At noon the order was given for our left to advance, and after a heroic effort one regiment reached the foot of a wooded hill on which the enemy had three tiers of trenches. Beyond this point they could not go, for the slope was swept with a sheet of lead. Here they lay panting from their great exertions, and from the heat of the day. The sun beat down upon them with pitiless intensity; the ground was like an oven; the air vibrated with waves of heat like a mirage in the desert. Many were already suffering from sun stroke and heat apoplexy. The men were enduring all the torments of thirst, their lips were dry and cracked; their tongues were hard and parched, and their eyes were scorched with the glare. And to add to their agony there ran in front of them a brook, clear and cold from the mountains. I have seen men and horses stampede at sight of the Nile and throw themselves into the yellow flood, and I have watched soldiers quench their thirst amid a hail of bullets. The risk was great, but the need was greater, and across the deadly space dashed the Japanese. Plunging their heads into the brook they cooled their parched throats and fevered skins, and came back to cover. Another regiment had worked its way painfully and with loss to a position within six or seven hundred yards from a ridge, the approach to which was like a glacis. On the ridge were five hundred riflemen. They had no trench, yet they held a whole regiment beyond that “long deadly zone of horizontal fire which is the most powerful factor in battle.” This small body of Russians was composed of determined men; they took steady and careful aim; the ground was favourable, and the result was that which we so often saw in South Africa. When a Japanese raised his head it was to receive a bullet; when an officer showed himself it was to have a volley. Against such a fire mere masses could not avail. With European troops it is agreed that fifteen per cent. of casualties will check an advance. A greater percentage would be needed to stop Japanese infantry, but even to their reckless courage there is a limit and that limit was reached on our left. The casualties were slowly mounting up. Among the officers slain was Lieut. Shirasawa, who played a brilliant part in the attack on Hamatan on May 1st, leading his section up the hill to capture the Russians, and Sub-Lieut. Kiroke, member of a noble house, who died crying: “Long live the Emperor!” Through the long hot hours the fight went on and still no signs of advance. From an eminence near the Temple in the Pass General Kuroki and his Staff, with whom was General Sir Ian Hamilton, looked on and received the reports of orderlies and gallopers. And always the sky was flecked with tiny white clouds and the hills in front spurted brown dust and clouds of smoke. Again the Russian gunners poured a quick fire of shrapnel into the batteries and drove the Japanese artillery-men to shelter.