South of the Sha River the enemy still held one position until October the 27th. Its tactical value to the Russians was insignificant, though its importance was great as a post of observation. Whoever retained the hill could survey the lines of both armies and note their movements. Haitaoshan, which means the Mountain of Irregular Crest, is about twelve miles North-east by East of the coal mine at Yentai. It is a four peaked hill that looks as if it had been riven from the wild ranges that run Eastward, like a myriad writhing dragons, and set down on the river flat. Bare heights bend round it on the South, across the shallow stream: to the East rises the land of monstrous furrows--brown hills and brown valleys--while on the North stretches the grey plain of Mukden. Haitaoshan runs almost East and West and from the peaks descend ridges like ribs. The Western peak is the highest and is crowned with the ruins of a small temple surrounded by an ancient wall. The Eastern shoulder falls sharply into a green hollow. Between these points are three small eminences or peaks joined by bow-shaped saddles. The mountain is very steep and the slopes are clothed with long fine grass slippery as ice. In this stronghold--a spy and a menace to our investing lines--lay the 2nd battalion of the 18th Regiment of Sharpshooters. They had made themselves very snug and secure. Along the summit ran a deep trench by which a man might walk from one end of the mountain to the other and not be seen. The trench was covered and gave access to three breastworks built about the peaks like redoubts and flanked by trenches. Into these shelters the Russians had carried stoves--for the night and early morning were bitterly cold--and an abundant supply of food and drink as though prepared for a siege. It was evident that they feared a night attack and had taken wise precautions. Assault whether by night or day must come from the Eastern slope, since that alone was assailable. Their design was to draw the Japanese--should they come in the darkness--beyond the first line of defence on the East across the narrow ridge toward the second peak, behind which were hidden five or six machine guns that would sweep the approach with a sheet of lead and leave not a man alive. It was a very clever scheme, carefully thought out and skillfully arranged. Had the Japanese tried to storm the position in the night they must have failed and have suffered heavy loss. But just when you think that you have caught the habit of the Japanese and feel disposed to prophesy, they do something quite unexpected. And so it happened, unfortunately for the Russian plan, that Haitaoshan was assailed not at night but in broad day, and was captured with the loss of only one hundred and seventy men, of whom seventy were killed.