THE CAPTURE OF PEKIN
The day was just breaking as the Japanese moved forward. Rex rode with
their advance guard, which was moving along on the road with flanking
parties in the woods close by. Suddenly there was a sound of rifle
shots in the woods, and bullets whizzed through the air overhead. The
column at once broke up, and, taking shelter among the bushes, began
to advance in the direction of the firing, which became heavier every
moment. It was a complete surprise, for no idea had been entertained
that the Chinese would advance beyond the protection of their walls.
The main body behind had halted. Some wounded men were carried out of
the woods, but they could give no particulars as to the force that had
attacked them. Presently a mounted Russian officer dashed out from
the wood and rode up to the head–quarter staff, where he shouted to
Fukushima that the Russians and Japs were firing upon each other.
Orders were at once given to cease firing, and investigations showed
that the affair had been caused by a few Chinese lurking in the wood,
who had fired upon the Japs. The Russians, whose movements were
unknown to the Japs, were advancing on the other side of the wood,
and the Japanese bullets flying over their heads led them to believe
that they were attacked by the Chinese, and so the two allied forces
skirmished briskly with each other until the mistake was discovered.
Unfortunately several men were wounded on both sides, and two Russians
killed.
As soon as the matter was cleared up the Japanese resumed their forward
march, 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 narrow
streets. The road ran straight through these to the first gate leading
through the great tower. To reach this the wide moat, crossed by a
great stone bridge, had to be traversed. The gate itself could not be
seen, as the road made a sharp angle at the tower, and therefore guns
could not be brought to play upon it until they were close up. Beyond
this gate was a large yard, and from this opened the inner gate of the
wall itself.
Not a soul was to be seen in the streets, and the Japanese moved
forward with a general feeling of expectation and wonderment. Why did
not the Chinese open fire? They were within short range, and yet there
was no sign whatever of the foe.
They began to think that, as at Tung–Chow, the entry was not going
to be opposed, when suddenly, as they rounded the bend, a tremendous
fire 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, and
the dispersal of the solid battalions resembled that of a crowd when
a thunder–shower breaks suddenly overhead. For a time nothing could
be done. Crowded in the little houses, the troops waited for the
engineers, who were to blow up the gate, to complete their work.
Rex, by stooping low, made his way forward until he reached a point
where he could watch what was going on in front. Here he could see the
little Japanese soldiers cheering as they advanced, running forward
towards the gate under a tremendous fire of musketry. Of the first
detachment more than half fell before they had gone many yards, but
others pushed on until almost the last man had fallen. Attempt after
attempt was made, the brave fellows going forward as cheerfully to
almost certain death as if to a fête. It soon became evident, however,
that success could not be attained even at the greatest sacrifice of
life, and twenty minutes after its commencement the attack was given up.
Nothing could now be done until night fell and afforded a screen for
the forlorn hope to get up to the gate. The Japanese artillery were
brought up and placed on some elevated ground beyond the suburb outside
the wall, and opened fire on the gate and its surroundings. Meanwhile
the troops were withdrawn from the houses near the walls, and,
scattering among those at a safer distance from it, lay down and waited
for further orders.
Rex went out with Fukushima to the hill on which the Japanese guns
were preparing to open fire. There were no fewer than sixty–four of
them, for the most part quite small, and these were soon all at work
pounding the great tower and the wall. It was not long, however, before
it became evident that the massively–built structure was not to be
seriously injured by such puny missiles, and while the larger guns
were still kept at work the smaller ones were turned upon the city
wall. As a result the enemyʼs musketry fire diminished, and soon only
an occasional shot rang out from the wall. The Chinese fired a few
shells in reply, but strangely enough they did but little in that way,
although the outlying suburb might very speedily have been set on fire
and the Japs driven out from their shelter.
The Japanese fire continued for six hours, but even at the end of that
time the gate–tower, although its face was closely pock–marked by the
balls, had not been seriously damaged. The day passed slowly, and it
was a relief indeed when, as darkness came on, the men again moved up
into 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 two
loud explosions were heard. The engineers had done their work, and in
a few seconds the Japanese were swarming out of the houses and going
forward at the double, keeping time as they went to the cheerful cry of
“One, two; one, two,” with which they always advanced. But the Chinese
were not taken unprepared. A storm of fire broke out from the great
tower and the battlements on the walls, as heavy as that which they
had encountered in the morning. But happily it was to a certain extent
a random one, for although the moon had just risen, its light was not
sufficiently strong to enable the defenders of the walls to make out
the advancing enemy with any accuracy. Nevertheless, the middle of the
road was so swept with fire that the Japs, as they advanced, had to
take what shelter they could in the houses on either side. As they got
to the last broad open space they halted at the corner and then went
forward in batches, cheering and singing. Many fell, but many also
reached the gate, and once under the wall they were in shelter from
the fire. The leading parties, dashing through the gate which had been
blown down, speedily drove back those of the defenders gathered there.
