signal for attack, that is, the whistle of the +Japanese auxiliary cruiser _Pelung Maru_, for example, being taken for a +fog-signal, nevertheless an annoying surprise awaited the enemy +elsewhere. + +A steamer headed towards the Golden Gate in the wake of the _Pelung +Maru_ heard the roar of the sealions, and as this showed how near they +were to the cliffs, the vessel dropped anchor and instead of blowing its +whistle ordered the ship's bell to be rung. This was heard by the +_Pelung Maru_ a short distance ahead and interpreted as a sign that +something had occurred to disturb the plan of attack. A steamlaunch was +therefore sent out to look for the anchored ship. + +The latter was the German steamer _Siegismund_, whose captain, standing +on the bridge, suddenly saw a dripping little launch approaching with +its flag trailing behind it in the water. And just as in every cleverly +arranged plan one stupid oversight is apt to occur so it happened now. +The launch carried the Japanese flag and the lieutenant at the helm +called to the _Siegismund_ in Japanese. As they were directly before the +guns of the American batteries, the German captain didn't know what to +make of it. He couldn't imagine what the launch from a Japanese warship +could be doing here at dawn before the Golden Gate fortifications, and +thinking that the fact would be likely to be of interest to the +commander of the fort, he sent him the following wireless message: "Have +just met launch of a Japanese warship off Seal-Rocks; what does it +mean?" + +This information alarmed the garrison at Winfield Scott, and the men at +once received orders to man the guns. Then they waited breathlessly to +see what would happen next. + +An inquiry sent by wireless to the other stations remained unanswered, +because these were already in the hands of the Japanese, whose operators +were not quick-witted enough to send back a reassuring answer. As the +commander of the fort received no answer, he became suspicious, and +these suspicions were soon justified when a number of soldiers were +discovered trying to force their way into the narrow land entrance of +the fort. A few shots fired during the first bayonet assault and the +bullets landing within the fort showed that it was a serious matter. +Besides, a puff of wind dispersed the fog for a few seconds just then, +and the shadowy silhouettes of several large ships became visible. +Without a moment's hesitation the commander of Winfield Scott ordered +the men to open fire on them from the heavy guns. These were the shots +that had been heard at the San Francisco Post Office and Tom was quite +right in thinking that he heard the rattle of musketry directly +afterwards. + +But with the small stock of ammunition doled out to the coast defenses +in times of peace--there were plenty of blank cartridges for salutes--it +was impossible to hold Winfield Scott. The fort sent out a few dozen +shells into the fog pretty blindly, and, as a matter of fact, they hit +nothing. Then began the hopeless battle between the garrison and the +Japanese machine-guns, and although the shots from the latter were +powerless to affect the walls and the armor-plating, still they worked +havoc among the men. And the ammunition of the Americans disappeared +even more quickly than their men, so that when at ten o'clock two +Japanese regiments undertook to capture the fort by storm, the last +defender fell with practically the last cartridge. Then the Rising Sun +of Dai Nippon was substituted on the flagstaff of Winfield Scott for +the Stars and Stripes. + +In the city itself small Japanese guards were posted at the railway +station, the Post Office and the telegraph offices, at the City Hall and +at most of the public buildings, and as early as this, on the morning of +May seventh, troops for the march eastward were being landed at the pier +at Oakland. A standing garrison of only five thousand men was left in +San Francisco, and these at once occupied the coast-batteries and +prepared them for defense. The same thing was of course done with the +docks and the naval station, with Oakland and all the other towns +situated on the bay. + +The sudden appearance of the enemy had in every case had a positively +paralyzing effect. Among the inhabitants of the coast the terrible +feeling prevailed everywhere that this was the end, that nothing could +be done against an enemy whose soldiers crept out of every hole and +cranny, and even when a few courageous men did unite for the purpose of +defending their homes, they found no followers. It is a pity that others +did not show the resolute courage of a Mexican fisherman's wife, who +reached the harbor of San Francisco with a good catch early on Monday +morning and made fast to the pier close to a Japanese destroyer. Almost +immediately a Japanese petty officer came on board and demanded the +catch for the use of the Japanese army. The woman, a coarse beauty with +a fine mustache, planted herself in front of the Jap and shouted: "What, +you shrimp, you want our fish, do you?" and seizing a good-sized silver +fish lying on the deck, she boxed the astonished warrior's ears right +and left till he fell over backwards into the water and swam quickly +back to the destroyer, snorting like a seal, amidst the laughter of the +bystanders. + +The question naturally suggests itself at this point: Why didn't a +people as determined as the Americans rise like one man and, arming +themselves with revolvers and pistols and if it came to the worst with +such primitive weapons as knives and spokes, attack the various small +Japanese garrisons and free their country from this flood of swarming +yellow ants? The white handbills posted up at every street corner +furnished the answer to the question. + +The municipal authorities were made responsible to the Japanese military +governor, who was clever enough to leave the entire American municipal +administration unaltered, even down to the smallest detail. Even the +local police remained in office. The whole civil life went on as before, +and only the machine-guns in front of the Japanese guard-houses situated +at the various centers of traffic showed who was now ruler in the land. +All the officials and the whole city administration were bound by a +marvelously clever and effective system. + +In the proclamations issued by the Japanese military governor the city +was threatened, should the slightest sign of resistance occur, with acts +of vengeance that positively took one's breath away. Three Japanese +cruisers, with their guns constantly loaded and manned and aimed +directly at the two cities, lay between Oakland and San Francisco. They +had orders to show no mercy and to commence a bombardment at the first +sign of trouble. It did not seem to have occurred to any one that +although the bombardment of a town like San Francisco by a few dozen +guns might indeed have a bad moral effect, it would nevertheless be +impossible to do much harm. But the Japanese had other trump cards up +their sleeves. The military governor declared that the moment they were +compelled to use the guns, he would cut off all the available supply of +water and light, by which means all resistance would be broken down +within twenty-four hours. For this reason all the gas-works and +electric plants were transformed into little forts and protected by +cannon and machine-guns. Tens of thousands might try, in vain, to take +them by storm; the city would remain wrapped in darkness, except, as the +Japanese general remarked with a polite smile to the Mayor of San +Francisco, for the bright light of bursting shells. + +In the same way the municipal waterworks in San Francisco and all the +other towns occupied by the Japanese were insured against attack. Not +one drop of water would the town receive, and what that meant could be +best explained to the Mayor by his wife. And thus, in spite of their +often ridiculously small numbers, the Japanese troops were safe from +surprise, for the awful punishment meted out to the town of Stockton, +where a bold and quickly organized band of citizens destroyed the +Japanese garrison, consisting only of a single company, was not likely +to be disregarded. The entire population of the Pacific Coast was forced +to submit quietly, though boiling with rage, while at the same time all +listened eagerly for the report of cannon from the American army in the +east. But was there such a thing as an American army? Was there any +sense in hoping when months must pass before an American army could take +the field? + + * * * * * + +The deception of the _Evening Standard_ by means of the fatal telegram +was preceded by an instructive episode. Indeed, it might well be asked +whether anything that happened in this terrible time could not be traced +back pretty far. In order that the news of the naval maneuvers in the +_Evening Standard_ should receive sufficient attention on the critical +day, this paper and consequently the inhabitants of San Francisco had +for some months past been taught to expect over the signature "Our +Naval Correspondent," amazingly correct accounts of the movements of the +American fleet and all matters pertaining to the navy. + +Mr. Alfred Stephenson had hard work to keep his head above water as +editor of the _Los Angeles Advertiser_ at Los Angeles. The struggle for +existence gave him considerable cause for worry, and this was due to the +fact that Mrs. Olinda Stephenson wished to cut a figure in society, a +figure that was not at all compatible with her husband's income. Mr. +Stephenson was therefore often called upon to battle with temptation, +but for a long time he successfully withstood all offers the acceptance +of which would have lowered him in his own estimation. The consequence +was that financial discussion had become chronic in the Stephenson +household, and, like a Minister of Finance, he was compelled to develop +considerable energy in order to diminish the financial demands of the +opposition or render them void by having recourse to passive resistance. +This constant worry gradually exhausted Mr. Stephenson, however, and the +check-book, which, to save his face, he always carried with him, was +nothing more than a piece of useless bluff. + +He could therefore scarcely be blamed for eagerly seizing the +opportunity offered him one evening at a bar in Los Angeles, when a +stranger agreed to furnish him regularly with news from the Navy +Department for the _Evening Standard_. The affair had, of course, to be +conducted with the greatest secrecy. The stranger told Stephenson that a +clerk in the Navy Department was willing to send him such news for two +hundred dollars per annum. The result was astonishing. The articles +signed "Our Naval Correspondent" soon attracted wide attention, and the +large fees received from San Francisco quite covered the deficits in the +Stephenson household. Mrs. Olinda was soon rolling in money and the +tiresome financial discussions came to a speedy end. From that time on +Stephenson regularly received secret communications, which were mailed +at Pasadena, and as to the origin of which he himself remained in +complete ignorance. But these same messages enabled the _Evening +Standard_ in a brief space of time to establish a national reputation +for its naval news, which was at no time officially contradicted. + +The matter did not, of course, pass unnoticed in Washington, for it soon +became evident that secret dispatches were being misappropriated. +Vigorous efforts were made to discover the guilty person in the Navy +Department, but they all proved vain for the following reason: Among the +wireless stations used for maintaining constant communication between +the Navy Department at Washington and the various naval ports and naval +stations, and the fleet itself when at sea, was the large station on +Wilson's Peak near the observatory, whose shining tin-roof can be seen +plainly from Los Angeles when the sun strikes it. All messages arriving +there for transmission to San Diego and Mare Island could be readily +intercepted by the wireless apparatus attached inconspicuously to the +huge wind-wheel on an orange plantation between Pasadena and Los +Angeles. The uninitiated would have concluded that the wires had +something to do with a lightning-rod. The Japanese proprietor of the +plantation had simply to read the messages from the Morse key of his +apparatus and forward what he considered advisable to Mr. Stephenson by +mail. A few hours later the _Evening Standard_ was in a position to make +a scoop with the dispatches of its infallible naval correspondent. + +Thus Stephenson, without having the slightest suspicion of it, formed a +wheel in the great chain which prepared the way for the enemy, and since +the _Evening Standard_ had earned a reputation for publishing +absolutely reliable news in this field, no one for a moment doubted the +announcement of Admiral Perry's attack, although this was the first +spurious message which Stephenson had furnished to his paper. + + + + +_Chapter IX_ + +A FORTY-EIGHT-HOUR BALANCE + + +A steamer is lying at the pier taking in cargo. Long-legged cranes are +taking hold of bales and barrels and boxes and lowering them through the +ship's hatches with a rattle of chains. Wooden cases bound with steel +ropes and containing heavy machinery are being hoisted slowly from the +lorries on the railway tracks; the swaying burden is turning round and +round in the air, knocking against the railing with a groaning noise, +and tearing off large splinters of wood. The overseer is swearing at the +men at the windlass and comparing his papers with the slips of the +customs officer, the one making a blue check on the bill of lading and +the other taking note of each article on his long list. Suddenly a small +box comes to light, which has been waiting patiently since yesterday +under the sheltering tarpaulin. "A box of optical instruments," says the +customs officer, making a blue check. "A box of optical instruments," +repeats the overseer, making a mark with his moistened pencil-stump: +"Careful!" he adds, as a workman is on the point of tipping the heavy +box over. Then the hook of the crane seizes the loop in the steel rope +and with a stuttering rattling sound the wheels of the windlass set to +work, the steel wire grips the side of the box tightly, the barrel +beside it is pushed aside, and a wooden case enclosing a piece of +cast-iron machinery is scraped angrily over the slippery cobble-stones. +Heave ho, heave ho, chant the men, pushing with all their might. To the +accompaniment of splashing drops of oily water, puffs of steam, groans +of the windlass and the yells and curses of the stevedores, the whole +load, including the box of optical instruments, at last disappears in +the hold of the ship. It is placed securely between rolls of cardboard +next to some nice white boxes filled with shining steel goods. But when +the noise up above has died down, when with the approach of darkness the +rattling of the chains and the groaning of the windlasses has ceased, +when only the slow step of the deck-watch finds an echo--then it can be +heard. Inside the box you can hear a gentle but steady tick, tick, tick. +The clock-work is wound up and set to the exact second. Tick, tick, tick +it goes. When the ship is far out at sea and the passengers are asleep +and the watch calls out: "Lights are burning. All's well!" then the +works will have run down, the spring will stop and loosen a little +hammer. Ten kilograms of dynamite suffice. A quarter of an hour later +there'll be nothing left of the proud steamer but a few boats loaded +down with people and threatening every moment to be engulfed in the +waves. + +Tick, tick, tick, it goes down in the hold; the clock is set. Tick, +tick, tick, it goes on unceasingly, till the unknown hour arrives. No +one suspects the true nature of a piece of the cargo which certainly +looked innocent enough. Yet the hour is bound to come sooner or later, +but no one knows just when. + + * * * * * + +Nor had the country at large recognized that the hour was at hand. In +the time that it took the short hand of the clock to complete its round +four times, our country had completely changed its complexion, and the +balance drawn by the press on Tuesday morning after an interval of +forty-eight hours, had a perfectly crushing effect. Of course the +appearance of the enemy in the West at once produced a financial panic +in New York. On Monday morning the Wall Street stock-quotations of the +trans-continental railroads fell to the lowest possible figure, +rendering the shares about as valuable as the paper upon which they were +printed. Apparently enormous numbers of shares had been thrown on the +market in the first wild panic, but an hour after the opening of the +Stock Exchange, after billions had changed hands in mad haste, a slight +rise set in as a result of wholesale purchases by a single individual. +Yet even before this fact had been clearly recognized, the railway +magnates of the West had bought up all the floating stock without +exception. They could afford to wait for the millions they would pocket +until the American army had driven the enemy from the country. + +At the same time selling orders came pouring in from the other side by +way of London. The Old World lost no time in trying to get rid of its +American stocks, and the United States were made to realize that in the +hour of a political catastrophe every nation has to stand on its own +feet, and that all the diplomatic notes and the harmless +sentimentalities of foreign states will avail nothing. So it was after +the terrible night of Port Arthur and so it was now. + +It was of course as yet impossible to figure out in detail how the +Japanese had managed to take possession of the Pacific States within +twenty-four hours. But from the dispatches received from all parts of +the country during the next few days and weeks the following picture +could be drawn. The number of Japanese on American soil was in round +numbers one hundred thousand. The Japanese had not only established +themselves as small tradesmen and shopkeepers in the towns, but had also +settled everywhere as farmers and fruit-growers; Japanese coolies and +Mongolian workmen were to be found wherever new buildings were going up +as well as on all the railways. The yellow flood was threatening to +destroy the very foundations of our domestic economy by forcing down all +wage-values. The yellow immigrant who wrested spade and shovel, ax and +saw, from the American workman, who pushed his way into the factory and +the workshop and acted as a heartless strike breaker, was not only found +in the Pacific States but had pushed his way across the Rockies into the +very heart of the eastern section. And scarcely had he settled anywhere, +before, with the typical Tsushima grin, he demanded his political +rights. The individual Jap excited no suspicion and did not become +troublesome, but the Mongolians always managed to distribute their +outposts on American soil in such a way that the Japanese element never +attracted undue attention in any one particular spot. Nevertheless they +were to be found everywhere. + +We had often been told that every Japanese who landed on the Pacific +Coast or crossed the Mexican or Canadian borders was a trained soldier. +But we had always regarded this fact more as a political curiosity or a +Japanese peculiarity than as a warning. We never for a moment realized +that this whole immigration scheme was regulated by a perfect system, +and that every Japanese immigrant had received his military orders and +was in constant touch with the secret military centers at San Francisco, +who at stated periods sent out Japanese traders and agents--in reality +they were officers of the general staff, who at the same time made +important topographical notes for use in case of war--to control their +movements. Both the lumber companies in the State of Washington, which +brought hundreds of Japanese over from Canada, and the railways which +employed Japanese workmen were equally ignorant of the fact that they +had taken a Japanese regiment into their employ. + +Thus preparations for the coming war were conducted on a large scale +during the year 1907, until the ever-increasing flow of Japanese +immigrants finally led to those conflicts with which we are familiar. At +the time we regarded it as a triumph of American diplomacy when Japan, +in the face of California's threatening attitude, apparently gave in +after a little diplomatic bickering and issued the well-known +proclamation concerning emigration to Hawaii and the Pacific States, at +the same time dissolving several emigration companies at home. + +As a matter of fact Japan had already completed her military +preparations in our country in times of absolute peace, the sole +difficulty experienced being in connection with the concentration of the +remaining coolie importations. The Japanese invasion, which our +politicians dismissed as possible only in the dim and distant future, +was actually completed at the beginning of the year 1908. A Japanese +army stood prepared and fully armed right in our midst, merely waiting +until the military and financial conditions at home rendered the attack +feasible. + +When we glance to-day through the newspapers of that period, we cannot +help but smile at allowing ourselves to be persuaded that the Japanese +danger had been removed by the diplomatic retreat in Tokio and the +prohibition of emigration to North America. Our papers stated at the +time that Japan had recognized that she had drawn the bow too tight and +that she had yielded because Admiral Evans's fleet had demonstrated +conclusively that we were prepared. That only goes to show how little we +knew of the Mongolian character! + +We had become so accustomed to the large Japanese element in the +population of our Western States, that we entirely neglected to control +the harmless looking individuals. To be sure there wasn't a great deal +to be seen on the surface, but it would have been interesting to examine +some of the goods smuggled so regularly across the Mexican and Canadian +borders. Why were we content to allow the smuggling to continue without +interference, simply because we felt it couldn't be stamped out anyhow? +The Japanese did not resort to the hackneyed piano-cases and farming +machinery; they knew better than to employ such clumsy methods. The +goods they sent over the line consisted of neat little boxes full of +guns and other weapons which had been taken apart. And when a Japanese +farmer ordered a hay-cart from Canada, it was no pure chance that the +remarkably strong wheels of this cart exactly fitted a field-gun. The +barrel was brought over by a neighbor, who ordered iron columns for his +new house, inside of which the separate parts of the barrel were +soldered. It was in this way that, in the course of several years, the +entire equipment for the Japanese army came quietly and inconspicuously +across our borders. + +And then the Japanese are so clever, clever in putting together and +mounting their guns, clever in disguising them. Did it ever enter +anyone's head that the amiable landlord who cracked so many jokes at the +Japanese inn not far from the railroad station at Reno commanded a +battalion? Did anyone suppose that the casks of California wine in his +cellar in reality enclosed six machine-guns, and that in the yard behind +the house there was sufficient material to equip an entire company of +artillery inside of two hours, and that plenty of ammunition was stored +away in the attic in boxes and trunks ostensibly left by travelers to be +held until called for? As long as there's sufficient time at disposal, +all these things can be imported into the country bit by bit, and +without ever coming into conflict with the government. + +Things began to stir about the end of April. A great many Japs were +traveling about the country, but there was no reason why this +circumstance should have attracted special notice in a country like ours +where so much traveling is constantly done. The enemy were assembling. +The people arrived at the various stations and at once disappeared in +the country, bound for the different headquarters in the solitudes of +the mountains. There each one found his ammunition, his gun and his +uniform exactly as it was described in Japanese characters on the paper +which he had received on landing, and which had more than once been +officially revised or supplemented as the result of information received +from chance acquaintances who had paid him a visit. + +Everything worked like a charm; there wasn't a hitch anywhere. No one +had paid any particular attention to the fact, for example, in +connection with the fair to be held in the small town of Irvington on +May eighth, that numerous carts with Japanese farmers had arrived on the +Saturday before and that they had brought several dozen horses with +them. And who could object to their putting up at the Japanese inn +which, with its big stables, was specially suited to their purpose. At +first the Japanese owner had been laughed at, but later on he was +admired for his business ability in keeping the horse trade of Irvington +entirely in his own hands. + +When on the following day during church hours--the Japanese being +heathens--the streets lay deserted in their Sunday calm, the few people +who happened to be on Main Street and saw a field battery consisting of +six guns and six ammunition wagons turn out of the gate next to the +Japanese inn thought they had seen an apparition. The battery started +off at once at a sharp trot and left the town to take up a position out +in a field in the suburbs, where a dozen men were already busily at work +with spades and pick-axes digging a trench. + +The police of Irvington were at once notified, a sleepy official at the +Post Office was roused out of his slumbers, and a telegram was directed +to the nearest military post, but the latter proceeding was useless and +no answer was received, since the copper wires were long ago in the +control of the enemy. Even if it had got through, the telegraphic +warning would have come too late, for the military post in question, of +which half of the troops were, as usual, on leave, had been attacked and +captured by the Japanese at nine o'clock in the morning. + +A hundred thousand Japanese had established the line of an eastern +advance-guard long before the Pacific States had any idea of what was +up. During Sunday, after the capture of San Francisco, the occupation of +Seattle, San Diego and the other fortified towns on the coast, the +landing of the second detachment of the Japanese army began, and by +Monday evening the Pacific States were in the grip of no less than one +hundred and seventy thousand men. + + * * * * * + +When, on Sunday morning, the Japanese had cut off the railway +connections, they adopted the plan of allowing all trains going from +east to west to pass unmolested, so that there was soon quite a +collection of engines and cars to be found within the zone bounded by +the Japanese outposts. On the other hand, all the trains running +eastward were held up, some being sent back and others being used for +conveying the Japanese troops to advance posts or for bringing the +various lines of communication into touch with one another. In some +cases these trains were also used for pushing boldly much farther east, +the enemy thus surprising and overpowering a number of military posts +and arsenals in which the guns and ammunition for the militia were +stored. + +Only in a very few instances did this gigantic mechanism fail. One of +these accidents occurred at Swallowtown, where the mistake was made of +attacking the express-train to Umatilla instead of the local train to +Pendleton. The lateness of the former and the occupation of the station +too long before the expected arrival of the latter, and coupled to this +the heroic deed of the station-master, interfered unexpectedly with the +execution of the plan. The reader will remember that when the express +returned to Swallowtown, Tom's shanty was empty. The enemy had +disappeared and had taken the two captive farmers with them. The mounted +police, who had been summoned immediately from Walla Walla, found the +two men during the afternoon in their wagon, bound hand and foot, in a +hollow a few miles to the west of the station. They also discovered a +time-table of the Oregon Railway in the wagon, with a note in Japanese +characters beside the time for the arrival of the local train from +Umatilla. This time-table had evidently been lost by the leader of the +party on his flight. Soon after the police had returned to the +Swallowtown station that same evening, a Japanese military train passed +through, going in the direction of Pendleton. The train was moving +slowly and those within opened fire on the policeman, who lost no time +in replying. But the odds were too great, and it was all over in a few +minutes. + +By Monday evening the enemy had secured an immense quantity of railway +material, which had simply poured into their arms automatically, and +which was more than sufficient for their needs. + +The information received from Victoria (British Columbia) that a fleet +had been sighted in the Straits of San Juan de Fuca, whence it was said +to have proceeded to Port Townsend and Puget Sound, was quite correct. A +cruiser squadron had indeed passed Esquimault and Victoria at dawn on +Sunday, and a few hours later firing had been heard coming from the +direction of Port Townsend. The British harbor officials had suddenly +become extremely timid and had not allowed the regular steamer to leave +for Seattle. When, therefore, on Monday morning telegraphic inquiries +came from the American side concerning the foreign warships, which, by +the way, had carried no flag, ambiguous answers could be made without +arousing suspicion. Considerable excitement prevailed in Victoria on +account of the innumerable vague rumors of the outbreak of war; the +naval station, however, remained perfectly quiet. On Monday morning a +cruiser started out in the direction of Port Townsend, and after +exchanging numerous signals with Esquimault, continued on her course +towards Cape Flattery and the open sea. It will be seen, therefore, that +no particular zeal was shown in endeavoring to get at the bottom of the +matter. + +A battle between the Japanese ships and the forts of Port Townsend had +actually taken place. Part of the hostile fleet had escorted the +transport steamers to Puget Sound and had there found the naval depots +and the fortifications, the arsenal and the docks in the hands of their +countrymen, who had also destroyed the second-class battleship _Texas_ +lying off Port Orchard by firing at her from the coast forts previously +stormed and captured by them. They had surprised Seattle at dawn much in +the same way as San Francisco had been surprised, and they at once +began to land troops and unload their war materials. On the other hand, +an attempt to surprise Port Townsend with an insufficient force had +failed. The Americans had had enough sense to prohibit the Japanese from +coming too near to the newly armed coast defenses, and the better watch +which the little town had been able to keep over the Asiatics had made +it difficult for them to assemble a sufficiently large fighting +contingent. The work here had to be attended to by the guns, and the +enemy had included this factor in their calculations from the beginning. + +How thoroughly informed the Japanese were as to every detail of our +coast defenses and how well acquainted they were with each separate +battery, with its guns as well as with its ammunition, was clearly +demonstrated by the new weapon brought into the field in connection with +the real attack on the fortifications. Of course Japanese laborers had +been employed in erecting the works--they worked for such ridiculously +low wages, those Japanese engineers disguised as coolies. With the eight +million two hundred thousand dollars squeezed out of Congress in the +spring of 1908--in face of the unholy fear on the part of the nation's +representatives of a deficit, it had been impossible to get more--two +new mortar batteries had been built on the rocky heights of Port +Townsend. These batteries, themselves inaccessible to all ships' guns, +were in a position to pour down a perpendicular fire on hostile decks +and could thus make short work of every armored vessel. + +Now the Japanese had already had a very unpleasant experience with the +strong coast fortifications of Port Arthur. In the first place, +bombarding of this nature was very injurious to the bores of the ships' +guns, and secondly, the results on land were for the most part nominal. +Not without reason had Togo tried to get at the shore batteries of Port +Arthur by indirect fire from Pigeon Bay. But even that, in spite of +careful observations taken from the water, had little effect. And even +the strongest man-of-war was helpless against the perpendicular fire of +the Port Townsend mortar batteries, because it was simply impossible for +its guns, with their slight angle of elevation, to reach the forts +situated so high above them. And if the road to Seattle, that important +base of operations in the North, was not to be perpetually menaced, then +Port Townsend must be put out of commission. + +But for every weapon a counter-weapon is usually invented, and every new +discovery is apt to be counterbalanced by another. The world has never +yet been overturned by a new triumph of skill in military technics, +because it is at once paralyzed by another equally ingenious. And now, +at Port Townsend, very much the same thing happened as on March ninth, +1862. In much the same way that the appearance of the _Merrimac_ had +brought destruction to the wooden fleet until she was herself forced to +flee before Ericsson's _Monitor_ at Hampton Roads, so now at Port +Townsend on May seventh a new weapon was made to stand the crucial test. +Only this time we were not the pathfinders of the new era. + +While the Japanese cruisers, keeping carefully beyond the line of fire +from the forts, sailed on to Seattle, four ships were brought into +action against the mortar batteries of Port Townsend which appeared to +set at defiance all known rules of ship-building, and which, +indestructible as they were, threatened to annihilate all existing +systems. They were low vessels which floated on the water like huge +tortoises. These mortar-boats, which were destined to astound not only +the Americans but the whole world, had been constructed in Japanese +shipyards, to which no stranger had ever been admitted. In place of the +ordinary level-firing guns found on a modern warship, these uncanny gray +things carried 17.7-inch howitzers, a kind of mortar of Japanese +construction. There was nothing to be seen above the low deck but a +short heavily protected funnel and four little armored domes which +contained the sighting telescopes for the guns, the mouths of which lay +in the arch of the whaleback deck. Four such vessels had also been +constructed for use at San Francisco, but the quick capture of the forts +had rendered the mortar-boats unnecessary. + +We were constantly being attacked in places where no thought had been +given to the defense, and the fortifications we did possess were never +shot at from the direction they faced. Our coast defenses were +everywhere splendidly protected against level-firing guns, which the +Japanese, however, unfortunately refrained from using. With their +mortar-boats they attacked our forts in their most vulnerable spot, that +is, from above. With the exception of Winfield Scott, the batteries at +Port Townsend were the only ones on our western coast which at once +construed the appearance of suspicious-looking ships on May seventh as +signs of a Japanese attack, and they immediately opened fire on the four +Japanese cruisers and on the transport steamers. But before this fire +had any effect, the hostile fleet changed its course to the North and +the four mortar-boats began their attack. They approached to within two +nautical miles and opened fire at once. + +What was the use of our gunners aiming at the flat, gray arches of these +uncanny ocean-tortoises? The heavy shells splashed into the water all +around them, and when one did succeed in hitting one of the boats, it +was simply dashed to pieces against the armor-plate, which was several +feet thick, or else it glanced off harmlessly like hail dancing off the +domed roof of a pavilion. The only targets were the flames which shot +incessantly out of the mouths of the hostile guns like out of a +funnel-shaped crater. + +By noon all the armored domes of the Port Townsend batteries had been +destroyed and one gun after another had ceased firing. The horizontal +armor-plates, too, which protected the disappearing gun-carriages +belonging to the huge guns of the other forts, had not been able to +withstand the masses of steel which came down almost perpendicularly +from above them. One single well-aimed shot had usually sufficed to +cripple the complicated mechanism and once that was injured, it was +impossible to bring the gun back into position for firing. The concrete +roofs of the ammunition rooms and barracks were shot to pieces and the +traverses were reduced to rubbish heaps by the bursting of the numerous +shells of the enemy. And all that was finally left round the tattered +Stars and Stripes was a little group of heavily wounded gunners, +performing their duty to the bitter end, and these heroes were honored +by the enemy by being permitted to keep their arms. They were sent by +steamer from Seattle to the Canadian Naval Station at Esquimault on the +seventh of May, and their arrival inspired the populace to stormy +demonstrations against the Japanese, this being the first outward +expression of Canadian sympathy for the United States. The Canadians +felt that the time had come for all white men to join hands against the +common danger, and the policy of the Court of St. James soon became +intensely unpopular throughout Canada. What did Canada care about what +was considered the proper policy in London, when here at their very door +necessity pressed hard on their heels, and the noise of war from across +the border sounded a shrill Mene Tekel in the white man's ear? + + * * * * * + +There were therefore no less than one hundred and seventy thousand +Japanese soldiers on American soil on Tuesday morning, May ninth. In the +north, the line of outposts ran along the eastern border of the States +of Washington and Oregon and continued through the southern portion of +Idaho, always keeping several miles to the east of the tracks of the +Oregon Short Line, which thus formed an excellent line of communication +behind the enemy's front. At Granger, the junction of the Oregon Short +Line and the Union Pacific, the Japanese reached their easternmost +bastion, and here they dug trenches, which were soon fortified by means +of heavy artillery. From here their line ran southward along the Wasatch +Mountains, crossed the great Colorado plateau and then continued along +the high section of Arizona, reaching the Mexican boundary by way of +Fort Bowie. + +Only in the south and in the extreme north did railroads in any +respectable number lead up to the Japanese front. In the center, +however, the roads by way of which an American assault could be made, +namely the Union Pacific at Granger, the Denver and Rio Grande at Grand +Junction, and further south the Atcheson, Topeka & Santa Fe, approached +the Japanese positions at right angles, and at these points captive +balloons and several air-ships kept constant watch toward the east, so +that there was no possibility of an American surprise. In the north +strong field fortifications along the border-line of Washington and +Idaho furnished sufficient protection, and in the south the sunbaked +sandy deserts of New Mexico served the same purpose. Then, too, the +almost unbroken railway connection between the north and the south +allowed the enemy to transport his reserves at a moment's notice to any +point of danger, and the Japs were clever enough not to leave their +unique position to push further eastward. Any advance of large bodies +of troops would have weakened all the manifold advantages of this +position, and besides the Japanese numbers were not considerable enough +to warrant an unnecessary division of forces. + +And what had we in the way of troops to oppose this hostile invasion? +Our regular army consisted, on paper, of sixty thousand men. Fifteen +thousand of these had been stationed in the Pacific States, composed +principally of the garrisons of the coast forts; all of these without +exception were, by Monday morning, in the hands of the Japanese. This at +once reduced the strength of our regular army to forty-five thousand +men. Of this number eighteen thousand were in the Philippines and, +although they were not aware of it, they had to all intents and purposes +been placed _hors de combat_, both at Mindanao and in the fortifications +of Manila. Besides these the two regiments on the way from San Francisco +to Manila and the garrison of Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, +could be similarly deducted. It will be seen, therefore, that, only +twenty-five thousand men of our regular army were available, and these +were scattered over the entire country: some were in the numerous +prairie-forts, others on the Atlantic coast, still others in Cuba and in +Porto Rico. Thus twenty-five thousand men were pitted against a force +not only seven times as large, but one that was augmented hourly by +hundreds of newcomers. On Monday the President had called out the +organized militia and on the following day he sent a special message to +Congress recommending the formation of a volunteer army. The calls to +arms were posted in the form of huge placards at all the street-corners +and at the entrances to the speedily organized recruiting-offices. In +this way it was possible, to be sure, within a few months to raise an +army equal to that of the enemy so far as mere numbers were concerned, +and the American citizen could be relied upon. But where were the +leaders, where was the entire organization of the transport, of the +commissariat, of the ambulance corps--we possessed no military +train-corps at all--and most important of all, where were the arms to +come from? + +The arsenals and ammunition-depots in the Pacific States were in the +hands of the enemy, the cannon of our far western field-artillery depots +had aided in forming Japanese batteries, and the Japanese flag was +waving above our heavy coast guns. The terrible truth that we were for +the present absolutely helpless before the enemy had a thoroughly +disheartening effect on all classes of the population as soon as it was +clearly recognized. In impotent rage at this condition of utter +helplessness and in their eagerness to be revenged on the all-powerful +enemy, men hurried to the recruiting-offices in large numbers, and the +lists for the volunteer regiments were soon covered with signatures. The +citizens of the country dropped the plow, stood their tools in the +corner and laid their pens away; the clattering typewriters became +silent, and in the offices of the sky-scrapers business came to a +stand-still. Only in the factories where war materials were manufactured +did great activity reign. + +For the present there was at least one dim hope left, namely the fleet. +But where was the fleet? After our battle-fleet had crossed the Pacific +to Australia and Eastern Asia, it returned to the Atlantic, while a +squadron of twelve battleships and four armored cruisers was sent under +Admiral Perry to the west coast and stationed there, with headquarters +at San Francisco. To these ships must be added