CHAPTER XVI
THE CAPTURE OF PEKIN
The day was just breaking as the Japanese moved forward. Rex rode withtheir advance guard, which was moving along on the road with flankingparties in the woods close by. Suddenly there was a sound of rifleshots in the woods, and bullets whizzed through the air overhead. Thecolumn at once broke up, and, taking shelter among the bushes, beganto advance in the direction of the firing, which became heavier everymoment. It was a complete surprise, for no idea had been entertainedthat the Chinese would advance beyond the protection of their walls.
The main body behind had halted. Some wounded men were carried out ofthe woods, but they could give no particulars as to the force that hadattacked them. Presently a mounted Russian officer dashed out fromthe wood and rode up to the head–quarter staff, where he shouted toFukushima that the Russians and Japs were firing upon each other.
Orders were at once given to cease firing, and investigations showedthat the affair had been caused by a few Chinese lurking in the wood,who had fired upon the Japs. The Russians, whose movements wereunknown to the Japs, were advancing on the other side of the wood,and the Japanese bullets flying over their heads led them to believethat they were attacked by the Chinese, and so the two allied forcesskirmished briskly with each other until the mistake was discovered.Unfortunately several men were wounded on both sides, and two Russianskilled.
As soon as the matter was cleared up the Japanese resumed their forwardmarch, and in a short time, on rounding the base of a small eminence,they saw the great wall of Pekin and the massive gate–house.
For a quarter of a mile outside the town extended a labyrinth of narrowstreets. The road ran straight through these to the first gate leadingthrough the great tower. To reach this the wide moat, crossed by agreat stone bridge, had to be traversed. The gate itself could not beseen, as the road made a sharp angle at the tower, and therefore gunscould not be brought to play upon it until they were close up. Beyondthis gate was a large yard, and from this opened the inner gate of thewall itself.
Not a soul was to be seen in the streets, and the Japanese movedforward with a general feeling of expectation and wonderment. Why didnot the Chinese open fire? They were within short range, and yet therewas no sign whatever of the foe.
They began to think that, as at Tung–Chow, the entry was not goingto be opposed, when suddenly, as they rounded the bend, a tremendousfire broke out from the walls and a storm of bullets smote the column.Pending orders, there was nothing for it but to rush for shelter, andthe dispersal of the solid battalions resembled that of a crowd whena thunder–shower breaks suddenly overhead. For a time nothing couldbe done. Crowded in the little houses, the troops waited for theengineers, who were to blow up the gate, to complete their work.
Rex, by stooping low, made his way forward until he reached a pointwhere he could watch what was going on in front. Here he could see thelittle Japanese soldiers cheering as they advanced, running forwardtowards the gate under a tremendous fire of musketry. Of the firstdetachment more than half fell before they had gone many yards, butothers pushed on until almost the last man had fallen. Attempt afterattempt was made, the brave fellows going forward as cheerfully toalmost certain death as if to a fête. It soon became evident, however,that success could not be attained even at the greatest sacrifice oflife, and twenty minutes after its commencement the attack was given up.
Nothing could now be done until night fell and afforded a screen forthe forlorn hope to get up to the gate. The Japanese artillery werebrought up and placed on some elevated ground beyond the suburb outsidethe wall, and opened fire on the gate and its surroundings. Meanwhilethe troops were withdrawn from the houses near the walls, and,scattering among those at a safer distance from it, lay down and waitedfor further orders.
Rex went out with Fukushima to the hill on which the Japanese gunswere preparing to open fire. There were no fewer than sixty–four ofthem, for the most part quite small, and these were soon all at workpounding the great tower and the wall. It was not long, however, beforeit became evident that the massively–built structure was not to beseriously injured by such puny missiles, and while the larger gunswere still kept at work the smaller ones were turned upon the citywall. As a result the enemy?s musketry fire diminished, and soon onlyan occasional shot rang out from the wall. The Chinese fired a fewshells in reply, but strangely enough they did but little in that way,although the outlying suburb might very speedily have been set on fireand the Japs driven out from their shelter.
