The Russians were evidently satisfied with the physical advantages of the position, for they had toiled long and arduously to strengthen it. On the crest of the barrier reef were several empalements for modern quick-firing guns that could have swept the valley from end to end. Other guns--about fifty in all--were to have been posted on the flanking hills. Here, too, were trenches, long lines of them; not the primitive deathtraps that we saw on the North bank of the Yalu, but real trenches, scientifically made, five feet six in depth, giving head cover and approached by traverses. And at the back of the position--a little to the East--stands a bold conical hill, upon which the Russians had constructed a large circular and traversed trench like a fort, dominating the road. Why had they forsaken these splendid defences? The explanation was simple. They were in momentary danger of being outflanked. One division of General Kuroki’s army was marching along the Pekin road; another was on the left, and a third on the right. Of the movements of the flanking columns we knew nothing beyond the fact that West of Mou-tien-ling there is a point at which they might concentrate and join forces with the central column. Herein lay the danger of the Russian position at the Dividing of the Waters. Unless General Kuropatkin was well informed of the movements of the Japanese, and unless he was better prepared than we had hitherto found him he could not hope to check the advance of these three independent divisions. The utmost that could be expected from the Russians was that they might hold the central column and harass the march of the flanking columns long enough to assemble a force to prevent any concentration West of Mou-tien-ling, on the Pekin road. The withdrawal of the main body of the Russian army from Liao-yang to Kai-ping and Hai-cheng made this impossible, and the road North lay open to the Japanese. As the divisions on our flanks advanced the Russian troops at Fun-sui-rei, or the Dividing of the Waters, had no choice save to retire. When we ascended the barrier there was not a sign of the enemy; the trenches were empty; the empalements were deserted; the Russians had withdrawn four days before. Looking South we saw the long line of Japanese transport moving along the valley between green hills, and away in the distance rose a tumultuous sea of purple mountains with crests uplifted to the sky. At Lien-chen-kwan--five miles from the water shed--we halted once more, and had another opportunity of realising that the army to which we were attached was only one of the pawns upon the chessboard. We had exhausted our moves and must wait.