casualties its figures
are double those of Waterloo. Once more by masterly strategy a
rout was converted into a retreat; and the Russian army withdrew
to the northwest.

Weary of crawfish tactics the Czar appointed General Lineivitch
to the chief command; and the ablest of the Russian generals was
relieved of the duty of contriving ways of "escape." To cover the
rear of a defeated force is always reckoned a post of honour; but
it is not the sort of distinction that satisfies the ambition of
a great commander.

By dint of efforts and sacrifices an enormous fleet was assembled
for the relief of Port Arthur. It sailed from Cronstadt on August 11,
1905, leaving the Baltic seaports unprotected save by the benevolent
neutrality of the German Kaiser, who granted passage through his
ship canal, although he knew the fleet was going to wage war on
one of his friends.

Part of the fleet proceeded via Suez, and part went round the Cape
of Good Hope--to them a name of mockery. The ships moved leisurely,
their commanders not doubting that Stoessel would be able to hold
his ground; but scarcely had they reached a rendezvous which, by
the favour of France, they had fixed in the waters adjacent to
Madagascar, when they heard of the fall of Port Arthur. Of the
annihilation of the fleet attached to the fortress, and of the
destruction of a squadron coming to the rescue from the north they
had previously learned. With what dismay did they
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now hear that the key of the ocean was lost. Almost at the same
moment the last of Job's messengers arrived with the heavier tidings
that Mukden, the key of the province, had been abandoned by a defeated
army--stunning intelligence for a forlorn hope! Should they turn
back or push ahead? Anxious question this for Admiral Rozhesvenski
and his officers. Too late for Port Arthur, might they not reenforce
Vladivostok and save it from a like fate? The signal to "steam
ahead" was displayed on the flagship.

Slowly and painfully, its propellers clogged by seaweed, its keels
overgrown with barnacles, the grand armada crossed the Indian Ocean
and headed northward for the China Sea. On May 27, steering for
the Korean channel, it fell into a snare which a blind man ought
to have been able to foresee. Togo's fleet had the freedom of the
seas. Where could it be, if not in that very channel? Yet on the
Russians went:

"Unmindful of the whirlwind's sway
That hushed in grim repose
Expects his