about two o'clock in the morning
Just as the Engineers marched out of camp on their way to Kinchau , the brooding cloud on the summit of Mount Sampson began to send forth flash after flash of vivid lightning , green , blue , and sun-bright , which lighted up not only the rugged slopes of the mountain itself , but also those other and more deadly slopes of the Nanshan Heights , while peal after peal of thunder crashed and rolled and reverberated among the ravines which scored the sides of the mountain . It was a weird enough scene of itself , but its weirdness was intensified by the Russian searchlights , which were turned on with the first crash of thunder , which the Russians appeared to mistake for the roar of Japanese guns . As a matter of fact they appeared to be a bit panicky that night , for not only did they turn on the searchlights at the first sound of thunder , but the occupants of the forts and trenches on the crest and side of Nanshan Heights at once opened a terrific fire from every piece , great or small , that could be brought to bear upon the foot of the slope , which was instantly swept by a very hurricane of shrapnel and rifle bullets , while the Japanese , safely under cover , looked on and smiled . For two hours that storm raged with such fury that the volleying peals of thunder quite outroared the booming of the Russian artillery and rifle-fire , which gradually died down as the Muscovites began to realise that there was no attack ; and about two o'clock in the morning the storm passed away , still rumbling and muttering , to the eastward . But during that two hours of elemental fury , a Chinese village in the neighbourhood was set on fire and practically destroyed , while several Japanese soldiers were struck by lightning , and either killed outright or more or less seriously injured . With the passing of the storm a thick , white mist arose from the low ground , completely blotting out everything beyond a few yards distant ; and under the cover of this mist the Japanese made their dispositions for the coming battle , entirely unseen by the enemy , and probably unheard also , for it was a revelation to me to see how quietly large bodies of men could be moved when the necessity for silence had been fully impressed upon them . As the dawn gradually brightened the sky behind the ridge of Mount Sampson , the Russians again became uneasy , and their rifles once more began to speak from the trenches , a shot here , then another shot yonder , followed by quite a spluttering here and there all along their front ; but their artillery remained silent , for the fog was still so dense that nothing could be seen at which to aim .