the regular Pacific +squadron and Philippine squadron. The remaining ships of our fleet were +in Atlantic waters. + +That was the fatal mistake committed in the year of our Lord 1909. In +vain, all in vain, had been the oft-repeated warning that in face of the +menacing Japanese danger the United States navy should be kept together, +either in the west or in the east. Only when concentrated, only in the +condition in which it was taken through the Straits of Magellan by +Admiral Evans, was our fleet absolutely superior to the Japanese. Every +dispersal, every separation of single divisions was bound to prove +fatal. Article upon article and pamphlet upon pamphlet were written +anent the splitting-up of our navy! And yet what a multitude of entirely +different and mutually exclusive tasks were set her at one and the same +time! Manila was to be protected, Pearl Harbor was to have a naval +station, the Pacific coast was to be protected, and there was to be a +reserve fleet off the eastern coast. + +And yet it was perfectly clear that any part of the fleet which happened +to be stationed at Manila or Hawaii would be lost to the Americans +immediately on the outbreak of hostilities. But we deluded ourselves +with the idea that Japan would not dare send her ships across the +Pacific in the face of our little Philippine squadron, whereas not even +a large squadron stationed at Manila would have hindered the Japanese +from attacking us. Even such a squadron they could easily have destroyed +with a detachment of equal strength, without in any way hindering their +advance against our western shores, while the idea of attempting to +protect an isolated colony with a few ships against a great sea-power +was perfectly ridiculous. The strong coast fortifications and a division +of submarines--the two stationed there at the time, however, were really +not fit for use--would have sufficed for the defense of Manila, and +anything beyond that simply meant an unnecessary sacrifice of forces +which might be far more useful elsewhere. + +After our fleet had been divided between the east and the west, both the +Pacific fleet and the reserve Atlantic fleet were individually far +inferior to the Japanese fleet. The maintenance of a fleet in the +Pacific as well as of one in the Atlantic was a fatal luxury. It was +superfluous to keep on tap a whole division of ships in our Atlantic +harbors merely posing as maritime ornaments before the eyes of Europe or +at the most coming in handy for an imposing demonstration against a +refractory South-American Republic. All this could have been done just +as well with a few cruisers. English money and Japanese intrigues, it is +true, succeeded in always keeping the Venezuelan wound open, so that we +were constantly obliged to steal furtive glances at that corner of the +world, one that had caused us so much political vexation. Matters had +indeed reached a sorry pass if our political prestige was so shaky, that +it was made to depend on Mr. Castro's valuation of the forces at the +disposal of the United States! + +In consideration of the many unforeseen delays that had occurred in the +work of digging the Panama Canal, there was only one policy for us to +adopt until its completion, and that was to keep our fleet together and +either to concentrate it in the Pacific and thus deter the enemy from +attacking our coasts, regardless of what might be thought of our action +in Tokio, or to keep only a few cruisers in the Pacific, as formerly, +and to concentrate the fleet in the Atlantic, so as to be able to attack +the enemy from the rear with the full force of our naval power. But +these amateur commissioners of the public safety who wished to have an +imposing squadron on view wherever our flag floated--as if the Stars and +Stripes were a signal of distress instead of a token of +strength--condemned our fleet to utter helplessness. In 1908, when +there was no mistaking the danger, we, the American people, one of the +richest and most energetic nations of the world, nevertheless allowed +ourselves in the course of the debate on the naval appropriations to be +frightened by Senator Maine's threat of a deficit of a few dollars in +our budget, should the sums that were absolutely needed in case our +fleet was to fulfill the most immediate national tasks be voted. This +was the short-sighted policy of a narrow-minded politician who, when a +country's fate is hanging in the balance, complains only of the costs. +It was most assuredly a short-sighted policy, and we were compelled to +pay dearly for it. + +The voyage of our fleet around South America had shown the world that +the value of a navy is not impaired because a few drunken sailors +occasionally forget to return to their ship when in port: on the +contrary, foreign critics had been obliged to admit that our navy in +point of equipment and of crews was second to none. And lo and behold, +this remarkable exhibition of power--the only sensible idea evolved by +our navy department in years--is followed by the insane dispersal of our +ships to so many different stations. + +How foolish had it been, furthermore, to boast as we did about having +kept up communication with Washington by wireless during the whole of +our journey around South America. Had not the experience at Trinidad, +where a wireless message intercepted by an English steamer had warned +the coal-boats that our fleet would arrive a day sooner, taught us a +lesson? And had not the way in which the Japanese steamer, also provided +with a wireless apparatus, stuck to us so persistently between +Valparaiso and Callao shown us plainly that every new technical +discovery has its shady side? + +No, we had learned nothing. In Washington they insisted on sending all +orders from the Navy Department to the different harbors and naval +stations by wireless, yet each of the stations along the whole distance +from east to west provided possibilities of indiscretion and treachery +and of unofficial interception. Why had we not made wireless telegraphy +a government monopoly, instead of giving each inhabitant of the United +States the right to erect an apparatus of his own if he so wished? Did +it never occur to anybody in Washington that long before the orders of +the Navy Department had reached Mare Island, Puget Sound and San Diego +they had been read with the greatest ease by hundreds of strangers? It +required the success of the enemy to make all this clear to us, when we +might just as well have listened to those who drew conclusions from +obvious facts and recommended caution. + +In spite of all this, the press on Tuesday morning still adhered to the +hope that Admiral Perry would attack the enemy from the rear with his +twelve battleships of the Pacific squadron, and that, meeting the +Japanese at their base of operations, he would cut off all threads of +communication between San Francisco and Tokio. It was no longer possible +to warn Perry of his danger, since the wireless stations beyond the +Rockies were already in the enemy's hands. The American people could +therefore only trust to luck; but blind chance has never yet saved a +country in its hour of direst need. It can only be saved by the energy, +the steady eye and the strong hand of men. All hope centered in Admiral +Perry, in his energy and his courage, but the people became uneasy when +no answer was received to the oft-repeated question: "Where is the +Pacific fleet?" Yes, where was Admiral Perry? + + + + +_Chapter X_ + +ADMIRAL PERRY'S FATE + + +The wireless apparatus on board Admiral Perry's flag-ship, the +_Connecticut_, rattled and crackled and on the strip of white paper +slowly ejected by the Morse machine appeared the words: "Magdalen Bay to +Commander-in-chief of Squadron, May 7, 8h. 25. A cruiser and two +torpedo-boats sighted four miles N.W. with course set towards Magdalen +Bay; uncertain whether friend or foe. Captain Pancoast." + +The man at the instrument tore off the duplicate of the strip and pasted +it on the bulletin, touched the button of an electric bell and handed +the message to the signalman who answered the ring. The telephone bell +rang directly afterwards and from the bridge came the order: "Magdalen +Bay to establish immediate connection by wireless with cruiser and +torpedoes; ascertain whether they belong to blue or yellow party." + +The officer ticked off the message at great speed. + +"This looks like bad weather," he said to himself, while waiting for the +answer. The increased rocking of the ship showed that the sea was +getting rougher. A black pencil, which had been lying in the corner +between the wall and the edge of the table, suddenly came to life and +began rolling aimlessly about. The officer picked it up and drew a map +of the location of Magdalen Bay as far as he could remember it. "Four +miles," he murmured, "they ought to be able to identify the ships at +that distance with the aid of a glass." + +Suddenly the instrument began to buzz and rattle and amidst a discharge +of little electric sparks the strip of white paper began to move out +slowly from beneath the letter roller. + + "Magdalen Bay to Commander-in-chief of Squadron, May 7, 8 h. 53: + Approaching cruiser, probably yellow armored cruiser _New York_; does + not answer call. Captain Pancoast." + +The officer hadn't had time to get the message ready for the bridge, +when the instrument again began to rattle madly: + +"Take care of Kxj31mpTwB8d--951SR7--J," warned the strip in its mute +language; then nothing further; complete silence reigned. "What does +this mean?" said the officer, "this can't be all." + +He knocked on the coherer, then put in a new one: not a sign. He took a +third, a fourth, he knocked and shook the instrument, but it remained +dumb. With his Morse-key he asked back: + +"Magdalen Bay, repeat message!" + +No answer. + +Then he asked: "Did you understand question?" + +No answer. + +The signalman was standing beside him, and he handed him the message +with the order to take it at once to the bridge; then he went to the +telephone and took off the receiver. "This is Sergeant Medlow. I've just +received from Magdalen Bay the message now on the way to the bridge: +'Take care of--' then the connection was cut off.... All right, sir." + +Two minutes later an excited lieutenant rushed in crying: "What's the +matter with the apparatus?" + +"It won't work, sir; it stopped in the middle of a sentence." + +"Take a new coherer!" + +"I've tried four." + +They both tapped the coherer, but nothing happened. All questions +remained unanswered, and they seemed to be telegraphing into space. + +"Probably a breakdown," said the lieutenant naively. + +"Yes, sir, probably a breakdown," repeated Medlow; and then he was alone +once more. + + * * * * * + +The officer on duty on the bridge of the _Connecticut_ had informed +Captain Farlow, commander of the ship, of the latest messages from +Magdalen Bay, and when he now appeared on the bridge in company with +Admiral Perry, the officer held out the two bulletins. The admiral +studied them thoughtfully and murmured: "_New York_, it's true she +belongs to the yellow fleet, but what brings her to Magdalen Bay? +Admiral Crane cannot possibly be so far to the southeast with his +squadron, for the latest news from our outposts led us to believe that +he intended to attack us from the west." + +"But he may be going to surprise Magdalen Bay, Admiral," said Captain +Farlow. + +"Perhaps," replied the Admiral, rather sharply, "but will you tell me +what for? There are only two torpedo-boats at Magdalen Bay, and to +destroy a wireless station from which there are no messages to be sent +would be a rather silly thing for an overzealous commander of the yellow +fleet to do. And besides we have special orders from Washington to draw +Magdalen Bay as little as possible into the maneuvers, so as to avoid +all unpleasantness with Mexico and not to attract the attention of +foreigners to the importance which the bay would assume in case of war." + +A lieutenant stepped up to Captain Farlow and reported, saluting: "All +attempts to establish connection with Magdalen Bay have failed." + +"Well, let it go," grumbled Admiral Perry, "Crane seems to have deprived +us of Magdalen Bay, but the commander of the _New York_ will reap a fine +reprimand from Washington for this." + +With these words Admiral Perry left the bridge, steadying himself by +holding on to the railing on both sides of the steps, as the sea was +becoming rougher every minute. + +The increasing northeast wind tore through the rigging, whistled in the +wires, howled through all the openings, screamed its bad temper down the +companionways, pulled savagely at the gun-covers and caused the long +copper-wires belonging to the wireless apparatus to snap like huge +whips. The bluish-gray waves broke with a hollow sound against the sides +of the six battleships of the _Connecticut_ class, which were running +abreast in a northwesterly direction through the dreary watery wastes of +the Pacific at the rate of ten knots an hour. + +There was a high sea on. A barometric depression that was quite unusual +in these sunny latitudes at that particular time of year had brought +nasty weather in its train. During the night violent rain-storms had +flooded the decks. Now the wind freshened and swept low-hanging clouds +before it. The sharp white bow of the _Connecticut_ with the pressure of +16,000 tons of steel behind it plowed its way through the water, +throwing up a hissing foaming wave on each side. The wind lashed the +waves on the starboard-side so that they splashed over the forepart of +the cruiser like a shower of rain, enveloping it in a gray mist. The +thick, black smoke pouring out of the three long funnels was blown +obliquely down to the edge of the water and hung there like a thick +cloud which shut off the western horizon and made the passage of the +squadron visible a long distance off. The small openings in the +casemates of the armored guns had been closed up long before, because +the waves had begun to wash over them, and even the turrets on the upper +deck had received a few heavy showers which had flooded their interiors. +It was indeed nasty weather. + +Captain Farlow had taken up his stand on the upper conning-tower of the +_Connecticut_ the better to examine the horizon with his glass, but a +thick curtain of rain rendered it almost invisible. + +"Nothing to be seen of our cruisers," he said to the navigating officer +of the squadron, "this is disgusting weather for maneuvers." + +Then he gave the command to telephone across to the two leading cruisers +_California_ and _Colorado_ and ask if, on account of the thick weather, +they required the assistance of two small cruisers in order to be +sufficiently protected against the yellow fleet? + +The commander of the _California_ answered in the affirmative and asked +that the three destroyers in the van, which had all they could do to +maintain their course in such a heavy sea, and were therefore of little +use in their present position, be recalled and replaced by two cruisers. + +The admiral recalled the three destroyers by a wireless signal and +ordered them to take up their position in the rear beside the other +three destroyers and to assist in protecting the rear of the squadron. +At the same time he strengthened his front line by sending the cruisers +_Galveston_ and _Chattanooga_, which had formed the port and starboard +flank, respectively, to the van. His advance, consisting now of the two +last-named cruisers and the two armored cruisers, proceeded in a flat +wedge formation, while the cruiser _Denver_ to starboard and the +_Cleveland_ to port, at a distance of three knots from the squadron, +established the connection between the van and the rather dubious +rear-guard of destroyers, which could scarcely do much in such weather. + +The _Galveston_ and _Chattanooga_, both pouring forth clouds of smoke, +quickly assumed their positions at the head of the line. + +Captain Farlow paced restlessly up and down the bridge in his oilskins. +"I suppose this is the last remnant of the spring storms," he said to +his navigating officer, "but it's a good-sized one. If we didn't have a +fairly good formation the yellow fleet could play us a nasty trick by +taking us by surprise in such weather." + +"A wireless message from the cruiser _California_," said a lieutenant, +handing it to the captain, who read: + +"_Chattanooga_ and _Galveston_ stationed on right and left flanks of +advance guard; _Denver_ and _Cleveland_ establish connection between +latter and squadron. No sign of yellow fleet." + +Just then an orderly appeared and requested Captain Farlow to report to +Admiral Perry. + +The squadron continued on its way. The northeast wind increased, driving +black scurrying clouds before it which swept across the foaming waves +and suddenly enveloped everything in glimmering darkness. The rain +poured down on the decks in sheets and everything was swimming in a +splashing flood. What with the downpour of the rain and the splashing of +the waves, it was often impossible for the lookouts to see a yard ahead. +Added to all this was a disagreeable sticky, humid heat. It was surely +more comfortable below deck. + + * * * * * + +"What do you think of this Magdalen Bay affair?" asked the admiral of +the captain as the latter entered the admiral's cabin; "it is worrying +me considerably." + +"In my opinion," was the answer, "it's a piece of crass stupidity on +the part of the commander of the _New York_. It is all nonsense to play +such tricks with a country where we are not particularly welcome guests +at any time, in spite of all the diplomatic courtesies of Porfirio Diaz. +The gentlemen over in Tokio have every movement of ours in the bay +watched by their many spies, and their diplomatic protests are always +ready." + +"Certainly," said the admiral, "certainly, but our maneuvers are +supposed to reflect actual war, and--between ourselves--there's no doubt +but that we should treat Magdalen Bay in time of war just as though it +were American soil." + +"In time of war, yes," answered the captain eagerly, "but it's foolish +to show our hand in a maneuver, in time of peace. Even if we do act as +though Magdalen Bay belonged to us, whereas in reality we have only been +permitted to use it as a coaling-station and had no right to erect a +wireless station as we did, it is nevertheless inexcusable to use that +particular spot for maneuver operations. If it once becomes known in +Mexico, the diplomats there, who are always dying of ennui, will make +trouble at once, and as we don't suffer from a surplus of good friends +at any time, we ought to avoid every opportunity of giving them a +diplomatic lever through maneuver blunders." + +"Then the best plan," said the admiral in a thoughtful tone, "would be +to report the circumstances to Washington at once, and suggest to them +that it would be advisable to represent the attack on Magdalen Bay as +the result of too much zeal on the part of a poorly posted commander and +to apologize to Mexico for the mistake." + +"That would certainly be the correct thing to do," answered Farlow, +adding, "for when we do have our reckoning with the yellow...." + +Here the telephone bell in the cabin rang madly and Captain Farlow +jumped up to answer it; but in his excitement he had forgotten all about +the rolling of the ship, and consequently stumbled and slipped along the +floor to the telephone. The admiral could not help smiling, but at once +transformed the smile into a frown when the door opened to admit an +orderly, who was thus also a witness of Captain Farlow's sliding party. +The latter picked himself up with a muttered oath and went to the +telephone. + +"What," he shouted, "what's that, Higgins? You must be crazy, man! +Admiral Crane's fleet, the yellow fleet? It's impossible, we've got our +scouts out on all sides!" + +Then he turned halfway round to the admiral, saying: "The navigator is +seeing ghosts, sir; he reports that Admiral Crane with the yellow fleet +has been sighted to windward three knots off!" He hurried towards the +door and there ran plumb against the orderly, whom he asked sharply: +"What are you doing here?" + +"The navigator, Lieutenant Higgins, reports that several ships have been +sighted to starboard three miles ahead. Lieutenant Higgins thinks...." + +"Lieutenant Higgins thinks, of course, that it is Admiral Crane's yellow +fleet," snarled Farlow. + +"Yes, sir," answered the orderly, "the yellow fleet," and stared in +astonishment at the commander of the _Connecticut_, who, followed by +Admiral Perry, rushed up the stairs. + +"Oh, my oilskins!..." With this exclamation the commander reached the +top of the staircase leading to the bridge deck, where a violent rush of +greenish-gray water from a particularly enormous wave drenched him from +head to foot. + +"Now, then, Mr. Higgins," he called, wiping the water from his eyes and +mustache, "where is the yellow fleet?" + +The navigator was staring out to sea through his glass trying to +penetrate the thick veil of rain. The storm howled and showers of foam +burst over the decks of the _Connecticut_, the water washing over +everything with a dull roar. + +Captain Farlow had no need to inquire further. That was Admiral Crane +and his yellow fleet sure enough! + +The silhouettes of six large battleships looking like phantom-ships +rising from the depths of the boiling ocean could be plainly seen +through the rain and waves about six thousand yards to starboard of the +_Connecticut_. + +"Clear ships for action!" commanded the captain. The navigator and +another lieutenant hurried to the telephones and transmitted the order. +The flag lieutenant of the squadron rushed to the telephone leading to +the wireless room, and ordered a message forwarded to all of the ships +of the squadron to proceed at full speed. For safety's sake the order +was repeated by means of flag signals. + +While from the bridge the officers were watching the gray phantoms of +the strange armored fleet, it continued calmly on its course. The +leading ship threw up great masses of foam like huge exploding +fountains, which covered the bow with showers of gray water. + +In a few minutes things began to get lively within the steel body of the +_Connecticut_. The sounds of shrill bugle-calls, of the loud ringing of +bells, of excited calls and a hurried running to and fro, came up from +below. + +In the midst of the water pouring over the deck appeared the sailors in +their white uniforms. They at once removed the gun-coverings, while +peculiarly shrill commands resounded above the roar of the wind and the +waves. + +Great quantities of thick, black smoke poured from the yellowish brown +funnels, to be immediately seized and broken up by the wind. The reserve +signalmen for duty on the bridge as well as the fire-control detail took +up their positions. + +One lieutenant climbed hastily up into the military top of the foremast. +Two other officers and a few midshipmen followed him as far as the +platform above the conning-tower, where the instruments connected with +the fire-control were kept. Orderlies came and went with messages. All +this was the work of a few minutes. Captain Farlow was inwardly +delighted that everything should have gone off so well before the +admiral. Now the other ships reported that they were clear for action. +Just as the bright ensigns were being run to the mastheads, the sun +broke through the black clouds for a moment. The six monster ships +continued on their way in the sunlight like sliding masses of white +iron, with their long yellowish brown funnels emitting clouds of smoke +and their rigid masts pointing upward into the angry sky. The sunshine +made the deck structures sparkle with thousands of glistening drops for +a brief moment; then the sun disappeared and the majestic picture was +swallowed up once more by the gray clouds. + +"Shall we go up to the conning-tower?" inquired the flag lieutenant of +the admiral. + +"Oh, no, we'll stay here," said the latter, carefully examining the +yellow fleet through his glass. "Can you make out which ship the first +one is?" he asked. + +"I think it's the _Iowa_," said the commander, who was standing near +him. But the wind tore the words from his lips. + +"What did you say?" screamed back the admiral. + +"_Iowa_," repeated Farlow. + +"No such thing, the _Iowa_ is much smaller and has only one mast. The +ship over there also has an additional turret in the center." + +"No, it's not the _Iowa_," corroborated the captain, "but two funnels +... what ship can it be...?" + +"Those ships are painted gray, too, not white like ours. It's not the +yellow fleet at all," interrupted the admiral, "it's, it's--my God, what +is it?" + +He examined the ships again and saw numerous little flags running up the +mast of the leading ship, undoubtedly a signal, then the forward turret +with its two enormously long gun-barrels swung slowly over to starboard, +the other turrets turned at the same time, and then a tongue of flame +shot out of the mouths of both barrels in the forward turret; the wind +quickly dispersed the cloud of smoke, and three seconds later a shell +burst with a fearful noise on the deck of the _Connecticut_ between the +base of the bridge and the first gun-turret, throwing the splinters +right on the bridge and tearing off the head of the lieutenant who was +doing duty at the signal apparatus. The second shell hit the armored +plate right above the openings for the two 12-inch guns in the +fore-turret, leaving behind a great hole with jagged edges out of which +burst sheets of flame and clouds of smoke, which were blown away in long +strips by the wind. A heartrending scream from within followed this +explosion of the cartridges lying in readiness beside the guns. The +forward turret had been put out of action. + +For several seconds everyone on the bridge seemed dazed, while thoughts +raced through their heads with lightning-like rapidity. + +Could it be chance...? Impossible, for in the same moment that the two +shots were fired by the leading ship, the whole fleet opened fire on +Admiral Perry's squadron with shells of all calibers. The admiral +seized Farlow's arm and shook it to and fro in a blind rage. + +"Those," he cried, "those ... why, man, those are the Japanese! That's +the enemy and he has surprised us right in the midst of peace! Now God +give me a clear head, and let us never forget that we are American men!" +He scarcely heard the words of the flag lieutenant who called out to +him: "That's the Japanese _Satsuma_, Togo's _Satsuma_!" + +The admiral reached the telephone-board in one bound and yelled down the +artillery connection: "Hostile attack!... Japanese. We've been +surprised!" + +And it was indeed high time, for scarcely had the admiral reached the +conning-tower, stumbling over the dead body of a signalman on the way, +when a hail-storm of bullets swept the bridge, killing all who were on +it. + +As there was no other officer near, Captain Farlow went to the signaling +instrument himself to send the admiral's orders to those below deck. + +The _Connecticut_, which had been without a helmsman for a moment +because the man at the helm had been killed by a bursting shell that had +literally forced his body between the spokes of the wheel, was swaying +about like a drunken person owing to the heavy blows of the enemy's +shells. Now she recovered her course and the commander issued his orders +from the bridge in a calm and decisive voice. + +We have seen what a paralyzing effect the opening of fire from the +Japanese ships had had on the commander and officers of the +_Connecticut_ on the bridge, and the reader can imagine the effect it +must have had on the crew--they were dumfounded with terror. The +crashing of the heavy steel projectiles above deck, the explosion in the +foreward gun-turret, and several shots which had passed through the +unarmored starboard side of the forepart of the ship in rapid +succession--they were explosive shells which created fearful havoc and +filled all the rooms with the poisonous gases of the Shimose-powder--all +this, added to the continual ring of the alarm-signals, had completely +robbed the crew below deck of their senses and of all deliberation. + +At first it was thought to be an accident, and without waiting for +orders from above, the fire-extinguishing apparatus was got ready. But +the bells continued to ring on all sides, and the crashing blows that +shook the ship continually became worse and worse. On top of this came +the perfectly incomprehensible news that, unprepared as they were, they +were confronted by the enemy, by a Japanese fleet. + +All this happened with lightning-like rapidity--so quickly, indeed, that +it was more than human nerves could grasp and at the same time remain +calm and collected. The reverberations of the bursting shells and the +dull rumbling crashes against the armored sides of the casemates and +turrets produced an infernal noise which completely drowned the human +voice. Frightful horror was depicted on all faces. It took some time to +rally from the oppressive, heartrending sensation caused by the +knowledge that a peaceful maneuver voyage had suddenly been transformed +into the bloody seriousness of war. It is easy enough to turn a machine +from right to left in a few seconds with the aid of a lever, but not so +a human being. + +The men, to be sure, heard the commands and after a few moments' +reflection, grasped the terrible truth, but their limbs failed them. It +had all come about too quickly, and it was simply impossible to get +control of the situation and translate commands into deeds as quickly as +the hostile shots demolished things above deck. Many of the crew stood +around as though they were rooted to the spot, staring straight in front +of them. Some laughed or cried, others did absolutely senseless things, +such as turning the valves of the hot-air pipes or carrying useless +things from one place to another, until the energetic efforts of the +officers brought them to their senses. + +Someone called for the keys of the ammunition chambers, and then began a +search for the ordnance officer in the passages filled with the +poisonous fumes of the Shimose-powder. But it was all in vain, for he +lay on the front bridge torn into an unrecognizable mass by the enemy's +shells. + +At last a young lieutenant with the blood pouring down his cheek in +bright red streaks, rushed into the captain's cabin, broke open the +closet beside the desk with a bayonet and seized the keys of the +ammunition rooms. Now down the stairs and through the narrow openings in +the bulkheads, where the thud of the hostile projectiles sounds more and +more hollow, and here, at last, is the door of the shell-chamber +containing the shells for the 8-inch guns in the forward starboard +turret. + +Inside the bells rang and rattled, calling in vain for ammunition; but +the guns of the _Connecticut_ still remained silent. + +The petty officer, hurrying on before his three men, now stood at the +telephone. + +"Armor-piercing shells, quickly!" came the urgent order from above. And +when the electric lever refused to work, the two sailors raised the +shell weighing over two hundredweight in their brawny arms and shoved it +into the frame of the lift, which began to move automatically. + +"Thank God," said the lieutenant in command of the turret, as the first +shell appeared at the mouth of the dark tube. Into the breech with it +and the two cartridges after it. When the lieutenant had taken his +position at the telescope sight in order to determine the direction and +distance for firing, orders came down from the commander to fire at the +enemy's leading ship, the _Satsuma_. The distance was only 2800 yards, +so near had the enemy come. And at this ridiculously short distance, +contrary to all the rules of naval warfare, the Americans opened fire. + +"2800 yards, to the right beneath the first gun-turret of the +_Satsuma_," called the lieutenant to the two gunners. They took the +elevation and then waited for the ship that was rolling to port to +regain the level after being lifted up by the waves. Detached clouds +hurried across the field of the telescope, but suddenly the sun appeared +like a bright spot above the horizon and dark brown smoke became +visible. The foremast of the _Satsuma_ with its multicolored +signal-flags appeared in the field of vision.... A final quick +correction for elevation ... a slight pressure of the electric trigger. +Fire! The gray silhouette of the _Satsuma_, across which quivered the +flash from the gun, rose quickly in the round field; then came foaming, +plunging waves, and columns of water that rose up as the shells struck +the water. + +The loud reverberation of the shot--the first one fired on the American +side--acted as a nerve-tonic all round, and all felt as though they had +been relieved from an intolerable burden. + +While the right gun was being reloaded and the stinking gases escaping +from the gun filled the narrow chamber with their fumes, the lieutenant +looked for traces of the effect of the shot. The wind whistled through +the peep-hole and made his eyes smart. The shot did not seem to have +touched the _Satsuma_ at all. The foam seen in the bow was that produced +by the ship's motion. + +"Two hundred and fifty yards over," came through the telephone, and on +the glass-plate of the distance-register, faintly illuminated by an +electric lamp, appeared the number 2550. + +"2550 yards!" repeated the lieutenant to the captain of the left gun, +giving the angle of direction himself. The _Connecticut_ again heaved +over to port, and the thunder of cannon rolled over the waves of the +Pacific. + +"The shell burst at a thousand yards!" called the lieutenant. "What +miserable fuses!" + +"Bad shot," came down reproachfully through the telephone, "use +percussion fuses." + +"I am, but they're no good, they won't work," roared back the +lieutenant. Then he went down into the turret and examined the new shell +on the lift before it was pushed into the breech. + +"All right," he said aloud, but added under his breath, suppressing an +oath: "We mustn't let the men notice there's anything wrong, for the +world!" + +Another shot rang out, and again the shell burst a few hundred yards +from the _Connecticut_, sending the water flying in every direction. + +Again came the reproachful voice from above: "Bad shot, take percussion +fuses!" + +"That's what these are supposed to be," replied the lieutenant in a +terrible state of excitement; "the shells are absolutely useless." + +"Fire at the forepart of the _Satsuma_ with shrapnel," rang out the +command from the wall. + +"Shrapnels from below!" ordered the lieutenant, and "shrapnels from +below" was repeated by the man at the lift into the 'phone leading to +the ammunition chamber. + +But the lift continued to bring up the blue armor-piercing shells; five +times more and then it stopped. + +During a momentary pause in the firing on both sides, the buzzing and +whirring of the electric apparatus of the lift could be distinctly +heard. Then the lift appeared once more, this time with a red explosive +shell. + +"Aim at the forepart of the _Satsuma_, 1950 yards!" + +The _Connecticut_ rolled over heavily to starboard, the water splashed +over the railing, rushing like a torrent between the turrets; then the +ship heeled over to the other side. The shot rang out. + +"At last," cried the lieutenant proudly, pointing through the peep-hole. +High up in the side of the _Satsuma_, close to the little 12-cm. +quick-firing gun, a piece was seen to be missing when the smoke from the +bursting shell had disappeared. + +"Good shot," came from above; "go on firing with shrapnel!" + +The distance-register silently showed the number 1850. Then came a +deafening roar from below and the sharp ring of tearing iron. A hostile +shell had passed obliquely below the turret into the forepart of the +_Connecticut_, and clouds of thick black smoke completely obscured the +view through the peep-hole. + +"Four degrees higher!" commanded the lieutenant. + +"Not yet correct," he grumbled; "three degrees higher still!" He waited +for the _Connecticut_ to roll to port. + +"What's the matter?" + +"Use higher elevation in turrets. The _Connecticut_ has a leak and is +listing to starboard," said the telephone. "Three degrees higher!" +ordered the lieutenant. + +A shot from the left barrel. + +"Splendid," cried the lieutenant; "that was a fine shot! But lower, +lower, we're merely shooting their upper plates to bits," and the gun +went on steadily firing. + +The turrets on the starboard side were hit again and again, the hostile +shells bursting perpetually against their armored sides. As if struck by +electric discharges the gunners were continually thrown back from the +rumbling walls, and they were almost deaf from the fearful din, so that +all commands had to be yelled out at the top of the lungs. + +The raging storm and the rough sea prevented the Americans from using a +part of their guns. While the explosive shells from the enemy's heavy +intermediate battery were able to demolish everything on deck and to +pass through the unarmored portions of the sides, working fearful havoc +in the interior and among the crew, the light American secondary battery +was compelled to keep silence. + +An attempt had been made, to be sure, to bring the 7-inch guns into +action, but it proved of no avail. The gunners stood ready at their +posts to discharge the shells at the enemy, but it was utterly +impossible, for no sooner had they taken aim, than they lost it again as +the hostile ships disappeared in the foaming glassy-green waves that +broke against their sides. The water penetrated with the force of a +stream from a nozzle through the cracks in the plates and poured into +the casemates till the men were standing up to their knees in water. At +last the only thing that could be done was to open the doors behind the +guns in order to let the water out; but this arrangement had the +disadvantage of allowing a good deal of the water which had run out to +return in full force and pile up in one corner the next time the ship +rolled over, and on account of this perpetual battle with the waves +outside and the rolling water inside, it was impossible for the men to +aim properly or to achieve any results with their shots. It was +therefore deemed best to stop the firing here, and to have the gunners +relieve the men at the turret-guns, who had suffered greatly from the +enemy's fire. The men in charge of the completely demolished small guns +on the upper deck had already been assigned to similar duty. + +We therefore had to depend entirely on our 12-inch and 8-inch guns in +the turrets, while the enemy was able to bring into action all his +broadside guns on the starboard side, which was only little affected by +the storm. And this superiority had been used to such advantage in the +first eleven minutes of the battle, before the surprised Americans could +reply, that the decks of the latter's ships, especially of the admiral's +flag-ship, were a mass of wreckage even before the first American shot +had been fired. The decks were strewn with broken bridges, planks, +stanchions and torn rigging, and into the midst of this chaos now fell +the tall funnels and pieces of the steel masts. In most instances the +water continually pouring over the decks put out the fires; but the +_Vermont_ was nevertheless burning aft and the angry flames could be +seen bursting out of the gaping holes made by the shells. + +Admiral Perry, in company with the commander and staff-officers, watched +the progress of the battle from the conning-tower. The officers on duty +at the odometers calmly furnished the distance between their ship and +the enemy to the turrets and casemates, and the lieutenant in command of +the fire-control on the platform above the conning-tower coolly and +laconically reported the results of the shots, at the same time giving +the necessary corrections, which were at once transmitted to the various +turrets by telephone. The rolling of the ships in the heavy seas made +occasional pauses in the firing absolutely necessary. + +The report that a series of shells belonging to the 8-inch guns in the +front turret had unreliable fuses led to considerable swearing in the +conning-tower, but while the officers were still cursing the commission +for accepting such useless stuff, a still greater cause for anxiety +became apparent. + +Even before the Americans had begun their fire, the Japanese shells had +made a few enormous holes in the unprotected starboard side of the +_Connecticut_, behind the stem and just above the armored belt, and +through these the water poured in and flooded all the inner chambers. As +the armored gratings above the hatchways leading below had also been +destroyed or had not yet been closed, several compartments in the +forepart of the ship filled with water. The streams of water continually +pouring in through the huge holes rendered it impossible to enter the +rooms beneath the armored deck or to close the hatchways. The pumps +availed nothing, but fortunately the adjacent bulkheads proved to be +watertight. Nevertheless the _Connecticut_ buried her nose deep into the +sea and thereby offered ever-increasing resistance to the oncoming +waves. Captain Farlow therefore ordered some of the watertight +compartments aft to be filled with water in order to restore the ship's +balance. Similar conditions were reported from other ships. + +But scarcely had this damage been thus fairly well adjusted, when a new +misfortune was reported. Two Japanese projectiles had struck the ship +simultaneously just below her narrow armor-belt as she heaved over to +port, the shells entering the unprotected side just in front of the +engine-rooms, and as the adjacent bulkheads could not offer sufficient +resistance to the pressure of the inpouring water, they were forced in, +and as a result the _Connecticut_ heeled over badly to starboard, making +it necessary to fill some of the port compartments with water, since the +guns could not otherwise obtain the required elevation. This caused the +ship to sink deeper and deeper, until the armor-belt was entirely below +the standard waterline and the water which had rushed in through the +many holes had already reached the passageways above the armored deck. +The splashing about in these rushing floods, the continual bursting of +the enemy's shells, the groans and moans of the wounded, and the vain +attempts to get out the collision-mats on the starboard +side--precautions that savored of preservation measures while at the +same time causing a great loss of life--all this began to impair the +crew's powers of resistance. + +As the reports from below grew more and more discouraging, Captain +Farlow sent Lieutenant Meade down to examine into the state of the +chambers above the armored deck. The latter asked his comrade, Curtis, +to take his place at the telephone, but receiving no answer, he looked +around, and saw poor Curtis with his face torn off by a piece of shell +still bending over his telephone between two dead signalmen.... +Lieutenant Meade turned away with a shiver, and, calling a midshipman to +take his place, he left the conning-tower, which was being struck +continually by hissing splinters from bursting shells. + +Everywhere below the same picture presented itself--rushing water +splashing high up against the walls in all the passages, through which +ambulance transports were making their way with difficulty. In a corner +not far from the staircase leading to the hospital lay a young +midshipman, Malion by name, pressing both hands against a gaping wound +in his abdomen, out of which the viscera protruded, and crying to some +one to put him out of his misery with a bullet. What an end to a bright +young life! Anything but think! One could only press on, for individual +lives and human suffering were of small moment here compared with the +portentous question whether the steel sides of the ship and the engines +would hold out. + +"Shoot me; deliver me from my torture!" rang out the cry of the +lieutenant's dying friend behind him; and there before him, right +against the wall, lay the sailor Ralling, that fine chap from Maryland +who was one of the men who had won the gig-race at Newport News; now he +stared vacantly into space, his mouth covered with blood and foam. "Shot +in the lung!" thought Meade, hurrying on and trying, oh so hard, not to +think! + +[Illustration: "It went up in a slanting direction and then, ... it +steered straight for the enemy's balloon...."] + +The black water gurgled and splashed around his feet as he rushed on, +dashing with a hollow sound against one side of the passage when the +ship heeled over, only to be tossed back in a moment with equal force. + +What was that?