134 XI. CHAMPIONS. YINKOW, October. THE moment of deadlock had arrived. The Russian counter-attack, desperate though it had been, had failed to get home; but the Japanese infantry, immovable itself, was unable to turn the mass of Russians from behind the fold in the ground which they had reached. Barely three hundred paces separated the muzzles of these opposing lines of blackened rifles. But that narrow green strip was impassable to both. To show upon it was to court almost certain death. Already the turf was littered with fallen men, and scarred and seared with the violence of plunging shell. But the artillery fire from both sides had now ceased, since from the gun positions it was impossible to discriminate between friend and foe. Lieutenant Tokugawa, of the -st Regiment of Imperial Japanese Infantry, lay amongst his men, with his eyes fixed upon a slight mound midway between the firing lines. The five stones which served him as head-cover gave him a scant loop-hole. The little mound attracted him. It was little more than a fairy ring-perhaps it was some Manchu's grave; but it fascinated Tokugawa, and he made a mental measure of its distance. He was calculating if it should be the limit of the next rush when it was ordered. Tokugawa was a little man. But though his stature was small in the matter of cubits, his back was that of an athlete. He had the reputation of being the bravest and strongest man in the regiment, where all were brave and strong. That mound-innocent little heap of emerald green-was exercising its fascination upon another soldier. Two of the most sanguinary rushes made before the Russian counterstroke finally failed had been led by a tall fair subaltern and a long-haired priest. Twice had these two placed themselves in front of a group of desperate men and striven to win their way to the Japanese bayonets, and twice had rifle fire obliterated the attempt, leaving but a handful to regain the shelter of the dip. The fair subaltern's eye had caught the mound. It marked the possible place for a pause, and, setting his teeth, he marshalled his shattered sections for a last despairing effort. The afternoon sun caught the glint of the tapering bayonets as the obedient moujiks rose to their feet. A clatter of rifles brought into position passed down the Japanese firing-line as the watchful little eyes accepted the warning. Up rose the youthful subaltern and priest, |