Chapter I: Preface

As in the preparation of _Navy Blue_ and _Cleared for Action_, the author has taken great pains to verify the main facts of the present story, so far as they are concerned with the incidents of the great struggle still in progress between the empires of the East and the West. He acknowledges most gratefully the assistance received from the office of the Secretary of the Navy, from ex-Secretary John D. Long, and from Commander W. H. H. Southerland, now commanding the U. S. Cruiser _Cleveland_, Commander Austin M. Knight, President of the Board on Naval Ordnance, and Chief Engineer Edward Farmer, retired.

W. B. A.

BOSTON, June, 1905.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE TRIAL OF THE "RETVIZAN" 1

II. MAN OVERBOARD! 16

III. SEALED ORDERS 29

IV. UNCLE SAM'S PACKING 43

V. OTO'S STRANGE VISIT 53

VI. A SCRAP IN MALTA 67

VII. O-HANA-SAN'S PARTY 84

VIII. A BATCH OF LETTERS 93

IX. AT THE CZAR'S COMMAND 102

X. THE FIRST BLOW 114

XI. IN THE MIKADO'S CAPITAL 125

XII. BETWEEN TWO FIRES 137

XIII. WYNNIE MAKES A BLUNDER 146

XIV. THE ATTACK OF THE "OCTOPUS" 156

XV. UNDER THE RED CROSS 165

XVI. THE LAST TRAIN FROM PORT ARTHUR 175

XVII. DICK SCUPP'S ADVENTURE 184

XVIII. OSHIMA GOES A-FISHING 202

XIX. AMONG THE CLOUDS 218

XX. THE DOGGER BANK AFFAIR 235

XXI. THE FALL OF PORT ARTHUR 248

XXII. ON BOARD THE "KUSHIRO" 260

XXIII. TRAPPED IN MANCHURIA 274

XXIV. THE LITTLE FATHER 286

XXV. LARKIN RETIRES FROM BUSINESS 297

XXVI. "THE DESTINY OF AN EMPIRE" 308

XXVII. ORDERED HOME 319

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
"MAN OVERBOARD!" _Frontispiece_ 24

"OTO CLIMBED THE RAIL LIKE A MONKEY" 64

IN STRANGE WATERS 82

PICKED UP BY THE SEARCHLIGHT 119

THE SINKING OF THE "PETROPAVLOVSK" 164

THE END OF THE TRAITOR 231

ON THE DOGGER BANK 244

THE OSAKA BABIES 253

THE NORTH PACIFIC.