The gate–house was soon captured, and the troops, as they entered, were
marched up to the top of the wall, and, following this to the right and
left, drove the Chinese before them, the latter, however, offering an
obstinate resistance at each bastion.
From the walls the city appeared a mass of ruins. The continuous fire
of the Japanese guns had created immense destruction; large spaces had
been swept by shot and shell. At some points a heavy fire was opened
from the ruins upon the white–clad column, which showed up very clear
in the moonlight on the top of the wall; but this form of opposition
presently ceased. Great fires could be seen burning in the direction of
the Legations, and the column pressed on, anxious to be among the first
to arrive there. Just at midnight, however, they came upon a Russian
picket on the wall, and to their disappointment learned that the
Legations had been relieved in the afternoon. They pressed on, however,
and at two oʼclock entered the Legations.
The general and his staff stopped at the Japanese Legation, but Rex
and Ah Lo pushed on over barricades and ruins to that of the British.
Here they found almost every square foot of ground occupied, but they
made 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 still
burning, and kettles and pots were boiling. On the floor, with her head
resting on a chair, Mabel was sitting fast asleep. Feeling sure that
Jenny was assisting in the wards, he remained quiet for a minute or two
until the head nurse entered with a can for water.
“Ah, Mr. Bateman!” she exclaimed as she saw him, “I am indeed glad to
see you. Your cousins have been very anxious about you. We have nearly
finished in the hospital now, and shall get an hour or twoʼs sleep, I
hope. I will send your cousin out to you at once.”
“No, thank you!” said Rex; “now that I know they are both well I am
quite content to wait till morning, but I should be obliged if you
would 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, “and
now I know that the girls are well, I feel that I have only to find
room enough to lie down somewhere, and I shall be off to sleep almost
before my head touches the ground.”
“I cannot ask you to stop here, Mr. Bateman, for our regulations are
very strict.”
“Thank you! I was not thinking of that, and indeed I should much prefer
the open air.”
He joined Ah Lo again, and, lying down on the ground close to the
entrance of the hospital, he fell asleep almost immediately.
Although the Japanese had done by far the heaviest fighting and
suffered the greatest loss, the other allies had in some cases had
serious fighting. The Russian attack, although it had been made in
defiance of the agreement entered into, that no advance whatever
should be made against the city until all the allies had arrived at
the positions assigned to them, was a gallant affair, and to a certain
extent an accident. Their reconnoitring party, consisting of four
hundred infantry and three guns, had pushed forward, meeting with no
signs of the enemy until, to their surprise, they found themselves
close up to the outer walls, at the angle where the walls of the
Chinese and Tartar cities join. It was pitch dark when they arrived,
and with a sudden rush they disposed of the Chinese guard on duty on
the bridge immediately outside the Tung Pien gate, and then blew a hole
in the gate itself with their guns. They then mounted on the Tartar
Wall.
Up to this time the opposition they had encountered had been very
slight, which may be accounted for by the fact that the Chinese were
so briskly engaged at the time in an attack upon the Legations that
the proceedings of the Russians had really been unnoticed. About this
time, however, the moon rose, bringing into relief the Russians moving
on the wall. Immediately a desperate fire was opened upon them. Nearly
all the horses with the guns were at once killed, and the infantry,
taking their places, dragged the guns back to shelter, near the point
where they had entered the city. Urgent demands for reinforcements
were then sent to the main body of the Russian force. The refusal of
the Japanese to take part in the affair, on the ground that it was
the result of a breach of the arrangement arrived at by the allied
commanders, paralyzed the action of the Russian general, and it was not
until ten oʼclock on the following morning that reinforcements arrived.
In the meantime the detachment had been exposed to a continuous and
heavy fire, and had been obliged to sally out to defeat a force which
advanced with the intention of taking them in rear. The attack,
although made contrary to the agreement, was of great advantage to the
Legations, for a furious onslaught had been made upon them with the
evident intention of destroying them before the allies attacked the
city, and therefore releasing the whole of the Chinese force for the
purposes of defence. As soon, however, as the Chinese learned that the
Russians had entered the gate, a considerable portion of the force
round the Legation was withdrawn to oppose their advance, and from that
moment the fury of the assault abated considerably.
