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304 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
same kind of clothes. They always led their
men, and vied with them in volunteering for the
more perilous tasks. They had no sentimental
scruples in sacrificing lives where they considered
it necessary, but then they did not hesitate
in risking their own, always taking the lead and
exposing themselves the most during the attacks
and during the many smaller affairs which were
just as hazardous and fraught with just as much
danger.
“ I wish I might die at the next attack,” said
a colonel to me, “ it would be a most glorious
death.”
“ But would it not be better to live and work
for your country ? ” I asked. Mon Dieu ! One
has to say something.
“ No,” he said, very earnestly, “if I fall, there
are hundreds of competent men ready to step in
and take my place, but do you not see ? If I fall
here in front of Port Arthur—and remember there
is no name under the sun which will ever be so
famous to the Japanese as that of Port Arthur
my children and children’s children for generations
to come will rejoice in the obligation of living up
to the standard set them by their forefather who
died like a hero at Port Arthur, and the lustre
attached to my name will be to them a peremp-
tory noblesse oblige which will keep them from
doing a bad or a mean act, and which will give to
my country hundreds of brave and loyal citizens.
Is not that worth any man’s dying for
Thus spoke the colonel, and he meant what he
said, though his wish was not fulfilled. What is
more, as I know the Japanese officers, there is
scarcely one who would not endorse his words.
The soundness of his deductions may be discussed,
but an army animated by such sentiments is
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