The Japanese fire continued for six hours, but even at the end of thattime the gate–tower, although its face was closely pock–marked by theballs, had not been seriously damaged. The day passed slowly, and itwas a relief indeed when, as darkness came on, the men again moved upinto the houses on the main road and in the lanes branching from it.After all were ready they were still kept waiting, but at last twoloud explosions were heard. The engineers had done their work, and ina few seconds the Japanese were swarming out of the houses and goingforward at the double, keeping time as they went to the cheerful cry of“One, two; one, two,” with which they always advanced. But the Chinesewere not taken unprepared. A storm of fire broke out from the greattower and the battlements on the walls, as heavy as that which theyhad encountered in the morning. But happily it was to a certain extenta random one, for although the moon had just risen, its light was notsufficiently strong to enable the defenders of the walls to make outthe advancing enemy with any accuracy. Nevertheless, the middle of theroad was so swept with fire that the Japs, as they advanced, had totake what shelter they could in the houses on either side. As they gotto the last broad open space they halted at the corner and then wentforward in batches, cheering and singing. Many fell, but many alsoreached the gate, and once under the wall they were in shelter fromthe fire. The leading parties, dashing through the gate which had beenblown down, speedily drove back those of the defenders gathered there.The gate–house was soon captured, and the troops, as they entered, weremarched up to the top of the wall, and, following this to the right andleft, drove the Chinese before them, the latter, however, offering anobstinate resistance at each bastion.
From the walls the city appeared a mass of ruins. The continuous fireof the Japanese guns had created immense destruction; large spaces hadbeen swept by shot and shell. At some points a heavy fire was openedfrom the ruins upon the white–clad column, which showed up very clearin the moonlight on the top of the wall; but this form of oppositionpresently ceased. Great fires could be seen burning in the direction ofthe Legations, and the column pressed on, anxious to be among the firstto arrive there. Just at midnight, however, they came upon a Russianpicket on the wall, and to their disappointment learned that theLegations had been relieved in the afternoon. They pressed on, however,and at two o?clock entered the Legations.
The general and his staff stopped at the Japanese Legation, but Rexand Ah Lo pushed on over barricades and ruins to that of the British.Here they found almost every square foot of ground occupied, but theymade their way among the sleepers until they reached the hospital.Here alone there were signs of life; lights shone in the windows. Rex,knowing the way well, moved quietly into the kitchen. Fires were stillburning, and kettles and pots were boiling. On the floor, with her headresting on a chair, Mabel was sitting fast asleep. Feeling sure thatJenny was assisting in the wards, he remained quiet for a minute or twountil the head nurse entered with a can for water.
“Ah, Mr. Bateman!” she exclaimed as she saw him, “I am indeed glad tosee you. Your cousins have been very anxious about you. We have nearlyfinished in the hospital now, and shall get an hour or two?s sleep, Ihope. I will send your cousin out to you at once.”
“No, thank you!” said Rex; “now that I know they are both well I amquite content to wait till morning, but I should be obliged if youwould let Jenny know that I have been here.”
“I shall be very glad to do so.”
“We have been practically two nights without sleep,”
said Rex, “andnow I know that the girls are well, I feel that I have only to findroom enough to lie down somewhere, and I shall be off to sleep almostbefore my head touches the ground.”
“I cannot ask you to stop here, Mr. Bateman, for our regulations arevery strict.”
“Thank you! I was not thinking of that, and indeed I should much preferthe open air.”
He joined Ah Lo again, and, lying down on the ground close to theentrance of the hospital, he fell asleep almost immediately.
Although the Japanese had done by far the heaviest fighting andsuffered the greatest loss, the other allies had in some cases hadserious fighting. The Russian attack, although it had been made indefiance of the agreement entered into, that no advance whatevershould be made against the city until all the allies had arrived atthe positions assigned to them, was a gallant affair, and to a certainextent an accident. Their reconnoitring party, consisting of fourhundred infantry and three guns, had pushed forward, meeting with nosigns of the enemy until, to their surprise, they found themselvesclose up to the outer walls, at the angle where the walls of theChinese and Tartar cities join. It was pitch dark when they arrived,and with a sudden rush they disposed of the Chinese guard on duty onthe bridge immediately outside the Tung Pien gate, and then blew a holein the gate itself with their guns. They then mounted on the TartarWall.
Up to this time the opposition they had encountered had been veryslight, which may be accounted for by the fact that the Chinese wereso briskly engaged at the time in an attack upon the Legations thatthe proceedings of the Russians had really been unnoticed. About thistime, however, the moon rose, bringing into relief the Russians movingon the wall. Immediately a desperate fire was opened upon them. Nearlyall the horses with the guns were at once killed, and the infantry,taking their places, dragged the guns back to shelter, near the pointwhere they had entered the city. Urgent demands for reinforcementswere then sent to the main body of the Russian force. The refusal ofthe Japanese to take part in the affair, on the ground that it wasthe result of a breach of the arrangement arrived at by the alliedcommanders, paralyzed the action of the Russian general, and it was notuntil ten o?clock on the following morning that reinforcements arrived.
