Page:Semenoff V. The battle of Tsu-Shima.pdf/162
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THE BATTLE OF TSU-SHIMA
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unable to restrain himself at such a moment, paying no heed to the doctors, he ran up the ladder into the battery, shouting: “Follow me, lads! To the fire — to the fire! we have only got to get it under!”
Various non-combatants in the mess deck (belonging to the hospital), and men who were slightly wounded and had gone down to get their wounds dressed, doubled after him. A chance shot struck the hatchway, and when the smoke cleared away neither ladder, nor Commander, nor men with him, were in existence!
But even this bloody episode did not damp the men's ardour. It was only one in a hundred others.
In the lower battery where, owing to insufficiency of hands, fires momentarily