arship was balanced in execution by a
similar gun mounted on the _Shohirika_. The slaughter created by both
weapons was frightful, a dozen or more going down on either side each
time a gun was discharged.

When Larry and Luke came out on desk the spectacle was enough to make
the blood of the youth run cold, and it was only his previous experience
in warfare which rendered him capable of doing what he knew was his
duty.

"Charge on them!" came the cry in Japanese. "Kill them, or drive them
back to their ship! _Banzai!_"

"_Banzai! Banzai Nippon!_" was the yell. "Hurrah for Japan!"

The Japanese had not expected a hand-to-hand fight and the closing in of
the enemy aroused them as they had never been aroused before. For the
first time Larry saw the sailors and marines awakened to their full
fighting fury--a fury in which every Japanese scorns death and thinks
that to die is glory for himself, his family, and his emperor. They
leaped on the Russians with a ferocity that was appalling, and that
first shock sent the Czar's men back to the deck from which they had
come.

But the Russians were likewise aroused, and with cheers and yells they
came on once more, leaping over the bodies of those who had fallen, and
meeting shot with shot and cutlass stroke with cutlass stroke. Officers
and men fought side by side, and many went down to a common death.

By instinct Larry and Luke kept close together, with the others from
Luke's gun near at hand, and Steve Colton and Bob Stanford not far away.
Each used his cutlass as best he could, warding off the blows of the
enemy and dealing cuts whenever a chance appeared. Larry was glad that
he had learned to use a cutlass so well, and soon found himself the
match of almost any Russian who challenged him.

The fighting was now spread over the decks of both vessels, which were
hooked together tightly and pounding broadside at every swell of the
ocean. To attempt to blow up either ship would have been fatal probably
to both--one dragging down the other--so no such attempt was made.

While the fighting was at its height, Larry suddenly found himself face
to face with a Russian lieutenant of marines. The fellow had a pistol in
his hand, and as Larry raised his cutlass to strike, he dropped the
weapon on a level with the youth's head and pulled the trigger.

Had the bullet sped as intended it is likely Larry would have been
killed. But just as the trigger fell, Luke, who was at Larry's si