In the meantime the detachment had been exposed to a continuous andheavy fire, and had been obliged to sally out to defeat a force whichadvanced with the intention of taking them in rear. The attack,although made contrary to the agreement, was of great advantage to theLegations, for a furious onslaught had been made upon them with theevident intention of destroying them before the allies attacked thecity, and therefore releasing the whole of the Chinese force for thepurposes of defence. As soon, however, as the Chinese learned that theRussians had entered the gate, a considerable portion of the forceround the Legation was withdrawn to oppose their advance, and from thatmoment the fury of the assault abated considerably.
The British had met with but slight resistance. Their main body hadleft Tung–Chow at two o?clock on the morning of the fourteenth. Whenwithin a mile of the southeast gate, they bombarded a village and drovethe enemy holding it into the town, and then advancing they entered theChinese city, and pushed on until they reached the Chien gate of theTartar Wall. Here they were welcomed by the allied troops holding thewall near the gate.
They could not, however, let them in, and for a short time the Britishforce were exposed to a galling fire from the Chinese city and fromother parts of the wall. The British, however, knew of the water gatewhich opens into the canal, running up between the Russian and BritishLegations and the Fu, having received news that it was likely to beunguarded, by a messenger sent out by Sir Claude Macdonald. GeneralGaselee, therefore, taking with him the 7th Rajputs and a party of the1st Sikhs, made a dash for this gate, and got through without muchtrouble.
The Chinese, never dreaming that an attack would be made on that sideof the city, had not placed a strong force there, and as soon asGeneral Gaselee had entered by the water gate, a party of Americans andRussians was able without much difficulty to seize the Chien Mên, andso admit the main body of the British force, who were waiting there toenter.
The loss sustained altogether by the allies was small in comparisonwith what might have been anticipated in capturing a town very stronglyfortified and defended by a garrison of courageous men. The Japaneselost about two hundred killed and wounded, the Russians a hundred andtwenty–eight killed and wounded, the Americans, who with the Frenchentered the city immediately after the Russians, twenty–four killed andwounded, while the British had but half a dozen casualties.
Rex slept soundly for three hours, and was then aroused by the dingoing on around him. When he started up he found that, in additionto the crowd who had occupied the place during the siege, numbers ofsoldiers—Sikhs, Rajputs, and Welsh Fusiliers, Royal Marine Infantry,and sailors, were moving about. Scattered among them were a few menof other nationalities who had missed their columns during the nightand had straggled in. Officers and men alike were endeavouring, withthe scanty amount of water at their disposal, to get rid of the dustgathered during the two preceding days. All were talking and laughingin the highest glee at the satisfactory conclusion of their work. Mostof them, like Rex, had slept on the ground, for it was impossible tofind quarters in the already crowded houses.
Giving himself a shake as a substitute for a wash he went across to thehospital. One of the nurses came to the door.
“You are too early, Mr. Bateman,” she said. “Your cousins did not goto bed till half–past two, and we cannot think of waking them tilleight. Fortunately not many wounded were brought in with the troops,and almost all our patients have benefited so greatly by the arrival ofour friends that we are likely to have a quiet day of it. We did nottell your eldest cousin last night; we thought it best not to do so.They heard, of course, that you did not come in with the British, butone of the officers whom we questioned about it said that you were withthe Japs, and would no doubt arrive with them. Your own arrival wasthe first intimation we had that the Japs had come in, so it was muchbetter to let your cousin go quietly to sleep. Had she known that youwere here she would have been wanting to see you, and to hear all aboutyour doings.”
“Thank you!” said Rex; “it was much the best way. I should not havethought of coming in last night, but I feared that they would be uneasywhen they found that I did not arrive with the British. Of courseon the way up I spoke to several of the officers who had been withSeymour?s expedition, but the chances are that none of them would comeyour way. Well, I will go to my friends at the college.”
He was received quite joyously by the young men he knew, and as he hadonly eaten a biscuit on the previous day, some cold food was at onceplaced before him.
