to be transferred to other quarters. With his hands bound
behind him, Ben was marched forth through a side street of Port Arthur,
where stood an old building which had formerly been used as a market.
Cells had been built in this structure, and into one of these he was
thrust, the guard sarcastically telling him to make himself as
comfortable as possible.

The young captain was sick in both body and mind and fast reaching that
point where one becomes desperate and fit for any deed of daring. More
than once he was tempted to throw himself on the guard in an endeavor to
overpower the fellow and escape. But he realized that if caught at this
he would be immediately shot down.

Day after day passed, and from outside the prisoner heard the dull
booming of cannon. Occasionally a shell would explode close to the
prison, causing a wild yell of alarm and a general rush by those
outside. There were flags over the prisons and over the hospitals,
showing what manner of places they were, but, as said before, the
Japanese were at a loss to see what they were firing at, so many shots
and shells went where they were not intended. These mishaps were what
caused the report to circulate that the Mikado's men were not fighting
according to the rules of modern warfare, but were doing their best to
shatter the hospitals in which lay their own and the Russian wounded.

It was a cold, raw day, with a touch of snow in the air, and Ben felt
one of his desperate moods coming over him. His hands and feet were free
and he peered forth from the one narrow window that the cell contained.
All he could see beyond was a courtyard, surrounded by a stone wall.

"I wish I was out there--I'd get over that wall somehow!" he muttered to
himself.

The cell window was not over fifteen or sixteen inches wide and twice
that in height. The bars were of iron, but set in wooden frames but a
few inches in thickness.

"A fellow might smash out those bars with the bench end," he thought.
"But after that what? I reckon the guard in the courtyard would shoot me
on sight. I might try it at night."

Still in a desperate mood, Ben picked up the bench, a solid affair
several feet long. He made an imaginary lunge at the window bars with
it.

"I'll wager I could knock them out with one blow. They----"

Ben got no further, for at the moment a fearful explosion sounded
somewhere overhead. The explosion was followed by a crash and a wild
yell of alarm. A Japanese shell