The North Pacific

f the ships riding peacefully at anchor in the outer roads. They comprised the battle-ships Petropavlovsk (flagship), Perseviet, Czarevitch, Retvizan, and Sebastopol, and the cru

e Pacific, they sang snatches of rude forecastle songs, or joked and laughed at the prospects of a war with the Japanese, "those little monkeys," who dared dispute even in mild diplomacy with the Great Empire. And as the

nd, with his fleet riding in the harbour of Port Arthur, which his army had taken by storm, the Mikado had been compelled by the powerful combination of Russi

cure right to build the Manchurian Railway, connecting her two Pacific ports, Vladivostock and Port Arthur, with her western capital. She had at last reached the open sea. Vladivostock, at the south-eastern

t was inevitable. She built up one of the most formidable navies the world had seen; she trained her officers and crews by the most modern methods; she reorganised her army and laboured to perfect it as a fighting machine. By wise laws and enlightened counsels she fostered her resourc

a strange and unwelcome sound. She redoubled her efforts to pour troops into the province, provisioned and fortified Port Arthur

xplosives and engines of war, and prepared their battle-ships and torpedo-boats for active service. October passed, and the forces of Russia in Manchuria had been largely augmented instead of

P.M., Kurino, the Japanese minister at St. Petersburg, presented himself at the Foreign Office at that city and informed Count Lamsdorff that his government, in view of the delays in connexion with the Russian answer to Japan's latest demand, and the futility of the negotiations up to

who had seen him on the Osprey, meekly serving his commander with sliced cucumbers and broiled chicken, would have recognised the trim, alert little figure in the blue uniform, his v

ecretive personages to render their presence welcome on a war-ship where the commander should know all that is going on, above-board and below. Dave more than half suspected that his stewards were of more importance in their own country than their menial office woul

BY THE S

basin of the harbour of Port Arthur. Oto steered his small black

the officer next in command. "I know w

s out. They believed the Japane

the torpedo net, and struck the hull of the doomed Retvizan exactly where Oto had planned his attack. There was a dull roar, echoed by another and another a short distance away. Wild cries and shrieks of anguish rose from t

In the midst of the uproar and confusion the torpedo-boats which had inflicted such terrible damage retired to the shelter of the outer battle-ships and cruisers, unhurt. The Retvizan limped over to the entrance of the harbour and rested on the rocks. The Czarevitch was towed out of further danger. The storm of Japanese shot and shell diminished and at length ceased altogether, as the attacking fleet withdrew. The assault had occupied less than an hour; at one o'clock all was sil

ander Oto Owari grimly, as he h

inch rifles thundered and the shore forts replied. The still uninjured vessels of the Russians came bravely out to meet the foe, but reeled under the terrible fire that was concentrated upon the

eg to report that at about eleven o'clock in the morning a Japanese squadron, consistin

anese squadron ceased its fir

.. During the engagement the battle-ship Poltava and the crui

isers put out of action in a si

icksburg. On the evening before the assault on Port Arthur the commanders of these two cruisers were notified by the Rear-Admiral Uriu, commanding a Japanese squadron, which lay just outsid

their cables and moved slowly out of the harbour to sure destruction, amid the cheers of the crews of other nations, who appreciated

g Russians, who replied as promptly as if they were the forefront of a fleet of a dozen battle-ships,

x-inch rifles (the largest in her armament), and exploded part of her ammunition; still another demolished her fore-bridge and set fire to the débris, so that the crew had to cease firing and rush to fire stations. Tw

d ambulances were instantly despatched to the doomed ship by every war-ship in the harbour, including the Vicksburg. It was maliciously reported that the latter did not assist in this Samaritan wor

nd aft. A mass of flame arose, and a column of black smoke rolled upward. As the noise of the explosi

of small, sharp explosions were heard. The Russian captain, fearing that the Japanese would

sides and stern of the beautiful ship which, like the Retvizan, had been t

d guns pointing upward. Soon afterward the mail-boat Sungari was fired, and the flames sent their red glow over the harbour of Chemulpo until it and all the ships seemed embayed in a sea of blood, while the wounded and dying men m