“We have been out of meat for some time,” said Sandwich; “only abouthalf a dozen mules are left alive, and they are so desperately thinthat it would be useless to kill them; one might as well try to makesoup out of a clothes–horse. Here, however, is bread and rice and somejam. During the amnesty we managed to buy a good many things, and amongthem six pots of jam. This is the last pot, so you see we are treatingyou royally.”
“Rice and jam are not to be despised, only I hope there is enough rice.I should be sorry to place any limit to the powers of my appetite justat present.”
“Well, you can eat as much as you like, but eat quickly, for we want toknow about everything. We have only heard that there was very littlefighting on the way up, and that the Japs did the principal part of it.”
“Yes, and I was fortunate enough to see it all, for I came up asinterpreter to their head–quarter staff. I can tell you in very fewwords about our march up here; the principal event was the fightingyesterday. But I must finish eating before I begin talking about that.”
After he had made a good meal Rex gave them a full account of thestorming of the gate by the Japanese. When he finished, Sandwich said:“Now, tell us how it is that they have been such a tremendous time inrelieving us, and also what has happened at Tientsin.”
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sp; “The first question is easy enough to answer. All the generals made uptheir minds that the Legations had been captured and the whole lot ofyou massacred, and it was not until a despatch came down from Congerabout ten days before we started, that they really woke up in earnest.But nothing had worked smoothly since the day when they came up torelieve Tientsin. We and the Japs and the Americans got on capitallytogether, but the others were always raising difficulties, especiallythe Russians. The general opinion among us was that they were playing adouble game.”
“In what way, Bateman?”
“Well, that I really cannot tell you. Certainly their generalsaltogether opposed the march up, and it was only when Gaselee andChaffee declared that they would go alone, if none of the others wouldaccompany them, that the Russians had to give way. It was generallybelieved that they wanted in some way to pose as friends of China, andon the strength of that to get concessions and that sort of thing,and especially to obtain from China the concession of the whole ofManchuria. I have no doubt they will try on that game now, when thingssettle down again, unless the other Powers back up China.”
“It is a rum state of things altogether,” Sandwich said.
“Well, tell us all about Tientsin.”
“To begin with, then, Tientsin and the settlements have to a largeextent ceased to exist.”
“What? Was the fighting so severe as that? We have heard nothingwhatever about it.”
“Yes, it was very severe. As far as actual fighting went, you werenot in it here at all. For eight or nine days we were bombarded byany number of guns. The French settlement, which was nearest to theenemy, may be said to have been completely destroyed, the cathedral andmission–houses burned, and the rest of the houses practically knockedto pieces. Our quarters were pounded pretty heavily, but not to thesame extent. We were exposed to a continuous fire from the ruins ofthe Chinese college on the other side of the river, and from all thehouses that remained on that side. Of course we had barricades erectedat the ends of all the streets, but nevertheless it was not altogetherpleasant to walk about in the showers of bullets and shot and shellwhich came practically from all directions. The hottest fighting wasat the railway–station, where it went on night and day.
“Well, when large reinforcements came up, we took the offensive. TheRussians and French did not do much, but the Japs, the Americans, andour fellows had some very hard work. At the end of the first day thingslooked pretty bad. We were established in the suburb outside the town,but farther than that we could not get, and indeed there was somequestion whether we should not fall back after dark. This, however, wasnegatived, but that it should have been even proposed showed that wewere really in a tight place. Fortunately, during the night the samequestion was discussed by the Chinese, and they concluded that as itwas evident that we did not intend to go they had better do so, and thegreater portion of them accordingly marched away. In the morning wecarried the gate between us, the Japs doing most of the fighting, andas soon as we were in, the Chinese bolted like sheep.
“We found that our artillery fire had been most destructive in thetown, and that a large portion of the place was in ruins. This,however, was principally the work of the Chinese themselves, who,during the first stage of the affair, acted like madmen. No oneknows how many of the people suspected of being friendly to us weremassacred; some put it at tens of thousands. At any rate, it was agreat many thousands, and the river was literally full of corpses.Besides killing these people they sacked and set fire to their houses,and this way an enormous amount of damage was done.
“The allies, it must be confessed, did a lot of looting. The Japs,all agreed, behaved best; we and the Americans very fairly; but theRussians, who had done practically nothing towards the taking of thetown, acted in a most brutal way. Moreover, they actually wanted one oftheir number appointed governor. Fortunately, the other Powers wouldnot agree to this, and in the end a commission of three—a Russian, aJap, and an Englishman—were appointed to manage things. A lot of theChinese were enlisted as policemen, and in a day or two the place,which was littered with dead, was got into some sort of order. If thishad not been done, there certainly would have been a pestilence.”
