Brown of Moukden: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War

by Herbert Strang

  *CHAPTER XII*

  *The Retreat from Liao-yang*

  Rifle and Bayonet--Kuroki--Schwab's Strategic Movement--The MoukdenRoad--At Yentai--One of the Wounded--Pawns in the Game--Our Friends theEnemy--Story and Song--Schwab Smokes

  Next day dawned bright and clear. The fusillade had continued almostthroughout the night, and the Japanese had made repeated assaults on theRussian trenches in the centre, only to be driven back every time withenormous slaughter. The first day's battle had no decisive result; theJapanese had failed to dislodge the Russians from any part of their lineof defences. Jack was eager to go out again; his excitement had beenkindled by what little he had been able to see of the opposingmovements; after the first tremors, the shriek of shells and whistlingof bullets had left him unmoved, and he was all afire to witness thecontinuation of the great struggle. But Schwab absolutely refused tobudge.

  "It vas not a bresentiment," he said. "It vas a bileattack. Zoseshells, zeir schmell vas vorse zan Schwefelwasserstoffgas--I forget zeEnglish name, but ze schmell is ze same; it is a schmell of eggssuberannuated. I suffer egstremely. Besides, zey haf shtole my bonies.And vat do I discover? I discover a damage in ze ubber egstremity of zecamera. Vy you tell me nozink about zis? I discover it, I say. Whodone zat? Vy you bermit it? It is not business: it annoy me egstremely.I lose many dollars ven I shall gome to sell ze photographabbaratus. Mygustomers vill now see it is not new. Venever I zink of it I sufferbile. I go not again to zis battle, no more does ze camera; I vait forze next. I vill stay and cure ze bileattack. You shall see ze battle;I vill take notes ven you return."

  Jack had no intention of running unnecessary risks in order that Schwabmight make "copy" out of his experiences. But he made his way towardsthe railway-station, expecting to obtain from the embankment as good aview as was possible without venturing again on the shell-swept hills.His choice was fortunate, for it happened that the closest fighting ofthe day took place west of the railway. General Oku had made up hismind to force this, the weakest spot in the Russian position. While,therefore, General Nodzu in the centre was repeating the first day'sbombardment, the Russian right, throughout the day, was the scene of asterrible a series of infantry attacks as the world's history has known.Time after time the Japanese advanced to storm the trenches; time aftertime they were mowed down by the pitiless bullets of the enemy; butagain and again they returned to the charge, recking nothing of death orwounds, thinking it a privilege indeed to end their lives in theircountry's cause. On both sides the bayonet did its fell work; at onepoint a trench was captured by a company of Japanese, but theirammunition was spent, they were unsupported, and their plight beingperceived from a Russian trench a hundred yards distant, they werebayoneted to a man. As the hot day wore on, the Russians were drivenback against the railway embankment; streams of wounded, their cries ofagony mingled with the horrid sounds of war, flowed incessantly towardsLiao-yang; and when sunset put an end to the firing, the bearer-partieswent about their awful work on the battle-field.

  Except for the slight impression made on the right, the Russian positionwas intact. The Siberian regiments had held their own with splendidtenacity, and were almost recompensed for their terrible sufferings bythe message of thanks from General Kuropatkin, who had witnessed theirheroic resistance from his train beyond the railway-station. Jackstarted to return to Schwab with the impression that the force of theJapanese attack was broken, and that on the morrow the Russians wouldtake the offensive. The day closed with a terrible rain-storm thatturned the fields and roads into a quagmire. The streets of the citywere thronged; soldiers, Chinamen, camp-followers, pedlars improving theoccasion, all jostling one another in noisy confusion.

  Standing at the door of his cottage, Schwab hailed an Americancorrespondent who was passing just as Jack appeared.

  "Is ze battle finished gomblete?" asked Schwab eagerly.

  "Yes; the Russians have won. It is their first victory. I am on my wayto telegraph the news to New York--if I can get a wire."

  "Zen I vill write my account of ze closing scenes," said Schwab to Jack."To-morrow, if ze sun shine, you can take more pictures of ze Japanesedefeat."