--Lieutenant Meade had reached the officers' mess--was it +music or were his ears playing him a trick? Meade opened the door and +thought at first he must be dreaming. There sat his friend and comrade, +Lieutenant Besser, at the piano, hammering wildly on the keys. That same +Johnny Besser who, on account of his theological predilections went by +the nickname of "The Reverend," and who could argue until long after +midnight over the most profound Biblical problems, that same Johnny +Besser, who was perpetually on the water-wagon. There he sat, banging +away as hard as he could on the piano! Meade rushed at him angrily and +seizing him by the arm cried: "Johnny, what are you doing here? Are you +crazy?" + +Johnny took no notice of him whatever, but went on playing and began in +a strange uncanny voice to sing the old mariner's song: + + "Tom Brown's mother she likes whisky in her tea, + As we go rolling home. + Glory, Glory Hallelujah." + +Horror seized Meade, and he tried to pull Johnny away from the piano, +but the resistance offered by the poor fellow who had become mentally +deranged from sheer terror was too great, and he had to give up the +struggle. + +From the outside came the din of battle. Meade threw the door of the +mess shut behind him, shivering with horror. Once more he heard the +strains of "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah," and then he hurried upstairs. He +kept the condition in which he had found Johnny to himself. + +When Lieutenant Meade got back to the conning-tower to make his report, +the two fleets had passed each other in a parallel course. The enemy's +shells had swept the decks of the _Connecticut_ with the force of a +hurricane. The gunners from the port side had already been called on to +fill up the gaps in the turrets on the starboard side. By this time dead +bodies were removed only where they were in the way, and even the +wounded were left to lie where they had fallen. + +When large pieces of wood from the burning boats began to be thrown on +deck by the bursting shells, a fresh danger was created, and the attempt +was made to toss them overboard with the aid of the cranes. But this +succeeded only on the port side. The starboard crane was smashed to bits +by a Japanese explosive shell just as it was raising a launch, the same +shot carrying off the third funnel just behind it. When Togo's last ship +had left the _Connecticut_ behind, only one funnel full of gaping holes +and half of the mainmast were left standing on the deck of the admiral's +flag-ship, which presented a wild chaos of bent and broken ironwork. +Through the ruins of the deck structures rose the flames and thick smoke +from the boilers. + +The Japanese ships seemed to be invulnerable in their vital parts. It is +true that the _Satsuma_ had lost a funnel, and that both masts of the +_Kashima_ were broken off, but except for a few holes above the +armor-belt and one or two guns that had been put out of action and the +barrels of which pointed helplessly into the air, the enemy showed +little sign of damage. Those first eleven minutes, during which the +enemy had had things all to himself, had given him an advantage which no +amount of bravery or determined energy could counteract. In addition to +this, many of the American telescope-sights began to get out of order, +as they bent under the blows of the enemy's shells against the turrets. +Thus the aim of the Americans, which owing to the heavy seas and to the +smoke from the Japanese guns blown into their eyes by the wind was poor +enough as it was, became more uncertain still. As the enemy passed, +several torpedoes had been cleared by the Americans, but the shining +metal-fish could not keep their course against the oncoming waves, and +Admiral Perry was forced to notify his ships by wireless to desist from +further attempts to use them, in order that his own ships might not be +endangered by them. + +The enemy, on the contrary, used his torpedoes with better success. A +great mass of boiling foam rose suddenly beside the _Kansas_, which was +just heeling to port, and this was followed immediately by sheets of +flame and black clouds of smoke which burst from every hole and crevice +in the sides and the turrets. The _Kansas_ listed heavily to starboard +and then disappeared immediately in the waves. The torpedo must have +exploded in an ammunition chamber. On the burning _Vermont_ the +steering-gear seemed to be out of order. The battleship sheered sharply +to port, thus presenting its stern, which was almost hidden in heavy +clouds of smoke, to the enemy, who immediately raked and tore it with +shells. The _Minnesota_ was drifting in a helpless condition with her +starboard-railing deep under water, while thick streams of water poured +from her bilge-pumps on the port side. She gradually fell behind, +whereupon the last ship of the line, the _New Hampshire_, passed her on +the fire side, covering her riddled hull for a moment, but then steamed +on to join the only two ships in Admiral Perry's fleet which were still +in fairly good condition, namely the _Connecticut_ and the _Louisiana_. + +When the hostile fleet began to fall slowly back--the battle had been in +progress for barely half an hour--Admiral Perry hoped for a moment that +by swinging his three ships around to starboard he would be able to get +to windward of the enemy and thus succeed in bringing his almost intact +port artillery into action. But even before he could issue his commands, +he saw the six Japanese ironclads turn to port and steam towards the +Americans at full speed, pouring out tremendous clouds of smoke. +Misfortunes never come singly; at this moment came the report that the +boilers of the _New Hampshire_ had been badly damaged. Unless the +admiral wished to leave the injured ship to her fate, he was now forced +to reduce the speed of the other two ships to six knots. This was the +beginning of the end. + +It was of no use for Admiral Perry to swing his three ships around to +starboard. The enemy, owing to his superior speed, could always keep a +parallel course and remain on the starboard side. One turret after the +other was put out of action. When the casemate with its three intact +7-inch guns could at last be brought into play on the lee-side, it was +too late. At such close quarters the steel-walls of the casemates and +the mountings were shot to pieces by the enemy's shells. The +fire-control refused to act, the wires and speaking-tubes were +destroyed, and each gun had to depend on itself. The electric +installation had been put out of commission on the _Louisiana_ by a +shell bursting through the armored deck and destroying the dynamos. As +the gun-turrets could no longer be swung around and the ammunition-lifts +had come to a stand-still in consequence, the _Louisiana_ was reduced to +a helpless wreck. She sank in the waves at 11.15, and shortly afterwards +the _New Hampshire_, which was already listing far to starboard because +the water had risen above the armored deck, capsized. By 12.30 the +_Connecticut_ was the sole survivor. She continued firing from the +12-inch guns in the rear turret and from the two 8-inch starboard +turrets. + +At this point a large piece of shell slipped through the peep-hole of +the conning-tower and smashed its heavy armored dome. The next shot +might prove fatal. Admiral Perry was compelled to leave the spot he had +maintained so bravely; in a hail of splinters he at last managed to +reach the steps leading from the bridge; they were wet with the blood of +the dead and dying and the last four had been shot away altogether. The +other mode of egress, the armored tube inside the turret, was stopped up +with the bodies of two dead signalmen. The admiral let himself carefully +down by holding on to the bent railing of the steps, and was just in +time to catch the blood-covered body of his faithful comrade, Captain +Farlow, who had been struck by a shell as he stood on the lowest step. +The admiral leaned the body gently against the side of the +military-mast, which had been dyed yellow by the deposits of the hostile +shells. + +Stepping over smoldering ruins and through passages filled with dead and +wounded men, over whose bodies the water splashed and gurgled, the +admiral at last reached his post below the armored deck. + +To this spot were brought the reports from the fire-control stationed at +the rear mast and from the last active stations. It was a mournful +picture that the admiral received here of the condition of the +_Connecticut_. The dull din of battle, the crashing and rumbling of the +hostile shells, the suffocating smoke which penetrated even here below, +the rhythmic groaning of the engine and the noise of the pumps were +united here into an uncanny symphony. The ventilators had to be closed, +as they sent down biting smoke from the burning deck instead of fresh +air. The nerves of the officers and crews were in a state of fearful +tension; they had reached the point where nothing matters and where +destruction is looked forward to as a deliverance. + +Who was that beside the admiral who said something about the white flag, +to him, the head of the squadron, to the man who had been intrusted with +the honor of the Stars and Stripes? It was only a severely wounded +petty-officer murmuring to himself in the wild delirium of fever. For +God's sake, anything but that! The admiral turned around sharply and +called into the tube leading to the stern turret: "Watch over the flag; +it must not be struck!" + +No one answered--dead iron, dead metal, not a human sound could be heard +in that steel tomb. And now some of the electric lights suddenly went +out. "I won't die here in this smoky steel box," said the admiral to +himself; "I won't drown here like a mouse in a trap." There was nothing +more to be done down here anyway, for most of the connections had been +cut off, and so Admiral Perry turned over the command of the +_Connecticut_ to a young lieutenant with the words: "Keep them firing as +long as you can." Then murmuring softly to himself, "It's of no use +anyhow," he crept through a narrow bulkhead-opening to a stairway and +groped his way up step by step. Suddenly he touched something soft and +warm; it groaned loudly. Heavens! it was a sailor who had dragged his +shattered limbs into this corner. "Poor fellow," said the admiral, and +climbed up, solitary and alone, to the deck of his lost ship. The din +of battle sounded louder and louder, and at last he reached the deck +beneath the rear bridge. A badly wounded signalman was leaning against a +bit of railing that had remained standing, staring at the admiral with +vacant eyes. "Are the signal-halyards still clear?" asked Perry. "Yes," +answered the man feebly. + +"Then signal at once: Three cheers for the United States!" The little +colored flags flew up to the yardarm like lightning, and it grew quiet +on the _Connecticut_. + +The last shell, the last cartridge was shoved into the breech, one more +shot was aimed at the enemy from the heated barrels, and then all was +still except for the crash of the hostile projectiles, the crackling of +the flames and the howling of the wind. The other side, too, gradually +ceased firing. With the _Satsuma_ and the _Aki_ in the van and the four +other ships following, the enemy's squadron advanced, enveloped in a +thin veil of smoke. + +High up in the stern of the _Connecticut_ and at her mastheads waved the +tattered Stars and Stripes. The few gunners, who had served the guns to +the end, crept out of the turrets and worked their way up over broken +steps. There were fifty-seven of them, all that remained of the proud +squadron. Three cheers for their country came from the parched throats +of these last heroes of the _Connecticut_. "Three cheers for the United +States!" Admiral Perry drew his sword, and "Hurrah" it rang once more +across the water to the ships sailing under the flag which bore the +device of a crimson Rising Sun on a white field. There memories of the +old days of the Samurai knighthood were aroused, and a signal appeared +on the rear top mast of the _Satsuma_, whereupon all six battleships +lowered their flags as a last tribute to a brave enemy. + +Then the _Connecticut_ listed heavily to starboard, and the next wave +could not raise the heavy ship, bleeding from a thousand wounds. It sank +and sank, and while Admiral Perry held fast to a bit of railing and +waited with moist eyes for the end, the words of the old "Star-Spangled +Banner," which had been heard more than once in times of storm and +peril, rang out from the deck of the _Connecticut_. Then, with her flag +waving to the last, the admiral's flag-ship sank slowly beneath the +waves, leaving a bloody glow behind her. That was the end. + + + + +_Chapter XI_ + +CAPTAIN WINSTANLEY + + +Captain Winstanley slowly opened his eyes and stared at the low ceiling +of his cabin on the white oil-paint of which the sunbeams, entering +through the porthole, were painting numerous circles and quivering +reflections. Slowly he began to collect his thoughts. Could it have been +a dream or the raving of delirium? He tried to raise himself on his +narrow bed, but fell back as he felt a sharp pain. There was no mistake +about the pain--that was certainly real. What on earth had happened? He +asked himself this question again and again as he watched the thousands +of circles and quivering lines drawn by the light on the ceiling. + +Winstanley stared about him and suddenly started violently. Then it was +all real, a terrible reality? Yes, for there sat his friend Longstreet +of the _Nebraska_ with his back against the wall of the cabin, in a +dripping wet uniform, fast asleep. + +"Longstreet!" he called. + +His friend awoke and stared at him in astonishment. + +"Longstreet, did it all really happen, or have I been dreaming?" + +No answer. + +"Longstreet," he began again more urgently, "tell me, is it all over, +can it be true?" + +Longstreet nodded, incapable of speech. + +"Our poor, poor country," whispered Winstanley. + +After a long pause Longstreet suddenly broke the silence by remarking: +"The _Nebraska_ went down at about six o'clock." + +"And the _Georgia_ a little earlier," said Winstanley; "but where are +we? How did I get here?" + +"The torpedo boat _Farragut_ fished us up after the battle. We are on +board the hospital ship _Ontario_ with about five hundred other +survivors." + +"And what has become of the rest of our squadron?" asked Winstanley +apprehensively. Longstreet only shrugged his shoulders. + +Then they both dozed again and listened to the splashing and gurgling of +the water against the ship's side and to the dull, regular thud of the +engine which by degrees began to form words in Winstanley's fever-heated +imagination--meaningless words which seemed to pierce his brain with +painful sharpness: "Oh, won't you come across," rose and fell the oily +melody, keeping time with the action of the piston-rods of the engine, +"Oh, won't you come across," repeated the walls, and "Oh, won't you come +across," clattered the water-bottle over in the wooden rack. Again and +again Winstanley said the words to himself in an everlasting, dull +repetition. + +Longstreet looked at him compassionately, and murmured: "Another attack +of fever." Then he got up, and bending over his comrade, looked out of +the porthole. + +Water everywhere; nothing but sparkling, glistening water, broad, blue, +rolling waves to be seen as far as the eye could reach. Not a sign of a +ship anywhere. + +"Oh, won't you come across," repeated Longstreet, listlessly joining in +the rhythm of the engines. Then he stretched himself and sank back on +his chair in a somnolent state, thinking over the experiences of the +night. + +So this was all that was left of the Pacific Fleet--a hospital ship with +a few hundred wounded officers and men, all that remained of Admiral +Crane's fleet, which had been attacked with torpedo boats by Admiral +Kamimura at three o'clock on the night of May eighth, after Togo had +destroyed Perry's squadron. + +It had been a horrible surprise. The enemy must have intercepted the +signals between the squadron and the scouts, but as the Japanese had not +employed their wireless telegraph at all, none of the American +reconnoitering cruisers had had its suspicions aroused. Then the +wireless apparatus had suddenly got out of order and all further +intercommunication among the American ships was cut off, while a few +minutes later came the first torpedo explosions, followed by fountains +of foam, the dazzling light of the searchlights and sparks from the +falling shells. The Americans could not reply to the hostile fire until +much, much later, and then it was almost over. When the gray light of +dawn spread over the surface of the water, it only lighted up a few +drifting, sinking wrecks, the irrecognizable ruins of Admiral Crane's +proud squadron, which were soon completely destroyed by the enemy's +torpedoes. + +Kamimura had already disappeared beyond the horizon with his ships, not +being interested in his enemy's remains. + +"Oh, won't you come across," groaned and wailed the engine quite loudly +as a door to the engine-room was opened. Longstreet jumped up with a +start, and then climbed wearily and heavily up the stairs. The entire +deck had been turned into a hospital, and the few doctors were hurrying +from one patient to another. + +Longstreet went up to a lieutenant in a torn uniform who was leaning +against the railing with his head between his hands, staring across the +water. "Where are we going, Harry?" asked Longstreet. + +"I don't know; somewhere or other; it doesn't matter much where." + +Longstreet left him and climbed up to the bridge. Here he shook hands in +silence with a few comrades and then asked the captain of the _Ontario_ +where they were going. + +"If possible, to San Francisco," was the answer. "But I'm afraid the +Japanese will be attacking the coast-batteries by this time, and besides +that chap over there seems to have his eyes on us," he added, pointing +to port. + +Longstreet looked in the direction indicated and saw a gray cruiser with +three high funnels making straight for the _Ontario_. At this moment a +signalman delivered a wireless message to the captain: "The cruiser +yonder wants to know our name and destination." + +"Signal back: United States hospital ship _Ontario_ making for San +Francisco," said the captain. This signal was followed by the dull boom +of a shot across the water; but the _Ontario_ continued on her course. + +Then a flash was seen from a forward gun of the cruiser and a shell +splashed into the water about one hundred yards in front of the +_Ontario_, bursting with a deafening noise. + +The captain hesitated a second, then he ordered the engines to stop, +turned over the command on the bridge to the first officer and went +himself to the signaling apparatus to send the following message: +"United States hospital ship _Ontario_ with five hundred wounded on +board relies on protection of ambulance-flag." + +A quarter of an hour later, the Japanese armored cruiser _Idzumo_ +stopped close to the _Ontario_ and lowered a cutter, which took several +Japanese officers and two doctors over to the _Ontario_. + +While a Japanese officer of high rank was received by the captain in his +cabin in order to discuss the best method of providing for the wounded, +Longstreet went down to Winstanley. + +"Well, old man, how are you?" he asked. + +"Pretty miserable, Longstreet; what's going to become of us?" + +Longstreet hesitated, but Winstanley insisted: "Tell me, old chap, tell +me the truth. Where are we bound to--what's going to become of us?" + +"We're going to San Francisco," said Longstreet evasively. + +"And the enemy?" + +Longstreet remained silent again. + +"But the enemy, Longstreet, where's the enemy? We mustn't fall into his +hands!" + +"Brace up, Winstanley," said Longstreet, "we're in the hands of the +Japanese now." + +Winstanley started up from his bed, but sank back exhausted by the +terrible pain in his right arm which had been badly wounded. + +"No, no, anything but that! I'd rather be thrown overboard than fall +into the hands of the Japanese! It's all over, there's no use struggling +any more!" + +"Longstreet," he cried, with eyes burning with fever, "Longstreet, +promise me that you'll throw me overboard rather than give me up to the +Japanese!" + +"No, Winstanley, no; think of our country, remember that it is in sore +need of men, of men to restore the honor of the Stars and Stripes, of +men to drive the enemy from the field and conquer them in the end." + +At this moment the door opened and a Japanese lieutenant entered, +carrying a small note-book in his hand. + +At sight of him Winstanley shouted: "Longstreet, hand me a weapon of +some sort; that fellow----" + +The Jap saluted and said: "Gentlemen, I am sorry for the circumstances +which compel me to ask you to give me your names and ships. Rest assured +that a wounded enemy may safely rely on Japanese chivalry. If you will +follow the example of all the other officers and give your word of honor +not to escape, you will receive all possible care and attention in the +hospital at San Francisco without any irksome guard. Will you be so good +as to give me your names?" + +"Lieutenant Longstreet of the _Nebraska_." + +"Thank you." + +"Captain Winstanley, commander of the _Georgia_," added Longstreet for +Winstanley. + +"Will you give me your word of honor?" + +Longstreet gave his, but Winstanley shook his head and said: "_You can +do what you like with me; I refuse to give my word of honor._" + +The Jap shrugged his shoulders and disappeared. + +"Longstreet, nursed in San Francisco, is that what the Jap said? Then +San Francisco must be in their hands." At these words the wounded +captain of the _Georgia_ burst into bitter tears and sobs shook the body +of the poor man, who in his ravings fancied himself back on board his +ship giving orders for the big guns to fire at the enemy. Longstreet +held his friend's hand and stared in silence at the white ceiling upon +which the sunbeams painted myriads of quivering lines and circles. + +At one o'clock the _Ontario_ came in sight of the Golden Gate, where the +white banner with its crimson sun was seen to be waving above all the +fortifications. + + * * * * * + +While the Japanese were attacking San Francisco early on the morning of +May seventh, their fleet was stationed off San Diego on the lookout for +the two American maneuvering fleets. The intercepted orders from the +Navy Department had informed the enemy that Admiral Perry, with his blue +squadron of six battleships of the _Connecticut_ class, intended to +attack San Francisco and the other ports and naval-stations on the +Pacific, and that the yellow fleet, under command of Admiral Crane, was +to carry out the defense. The latter had drawn up his squadron in front +of San Francisco on May second, and on May fifth Admiral Perry had left +Magdalen Bay. From this time on every report sent by wireless was read +by harmless looking Japanese trading-vessels sailing under the English +flag. + +The first thing to be done on the morning of the seventh was to render +Magdalen Bay useless, in order to prevent all communication with distant +ships. A trick put the station in the enemy's possession. Here, too, +there were several Japanese shopkeepers who did good business with their +stores along the Bay. Early on Sunday morning these busy yellow +tradesmen were suddenly transformed into a company of troops who soon +overpowered the weak garrison in charge of the signal-station. The +Japanese cruiser _Yakumo_, approaching from the North, had been painted +white like the American cruisers, and this is why she had been taken, as +the reader will remember, for the armored cruiser _New York_, which was +actually lying off San Francisco assigned to Admiral Crane's yellow +fleet. The _Yakumo_ was to prevent the two destroyers _Hull_ and +_Hopkins_ from escaping from the Bay, and both boats were literally shot +to pieces when they made the attempt. This action hopelessly isolated +the maneuvering fleets. + +By eight o'clock in the morning Togo's squadron, consisting of the +flag-ships _Satsuma_, the _Aki_, _Katou_, _Kashimi_, _Mikasa_ and +_Akahi_, and forming the backbone of the Japanese battle-fleet, had +succeeded in locating Admiral Perry's squadron, thanks to intercepted +wireless dispatches. The Japanese refrained from using their wireless +apparatus, so as to avoid attracting the attention of the American +squadron. The unfinished message sent at nine o'clock from Magdalen Bay +told Togo that the surprise there had been successful, and a little +later the order to strengthen the American advance, sent in the same +way, enabled him to ascertain the exact position of both the main group +of cruisers and the scouts and lookout ships. Similarly it was learned +that the latter were extremely weak, and accordingly Togo detached four +armored cruisers, the huge new 25-knot _Tokio_ and _Osaka_, and the +_Ibuki_ and _Kurama_, to destroy the American van, and this he succeeded +in accomplishing after a short engagement which took place at the same +time as the attack on Perry's armored ships. + +The _Denver_ and _Chattanooga_ were soon put out of business by a few +shells which entered their unprotected hulls, and the five destroyers, +which were unable to use their torpedoes in such a heavy sea, were +likewise soon done for. + +Under cover of a torrent of rain, Togo came in sight of the American +ships when the distance between the two squadrons was only 5,500 yards. + +At the moment when Admiral Perry's ships emerged out of the rain, +Admiral Togo opened the battle by sending the following signal from the +_Satsuma_: + +"To-day must avenge Kanagawa. As Commodore Perry then knocked with his +sword at the gate of Nippon, so will we to-day burst open San +Francisco's Golden Gate."[1] + +The signal was greeted with enthusiasm and loud cries of "_Banzai_!" on +board all the ships. Then the battle began, and by the time the sun had +reached its zenith, Admiral Perry's squadron had disappeared in the +waves of the Pacific. The first eleven minutes, before the Americans +could bring their guns into action, had determined the outcome of the +battle. The ultimate outcome of the battle had, of course, been +accelerated by the fact that the first shells had created such fearful +havoc in the fore-parts of three of the American ships, quantities of +water pouring in which caused the ships to list and made it necessary to +fill the compartments on the opposite side in order to restore the +equilibrium. + +Admiral Kamimura was less fortunate at first with the second squadron. +He was led astray by the wrong interpretation of a wireless signal and +did not sight Admiral Crane's fleet till towards evening, and then it +was not advisable to begin the attack at once, lest the Americans should +escape under cover of darkness. Kamimura, therefore, decided to wait +until shortly after midnight, and then to commence operations with his +eight destroyers and apply the finishing touches with his heavy guns. + +Admiral Crane's squadron consisted of six battleships--the three new +battleships _Virginia_, _Nebraska_ and _Georgia_, the two older vessels +_Kearsage_ and _Kentucky_, and, lastly, the _Iowa_. Then there were the +two armored cruisers _St. Louis_ and _Milwaukee_, and the unprotected +cruisers _Tacoma_ and _Des Moines_, which, on account of their speed of +16.5 knots and their lack of any armor, were as useless as cruisers as +were their sister ships in Admiral Perry's squadron. One single +well-aimed shell would suffice to put them out of action. + +It was a terrible surprise when the Japanese destroyers began the attack +under cover of the night. Not until dawn did the Americans actually +catch sight of their enemy, and that was when Kamimura left the field of +battle, which was strewn with sinking American ships, with his six +practically unharmed battleships headed in a southwesterly direction to +join Togo's fleet, who had already been informed of the victory. The +work of cleaning up was left to the destroyers, who sank the badly +damaged American ships with their torpedoes. The hospital ship +_Ontario_, attached to the yellow fleet, and a torpedo boat fished up +the survivors of this short battle. Then the _Ontario_ started for San +Francisco, while the leaking _Farragut_ remained behind. + +The Americans had been able to distinguish, with a fair degree of +certainty, that Kamimura's squadron consisted of the _Shikishima_, the +battleships _Iwami_ (ex _Orel_), the _Sagami_ (ex _Peresvjet_), and +_Tumo_ (ex _Pobjeda_), all three old Russian ships, and of the two new +armored cruisers _Ikoma_ and _Tsukuba_. Then there were the two enormous +battleships which were not included in the Japanese Navy List at all, +and the two huge cruisers _Yokohama_ and _Shimonoseki_ which, according +to Japanese reports, were still building, while in reality they had been +finished and added to the fleet long ago. + +The circumstances connected with these two battleships were rather +peculiar. The report was spread in 1906 that China was going to build a +new fleet and that she had ordered two big battleships from the docks at +Yokosuka. This rumor was contradicted both at Pekin and at Tokio. The +Americans and everybody in Europe wondered who was going to pay for the +ships. The trouble is, we ask altogether too many questions, instead of +investigating for ourselves. As a matter of fact, the ships were laid +down in 1908, though everybody outside the walls of the Japanese +shipyard was made to believe that only gunboats were being built. We +have probably forgotten how, at the time, a German newspaper called our +attention to the fact that not only these two battleships--of the +English _Dreadnought_ type--but also the two armored cruisers building +at Kure ostensibly for China, would probably never sail under the yellow +dragon banner, but in case of war, would either be added directly to +Japan's fleet or be bought back from China. + +And so it turned out. Just before the outbreak of the war, the Sun +Banner was hoisted quietly on the two battleships and they were given +the names of _Nippon_ and _Hokkaido_, respectively; but they were +omitted from the official Japanese Navy List and left out of our +calculations. How Pekin and Tokio came to terms with regard to these two +ships remains one of the many secrets of east Asiatic politics. The +generally accepted political belief that China was not financially +strong enough to build a new fleet and that Japan, supposedly on the +very verge of bankruptcy, could not possibly carry out her _postbellum_ +programme, was found to have rested on empty phrases employed by the +press on both sides of the ocean merely for the sake of running a story. +There has never yet been a time in the history of the world when war was +prevented by a lack of funds. How could Prussia, absolutely devoid of +resources, have carried on the war it did against Napoleon a hundred +years ago, unless this were so? + +In the redistribution of our war vessels in the Atlantic and the Pacific +after the return of the fleet from its journey round the world, the Navy +Department had calculated as follows: Japan had fifteen battleships, six +large new ones and nine older ones; in addition she had six large new +and eight older armored cruisers. We have one armored cruiser and three +cruisers in Manila, and these can take care of at least five Japanese +armored cruisers. Japan therefore has fifteen battleships and nine +armored cruisers left for making an attack. Now if we keep two +squadrons, each consisting of six battleships--the _Texas_ among +them--off the Pacific coast and add to these the coast-batteries, the +mines and the submarines, we shall possess a naval force which the enemy +will never dare attack. + +Japan, on the other hand, figured as follows: We have two squadrons, +each consisting of six battleships, among which there are six that are +superior to any American fighting ship; these with the nine armored +cruisers and the advantage of a complete surprise, give us such a +handicap that we have nothing to fear. As a reserve, lying off San +Francisco, are the ironclads _Hizen_ (ex _Retvisan_), _Tango_ (ex +_Poltawa_), _Iki_ (ex _Nicolai_), and the armored cruisers _Azuma_, +_Idzumo_, _Asama_, _Tokiwa_, and _Yakumo_. Besides these there are the +two mortar-boat divisions and the cruisers sent to Seattle, while the +armored cruiser _Iwate_ and two destroyers were sent to Magdalen Bay. +All that remained in home waters were the fourth squadron, consisting of +former Russian ships, and the cruisers which would soon be relieved at +the Philippines. + +The enemy had figured correctly and we had not. The two battles of the +seventh and eighth of May were decided in the first ten minutes, before +we had fired a single shot. And would the Japanese calculation have been +correct also if Perry had beaten Togo or Crane Kamimura? Most decidedly +so, for not a single naval harbor or coaling-station, or repairing-dock +on the Pacific coast would have been ready to receive Perry or Crane +with their badly damaged squadrons. On the other hand, the remnants of +our fleet would have had all the Japanese battleships, all the armored +cruisers and a large collection of torpedo-boats continually on their +heels, and would thus have been forced to another battle in which, being +entirely without a base of operations, they would without a doubt have +suffered a complete defeat. + +Our mines in the various arsenals and our three submarines at the Mare +Island Wharf in San Francisco fell into the enemy's hands like ripe +plums. It was quite superfluous for the Japanese to take their steamer +for transporting submarines, which had been built for them in England, +to San Francisco. + +Nothing remained to us but the glory that not one of our ships had +surrendered to the enemy--all had sunk with their flags flying. After +all, it was one thing to fight against the demoralized fleet of the Czar +and quite another to fight against the Stars and Stripes. Our +blue-jackets had saved the honor of the white race in the eyes of the +yellow race on the waves of the Pacific, even if they had thus far shown +them only how brave American sailors die. But the loss of more than half +our officers and trained men was even a more severe blow than the +sinking of our ships. These could not be replaced at a moment's notice, +but months and months of hard work would be required and new squadrons +must be found. But from where were they to come? + +Only a single vessel of the Pacific fleet escaped from the battle and +the pursuing Japanese cruisers: this was the torpedo-destroyer _Barry_, +commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Dayton, who had been in command of the +torpedo flotilla attached to Admiral Perry's squadron. He had attempted +twice, advancing boldly into the teeth of the gale, to launch a torpedo +in the direction of the _Satsuma_, but the sea was too rough and each +time took the torpedo out of its course. + +The badly damaged destroyer entered the harbor of Buenaventura on the +coast of Colombia on May eleventh, followed closely by the Japanese +steamer _Iwate_, which had been lying off the coast of Panama. Grinding +his teeth with rage, Dayton had to look on while a Colombian officer in +ragged uniform, plentifully supplied with gilt, who was in the habit of +commanding his tiny antediluvian gunboat from the door of a harbor +saloon, came on board the _Barry_ and ordered the breeches of the guns +and the engine-valves to be removed, at the same time depriving the crew +of their arms. The Japanese waiting outside the harbor had categorically +demanded this action of the government in Bogota. This humiliating +degradation before all the harbor loafers and criminals, before the +crowds of exulting Chinese and Japanese coolies, who were only too +delighted to see the white man compelled to submit to a handful of +marines the entire batch of whom were not worth one American sailor, was +far harder to bear than all the days of battle put together. And even +now, when Admiral Dayton's fame reaches beyond the seas and the name of +James Dayton is in every sailor's mouth as the savior of his people, +yes, even now, he will tell you how at the moment when, outside the +Straits of Magellan, he crushed the Japanese cruisers with his +cruiser-squadron, thereby once again restoring the Star Spangled Banner +to its place of honor, the vision of that grinning row of faces exulting +in the degradation of a severely damaged American torpedo-boat appeared +before him. It is only such men as he, men who experienced the horrors +of our downfall to the bitter end, who could lead us to victory--such +men as Dayton and Winstanley. + +[Footnote 1: Perry, the American commodore, with a fleet of only eight +ships, forced Japan to sign the agreement of Kanagawa, opening the chief +harbors in Japan to American trading-vessels, in the year 1854.] + + + + +_Chapter XII_ + +ARE YOU WINSTANLEY? + + +The bow of the English freighter _Port Elizabeth_ was plowing its way +through the broad waves of the Pacific on the evening of the fourteenth +of September. The captain and the first mate were keeping a sharp +lookout on the bridge, for they were approaching San Francisco. The +steamer had taken a cargo of machinery and rails on board at Esquimault +for San Francisco, as was duly set forth in the ship's papers. In +Esquimault, too, the second mate enlisted, though the captain was not +particularly eager to take a man who carried his arm in a sling. Since, +however, he could find no one else to take the place of the former +second mate, who had gone astray in the harbor saloons of Victoria, the +captain engaged the volunteer, who called himself Henry Wilson, and thus +far he had had no cause to regret his choice, as Wilson turned out to be +a quiet, sober man, thoroughly familiar with the waters along the +Pacific coast. + +Wilson was in the chart-room, carefully examining the entrance to San +Francisco; suddenly he turned and called through the open door to the +captain on the bridge: "Captain, we are now eight miles from the Golden +Gate; it's a wonder the Japs haven't discovered us yet." + +"I should think they would station their cruisers as far out as this," +answered the captain. + +"After all, why should they?" asked Wilson, "there's nothing more to be +done here, and the allies of our illustrious government can scarcely be +asked to show much interest in an English steamer with a harmless +cargo." + +Wilson joined the captain and the first mate on the bridge, and all +three leaned against the railing and tried through their glasses to +discover the fires of the Golden Gate through the darkness; but not a +gleam of light was to be seen. + +"I don't believe we'll be allowed to enter the harbor at night," began +the first mate again, "more especially as our instructions are to reach +the Golden Gate at noon." + +"Yes, but if the engines won't work properly, how the devil can they +expect us to be punctual!" grumbled the captain. + +"Look," cried Wilson, pointing to the blinding flash of a searchlight in +front of them, "they've got us at last!" A few minutes later the +brilliant bluish white beam of a searchlight was fixed on the _Port +Elizabeth_. + +"We'll keep right on our course," said the captain rather hurriedly to +the man at the helm, "they'll soon let us know what they want. Wilson, +you might get the ship's papers ready, we'll have visitors in a minute." + +Scarcely had Wilson reached the captain's cabin when a bell rang sharply +in the engine-room, and soon after this the engines began to slow down. +When he returned to the bridge, the masts and low funnels of a ship and +a thick trailing cloud of smoke could be seen crossing the reflection of +the searchlight a few hundred yards away from the _Port Elizabeth_. Then +a long black torpedo-boat with four low funnels emerged from the +darkness, turned, and took the same course as the freighter. A boat was +lowered and four sailors, a pilot and an officer stepped on board the +_Port Elizabeth_. + +The captain welcomed the Japanese lieutenant at the gangway and spoke a +few words to him in a low tone, whereupon they both went into the +captain's cabin. The Jap must have been satisfied by his examination of +the ship's papers, for he returned to the bridge conversing with the +captain in a most friendly and animated manner. + +"This is my first mate, Hornberg," said the captain. + +"An Englishman?" asked the Japanese. + +"No, a German." + +"A German?" repeated the Jap slowly. "The Germans are friends of Japan, +are they not?" he asked, smiling pleasantly at the first mate, who, +however, did not appear to have heard the question and turned away to go +to the engine-room telephone. + +"And this is my second mate, Wilson." + +"An Englishman?" asked the Jap again. + +"Yes, an Englishman," answered Wilson himself. + +The Japanese officer looked at him keenly and said: "I seem to know +you." + +"It is not impossible," said Wilson, "I have been navigating Japanese +waters for several years." + +"Indeed?" asked the lieutenant, "may I inquire on which line?" + +"On several lines; I know Shanghai, I have been from Hongkong to +Yokohama in tramp steamers, and once during the Russian war I got to +Nagasaki--also with a cargo of machinery," he added after a pause. "That +was a dangerous voyage, for the Russians had just sailed from +Vladivostock." + +"With a cargo of machinery," repeated the Japanese officer, adding, "and +you are familiar with these waters also?" + +"Fairly so," said Wilson. + +"Have you any relatives in the American Navy?" asked the Jap sharply. + +"Not that I know of," answered Wilson, "my family is a large one, and as +an Englishman I have relatives in all parts of the world, but none in +the American Navy, so far as I know." + +"Mr. Wilson, you will please take charge of the ship under the direction +of the pilot brought along by the lieutenant. Mr. Hornberg's watch is +up," said the captain, and went off with the Jap to his cabin. + +Five minutes later the captain sent for the first mate, who returned to +the bridge almost directly, saying: "Mr. Wilson, I am to take your place +at the helm. The captain would like to see you." + +"Certainly," answered Wilson curtly. The captain and the Jap were +sitting together in the cabin over a glass of whisky. "The lieutenant," +said the captain, "wants to know something about Esquimault; you know +the harbor there, don't you?" + +"Very slightly," answered Wilson, "I was only there three days." + +"Were there any Japanese ships at Esquimault when you were there?" + +"Yes, there was a Japanese cruiser in dock." + +"What was her name?" + +Wilson shrugged his shoulders and answered: "I couldn't say, I don't +know the names of the Japanese