“But what about Seymour?s force?”
“They had to fight their way back, and were getting into great straitsfor provisions, when, luckily enough, by a sudden attack, they capturedthe arsenal of Hsi–Ku, five miles north of the native town. Here theyfound a tremendous quantity of weapons and stores, and a big supply ofrice, and although the Chinese tried to recapture the place, they wereable to hold it without much difficulty until, when the reinforcementscame up from the sea, a strong body went out and relieved them. Theycould hardly have fought their way down without aid, for they had somehundreds of wounded, and a large number of the fighting–men would havebeen required to carry them.”
“And how about the capture of the Taku Forts?”
“Well, I will tell you all about that later. Of course, I did not seethat; we were cut off from the sea for some days.”
“And what were you doing all that time?”
“I joined the volunteers—every able–bodied man did so—and helped inbeating off several attacks on the barrier. I also had a part in someof the fighting at the railway–station, which was about the hottestthing in the whole affair; indeed, we were only saved by the fortunatearrival of a party of Sikhs who came out to take the place of thegarrison, and even with their aid it was a close thing, for the Boxersfought with the greatest pluck, and even crossed bayonets with us.
“But there, I have given you now a rough account of it all; detailswill follow later. Here is your breakfast coming in. I want to take aturn round and see how matters stood up to the time when we arrived,and after that I am going to see my cousins. I was going to say Isuppose you will be all off duty now, but I hear that the firing hasbroken out again. That shows that although we have got in, the Chinesehave not got out, and may give us more trouble before we have done withthem. By the way, what has become of the Empress?”
“She bolted three days ago when she heard, I fancy, that you had takenTung–Chow. I don?t know whether it would be wise to send a force inpursuit of her, considering that the town is still full of Chinesetroops and that there is so much to be done here. Besides, though shehas a tremendous train of baggage with her, it would take some days?march for infantry to catch her, and it would be a risky thing forour small force of cavalry to go alone, as of course she has taken aconsiderable body of troops with her.”
“Yes, I don?t think they will pursue her,” Rex said. “There must besomeone for us to treat with, and if we were to take her prisoner itis pretty certain that, directly we had gone, she would repudiate anytreaty she might make, on the ground that it was obtained from her byforce. The Chinese never hold to treaties, and this would afford themso excellent an excuse for breaking one that the agreement would hardlybe worth the paper it was written on.”
“Well, I shall come back about ten o?clock, and then, before I give youany details of what I have seen, I shall expect you to give me a fullaccount of all that has taken place here since I went away.”
Rex now went to the hospital again. A nurse went to inform the girls ofhis arrival, and almost immediately they came flying out.
“We are glad to see you again, Rex,” Jenny said; “we have been indreadful anxiety about you. When you went away we had no idea that itwould be so dreadfully long before you came back.”
“I did not think it would be myself,” he said, “but it has certainlynot been my fault that I did not get back sooner. I can assure you thatI have been quite as anxious about you as you can have been about me.”
“We were so dreadfully disappointed yesterday when the troops came in,to find that you were not with them. We asked a good many officers, butonly one knew anything about you, and he said that you were with theJapanese.”
“Yes, that was so. It would have been very difficult for me to getleave to come with my own people, but the Japanese were gl
ad of anextra interpreter. Now, how have you been all the time?”
“We have been very well on the whole. Of course we are both thinner,for recently rations have had to be reduced very much; we have had nomeat for the past fortnight, and not a great deal of anything else. Atthe same time we have been kept very busy, for the number of woundedhas been large; but we were very glad to be fully employed, for it wasmuch better to be working here than to have nothing to do but make bagsto hold earth and sand.”
“I can quite understand that. The students were telling me that itwas terribly tedious when they had nothing to do. Certainly they werecalled out to aid the guard at the barriers, when these were heavilyattacked, but often two or three days passed without their beingsummoned.”
“And how are Uncle and Aunt, Rex?” asked Jenny.
“They are both well. They have been besieged just as you were here,and there was very hard fighting. The settlement indeed was very muchknocked about, but fortunately, in spite of the severe shelling,hardly any lives were lost.
“We can come out with you now for an hour,” said Jenny, “and then youcan tell us all about it, and what prevented the army from coming up tohelp us.”
