ncentrate their
fire upon the Nanshan ridge; and so smart were our men, and so keen a
lookout were they maintaining aboard our ships, that within three
minutes of the receipt by me of the order, their 10-inch, 5-inch, and
6-inch shells were dropping all along the ridge, busily searching it for
the Russian batteries, the positions of which, unfortunately, could not
be seen from the western side.

For the next half-hour I was kept incessantly employed in signalling our
fleet, directing their fire; but the shoal water of Kinchau Bay was all
against us, and although our ships drew in so close that they touched
the ground several times, they were still too far off to actually
silence the Russian batteries, although they contrived to give them a
very severe punishing and, to some extent, distract their attention from
the stormers. Unfortunately, they could only muster six heavy guns
between them, and these, at the extreme range at which they were obliged
to fire, were not nearly enough, though they certainly helped.

When at length I was once more free to turn my attention to what was
happening on the eastern side of the heights, I saw that our foremost
line of skirmishers had reached a spot about a mile distant from the
first Russian defences, consisting of a perfect maze of wire
entanglements, and were signalling back to the main body. Almost
immediately a detachment of Cossacks appeared, advancing at a gallop
toward the signallers, from the direction of Linshiatun, a village on
the shore of Sunk Bay, and as the horsemen appeared every Japanese
soldier vanished, as if by magic, having flung himself down upon the
ground and taken cover. On swept the Cossacks, yelling, lashing their
horses with their whips, and brandishing their long lances. Suddenly,
down went a horse and rider, the next instant a Cossack flung up his
arms and collapsed inert upon his horse's neck, then another reeled and
fell, then two or three went down almost at the same instant, then half
a dozen. And the curious thing about it was that there was nothing, no
sudden spurt of flame, no smoke wreath, no crack of a rifle, to account
for these casualties. That is to say, I could neither see nor hear
anything; but the fact was that those Cossacks were going down before
the calm, deliberate rifle-fire of the concealed Japanese infantry-men.
Then a flash from one of the field-guns of our 3rd Division caught my
eye, and before the sharp bark of it reached