Page:At the Fall of Port Arthur.djvu/239

Rh fort," came from Colton. "I was just getting the range beautifully when orders came to shut down."

"Well, there must be a reason for it, Steve," answered Luke.

There was a reason for it. Admiral Togo had just received word that certain ships of the Port Arthur squadron were going to make an attempt to break out of the harbor, either that night or the next day. Consequently the Shohirika was needed further down the coast, and steamed away in that direction as rapidly as her somewhat limited supply of coal permitted.

"I don't think the navy will ever find its way into Port Arthur harbor," said Larry, later on, after studying a map of that locality. "There are too many forts on the hills outside of the town. They could smash our ships to smithereens if we got too close."

"Trust Admiral Togo to know what he is doing," answered Steve Colton. "He won't go too close. At the same time he ain't going to let the Russian ships get away any more than Schley and Sampson let Admiral Cervera get away from Santiago Harbor in Cuba."

"It's the army that will make Port Arthur a hot place to live in," came from Bob Stanford. They can entrench and thus gain a little ground day by