The girls put on their hats and the three sallied forth. As they walkedabout, Rex gave them a graphic account of the fighting at Tientsin.
“And has Ah Lo come up with you, Rex?”
“Certainly he has. I should as soon have thought of coming withouta hat as without him. He is a splendid fellow, and I have got soaccustomed to his company that I really don?t know what I should dowithout him.”
“It is time for us to go back,” Jenny said at last. “We shall be offduty this afternoon at three, and to–morrow or next day we shall leavethe hospital, for most of the wounded are convalescent, and unlessthere is tough fighting the hospital will empty fast, especially nowthat we can get fresh fruit and meat and other things for the patients.”
Rex returned to the room occupied by the students, and there he foundSandwich waiting for him.
“I am feeling like a fish out of water, Bateman,” his friend said.“After being in readiness for the past two months to snatch up ourrifles at any moment and run out to repel an attack, it seems strangeindeed that we can ramble about without any fixed duty, and that ourmilitary work is over. Now, then, I will give you an account of whathas happened here since you left. I have kept a journal ever since thesiege began, so that I can tell you how everything was done in itsright order.
“Nothing came of the letters sent in by Prince Ching. It was soonevident that the war party were supreme again, and the fighting wenton as usual. One prisoner, who was taken the day after you left, saidthat the Empress had issued an edict explaining that the firing oflarge guns was a dangerous practice and liable to do much mischief, andshe therefore ordered the troops to confine themselves to the use ofrifles only. There can be no doubt that this curious edict was issued,and it was supposed to have been the result of representations by theinhabitants of the damage inflicted by their gun fire. No doubt thiswas very extensive, for their fire was always high and every shot thatflew over the Legations must have fallen in the city and inflicteddamage there. At any rate there was much less firing afterwards, andalthough the shells did not inflict any very great damage here, it wasa relief to be free of them. The gun, however, that was being workedagainst the defenders of the Fu, distant only about fifty yards,continued to do great damage, and one night the attack of the Chinesewas so fierce that the Italian guard posted between the British andJapanese retired, and had the Chinese taken advantage of the movementboth the Japs and ourselves would have been cut off and the Fualtogether lost.
“Next day the attack was renewed with great vigour, both on thedefenders of the Fu and on the French Legation. At the latter placetwo explosions took place, the enemy having driven mines under it.The French were forced to retire from the main building, but heldentrenchments that they had prepared behind it. At the same time theChinese made a desperate attempt to force their way into the GermanLegation. They did actually break into the club and set it on fire,but were driven back at the point of the bayonet. The fire, however,spread, and there was great danger that the defence would be forced.The alarm–bell was rung here, the gates were shut, and everyonestood at his post. The attack was maintained with fury till eight inthe evening, then it gradually ceased, and when the enemy retiredthey left the French and Germans still holding the remains of theirLegations. All night the French Legation continued to burn, and thecoolies in the Fu worked unceasingly to extinguish the flames.
“The next day letters were received from Ching urging that theEuropeans should all leave the Legations and go to the yamen. Theproposition was so absurd that a refusal, of course in polite terms,was sent, as even had the Europeans been inclined to trust themselvesto the mercy of the Chinese, they would have been obliged to abandonthe native Christians under their protection.
“On the sixteenth another communication arrived from Ching. The nightpassed quietly. In the morning two Chinese presented themselves at theGerman Legation. Both said they had come to enquire what we meant todo, and to ask if the Foreign Chinese Secretary would go out to discussmatters with the generals. They explained that orders had come to ceasefiring on the Legations, and the bugler said that General Nieh had beendefeated between Taku and Tientsin and had committed suicide.
“An answer was sent that we did not propose to fire without cause, butthat we could not allow the Chinese to continue to build barricades,as they had been doing ever since the first message from Prince Chingreached us. While these letters were being exchanged, Chinese soldierskept coming up to the barricade unarmed and professing friendship. AFrench volunteer was foolish enough to get over a barricade and go out.He had better luck than he deserved, for he was taken to Jung Lu?shead–quarters, where he was well treated. He was closely questioned asto the state of things in the Legation, and said, in reply, that wewere having a first–rate time, enjoying ourselves greatly, and wantednothing but fresh fruit. The Chinese thereupon gave him some melonsand peaches and sent him back.
“Now I think I must stop for ten minutes and wet my whistle. I have nothad as much experience as you in relating adventures, and I find thiscontinuous talking somewhat trying.”