ships." + +"Won't you sit down and join us in a glass of whisky?" said the captain. + +"What did you do to your arm?" asked the Japanese. + +"I was thrown against the railing in a storm and broke it on the way +from Shanghai to Victoria." + +A long pause ensued which was at last broken by the Jap, who inquired: +"Do you know Lieutenant Longstreet of the American Navy?" + +"I know no one of that name in the American Navy." + +The Jap scrutinized Wilson's face, but the latter remained perfectly +unconcerned. + +"You told the captain that you've been in San Francisco often," began +the Jap again; "on what line were you?" + +"On no line, I was at San Francisco for pleasure." + +"When?" + +"The last time was two years ago." + +"May I see your papers?" + +"Certainly," said Wilson, getting up to fetch them from his cabin. + +The Japanese studied them closely. + +"Curious," he said at last, "I could have sworn that I've seen you +before." + +Then he glanced again at one of the certificates and looking up at +Wilson suddenly, over the edge of the paper, asked sharply: "Why have +you two names?" + +"I have only one," returned Wilson. + +"Winstanley and Wilson," said the Jap with a decided emphasis on both +names. + +"I'm very sorry," said Wilson, "but I don't know anyone of the name of +Winstanley, or whatever you called it. The name cannot very well be in +my papers." + +"Then I must be mistaken," said the Jap peevishly. + +Wilson left the captain's cabin and went up to the bridge, where he drew +a deep breath of relief. + +The pilot gave directions for the ship's course, and the torpedo-boat +steamed along on her port side like a shadow. + +"I wonder why we have a wireless apparatus on board?" asked Hornberg. + +"It never occurred to me until you mentioned it. I imagine it's merely +an experiment of the owners," answered Wilson. Then they both lapsed +into silence and only attended to the pilot's directions for the ship's +course. + +Wilson presently looked at his watch and remarked: "We must be about +two miles from the Golden Gate by this time." + +"It's possible," said Hornberg, "but as all the ships use shaded lights, +it's a difficult thing to determine." + +"Can we enter the harbor by night?" he asked of the Japanese pilot. + +"Yes, sir, whenever you like, under our pilotage you can enter the +harbor by day or night." + +"How's that?" + +"You'll see directly." + +At this moment the torpedo-boat's siren bellowed sharply three times, +and immediately the red lights at the masthead and the side of a steamer +about half a mile off became visible, and the bright flash of her +searchlight was thrown on the _Port Elizabeth_. The pilot sent a short +signal across, which was immediately answered by the Japanese guardship. + +"Now you'll see the channel," said the pilot to Wilson, "it's really an +American invention, but we were the first to put it to practical use. We +can't possibly lose our way now." + +"Yes, captain, you'll see something wonderful now," said the lieutenant, +as he came on the bridge with the captain. "You'll open your eyes when +you see us steering through the mines." + +Suddenly a bright circle of light appeared on the surface of the water, +which was reflected from some source of light about ten yards below the +surface. "It's an anchored light-buoy," explained the lieutenant, "which +forms the end of the electric light cable, and there to the right is +another one. All we have to do now is to keep a straight course between +the two rows of lantern-buoys which are connected with the cable, and in +that way we'll be able to steer with perfect safety between the mines +into the harbor of San Francisco." And indeed, about a hundred yards +ahead a second shining circle of light appeared on the water, and +further on a whole chain of round disks was seen to make a turn to the +left and then disappear in the distance. The same kind of a line +appeared on the right. Half an hour later three bright red reflections, +looking like transparent floating balls of light filled with ruby-red, +bubbling billows, marked a spot where the helm had to be turned to port +in order to bring the ship through a gap in the line of mines. Thus the +_Port Elizabeth_ reached San Francisco early in the morning. She did not +make fast at the quay, but at the arsenal on Mare Island, her crew then +being given shore leave. When the last man had gone, the _Port +Elizabeth_, unloaded her cargo of machinery and rails which, in the +hands of the Chinese coolies, was transformed into gun-barrels, +ammunition and shells in the most marvelous manner. "_Le pavilion couvre +la marchandise_, especially under the Union Jack," said Hornberg +sarcastically, as he watched this metamorphosis, but the captain only +looked at him angrily. + +That was the second time during the war that Captain Winstanley of the +United States Navy, and late commander of the battleship _Georgia_, saw +San Francisco, whence he had escaped by night from the naval hospital +two months before. The Japanese lieutenant was the same who had received +the word of honor of the officers on board the hospital ship _Ontario_ +on May eighth, and to whom Winstanley had refused to give his. Two +months after his voyage as second mate on board the _Port Elizabeth_, +which enabled him to gather information concerning the Japanese measures +for the defense of San Francisco, Winstanley stood on the bridge of the +battleship _Delaware_ as commander of the second Atlantic squadron. And +four months later the name of the victor in the naval battle off the +Galapagos Islands went the rounds of the world! + + + + +_Chapter XIII_ + +THE REVENGE FOR PORTSMOUTH + + +The more one examined the complicated machinery of the Japanese plan of +attack, the more one was forced to admire the cleverness and the energy +of the Mongolians in preparing for the war, and the more distinctly +these were recognized, the clearer became the wide gulf between the +Mongolian's and the white man's point of view concerning all these +matters. + +We might have learned a lesson in 1904, if we had not so carelessly and +thoughtlessly looked upon the Russo-Japanese war as a mere episode, +instead of regarding it as a war whose roots were firmly embedded in the +inner life of a nation that had suddenly come to the surface of a rapid +political development. The interference of the European powers in the +Peace of Shimonoseki in 1895 robbed Japan of nearly all the fruits of +her victory over China. Japan had been forced to vacate the conquered +province of Liaotung on the mainland because she was unable to prevail +against three European powers, who were for once agreed in maintaining +that all Chinese booty belonged to Europe, for they regarded China as a +bankrupt estate to be divided among her creditors. When, therefore, +after the second Peace of Shimonoseki, Japan was compelled to relinquish +all her possessions on the mainland and to console herself for her +shattered hopes with a few million taels, every Japanese knew that the +lost booty would at some time or other be demanded from Russia at the +point of the sword. With the millions paid by China as war indemnity, +Japan procured a new military armament, built an armored fleet and +slowly but surely taught the nation to prepare for the hour of revenge. +Remember Shimonoseki! That was the secret shibboleth, the free-mason's +sign, which for nine long years kept the thoughts of the Japanese people +continually centered on one object. + +"One country, one people, one God!" were words once emphatically +pronounced by Kaiser Wilhelm. But with the Japanese such high-sounding +words as these are quite unnecessary. In the heart of all, from the +Tenno to the lowest rickshaw coolie, there exists a jealous national +consciousness, as natural as the beating of the heart itself, which +unites the forces of religion, of the political idea and of intellectual +culture into one indivisible element, differing in the individual only +in intensity and in form of expression. When a citizen of Japan leaves +his native land, he nevertheless remains a Japanese from the crown of +his head to the soles of his feet, and can no more mix with members of +another nation than a drop of oil can mix with water: a drop of oil +poured on water will remain on its surface as an alien element, and so +does a Japanese among another people. While the streams of emigrants +passing over the boundaries of Europe into other countries soon adapt +themselves to new conditions and eventually adopt not only the outward +but also the inward symbols of their environment, until finally they +think and feel like those round about them, the Japanese remains a Jap +for all time. The former sometimes retain a sentimental memory of their +former home, but the Mongolian is never sentimental or romantic. He is +sober and sensible, with very little imagination, and his whole energy, +all his thoughts and endeavors are directed towards the upholding of the +national, intellectual and religious unity of Japan. His country is his +conscience, his faith, his deity. + +Ordinary nations require hundreds and even thousands of years to inspire +their people with a national consciousness, but this was not necessary +in Japan, for there patriotism is inborn in the people, among whom an +act of treason against the fatherland would be impossible because it is +looked upon as spiritual suicide. The inner solidarity of the national +character, the positive assurance of the fulfillment of all national +duties, and the absolute silence of the people towards strangers--these +are the weapons with which Japan enters the arena, clothed in a rattling +ready-made steel armor, the like of which her opponents have yet to +manufacture. The discretion shown by the Japanese press in all questions +relating to foreign policy is regarded as the fulfillment of a patriotic +duty just as much as the joyous self-sacrifice of the soldier on the +field of battle. + +From the moment that Marquis Ito had returned from Portsmouth (in 1905) +empty-handed and the Japanese had been sorely disappointed in their +hopes through President Roosevelt's instrumentality in bringing about +peace, every Japanese knew whose turn would come next. The Japanese +people were at first exceedingly angry at the way in which they had been +deprived of their expected indemnity, but the government only allowed +them to let off steam enough to prevent the boilers from bursting. Here +and there, where it could do no harm, they let the excited mob have its +way, but very soon both government and press began their new work of +turning the people's patriotic passions away from the past to prepare +for the future control of the Pacific. When in return for the +prohibition of Chinese immigration to the United States, China boycotted +our goods, and the ensuing panic in Wall Street forced the government +in Washington to grant large concessions, Japan did not attempt to make +use of this sharp weapon, for one of their most extensive industries, +namely the silk industry, depended upon the export to the United States. +Japan continued to place orders in America and treated the American +importers with special politeness, even when she saw that the beginning +of the boycott gave the gentlemen in Washington a terrible scare, +prompting them to collect funds to relieve the famine in China and even +renouncing all claim to the war indemnity of 1901 to smooth matters +over. But Japan apparently took no notice of all this and continued to +be deferential and polite, even when the growing heaps of unsold goods +in the warehouses at Shanghai made the Americans ready to sacrifice some +of their national pride. Since Japan wished to take the enemy by +surprise, she had to be very careful not to arouse suspicions +beforehand. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always," was the watchword given out +by the little Jewish lawyer in the president's chair of France, when the +longing for revenge filled the soul of every Frenchman during the slow +retreat of the German army after its victorious campaign; "never speak +of it, but think of it always," that was the watchword of the Japanese +people also, although never expressed in words. It was nine years before +the bill of exchange issued at Shimonoseki was presented on that +February night in the roads of Port Arthur; for nine years the Japanese +had kept silence and thought about it, had drilled and armed their +soldiers, built ships and instructed their crews. The world had seen all +this going on, but had no idea of the real reason for these warlike +preparations on a tremendous scale. It was not Japan who had deceived +the world, for everything went on quite openly, it being impossible to +hide an army of over a million men under a bushel basket; but the world +had deceived itself. When ships are built and cannon cast in other parts +of the world, everyone knows for whom they are intended, and should +anyone be ignorant, he will soon be enlightened by the after-dinner +speeches of diplomats or indiscreet newspaper articles. The military and +naval plans of the old world are common property, and this political +indiscretion is characteristic of America as well as of Europe. In +striking contrast thereto are the cool calculation, the silent +observation and the perfect harmony of the peoples of Asia and Africa, +all of whom, without exception, are inspired by a deep and undying +hatred of the white race. + +You may live for years among disciples of Mohammed, know all in your +environment, penetrate into their thoughts and feelings, and still be +utterly incapable of judging when the little spark that occasionally +glows in their eyes in moments of great enthusiasm, will suddenly +develop into an immense flame, when a force will make its appearance of +the existence of which you have never dreamed, and which will, without a +sign of warning, devastate and destroy all around it. But when this does +happen and the corpses of the slain encumber the streets, when the +quiet, peaceful, apparently indolent Moslem who for years has worked +faithfully for you, is transformed in a few hours into a fanatical hero, +whom thousands follow like so many sheep, then, at the sight of the +burning ruins you will be forced to admit that the white man will +forever be excluded from the thoughts and the national sentiment of the +followers of Islam. + +You walk across a sandy plain in the heat of the midday sun and you +return the same way the next morning after a rainy night--what has +happened? The ground which yesterday looked so parched and barren is now +covered with millions of tiny blades. Where has this sudden life come +from? It was there all the time. There is always latent life beneath the +surface, but it is invisible. And as soon as a fertilizing rain comes, +it springs up, and everyone perceives what has been slumbering beneath +the crust. + +In the dense jungles from which the sacred Nile receives its waters, +there stands a tent and before it a saddled horse. From the tent steps +forth a man with large glowing eyes, dressed all in white, who is +greeted by his followers with fanatical cries of Allah, Allah! He mounts +his steed, the camels rise, and the long caravan swings slowly out of +sight and disappears in the bush. Once more dead silence reigns in the +African jungle. Whither are they going? You don't know; you see only a +rider dressed in a white burnoose, only a few dozen men hailing a +prophet, but in the very same moment in which you see only a sheik +riding off, millions know that the Caliph, the Blessed of Allah, has +started on his journey through the lands whose inhabitants he intends to +lead either to victory or to destruction. In the same moment millions of +hearts from Mogador to Cape Guardafui, from Tripoli to the burning salt +deserts of Kalahari, rejoice in the thought that the hour of deliverance +has come for the peoples of Islam. A victorious feeling of buoyant hope +arises in the hearts of the Faithful simply because a plain Arabian +sheik has started on the road pointed out by Allah. How they happen to +know it and all at the same time, will forever remain a mystery to the +white man, as much of a mystery as the secret inner life of the yellow +races of Asia. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always," had been the watchword, and +everything that had transpired, even the apparently inconsistent and +senseless things, had been ruled by it. The world could not be deceived +about the things that were plainly visible; all the Japanese had to do +was to make sure that the world would deceive itself as it had done +during the preparations for Port Arthur. A perfectly equipped army could +be seen by all on the fields of Nippon, Hokkaido and Kiushiu, and the +fleet was surely not hidden from view. It was the world's own fault that +it could not interpret what it saw, that it imagined the little yellow +monkey would never dare attack the clumsy polar-bear. Because the +diplomatic quill-drivers would only see what fitted into their schemes, +because they were capable only of moving in a circle about their own +ideas, they could not understand the thoughts of others, and the few +warning voices died away unheeded. It was not Japan's fault that the +roads at Port Arthur roused the world out of its slumber. What business +had the world to be asleep? + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always"--the adversary must be put +to sleep again, he must be lulled into security and his thoughts +directed towards the points where there was nothing to be seen, where no +preparations were in progress. He must be kept in the dark about the +true nature of the preparations, and on the other hand put on as many +false scents as possible, so that he might not get the faintest idea of +the real plan. + +This is the reason why all those things were done, why the quarrel over +the admission of Japanese children to the public schools of San +Francisco was cooked up, why so much national anger was exhibited, why +the Japanese press took up the quarrel like a hungry dog pouncing upon a +bone, why so much noise was made about it at public meetings that one +would have thought the fate of Japan hung on the result. And then, as +soon as Washington began to back down, the dogs were whipped back to +their kennels and the "national anger" died out as soon as Japan had +"saved her face." The Americans were allowed to doze off again, fully +persuaded that the school question was settled once and for all and that +there was nothing further to fear in that direction. Then, too, Japan +apparently yielded in the vexed question of Japanese immigration to the +United States, but instead of sending the immigrants to San Francisco +and Seattle, as she had done hitherto, they were simply dispatched +across the Mexican frontier, where it was impossible to exercise control +over such things, for no one could be expected to patrol the sandy +deserts of Arizona and New Mexico merely to watch whether a few Japs +slipped across the border now and then. It was therefore impossible to +keep track of the number of Japanese who entered the country in this +way, more especially as the official emigration figures issued at Tokio +were purposely inaccurate, so as to confuse the statistics still more. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always!" That is why a Japanese +photographer was sent to San Diego to photograph the walls of Fort +Rosecrans. He was to get himself arrested. But of course we had to let +the fellow go when he proved that better and more accurate photos than +he had taken could be purchased in almost any store in San Diego. The +object of this game was the same as that practiced in Manila, where we +were induced to arrest a spy who was ostentatiously taking photographs. +Both of these little maneuvers were intended to persuade us that Japan +was densely ignorant with regard to these forts which as a matter of +fact would play no role at all in her plan of attack; America was to be +led to believe that Japan's system of espionage was in its infancy, +while in reality the government at Tokio was in possession of the exact +diagram of every fort, was thoroughly familiar with every beam of our +warships--thanks to the Japanese stewards who had been employed by the +Navy Department up to a few years ago--knew the peculiarities of every +one of our commanders and their hobbies in maneuvers, and finally was +informed down to the smallest detail of our plans of mobilization, and +of the location of our war headquarters and of our armories and +ammunition depots. + +For the same reason the Japanese press, and the English press in Eastern +Asia which was inspired by Japan, continually drew attention to the +Philippines, as though that archipelago were to be the first point of +attack. For this reason, too, the English-Chinese press published at the +beginning of the year the well-known plans for Japan's offensive naval +attack and the transport of two of her army corps to the Philippines. +And the ruse proved successful. Just as Russia had been taken completely +by surprise because she would persist in her theory that Japan would +begin by marching upon Manchuria, so now the idea that Japan would first +try to capture the Philippines and Hawaii had become an American and an +international dogma. The world had allowed itself to be deceived a +second time, and, convinced that the first blow would be struck at +Manila and Hawaii, they spent their time in figuring out how soon the +American fleet would be able to arrive on the scene of action in order +to save the situation in the Far East. + +"Never speak of it, but think of it always!" While Japan was +disseminating these false notions as to the probable course of a war, +the actual preparations for it were being conducted in an entirely +different place, and the adversary was induced to concentrate his +strength at a point where there was no intention of making an attack. +The Japanese were overjoyed to observe the strengthening of the +Philippine garrison when the insurrection inspired by Japanese agents +broke out at Mindanao as well as the concentration of the cruiser +squadron off that island, for Manila, the naval base, was thus left +unprotected. With the same malignant joy they noticed how the United +States stationed half of its fleet off the Pacific coast and, relying on +her mobile means of defense, provided insufficient garrisons for the +coast-defenses, on the supposition that there would be plenty of time to +put the garrisons on a war-footing after the outbreak of hostilities. + +Japan's next move came in March and April, when she quietly withdrew all +the regular troops from the Manchurian garrisons and replaced them with +reserve regiments fully able to repulse for a time any attack on the +part of Russia. The meaning of this move was not revealed until weeks +later, when it became known that the transport ships from Dalny and +Gensan, which were supposed to have returned to Japan, were really on +their way to San Francisco and Seattle with the second detachment of the +invading army. + +After the destruction of the Philippine squadron, the Japanese reduced +their blockade of the Bay of Manila to a few old cruisers and armed +merchant-steamers, at the same time isolating the American garrisons in +the archipelago, whose fate was soon decided. The blockading ships could +not of course venture near the heavy guns of the Corregidor batteries, +but that was not their task. They had merely to see that Manila had no +intercourse with the outside world, and this they did most efficiently. +The Japanese ships had at first feared an attack by the two little +submarines _Shark_ and _Porpoise_ stationed at Cavite; they learned from +their spies on land, however, that the government shipyards at Cavite +had tried in vain to render the little boats seaworthy: they returned +from each diving-trial with defective gasoline-engines. And when, weeks +later, they at last reached Corregidor, the four Japanese submarines +quickly put an end to them. The strongly fortified city of Manila had +thus become a naval base without a fleet and was accordingly overpowered +from the land side. + +As the far too weak garrison of scarcely more than ten thousand men was +insufficient to defend the extensive line of forts and barricades, the +unfinished works at Olongapo on Subig Bay were blown up with dynamite +and vacated, then the railways were abandoned, and finally only Manila +and Cavite were retained. But the repeated attacks of the natives under +the leadership of Japanese officers soon depleted the little garrison, +which was entirely cut off from outside assistance and dependent +absolutely on the supplies left in Manila itself. The only article of +which they had more than enough was coal; but you can't bake bread with +coal, and so finally, on August twenty-fourth, Manila capitulated. +Twenty-eight hundred starving soldiers surrendered their arms while the +balance lay either in the hospitals or on the field of battle. Thus the +Philippines became a Japanese possession with the loss of a single man, +Lieutenant Shirawa. All the rest had been accomplished by the Filipinos +and by the climate that was so conducive to the propagation of +mosquitoes and scorpions. + +Hawaii's fate had been decided even more quickly than that of the +Philippines. The sixty thousand Japanese inhabitants of the archipelago +were more than enough to put an end to American rule. The half-finished +works at Pearl Harbor fell at the first assault, while the three +destroyers and the little gunboat were surprised by the enemy. Guam, and +Pago-Pago on Tutuila, were also captured, quite incidentally. About the +middle of May, a Japanese transport fleet returning from San Francisco +appeared at Honolulu and took forty thousand inhabitants to Seattle, +where they formed the reserve corps of the Northern Japanese Army. + + * * * * * + +Japan's rising imperialism, the feeling that the sovereignty of the +Pacific rightly belonged to the leading power in yellow Asia had, long +before the storms of war swept across the plains of Manchuria, come into +conflict with the imperialistic policy of the United States, although +invisibly at first. Prior to that time the Asiatic races had looked upon +the dominion of the white man as a kind of fate, as an irrevocable +universal law, but the fall of Port Arthur had shattered this idol once +and for all. And after the days of Mukden and Tsushima had destroyed the +belief in the invincibility of the European arms, the Japanese agents +found fertile soil everywhere for their seeds of secret political +agitation. In India, in Siam, and in China also, the people began to +prick their ears when it was quite openly declared that after the +destruction of the czar's fleet the Pacific and the lands bordering on +it could belong only to the Mongolians. The discovery was made that the +white man was not invincible. And beside England, only the United States +remained to be considered--the United States who were still hard at work +on their Philippine inheritance and could not make up their mind to +establish their loudly heralded imperialistic policy on a firm footing +by providing the necessary armaments. + +Then came the Peace of Portsmouth. Absolutely convinced that his country +would have to bear the brunt of the next Asiatic thunder-storm, Theodore +Roosevelt gained one of the most momentous victories in the history of +the world when he removed the payment of a war indemnity from the +conditions of peace. And he did this not because he had any particular +love for the Russians, but because he wished to prevent the +strengthening of Japan's financial position until after the completion +of the Panama Canal. America did exactly what Germany, Russia and France +had done at the Peace of Shimonoseki, and we had to be prepared for +similar results. But how long did it take the American people, who had +helped to celebrate the victories of Oyama, Nogi and Togo, to recognize +that a day of vengeance for Portsmouth was bound to come. In those days +we regarded the Manchurian campaign merely as a spectacle and applauded +the victors. We had no idea that it was only the prelude of the great +drama of the struggle for the sovereignty of the Pacific. We wanted +imperialism, but took no steps to establish it on a firm basis, and it +is foolish to dream of imperial dominion when one is afraid to lay the +sword in the scales. We might bluff the enemy for the time being by +sending our fleet to the Pacific; but we could not keep him deceived +long as to the weakness of our equipment on land and at sea, especially +on land. + +The wholesale immigration of Mongolians to our Pacific States and to the +western shores of South America was clearly understood across the sea. +But we looked quietly on while the Japanese overran Chili, Peru and +Bolivia, all the harbors on the western coast of South America; and +while the yellow man penetrated there unhindered and the decisive events +of the future were in process of preparation, we continued to look +anxiously eastward from the platform of the Monroe Doctrine and to keep +a sharp lookout on the modest remnants of the European colonial dominion +in the Caribbean Sea, as if danger could threaten us from that corner. +We seemed to think that the Monroe Doctrine had an eastern exposure +only, and when we were occasionally reminded that it embraced the entire +continent, we allowed our thoughts to be distracted by the London press +with its talk of the "German danger" in South America, just as though +any European state would think for a moment of seizing three Brazilian +provinces overnight, as it were. + +We have always tumbled through history as though we were deaf and dumb, +regarding those who warned us in time against the Japanese danger as +backward people whose intellects were too weak to grasp the victorious +march of Japanese culture. Any one who would not acknowledge the +undeniable advance of Japan to be the greatest event of the present +generation was stamped by us an enemy of civilization. We recognized +only two categories of people--Japanophobes and Japanophiles. It never +entered our heads that we might recognize the weighty significance of +Japan's sudden development into a great political power, but at the same +time warn our people most urgently against regarding this development +merely as a phase of feuilletonistic culture. Right here lies the basis +for all our political mistakes of the last few years. The revenge for +Portsmouth came as such a terrible surprise, because, misled by common +opinion, we believed the enemy to be breaking down under the weight of +his armor and therefore incapable of conducting a new war and, in this +way undervaluing our adversary, we neglected all necessary preparations. +No diplomatic conflict, not the slightest disturbance of our relations +with Japan prepared the way for the great surprise. The world was the +richer by one experience--that a war need have no prelude on the +diplomatic stage provided enough circumstances have led up to it. + + + + +_Chapter XIV_ + +ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WHIRLPOOL + + +On the rear deck of a ferry-boat bound for Hoboken on the morning of May +12th stood Randolph Taney, with his hands in his pockets, gazing +intently at the foaming waters of the Hudson plowed up by the screw. It +was all over: he had speculated in Wall Street, putting his money on +Harriman, and had lost every cent he had. What Harriman could safely do +with a million, Randolph Taney could not do with a quarter of a million. +That's why he had lost. Fortunately only his own money. The whole bundle +of papers wasn't worth any more than the copy of the _Times_ tossed +about in the swirling water in the wake of the boat. + +Randolph Taney kept on thinking. Just why he was going to Hoboken he +really didn't know, but it made little difference what he did. + +"Halloo, Taney," called out an acquaintance, "where are you going?" + +"I don't know." + +"You don't know? How's that?" + +"I'm done for." + +"You're not the only one; Wall Street is a dangerous vortex." + +"But I'm absolutely cleaned out." + +"How so?" + +"Do you know what I'm going to do, James Harrison?" asked Taney, with +bitter irony in his voice. "I'll apprentice myself to a paperhanger, +and learn to paper my rooms with my worthless railway shares. I imagine +I can still learn that much." + +"Ah, that's the way the wind blows!" cried the other, whistling softly. + +"What did you think?" + +"It was pretty bad, I suppose?" + +"Bad? It was hell----" + +"Were you in Wall Street on Monday?" + +"Yes, and on Tuesday, too." + +"And now you want to learn paperhanging?" + +"Yes." + +"Does it have to be that?" + +"Can you suggest anything else?" + +"Yes." + +"Well?" + +Hubert pointed to the button-hole in the lapel of his coat and said: "Do +you see this?" + +"What is it?" + +"A volunteer button." + +Taney looked with interest at the little white button with the American +flag, and then said: "Have I got to that point? The last chance, I +suppose?" he added after a pause. + +"Not the last, but the first!" + +"How so?" + +"At any rate it's better than paperhanging. Look here, Taney, you'll +only worry yourself to death. It would be far more sensible of you to +take the bull by the horns and join our ranks. You can at least try to +retrieve your fortunes by that means." + +The ferry-boat entered the slip at Hoboken and both men left the boat. + +"Now, Taney, which is it to be, paperhanging or--," and James Harrison +pointed to the button. + +"I'll come with you," said Taney indifferently. They went further along +the docks towards the Governor's Island ferry-boat. + +"I have a friend over there," said Harrison, "a major in the 8th +Regulars; he'll be sure to find room for us, and we may be at the front +in a month's time." + +Taney stuffed his pipe and answered: "In a month? That suits me; I have +no affairs to arrange." + +The two men looked across in silence at Manhattan Island, where the +buildings were piled up in huge terraces. All the color-tones were +accentuated in the bright clear morning air. The sky-scrapers of the +Empire City, mighty turreted palaces almost reaching into the clouds, +stood out like gigantic silhouettes. The dome of the Singer Building +glistened and glittered in the sun, crowning a region in which strenuous +work was the order of the day, while directly before them stretched the +broad waters of the Hudson with its swarm of hurrying ferry-boats. +Further on, between the piers and the low warehouses, could be seen a +long row of serious-looking ocean-steamers, whose iron lungs emitted +little clouds of steam as the cranes fed their huge bodies with nice +little morsels. + +The two men had seen this picture hundreds of times, but were impressed +once again by its grandeur. + +"Taney," said Harrison, "isn't that the most beautiful city in the +world? I've been around the world twice, but I've never seen anything to +equal it. That's our home, and we are going to protect it by shouldering +our guns. Come on, old chap, leave everything else behind and come with +me!" + +"Yes, I'll come, I certainly shall!" came the quick response. Then they +took the boat to Governor's Island and Taney enlisted. They promised to +make him a lieutenant when the troops took the field. + +When they returned two hours later Randolph Taney also wore the button +with the flag in the center: he was a full-fledged volunteer in the +United States Army. + +On the return trip Taney became communicative, and told the story of the +eighth of May, that terrible day in Wall Street when billions melted +away like butter, when thousands of persons were tossed about in the +whirlpool of the Stock Exchange, when the very foundations of economic +life seemed to be slipping away. He described the wild scenes when +desperate financiers rushed about like madmen, and told how some of them +actually lost their reason during the bitter struggle for existence, +when not an inch of ground was vacated without resistance. Men fought +for every projecting rock, every piece of wreckage, every straw, as they +must have fought in the waves of the Flood, and yet one victim after +another was swallowed by the vortex. In the midst of the mad scrimmage +on the floor of the Exchange one excited individual, the general manager +of a large railroad--with his hair disheveled and the perspiration +streaming down his face, one of his sleeves ripped out and his collar +torn off--suddenly climbed on a platform and began to preach a confused +sermon accompanied by wild gestures; others, whose nerves were utterly +unstrung by the terrible strain, joined in vulgar street-songs. + +Harrison had read about these things in the papers, but his friend's +graphic description brought it all vividly to mind again and caused him +to shudder. He seemed to see all the ruined existences, which the +maelstrom in Wall Street had dragged down into the depths, staring at +him with haggard faces. He thought of his own simple, plain life as +compared with the neurasthenic existence of the men on the Stock +Exchange, who were now compelled to look on in complete apathy and let +things go as they were. The rich man, whom in the bottom of his heart +he had often envied, was now poorer than the Italian bootblack standing +beside him. + +The ferry-boat now turned sharply aside to make room for the giant +_Mauretania_, which was steaming out majestically from its pier into the +broad Hudson River. + +The thrilling notes of the "Star Spangled Banner" had just died away, +and a sea of handkerchiefs fluttered over the railings, which were +crowded with passengers waving their last farewells to those left +behind. Then the ship's band struck up a new tune, and the enormous +steamer plowed through the waves towards the open sea. + +"There go the rats who have deserted the sinking ship," said Randolph +Taney bitterly, "our leading men of finance are said to have offered +fabulous prices for the plainest berths." + +The flight of the homeless had begun. + + + + +_Chapter XV_ + +A RAY OF LIGHT + + +Only a small Japanese garrison was left at Seattle after the first +transports of troops had turned eastward on the seventh and eighth of +May, and the northern army under Marshal Nogi had, after a few +insignificant skirmishes with small American detachments, taken up its +position in, and to the south of, the Blue Mountains. Then, in the +beginning of June, the first transport-ships arrived from Hawaii, +bringing the reserve corps for the northern army, with orders to occupy +the harbors and coast-towns behind the front and to guard the lines of +communication to the East. + +Communication by rail had been stopped everywhere. No American was +allowed to board a train, and only with the greatest difficulty did a +few succeed in securing special permission in very urgent cases. The +stations had one and all been turned into little forts, being occupied +by Japanese detachments who at the same time attended to the Japanese +passenger and freight-service. + +In all places occupied by the Japanese the press had been silenced, +except for one paper in each town, which was allowed to continue its +existence because the Japs needed it for the publication of edicts and +proclamations issued to the inhabitants, and for the dissemination of +news from the seat of war, the latter point being considered of great +importance. This entire absence of news from other than Japanese sources +gave rise to thousands of rumors, which seemed to circulate more +rapidly by word of mouth than the former telegraphic dispatches had +through the newspapers. + +On the morning of June eighth the news was spread in Tacoma that the +city would that day receive a Japanese garrison, as several +transport-steamers had arrived at Seattle. Up to that time only one +Japanese company had been stationed at Tacoma, and they had occupied the +railroad station and the gas and electric works and intrenched +themselves in the new waterworks outside the town. Through some strange +trick of fortune the gun-depot for the arming of the national guard +which had been removed to Tacoma a year ago and which contained about +five thousand 1903 Springfield rifles had escaped the notice of the +enemy. The guns had been stored provisionally in the cellars of a large +grain elevator and it had been possible to keep them concealed from the +eyes of the Japs, but it was feared that their hiding-place might be +betrayed any day. This danger would of course be greatly increased the +moment Tacoma received a stronger garrison. + +Martin Engelmann, a German who had immigrated to the great Northwest +some twenty years ago, owned a pretty little home in the suburbs of +Tacoma. The family had just sat down to dinner when the youngest son, +who was employed in a large mercantile establishment in the city, +entered hurriedly and called out excitedly: + +"They're coming, father, they're in the harbor." + +Then he sat down and began to eat his soup in haste. + +"They're coming?" asked old Engelmann in a serious tone of voice, "then +I fear it is too late." + +The old man got up from the table and going over to the window looked +out into the street. Not a living thing was to be seen far and wide +except a little white poodle gnawing a bone in the middle of the +street. Engelmann stared attentively at the poodle, buried in thought. + +"How many of them are there?" he asked after a pause. + +"At least a whole battalion, I'm told," answered the son, finishing his +soup in short order. + +"Then it's all over, of course. Just twenty-four hours too soon," sighed +Engelmann softly as he watched the poodle, who at that moment was +jumping about on the street playing with the gnawed bone. + +Engelmann tried hard to control himself, but he did not dare turn his +head, for he could hear low, suppressed sobbing behind him. Martha, the +faithful companion of his busy life, sat at the table with her face +buried in her hands, the tears rolling uninterruptedly down her cheeks, +while her two daughters were trying their best to comfort her. + +Old Engelmann opened the window and listened. + +"Nothing to be heard yet; but they'll have to pass here to get to the +waterworks," he said. Then he joined his family, and turning to his +wife, said: "Courage, mother! Arthur will do his duty." + +"But if anything should happen to him--" sobbed his wife. + +"Then it will be for his country, and his death and that of his comrades +will give us an example of the sacrifices we must all make until the +last of the yellow race has been driven out." + +The mother went on crying quietly, her handkerchief up to her eyes: +"When was it to be? Tell me!" she cried. + +"To-night," said the father, "and they would surely have been +successful, for they could easily have overpowered the few men at the +station and in the town. Listen, there are the Japs!" + +From outside came the regular beat of the drums. Bum--bum--bum, bum, bum +they went, and then the shrill squeaking of the fifes could also be +heard. + +"Yes, there they are, the deuce take 'em," said Engelmann. The sound of +the drums became more and more distinct and presently the sound of +troops marching in step could be clearly distinguished. Then the steps +became firmer, and the window-panes began to rattle as the leader of the +battalion appeared on horseback in the middle of the street, followed by +the fife and drum corps, and with the little white poodle barking at his +heels. It was a Japanese battalion of reserves marching in the direction +of the new waterworks outside the town. + +"Courage, mother!" comforted the old man. "If they only stay at the +waterworks all may yet be well." + +"Wouldn't it be possible to warn Arthur?" began the mother again. + +"Warn him?" said Engelmann, shrugging his shoulders, "all you have to do +is to go to the telegraph office and hand in a telegram to the Japanese +official, telling them to remain where they are." + +"But couldn't we make it a go after all?" asked the youngest son +thoughtfully. "The boxes are all ready, and can be packed in half an +hour. We have three hundred men and thirty wagons. The latter were to be +loaded at eleven o'clock to-night. And then at them with our revolvers! +There aren't more than twenty men at the station," he went on with +sparkling eyes. "At eleven o'clock sharp the telegraph-wire to the +waterworks will be cut, also the wires to all the stations; then let +them telegraph all they like. The minute the train arrives, the engine +will be switched to another track and then backed in front of the train. +Meanwhile the boxes will be packed in the cars and then we'll be off +with the throttle wide open. At each station a car will be dropped, and +wagons will be waiting to receive their loads and get away as fast as +the horses can pull them. Safe hiding-places have been found for all the +boxes, and whatever hasn't been captured by to-morrow morning will +certainly never fall into the enemy's hands." + +"Where is the telegraph-wire to the waterworks?" asked the father. + +"That's my job, to cut the wire just before the arrival of the train," +said his son proudly. + +"Richard," cried the mother in a horrified voice, "are you in it, too?" + +"Yes, mother, you didn't suppose I'd stand and look on while Arthur was +risking his life, did you? What would they think of us on the other side +if we were to hesitate at such a time as this? 