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58 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
make their task easier. He had at his disposal
a large number of big guns—siege guns, naval
guns, howitzers and mortars, besides his field
artillery—and he would spend two or three days
in keeping the forts under such a continuous
heavy fire that their defenders would be deci-
mated, or, what was more to the point, demoralized,
and no match, even in their strong positions, for
his own well-rested troops.
August 19th was a beautiful high-summer day.
During the previous fortnight rain had fallen
heavily, but that was evidently the last effort of
the rainy season to wield its power. A light
northerly breeze had swept away the last remnants
of the clouds, and under a high, dark-blue sky
the Kuang-tung peninsula, with its green fields
and blue-shadowed hills, stretched peacefully and
lazily between the two seas, which looked still
bluer, still more lustrous than even the sky above.
As we came nearer to our post of observation,
the firing, which had been very heavy since early
morning, died down, and, as we climbed the high,
steep hill, a perfect silence reigned everywhere.
Some thought that the fight was over, and
scrutinized through their glasses the whole fort
line to find the white flag of surrender which they
felt sure must be flying somewhere. They were
soon to be disillusioned or, rather, relieved.
Suddenly the report of a big gun from some-
where in the centre of the Japanese lines is heard,
followed by the zish of the shell as it cleaves
through the air, and by the rolling echo from
hills and mountains. Then, a few seconds later,
we see a cloud of white smoke and reddish grey
dust spring up in front of one of the Russian
advanced forts where the shell had struck. This
is evidently a signal. From every battery it is
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