The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-11-25
A JAPANESE HERO.
One Example of the Spirit That Is
Actuating the Soldiers of
Japan.
November Century.

special duty, belonging to the Sec
ond company, Second cavalry regi-
ment. Second division. On a dark
night in early April, soon after his
regiment had reached the Yalu
river, he and Lance Corporal Shin
obu Wantanabe were sent out with
a third man to ascertain the width
and depth of the main stream of the
river where it flows between two
large islands opposite Wiju They
crossed the first channel in a boat
which the sergeant major and the
corporal left on the first island in
charge Of the third man. Then the
two worked across the island to the
main stream. The Russians occu-
pied a little village on the opposite
side, directly across from the place
where Takano and Watanabe struck
the river. Takano saw that it would
be very difficult to get across with
out attracting their attention. Ice
was running in the river, and the wa
ter was bitterly cold. Takano
thought that if he tried to swim he
would surely arouse the Russians.
So he determined to walk across on
the bottom OF the river. rising oc-
casionally for breath. They had a
coil of rope with them. Takano
took off his uniform and fastened
one end OF the line to his body.
Then he picked upon stone to help
him keep on the bottom, and waded
in, leaving the lance corporal to
hold the rope by which he was to
be dragged back whenever he gave
signal Of two sharp pulls.
Pounded by the ice and chilled to
the marrow by the cold water, Ia
kano struggled on. The water rose
over his head, but the heavy stone
he carried enabled him to keep on
the bottom. Now he could walk d
little faster, for he was free from the
battering ice, but as he neared the
center of the stream the current
grew swifter, until, if it had not been
for the stone he carried, it would
have swept him down. He grew
numb from the cold, and it took all
his strength, stout swimmer as he
was, to rise to the surface and stay
there long enough to breathe. Yet
he dared not drop the weight, for
he knew he could not get down to
the bottom again So he worked,
with Watanabe paying out the rope,
until he felt the bottom rising and
knew he was beyond the middle Of
the stream. Almost senseless, Ia
kano stumbled along, striving to
carry out the letter of his orders and
reach the opposite bank. But not
even Japanese nature could stand
such a test, and Watanabe, waiting
on the bank, felt the long, steady
pull on the rope that told him Taxa
no had lost consciousness With all
his might the corporal hauled in the
line, and soon had the unconscious
sergeant major out of the water.
A brisk rubbing and the contents
of his flask finally revived Takeno,
who got into his warm, dry uniform
again and started back with the cor
Doral across the island. But when
they reached the place where they
had left the boat, it was gone. The
third man, concluding thct they had
been captured by the Russians, had
started back. There was nothing
for it but to swim, so in the two men
plunged. The floating ice hammer
ed them and the cold water numbed
them, so that they could not make
headway against the current and
were carried down the stream. But
fortune had not deserted them, and
they drifted against the boat in
which their comrade was trying to
scull back to shore. He, too, had
been swept down stream by the