Another suspicious circumstance was that a Chinese boy was found bringing to this house the latest issue of the Vyestneek Manjchurskoi Armee, the official Russian newspaper of Mukden, the inference being that this paper was to be passed on to the Japanese, though, as it only chronicled Russian victories, I do not see how it could have contained much news just then or have been of much assistance to the enemy. But if these Chinese were really spies, they were certainly in good position to supply their employers with news, for all the troops that went to the Russian right had to pass through or near Madyapu.
The Russians also pointed out to me that, on the night before, big conflagrations, started by the Chinese, had revealed to the enemy the headquarters of General Kaulbars and those of Generals Miloff and Tserpitsky respectively; but I am still unconvinced by these arguments, feeling sure that these fires were lighted by the Russians themselves. At the same time I am also convinced that the Japanese got a vast amount of valuable information from their Chinese spies during the course of the battle.
There was at this stage a lot of the usual flapdoodle among the Russian officers about Kuropatkin being c< very angry with Kaulbars for burning all these stores," and, again, about Miloff being perfectly able to hold out if " that idiot, Kuropatkin," had not ordered him to retire.
Finally we got lost in the swollen torrent of men, horses, guns, Red Cross waggons, transport carts and commandeered Chinese vehicles that was rushing toward Mukden. The dust, combined with the darkness, was such that for half an hour after I reached the Russian settlement I could not find the railway station. Lights shone all around me, but they were merely pin-points of varying degrees of brightness in the dense, dark grey haze. They threw no more radiance on the buildings around them than did the Great Bear. We seemed to pass dozens of lines of railway, from which I conjecture that we passed and repassed the numerous sidings about the station. In one of these sidings was Kuropatkin's train. Kaulbars' train was near it. Although the compartment of the commander-in-chief was lighted by electricity, there was also on the table, inside, a neatly shaded lamp, which suggested studious ease and literary seclusion. One window of the brilliantly lighted dining-saloon was blocked by the back of a typical waiter standing in faultless evening dress behind his master's chair, his spine bent at an angle of well-bred attention.
On the steps of the carriage stood Kuropatkin's adjutant, bold, smiling, suave, exceedingly well groomed, every brass button and gold tag on his uniform shining like a mirror. He was chatting pleasantly with somebody and seemed as serenely oblivious of the hordes of beaten men who were tramping past as if he were standing in one of the most exclusive drawing-rooms in St. Petersburg.
At last we found the station and made our way to the restaurant. It was packed with officers, so closely packed that the waiters could not circulate outside the counter, and dishes had to be passed to the people at the tables over the heads of the dense crowd in the centre of the room. Every one save Rikacheff and myself and the waiters was in uniform, and every one was talking loudly and excitedly. It seemed from what they said that all the Japanese attacks on the Russian left and centre had been repulsed with great loss, and this was perfectly true. It was only on the right that we were beaten back this day; and this was due to the absence of the First Siberian Corps, which was now, however, on its way back to the west.
It was everywhere expected that next day — that is, March 4 — Kaulbars would deliver a decisive battle west of Mukden, with the object of isolating and destroying General Nogi, whose presence in that part of the field was now known, and I made an appointment with an officer on Kaulbars' staff, who was to leave Mukden with the commander of the second army at five o'clock the next morning.
Kaulbars did not start, however, at five o'clock the next morning. In fact, he did not start at all. I think he remained in his railway carriage at Mukden station for the next few days — that is, until the battle was decided. And no one can blame him for this, as the Japanese had now come so close to Mukden on the west, and from Mukden better than from any other point Kaulbars could direct the operations of his subordinates against Nogi.