Happily neither of these adventurous schemes proved necessary. A ford was found; the water came up to the neck and was under rifle fire, yet that sufficed for the Japanese. On the night of the 30th the Twelfth Division occupied a position with its right on Sandoan and its front toward the river Ai at Ishiko: the Guards Division was north of Tiger Hill on the South bank of the Ai: and the Second Division formed on the South-west of Temple island. Small wonder if the Russians were surprised by the rapidity of this manœuvre. According to the story told by prisoners, they believed that at least a week would be required by the Japanese to complete their crossing to Temple island, and they did not credit the report that they had with them heavy guns. It was on the morning of the 1st of May that the Japanese won their great victory on the Yalu. A strange stillness haunted hill and dale as we rode from camp to the scene of the final struggle. The path across the cultivated plain was deserted: the sentries had left the bridge unguarded, and only deep ruts and hoof-prints told that an army had passed. Wiju was a city of the dead. We entered through the stone arch which was a gate in the olden time, and the tramp of our horses’ hoofs echoed along the silent streets of mean houses. Taking our appointed places near the tower overlooking the river, we awaited the attack. The sun rose upon a scene that banished all thought of war. At our feet flowed the rivers that form the delta. The central and main stream of the Yalu has the deep blue of the _lapis lazuli_, and shone like a girdle between the yellow sand and the dark green bush.