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92 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
or four to grapple with Wantai and the nearest
battery positions which barred the way to the town,
and had marched the others down to the harbour,
their efforts might have been crowned with
success.
The Russian forces were somewhat demoralized.
Russian soldiers are children of the moment, im-
pressionable and easily moved by changing cir-
cumstances. From the deepest gloom to the
most radiant hopefulness is but a step with them.
If things go well, there are no braver or better
soldiers in the world; but after continuous reverses
they are apt to lose heart and give in. Now, in
this campaign they had lost faith in themselves ;
they had been beaten every time they met the
Japanese, and they knew the same had been the
case with their comrades in the north. Their
officers had told them that Port Arthur was im-
pregnable, infinitely stronger than any position
they had had to defend hitherto, and that here was
the place to retrieve all their previous losses,
keeping the Japanese in check until Kuropatkin’s
legions arrived from the north and the Baltic fleet
came from overseas and opened the way to victory
and freedom. And now they had found that
these same troops, which had driven them from
strong positions, at Nanshan, at Ojikeisan, at
Takushan, had succeeded, at the first attempt, in
breaking through the lines of this “impregnable”
fortress. If, then, the Japanese, risking all, had
pushed on with their entire force, reached the town
and destroyed the magazines and stores, I think
it possible that the garrison would have lost heart
and Port Arthur would have fallen. I understand
the difficulties, I realize what the cost in lives
would have been ;
but in a desperate game like
this it is everything or nothing. This, as I have
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