This is the first occasion that I have known cavalry to be of service in Manchuria except for reconnaisance work and masking the advance of large bodies of infantry. In the mountainous region, where the movements of cavalry must be confined to bad and often impassable roads, it was admitted that the Cossacks had no chance of displaying their boasted dash and prowess. When we approached the plains and when the harvests were reaped we looked for some activity on the part of Russian horsemen: but the furrowed fields of friable loam, bristling with millet stubble, hard as bamboo and sharp as razors, evidently acted as a strong deterrent. Save when dismounted to cover the flank of the army retiring from Liao-yang, the Cossacks have done nothing more than demonstrate how great a reputation may be built on tradition. On the other hand, further observation has tended to modify the opinion of experts as to the quality of the Japanese cavalry and to acknowledge that it has some merits. On the South, then, Ponchiho was saved by the cavalry brigade, but North of the Tai-tsu the situation was unchanged. The strength and determination of the enemy were undiminished, and though the Japanese fought with courage and skill they could do no more than hold their positions. Chapter XXXV THE LAST STRUGGLE. The end was drawing near. Under cover of darkness attacks were made on Bastion Hill and the heights to the South-east. They began at one in the morning and were attended with some loss, the enemy using hand grenades charged with tiny sharp-edged lozenges of steel that inflicted cruel wounds. At five o’clock a general advance was ordered, and we occupied the heights on the other side of the stream North of Bastion Hill. Progress, however, was very slow, the Russians remaining in strong position to the North whence they maintained a heavy cannonade. The army on our left continued to harass the railway North of Yentai, and strove to drive the enemy into the mountainous region on the East. The operations of the 12th were not very effective, though preparations had been made to envelope the Russians in three loops--one on the East, another on the South, a third on the West.