For five long months we had lived in the mountains. Day after day we had toiled and sweated up the hillsides, and always our vision had been bounded by a narrow horizon. We had grown weary of prison ranges and a world that was a tumultuous sea of green. We panted for the freedom of the plains, for a distant horizon and unfettered vision. And here they lay before us. It was on the morning of August 27th that we had our first glimpse of the great plain that stretches North to the fringe of the Gobi desert. It looked unreal--a mirage of yellow and green fading into infinite space. The mountain on which we stood, among gruesome evidences of the combat, was veiled in mist that rolled aside like a curtain and revealed the panorama of hill and valley. Bending like a bow to the East the river Tang gleamed like an opal set in narrow bands of emerald and gold. Along the near bank moved dark lines of men and horses and wagons, stretching for miles till they vanished behind the spur of a hill, and crossing over by a bridge, reappeared on the plain beyond. In an unbroken stream they flowed past the white tents in the bed of the river and vanished once more among the trees of a village on the plain. From the mountains about Am-ping descended tributary rivulets of men and horses, and away to our right tiny clouds of white vapour on the dark slopes and crest showed that the Japanese were encouraging them to flight. What a target they made, and what havoc might have been wrought by a few well-placed guns of long range! How great would have been the spoils! How complete the victory! Again and again did the Japanese bemoan the fate that had given them guns of short range and light projectile. Pursuit was out of the question, for the enemy, conscious of immunity from shell fire, concentrated his force with exasperating deliberation, being fully alive to the fact that in their present formation the Japanese would never venture to follow. All we could do was to look upon the spectacle, and moralise on the subject of long range artillery. We had driven the enemy across the Tang-ho, but they still held the heights North and West of Am-ping and had a second line of defensive works beyond the river. A great change, however, had come over the whole situation. The armies of the West and South had encountered the Russians at Anshantien and found them loth to venture on a decisive issue. At half-past six o’clock on the evening of August 27th, General Kuroki received the following message from Field Marshall Oyama:--“The enemy at Anshantien has begun to retire. This may be the effect of the First Army’s attack on its flank. I have given orders to the Second and Fourth Armies to pursue.” Upon this came another communication from Grand Head Quarters:--“The retreat of the enemy is confirmed. The Second and Fourth Armies are pursuing.” Before the advancing legions of Japan the enemy were fleeing toward Liao-yang and their last defences.