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FIRST GLIMPSE OF PORT ARTHUR 27
hands, nothing seemed complete. For to the
popular mind Port Arthur had come to stand for
something more than merely a strongly fortified
place. It had come to stand to them as a
symbol—a symbol of supremacy. The nation
that held it would be the paramount power in the
Far East. To become this was the real goal of
the Japanese ambition, and so long as the Russian
flag still flew over the fortress the goal had not
been reached.
The Japanese officers and private soldiers, who
now for the first time saw before and beneath
them this wonderful, almost mythical. Port
Arthur, knew all this. They knew that their
progress had not been quite up to expectations.
The people, and even the military authorities at
home, had fondly hoped that Port Arthur would
have been theirs ere now ;
they knew that the
task before them, the storming of the immensely
strong fortress, was not a thing to be accom-
plished in a day or in a week. Still, they could
see the end now ; they were within striking
distance, and I think every man there made a vow
to himself that the blow should be delivered with
such force that the enemy should be overthrown ;
every man gladly eager to give life and blood to
help to win the place back for his country.
Some five or six miles to the north of the old
town of Port Arthur, at the centre of the Japanese
lines, rises a high conical peak called Fenghoang-
shan, which gives an excellent panoramic view of
the Russian lines of defence. On the top of this
hill General Nogi was standing, closely scanning
the forts and trenches before him. The sight was
nothing new to him. He knew the place of old.
He looked to the south-west, where the powerful
Itzeshan Fort lifts its strong walls on the peculiarly
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