  But half an hour later the American looked into the house on his wayback to his own quarters.

  "I was mistaken, Schwab," he said; "it is not a victory after all."

  "Eh?" said Schwab, looking up from his papers.

  "The Russians are leaving their positions; evacuation has begun."

  "Himmel! Vat is ze meaning of zat?"

  "Kuroki has crossed the Tai-tse-ho, and is threatening ourcommunications. You had better clear out."

  Schwab might well be amazed. During the desperate and persistentattacks on the Russian right and centre, General Kuroki had creptsteadily round their left, and forced a passage at a ford twenty-fivemiles east of the town. The news, as conveyed to Kuropatkin, was thatthe Japanese general had four divisions; he had, in truth, only two;and, misled by the exaggeration, Kuropatkin had felt it necessary todetach some of the seasoned Siberian regiments from Stackelberg'scommand in order to reinforce the less trustworthy European corps whomKuroki was attacking. But the American was mistaken in speaking ofevacuation. The commander-in-chief had only decided to abandon hisadvanced position, which had always been too widely extended foreffective defence, and to withdraw his forces to the innerentrenchments, forming a large arc almost encircling the town, andresting at each end on the river.

  Overpowered by the terrors of "war that was real war", Schwab was goadedinto feverish activity by the news of the withdrawal. His own pony wasgone; so was Jack's; but Hi Lo's remained, and this the German orderedto be instantly prepared for himself. Whether the interest of theSchlagintwert Company or the safety of his own rotund skin was the moreimportant consideration did not appear; but it is certain that, withinhalf an hour after receiving the news of Kuropatkin's order, Schwab wasriding as fast as the congested traffic would allow towards the north.He carried the precious camera and the negatives with him, leaving thetripod with Jack.

  "You muss shift for yourself," said he at the moment of leaving. "Youand Hi Lo muss gome on behind. I muss go qvick; it is a matter ofbusiness. Vun bony vill not carry zree, and if I do not arrive inMoukden before ze Russians zere vill be no money left to bay your vages.Take most egstreme care of ze dribod."

  Jack was not ill pleased to see the back of his employer. In othercircumstances he might have been amusing; as it was, he was a trial ofpatience.

  "I think we will wait till morning," said Jack to Hi Lo. "I am not sureall is over yet. In any case the Japanese won't come into the city inthe dark; the firing has stopped; and we shall see our way better bydaylight."

  So they stretched themselves on the k'ang and slept until the dawn.When they arose it was obvious that Schwab's flight was premature.True, the roads northward were crowded with fugitives, but they were inthe main natives; the Russians held their positions; and Jack saw a fineregiment marching, not northward, but southward, in the direction of theenemy, singing the Russian national anthem with a spirit that littlebetokened a failing cause. But Jack felt that Schwab would expect histwo servants to follow him; he would be helpless without them. Theexodus from the city was already so great that it seemed best to gonorthwards by the pontoon bridge while it was possible. He thereforestarted on his way back to Moukden. Hi Lo had managed to secure amule--Jack did not enquire how; and on this, with the boy trudging byhis side, Jack crossed the river by the pontoon and gained the mandarinroad.

  He found himself in a scene of terrible confusion. The road was blockedwith vehicles of all descriptions,--droshkies, Pekin carts, ammunitionwagons, country carts with their unwieldy teams; and crowds ofcamp-followers and Chinese tradesmen. Drivers were shouting, soldierscursing, women shrieking. Chinamen staggered along with poles overtheir shoulders, a basket slung at each end containing a child barelyawake, but laughing with glee at what seemed to its innocen
ce a noveland pleasing adventure. Women passed, bent under heavy bundlescontaining their household gear; carts were heaped with bits offurniture, ambulance wagons with wounded and dead; here was a soldierleading a little donkey with a battered drum upon its back, there afarmer whose clumsy cart was filled with cackling ducks and squealingpigs. Now an axle would break, and the contents of the wagon werescattered over the ground; now the wheels of one cart would becomelocked with those of another, and the tangled teams plunged and kickedin the mud. Then the uproar became still more furious; riders, carelessof what damage they might do, pressed their horses through the throng inhaste to make good their escape from the terrible shells whose comingwas announced from afar. The Japanese had begun to bombard the station.

