Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXIV. The reason
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
800 THE SIEGE OF PORT ARTHUR
certain number of steam pinnaces from the war-
ships towed the barges in.
On arriving at the landing pier the soldiers
alighted with their kit and their arms and were
drawn up on the jetty. Here they were counted
off in batches of ten, twelve, or twenty men,
and, under the command of a non-commissioned
officer, dispatched to the different places in
the town where quarters had been arranged
for them. Each non-commissioned officer re-
ceived a slip of paper with some writing in
Japanese characters, and although he had
never been to the place before, there did not
seem to be any hesitation on his part where to
direct his men.
I followed one of these small detachments
through the streets, where in the meantime big
lanterns of the ordinary Japanese kind, of white
paper with large red Chinese characters, had
suddenly appeared in front of every house ;
it was
quite an illumination. Guided by these lanterns
and his slip of paper, the commander without
hesitation took his men along the bund and into
the main street, then after a while turned into one
of the side streets, and from there into another,
where he halted in front of one of the houses.
The men were dismissed and stepped in ;
they
took off their kit and piled their arms. Two
minutes after, they were sitting on the floor, smok-
ing and chatting, as much at home as if they had
lived in the house all their lives. Four battalions
were landed in the course of the evening, every-
thing working like clockwork ;
there were no loud
words of command, no shouting, scarcely a word
spoken ;
half-a-dozen school-girls would have
made more noise than all these 4,000 men put
together.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