The British had met with but slight resistance. Their main body had
left Tung–Chow at two oʼclock on the morning of the fourteenth. When
within a mile of the southeast gate, they bombarded a village and drove
the enemy holding it into the town, and then advancing they entered the
Chinese city, and pushed on until they reached the Chien gate of the
Tartar Wall. Here they were welcomed by the allied troops holding the
wall near the gate.
They could not, however, let them in, and for a short time the British
force were exposed to a galling fire from the Chinese city and from
other parts of the wall. The British, however, knew of the water gate
which opens into the canal, running up between the Russian and British
Legations and the Fu, having received news that it was likely to be
unguarded, by a messenger sent out by Sir Claude Macdonald. General
Gaselee, therefore, taking with him the 7th Rajputs and a party of the
1st Sikhs, made a dash for this gate, and got through without much
trouble.
The Chinese, never dreaming that an attack would be made on that side
of the city, had not placed a strong force there, and as soon as
General Gaselee had entered by the water gate, a party of Americans and
Russians was able without much difficulty to seize the Chien Mên, and
so admit the main body of the British force, who were waiting there to
enter.
The loss sustained altogether by the allies was small in comparison
with what might have been anticipated in capturing a town very strongly
fortified and defended by a garrison of courageous men. The Japanese
lost about two hundred killed and wounded, the Russians a hundred and
twenty–eight killed and wounded, the Americans, who with the French
entered the city immediately after the Russians, twenty–four killed and
wounded, while the British had but half a dozen casualties.
Rex slept soundly for three hours, and was then aroused by the din
going on around him. When he started up he found that, in addition
to the crowd who had occupied the place during the siege, numbers of
soldiers—Sikhs, Rajputs, and Welsh Fusiliers, Royal Marine Infantry,
and sailors, were moving about. Scattered among them were a few men
of other nationalities who had missed their columns during the night
and had straggled in. Officers and men alike were endeavouring, with
the scanty amount of water at their disposal, to get rid of the dust
gathered during the two preceding days. All were talking and laughing
in the highest glee at the satisfactory conclusion of their work. Most
of them, like Rex, had slept on the ground, for it was impossible to
find quarters in the already crowded houses.
Giving himself a shake as a substitute for a wash he went across to the
hospital. One of the nurses came to the door.
“You are too early, Mr. Bateman,” she said. “Your cousins did not go
to bed till half–past two, and we cannot think of waking them till
eight. Fortunately not many wounded were brought in with the troops,
and almost all our patients have benefited so greatly by the arrival of
our friends that we are likely to have a quiet day of it. We did not
tell 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, but
one of the officers whom we questioned about it said that you were with
the Japs, and would no doubt arrive with them. Your own arrival was
the first intimation we had that the Japs had come in, so it was much
better to let your cousin go quietly to sleep. Had she known that you
were here she would have been wanting to see you, and to hear all about
your doings.”
“Thank you!” said Rex; “it was much the best way. I should not have
thought of coming in last night, but I feared that they would be uneasy
when they found that I did not arrive with the British. Of course
on the way up I spoke to several of the officers who had been with
Seymourʼs expedition, but the chances are that none of them would come
your 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 had
only eaten a biscuit on the previous day, some cold food was at once
placed before him.
“We have been out of meat for some time,” said Sandwich; “only about
half a dozen mules are left alive, and they are so desperately thin
that it would be useless to kill them; one might as well try to make
soup out of a clothes–horse. Here, however, is bread and rice and some
jam. During the amnesty we managed to buy a good many things, and among
them six pots of jam. This is the last pot, so you see we are treating
you 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 just
at present.”
“Well, you can eat as much as you like, but eat quickly, for we want to
know about everything. We have only heard that there was very little
fighting 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 as
interpreter to their head–quarter staff. I can tell you in very few
words about our march up here; the principal event was the fighting
yesterday. 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 the
storming 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 in
relieving us, and also what has happened at Tientsin.”
“The first question is easy enough to answer. All the generals made up
their minds that the Legations had been captured and the whole lot of
you massacred, and it was not until a despatch came down from Conger
about ten days before we started, that they really woke up in earnest.
But nothing had worked smoothly since the day when they came up to
relieve Tientsin. We and the Japs and the Americans got on capitally
together, but the others were always raising difficulties, especially
the Russians. The general opinion among us was that they were playing a
double game.”
“In what way, Bateman?”
“Well, that I really cannot tell you. Certainly their generals
altogether opposed the march up, and it was only when Gaselee and
Chaffee declared that they would go alone, if none of the others would
accompany them, that the Russians had to give way. It was generally
believed that they wanted in some way to pose as friends of China, and
on the strength of that to get concessions and that sort of thing,
and especially to obtain from China the concession of the whole of
Manchuria. I have no doubt they will try on that game now, when things
settle 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 large
extent ceased to exist.”
