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SECOND GENERAL ATTACK 191
and from the navy, they received news constantly,
and always good news. Only from Port Arthur
was there nothing. An ominous silence reigned
over this theatre of operations, the one towards
which their eyes had been turned with the greatest
expectation and the greatest concern. Although
no official information had been given out, and
although the military authorities had succeeded
to a remarkable degree in keeping even unofficial
news from the people, they could not, in the long
run, prevent tales and rumours from sifting out,
which showed that the situation here was far from
satisfactory. The fact that the place had not yet
been captured was in itself enough ;
the people
had confidently expected the army to be in posses-
sion of the fortress in July, now over three months
ago. They did not realize, because no one had
been allowed to tell them, what a tremendously
difficult problem confronted the army here. All
they knew was that it had failed in what they
considered the most important part of the year’s
campaign. The papers began to demand “ the
speedy reduction of Port Arthur,” as they ex-
pressed it, and clamoured for more troops to be
sent out. A couple of weeks later the Jiji, the
Times of Japan, demanded that, if necessary,
100,000 men should be sent to reinforce the
besieging army and be hurled against the forts, and
so finish the affair—little dreaming what fate most
probably would have been meted out to them, had
the attempt been made at this juncture. A very
strong popular feeling against the Third Army
existed, and it cannot be wondered at that this
outcry rankled deeply in the hearts of the officers
and men who for months had fought so desperately
and with such indomitable courage against tremen-
dously strong positions, defended by soldiers every
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