A second Russian did the same and was shot. A
Japanese did likewise. Then the rest lay, quiet again. Finally, the
darkness having increased and the thirst and the wounds being
intolerable, the Japanese lieutenant, who had been wounded in the legs
and could not move about, said that if one of the remaining Russians
would take him on his back he would guide the whole party into a place
of safety in the Japanese lines. So they did. The Russian soldier
crawled on his belly with the Japanese officer lying on his back, and
the others followed, keeping close to the ground. They reached the
Japanese quarters, and were immediately, looked after and cared for. A
few days afterwards the five Russians came on board the transport on
which my friend was engineer. They were being taken as prisoners to
Japan; but the Japanese crew could not do enough for them in the way of
tea and cigarettes and dressing their wounds, and they made quite a
jolly party all together on deck. The Japanese officer was also on
board, and he told my friend the story.
Gallantry towards the enemy has figured largely in the history of
War--sometimes as an individual impulse, sometimes as a recognized
instruction.
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