How I came upon this scene is a story that I tell only because of certain incidents that illustrate some of the phases of a battle. When the fight ended, General Kuroki and his staff moved to the Conical Hill, East of Chiu-lien-cheng, and despatched the reserves in pursuit of the enemy. They then advanced to the village where Head Quarters were established for the night. Meanwhile we had returned to our camp, two miles South of Wiju, and awaited orders. None came, and it was necessary to find Head Quarters in order to have our messages censored. Three miles from camp we came to the river, over which an unbroken line of carts and horses and men was passing. The bridge was flimsy to look upon, and shook under our horses feet, yet it had served the purpose of an army, and was now bearing the burden of heavy transport. The stream of stores and munitions of war rolled onward unceasingly with the dull roar of the ocean. By devious paths we approached the second affluent of the Yalu, and crossed over a pontoon bridge under which the current raced like a mill stream, keeping men busy with ropes and stanchions to prevent the boats from changing position in the line. Thus we landed on the second island--a plain of sand and scrub--the extent of which gave us our first true idea of the front across which the Japanese had to pass before they approached the hills beyond. Our only guide was the field wire, which rested now on the branch of a tree, now on a bare stick with a beer bottle for insulator, and now on the ground. In due time we came to the main stream of the Yalu, and crossed over to the Northern delta formed by the Ai-ho, which flows from the Ever White Mountain and joins the Yalu at Chiu-lien-cheng. The pontoon groaned under the weight of hurrying transport, as heavily laden carts, pack animals and coolies in the white dress of Korea hastened in the wake of the army. In the middle of the plain crouched Tiger Hill, like a huge beast of prey resting in the desert. From Wiju the hill is the outline of a tiger with his head to the East and his tail to the West. The reverse slope has no such shape; it is a range of mountains in miniature with broad flat summits and gentle inclines--a fortress in the plain giving command of the hill. [Illustration: The Day after the Retreat.]