“What? Was the fighting so severe as that? We have heard nothing
whatever about it.”
“Yes, it was very severe. As far as actual fighting went, you were
not in it here at all. For eight or nine days we were bombarded by
any number of guns. The French settlement, which was nearest to the
enemy, may be said to have been completely destroyed, the cathedral and
mission–houses burned, and the rest of the houses practically knocked
to pieces. Our quarters were pounded pretty heavily, but not to the
same extent. We were exposed to a continuous fire from the ruins of
the Chinese college on the other side of the river, and from all the
houses that remained on that side. Of course we had barricades erected
at the ends of all the streets, but nevertheless it was not altogether
pleasant to walk about in the showers of bullets and shot and shell
which came practically from all directions. The hottest fighting was
at the railway–station, where it went on night and day.
“Well, when large reinforcements came up, we took the offensive. The
Russians and French did not do much, but the Japs, the Americans, and
our fellows had some very hard work. At the end of the first day things
looked pretty bad. We were established in the suburb outside the town,
but farther than that we could not get, and indeed there was some
question whether we should not fall back after dark. This, however, was
negatived, but that it should have been even proposed showed that we
were really in a tight place. Fortunately, during the night the same
question was discussed by the Chinese, and they concluded that as it
was evident that we did not intend to go they had better do so, and the
greater portion of them accordingly marched away. In the morning we
carried the gate between us, the Japs doing most of the fighting, and
as soon as we were in, the Chinese bolted like sheep.
“We found that our artillery fire had been most destructive in the
town, 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 one
knows how many of the people suspected of being friendly to us were
massacred; some put it at tens of thousands. At any rate, it was a
great 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 the
Russians, who had done practically nothing towards the taking of the
town, acted in a most brutal way. Moreover, they actually wanted one of
their number appointed governor. Fortunately, the other Powers would
not agree to this, and in the end a commission of three—a Russian, a
Jap, and an Englishman—were appointed to manage things. A lot of the
Chinese 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 this
had not been done, there certainly would have been a pestilence.”
“But what about Seymourʼs force?”
“They had to fight their way back, and were getting into great straits
for provisions, when, luckily enough, by a sudden attack, they captured
the arsenal of Hsi–Ku, five miles north of the native town. Here they
found a tremendous quantity of weapons and stores, and a big supply of
rice, and although the Chinese tried to recapture the place, they were
able to hold it without much difficulty until, when the reinforcements
came up from the sea, a strong body went out and relieved them. They
could hardly have fought their way down without aid, for they had some
hundreds of wounded, and a large number of the fighting–men would have
been 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 see
that; 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 in
beating off several attacks on the barrier. I also had a part in some
of the fighting at the railway–station, which was about the hottest
thing in the whole affair; indeed, we were only saved by the fortunate
arrival of a party of Sikhs who came out to take the place of the
garrison, and even with their aid it was a close thing, for the Boxers
fought with the greatest pluck, and even crossed bayonets with us.
“But there, I have given you now a rough account of it all; details
will follow later. Here is your breakfast coming in. I want to take a
turn 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 I
suppose you will be all off duty now, but I hear that the firing has
broken out again. That shows that although we have got in, the Chinese
have not got out, and may give us more trouble before we have done with
them. By the way, what has become of the Empress?”
“She bolted three days ago when she heard, I fancy, that you had taken
Tung–Chow. I donʼt know whether it would be wise to send a force in
pursuit of her, considering that the town is still full of Chinese
troops and that there is so much to be done here. Besides, though she
has a tremendous train of baggage with her, it would take some daysʼ
march for infantry to catch her, and it would be a risky thing for
our small force of cavalry to go alone, as of course she has taken a
considerable body of troops with her.”
“Yes, I donʼt think they will pursue her,” Rex said. “There must be
someone for us to treat with, and if we were to take her prisoner it
is pretty certain that, directly we had gone, she would repudiate any
treaty she might make, on the ground that it was obtained from her by
force. The Chinese never hold to treaties, and this would afford them
so excellent an excuse for breaking one that the agreement would hardly
be worth the paper it was written on.”
“Well, I shall come back about ten oʼclock, and then, before I give you
any details of what I have seen, I shall expect you to give me a full
account 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 of
his arrival, and almost immediately they came flying out.
“We are glad to see you again, Rex,” Jenny said; “we have been in
dreadful anxiety about you. When you went away we had no idea that it
would be so dreadfully long before you came back.”
