rs, who, left in the charge of a
miserly step-uncle, had thought it best to go away from home and seek
fortune in various parts of the globe. Larry had drifted to San
Francisco and then to Honolulu, where he had fallen in with Captain Nat
Ponsberry and the _Columbia_, as already mentioned. He, with his sailor
friend, Luke Striker, had been cast away, and while adrift on the
Pacific had been picked up by the Asiatic Squadron under Commodore
(afterward Admiral) Dewey, to serve with honor during the memorable
battle of Manila Bay.

Since those days a great many things had occurred to the Russell boys.
Ben, the oldest of the three, had served as a young volunteer in Cuba
during the advance on Santiago, and as an officer with the army in the
Philippines, and Walter, the third brother, had served in the navy in
Cuban waters and elsewhere. In the meantime the miserly step-uncle had
reformed, and now thought "his three boys," as he called them, "the best
young fellers in all America, barrin' none!"

Larry Russell was a natural sailor, and when his term in the navy came
to an end he could not bear to think of giving up the sea. He heard that
his old ship was bound for a trip to Japan and other ports, and at once
communicated with Captain Ponsberry, with the result that he became
second mate of the schooner, the first mate being, as of old, Tom
Grandon, a personal friend of Captain Ponsberry.

At this time Walter Russell had gone into business, and was doing
remarkably well. But Ben was doing nothing, and Larry persuaded his
oldest brother to come aboard the ship at Manila, for the trip to
Nagasaki and Port Arthur. This was just at the outbreak of the war
between Russia and Japan, but the brothers at that time knew nothing
about the tremendous conflict so close at hand.

The _Columbia_ was carrying a cargo for the Richmond Importing Company,
represented in Japan and China by Gilbert Pennington, who had served
with Ben Russell in our army in Cuba and the Philippines. From Manila
Gilbert had gone to China, to fight the Boxers, as already described in
"On to Pekin," the first volume of this "Soldiers of Fortune Series."
With the end of the Boxer conflict, Lieutenant Pennington, as he had
then become, turned from war to business, and soon made a number of
business transactions which were highly gratifying to the company that
he represented.

When the _Columbia_ arrived at Nagasaki, Captain Ponsberry learned that
the war had beg