  Jack saw that he had little chance of making his way through the crush.Calling to Hi Lo, he turned aside into a field of kowliang, alreadytrampled, and rode on over the ruined crop. In the distance, on theleft, he caught sight of train after train steaming northwards. Behind,dense clouds of smoke obscured the city: the Russian quarter ofLiao-yang was in flames. Ever and anon a detonation shook the air, andby and by the whistle of bullets was heard; the Japanese had occupiedthe Shu-shan hill, and with their terrible long-range weapons werefiring into the Russian settlement.

  The fourteen miles from Liao-yang to Yentai took Jack six hours. It wasevening when he arrived--too late to go farther; and he put up for thenight in a ruined hut. Russians were massed in the town, and covered theslopes towards the mines. The Russian left wing had been driven back inthis direction, and it was to reinforce the hard-pressed troops herethat Kuropatkin had withdrawn Stackelberg with his Siberians. But itwas too late. Next day Kuroki flung his divisions upon the Russianentrenchments. At a critical moment General Orloff, professor in aRussian military college, attacked, contrary to his instructions. TheJapanese hidden in the kowliang awaited the onset, then poured in aterrible fire, which threw the first regiment, composed of raw recruits,into confusion. They broke and fled; the regiment behind, prevented bythe high stalks from seeing what had happened, opened fire upon theirown comrades; a third was led into the same fatal error; and the entireleft wing, bewildered, disorganized, sought safety in flight. Yentaiwas filled with the Russian wounded; surgeons, with coats off and shirtsleeves tucked up, went about their work in the open streets; the airwas filled with the screams and groans of men in agony.

  Jack hurried through the town, and came again into the open country. Amile north of the town he overtook a bearded veteran crawling painfullyalong; he was wounded in the chest. He looked with haggard, covetouseyes on Jack's mule; his face was drawn and white; sweat was streamingfrom his brow. Jack stopped and sprang to the ground.

  "Get on my mule," he said in Russian. "Hi Lo, help me to lift him up."

  The man broke into sobbing exclamations of thanks. Supported by Jack onone side, by Hi Lo on the other, he rode on during the rest of that hotday. At dusk they entered a straggling village, and Jack was thinkingof looking for a shelter for the night when a rough voice from a cottagecried:

  "Ach, Strogoff! come here, comrade."

  "Nu, Chapkin," said the wounded man. "I am wounded, old friend."

  Jack led the mule to the door, and helped to carry the man into thecottage. It had been appropriated by a group of Russian soldiers whohad become separated from their regiment. They received their woundedcomrade with rough expressions of sympathy; and, learning from him ofthe Chinaman's kindness in lending his mule, they invited Jack and Hi Loto stay with them. Jack was nothing loth. He shared his few remainingbiscuits with the men, and sent Hi Lo out to buy some fruit if possible.

  The boy returned with some pears and peaches, which formed a welcomeaddition to their black bread and cakes of buckwheat.

  Sitting on the k'ang, Jack was an interested listener to the soldiers'talk. He did not understand all they said; they were simple moujiks,whose broad dialect was not easy to follow; but he picked up a good dealof their conversation.

  Strogoff had to relate how he had received his wound. His story was longin the telling, punctuated by many an "Ach!" "Och!" "Eka!" "Nu!" fromhis comrades.

  "Ach!" he concluded, "the Japanese are fine fellows, but they are toolittle to use the bayonet. A bigger man would have made a better job ofit, and I should be dead now."

  "Da! But you'd rather be alive, Strogoff?"

  "How can I tell, Kedril? Will the doctors be able to mend my wound?"

  "Not if they're such fools as the generals," grunted Kedril, a big,shaggy rifleman who had lost an arm.

  "True, there are some fools among them. But better be a fool than aknave, like the commissaries. Why, half the biscuits served out to usto-day were full of maggots, and my boots--look at them!--are made ofpaper. Do you think the Little Father knows how we are cheated?"

