y--by
which time it had become too dark for me to signal to our squadron in
the offing--I made my way down the hillside to the spot where the
headquarters staff was established and, seeking General Oku's tent,
entered and reported myself. The General received me very kindly and
courteously, but I could see in a moment that he was tremendously busy,
the tent being full of officers to whom he was rapidly issuing orders.
Having therefore reported myself and received orders to remain in camp
for the night, I withdrew and sought the hospitality of my hosts of the
previous night, who accorded me a very warm and cordial welcome. But
there was none of that joyousness, that exaltation of spirits that I had
expected to see as a result of the brilliant victory which we had
gained; our numbers were less than they had been on the previous night,
the absentees were lying out under the stars, either dead or wounded,
somewhere yonder upon those shot-scored, blood-drenched slopes of
Nanshan, and the joy of victory was quenched in sorrow for the fallen.
We snatched a hasty, almost silent meal, and then those of us who had
not to go forth on duty rolled ourselves in our cloaks and sought the
relief of sleep.

For my own part, I slept like a log, and only awoke when the bugles
sounded the reveille. Our little party turned out, tubbed, took
breakfast, and then, at the sound of the "assembly," sallied forth to
see what was to be the next item on the programme.

Strong ambulance parties had been busily engaged all through the night,
collecting the wounded and bringing them in to the hospital tents, but
that work was now practically finished, and the preparations for the
disposal of the dead had not yet been begun. The still weary troops
were falling in, under arms, and in the distance I recognised General
Oku, surrounded by the members of his staff, already on the ground. The
commanding officers were at their posts, the non-commissioned officers
were busily engaged in seeing that the troops were all in order for
inspection, and a few minutes later the roll call was being gone
through. This done, the troops were put through a few simple evolutions
which terminated in their being drawn up in close formation constituting
three sides of a hollow square, with the men all facing inward. General
Oku then summoned an aide-de-camp to his side, gave him a brief order,
and the aide, saluting, turned away and glanced rapidly about him,
finally m