ican. For
having run away he was put on the most miserable fare the prison
afforded, the food being often so vile he could not touch it. Whenever
he attempted to protest he was met with kicks and blows.

"They might as well kill me and be done with it," he thought. "Oh, how I
wish the Japs would take the city and give me back my liberty!"

In those days Port Arthur became a most uncomfortable place for all
living there. The Japanese army was pressing forward steadily, and army
and navy did everything possible to destroy the shipping in the harbor
and make the various forts untenable. Shots and shells were hurled into
the city at all hours of the day and night, until living there became
worse than a nightmare. Among the soldiers scurvy became prevalent,
until the hospitals could not accommodate the sick and the dying.
Nothing was done to clean up the streets, and the rubbish lay many feet
deep over the sidewalks. Practically all of the shops were closed, for
they had next to nothing to sell. The main article of food was rice, and
to cook this many old buildings had to be razed in order to procure
necessary firewood. As winter approached the suffering of the poor
became so intense that riots broke out and to maintain order not a few
were shot down.

Such was the condition in the city. Outside, to the northward, the
fighting went on week after week. So many soldiers were killed upon both
sides that to bury the dead became impossible, and thousands were left
where they had fallen, to become the prey of vultures, or to putrefy and
fill the locality with a stench that was as nauseating as it was deadly!
Such are the horrors of modern warfare. The demands for universal peace
cannot come any too quickly.

In the advance on Port Arthur, Gilbert did his full share of the
fighting. The Japanese were now struggling for the possession of what
was known as 203-Meter Hill, a rocky elevation which was not fortified
but which was in the direct line of Russian fire. The top of 203-Meter
Hill commanded a fine view of Port Arthur and its harbor, and it was
this view the Japanese needed, in order to make their shell fire most
effective.

The battle for 203-Meter Hill is one which will be long remembered. The
Japanese fought with a desperation impossible to describe, and when the
hill was captured, General Stoessel sent out nearly all his available
men to retake it. But this could not be accomplished, and late in
December the Japanese