The man among the Russians who was the mainspring of the defence was General Kondrachenko. He was an eminent engineer, very popular with the men, one of the bravest and most scientific of the Russian officers. On the 15th of December the General and his staff were sitting inside North Keikwansan Fort, in the concrete barrack just underneath the spot where a shell had made a hole in the roof. This had been repaired, and they had come to see if it had been well done. As luck would have it, a second 28-centimetre shell came through the same place and burst inside the barrack, killing the gallant Kondrachenko and eight other officers who were with him. This was the gravest blow that Port Arthur could have suffered, for this man was the spirit of resistance personified. After his death Stoessel began to seek for excuses to surrender. He called a council of war, and proposed that, as the Japanese had taken so many forts and sunk their warships, terms of surrender should be proposed. Almost every one was opposed to it, and some officers were so disgusted that they privately suggested kidnapping Stoessel and locking him up. The Japanese policy of mining and firing mines under the redoubts had succeeded so often that the Russians had got into a nervous state. On the 1st of January the fort of Wantai was rushed and captured; mountain-guns and quick-firers were sent up to help in holding the ground, ammunition was sent forward, everything made ready to rush the whole of the eastern defences, when, to the astonishment of all, from General to private, a white flag was seen fluttering over the valley. The news spread like wild-fire that Stoessel wished to capitulate. Could it be possible? [Illustration: A HUMAN LADDER The Japanese soldiers made their bodies practically into a ladder, and thus enabled their comrades to escalade a fort.] At 9 a.m. on the following morning, the 2nd of January, a little group of foreign pressmen assembled as usual in the small room provided for them at head-quarters. They discussed the white flag incident; but they remembered that Stoessel had said that he would die in the last ditch, so it did not seem probable. Captain Zasuhara, whose duty it was to inform them of what was going on, was late in appearing, and when the door opened, it was not the Captain, but an orderly, who entered, carrying a tray on which was a bottle of liqueur brandy and several glasses. Something strange must be going to happen when a Japanese officer begins drinking liqueur so early! A few moments later Captain Zasuhara came in. “Gentlemen, General Stoessel has capitulated; Port Arthur has surrendered. Banzai!”