'Germans to the front,' +that's our slogan now, and we'll show the people in Washington that the +German-Americans treat the duties of their new country seriously." + +Old Engelmann laid his hand on his son's shoulder, saying: "Right you +are, my boy, and my blessing go with you! So you are to cut the +telegraph-wire?" + +"Yes, father. We happen to know where it is. The Japs were of course +clever enough to lay it underground, but we have discovered it under the +paving near Brown & Co.'s store. We dug through to it very carefully +from the cellar, and so as to make quite sure in case they should notice +anything out of the way at the waterworks, we attached a Morse apparatus +to the wire in the cellar. In case they suspect anything at the works +and begin to telegraph, I'm to work the keys a little so that they won't +know the wire is cut. In addition we laid a wire to the station last +night, which will give a loud bell-signal in case any danger threatens." + +The young fellow had talked himself into a state of great excitement, +and his two sisters, watching him proudly, began to be infected by his +enthusiasm. + +The shades of night were falling slowly as Richard Engelmann bade a +touching farewell to his family and left the house, whistling a lively +tune as he walked towards the town. + + + + +_Chapter XVI_ + +THROUGH FIRE AND SMOKE + + +A train was always kept in readiness at Centralia on the Northern +Pacific Railway, which could get up full steam at a moment's notice in +case of necessity. Two Japanese, the engineer and the fireman, were +squatting on the floor of the tender in front of the glistening black +heaps of coal, over which played the red reflections from the furnace. +They had just made their tea with hot water from the boiler and eaten +their modest supper. Then the engineer pulled out his pipe and stuffing +its little metal bowl with a few crumbs of tobacco, took one or two +puffs at it and said, "Akoki, it is time," whereupon the stoker seized +his shovel, dug into the heap of coals and threw the black lumps with a +sure aim into the open door of the furnace. With a hissing sound the +draft rushed into the glowing fire, and the engine sent out masses of +black smoke which, mixed with hundreds of tiny sparks, was driven like a +pillar of fire over the dark row of cars. The engineer climbed down the +little iron steps and examined the steel rods of his engine with +clinking knocks from his hammer. + +Up and down in front of the dark station walked a Japanese sentinel and +each time that he passed beyond the ring of light thrown by the two +dimly burning lamps he seemed to be swallowed up in the darkness. Only +two little windows at one end of the station were lighted up; they +belonged to the Japanese guard-room and had been walled up so that they +were no wider than loop-holes. The train which inspected this district +regularly between eight and nine o'clock each evening had passed by at +8.30 and proceeded in the direction of Portland. With the exception of +the non-commissioned officer and the man in charge of the three +arc-lamps on the roof that were to light up the surrounding country in +case of a night-attack most of the soldiers had gone to sleep, although +a few were engaged in a whispered conversation. + +Suddenly the sergeant sprang up as a muffled cry was heard from the +outside. "The lamps!" he yelled to the man at the electric instrument. +The latter pushed the lever, but everything remained pitch dark outside. + +The soldiers were up in a second. The sergeant took a few steps towards +the door, but before he could reach it, it was torn open from the +outside. + +A determined looking man with a rifle slung over his shoulder appeared +in the doorway, and the next moment a dark object flew through the air +and was dashed against the wall. A deafening report followed, and then +the guard-room was filled with yellow light caused by the blinding +explosion, while thick black smoke forced its way out through the +loop-holes. Armed men were running up and down in front of the station, +and when the man who had thrown the bomb and who was only slightly +injured but bleeding at the nose and ears from the force of the +concussion, was picked up by them, they were able to assure him +triumphantly that his work had been successful and that the guard-room +had become a coffin for the small Japanese detachment. + +Stumbling over the dead body of the sentinel lying on the platform, the +leader of the attacking party rushed towards the engine, out of the +discharge-valves of which clouds of boiling steam poured forth. With one +bound he was up in the cab, where he found the Japanese fireman killed +by a blow from an ax. Other dark figures climbed up from the opposite +side bumping into their comrades. + +"Halloo, Dick, I call that a good job!" And then it began to liven up +along the row of cars. Wild looking men with rifles over their shoulders +and revolvers in their right hands tore open the carriage doors and +rushed quickly through the whole train. + +"Dick, where's Forster?" + +"Here," answered a rough voice. + +"Off to the engine! Into the cars, quick! Are you ready? Is anyone +missing? Arthur! Where's Arthur?" + +"Here, Dick!" + +"Good work, Arthur, that's what I call good work," said the leader; +"well done, my boys! We're all right so far! Now for the rest of it." + +Fighting Dick distributed his men among the different cars and then he +and Forster, formerly an engineer on the Northern Pacific, climbed into +the cab. + +"They've made it easy for us," said Forster, "they've only just put +fresh coal on! We can start at once! And if it isn't my old engine at +that! I only hope we won't have to give her up! The Japs shan't have her +again, anyhow, even if she has to swallow some dynamite and cough a +little to prevent it." + +"We're off," shouted Fighting Dick, whose fame as a desperado had spread +far beyond the borders of the State of Washington. With such men as +these we were destined to win back our native land. They were a wild +lot, but each of them was a hero: farmers, hunters, workmen from shop +and factory, numerous tramps and half-blooded Indian horse-thieves made +up the company. Only a few days ago Fighting Dick's band had had a +regular battle in the mountains with a troop of Japanese cavalry, and in +the woods of Tacoma more than one Japanese patrol had never found its +way back to the city. These little encounters were no doubt also +responsible for the strengthening of the Japanese garrison at Tacoma. + +The thing to do now was to get the five thousand guns and ammunition +cases out of Tacoma by surprising the enemy. + +Thus far, nothing but the explosion of the bomb at the Centralia station +could have betrayed the plot. It is true that the distant mountains had +sent the echoes of the detonation far and wide, but a single shot didn't +have much significance at a time like this when our country resounded +with the thunder of cannon day in day out! + +The train rushed through the darkness at full speed. A misplaced switch, +a loose rail, might at any moment turn the whole train into a heap of +ruins and stop the beating of a hundred brave American hearts. The +headlight of Forster's engine lighted up the long rows of shining rails, +and in the silent woods on both sides of the track, beneath the branches +of the huge trees, lights could be seen here and there in the windows of +the houses, where the dwellers were anxiously awaiting the return of the +train from Tacoma! And now a hollow roll of thunder came up from below. + +"The bridges?" asked Fighting Dick. + +"Yes, the bridges," said Forster, nodding. + +Then a faint light appeared in the distance. The train was nearing +Tacoma. + +Houses began to spring up more frequently out of the darkness, now to +the right and now to the left; dancing lights popped up and disappeared. +Tall, black buildings near the tracks gave out a thundering noise like +the crash of hammers and accompanied the roar of the passing train. A +beam of light is suddenly thrown across the rails, green and red +lanterns slip by with the speed of lightning, and then the brakes +squeak and the train runs noisily into the dark station. + +A few figures hurry across the platform. Shots ring out from all sides. +A mortally-wounded Jap is leaning against a post, breathing heavily. + +The wheels groan beneath the pressure of the brakes and then, with a +mighty jerk that shakes everybody up, the train comes to a stand-still. +Down from the cars! Fighting Dick in the lead, revolver in hand, and the +others right on his heels. They entered the station only to find every +Jap dead--the men of Tacoma had done their duty. + +Now the clatter of hoofs was heard out in the street. The heavy wagons +with their heaps of rifles and long tin boxes full of cartridges were +driven up at a mad pace. A wild tumult ensued as the boxes were rushed +to the train--two men to a box--and the doors slammed to. Then the empty +wagons rattled back through the silent streets. Meanwhile Forster ran +his engine on the turntable, where it was quickly reversed, and in a few +moments it stood, puffing and snorting, at the other end of the train. + +All this consumed less than half an hour. Suddenly shots rang out in the +neighboring streets, but as no detachment of hostile troops appeared, +the Americans concluded that they had been fired by a patrol which was +coming from the electric-works to see what the noise at the station was +about. Several rockets with their blinding magnesium light appeared in +the dark sky and illumined the roofs of the houses. Was it a warning +signal? + +All at once the electric gongs near the station which were connected +with Brown & Co.'s cellar began to ring, a sign that something +suspicious had been noticed at the waterworks. Forster was waiting +impatiently in his engine for the signal of departure and could not +imagine why Fighting Dick was postponing it so long. He was standing in +the doorway of the station and now called out: "Where is Arthur +Engelmann?" + +"Not here," came the answer from the train. + +"Where can he be?" + +The name was called out several times, but no one answered. The train +was ready to start and the men were distributing the boxes carefully +inside the cars, so as to be able to unload them without loss of time at +their respective destinations. And now, at last, Arthur Engelmann came +running into the station. + +"Hurry up!" called Fighting Dick. + +"No, wait a minute! We'll have to take this fellow along," cried +Engelmann, pointing to a wounded man, who was being carried by two +comrades. + +"Put him down! We'll have to be off! We've got plenty of men, but not +enough guns." + +"You must take him!" + +"No, we're off!" + +"You'll wait," said Arthur Engelmann, seizing Dick's arm; "it's my +brother." + +"I can't help it, you'll have to leave him behind." + +"Then I'll stay too!" + +"Go ahead, if you want to." + +At this moment shrill bugle-calls resounded from one of the nearby +streets. + +"The Japanese!" roared Fighting Dick; "come on, Arthur!" + +But Arthur snatched his wounded brother from the two men who were +carrying him and lifted him across his own shoulder, while the others, +led by Fighting Dick, rushed past him and jumped on the train. + +Bullets were whizzing past and several had entered the walls of the +station when Fighting Dick's voice gave the command: "Let her go, +Forster! Let her go!" + +Puffing and snorting, and with the pistons turning the high wheels, +which could not get a hold on the slippery rails, at lightning speed, +the engine started just as the Japanese soldiers ran into the station, +from the windows of which they commenced to fire blindly at the +departing train. The bullets poured into the rear cars like hail-stones, +smashing the wooden walls and window-panes. + +Fighting Dick, standing beside Forster, looked back and saw the station +full of soldiers. The two Germans must have fallen into their hands, he +thought. + +But they must hustle with the train now, for although the telegraph +wires had been cut all along the line, they still had light-signals to +fear! And even as this thought occurred to him, a glare appeared in the +sky in the direction of the waterworks, then went out and appeared again +at regular intervals. Those silent signs certainly had some meaning. +Perhaps it was a signal to the nearest watch to pull up the rails in +front of the approaching train? With his teeth set and his hand on the +throttle, Forster stood in his engine while the fireman kept shoveling +coals into the furnace. + +"Forster," said Dick suddenly, "what's that in front of us? Heavens, +it's burning!" + +"The bridges are burning, Fighting Dick!" + +"That's just what I thought, the damned yellow monkeys! Never mind, +we'll have to go on. Do you think you can get the engine across?" + +"The bridges will hold us all right. It would take half a day to burn +the wood through and we'll be there in ten minutes." + +Now fluttering little flames could be seen running along the rails and +licking the blood-red beams of the long wooden bridges, giant monuments +of American extravagance in the use of wood. Clouds of smoke crept +towards the train, hiding the rails from view, and soon the engine +rolled into a veritable sea of flames and smoke. Forster screamed to +his companion: "They've poured petroleum over the wood." + +"We'll have to get across," answered Fighting Dick, "even if we all burn +to death." + +Biting smoke and the burning breath of the fiery sea almost suffocated +the two men. The air was quivering with heat, and all clearly defined +lines disappeared as the angry flames now arose on both sides. + +"Press hard against the front," screamed Forster; "that's the only way +to get a little air, otherwise we'll suffocate." + +The high-pressure steam of the speeding locomotive hissed out of all the +valves, shaking the mighty steel frame with all its force; the heat of +the flames cracked the windows, and wherever the hand sought support, +pieces of skin were left on the red-hot spots. A few shots were fired +from the outside. + +"One minute more," yelled Forster, "and we'll be over." + +Fighting Dick collapsed under the influence of the poisonous gases and +fainted away on the floor of the cab. And now the flames grew smaller +and smaller and gradually became hidden in clouds of smoke. + +"Hurrah!" cried Forster; "there's a clear stretch ahead of us!" Then he +leaned out of the cab-window to look at the train behind him and saw +that the last two cars were in flames. He blew the whistle as a signal +that the last car was to be uncoupled and left where it was, for he had +just noticed a man standing near the track, swinging his bicycle lamp +high above his head. + +"Perhaps they'll be able to unload the car after all," he said to +Fighting Dick, who was slowly coming to. But the sound of the explosion +of some of the boxes of cartridges in the uncoupled car made it fairly +certain that there wouldn't be much left to unload. + +Five minutes later, after they had passed a dark station, the same +signal was noticed, and another car was uncoupled, and similarly one car +after another was left on the track. The guns and ammunition-boxes were +unloaded as expeditiously as possible and transferred to the wagons that +were waiting to receive them. The moment they were ready, the horses +galloped off as fast as they could go and disappeared in the darkness, +leaving the burning cars behind as a shining beacon. + +When, on the morning of June ninth, a Japanese military train from +Portland traveled slowly along the line, it came first upon the ruins of +an engine which had been blown up by dynamite, and after that it was as +much as the Japanese could do to clear away the remnants of the various +ruined cars by the end of the day. The bridge, which had been set on +fire by a Japanese detachment with the help of several barrels of +petroleum, was completely burned down. + +But the plot had been successful and Fighting Dick's fame resounded from +one ocean to the other, and proved to the nations across the sea that +the old energy of the American people had been revived and that the war +of extermination against the yellow race had begun, though as yet only +on a small scale. And the Japanese troops, too, began to appreciate that +the same irresistible force--a patriotic self-sacrifice that swept +everything before it--which had in one generation raised Japan to the +heights of political power, was now being directed against the foreign +invader. + +Half the town had known of the plan for removing the rifles and +ammunition from Tacoma, but a strong self-control had taken the place of +the thoughtless garrulousness of former times. Not a sign, not a word +had betrayed the plot to the enemy; every man controlled his feverish +emotion and wore an air of stolid indifference. We had learned a lesson +from the enemy. + +Fourteen Americans were captured with weapons in hand, and in addition +about twenty-eight badly wounded. The Japanese commander of Tacoma +issued a proclamation the following evening that all the prisoners, +without exception, would be tried by court-martial in the course of the +next day and condemned to death--the penalty that had been threatened in +case of insurrection. The Japanese court-martial arrived in the city on +June ninth with a regiment from Seattle. The Tacoma board of aldermen +were invited to send two of their number to be present at the trial, but +the offer being promptly refused, the Japanese pronounced judgment on +the prisoners alone. As had been expected, they were all condemned to +death by hanging, but at the earnest pleading of the mayor of Tacoma, +the sentence was afterwards mitigated to death by shooting. + +Old Martin Engelmann tried in vain to secure permission to see his sons +once more; his request was brusquely refused. + +In the light of early dawn on June eleventh the condemned men were led +out to the waterworks to be executed, the wounded being conveyed in +wagons. Thousands of the inhabitants took part in this funeral +procession--in dead silence. + +Old Engelmann was standing, drawn up to his full height, at the window +of his home, and mutely he caught the farewell glances of his two sons +as they passed by, the one marching in the midst of his comrades, the +other lying in the first wagon among the wounded. Frau Martha had +summoned sufficient courage to stand beside her husband, but the moment +the procession had passed, she burst into bitter tears. Her life was +bereft of all hope and the future stretched out dark and melancholy +before her. + +Suddenly a gentle hand was laid on her white head. "Mother," said one of +her daughters, "do you hear it? I heard it yesterday. They're singing +the song of Fighting Dick and of our dear boys. No one knows who +composed it, it seems to have sprung up of itself. They were singing it +on the street last night, the song of Arthur Engelmann, who sacrificed +his life for his brother." + +"Yes," said the father, "it's true, mother, they are singing of our +lads; be brave, mother, and remember that those who are taken from us +to-day will live forever in the hearts of the American people." + +And louder and louder rang out the notes of that proud song of the +citizens of Tacoma--the first paean of victory in those sad days. + + + + +_Chapter XVII_ + +WHAT HAPPENED AT CORPUS CHRISTI + + +The attitude of the European press left no room for doubt as to the +honest indignation of the Old World at the treacherous attack on our +country. But what good could this scathing denunciation of the Japanese +policy do us? A newspaper article wouldn't hurt a single Japanese +soldier, and what good could all the resolutions passed at enthusiastic +public meetings in Germany and France do us, or the daily cablegrams +giving us the assurance of their sympathy and good-will? + +These expressions of public opinion did, however, prove that the Old +World realized at last that the yellow danger was of universal interest, +that it was not merely forcing a single country to the wall, casually as +it were, but that it was of deep and immediate concern to every European +nation without exception. They began to look beyond the wisdom of the +pulpit orators who preached about the wonderful growth of culture in +Japan, and to recognize that if the United States did not succeed in +conquering Japan and driving the enemy out of the country, the +victorious Japanese would not hesitate a moment to take the next step +and knock loudly and peremptorily at Europe's door, and this would put +an end once and for all to every single European colonial empire. + +But while European authorities on international law were busily parading +their paper wisdom, and wondering how a war without a declaration of war +and without a diplomatic prelude could fit into the political scheme of +the world's history, at least one real item of assistance was at hand. + +The American press, it is true, still suffered from the delusion that +our militia--consisting of hundreds of thousands of men--and our +volunteers would be prepared to take the field in three or four weeks, +but the indescribable confusion existing in all the military camps told +a different story. What was needed most were capable officers. The sad +experiences of the Spanish-American campaign were repeated, only on a +greatly magnified scale. We possessed splendid material in the matter of +men and plenty of good-will, but we lacked completely the practical +experience necessary for adapting the military apparatus of our small +force of regular soldiers to the requirements of a great national army. +We felt that we could with the aid of money and common-sense transform a +large group of able-bodied men accustomed to healthy exercise into a +serviceable and even a victorious army, but we made a great mistake. The +commissariat and sanitary service and especially the military +train-corps would have to be created out of nothing. When in June the +governor of one State reported that his infantry regiment was formed and +only waiting for rifles, uniforms and the necessary military wagons, and +when another declared that his two regiments of cavalry and six +batteries were ready to leave for the front as soon as horses, guns, +ammunition-carts and harness could be procured, it showed with horrible +distinctness how utterly ridiculous our methods of mobilization were. + +The London diplomats went around like whipped curs, for all the early +enthusiasm for the Japanese alliance disappeared as soon as the English +merchants began to have such unpleasant experiences with the +unscrupulousness of the Japanese in business matters. As a matter of +fact the alliance had fulfilled its object as soon as Japan had fought +England's war with Russia for her. But the cabinet of St. James adhered +to the treaty, because they feared that if they let go of the hawser, a +word from Tokio would incite India to revolt. The soil there had for +years been prepared for this very contingency, and London, therefore, +turned a deaf ear to the indignation expressed by the rest of the world +at Japan's treacherous violation of peace. + +At last at the end of July the transportation of troops to the West +began. But when the police kept a sharp lookout for Japanese or Chinese +spies at the stations where the troops were boarding the trains, they +were looking in the wrong place, for the enemy was smart enough not to +expose himself unnecessarily or to send spies who, as Mongolians, would +at once have fallen victims to the rage of the people if seen anywhere +near the camps. + +Besides, such a system of espionage was rendered unnecessary by the +American press, which, instead of benefiting by past experience, took +good care to keep the Japanese well informed concerning the military +measures of the government, and even discussed the organization of the +army and the possibilities of the strategical advance in a way that +seemed particularly reprehensible in the light of the fearful reverses +of the last few months. The government warnings were disregarded +especially by the large dailies, who seemed to find it absolutely +impossible to regard the events of the day in any other light than that +of sensational news to be eagerly competed for. + +This competition for news from the seat of war and from the camps had +first to lead to a real catastrophe, before strict discipline could be +enforced in this respect. A few patriotic editors, to be sure, refused +to make use of the material offered them; but the cable dispatches sent +to Europe, the news forwarded triumphantly as a proof that the Americans +were now in a position "to toss the yellow monkeys into the Pacific," +quite sufficed to enable the Japanese to adopt preventive measures in +time. + +While the American Army of the North was advancing on Nogi's forces in +the Blue Mountains, the Army of the South was to attack the Japanese +position in Arizona by way of Texas. For this purpose the three brigades +stationed in the mountains of New Mexico were to be reenforced by the +troops from Cuba and Porto Rico and the two Florida regiments. All of +these forces were to be transported to Corpus Christi by water, as it +was hoped in this way to keep the movement concealed from the enemy, in +order that the attack in the South might come as far as possible in the +nature of a surprise, and thus prevent the sending of reenforcements to +the North where, at the foot of the Blue Mountains, the main battle was +to be fought. But unfortunately our plan of attack did not remain +secret. Before a single soldier had set foot on the transport ships +which had been lying for weeks in the harbors of Havana and Tampa, the +Japanese news bureaus in Kingston (Jamaica) and Havana had been fully +informed as to where the blow was to fall, partly by West Indian +half-breed spies and partly by the obliging American press. One regiment +of cavalry had already arrived at Corpus Christi from Tampa on July +30th, and the Cuban troops were expected on the following day. + + * * * * * + +Two American naval officers were standing on the small gallery of the +white light-house situated at the extreme end of the narrow tongue of +land lying before the lagoon of Corpus Christi, gazing through their +glasses at the boundless expanse of blue water glittering with myriads +of spots in the rays of the midday sun. Out in the roads lay seven large +freight steamers whose cargoes of horses and baggage, belonging to the +2d Florida Cavalry Regiment, were being transferred to lighters. A small +tug, throwing up two glittering streaks of spray with its broad bow, was +towing three barges through the narrow opening of the lagoon to Corpus +Christi, whose docks showed signs of unusual bustle. Short-winded +engines were pulling long freight-trains over the tracks that ran along +the docks, ringing their bells uninterruptedly. From the camps outside +the town the low murmur of drums and long bugle-calls could be heard +through the drowsy noon heat. A long gray snake, spotted with the dull +glitter of bright metal, wound its way between the white tents: a +detachment of troops marching to the station. Beyond the town one could +follow the silver rails through the green plantations for miles, as +plainly as on a map, until they finally disappeared on the horizon. + +Now the whistle of the tug sounded shrilly, blowing scattered flakes of +white steam into the air. The quick, clear tolling of church-bells rang +over the roofs of the bright houses of the city. It was twelve o'clock +and the sun's rays were scorching hot. + +One of the naval officers pulled out his watch to see if it were +correct, and then said: "Shall we go down and get something to eat +first, Ben?" + +"The steamers from Havana ought really to be in sight by this time," +answered Ben Wood; "they left on the twenty-sixth." + +"Well, yes, on the twenty-sixth. But some of those transport-ships +palmed off on us are the limit and can't even make ten knots an hour. +Their rickety engines set the pace for the fleet, and unless the +_Olympia_ wishes to abandon the shaky old hulks to their fate, she must +keep step with them." + +Lieutenant Gibson Spencer swept the horizon once more with his +marine-glass and stopped searchingly at one spot. "If that's not the +_Flying Dutchman_, they're ships," he remarked, "probably our ships." + +The light-house keeper, a slender Mexican, came on the gallery, saying: +"Ships are coming over there, sir," as he pointed in the direction which +Spencer had indicated. Lieutenant Ben Wood stepped to the stationary +telescope in the light-room below the place for the lamps, and started +to adjust the screws, but the heat of the metal, which had become +red-hot beneath the burning rays of the sun, made him start: "Hot hole," +he swore under his breath. + +Lieutenant Spencer conversed a moment with the keeper and then looked +again through his glass at Corpus Christi, where the tug was just making +fast to the pier. The third barge knocked violently against the piles, +so that a whole shower of splinters fell into the water. + +"Gibson," cried Lieutenant Wood suddenly from his place in the +light-room, his voice sounding muffled on account of the small space, +"those are not our ships." + +Spencer looked through the telescope and arrived at the same conclusion. +"No," he said; "we have no ships like that, but they're coming nearer +and we'll soon be able to make out what they are!" + +"Those ships certainly don't belong to our fleet," he repeated after +another long look at the vessels slowly growing larger on the horizon. +They had two enormous funnels and only one mast and even the arched +roofs of their turrets could now be clearly distinguished. + +"If I didn't know that our English friends owned the only ships of that +caliber, and that our own are unhappily still in process of equipment +at Newport News, I should say that those were two _Dreadnoughts_." + +"I guess you've had a sunstroke," rang out the answer. + +"Sunstroke or no sunstroke, those are two _Dreadnoughts_." + +"But where can they come from?" + +The three men examined the horizon in silence, till Lieutenant Wood +suddenly broke it by exclaiming: "There, do you see, to the left, just +appearing on the horizon, that's our transport fleet--eight--ten ships; +the one in front is probably the _Olympia_." + +"Twelve ships," counted the keeper, "and if I may be allowed to say so, +the two in front are battleships." + +"There they are then," said Ben Wood, "and now we'll get something to +eat in a jiffy, for we'll have our work cut out for us in an hour!" + +"Where shall we eat?" asked Spencer, "I'll gladly dispense with the grub +at Signor Morrosini's to-day." + +"I'll tell you what," said the other, "we'll go across to one of the +transport-steamers; or, better still, we'll go to the captain of the +_Marietta_--we'll be sure to get something decent to eat there." + +"Right you are!" said Spencer, peering down over the edge of the +railing. "Our cutter is down there," he added. + +At the foot of the light-house lay a small, white cutter with its brass +appointments glittering in the sunlight. Her crew, consisting of three +men, had crept into the little cabin, while the black stoker was resting +on a bench near the boiler. + +"Ho, Dodge!" shouted Spencer, "get up steam. We're going over to the +transport-ships in ten minutes." + +The firemen threw several shovels of coal into the furnace, whereupon a +cloud of smoke poured out of the funnel straight up along the +light-house. Lieutenant Wood telephoned over to Corpus Christi that the +transports with the troops on board had been sighted and that they would +probably arrive in the roads in about two hours. + +"We're going over to one of the transport-ships meanwhile," he added, +"and will await the arrival of the squadron out there." + +While Lieutenant Spencer was climbing down the narrow staircase, +Lieutenant Wood once more examined the horizon and suddenly started. The +thunder of a shot boomed across the water. Boom--came the sound of +another one! + +The lieutenant clapped his marine-glasses to his eyes. Yes, there were +two _Dreadnoughts_ out there, evidently saluting. But why at such a +distance? + +"Gibson," he called down the staircase. + +"Come on, Ben!" came the impatient answer from below. + +"I can't, I wish you'd come up again for a minute, I'm sure something's +wrong!" + +The gun-shots were booming loudly across the water as Lieutenant Spencer +reached the gallery, covered with perspiration. + +"I suppose they're saluting," exclaimed Spencer somewhat uncertainly. + +Ben Wood said nothing, but with a quick jerk turned the telescope to the +right and began examining the transport-ships. + +"Heavens," he shouted, "they mean business. I can see shells splashing +into the water in front of the _Olympia_--no, there in the middle--away +back there, too-- One of the transports listed. What can it mean? Can +they be Japanese?" + +Again the roar of guns rolled across the quiet waters. + +"Now the _Olympia_ is beginning to shoot," cried Ben Wood. "Oh, that +shot struck the turret. Great, that must have done some good work! But +what in Heaven's name are we going to do?" + +Lieutenant Spencer answered by pushing the light-house keeper, who was +in abject fear, aside, and rushing to the telephone. Trembling with +excitement, he stamped his foot and swore loudly when no notice was +taken of his ring. + +"All asleep over there as usual! Ah, at last!" + +"Halloo! what's up?" + +"This is the light-house. Notify the commander at Corpus Christi at once +that the Japanese are in the roads and are attacking the transports." + +Over in Corpus Christi people began to collect on the piers, the bells +stopped ringing, but the sound of bugles could still be heard coming +from the encampments. + +Now the light-house telephone rang madly and Spencer seized the +receiver. "They are, I tell you. Can't you hear the shots?" he shouted +into the instrument. "There are two large Japanese ships out in the +roads shooting at the _Olympia_ and the transports. Impossible or not, +it's a fact!" + +Suddenly a thick column of smoke began to ascend from the funnel of the +little American gunboat _Marietta_, which was lying among the transports +out in the roads. The whistles and bugle-calls could be heard +distinctly, and the crew could be seen on deck busy at the guns. The +steam-winch rattled and began to haul up the anchor, while the water +whirled at the stern as the vessel made a turn. Even before the anchor +appeared at the surface the gunboat had put to sea with her course set +towards the ships on the horizon, which were enveloped in clouds of +black smoke. + +"There's nothing for us to do," said Spencer despairingly, "but stand +here helplessly and look on. There isn't a single torpedo-boat, not a +single submarine here! For Heaven's sake, Ben, tell us what's happening +out there!" + +"It's awful!" answered Wood; "two of the transport-ships are in flames, +two seem to have been sunk, and some of those further back have listed +badly. The _Olympia_ is heading straight for the enemy, but she seems to +be damaged and is burning aft. There are two more cruisers in the +background, but they are hidden by the smoke from the burning steamers; +I can't see them any more." + +"Where on earth have the Japanese ships come from? I thought their whole +fleet was stationed in the Pacific. Not one of their ships has ever come +around Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan; if they had, our +cruisers off the Argentine coast would have seen them. And besides it +would be utter madness to send just two battleships to the Atlantic. But +where else can they have come from?" + +"There's no use asking where they come from," cried Wood excitedly, "the +chief point is, they're there!" + +He gave up his place at the telescope to his comrade, thought for a +moment, and then went to the telephone. + +His orders into town were short and decisive: "Send all the tugs out to +sea immediately. Have them hoist the ambulance-flag and try to rescue +the men of the transports." + +"And you, Spencer," he continued, "take the cutter and hurry over to the +transport-steamers in the roads and have them hoist the Red Cross flag +and get to sea as quickly as possible to help in the work of rescue. +That's the only thing left for us to do. I'll take command of the +_President Cleveland_ and you take charge of the Swedish steamer +_Olsen_. And now let's get to work! Signor Alvares can play the role of +idle onlooker better than we can. Our place is out there!" + +Both officers rushed down the stairs and jumped into the cutter, which +steamed off at full speed and took them to their ships. + +Three-quarters of an hour later the tug mentioned in the beginning of +the chapter appeared again at the entrance to the lagoon. Several men +could be seen in the stern holding a large white sheet upon which a man +was painting a large red cross, and when the symbol of human love and +assistance was finished, the sheet was hoisted at the flagstaff. Two +other tugs followed the example of the first one. + +But could the enemy have taken the three little tugs for torpedo-boats? +It seemed so, for suddenly a shell, which touched the surface of the +water twice, whizzed past and hit the first steamer amidships just below +the funnel. And while the little vessel was still enveloped by the black +smoke caused by the bursting of the shell, her bow and stern rose high +out of the water and she sank immediately, torn in two. The thunder of +the shot sounded far over the water and found an echo among the houses +at Corpus Christi. + +"Now they're even shooting at the ambulance flag," roared Ben Wood, who +was rushing about on the deck of the _President Cleveland_ and exhorting +the crew to hoist the anchor as fast as possible so as to get out to the +field of battle. But as the boiler-fires were low, this seemed to take +an eternity. + +At last, about three o'clock in the afternoon, they succeeded in +reaching a spot where a few hundred men were clinging to the floating +wreckage. The rest had been attended to by the enemy's shots, the sea +and the sharks. + +The enemy had wasted only a few shots on the transport-steamers, as a +single well-aimed explosive shell was quite sufficient to entirely +destroy one of the merchant-vessels, and the battle with the _Olympia_ +had lasted only a very short time, as the distance had evidently been +too great to enable the American shots to reach the enemy. That was the +end of the _Olympia_, Admiral Dewey's flag-ship at Cavite! The two +smaller cruisers had been shot to pieces just as rapidly. + +The results of this unexpected setback were terribly disheartening, +since all idea of a flank attack on the Japanese positions in the South +had to be abandoned. + + * * * * * + +But where had the two _Dreadnoughts_ come from? They had not been seen +by a living soul until they had appeared in the roads of Corpus Christi. +They had risen from the sea for a few hours, like an incarnation of the +ghostly rumors of flying squadrons of Japanese cruisers, and they had +disappeared from the field of action just as suddenly as they had come. +If it had not been for the cruel reality of the destruction of the +transport fleet, no one would soon have believed in the existence of +these phantom ships. But the frenzied fear of the inhabitants of the +coast-towns cannot well take the form of iron and steel, and nightmares, +no matter how vivid, cannot produce ships whose shells sweep an American +squadron off the face of the sea. + +It had been known for years that two monster ships of the _Dreadnought_ +type were being built for Brazil in the English shipyards. No one knew +where Brazil was going to get the money to pay for the battleships or +what the Brazilian fleet wanted with such huge ships, but they continued +to be built. It was generally supposed that England was building them as +a sort of reserve for her own fleet; but once again was public opinion +mistaken. Only those who years before had raised a warning protest and +been ridiculed for seeing ghosts, proved to be right. They had +prophesied long ago that these ships were not intended for England, but +for her ally, Japan. + +The vessels were finished by the end of June and during the last days of +the month the Brazilian flag was openly hoisted on board the _San Paulo_ +and _Minas Geraes_, as they were called, the English shipbuilders having +indignantly refused to sell them to the United States on the plea of +feeling bound to observe strict neutrality. The two armored battleships +started on their voyage across the Atlantic with Brazilian crews on +board; but when they arrived at a spot in the wide ocean where no +spectators were to be feared, they were met by six transport-steamers +conveying the Japanese crews for the two warships, no others than the +thousand Japs who had been landed at Rio de Janeiro as coolies for the +Brazilian coffee plantations in the summer of 1908. They had been +followed in November by four hundred more. + +We were greatly puzzled at the time over this striking exception to the +Japanese political programme of concentrating streams of immigrants on +our Pacific coasts. Without a word of warning a thousand Japanese +coolies were shipped to Brazil, where they accepted starvation wages +greatly to the disgust and indignation of the German and Italian +workmen--not to speak of the lazy Brazilians themselves. This isolated +advance of the Japs into Brazil struck observers as a dissipation of +energy, but the Government in Tokio continued to carry out its plans, +undisturbed by our expressions of astonishment. Silently, but no less +surely, the diligent hands of the coolies and the industrious spirit of +Japanese merchants in Brazil created funds with which the two warships +were paid at least in part. The public interpreted it as an act of +commendable patriotism when, in June, the one thousand four hundred Japs +turned their backs on their new home, in order to defend their country's +flag. They left Rio in six transport-steamers. + +Brazil thereupon sold her two battleships to a Greek inn-keeper at +Santos, named Petrokakos, and he turned them over to the merchant Pietro +Alvares Cortes di Mendoza at Bahia. This noble Don was on board one of +the transport-steamers with the Japanese "volunteers," and on board this +Glasgow steamer, the _Kirkwall_, the bill of sale was signed on July +14th, by the terms of which the "armed steamers" _Kure_ and _Sasebo_ +passed into the possession of Japan. The Brazilian crews and some +English engineers went on board the transports and were landed quietly +two weeks later at various Brazilian ports. + +These one thousand four hundred Japanese plantation-laborers, traders, +artisans, and engineers--in reality they were trained men belonging to +the naval reserve--at once took over the management of the two mighty +ships, and set out immediately in the direction of the West Indies. At +Kingston (Jamaica) a friendly steamer supplied them with the latest news +of the departure of the American transports from Cuba, and the latter +met their fate, as we saw, in the roads of Corpus Christi. + +A terrible panic seized all our cities on the Gulf of Mexico and the +Atlantic coast, as the Japanese monsters were heard from, now here, now +there. For example, several shells exploded suddenly in the middle of +the night in the harbor of Galveston when not a warship had been +observed in the neighborhood, and again several American +merchant-vessels were sent to the bottom by the mysterious ships, which +began constantly to assume more gigantic proportions in the reports of +the sailors. At last a squadron was dispatched from Newport News to +seek and destroy the enemy, whereupon the phantom-ships disappeared as +suddenly as they had come. Not until Admiral Dayton ferreted out the +Japanese cruisers at the Falkland Islands did our sailors again set eyes +on the two battleships. + + + + +_Chapter XVIII_ + +THE BATTLE OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS + + +It had been found expedient to send a few militia regiments to the front +in May, and these regiments, together with what still remained of our +regular army, made a brave stand against the Japanese outposts in the +mountains. Insufficiently trained and poorly fed as they were, they +nevertheless accomplished some excellent work under the guidance of +efficient officers; but the continual engagements with the enemy soon +thinned their ranks. These regiments got to know what it means to face a +brave, trained enemy of over half a million soldiers with a small force +of fifty thousand; they learned what it means to be always in the +minority on the field of battle, and thus constant experience on the +battle-field soon transformed these men into splendid soldiers. +Especially the rough-riders from the prairies and the mountains, from +which the cavalry regiments were largely recruited, and the exceedingly +useful Indian and half-breed scouts, to whom all the tricks of earlier +days seemed to return instinctively, kept the Japanese outposts busy. +Their machine-guns, which were conveyed from place to place on the backs +of horses, proved a very handy weapon. But their numbers were few, and +although this sort of skirmishing might tire the enemy, it could not +effectually break up his strong positions. + +Ever on the track of the enemy, surprising their sentries and bivouacs, +rushing upon the unsuspecting Japs like a whirlwind and then pursuing +them across scorching plains and through the dark, rocky defiles of the +Rockies, always avoiding large detachments and attacking their +commissariat and ammunition columns from the rear, popping up here, +there and everywhere on their indefatigable horses and disappearing with +the speed of lightning, this is how those weather-beaten rough-riders in +their torn uniforms kept up the war and stood faithful guard! Brave +fellows they were, ever ready to push on vigorously, even when the blood +from their torn feet dyed the rocks a deep red! No matter how weary they +were, the sound of the bugle never failed to endow their limbs with +renewed energy, and they could be depended on to the last man to do +whatever was required of them. + +It was on these endless marches, these reckless rides through rocky +wastes and silent forests--to the accompaniment of the tramp of horses, +the creaking of saddles and the rush and roar of rolling stones on +lonely mountain-trails--that those strange, weird rhythms and melodies +arose, which lived on long afterwards in the minds and hearts of the +people. + +By the end of July affairs had reached the stage where it was possible +for the Northern army, commanded by General MacArthur and consisting of +one hundred and ten thousand men, to start for the Blue Mountains in the +eastern part of Oregon, and the Pacific army of almost equal strength to +set out for Granger on the Union Pacific Railway. The troops from Cuba +and Florida, together with the three brigades stationed at New Mexico, +were to have advanced against the extreme right wing of the Japanese +army, but the grievous disaster at Corpus Christi had completely +frustrated this plan. + +The German and Irish volunteer regiments were formed into special +brigades in the Northern and Pacific armies, whereas the other militia +and volunteer regiments were attached to the various divisions +promiscuously. General MacArthur's corps was composed of three +divisions, commanded by Fowler, Longworth and Wood, respectively, each +consisting of thirty thousand men. To these must be added one German and +one Irish brigade of three regiments each, about sixteen thousand men +altogether, so that the Northern army numbered about one hundred and ten +thousand men and one hundred and forty guns. + +Wood's division left the encampment near Omaha the last week of July. +They went by rail to Monida, where the Oregon Short Line crosses the +boundary of Montana and Idaho. The same picture of utter confusion was +presented at all the stops and all the stations on the way. Soldiers of +all arms, exasperated staff-officers, excited station officials, guns +waiting for their horses and horses waiting for their guns, cavalry-men +whose horses had been sent on the wrong train, freight-cars full of +ammunition intended for no one knew whom, wagons loaded with camp +equipment where food was wanted and with canned goods where forage was +needed, long military trains blocking the line between stations, and +engines being switched about aimlessly: perfect chaos reigned, and the +shortness of the station platforms only added to the confusion and the +waste of precious time. If it had not been for the Americans' strongly +developed sense of humor, which served as an antidote for all the anger +and worry, this execrably handled army apparatus must have broken down +altogether. But as it was, everybody made the best of the situation and +thanked the Lord that each revolution of the wheels brought the troops +nearer to the enemy. The worst of it was that the trains had to stop at +the stations time and time again in order to allow the empty trains +returning from the front to pass. + +The 28th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, under command of Colonel +Katterfeld, had at last, after what seemed to both officers and soldiers +an endless journey, reached the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the +twenty-second of July via the Northern Pacific Railway. A warm meal had +been prepared for the regiment at a little station; then the roll was +called once more and the three long trains transporting the regiment +started off again. + +Colonel Katterfeld had soon won the affection of his men. He was a thin +little man with grizzly hair and beard; a soldier of fortune, who had an +eventful life behind him, having seen war on three continents. But he +never spoke of his experiences. His commands were short and decisive, +and each man felt instinctively that he was facing an able officer. He +had given up his practice as a physician in Milwaukee, and when, at the +outbreak of the war, he had offered his services to the Governor of +Wisconsin, the latter was at once convinced that here was a man upon +whom he could rely, and it had not taken Colonel Katterfeld long to +establish the correctness of the Governor's judgment. He succeeded in +being the first to raise the full complement of men for his regiment in +Wisconsin, and was therefore the first to leave for the front. The rush +for officers' commissions was tremendous and the staff of officers was +therefore excellent. One day an officer, named Walter Lange, presented +himself at the recruiting office of the regiment. When the colonel heard +the name, he glanced up from his writing, and looking inquiringly at the +newcomer, asked in an off-hand fashion: "Will you take command of the +Seventh Company as captain?" + +"Sir?" + +"Yes, I know, you were at Elandslaagte and afterwards at Cronstadt, were +you not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"We need some officers like you who can keep their men together when +under fire. Do you accept or not?" + +"Certainly, but----" + +"We'll have no buts." + +And so the two became war-comrades for the second time, Captain Lange +taking command of the Seventh Company. + +In thousands of ways the colonel gave proof of his practical experience; +above all else he possessed the knack of putting the right people in the +right place, and his just praise and blame aroused the ambition of +officers and men to such an extent, that the 28th Militia Regiment soon +became conspicuous for its excellence. But no one, not even his comrade +from Elandslaagte, succeeded in getting nearer to the colonel's heart. +Colonel Katterfeld was a reticent man, whom no one dared bother with +questions. + +In order to make the best possible use of what little room there was in +the cars, the colonel had ordered two-hour watches to be kept. Half the +men slept on the seats and on blankets on the floor, while the other +half had to stand until the order, Relieve watch! rang out at the end of +two hours. + +Captain Lange was standing at the window looking out at the moonlit +landscape through which the train was rushing. Wide valleys, rugged +mountain peaks and steep, rocky bastions flew past. A whistle--a low +rumble in the distance--the sound of approaching wheels--a flash of +light on the track--and then the hot breath of the speeding engine +sweeps across the captain's face, as a long row of black cars belonging +to an empty train returning from the mountains tears past on its way to +the encampments. + +And then on and on, over bridges and viaducts, where the rolling wheels +awaken echo after echo, on into the narrow ravine, above the +forest-crowned edges of which the quiet light of the stars twinkles and +gleams in the purple sky of night. + +The captain was thinking of the colonel. He could not remember having +met him on any of the South African battle-fields, and he had never +heard the name of Katterfeld. And yet he was positive he had seen those +penetrating blue eyes beneath their bushy brows before. No one who had +once seen it could ever forget that glance. But he racked his brain in +vain. He looked at the time and found that the present watch still had a +whole hour to run. The soldiers were leaning sleepily against the sides +of the car, and loud snores came from the seats and the floor. Suddenly +a rifle fell to the ground with a clatter and several men woke up and +swore at the noise. On went the train, and the monotonous melody of the +rolling wheels gradually lulled the weary thoughts to sleep. + +Captain Lange thought of Elandslaagte again and of Colonel Schiel and +Dinizulu, the Kafir chief, and of the story the colonel had told, as +they bivouacked round the fire, of the latter's royal anointment with +castor-oil. They had made the fire with the covers of "Mellin's Food" +boxes--Mellin's Food--a fine chap, Mellin--Mellin?-- Wasn't that the +name of the captain with whom he had once sailed to Baltimore? And Daisy +Wilford had been on board with her two cats--cats-- My, how he used to +chase cats when he was a boy--it was a regular hunt-- No, it hadn't been +his fault, but Walter Wells'-- But he had been caught and shut up in the +attic, where his father gave him a chance to recollect that it is cruel +to torment animals--but it really had been Walter's fault, only he +wasn't going to tell on him--and then, after he had been alone, he had +knocked his head against the wall in his rage at the injustice of the +world--always--knocked--his--head--against--the--wall--always--knocked---- + +Bang! went the captain's head against the window-frame and he woke up +with a start and put his hand up to his aching forehead. Where under the +sun was he? Ah, of course--there were the soldiers snoring all around +him and tossing about in their sleep. He felt dead tired. Had he been +asleep? He looked at the time again--still fifty-five minutes to the +next watch. + +The roaring and clattering of the wheels came to his ears on the fresh +night air as he again looked out of the window. The train had just +rounded a curve, and the other two trains could be seen coming on +behind. Now they were passing through a gorge between bright rocky +banks, which gleamed like snow in the moonlight. Whirling, foaming +waters rushed down the mountain-side to join the dark river far below. +Then on into a dark snowshed where the hurrying beat of the revolving +wheels resounded shrilly and produced a meaningless rhythm in his +thoughts. Kat--ter--feld, Kat--ter--feld, Kat--ter--feld, came the echo +from the black beams of the shed. Katter--feld, Kat--ter--feld, +Kat--ter--feld, came the reply from the other side. Then the rattling +noise spreads over a wider area. There is a final echo and the beams of +the shed disappear in the distance, and on they go in the silent night +until the sergeant on duty pulls out his watch and awakens the sleepers +with the unwelcome call, Relieve the guard! + +Two days later the regiment arrived at Monida, where they had to leave +the train. The line running from there to Baker City was only to be used +for the transportation of baggage, while the troops had to march the +rest of the way--about two hundred and fifty miles. While the +field-kitchen wagons were being used for the first time near Monida, +the men received new boots, for the two pairs of shoes which each had +received in camp had turned out such marvels of American manufacture, +that they were absolutely worn out in less than no time. It was thought +wiser, in consideration of the long marches before the soldiers, to do +away with shoes altogether and to provide strong boots in their stead. +The hard leather of which the latter were made gave the soldiers no end +of trouble, and the strange foot-gear caused a good deal of grumbling +and discomfort. + +It was here that the experience of the old troopers was of value. The +old devices of former campaigns were revived. An old, gray-bearded +sergeant, who had been in the Manchurian campaign against the Japanese, +advised his comrades to burn a piece of paper in their boots, as the hot +air would enable them to slip the boots on much more easily. Captain +Lange employed a more drastic method. He made his company march through +a brook until the leather had become wet and soft, and as a result his +men suffered least from sore feet on the march. + +During the ten days' march to Baker City, officers and men became +thoroughly acquainted with one another, and the many obstacles they had +had to overcome in common cemented the regiments into real living +organisms. And when, on the tenth of August, the different columns +reached Baker City, the Northern Army had firmly established its +marching ability. The transport-service, too, had got over its first +difficulties. From the front, where small detachments were continually +skirmishing with the enemy, came the news that the Japanese had +retreated from Baker City after pulling up the rails. On the evening of +the eleventh of August the 28th Militia Regiment was bivouacking a few +miles east of Baker City. The outposts towards the enemy on the other +side of the town were composed of a battalion of Regulars. + +Every stone still burned with the glowing heat of the day, which spread +over the warm ground in trembling waves. The dust raised by the marching +columns filled the air like brown smoke. + +The last glimmer of the August day died down on the western horizon in a +crimson glow, and a pale gleam of light surrounded the dark silhouettes +of the mountains, throwing bluish gray shadows on their sides. Then all +the colors died out and only the stars twinkled in the dark blue +heavens. Far away in the mountains the white flashes of signal-lanterns +could occasionally be seen, telling of the nearness of the enemy. +Colonel Katterfeld had ordered the officers of his regiment to come to +his quarters in a farm-house lying near the road, and a captain of +Regulars was asked to report on the number of skirmishes which had taken +place in the last few days and on the enemy's position. It was learned +that Marshal Nogi had retreated from Baker City and had withdrawn his +troops to the Blue Mountains, taking up his central position at the +point of the pass crossed by the railroad. It had not been possible to +ascertain how far the wings of the Japanese army extended to the North +or South. It was certain that the enemy maintained strong lines of +communication in both directions, but it was difficult to determine just +how far their lines penetrated into the wooded slopes and valleys. + + * * * * * + +When the guard was relieved at 5 o'clock in the morning, one of the +non-commissioned officers was struck by a curiously-shaped bright cloud +the size of a hand, which hung like a ball over the mountains in the +west in the early morning light. + +"It must be an air-ship!" said some one. + +"It evidently is; it's moving!" said the sergeant, and he at once gave +orders to awaken Captain Lange. + +The captain, who had gone to sleep with the telephone beside him, jumped +up and could not at first make out where the voice came from: "A +Japanese air-ship has been sighted over the mountains." He was up in a +second and looking through his glasses! Sure enough! It was an air-ship! + +Its light-colored body hovered above the mountains in the pale-blue sky +like a small silver-gray tube. + +"Spread the report at once!" called the captain to the telephone +operator; and bustle ensued on all sides. + +"What shall we do?" asked a lieutenant. "There's no use in shooting at +it; by the time it gets within range we should shoot our own men." + +The air-ship came slowly nearer, and at last it was directly over the +American line of outposts. + +"They can see our whole position!" said Captain Lange, "they can see all +our arrangements from up there." + +Boom! came the sound of a shot from the right. + +"That probably won't do much good." + +A few hundred yards below the air-ship a little flame burst out. The +smoke from a shrapnel hung in the air for a moment like a ball of +cotton, and then that, too, disappeared. Boom! it went again. + +"We shall never reach it with shrapnel," said the lieutenant, "there's +no use trying to beat it except on its own ground." + +"We have some newly constructed shrapnel," answered the captain, "the +bullets of which are connected with spiral wires that tear the envelope +of the balloon." + +Now two shots went off at the same time. + +"Those seem to be the balloon-guns," said the lieutenant. + +Far below the air-ship hovered the clouds of two shrapnel shots. + +"They're getting our air-ship ready over there," cried the captain; +"that's the only sensible thing to do." He pointed to a spot far off +where a large, yellow motor-balloon could be seen hanging in the air +like a large bubble. + +It went up in a slanting direction, and then, after describing several +uncertain curves, steered straight for the enemy's balloon, which also +began to rise at once. + +Hundreds of thousands of eyes were following the course of those two +little yellow dots up in the clear, early morning air, as the mountain +edges began to be tipped with pink. The Japanese air-ship had reached a +position a little to one side of that occupied by the 28th Regiment, +when a tiny black speck was seen to leave it and to gain in size as it +fell with increasing velocity. When it reached the ground a vivid red +flame shot up. Tremendous clouds of smoke followed, mixed with dark +objects, and the distant mountains resounded with loud peals of thunder +which died away amid the angry rumblings in the gorges. + +"That was a big bomb," said the captain, "and it seems to have done +considerable mischief." + +Now a little puff of white smoke issued from the American air-ship and +ten seconds later an explosive body of some sort burst against a wall of +rock. + +"If they keep on like that they'll only hit our own men," said the +lieutenant. + +"The Jap is ascending," cried some one, and again all the field-glasses +were directed towards the two ships. + +Now both were seen to rise. + +"The Japs are throwing down everything they've got in the way of +explosives," cried the captain. A whole row of black spots came rushing +down and again came the thunder caused by the bursting of several bombs +one after the other. + +The Jap went up rapidly and then crossed the path of the American +balloon about two hundred yards above it. + +Suddenly the yellow envelope of the American air-ship burst into flames, +lost its shape and shrunk together, and the ship fell rapidly among the +valleys to the left, looking like the skeleton of an umbrella that has +been out in a gale of wind. + +"All over," said the lieutenant with a sigh. "What a shame! We might +just as well have done that ourselves." + +High up in the blue ether hovered the Japanese air-ship; then it +described a curve to the left, went straight ahead and then seemed +suddenly to be swallowed up in the morning light. But soon it appeared +again as a gray speck against the clear blue sky, and turning to the +right once more, got bigger and bigger, came nearer, and finally steered +back straight for the Blue Mountains. And then the thunder of cannon was +heard from the right. + + * * * * * + +The assault on Hilgard, the center of the Japanese position in the broad +valley of the Blue Mountains, had failed; two regiments had bled to +death on the wire barricades outside the little town, and then all was +over. It would be necessary to break up the enemy's position by flank +movements from both sides before another attack on their center could be +attempted. For two long days the artillery contest waged; then +Longworth's division on our right wing gained a little ground, and when +the sun sank to rest behind the Blue Mountains on August 14th, we had +reason to be satisfied with our day's work, for we had succeeded, at a +great sacrifice, it is true, in wresting from the enemy several +important positions on the sides of the mountains. + +Towards evening six fresh batteries were sent forward to the captured +positions, whence they were to push on towards the left wing of the +Japanese center the next morning. Telephone messages to headquarters +from the front reported the mountain-pass leading to Walla Walla free +from the enemy, so that a transport of ammunition could be sent that way +in the evening to replenish the sadly diminished store for the decisive +battle to be fought the next day. + +While the newspapers all over the East were spreading the news of this +first victory of the American arms, Lieutenant Esher was commanded by +General Longworth to carry the orders for the next day to the officer in +charge of the Tenth Brigade, which had taken up its position before the +mountain-pass on the right wing. For safety's sake General Longworth had +decided to send his orders by word of mouth, only giving instructions +that the receipt of each message should be reported to headquarters by +each detachment either by field-telegraph or telephone. + +Lieutenant Esher, on his motor-cycle, passed an endless chain of +ammunition wagons on his way. For a long time he could make only slow +progress on account of the numerous ambulances and other vehicles which +the temporary field-hospitals were beginning to send back from the +front; but after a time the road gradually became clear. + +The motor rattled on loudly through the silent night, which was +disturbed only now and then by the echo of a shot. Here and there along +the road a sentry challenged the solitary traveler, who gave the +password and puffed on. + +He had been informed that the quickest way to reach General Lawrence +would be by way of the narrow mountain-path that turned off to the left +of the road, which had now become absolutely impassable again on account +of innumerable transports. It was a dangerous ride, for any moment the +bicycle might smash into some unseen obstacle and topple over into the +abyss on the right, into which stones and loose earth were continually +falling as the cycle pushed them to one side. + +Lieutenant Esher therefore got off his wheel and pushed it along. At the +edge of a wood he stopped for a moment to study his map by the light of +an electric pocket-lamp, when he heard a sharp call just above him. He +could not quite make it out, but gave the password, and two shots rang +out simultaneously close to him.--When Lieutenant Esher came to, he +found a Japanese army doctor bending over him. + +He had an uncertain feeling of having been carried over a rocky desert, +and when he at last succeeded in collecting his thoughts, he came to the +conclusion that he must have strayed from the path and run straight into +the enemy's arms. + +He tried to raise his head to see where he was, but a violent pain in +his shoulder forced him to lie still. The noises all around made it +clear to him, however, that he was among Japanese outposts. The doctor +exchanged a few words with an officer who had just come up, but they +spoke Japanese and Esher could not understand a word they said. + +"Am I wounded?" he asked of the ambulance soldier beside him. The latter +pointed to the doctor, who said, "You will soon be all right again." + +"Where am I wounded?" + +"In the right thigh," answered the doctor, sitting down on a stone near +Esher. The doctor didn't seem to have much work to do. + +The stinging pain in his right shoulder robbed Esher of his senses for a +moment, but he soon came to again and remembered his orders to +Lawrence's brigade. Thank God he had no written message on his person. +As it was, the enemy had succeeded in capturing only a broken +motor-cycle and a wounded, unimportant officer. The division staff would +soon discover by telephoning that General Lawrence had not received his +orders and then repeat the message. + +Esher managed to turn his head, and watched the Japanese officer copying +an order by the light of a bicycle lamp. The order had just been +delivered by a mounted messenger, who sat immovable as a statue on his +exhausted and panting steed. + +Suddenly the Japanese cavalryman seemed to grow enormous bats' wings, +which spread out until they obscured the whole sky. The ghostly figure +resembled a wild creature of fable, born of the weird fancy of a Dore, +or an avenging angel of the Apocalypse. Then the rider shrank together +again and seemed to be bouncing up and down on the back of his horse +like a little grinning monkey. + +The wounded man rubbed his eyes. What was that? Was he awake or had he +been dreaming? + +He asked the ambulance soldier for a drink, and the latter at once +handed him some water in a tin cup. Now a real Japanese cavalryman was +once more sitting up there on his horse, while the officer was still +writing. Then the officer's arm began to grow longer and longer, until +at last he was writing on the sky with a fiery pencil: + +"In case there is no Japanese attack on August 15th, the Tenth Brigade +under General Lawrence is to retain its present positions until the +attack of our center----" + +Good Lord, what was that? Yes, those were the very words of the message +he was to have delivered to the Tenth Brigade, and not only were the +words identical, but the hand-writing was the same, for the flaming +letters had burnt themselves into his memory stroke for stroke and word +for word and line for line. + +He tried to get up, but could not. The lieutenant kept on writing, while +the horseman stood beside him. The horse was brushing off the flies with +his tail. + +Then the awful, maddening thought came to him: This must be the +beginning of wound-fever. If it kept up and he began to get delirious, +he might betray his orders for Lawrence's brigade to the enemy. + +And he saw hundreds of Japanese standing around him, all stretching +their necks to catch his words, and more and more came from over the +mountain ridges like a swarm of ants, and they all wanted to hear the +secrets that he was trying to keep in his aching head, while the officer +waved his note-book over him like a fluttering flag. Then the doctor +seized him, and arm in arm they hopped to and fro--to and fro--to and +fro. + +Yes, he was certainly delirious. Lieutenant Esher thought of his home. +He saw his little house on 148th Street. He came home from business, he +walked through the garden, hung up his coat on the rack, opened the +door, his young wife welcomed him, she nodded to him--Eveline--groaned +the lieutenant, and then his thoughts turned to God. + +Then the writing officer again, the rider on his horse, and the dark +night-sky, in which the stars were dancing like silver gnats. Collecting +his whole willpower, he succeeded in getting into a sitting posture, and +the Japanese soldier attending him awoke out of a doze only to find his +revolver in the American's hands. But it was too late, for a shot +resounded at the same moment. Lieutenant Esher had brought his weary +brain to rest; his head toppled over and landed hard on the rocky +ground. + +Thus died a real hero, and those were hard times when men of stout heart +and iron courage were sorely needed. + + * * * * * + +Opposite Hilgard, the center of the enemy's position in the Blue +Mountains, trenches had been thrown up, and the 28th Militia Regiment +had occupied them in the night of August 13th-14th. The Japanese were +apparently not aware of their presence, as the regiment had taken no +part in the fighting on the fourteenth. On the evening of the same day, +the 32d Regiment was pushed forward to the same position, while the +searchlights were playing over the plain and on the mountain sides, and +dazzling the eyes of the sentries who were keeping a sharp lookout for +the enemy from various ambushes. And whenever the beam of light landed +on dark shadows, which jumped quickly aside, flames shot out on the +opposite side and flashes of fire from bursting shrapnel drew trembling +streaks across the sky and lighted up the immediate neighborhood. + +The wires which connected the headquarters with all the sentries and +outposts vibrated perpetually with the thoughts and commands of a single +individual, who managed this whole apparatus from a little schoolroom in +Baker City far behind the front, allowing himself scarcely a moment for +much-needed night-rest. + +The 28th Regiment had thrown up trenches the height of a man in the hard +ground opposite the little town of Hilgard on the night of August +13th-14th. Now a company of pioneers was busy widening them and building +stands for the troops where they would be safe from splinters, for it +was highly probable that the assault on Hilgard would be undertaken +from here on the following evening. The covering for these stands was +made of thick boards and planks taken from a saw-mill near by, and over +these the dug up earth was spread. The enemy's attention seemed to be +directed elsewhere, for the reflections from the searchlights were +continually crossing one another over to the right. In this direction +music could be distinctly heard coming from Longworth's Division--a +lively march waking the echoes of the night with its clear full tones. + +Music? Those who were swearing at the stupidity of allowing the band to +play in the very face of the enemy, did not know that the troops over +there on their way to quarters had marched over forty miles that day, +and that only the inspiring power of music could help the stumbling men +to gather their remaining strength and press forward. + +The cheerful melody of the old Scotch song, + + "Gin a body, meet a body, + Comin' thro' the rye," + +rang out in common time across the silent battle-field, fifes squeaking +and drums rolling, while the silent searchlights continued flashing in +the dark sky. + + "Gin a body, meet a body, + Comin' thro' the rye." + +Meanwhile the picks and spades were kept going in the trenches of the +28th Regiment. The earth and stones flew with a rattle over the top of +the breastworks, making them stronger and stronger, pioneers and +infantry working side by side in the dark, hollow space. The battalion +on guard kept strict watch in the direction of the enemy, continually +expecting to see creeping figures suddenly pop up out of the darkness. + +"Didn't you hear something, captain?" asked one of the men on watch. + +"No, where?" + +A curious purring sound like the whizzing of a small dynamo became +audible. + +Some one gave a low whistle, and the pioneers stopped work, and leaned +on their spades. All the men listened intently, but no one could make +out whence the strange sound came. + +Suddenly some one spoke quite loudly and another voice replied. Up in +the air--that's where it was! A black shadow swept across the sky. "An +air-ship!" cried one of the men in the trench, and sure enough the +whirring of the screw of a motor balloon could be distinctly heard. +Bang--bang--bang, went a few shots into the air. + +"Stop the fire!" called a commanding voice from above. + +"Stop! It is our own balloon!" + +"No, it's a Japanese one!" + +Bang--bang, it went again. From the rear came the deep bass of a big gun +and close by sounded the sharp bang--bang--bang of a little balloon-gun +in the second trench. There was a burst of flame up in the air, followed +by a hail of metal splinters. "Cut that out. You're shooting at us!" +roared Captain Lange across to the battery. + +"Stop firing!" came a quick order from there. A few cannon shots were +heard coming from the rear. + +Suddenly a bright light appeared up in the air and a white magnesium +cluster descended slowly, lighting up all the trenches in a sudden blaze +which made the pioneers look like ghosts peering over the black brink of +the pits. Then the light went out, and the eyes trying in vain to +pierce the darkness saw nothing but glittering fiery red circles. The +Japanese batteries on the other side opened fire. The air-ship had +entirely disappeared, and no one knew whether the uncanny night-bird had +been friend or foe. + + * * * * * + +The assault on Hilgard was to be begun by the 28th and 32d Volunteers: +General MacArthur had originally planned to have the attempt made at +dawn on August 15th; but as one brigade of Wood's Division had not yet +arrived, he postponed the attack for twenty-four hours, to the sixteenth +of August, while the fifteenth was to be taken up with heavy firing on +the enemy's position, which seemed to have been somewhat weakened. As +soon, therefore, as day broke, the Americans opened fire, and all the +time that almost sixty American guns were bombarding Hilgard and sending +shell after shell over the town, and the white flakes of cotton from the +bursting shrapnels hovered over the houses and almost obscured the view +of the mountains and the shells tore up the ground, sowing iron seed in +the furrows, the 28th and 32d Volunteers lay in the trenches without +firing a single shot. + +The commander of the 16th Brigade, to which the two regiments belonged, +was in the first trench during the morning, and, in company with Colonel +Katterfeld, inspected the results of the bombardment through his +telescope, which had been set up in the trench. A shrapnel had just +destroyed the top of the copper church tower, which the Japanese were +using as a lookout. + +Although the American shells had already created a great deal of havoc +in Hilgard, the walls of the houses offered considerable resistance to +the hail of bullets from the shrapnels. The brigadier-general therefore +sent orders to the battery stationed behind and to the right of the +trenches to shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into +Hilgard. + +"Shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into Hilgard! +Shell the houses on both sides of the street leading into +Hilgard--Shell--Hilgard," was the command which was passed along from +mouth to mouth through the trenches, until it reached the battery amid +the roar of battle. + +"--Shells--we have no shells--shrapnels--the battery has no shells, only +shrapnels--" came back the answer after a while. + +"No shells, I might have known it, only those everlasting shrapnels. How +on earth can I shoot a town to pieces with shrapnel!" growled the +brigadier-general, going into the protected stand where the telephone +had been set up. + +"Send two hundred shells immediately by automobile from Union to the 8th +Battery Volunteers stationed before Hilgard," ordered the general +through the telephone-- "What, there aren't any shells at Union? The +last have been forwarded to Longworth's Division?-- But I must have at +least a hundred; have them brought back at once from the right wing-- No +automobile, either?" It was a wonder that the telephone didn't burst +with righteous indignation at the vigorous curses the brigadier-general +roared into it. + +But unfortunately the statement made at Union, where the field railway +built from Monida for the transport service terminated, was correct. +Just as in most European armies, the number of shells provided was out +of all proportion to the shrapnel, and the supply of shells was +consequently low at all times. Besides, most of the ammunition-motors +had been put out of commission early in the game. The advantage of +higher speed possessed by the automobiles was more than offset by their +greater conspicuousness the moment they came within range of the enemy's +guns. The clouds of dust which they threw up at once showed the enemy in +which direction they were going, and as they were obliged to keep to the +main road, the Japanese had only to make a target of the highway and do +a little figuring to make short work of these modern vehicles. The great +number of wrecked motor cars strewn along the road proved rather +conclusively that the horse has not yet outlived its usefulness in +modern warfare. + +The officers, including the generals, had willingly dispensed with such +a dangerous mode of locomotion after the first fatal experiences, for +the staring fiery eyes of the motor betrayed its whereabouts by night, +and the clouds of dust betrayed it by day. The moment an auto came +puffing along, the enemy's shots began to fall to the right and left of +it, and it was only natural, therefore, that the horse came into its own +again, both because the rider was not bound to the main road and because +he did not offer such a conspicuous target for the enemy's shots. + +Towards noon the Japanese batteries entrenched before Hilgard began +bombarding the 28th Regiment with shrapnel. Colonel Katterfeld therefore +ordered half his men to seek protection under the stands. + +The howling and crashing of the bursting shrapnel of course had its +effect on those troops who were here under fire for the first time. But +the shrapnel bullets rained on the wooden roofs without being able to +penetrate them, and after half an hour this fact imbued the men in their +retreats with a certain feeling of security. The enemy soon stopped this +ineffective fire from his field-guns, however, and on the basis of +careful observations made from a captive balloon behind Hilgard, the +Japanese began using explosive shells in place of the shrapnel. + +The very first shots produced terrible devastation. The long planks were +tossed about like matches in the smoke of the bursting Shimose shells, +and the slaughter when one of them landed right in the midst of the +closely packed men in one of these subterranean mole-holes was +absolutely indescribable. Back into the trenches, therefore! But the +enemy had observed this change of position from his balloon, and the +shots began to rain unceasingly into the trenches. And so perfect was +the Japanese marksmanship that the position of the long line of trenches +could easily be recognized by the parallel line of little white clouds +of smoke up above them. There was nothing more to be concealed, and +accordingly Colonel Katterfeld ordered his regiment to open fire on +Hilgard and on the hostile artillery entrenched before the town. + +Captain Lange lay with his nose pressed against the breastworks, +carefully observing the effect of the fire through his field glasses. +Although this was not his first campaign, he had nevertheless had some +trouble in ridding himself of that miserable feeling with which every +novice has to contend, the feeling that every single hostile gun and +cannon is pointed straight at him. But the moment the first men of his +company fell and he was obliged to arrange for the removal of the +wounded to the rear, his self-possession returned at once. It was his +bounden duty, moreover, to set an example of cool-headed courage to his +men, so he calmly and with some fuss lighted a cigarette, yet in spite +of the apparent indifference with which he puffed at it, it moved up and +down rather suspiciously between his lips. + +A volunteer by the name of Singley, the war-correspondent of the _New +York Herald_, worked with much greater equanimity, but then he had been +through five battles before he gained permission to join the 7th Company +for the purpose of making pencil sketches and taking photographs of the +incidents of the battle. + +He now arranged a regular rest for his kodak in the breastwork of the +trench and stooped down behind the apparatus, which was directed towards +the six Japanese guns to the left in front of the houses at Hilgard, the +position of which could only be recognized by the clouds of smoke which +ascended after each shot was fired. Just then he heard the order being +passed along to the 8th battery to give these guns a broadside of +shrapnel, and as it would probably take a few minutes before this order +could be carried out, Singley pulled out his note-book and glanced over +the entries made during the last hour: + + No. 843. Japanese shell bursts through a plank covering. + " 844. Trench manned afresh. + " 845. Captain Lange smoking while under fire. + " 846. Japanese shrapnels indicate the line of our trenches in the air. + +Then he put his note-book down beside him and crept under his kodak +again, carefully fixing the object-glass on the battery opposite. Now +then! A streak of solid lightning flashed in front of the second gun, +and a black funnel of smoke shot up. Click! + + No. 847. Firing at the Japanese battery before Hilgard. + +Singley exchanged the film for a new one, and then looked about for +another subject for his camera. He took off his cap and peeped carefully +over the edge of the trench. Could he be mistaken? He saw a little +black speck making straight for the spot where he was. "A shell" rushed +through his thoughts like a flash, and he threw himself flat on the +bottom of the trench. + +With a whirring noise the heavy shell struck the back wall of the +trench. "An explosive shell!" shouted Captain Lange, "everybody down!" + +The air shook with a tremendous detonation; sand and stones flew all +around, and the suffocating powder-gas took everybody's breath away; but +gradually the soldiers began to recognize one another through the dust +and smoke, thankful at finding themselves uninjured. + +"Captain!" called a weak voice from the bottom of the trench, "Captain +Lange, I'm wounded." The captain bent down to assist the +war-correspondent, who was almost buried under a