Out of this carnage rose a handful of desperate men. Without pause or hesitation they charged right to the crest. Fronting them stood a line of stalwart Russians, and again we saw as in a troubled dream the bloody work of bayonet. In a minute or two the end came. Another company ran forward to the edge of the slope, and over the summit tumbled the fragments of the heroic defence. When I passed over the hill it was strewn with dead--many of whom had fallen under shrapnel fire. To the onlooker it is often a surprise that any survive these fierce assaults, but experience has shown that rifles at two hundred yards are less dangerous than at one thousand yards. The aim is less steady; the firing is nearly always wild, and most of the shots fly overhead. The slaughter begins a few moments after flight. In this attack the Okasaki Brigade received indirect aid from a brigade of Guards who engaged the enemy on the East. A battalion advanced toward the high ground, two companies extended three paces apart, a second company at a distance of six hundred yards, and a third in column. They crossed the open, the leading company at the double, the other companies at a walk. The second line suffered, but the advance was not checked, and in time the troops came to the village of Karikilon at the foot of the hill. Here the second line took cover, while the first continued its rapid progress. The hill was steep; the grass was slippery, and there was no room for an extended front. The casualties were many, and two more companies were sent to reinforce. Ammunition ran short, but the attack was pressed until many of the Japanese came within twelve paces of the enemy’s first line of trenches. Realising that the loss of this hill would bring disaster upon their entire force, the Russians fought with stubborn courage. Fresh troops poured into the trenches and prepared to deliver a counter attack, but at the critical moment the artillery of the Guards opened with so much vigour and accuracy that the counter attack had to be abandoned. Still the Japanese were unable to advance, and in order to retain their ground were obliged to entrench. Two more companies, under Colonel Ota, went forward to aid their sorely-pressed comrades, and throwing aside everything except rifle and bayonet, rushed into the heart of the battle. “It is life or death!” shouted their commander as they swept into the firing line, and carrying the other companies with them, charged the trenches.