Volunteers were not wanting to undertake this dangerous enterprise. Officers of the navy and army put off in small boats under cover of night, and searched every mile of the coast and of the tracks leading therefrom. The peninsula of South-West of Charenkwan was deemed the best place, and General Kuroki decided to send a force sufficient to cover the landing of guns and supplies at Richao. A large number of men would be needed should the Russians discover the secret and descend into the peninsula. But again rose the problem of feeding a detached body of troops, whose sea communications were dependent on the weather and on the absence of a Russian squadron. After careful calculation General Kuroki came to the conclusion that he could not send more than two regiments of cavalry and one regiment of infantry. This force accordingly marched North and came to Chonju on March 28th. General Michtchenko four days earlier had received a message reproaching him for having allowed Pyng-yang to be occupied by a single company of Japanese infantry, and commanding him to do something to check the rapid advance of the enemy. He accordingly went South with six hundred Cossacks, and encountered the Japanese detached force under the walls of Chonju. The Russians attacked Chonju from three sides, and were opposed at first by only a few soldiers who had been left to hold the town. Hearing shots some cavalry of the Guard that had ridden North returned with all speed, and messengers were despatched to warn the main body. Hard pressed, and almost surrounded, the Japanese held a position South of Chonju, until reinforced by infantry from main detachment, who arrived breathless after a race of three miles. Seizing elevations on the East and South-east the infantry opened fire, and drove back the Cossacks, who fell back upon Charenkwan. This little victory secured for the Japanese a fresh landing place. Roads, however, must be made before howitzers and carts could be moved inland. This was a work of tremendous difficulty, for the whole country-side was a fathomless bog. Yet the engineers of the Second Division were equal to the task, despite the fact that for twenty days they had been making every foot of the road along which the division marched from Chinampo. From Richao, where the howitzers were put on shore, to the main road at Charenkwan is a distance of fifteen miles--fifteen miles of rice fields and morass. Pine trees were cut from the hills and sunk in the mire until a foundation could be secured for branches and brush wood, which in turn were covered with earth. In nine days a path was made from the sea, and the pioneers of the Second Division had the satisfaction of knowing that if heavy artillery failed the Japanese as it did in the Chinese War it would not be for the same reason. Chapter VII EN ROUTE FOR THE FRONT.