pile of earth. + +"Oh, my legs," groaned Singley. Two soldiers took hold of him and placed +him with his back against the wall of earth. The lower part of both his +thighs had been smashed by pieces from the shell. "Will you please do me +a last service?" he asked of Captain Lange. + +"Of course, Singley, what is it?" + +"Please take my kodak!" + +Singley himself arranged the exposure and handed the camera to the +captain, saying: "There, it is set at one twentieth of a second. Now +please take my picture-- Thank you, that's all right! And now you can +have me removed to the hospital!" + +Before the men came to fetch him, Singley managed to add to his list: + + No. 848. Our war-correspondent, Singley, mortally wounded by a + Japanese shell. Hail Columbia! + +Then he closed his book and put it in his breast pocket. Five minutes +later two ambulance men carried him off to have his wounds attended to, +and in the evening he was conveyed to the hospital. + +A week later Captain Lange's snapshot of the war-correspondent was +paraded in the _New York Herald_ as the dramatic close of Singley's +journalistic career. In his way he, too, had been a hero. He died in the +hospital at Salubria. + +He could claim the credit of having made the war plain to those at home. +Or was that not the war after all? Were the black shadows on the +photographic plate anything more than what is left of a flower after the +botanist has pressed the faded semblance of its former self between the +leaves of his collection? Certainly not much more. + +No, that is not war. Just a bursting--silently bursting shell, the +scattering of a company--that is not war. + +Thousands of bursting shells, the howls of the whizzing bullets, the +constant nerve-racking crashing and roaring overhead, the deafening +cracking of splitting iron everywhere--that is war. And accompanying it +all the hopeless sensation that this will never, never stop, that it +will go on like this forever, until one's thoughts are dulled by some +terrible, cruel, incomprehensible, demoralizing force. Those bounding +puffs of smoke everywhere on the ground, rifle shots which have been +aimed too short and every one of which-- That abominable sharp singing +as of a swarm of mosquitoes, buzz, buzz, like the buzzing of angry +hornets continually knocking their heads against a window-pane. Bang! +That hit a stone. Bang! two inches nearer, then--"Aim carefully, fire +slowly!" calls the lieutenant in a hoarse, dry voice. You aim carefully +and fire slowly and reload. Buzz-- And then you fume with a fierce +uncontrollable rage because you must aim carefully and fire slowly. And +the whole space in front of the trenches is covered with infantry +bullets glittering in the sunlight. Will it ever stop? Never! A day like +that has a hundred hours--two hundred. And if you had been there all by +yourself, you would never have dreamed of shooting over the edge of the +trenches--you would most probably have been crouching down in the pit. +But as you happen not to be alone, this can't be done. Will the enemy's +ammunition never give out? It's awful the way he keeps on shooting. + +And that terrible thirst! Your throat is parched and your teeth feel +blunt from grinding the grains of sand which fly into your face whenever +an impudent little puff of smoke jumps up directly in front of you. +Sssst. The mosquitoes keep on singing, and the bees buzz perpetually. +Those dogs over there, those wretches, those-- Buzz, buzz, buzz--it +never stops, never. Over there to the right somebody cracks a joke and +several soldiers laugh. "Aim carefully, fire slowly!" sounds the warning +voice of the lieutenant. And it's all done on an empty stomach--a +perfectly empty stomach. + +Just as the field-kitchen wagon had arrived this morning, a shell had +exploded in the road and it was all over with the kitchen-wagon. How +long ago that seemed! And the bees keep on humming. Bang! that hit the +sergeant right in the middle of the forehead. Is this never going to +stop? Never? You chew sand, you breathe sand, burning dry sand, which +passes through your intestines like fire. And then that horrible, faint, +sickening feeling in the stomach when you feel the ambulance men +creeping up behind to take away another one of your comrades! How +terrible he looks, how he screams! You are quite incensed to think that +anybody can yell like that! What a fool! "Aim carefully, fire slowly," +warns the lieutenant. Bouncing puffs of smoke again! And sand in your +mouth and fire in your intestines. You think continually of water, +beautiful, clear, ice-cold water, never-ending streams of water-- A +roaring, howling and crashing overhead, the clatter of splinters, a +sharp pain in your brain and a horrible feeling in your stomach and all +the time it goes buzz, buzz, buzz--ssst--ssst--buzz, buzz, buzz---- + +That is war, not the pictures that people see at home, all those lucky +people who have lots of water, who can go where they like and are not +forced to stay where the bees keep up a continual buzz, buzz, buzz---- + +Colonel Katterfeld was kneeling on the ground examining the map of +Hilgard and marking several positions with a pencil. He could overhear +the conversation of the soldiers under the board-covering next to his +own. + +"Do you think all this is on account of the Philippines?" asked one. + +"The Philippines? Not much. It would have come sooner or later anyhow. +The Japs want the whole Pacific to themselves. We wouldn't be here if it +were only for the Philippines." + +"We wouldn't? It's on account of imperialism, then, is it?" + +"Don't talk foolish. We know very well what the Japs want, imperialism +or no imperialism." + +"Well, why are the papers always talking so much about imperialism?" + +"They write from their own standpoint. Imperialism simply means that we +wish to rule wherever the Stars and Stripes are waving." + +The colonel peeped into the adjacent cover. It was Sergeant Benting who +was speaking. + +"Right you are, Benting," said the colonel, "imperialism is the desire +for power. Imperialism means looking at the world from a great altitude. +And the nation which is without it will never inherit the earth." + +Then the colonel gave the order to fire at a house on the right side of +the street, in which a bursting shrapnel had just effected a breach and +out of which a detachment of infantry was seen to run. + +Once again, just before twilight, the battle burst out on both sides +with tremendous fury. The whole valley was hidden in clouds of smoke and +dust, and flashes of fire and puffs of smoke flew up from the ground on +all sides. Then evening came and, bit by bit, it grew more quiet as one +battery after the other ceased firing. The shrill whistle of an engine +came from the mountain-pass. And now, from far away, the Japanese +bugle-call sounded through the silent starry night and was echoed softly +by the mountain-sides, warming the hearts of all who heard it: + +[line of music] + + + + +_Chapter XIX_ + +THE ASSAULT ON HILGARD + + +It was three o'clock in the morning. Only from the left wing of Fowler's +Division was the booming of cannon occasionally heard. From the +mountain-pass above came the noise of passing trains, the clash of +colliding cars and the dull rumble of wheels. On the right all was +still. + +A low whistle went through all the trenches! And then the regiments +intended for the assault on Hilgard crept slowly and carefully out of +the long furrows. The front ranks carried mattresses, straw-bags, planks +and sacks of earth to bridge the barbed wire barricades in case they +should not succeed in chopping down the posts to which the wires were +fastened. A few American batteries behind La Grande began firing. The +other side continued silent. + +Suddenly two red rockets rose quickly one after the other on the right +near the mountain, and they were followed directly by two blue ones; +they went out noiselessly high up in the air. Was it a signal of friend +or foe? The regiments came to a halt for a moment, but nothing further +happened, except that the two searchlights beyond Hilgard kept their +eyes fixed on the spot where the rockets had ascended. A dog barked in +the town, but was choked off in the middle of a howl. Then death-like +stillness reigned in front once more, but several cannon thundered in +the rear and a few isolated shots rang out from the wooded valleys on +the left. + +The front ranks had reached the wire barricades. Suddenly a sharp cry +of pain broke the silence and red flames shot forth from the ground, +lighting up the posts and the network of wires. Several soldiers were +seen to be caught in the wires, which were apparently charged with +electricity. Now was the time! The pioneers provided with rubber gloves +to protect them against the charged wires went at it with a vengeance, +and were soon hacking away with their axes. Loud curses and cries of +pain were heard here and there. "Shut up, you cowards!" yelled some one +in a subdued voice. The black silhouettes of the men, who were tossing +long boards and bags of earth on top of the wires, stood out sharply +against the light of the explosives with which the Americans were +attempting to loosen the supporting posts. + +[Illustration: Diagram of the Battle of Hilgard] + +The light of the dancing flames fell on swaying, leaping figures. +Shots rang out constantly, millions of sparks flew all around and +through all the din could be distinguished the short, sharp +rattatattatt--rrrrr--rattatattatt of the machine-guns, sounding more +like cobble-stones being emptied out of a cart than anything else. + +Hell had meanwhile broken loose on the other side. The attacking +regiments were exposed to a perfectly terrific rifle-fire from the +houses and streets of Hilgard, which was accompanied by a destructive +cannonade. But on they went! Over the corpses of the slain who had +breathed their last jammed in among the deadly wires, over the swaying +planks and through the gaps made by the exploding bombs, the battalions +swept on with loud shouts of Hurrah! What mattered it that the +machine-guns, which they had brought along, were sometimes dragged +through furrows of blood! On they went! The field-batteries to the right +and left of the first houses and two of the enemy's machine-guns just in +front of the barricade were in the hands of the 28th Regiment, and now +they advanced against the houses themselves. But it was utterly +impossible to get a foot further. A whole battalion was sacrificed +before the high barricade at the entrance to the main street, but still +they went on! There were no storming-ladders, and after all they were +hardly needed, for human pyramids were speedily run up against the +walls, and up these soldiers scrambled, assisted from below, until at +last they were high enough to shoot into the loop-holes. Others aided in +the work with axes and the butt-ends of their guns, and before long the +Americans had gained possession of several houses. All of the enemy's +searchlights concentrated their glare on the town, so that the fighting +was done in a brilliant light. The white top of the church-tower seemed +strangely near, while reddish-gold reflections played on the torn copper +roof. + +But no reenforcements came from the rear, and it was no wonder, for a +furious fire from the enemy's artillery and machine-guns swept across +the space in front of Hilgard, raining bullets and balls upon the +trenches, out of which new battalions climbed again and again; the shots +plowed up the land into glowing furrows and created an impassable +fire-zone between the trenches and the nearest houses of Hilgard, whence +shrieking bugle-calls begged for immediate assistance. If the enemy +should succeed in throwing reenforcements into Hilgard, he would have no +difficulty in dislodging the Americans from the positions they had won. +Suddenly an attack from the wooded valley on the left at last brought +relief. It was the Irish brigade under General O'Brien that came on like +a whirlwind, quite unexpectedly, and joined in the fight. + +This attack threw back the advancing Japanese reenforcements. The +regiments could be seen retreating in the pale light of dawn, and then +they were seen to form in line on the rising ground behind. Between +them and the rear of the town lay the Irish sharpshooters, who went +forward by leaps and bounds. But the furious artillery fire from the +enemy brought the fighting temporarily to a stand-still. + +Wild confusion reigned on all sides as dawn broke. The 17th Japanese +Infantry Regiment was still battling with the two American regiments for +the possession of the front houses of Hilgard, and the two Japanese +battalions in the rear of the town directed their fire on the compact +columns of the Third Irish Regiment, which had not yet been formed into +line for shooting. It was a critical moment, and everything depended +upon the rapidity with which the Japanese resistance in Hilgard could be +overcome. + +In the houses and on the illuminated streets a furious hand-to-hand +encounter was going on, the men rushing at one another with bayonets and +the butt-ends of their guns. No effort was made to keep the men or +regiments together. Where the weapons had been destroyed or lost in the +mad scramble, the soldiers fought like gorillas, tearing one another's +flesh with teeth and nails. On all sides houses were on fire, and the +falling beams and walls, the bursting flames, the showers of descending +sparks, and the bursting shrapnels killing friend and foe alike, created +an indescribable jumble. + +At last reenforcements arrived in the shape of a regiment which had lost +more than half its men in passing through the fire-zone in front of +Hilgard. + +"Where is Colonel Johnson?" + +"Over there, on the other side of the street." + +"A prisoner?" asked some one. + +"I guess not, they're not making prisoners and we aren't either." + +Slowly it grew lighter. + +The Irish in the rear of Hilgard had hard work to maintain their +position. To dislodge the enemy, it was absolutely necessary to turn his +flank; otherwise there was no chance of advancing further. Each line of +sharpshooters that leaped forward was partially mowed down by the +terrible machine-guns. The enemy didn't budge an inch. + +General O'Brien had already dispatched five orderlies to Fowler's +division with instructions to attack the enemy from the left, but all +five had been shot down the moment they left their cover. Something had +to be done at once, or the entire brigade would be destroyed. + +Suddenly Corporal Freeman, who had crept up along the ground, appeared +beside the General. + +"Here, sir," he cried, his face beaming, "here's the connection for +you." And he shoved a telephone apparatus towards O'Brien. He had +dragged the connecting wire behind him through the entire fire-zone. + +"You must be a wizard!" cried the General, and then seizing the +instrument he called: "Throw all the troops you can possibly get hold of +against the right wing of the Japanese in front of us! The enemy's +position is weakened, but we can't attack the ridge in the front from +here." + +Several minutes passed--minutes pregnant with destruction. The bursting +shells thinned the ranks terribly, while the infantry fire continued to +sweep along the ground, but worst of all, the ammunition of the Irish +regiments was getting low. Several batteries were planted between the +ruins of the houses in Hilgard, but even then the enemy did not budge. + +Then came a great rush from the left: Cavalry, Indian scouts, regular +cavalry, cavalry militia, volunteer regiments, and behind them all the +machine-guns and the field-artillery--a perfect avalanche of human +beings and horses wrapped in thick clouds of smoke from which showers of +sparks descended. + +That was our salvation. A wild shout of joy from the Irishmen rose above +the din of battle, and after that there was no restraining them. The +front ranks of the cavalry were mown down like sheaves of corn by the +bullets of the enemy's machine-guns; but that made no difference, on +they went, on, ever on! Whole regiments were cut to pieces. Hundreds of +saddles were emptied, but the riders came on just the same, and even +before they had reached the Irish sharpshooters, every man who wore the +green was headed for the ridge almost without waiting for the word of +command! + +It was an assault the enemy could not possibly repulse. The Irish and +the cavalry were right among their firing lines; a battery galloped up +into the hostile ranks, crushing dead and wounded beneath its wheels. +Bloody shreds of flesh were sticking to the gun-barrels, and torn limbs +and even whole bodies were whirled round and round in the spokes of the +wheels. + +Shrill bugle-calls resounded. The horses were wheeled around and the +battery unlimbered. A hostile shell suddenly struck the shaft of the +gun-carriage, and in a second the horses were a bloody mass of legs +wildly beating the air and of writhing, groaning bodies. + +But the gun was in position. And now out with the ammunition! Bang! went +the first shot, which had been in the barrel, and then everybody lent a +hand; an Indian scout, bleeding at the shoulder, and an engineer helped +pass the shells, while a mortally wounded gunner shoved the cartridge +into the barrel. + +"Aim up there to the left, near the two detached pine-trees, six hundred +yards," roared a lieutenant, whose blood-covered shirt could be seen +beneath his open uniform. + +"The two pines to the left," answered the gunner, lying across the +bracket-trail. Bang! off went the shot, and a line of Japanese +sharpshooters rose like a flock of quail. + +More cannon, more machine-guns, more ammunition-carts rushed up in mad +haste; the batteries kept up a continual fire. + +The battle moved on farther to the front. The houses of Hilgard were all +in flames; only the white top of the church-tower still projected above +the ruins. On the right of the town one column after another marched +past to the strains of regimental music. + +An orderly galloped past, and some one called out to him: "How are +things in front?" "Fine, fine, we're winning!" came the answer, which +was greeted with jubilant cheers. Gradually the enemy's shots became +scarcer as the battle advanced up the slopes. + +Engineers were hard at work getting the streets of Hilgard cleared so as +to save the troops the detour round the outside of the town. The burning +houses were blown up with dynamite, and a temporary hospital was +established near the city, to which the wounded were brought from all +parts of the battle-field. + +By noon Hilgard was sufficiently cleared to allow the 36th Militia +Regiment (Nebraska) to pass through. On both sides of the streets were +smoking ruins filled with dead and dying and charred remains. The steps +of the battalion sounded strangely hollow as the first company turned +into the square where the white church still stood almost intact in the +midst of the ruins. A wounded soldier was calling loudly for water. + +What was that? Were the bells tolling? The soldiers involuntarily +softened their step when they heard it. Yes, the bells were tolling, +slowly at first and low, but then the peals rang out louder and louder +until a great volume of sound burst through the little windows in the +white church-spire. Ding--dong, ding--dong---- + +The flag-bearer of the first company lowered his flag and the soldiers +marched past in silence. The captain rode over to the entrance to the +tower and looked in. A little boy, about ten years old, was tugging and +straining at the heavy bell-ropes. There seemed to be a number of +wounded soldiers in the church, as loud groans could be heard through +the half-open door. + +The captain looked about him in astonishment. Near a post he saw two +Japanese, presenting a fearful spectacle in the convulsions of death. +Close to them lay an American foot-soldier, writhing with pain from a +bayonet-wound in the abdomen; and over in the farther corner he could +distinguish a woman, dressed in black, lying on a ragged mattress. +Ding--dong, ding--dong, rang the bells up above, but the noise of battle +did not penetrate here. + +"What are you doing, sonny?" asked the captain. + +"I'm ringing the bells for mother," said the little fellow. + +"For mother?" + +"General," called a weak voice from the corner, "please let the boy +alone. I want to hear our bells just once more before I die." + +"What's the matter, are you wounded?" asked the captain. + +"I feel that I'm dying," was the answer; "a bullet has entered my lung; +I think it's the lung." + +"I'll send you a doctor," said the captain, "although we----" + +"Don't bother, general; it wouldn't do any good." + +"How did you get here?" + +"My husband," came the answer in a weak voice, "is lying across the +street in our burning home. He was the minister here in Hilgard. These +last days have been fearful, general; you have no idea how fearful. +First they shot my husband, and then our little Elly was killed by a +piece of shell when I was running across the street to the church with +her and the boy." She paused a moment, and then continued with growing +agitation: "It's enough to make one lose faith in the wisdom of the Lord +to see this butchery--all the heartrending sorrow that's created in the +world when men begin to murder one another like this. You don't realize +it in the midst of the battle, but here-- And as God has seen fit to +spare His church in the battle, I asked the boy to ring the bells once +more, for I thought it might be a comfort to some of those dying out +there to hear a voice from above proclaiming peace after these awful +days. Let him keep on ringing, general, won't you?" + +"Can I help you in any way?" asked the captain. + +"No, only I should like some water." + +The captain knelt down by the side of the poor, deserted woman and +handed her his flask. + +She drank greedily, and then thanked him and began to sob softly. "What +will become of my boy? My poor husband----" + +"My good woman," said the captain, forcing himself to speak bluntly, +"it's not a question of this boy, or of a single individual who has +fallen in battle, but rather of a great people which has just defeated +the enemy. The widows and orphans will be taken care of by the +survivors, now that the Lord has given us the victory. Those who are +lying outside the town and those here have surrendered their lives for +their country, and the country will not forget them." + +Ding--dong, ding--dong, went the bells as the captain left the church, +deeply affected. Ding--dong, ding--dong. Thousands out on the +battle-field in the throes of death, and the many unfortunates lying +with broken limbs in the burning houses and watching the flames +creeping towards them, heard that last call from on high, like a call +from God, Who seemed to have turned away from our people. + +And then evening came, the evening of the sixteenth of August, which is +recorded with bloody letters on the pages of our country's history. Soon +all the reserves were engaged in battle. Our splendid regiments could +not be checked, so eager were they to push forward, and they succeeded +in storming one of the enemy's positions after the other along the +mountain-side. At last the enemy began to retreat, and the thunder of +the cannon was again and again drowned in the frenzied cheers. General +MacArthur was continually receiving at his headquarters reports of fresh +victories in the front and on both wings. + +The telegraph wires had long ago spread the glad tidings over the length +and breadth of the land. Great joy reigned in every town, the Stars and +Stripes waved proudly from all the houses, and the people's hearts were +fluttering with exultation. + +General MacArthur, whose headquarters were located near Hilgard, was +waiting for news of Fowler's Division, which had orders to advance on +the pass through the valleys on the left wing. They were to try and +outflank the enemy's right wing, but word was sent that they had met +with unexpected resistance. It appeared, therefore, that the enemy had +not yet begun to retreat at that point. + +On the other hand, things were going better in the center. But what was +the good of this reckless advance, of this bold rush, which built +bridges of human bodies across the enemy's trenches and formed living +ladders composed of whole companies before the enemy's earthworks--what +was the good of all this heroic courage in the face of Marshal Nogi's +relentless calculations? He was overjoyed to see regiment after +regiment storm towards him, while from his tent he gave directions for +the sharp tongs of the Japanese flanks to close in the rear of General +MacArthur's army. + +About seven o'clock in the evening the surprising news came from the +right wing that the batteries which had begun firing on the enemy's +lines retreating along the railway line were suddenly being shelled from +the rear, and begged for reenforcements. But there were no reserves +left; the last battalion, the last man had been pushed to the front! How +did the enemy manage to outflank us? + +Imploringly, eagerly, the telephone begged for reenforcements, for +batteries, for machine-guns, for ammunition. The transport section of +the army service corps had been exhausted long ago, and all the +ammunition we had was in front, while a wide chasm yawned between the +fighting troops and the depots far away in the blue distance. General +MacArthur had nothing left to send. + +And now from Indian Valley came the request for more machine-guns, but +there wasn't one left. General MacArthur telegraphed to Union, the +terminus of the field-railway, but the answer came that no assistance +could be given for several hours, as the roadbed had first to be +repaired. From Toll Gate, too, came stormy demands for more +ammunition--all in vain. + +And then, at eight o'clock, when the sun had sunk like a ball of fire in +the west, and the Blue Mountains, above which hovered puffs of smoke +from the bursting shrapnel, were bathed in the golden evening light and +the valley became gradually veiled in darkness, the crushing news came +from Baker City that large, compact bodies of Japanese troops had been +seen on the stretch of broken-down railroad near Sumpter. Soon +afterwards Union reported the interruption of railway communication +with the rear and an attack with machine-guns by Japanese dismounted +cavalry, while Wood's division in the front continued to report the +capture of Japanese positions. + +With relentless accuracy the arms of the gigantic tongs with which Nogi +threatened to surround the entire Army of the North began to close. The +American troops attacking both flanks had not noticed the Japanese +reserves, which had been held concealed in the depressions and shallow +valleys under cover of the woods. Two miles more to the right and left, +and our cavalry would have come upon the steel teeth of the huge tongs, +but there was the rub: they hadn't gone far enough. + +About ten o'clock in the evening Baker City, which was in flames, was +stormed by the Japanese, Indian Valley having already fallen into their +hands. The attack in front, high up in the mountains, began to waver, +then to stop; a few captured positions had to be abandoned, and down in +the valley near La Grande, whence the field-hospitals were being removed +to the rear, the ambulances and Red Cross transports encountered the +troops streaming back from Baker City. One retreating force caught up +with the other, and then night came--that terrible night of destruction. +Again the cannon thundered across the valley, again the machine-guns +joined in the tumult, while the infantry fire surged to and fro. + +You may be able to urge an exhausted or famished troop on to a final +assault, you may even gain the victory with their last vestige of +energy, their last bit of strength, provided you can inspire them with +sufficient enthusiasm; but it is impossible to save a lost cause with +troops who have been hunted up and down for twenty-four hours and whose +nerves are positively blunt from the strain of the prolonged battle. + +The exhausted regiments went back, back into the basin of the Blue +Mountains, into a flaming pit that hid death and destruction in its +midst. The headquarters, too, had to be moved back. General MacArthur +lost his way in the darkness, and, accompanied by a single officer, rode +across the bloody battle-field right through the enemy's line of fire. + +He soon ran across a cavalry brigade belonging to Longworth's division, +and at once placed himself at its head and led an onslaught on a +Japanese regiment. A wild _melee_ ensued in the darkness, and, although +only a few hundred riders remained in their saddles, the attack had +cleared the atmosphere and the wavering battalions gained new courage. + +General MacArthur ordered a retreat by way of Union, employing Wood's +division, which was slowly making its way back to Hilgard, to cover the +retreat. Regiment after regiment threatened to become disbanded, and +only the determined action of the officers prevented a general rout. The +decimated regiments of Wood's division stood like a wall before the +ruins of Hilgard; they formed a rock against which the enemy's troops +dashed themselves in vain. In this way Fowler's and Longworth's +divisions succeeded in making a fair retreat, especially as the enemy's +strength was beginning to become exhausted. The uncertainty of a night +attack, when the fighting is done with bandaged eyes, as it were, and it +becomes impossible to control the effect of one's own firing, +contributed also towards weakening the Japanese attacks. The thin lines +of hostile troops from Baker City and from the north, which had +threatened to surround our army, were pierced by the determined assaults +of the American regiments; and although our entire transport service and +numerous guns remained in possession of the enemy, our retreat by way of +Union was open. + +At dawn on the seventeenth of August the remains of Wood's division +began to leave Hilgard, which they had so bravely and stubbornly +defended, the heroes retreating step by step in face of the enemy's +artillery fire. + +General MacArthur stopped just outside of Union and watched the +regiments--often consisting only of a single company--pass in silence. +He frowned with displeasure when he saw Colonel Smeaton riding alone in +the middle of the road, followed by two foot-soldiers. The colonel was +bleeding from a wound in his forehead. + +General MacArthur gave spurs to his horse and rode towards the colonel, +saying: "Colonel, how can you desert your regiment?" + +Colonel Smeaton raised himself in his stirrups, saluted, and said: "I +have the honor to report that only these two, Dan Woodlark and Abraham +Bent, are left of my regiment. They are brave men, general, and I +herewith recommend them for promotion." + +The general's eyes grew moist, and, stifling a sigh, he held out his +hand to Colonel Smeaton: "Forgive me," he said simply, "I did not intend +to hurt your feelings." + +"Nonsense!" cried the colonel. "We'll begin over again, general, we'll +simply start all over again. As long as we don't lose faith in +ourselves, nothing is lost." + +Those were significant words spoken that seventeenth day of August. + + + + +_Chapter XX_ + +A FRIEND IN NEED + + +The attitude towards the war in Australia was entirely different from +that of Europe. Everyone realized that this was not an ordinary war, but +a war upon which the future of Australia depended. If the Japanese +succeeded in conquering a foot of land in North America, if a single +star was extinguished on the blue field of the American flag, it would +mean that the whole continent lying in Asia's shadow would also fall a +prey to the yellow race. + +The early reports from the Philippines and from San Francisco, and the +crushing news of the destruction of the Pacific fleet, swept like a +whirlwind through the streets of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Wellington +and Auckland, and gave rise to tremendous public demonstrations. +Business came to a stand-still, for the Australian people had ears only +for the far-off thunder of cannon, and their thoughts were occupied with +the future. Huge open-air mass-meetings and innumerable demonstrations +before the American consulates bore witness to Australia's honest +sympathy. The time had arrived for the fifth continent to establish its +political status in the council of nations. + +In Sydney the mob had smashed the windows of the Japanese consulate. +Satisfaction was at once categorically demanded from London, where the +government trembled at the bare idea of a hostile demonstration against +its ally. The apology was to take the form of a salute to the Japanese +flag on the consulate by a coast battery, etc. But the Australian +government refused point blank to do this, and contented itself with a +simple declaration of regret; and as there was no other course open to +him, the Japanese Consul had to be satisfied. But in Tokio this affair +was entered on the credit side of the Anglo-Japanese ledger, offsetting +the debt of gratitude for August 10, 1904, when the English fleet +constituted the shifting scenery behind Togo's battleships. + +A great many of the Japanese located in Australia had left the country +before the outbreak of the war to join the army of invasion, and those +who remained behind soon recognized that there was no work for them +anywhere on the continent. When they refused to take this hint and make +themselves scarce, Australian fists began to remind them that the period +of Anglo-Mongolian brotherhood was a thing of the past. The last of the +Japanese settlers were put aboard an English steamer at Sydney and told +to shift for themselves. The Chinese, too, began to leave the country, +and wherever they did not go of their own accord, they were told in +pretty plain language that the yellow man's day in Australia was ended. + +Australia, up to this time merely an appendage of the Old World, a +colony which had received its blood from the heart of the British Empire +and its ideas from the nerve-center in Downing Street, which had +hitherto led a purely dependent existence, now awoke and began to +develop a political life of its own. And this development, born of the +outbreak of Mongolian hostilities, could not be restrained. The time had +passed when the European nations could say: The world's history is +created by us, other nations are of no account. + +Once before Australia had taken an active part in politics. That was +when the Union Jack was threatened, when British regiments were melting +away before the rifles of a peasant people at Magersfontein, Colenso and +Graspan, when Ladysmith was being besieged, and Downing Street trembled +for the safety of the empire. Then, in the hour of dire need, a cry for +help went out to all the peoples dwelling beneath the Union Jack, whose +flagstaff was being shaken by sturdy peasant hands. And the colonial +troops heard the call and responded nobly. Australian and Canadian +heroism was ushered into being on the grassy plains and kopjes of the +Transvaal. They may not have been good to look at and their manners were +not those of the drawing-room, but England opened her arms to those +splendid fellows from the Australian bush and was glad to use them in +her hour of need--but afterwards she forgot them. But those days were +not so soon forgotten in Australia; there are too many men still going +around with one arm or a wooden leg. The gentlemen in Downing Street, +however, have short memories, and the debt of thanks they owed the +colonies quickly slipped their minds. + +For the sake of her bales of cotton, her export lists, and her Indian +possessions, the London government threw all the traditions of the +British world empire overboard and forgot that Old England's problem of +civilization was the conquest of the world for the Anglo-Saxon race. For +the sake of her London merchants, Old England betrayed Greater Britain, +which in the calculations of the London statesmen was only a +geographical conception, while the nations without credulously accepted +the decisions of English politics as the gospel of British power. + +England offered the hand of fellowship to the Japanese parvenu simply +because she wanted some one to hold her Russian rival in check. + +What the Manchurian campaign cost England can be figured out exactly, +to the pound and shilling. She simply purchased the downfall of Russia +with the loan of a few hundred millions to Japan--an excellent bargain. + +But Sir Charles Dilke was beginning to open the people's eyes. "Another +Japanese loan," he cried, "will slip a sharp dagger into the hand of our +greatest commercial rival." + +England, however, would not listen, and after the war she only drew the +bonds of the alliance closer for fear of the Japanese ants who were +creeping secretly into India and whispering into the people's ears that +the dominion of a few hundred thousand white men over three hundred +million Indians was based solely on the legend of the superiority of the +white race, a legend which Mukden and Tsushima had completely nullified. + +After all, London was at liberty to adopt any policy it liked; but in +this particular case the colonies were expected to bear the entire +costs. And this was the gratitude for the aid given in South Africa for +customs favors extended to English goods at Ottawa, Cape Town, and +Melbourne. Deliberately disregarding the warnings of Sir Wilfred +Laurier, of Seddon, and of Deakin, who clearly recognized the proximity +of the danger, the gentlemen in London insisted upon unrestricted +Japanese immigration into the colonies, although Hawaii furnished an +eloquent example of how quickly coolie immigrants can transform an +Anglo-Saxon colony into a Japanese one. + +In South Africa, too, England was sowing trouble with Mongolian miners, +until the Africanders took it upon themselves to rid their country of +this yellow plague. + +In consideration of the existing alliance with Japan, Downing Street +demanded of Canada and Australia that the Japanese settlers should be +granted equal privileges with the white man. New Zealand's prime +minister, Seddon, a resolute man whose greatness is not appreciated in +Europe, brought his fist down on the table with a vengeance at the last +Colonial Conference in London and appealed to Old England's conscience +in the face of the yellow danger. All in vain. Although he persisted in +proclaiming New Zealand's right to adhere to her exclusive immigration +laws, it was several years before Australia and Canada awoke to a +realization of the dangers which the influx of Japanese coolies held in +store for them, and before they began to prepare for an energetic +resistance. + +Then, in August, 1908, came the American fleet. Great was the rejoicing +in all the Australian coast towns, and the welcome extended to the +American sailors and marines proved to the world that hearts were +beating in unison here in the fear of future catastrophes. Never has the +feeling of the homogeneousness of the white race, of the Anglo-Saxon +race, celebrated such festivals, and when the Australians and Americans +shook hands at parting, the former realized that a brother was leaving +with whom they would one day fight side by side--when the crisis came +and the die was cast which was to decide whether the Pacific should be +ruled by the Anglo-Saxon or the Mongolian race. + +And now the danger that had been regarded as likely to make itself felt +decades hence had become a terrible reality in less than no time. The +joint Japanese foe was actually on American soil, the American dominion +over the Philippines and Hawaii had been swept away at the first onset, +and the great brother nation of the United States was struggling for its +existence as a nation and for the future of the white race. + +What had become of Great Britain's imperialism, of the All-British idea, +for the sake of which Australia, Canada, and New Zealand had sent their +sons to South Africa? England, whose grand mission it was to protect +the palladium of Anglo-Saxon dominion, stood aloof in this conflict. + +The cabinet of St. James had sent a warning to Ottawa not to permit +Canadian volunteers to enter the United States, and similar instructions +had been forwarded to Melbourne and Wellington. + +But when England, at Japan's instigation, tried to persuade the European +powers to compel Mexico to prevent American volunteer regiments from +crossing the frontier by concentrating her army opposite El Paso, +Germany frustrated this plan by declaring that the acknowledgment of the +Monroe Doctrine as a political principle in 1903 rendered it impossible +for her to meddle in America's political affairs. In spite of this +failure, the cabinet of St. James continued to play the role of +international watchman, and employed the influence secured by _ententes_ +in previous years to carefully prevent other European governments from +violating the laws of neutrality towards Japan. It was, of course, the +worry over India which made the English government, generally very +elastic in its views regarding neutrality, all at once so extremely +virtuous. + +London felt very uncomfortable when, in July, a Canadian paper published +an alleged conversation between a Japanese and an English diplomatist. +"What will Great Britain do in case of war?" the Japanese is said to +have asked, whereupon he received the ambiguous answer: "Her duty." +Then, with the daring candor assumed by these people when they feel that +they are masters of the situation, the Japanese had declared: "The +London government must bear in mind that the continuation of British +rule in India depends absolutely on the wishes of Japan; that England, +in other words, can support the United States only at the price of an +Indian insurrection." + +This conversation, which was published by a curious act of indiscretion, +and of course at once denied in London, nevertheless threw a flood of +light on England's political situation. Japan did not directly ask for +military aid, which, as a matter of fact, she had no right to expect +under the terms of the second Anglo-Japanese agreement, but she did +demand favorable neutrality on the part of Great Britain as the guardian +of the mobile forces of the Anglo-Saxon world-empire; in other words, +Japan insisted that England should betray her own race for the sake of +India. + +This political trick of the Japanese government was the yellow man's +revenge for the half promises with which England had driven Japan into +the conflict with Russia, and then; after the outbreak of the war, had +offered only meager messages of sympathy instead of furnishing the +expected military assistance. + +England's destiny now hung in the balance; the threads reaching from +Ottawa, Cape Town, Melbourne, and Wellington to Downing Street were +becoming severed, not by a sword-cut, but by England's own policy. + +If imperialism should leave no room for a "white" policy, then Australia +and Canada must throw off the burdensome fetters which threatened to +hand over the white man under the Union Jack, bound hand and foot, to +the Mongolians. + +It was not easy to come to such a decision, and it was months before it +was finally reached. But one day, towards the end of August, the entire +Australian press advertised for volunteers for the American army. +Thousands responded, and no one asked where the large sums of money came +from with which these men were provided with arms and uniforms. + +A vehement Japanese protest, sent by way of London, only elicited the +reply that the Australian government had received no official +notification of the enlistment of volunteers for the United States, and +was therefore not in a position to interfere in any such movement. + +A feeling of joyous confidence