Into the river they rushed. The waters were deep and the current was strong, yet in they sprang, holding their rifles aloft. Up to their necks they were, and only one man was drowned. Under cover of the precipice they darted toward the exposed flank of the Russians. Before this desperate onslaught the shaken enemy could not stand. They fled down the slope, and, massing near a plantation, made ready for flight. But their retirement was not so orderly and deliberate as at Mou-tien-ling. The guns opened and they bolted like hares. To complete their discomfiture two companies and one section had scaled the heights on the North, and, hurrying West, suddenly appeared among the hills on the Russian flank. The enemy were now under rifle fire from three sides and did not stop to arrange the order of their going. The flight spread North and West, and at a quarter past five o’clock in the afternoon the flag of the Rising Sun floated over Chaotoa and one hundred and fifty Russians dead. Sixty-five prisoners were taken of whom thirty-three were unwounded. Many wounded were carried from the field early in the day when the fight was practically suspended. Among the spoil were 215 rifles, 17,878 rounds of ammunition, three caisons, 152 shells, 26 tents, seven drums and four trumpets. The Japanese casualties were 523--two officers and seventy men killed, sixteen officers and 435 men wounded. The Japanese guns fired 440 common shells and 2,500 shrapnel shells. The capture of Chaotoa was a brilliant exploit, and must be accepted as another proof of the immense superiority of the Japanese infantry. The Russian troops were from Europe; they outnumbered their assailants by nearly two to one; their twenty-four field guns were opposed to mountain batteries; their position was strong by nature and art, and much depended on their retention of Chaotoa. The flanking movements were splendidly executed; and the one regret was that Colonel Hiraoka did not live to reap the reward of his victory. Chapter XXIV THE ADVANCE ON LIAO-YANG. A GENERAL ACTION.