“I did not think it would be myself,” he said, “but it has certainly
not been my fault that I did not get back sooner. I can assure you that
I 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, but
only one knew anything about you, and he said that you were with the
Japanese.”
“Yes, that was so. It would have been very difficult for me to get
leave to come with my own people, but the Japanese were glad of an
extra 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 no
meat for the past fortnight, and not a great deal of anything else. At
the same time we have been kept very busy, for the number of wounded
has been large; but we were very glad to be fully employed, for it was
much better to be working here than to have nothing to do but make bags
to hold earth and sand.”
“I can quite understand that. The students were telling me that it
was terribly tedious when they had nothing to do. Certainly they were
called out to aid the guard at the barriers, when these were heavily
attacked, but often two or three days passed without their being
summoned.”
“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 much
knocked 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 you
can tell us all about it, and what prevented the army from coming up to
help us.”
The girls put on their hats and the three sallied forth. As they walked
about, 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 without
a hat as without him. He is a splendid fellow, and I have got so
accustomed to his company that I really donʼt know what I should do
without him.”
“It is time for us to go back,” Jenny said at last. “We shall be off
duty this afternoon at three, and to–morrow or next day we shall leave
the hospital, for most of the wounded are convalescent, and unless
there is tough fighting the hospital will empty fast, especially now
that 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 found
Sandwich 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 our
rifles at any moment and run out to repel an attack, it seems strange
indeed that we can ramble about without any fixed duty, and that our
military work is over. Now, then, I will give you an account of what
has happened here since you left. I have kept a journal ever since the
siege began, so that I can tell you how everything was done in its
right order.
“Nothing came of the letters sent in by Prince Ching. It was soon
evident that the war party were supreme again, and the fighting went
on as usual. One prisoner, who was taken the day after you left, said
that the Empress had issued an edict explaining that the firing of
large guns was a dangerous practice and liable to do much mischief, and
she therefore ordered the troops to confine themselves to the use of
rifles only. There can be no doubt that this curious edict was issued,
and it was supposed to have been the result of representations by the
inhabitants of the damage inflicted by their gun fire. No doubt this
was very extensive, for their fire was always high and every shot that
flew over the Legations must have fallen in the city and inflicted
damage there. At any rate there was much less firing afterwards, and
although the shells did not inflict any very great damage here, it was
a relief to be free of them. The gun, however, that was being worked
against the defenders of the Fu, distant only about fifty yards,
continued to do great damage, and one night the attack of the Chinese
was so fierce that the Italian guard posted between the British and
Japanese retired, and had the Chinese taken advantage of the movement
both the Japs and ourselves would have been cut off and the Fu
altogether lost.
“Next day the attack was renewed with great vigour, both on the
defenders of the Fu and on the French Legation. At the latter place
two explosions took place, the enemy having driven mines under it.
The French were forced to retire from the main building, but held
entrenchments that they had prepared behind it. At the same time the
Chinese made a desperate attempt to force their way into the German
Legation. 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 everyone
stood at his post. The attack was maintained with fury till eight in
the evening, then it gradually ceased, and when the enemy retired
they left the French and Germans still holding the remains of their
Legations. All night the French Legation continued to burn, and the
coolies in the Fu worked unceasingly to extinguish the flames.
“The next day letters were received from Ching urging that the
Europeans should all leave the Legations and go to the yamen. The
proposition was so absurd that a refusal, of course in polite terms,
was sent, as even had the Europeans been inclined to trust themselves
to the mercy of the Chinese, they would have been obliged to abandon
the native Christians under their protection.
“On the sixteenth another communication arrived from Ching. The night
passed quietly. In the morning two Chinese presented themselves at the
German Legation. Both said they had come to enquire what we meant to
do, and to ask if the Foreign Chinese Secretary would go out to discuss
matters with the generals. They explained that orders had come to cease
firing on the Legations, and the bugler said that General Nieh had been
defeated between Taku and Tientsin and had committed suicide.
“An answer was sent that we did not propose to fire without cause, but
that we could not allow the Chinese to continue to build barricades,
as they had been doing ever since the first message from Prince Ching
reached us. While these letters were being exchanged, Chinese soldiers
kept coming up to the barricade unarmed and professing friendship. A
French 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 Luʼs
head–quarters, where he was well treated. He was closely questioned as
to the state of things in the Legation, and said, in reply, that we
were having a first–rate time, enjoying ourselves greatly, and wanted
nothing but fresh fruit. The Chinese thereupon gave him some melons
and peaches and sent him back.
“Now I think I must stop for ten minutes and wet my whistle. I have not
had as much experience as you in relating adventures, and I find this
continuous talking somewhat trying.”