reigned among the volunteers; they were +going to take the field and fight for their big brother. The racial +feeling, so strong in every white man, had been aroused and could +withstand any Mongolian attack. By October the first steamers of +volunteers left for America. As there were no Japanese or Chinese spies +left, and as the government kept a strict watch on the entire news and +telegraph service, the departure of the steamers remained concealed from +the enemy. As Japanese ships were cruising in the Straits of Magellan, +the route via Suez was chosen, and in due course the steamers arrived +safely at Hampton Roads. + +Wherever the conscience of the Anglo-Saxon race was not wrapped in bales +of cotton and in stock quotations, wherever the feeling of Anglo-Saxon +solidarity still inspired the people, there was a stir. And so the +objections of the London government were not heeded in the colonies. + +Why should the citizen of Canada, of British Columbia, care for Downing +Street's consideration for India, when he was suffering commercially +from the yellow invasion just as much as the citizen of the United +States, and when he realized that he would surely be the next victim if +the Japanese should be victorious this time? + +In this epoch-making hour of the world's history, England had neglected +her bounden duty, because she was indissolubly bound to Japan. By the +same right with which George Washington had once raised the flag, crowds +of men streamed across the frontier from Canada and British Columbia, +and by that same right Ottawa now categorically demanded the removal of +the Japanese ships from the harbor of Esquimault. "They must either +lower their flag and disarm, or they must leave the harbor!" wrote the +Canadian papers, and the Canadian Secretary of State, William Mackenzie, +couched the protest which he sent to London in similar terms. It was +recognized in London that threats were no longer of avail in the face of +this spontaneous enthusiasm. England had staked much and lost. + +Canadian and Australian regiments were soon found fighting side by side +with their American brothers. And now at last, with the united good-will +of two continents behind us, there was a fair prospect of the early +realization of the boastful words uttered by the American press at the +beginning of the war: "We'll drive the yellow monkeys into the +Pacific." + + + + +_Chapter XXI_ + +DARK SHADOWS + + +Autumn had come, and all was serene at the seat of war, except for a few +insignificant skirmishes. Slowly, far more slowly than the impatience of +our people could stand, the new bodies of troops were prepared for +action, and before we could possibly think of again assuming the +offensive, winter was at the door. + +In the middle of November, three Japanese orderlies, bearing a white +flag of truce, rode up to our outposts, and a few days later it was +learned from Washington that the enemy had offered to make peace, the +terms of which, however, remained a mystery for a short time, until they +were ultimately published in the capital. + +The States of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California were to become +Japanese possessions, but at the same time continue as members of the +Union. They were to have Japanese garrisons and to permit Japanese +immigration; the strength of the garrisons was to be regulated later. In +the various State legislatures and in the municipal administration half +the members were to be Americans and half Japanese. If these terms were +accepted, Japan would relinquish all claim to further immigration of +Japanese to the other States of the Union. The United States was to pay +Japan a war-indemnity of two billion dollars, in installments, exclusive +of the sums previously levied in the Pacific States. San Francisco was +to be Japan's naval port on the Pacific coast, and the navy-yard and +arsenals located there were to pass into the hands of the Japanese. The +Philippines, Hawaii and Guam were to be ceded to Japan. + +A universal cry of indignation resounded from the Atlantic to the +Rockies in answer to these humiliating terms of peace. To acknowledge +defeat and keep the enemy in the country, would be sealing the doom of +American honor with a stroke of the pen. No! anything but that! Let us +fight on at any price! At thousands of mass meetings the same cry was +heard: Let us fight on until the last enemy has been driven out of the +country. + +But what is public opinion? Nothing more than the naive feeling of the +masses of yesterday, to-day and perhaps the day after to-morrow. The +terrible sacrifices claimed by the war had not been without effect. Of +course there was no hesitation on the part of the old American citizens +nor of the German, Scandinavian and Irish settlers--they would all +remain faithful to the Star Spangled Banner. But the others, the +thousands and hundreds of thousands of Romanic and Slavonic descent, the +Italian and Russian proletariat, and the scum of the peoples of Asia +Minor, all these elements, who regarded the United States merely as a +promising market for employment and not as a home, were of a different +opinion. + +And these elements of the population now demanded the reestablishment of +opportunities for profitable employment, insisting upon their rights as +naturalized citizens, which had been so readily accorded them. Scarcely +had the first storm of indignation passed, when other public meetings +began to be held--loud, stormy demonstrations, which usually ended in a +grand street row--and to this were added passionate appeals from the +Socialist leaders to accept Japan's terms and conclude peace, in order +that the idle laborer might once more return to work. + +And this feeling spread more and more and gradually became a force in +public life and in the press, and unfortunately the agitation was not +entirely without effect on those elements of the population whose +American citizenship was not yet deeply rooted. However indignant the +better elements may have felt at first over this cowardly desertion of +the flag, the continual repetition of such arguments evoked +faint-hearted considerations of the desirability of peace in ever +widening circles. + +The fighting of our troops on the plateaus of the Rocky Mountains no +longer formed the chief topic of conversation, but rather the proffered +terms of peace, which were discussed before the bars, on the street, at +meetings, and in the family-circle. + +Scarcely a fortnight after the presentation of the Japanese offer of +peace, two bitterly hostile parties confronted each other in the Union: +the one gathered round the country's flag full of determination and +enthusiasm, the other was willing to sacrifice the dollar on the altar +of Buddha. + +And other forces were also at work. Enthusiastic preachers arose in +numerous sects and religious denominations, applying the mysterious +revelations of the prophet of Patmos--revelations employed in all ages +for the forging of mystic weapons--to the events of the time. In the dim +light of evening meetings they spoke of the "beast with the seven heads" +to whom was given power "over all kindreds, tongues and nations," and +fanatical men and women came after months of infinite misery and +hopeless woe to look upon the occupant of the White House as the +Antichrist. They conceived it their bounden duty to oppose his will, and +quite gradually these evening prayer-meetings began to influence our +people to such a degree that the Japanese terms were no longer regarded +as insulting, and peace without honor was preferred to a continuance of +the fight to the bitter end. Had God really turned the light of his +countenance from us? + +While the enemy was waiting for an answer to his message, the voices at +home became louder and louder in their demands for the conclusion of +peace and the acceptance of the enemy's terms. The sound common-sense +and the buoyant patriotism of those who had their country's interests +close at heart struggled in vain against the selfish doctrine of those +who preferred to vegetate peacefully without one brave effort for +freedom. Our whole past history, replete with acts of bravery and +self-sacrifice, seemed to be disappearing in the horrors of night. + +And while the socialist agitators were goading on the starving workmen +everywhere to oppose the continuation of the war, while innumerable +forces were apparently uniting to retire the God of War, who determines +the fate of nations on bloody fields, there remained at least one +possibility of clearing the sultry atmosphere: a battle. But how dared +we continue the fight before our armies were absolutely prepared to +begin the attack, how dared we attempt what would no doubt prove the +decisive battle before we were certain of success? The battle of Hilgard +furnished an eloquent reply. The War Department said no, it said no with +a heavy heart; weeks must pass, weeks must be borne and overcome, before +we could assume the offensive once more. + +The Japanese terms of peace were therefore declined. At the seat of war +skirmishes continued to take place, the soldiers freezing in their thin +coats, while restless activity was shown in all the encampments. + + * * * * * + +Extras were being sold on the streets of Washington, telling of a naval +engagement off the Argentine coast. They were eagerly bought and read, +but no one believed the news, for we had lost hope and faith. Excited +crowds had collected in front of the Army and Navy building in the hope +of obtaining more detailed news; but no one could give any information. +An automobile suddenly drew up in front of the south side of the long +building, before the entrance to the offices of the Committee on Foreign +Affairs. + +The Secretary of State, who had not been able to get the President by +'phone at the White House but learned that he was somewhere in the naval +barracks, had decided to look him up. Scarcely had he entered his car, +before he was surrounded by hundreds of people clamoring for +verification of the news from Buenos Ayres. He declared again and again +that he knew nothing more than what he had just read in the extras, but +no one believed him. Several policemen cleared the way in front of the +puffing machine, which at last managed to get clear of the crowd, but a +few blocks further on the chauffeur was again compelled to stop. + +An immense mob was pouring out of a side street, where they had just +smashed the windows of the offices of a socialist newspaper, which had +supplemented the Argentine dispatch with spiteful comments under the +headlines: "Another Patriotic Swindle." + +The Secretary of State told the chauffeur to take a different route to +the naval barracks, and this order saved his life, for as he bent +forward to speak to the chauffeur, the force of an explosion threw him +against the front seat. Behind him, on the upper edge of the rear seat, +a bomb had exploded with a burst of blinding white light. The secretary, +whose coat was torn by some splinters of glass, stood up and showed +himself to the multitude. + +"Murder, murder," yelled the mob, "down with the assassin." And the +secretary saw them seize a degenerate-looking wretch and begin pounding +him with their fists. After a little while he was thrown to the ground, +but was dragged up again and at last, as the chauffeur was guiding his +car backwards through the crowd, the secretary heard a man say: + +"Thank God, they've strung him up on a lamp-post!" + +The mob had administered quick justice. + +Utterly exhausted by this experience, the Secretary of State returned to +his home, where he gave orders that the President should be informed at +once of what had occurred. + +The servant had scarcely left the secretary's study when his wife +entered. She threw her arms passionately around his neck and refused to +be quieted. "It's all right, Edith, I haven't been scratched." + +"But you'll be killed the next time," she sobbed. + +"It makes but little difference, Edith, whether I die here on the +pavement or out yonder on the battle-field: we must all die at our posts +if need be. Death may come to us any day here as well as there, but," +and freeing himself from his wife's embrace, he walked to his desk and +pointed to a picture of Abraham Lincoln hanging over it, saying, "if I +fall as that man fell, there are hundreds who are ready to step into my +shoes without the slightest fuss and with the same solemn sense of +duty." + +A servant entered and announced that the British Ambassador asked to be +received by the secretary. "One minute," was the answer, "ask His +Excellency to wait one minute." + +The sound of many voices could be heard outside. The secretary walked to +the window and looked out. + +"Look," he said to his wife, "there are some people at least who are +glad that the bomb failed to accomplish its purpose." His appearance at +the window was a signal for loud cheers from the people on the street. +Holding the hand of his faithful wife in his own, he said: "Edith, I +know we are on the right road. We can read our destiny only in the stars +on our banner. There is only one future for the United States, only one, +that beneath the Stars and Stripes, and not a single star must be +missing--neither that of Washington, nor that of Oregon, nor that of +California. We had a hard fight to establish our independence, and the +inheritance of our fathers we must ever cherish as sacred and +inviolable. The yellow men have won their place in the world by an +inexorable sense of national duty, and we can conquer them only if we +employ the same weapons. I know what we have at stake in this war, and I +am quite ready to answer to myself and to our people for each life lost +on the field of battle. I am only one of many, and if I fall, it will be +in the knowledge that I have done my duty. Let the cowardly mob step +over my corpse, it won't matter to me nor to my successor if he will +only hold our drooping flag with a firm hand. The favor of the people is +here to-day and gone to-morrow, and we must not be led astray by it. The +blind creatures who inspired that miserable wretch to hurl the bomb +regard us, the bearers of responsible posts, with the same feelings as +the lions do their tamer when he enters the cage. If he comes out alive, +well and good; if he is torn to pieces it makes no difference, for +there'll be some one else to take his place the next day. It is my duty +to fight against desertion in our own ranks and to shield American +citizenship against the foreign elements gathered here who have no +fatherland, and to whom the Stars and Stripes have no deeper meaning +than a piece of cloth; that is the duty, in the performance of which I +shall live or die." + +Mad cheers from below induced the secretary to open the window, and +immediately the sounds of the "Star Spangled Banner" came floating up +from thousands of throats. Suddenly his wife touched his arm saying: +"James, here's a telegram." + +The secretary turned around and literally tore the telegram out of the +servant's hand. He ran his eye over it hurriedly and then drew a deep +breath. And with tears in his eyes at the almost incredible news, he +said softly to his wife: + +"This will deliver us from the dark slough of despair." + +Then he returned to the window, but his emotion made it impossible for +him to speak; he made a sign with his hand and gradually the noise of +the crowd ceased and all became still. + +"Fellow Citizens," began the secretary, "I have just this moment +received--" Loud cheers interrupted him, but quiet was soon restored, +and then in a clear voice he read the following dispatch: + + "Bahia Blanca, December 8: The torpedo-destroyer _Paul Jones_ arrived + here this morning with the following message from Admiral Dayton: 'On + the 4th of December I found the Japanese cruisers _Adzuma_ and + _Asama_ and three destroyers coaling in the harbor of Port Stanley + (Falkland Islands). I demanded of the British authorities that the + Japanese ships be forced to leave the harbor at once, as I should + otherwise be obliged to attack them in the harbor on the morning of + the following day. On the afternoon of the 4th I opened fire on the + Japanese ships four miles outside of Port Stanley. After an hour's + fighting all five Japanese ships were sunk. On our side the destroyer + _Dale_ was sunk. Total loss, 180 men. Damaged cruiser _Maryland_ sent + to Buenos Ayres. Sighted the Japanese cruisers _Idzumo_, _Tokiwa_, + _Jakumo_ and four destroyers at the entrance to the Straits of + Magellan on the morning of December 6th. Pursued them with entire + fleet. Battle with the _Idzumo_ and _Tokiwa_ at noon, in which former + was sunk. Battle temporarily suspended on account of appearance of + two hostile battleships. Destroyers keeping in touch with the + Japanese squadron.' + + DAYTON." + +Perfect silence greeted these words; no one seemed able to believe the +news of this American victory: the first joyful tidings after almost +nine months of constant adversity. But then the enthusiasm of the people +broke loose in a perfect hurricane that swept everything before it. In +the rear the crowd began to thin out rapidly, for everybody was anxious +to spread the glad tidings of victory, but their places were soon taken +by others pouring in from all sides to hear the telegram read once more. + +And now on the opposite side of 17th Street the American flag suddenly +ran up the bare flagstaff on the roof of the Winders Building, unfurling +with a rustle in the fresh breeze. The secretary pointed up to it, and +at once the jubilant crowd joined once more in the air of the "Star +Spangled Banner." + +"This is a day," said the secretary, taking his wife's hand, "which our +country will never forget. But now I must get to work and then I'm off +to the President." + +As his wife left the room, he rang the bell and asked the servant who +appeared in answer to his summons to show in the British Ambassador. + +The man disappeared noiselessly, and the next moment the ambassador +entered. + +"I must ask Your Excellency's pardon for having kept you waiting," said +the secretary, advancing a few steps to meet him. "To what do I owe the +honor of this visit----" + +"I have come to reply to the protest lodged against us by the United +States government for permitting the Japanese to use the harbor of +Esquimault as a station for their ships. The British government fully +recognizes the justice of the protest, and will see to it that in future +only damages that affect a ship's seaworthiness are repaired at +Esquimault, and that no other ships are allowed to enter the harbor. The +British government is desirous of observing the strictest neutrality and +is determined to employ every means in its power to maintain it." + +"I thank Your Excellency and thoroughly appreciate the efforts of your +government, but regret exceedingly that they are made somewhat late in +the day. I am convinced the English government would not consider it +within the bounds of strict neutrality for a Japanese squadron to employ +an English port as its base of operations----" + +"Certainly not," said the ambassador emphatically, "and I am certain +such a thing has never happened." + +"Indeed?" answered the secretary seriously, "our latest dispatches tell +a different story. May I ask Your Excellency to glance over this +telegram?" + +He handed the telegram from Bahia Blanca to the ambassador, who read it +and handed it back. + +The two men regarded each other in silence for a few moments. Then the +ambassador lowered his eyes, saying, "I have no instructions with regard +to this case. It really comes as a great surprise to me," he added, "a +very great surprise," and then seizing the secretary's hand he shook it +heartily, saying: "Allow me to extend my private but most sincere +congratulations on this success of your arms." + +"Thank you, Your Excellency. The United States have learned during the +past few months to distinguish between correct and friendly relations +with other powers. The English government has taken a warm interest in +the military successes of its Japanese ally, as is apparently stipulated +in their agreement. We are sorry to have been obliged to upset some of +England's calculations by turning Japanese ships out of an English +harbor. If we succeed in gaining the upper hand, we may perhaps look +forward to similar favors being shown us by the English government as +have thus far been extended to victorious Japan?" + +"That would depend," said the ambassador rather dubiously, "on the +extent to which such friendly relations would interfere with our +conceptions of neutrality." + +At this moment the President was announced and the ambassador took his +leave. + + + + +_Chapter XXII_ + +REMEMBER HILGARD! + + +Just as in the war between Russia and Japan, the paper strategists found +comfort in the thought that the Japanese successes on American soil were +only temporary and that their victorious career would soon come to an +end. The supposition that Japan had no money to carry on the war was +soon seen to lack all real foundation. Thus far the war had cost Japan +not even two hundred millions, for it was not Japan, but the Pacific +States that had borne the brunt of the expense. Japan had already levied +in the States occupied by her troops a sum larger by far than the total +amount of the indemnity which they had hoped to collect at Portsmouth +several years before. + +The overwhelming defeat of the Army of the North at Hilgard had taken +the wind out of a great many sails. The terrible catastrophe even +succeeded in stirring up the nations of the Old World, who had been +watching developments at a safe distance, to a proper realization of the +seriousness and proximity of the yellow peril. + +Even England began to edge quietly away from Japan, this change in +British policy being at once recognized in Tokio when, at Canada's +request, England refused to allow Japanese ships to continue to use the +docks and coal depots at Esquimault. Later, when after the victories of +the American fleet off Port Stanley and near the Straits of Magellan, +the governor of the Falkland Islands was made the scape-goat and +banished--he had at first intended exposing the cabinet of St. James by +publishing the instructions received from them in July, but finally +thought better of it--and when the governors of all the British colonies +were ordered to observe strict neutrality, Japan interpreted this action +correctly. But she was prepared for this emergency, and now came the +retribution for having fooled the Japanese nation with hopes of a +permanent alliance. Japan pressed a button, and Great Britain was made +to realize the danger of playing with the destiny of a nation. + +Apparently without the slightest connection with the war in America, an +insurrection suddenly broke out in Bengal, at the foot of the Himalayas +and on the plateaus of Deccan, which threatened to shake the very +foundations of British sovereignty. It was as much as England could do +to dispatch enough troops to India in time to stop the flood from +bursting all the dams. At the same time an insurrection broke out in +French Indo-China, and while England and France were sending +transport-ships, escorted by cruisers, to the Far East, great upheavals +took place in all parts of Africa. The Europeans had their hands full in +dozens of different directions: garrisons and naval stations required +reenforcements, and all had to be on guard constantly in order to avoid +a surprise. + +These were Japan's last resources for preventing the white races from +coming to the aid of the United States. + +Remember Hilgard! This was the shibboleth with which Congress passed the +bill providing for the creation of a standing militia-army and making +the military training of every American citizen a national duty. And how +willingly they all responded to their country's call--every one realized +that the final decision was approaching. + +Remember Hilgard! That was the war-cry, and that was the thought which +trembled in every heart and proved to the world that when the American +nation once comes to its senses, it is utterly irresistible. + +What did we care for the theories of diplomats about international law +and neutrality; they were swept away like cobwebs. Just as Japan during +the Russian war had been provided with arms and equipment from the East, +because the crippling of the Russian fleet had left the road to the +Japanese harbors open and complaints were consequently not to be feared, +so German steamers especially now brought to our Atlantic ports +war-materials and weapons that had been manufactured in Germany for the +new American armies, since the American factories could not possibly +supply the enormous demand within such a short period. + +Remember Hilgard! were the words which accompanied every command at +drill and in the encampments where our new army was being trained. The +regiments waited impatiently for the moment when they would be led +against the enemy, but we dared not again make the mistake of leading an +unprepared army against such an experienced foe. Week after week, month +after month passed, before we could begin our march in the winter snow. + +The Pacific Army, which advanced in January to attack the Japanese +position on the high plateaus of the Rocky Mountains towards Granger, +numbered more than a third of a million. After three days of severe +fighting, this important stronghold of the Japanese center was captured +and the enemy forced to retreat. + +Great rejoicing rang through the whole land. A complete victory at last! +Fourteen Japanese guns were captured by the two Missouri regiments after +four assaults and with the loss of half their men. The guns were dragged +in triumph through the States, and the slightly wounded soldiers on the +ammunition-carts declared, after the triumphal entry into St. Louis, +that the tumultuous embraces and thousands of handclasps from the +enthusiastic crowds had used them up more than the three days' battle. + +The capture of Granger had interrupted the communication between the +Union Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Short Line branching off to the +northwest; but this didn't bother the enemy much, for he simply sent his +transports over the line from Pocatello to the South via Ogden, so that +when the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Army renewed the attack on +the Japanese positions, he found them stronger than he had anticipated. + +The attack on Fort Bridger began on the second of February, but the +enemy's position on the mountain heights remained unshaken. Several +captive balloons and two motor air-ships (one of which was destroyed, +shortly after its ascent, by hostile shots) brought the information that +the Japanese artillery and entrenchments on the face of the mountain +formed an almost impregnable position. Thus while the people were still +rejoicing over the latest victory, the Pacific Army was in a position +where each step forward was sure to be accompanied by a severe loss of +life. + +Six fresh divisions from different encampments arrived on the field of +battle on the fourth and fifth of February. They received orders to +attack the seemingly weak positions of the enemy near Bell's Pass, and +then to cross the snow-covered pass and fall upon the left flank of the +Japanese center. All manner of obstacles interfered with the advance, +which was at last begun. Whole companies had to be harnessed to the +guns; but they pressed forward somehow. The small detachments of +Japanese cavalry defending the pass were compelled to retreat, and the +pass itself was taken by a night assault. Frost now set in, and the guns +and baggage wagons were drawn up the mountain paths by means of ropes. +The men suffered terribly from the cold, but the knowledge that they +were making progress prevented them from grumbling. + +On the seventh of February, just as Fisher's division, the first of +General Elliott's army to pass Bell's Pass, had reached the valley of +the Bear River preparatory to marching southward, via Almy and Evanston, +in the rear of the Japanese positions, cavalry scouts, who had been +patrolling downstream as far as Georgetown, reported that large bodies +of hostile troops were approaching from the North. General Elliott +ordered Fisher's division to continue its advance on Almy, and also +dispatched Hardy's and Livingstone's divisions to the South, while +Wilson's division remained behind to guard the pass, and the divisions +of Milton and Stranger were sent to the North to stop the advance of the +enemy's reenforcements. Milton's division was to advance along the left +bank of the Bear River and to occupy the passes in the Bear River Range, +in order to prevent the enemy from making a diversion via Logan. Mounted +engineers destroyed the tracks at several spots in front of and behind +Logan. + +It will be seen, therefore, that General Elliott's six divisions were +all stationed in the narrow Bear River Valley between the two hostile +armies: Fisher's, Hardy's and Livingstone's divisions were headed South +to fall upon the left wing of the enemy's main army, commanded by +Marshal Oyama; while Milton's and Stranger's divisions were marching to +the North, and came upon the enemy, who was on his way from Pocatello, +at Georgetown. General Elliott therefore had to conduct a battle in two +directions: In the South he had to assume the offensive against Oyama's +wing as quickly and energetically as possible, whereas at Georgetown he +would be on the defensive. Bell's Pass lay almost exactly between the +two lines, and there General Elliott had posted only the reserves, +consisting of the three weak brigades belonging to Wilson's division. If +the Japanese succeeded in gaining a decisive victory at Georgetown, +General Elliott's whole army would be in a position of the utmost +danger. + + + + +_Chapter XXIII_ + +IN THE WHITE HOUSE + + +On the streets of Washington there was a wild scramble for the extras +containing the latest news from the front. The people stood for hours in +front of the newspaper offices, but definite news was so long in coming, +that despair once more seized their hearts and they again became +sceptical of ultimate victory. + +Seven long anxious days of waiting! Were we fighting against +supernatural forces, which no human heroism could overcome? + +A telegraph instrument had been set up next to the President's study in +the White House so that all news from the front might reach him without +delay. On a table lay a large map of the battle-field where the fighting +was now going on, and his private secretary had marked the positions of +the American troops with little wooden blocks and colored flags. + +Suddenly the instrument began to click, a fresh report from the general +staff of the Pacific Army appeared on the tape: + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 8, 6 p.m. Our captive balloon reports that the + enemy seems to be shifting his troops on the left flank. Two Japanese + battalions have abandoned their positions, which were at once + occupied by a line of skirmishers from the 86th Regiment supported by + two machine-guns. An assault of the second battalion of the 64th + Regiment on the Japanese infantry position was repulsed, as the enemy + quite unexpectedly brought several masked machine-guns into action. + The firing continues, and General Elliott reports that the battle + with the hostile forces advancing along the Bear River Valley began + at 3 p.m. south of Georgetown. As the enemy has appeared in + unexpectedly large numbers, two brigades of Wood's division have been + sent from Bell's Pass to the North. + + MAJOR GENERAL ILLING." + +The private secretary changed the position of several blocks on the map, +moving the flags at Bell's Pass and pushing two little blue flags in the +direction of Georgetown. Then he took the report to the President. + +At midnight the report came that the stubborn resistance of the enemy at +Georgetown had made it advisable to send Wilson's last brigade from +Bell's Pass to the North. + +"Our last reserves," said the President, looking at the map; "we're +playing a venturesome game." Then he glanced at his secretary and saw +that the latter was utterly exhausted. And no wonder, for he hadn't +slept a wink in three nights. "Go and take a nap, Johnson," said the +President; "I'll stay up, as I have some work to finish. Take a nap, +Johnson, I don't need you just now." + +"What about the instrument, sir?" asked the secretary. + +"I can hear everything in the next room. I'll have no peace anyhow till +it is all over. Besides, the Secretary of War is coming over, so I'll +get along all right." + +The President sat down at his desk and affixed his signature to a number +of documents. Half an hour later the Secretary of War was announced. + +"Sit down, Harry," said the President, pointing to a chair, "I'll be +ready in five minutes." And while the President was finishing his work, +the Secretary of War settled down in his chair and took up a book. But +the next moment he laid it down again and took up a paper instead; then +he took up another one and read a few lines mechanically, stopping every +now and then to stare vacantly over the edge of the paper into space. At +last he jumped up and began pacing slowly up and down. Then he went into +the telegraph-room, and glanced over the report, a copy of which he had +received half an hour ago. Then he examined the various positions on the +map, placing some of the blocks more accurately. + +Then a bell rang and steps could be heard in the hall. The door of the +adjacent room opened and shut, and he heard the President fold up the +documents and say: "Take these with you, they are all signed. Tomorrow +morning--oh, I forgot, it's morning now--the ninth of February." + +Then some one went out and closed the door and the President was alone +again. The next moment he joined the Secretary of War in the +telegraph-room. + +"Harry," he said in a low voice, "our destiny will be decided within the +next few hours. I sent Johnson off to bed; he needed some sleep. +Besides, we want to be alone when the fate of our country is decided." + +The Secretary of War walked up and down the room with his hands in his +pockets, puffing away at a cigar. Both men avoided looking at each +other; neither wished the other to see how nervous he was. Both were +listening intently for the sound of the telegraph-bell. + +"A message arrived from Fort Bridger about ten o'clock," said the +President after a long pause, "to the effect that our captive balloons +reported a change in the positions of the enemy's left wing. This may +mean----" + +"Yes, it may mean--" repeated the Secretary of War mechanically. + +Then they both became silent once more, puffing vigorously at their +cigars. + +"Suppose it's all in vain again, suppose the enemy--" began the +Secretary of War, when he was interrupted by the ringing of the bell in +the next room. + +The message ran: + + "Bell's Pass, Feb. 9, 12.15 a.m. Milton's division has succeeded in + wresting several important positions from the enemy after a night of + severe fighting. Unimportant reverses suffered by Stranger's division + more than offset with the aid of reenforcements from Bell's Pass. + + COLONEL TARDITT." + +"If they can only hold Georgetown," said the Secretary of War, "our last +reserves have gone there now." + +"God grant they may." + +Then they both went back to the study. The President remained standing +in front of the portrait of Lincoln hanging on the wall. + +"He went through just such hours as these," he said quietly, "just such +hours, and perhaps in this very room, when the battle between the +_Monitor_ and the _Merrimac_ was being fought at Hampton Roads, and news +was being sent to him hour by hour. Oh, Abraham Lincoln, if you were +only here to-day to deliver your message over the length and breadth of +our land." + +The Secretary of War looked hard at the President as he answered: "Yes, +we have need of men, but we have men, too, some perhaps who are even +greater than Lincoln." + +The President shook his head sadly, saying: "I don't know, we've done +everything we could, we've done our duty, yet perhaps we might have made +even greater efforts. I'm so nervous over the outcome of this battle; it +seems to me we are facing the enemy without weapons, or at best with +very blunt ones." + +Again the bell rang and the President moved towards the door, but +stopped halfway and said: "You better go and see what it is, Harry." + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 8, 11.50 p.m. From Fisher's division the report + comes via Bell's Pass that two of his regiments have driven the enemy + from their positions with the aid of searchlights, and that they are + now in hot pursuit. MAJOR GENERAL ILLING." + +Without saying a word the Secretary of War moved the blocks representing +Fisher's division further South. Then he remarked quietly: "It doesn't +make much difference what happens at Georgetown, the decision rests +right here now and the next hour may decide it all," and he put his +finger on the spot in the mountains occupied by the enemy's left wing. +"If an attack on the enemy's front should make a gap----" + +He didn't complete the sentence, for the President's hand rested heavily +on his shoulder. "Yes, Harry," he said, "if--that's what we've been +saying for nine months. If--and our If has always been followed by a +But--the enemy's But." + +He threw himself into a chair and shaded his tired eyes with his hand, +while the Secretary of War walked incessantly up and down, puffing on a +fresh cigar.-- + +The night was almost over.--The shrill little bell rang again, causing +the President to start violently. Slowly, inch by inch, the white strip +of paper was rolled off, and stooping together over the ticking +instrument, the two men watched one letter, one word, one sentence after +another appear, until at last it was all there: + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 1.15 a.m. A returning motor air-ship reports a + furious artillery fight in the rear of the enemy's left wing. Have + just issued orders for a general attack on the hostile positions on + the heights. Cannonade raging all along the line. Reports from Bell's + Pass state that enemy is retreating from Georgetown. Twelve of the + enemy's guns captured. + + "MAJOR GENERAL ILLING." + +"Harry!" cried the President, seizing his friend's hand, "suppose this +means victory!" + +"It does, it must," was the answer. "Look here," he said, as he +rearranged the blocks on the map, "the whole pressure of General +Elliott's three divisions is concentrated on the enemy's left wing. All +that's necessary is a determined attack----" + +"On the entrenchments in the dark?" broke in the President, "when the +men are so apt to lose touch with their leaders, when they're shooting +at random, when a mere chance may wrest away the victory and give it to +the enemy?" + +The Secretary of War shook his head, saying: "The fate of battles rests +in the hands of God; we must have faith in our troops." + +He walked around the table with long strides, while the President +compared the positions of the armies on the map with the contents of the +last telegram. + +"Harry," he said, looking up, "do you remember the speech I made at +Harvard years ago on the unity of nations? That was my first speech, and +who would have thought that we should now be sitting together in this +room? It's strange how it all comes back to me now. Even then, as a +young man, I was deeply interested in the development of the idea of +German national unity as expressed in German poetry; and much that I +read then has become full of meaning for us, too, especially in these +latter days. One of those German songs is ringing in my ears to-night. +Oh, if it could only come true, if our brave men over there storming the +rocky heights could only make it come true--" At this moment the +telegraph-bell again rang sharply: + + "Fort Bridger, Feb. 9, 2.36 a.m. With enormous losses the brigades of + Lennox and Malmberg have stormed the positions occupied by the + artillery on the enemy's left wing, and have captured numerous guns. + The thunder of cannon coming from the valley can be distinctly heard + here on the heights. Fisher's division has signaled that they have + successfully driven back the enemy. The Japanese are beginning to + retreat all along the line. Our troops----" + +The President could read no further, for the words were dancing before +his eyes. This stern man, whom nothing could bend or break, now had +tears in his eyes as he folded his hands over the telegraph instrument, +from which the tape continued to come forth, and said in a deeply moved +voice: "Harry, this hour is greater than the Fourth of July. And now, +Harry, I remember it, that song of the German poet; may it become our +prayer of thanksgiving:" + + "From tower to tower let the bells be rung, + Throughout our land let our joy be sung! + Light every beacon far and near, + To show that God hath helped us here! + Praise be to God on High!" + +Then the President stepped over to the window and pushing aside the +curtains, opened it and looked out into the cold winter morning for a +long time. + +"Harry," he called presently, "doesn't it seem as though the bells were +ringing? Thus far no one knows the glad tidings but you and I; but very +soon they'll awake to paeans of victory and then our flag will wave +proudly once more and we'll have no trouble in winning back the missing +stars." + +It was a moment of the highest national exaltation, such as a nation +experiences only once in a hundred years. + +A solitary policeman was patrolling up and down before the White House, +and he started violently as he heard a voice above him calling out: + +"Run as hard as you can and call out on all the streets: The enemy is +defeated, our troops have conquered, the Japanese army is in full +retreat! Knock at the doors and windows and shout into every home: we +have won, the enemy is retreating." + +The policeman hurried off, leaving big black footprints in the white +snow, and he could be heard yelling out: "Victory, victory, we've beaten +the Japs!" as he ran. + +People began to collect in the streets and a coachman jumped down from +his box and ran towards the White House, looking up at its lighted +windows. + +"Leave your carriage here," shouted the President, "and run as hard as +you can and tell everybody you meet that we have won and that the +Japanese are in full retreat! Our country will be free once more!" + +Shouts were heard in the distance, and the noise of loud knocking. And +then the President closed the window and came back into the room. But +when the Secretary of War wanted to read the balance of the message, he +said: "Don't, Harry; I couldn't listen to another word now, but please +rouse everybody in the house." + +Then bells rang in the halls and people were heard to stir in the rooms. +There was a joyous awakening in the quiet capital that ninth day of +February, the day that dispelled the darkness and the gloom. + +That day marked the beginning of the end. _The yellow peril had been +averted!_ + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Banzai!, by Ferdinand Heinrich Grautoff + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BANZAI! *** + +***** This file should be named 19498.txt or 19498.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/4/9/19498/ + +Produced by Graeme Mackreth and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/19498.zip b/19498.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..499b3e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/19498.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a43578 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #19498 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19498) |
