On the night of the 26th of October a message was brought from Head-Quarters that at eight o’clock next morning a certain mountain eight miles from Bastion Hill would be bombarded. The invitation did not sound promising, for artillery duels had long been daily episodes, and are rarely interesting save when they pave the way for infantry. However, we went and were rewarded by a notable example of artillery and infantry working together as smoothly and effectively as if they were the fly wheel and the driving wheel of one engine. South of Haitaoshan, at a distance of about three thousand yards, rise precipitous hills, on one of which, well hidden from the enemy’s view, was a field battery. To the East, among the heights, was posted another battery, and to the West on a lower elevation was a third battery of captured Russian guns. North of Haitaoshan the hills are more remote, and to bring their artillery within effective range of our batteries the enemy would have to expose their guns in the open. As soon as the morning mist cleared and revealed the heights beyond the Sha-ho dotted with dark figures, the bombardment began. From the batteries on the East and South came a slow and steady succession of shells directed against the trenches on the Eastern slope and the breastworks on the summit of the mountain. The Russians strove to reply from the cover of a low ridge on the North-west, but their efforts were futile. The range was too great, and our batteries could have been hit only by accident. It was notable that whereas the Japanese used high explosive shells against the trenches, the enemy employed shrapnel. The cannonade continued without incident until one o’clock in the afternoon, when the infantry began to advance.