The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-10-26

pontoon had fioated into its place, and
that by wading IL would now be pos
sible for the infantry to dash across.
The staff officer shouted his order
"Bridge-bead! Guard, column of fours
from the right" The suspense was
over. In moment the battalion was
on its feet, and Tanaka was racing
with the men of the leading four for
the bridge. They felt the pontoon
sway under their feet-they jumped
from side to side to avoid the mangled
frames of dead and wounded sappers.
A shell tore up the planks in front
of them, and spattered them with the
blood and flesh Of some luckless engi-
neer. Through the cloud of smoke
Tanaka could see that some fell in
the holes, others were hit. Now It
was the actual bridge-head, 30 yards
of water, how deep, how shallow, who
could say! All that they could see
were the bayonets of the opposing
Russians. They were almost down
TO the waters edge. Tanaka was the
first at the actual bridgehead; what
had happened to his captain he did
not know, what had happened to the
colonel mattered not to him. with one
shout of "BanZai!" he leaped into the
water. and all that he realized was
that the men were leaping in beside
him. For a moment II was waist deep,
IT was knee deep, and now they are
on the dry land.
OF the next five minutes who shall
speak accurately? All that Tanaka
knew was that the sword blade, which
had been in his family for 400 years,
clashed roughly against bayonet,
and was then fleshed true and hard.
Then the impetus from the slope
above bore him and his companions
back, but they made a stand at the
waters edge, and that stand was suf1i-
cient TO save the bridge-head. Com
pany after company came splashing
through the water, and then the Rus
slams were taking the steel In .he
back. II was a horrible melee; and
when Tanaka really came to his
senses he was trying TO form mp his
company amid the smoking guns of
captured Russian battery, while a cor
poral, chattering with excitement,
was binding up his arm with first
field dressing. Until this moment Tan
aka did not even know that he had
been wounded.
There was no paper printed in Jap.
anese which did not ring with the
heroism of Lieut.. Tanaka, of the
Guards. There was hardly shop win
dow in Toxic which had not q colored
picture detailing the lieutenant's hero
ism at the passage of the Yalu. For
the moment there was no more hon.
ored name in all Japan. There was
no woman in all the many islands
which comprise the Far Eastern En-.
pire prouder than the little white
skinned Geisha, Teru San. Now her
self-sacriilce seemed as nothing. What
ever it may have cost, she had en-.
abled her lover, not only to win his
ambition, but also TO place himself in
the history of his country.
She had been making her toilet
since in the afternoon, for that very
day Tanaka, the wounded hero, had
returned to Toxic. Even as she sat,
rubbing the powder on her cheeks,
she could hear the shouts of the crowd
which were according him a public
welcome. 1t was meet that she
should look her best. for today was
20 be the greatest day in her life.
The telephone bell rang Anxiouslv
she waited for the message. Surely
it could not he he; it was too soon;
he had not yet had time to think of
her. She was right-it was only
message from the big rich American,
who, for the last two months, had
been lavishing his attentions upon
her, and was now reduced to such
state that he had offered to ransom
her at whatever price her master
might name, If only she would con-
sent to marry him and return with
him TO the States. A foreigner for
sooth! And Teru San told the maid
to tell the foreigner that she was i'll,
that she was out of business for an
indefinite period until she should be
again convalescent. She then sat
quietly in her room and waited 1t
was possibly the happiest expectation
in the whole of her strange and check
cred life
But her hero never came, even
though sho waited until the small
hours of the morning. "He is in the
hospital" she said to herself, 81 shall
hear from him tomorrow" But the
morrow brought no message, and so
it went on from day to day, from
week to week. until it as announced
in the "Kohomin Shimbun" that the
hero Tanaka. decorated by the emper-
or, and now employed on the general
STAFF, was betrothed to the daughter
of Count lnouye.
And so II comes about that Teru
San may be the mother of American
citizens.-Blackwoo Magazine.
The Russian PEASANTS Dainties.
The Russian peasant, even If the
l.