  "No, no; the Emperor does not know, Almazoff. He would not suffer theseevils if he knew them. Nu! he cannot be everywhere, like the Lord God."

  "Things will be better some day. We've done our part, little pigeon.But the Emperor would not like it if he knew what lies they have toldus. Why, they said the Japanese were dirty little men like monkeys; butthey're cleaner than you and me, Strogoff."

  "And they said they walked with their heads downwards."

  "No, Chapkin, that's the English. They say the English walk upright intheir own country, but when they go to another place of theirs calledAustralia they turn upside down and walk on their heads."

  "That can't be true, because Australia belongs to Germany. It's a partof America, I believe."

  "Nu! America belongs to England, so I dare say I was right after all.Anyway, the Japanese walk on their feet like us, and they fight well. Iwonder what made them so angry with us?"

  "I don't know. What do we get angry about when we're at home? Perhapsthe Little Father called the Emperor of Japan a sheep; if you called mea sheep I should fight you; but emperors can't fight; of course not, forthey've no one to give them orders except the Lord God, and He couldn'tgive orders to both at once."

  "But if they quarrel, why should they make us fight in thousands? Itwould be much better if his excellency the general and the Japanesemarshal took off their coats and fought, just they two. That would be afight worth seeing, eh, comrades?--a fight after the old style, beforethey did everything by machinery."

  "Da! It wouldn't matter so much if they made each other's nose bleed,instead of us shooting at the little Japanese and them shooting at us.Why, think of the thousands of widows there must be in LittleRussia--da! and in Japan too, for I expect they have a kind of marriagethere."

  "True, we haven't any quarrel with the little men; and they're not veryangry either. When I was wounded in the bayonet charge, and lay on theground, a Japanese came up and gave me a cigarette; ach! the sun washot, and I was fanning myself with my cap, and he made me take a littlepaper fan he had. Here it is: I shall give it to my little Anna,dushenka! when I get home again."

  "Ach! shall we ever get home again? Look at the thousands of versts weare away; and we've got to stay till we beat the Japanese! Sing us yoursong, Chapkin--you know, the one that always makes me cry."

  The big veteran addressed took a sip from his half-empty flask of vodka,and began, in a fine baritone every note of which was charged withpathos--

  "No more my eyes will see the land Where I was born. I suffer at my lord's command; My limbs are torn. Upon my roof the owl will moan; The pigeon for her mate will yearn; My heart with grief is broken down: No, never more shall I return!"

  The simple words brought tears to the eyes of all those rough soldiers.Kedril grunted and growled.

  "Don't make us more sad. Almazoff, you're the only fellow among us whocan read: read us something out of your English book; the piece aboutthe great fight in heaven; that's the stuff for a soldier."

  Almazoff took from his pocket a dirty dog-eared paper-covered book, andturned over the leaves. Having found the place, he began, in a
slowsonorous chant--

  "Then rose a storming fury, and such uproar as never yet had been heardin Heaven. Arms clashed on armour, a din of horrible discord; thefurious wheels of brazen chariots roared with rage; dire was the noiseof battle. Overhead with awesome hiss flew fiery darts in flamingvolleys, and their flight covered either host with a vault of fire.Beneath this burning dome the embattled armies shocked together, withdeadly onset and unquenchable rage: all Heaven resounded; and had earthbeen then, the whole earth had quivered to her centre. What wonder,when on both sides millions of angels fought, fierce foes, of whom thefeeblest could wield the elements and arm himself with the might of alltheir regions!----"

  Thus he read on, and through the rough prose of the Russian translationJack caught echoes of the famous passage in _Paradise Lost_.

  Far into the night the reading, story-telling, singing, went on. In themorning Jack took leave of the simple brave fellows and resumed hisjourney. On the way he learnt that the Russian army was in fullretreat. General Kuropatkin's able dispositions had extricated his worntroops from the danger of being surrounded, and they were falling backin good order, disappointed but not disheartened, towards Moukden.Thither Jack made with all speed; and entering the city with Hi Lo byone of the south gates in the evening, he found Schwab placidly smokinghis pipe at the door of the Green Dragon.