The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1905-11-02

own dead and wounded to form final |
breastwork Of defense.
The point of the Wedge OF Death |
was within forty yards of the Russian |
psrapet, and here assailants and de.
tenders lay watching each other
through chinks between sand-bags,
waiting for chance to shoot. A few
inches at time a low steel screen
was pushed forward by the Japanese
sappers, and while Russian bullets
pattered furiously about it little
more earth was dug away, and thus
the trench advanced.
The soldiers here were relieved
every thirty minutes. Human nerves
could not endure the strain longer.
The beslegers were more than fifty
days pushing forward this trench,
inch by inch; yet rarely, by night or
day, did a minute pass without the
crack of rifle or the rat-a.tat OF ma
chine guns, accompanied by the whiz
and patter Of balls.
Yet up and down the shattered gray
slopes Of the hills and forts outside
there was never living thing in
sight. Both armies were invisible,
hidden in the earth, hidden yet watch
ing with grim determination. If dur
ing the assaults and sorties soldier
fell in the open space between these
grim lines there was no succor for
him. Biscuits and water-bottles were
often thrown to the sufferers, but not
even the Red Cross men ventured
forth to bring them in.
On one evening in September, after
fierce bombardment all day from the
Japanese siege guns and mortars, Gen.
Stossel ordered his own two guns to
cease firing, one By one, as If
silenced
Then as darkness drew on he in
structed the engineers in charge of
the five searchlights on the east side
of the fortress to cut off the electric
current suddenly from the first one,
then another, as If the Japanese shells
had injured the dynamos.
This ruse succeeded Thinking the
moment favorable, Gen. Oshimo
ordered night attack on the Eternal
Dragon and Keekwan forts.
Three full regiments Of Japanese
infantry, one of them the Ninth, IS
suing silently from their trenches in
the darkness, began to climb the steep
mountain eide.
When hallway up the Russian
| ctr N at,n IicnlncnI SnI1nn1y
the searchlights played again, betray'
ing the assailants as they climbed
Then the guns, supposed to be
silenced, belched shell and shrapnel
and regiment of Siberian sharp
shooters that had already filed out
from the moat Of the fortress charged
the flank of the Japanese.
Then ensued for two or three hours
in the alternate darkness and glare
of the searchlights, amidst barbed
wire entanglements, one Of those san
culinary hand-to-hand conflicts fol
which the siege of Port Arthur Is
without parallel
Neither side gained a definite ad
vantage. The Russian survivors a
last took refuge in their fort, the
Japanese in their trenches, and in the
dawn, down the slope, lay five thou
sand men, killed or so desperatel!
wounded that they were unable tt
crawl away. Among the wounded
close up to the moat of the Eterna
Dragon, was Capt. Okla, both legs
broken by n fragment OF shell. A
about o'clock that morning Lieut.
Vannoffsky was looking down through
loop-hole Of the fort wall above. HI
saw Okla stir feebly: and after {
second glance through glass HI
recognized him.
Twice the Russian spoke Okla!
name down from the wall, but coult
not make him hear.
During the forenoon Lieut.. Van
noffsky descended to caponiere II
the moat and tossed flask over t.
the wounded man. It fell wide OF
passed unnoticed; and It was not IN
nightfall that the Russian was reall,
able to do anything.
Then after 1t had grown quite darl
land the searchlights were playint
elsewhere, the lieutenant climbed ou
Of the moat and crawled cautiously
to where Okla lay, partly sheltered IL
a hole made by an exploding shell.
1t had been day Of frightful suf
fering for the young Japanese, bu
he was still alive, and hearing Van
noffsky creeping near, he drew {
pistol, thinking him one Of the enem,
come to rob or murder him. Van
noffsky laid gentle hand on his
arm, however
"F'ear not. It is thy Alexandra
Ntch," he whispered; then he graspe:
his hand, held flask to his lips, ant
inquired as to his wounds.
The searchlght now came dancing
over them, and not to draw bullets
either from the fort or the trenches
both lay still. When 1t had passed
Vannoffsky continued his ministra
tions; and at last, finding Okla quite
unable to move, he resolved on an act
| nf barote,, Nna th,t ,,,toKy oock l,t,,-