Slowly but steadily the two ships held on their course towards the Polynesian Archipelago, where lay in wait their powerful foe. The _Varyag_ had reached Round Island, when at a distance of nearly two miles the Japanese flagship opened fire with one of her big guns. The aim of the gunners was true. Right amidships burst the great missile, doing terrible execution, and shell after shell followed with relentless rapidity. The _Varyag_, wheeling around in a small circle, responded dauntlessly with her 6-inch guns, but with little or no effect upon the battleship, and now Admiral Uriu's cruisers joined in the cannonade. Within half an hour of this fearful raking fire her bridge was shot away and her sides were gaping with holes, but she kept afloat and still withstood the onslaught, endeavoring heroically but in vain to find an opening by which to break through and escape out to sea. At last, after an hour's terrible pounding, she was compelled reluctantly to give up the attempt as hopeless, and, taking refuge among the islands, with difficulty crept back into Chemulpo harbor, disabled beyond repair and with her decks reduced to veritable shambles. Her desperate struggle had not left the enemy utterly scathless, for there seems no doubt that one of the Japanese cruisers received a good deal of damage. [Sidenote: The Plucky "Korietz"] In the meanwhile the little _Korietz_, with extraordinary bravery, but with absolutely pathetic ineffectiveness, had been attempting to imitate the manoeuvres of her consort and to do some injury to the big ships of the enemy. As well might a warrior with a popgun try to engage a battery of field artillery. It was magnificent, it certainly was not war. The range was hopelessly beyond her powers, and perhaps it was the bitterest drop in the cup of her commander and crew that the Japanese soon ceased to pay her any attention at all, concentrating all their efforts upon the more dangerous _Varyag_. When that vessel retreated at length into harbor, the _Korietz_ followed her unharmed but undisgraced. [Sidenote: Wounding and Burning] The wounded of the _Varyag_, numbering 4 officers and 214 men, were removed in boats to the British, Italian and French warships. The dead were left on board, for it was decided to scuttle the ship. At the same time arrangements were made to blow up the _Korietz_. Just as the Japanese fleet again appeared in sight the latter vessel blew up, and the shattered hull, after one great burst of flame and smoke, sank beneath the waters. The _Varyag_ refused to sink so easily, and the Russian sailors therefore again boarded her to set her on fire. After a little more than an hour she had burned down to the water's edge and, heeling over, disappeared. The _Sungari_ was the next to meet its fate, the Russians setting fire to it also to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy.