No sooner had the echoes of the great battle of the Sha-ho died down than the attention of the world was turned again to Port Arthur, where the long and desperate siege was continuing with undiminished determination on the part of the attack and invincible heroism on the part of the defence. For months together little authentic news of the progress of events had been allowed to leak out; but suddenly, in the beginning of November, the Japanese censor removed his restrictions, and a vivid and circumstantial narrative of the operations was allowed to come through. By the end of June the Japanese forces of investment had occupied a line across the Kwang-tung Peninsula running from Ingentsi Bay, on the north, southeastwards to a point on the south coast-line some ten miles east of Dalny. After another month's diligent assault they had advanced the line nearly five miles--from Vostikorablei Bay on the north to Takhe Bay on the south. Another advance in the beginning of August brought the extreme right of their line down to Louisa Bay on the west, and roughly round in a semicircle to Takhe Bay, confronting the main line of the formidable Russian defences. The great assault of the 28th August was, on the whole, unsuccessful, and achieved nothing on the east. But on the west the line of investment was drawn still further south until it rested on Pigeon Bay. It is now necessary to understand more exactly the nature of the task with which the Japanese army of investment was confronted. Port Arthur lies in a sort of amphitheatre formed by ranges of hills varying in height from 1,300 feet to 1,500 feet. These hills sweep round from Golden Hill--the promontory which on the east commands the entrance to the harbor--northwards for a distance of nearly three miles. Then, where the railway line and road pass through them, they turn westwards and southwards, extending down the toe of the Kwang-tung promontory to a point parallel with the base of the Tiger's Tail; while further south still is the formidable Liao-tie-shan range, some 1,500 feet high. On all these hills the Russians had constructed huge fortifications strengthened with every device which the military engineer's art could suggest, and armed with the most powerful artillery. It is true that some of the correspondents who paid hurried visits to the great naval fortress before the actual outbreak of hostilities were inclined to belittle the strength of the defences. Thus Mr. Bennet Burleigh, of the London _Telegraph_, in a most interesting account expressed his belief that the Russian stronghold was over-fortified, and that it would be possible for those who captured outlying defence to command the inner forts. On the other hand, it must be remembered that the most skilful engineers in the world had been employed by the Russians in the construction of the forts, and the fact that such a magnificent and substantial resistance was offered to ten times the number of soldiers as cleared out the