PART III-THE SACK

I

THE PALACE

16th August, 1900.

* * * * *

The next morning (which was only yesterday!) I awoke in much the same

strange despondency. Around me, as the grey light stole softly into my

lean-to, everything was absolutely quiet. It was the same in every way

as it had been the morning after the last terrible night; and yet that

was already so long ago! Almost mechanically, I searched the breast

pocket of my soil-worn shirt for the previous day's orders, so as to

see about picquet posting; then I remembered suddenly, with a curious

heart-sinking, that it was all over, finished, completed.... It was

so strange that it should be so--that everything should have come so

suddenly to an end. After all those experiences, to be lying on the

ground like some tramp in Europe, without a thing to one's name, was

to be merely grotesque and incongruous. Yet it was necessary to become

accustomed immediately to the idea that one belonged to the ordinary

world, where one would not be distinguished from one's fellow; where

everything was quiet and orderly.... And I was separated from this by

such a mighty gulf. I knew so many things now. What! was I no longer

to experience that supreme delight of shooting and being shot at--of

that unending excitement? Oh! was it really over?...

I got up, and shook myself disconsolately, retied what remained of a

neckcloth, and then looked in disgust at my boots. My boots! Two and a

half months' work and sleep in them--my only pair--had not improved

their appearance. Yet I had not even suspected that before; the evil

fruit of relief had made my nakedness clear....

Alongside the whole post of ten men was still peacefully

slumbering--regulars and volunteers heaped impartially together. Poor

devils! Each one, after the enormous excitement of the relief, had

come back mechanically to his accustomed place, because this strange

life of ours, imposed by the discipline of events, has become a second

nature, which we scarcely know how to shake off. Like tired dogs, we

still creep into our holes. The youngest were moaning and tossing, as

they have done every night for weeks past--shaking off sleep like a

harmful narcotic, because the poison of fighting is too strong for

most blood in these degenerate days. What sounds have I not heard

during the past two months--what sighs, what gasps, what groans, what

muttered protests! When men lie asleep, their imaginations betray

their secret thoughts....

Day had not broken properly before the murmur and movements of the

night before rose again. This time, as I looked around me, they were

more marked--as if the relieving forces had become half accustomed to

their strange surroundings, and were acting with the freedom of

familiarity. There were bugle-calls and trumpet-calls, the neighing

and whinnying of horses, the rumble of heavy waggons, calls and

cries.... But hidden by the high walls and the barricades, nothing

could be seen. We got something to eat, and, wishing to explore, I

marched down to the dry canal-bed, jumped in, and made for the

Water-Gate, through which the first men had come. In a few steps I was

outside the Tartar Wall, for the first time for nearly three long

months. At last there was something to be seen. Far along here, there

were nothing but bivouacs of soldiery moving uneasily like ants

suddenly disturbed, and as I tramped through the sand towards the

great Ch'ien Men Gate I could see columns of other men, already in

movement, though day had just come, winding in and out from the outer

Chinese city. Thick pillars of smoke, that hung dully in the morning

air, were rising in the distance as if fire had been set to many

buildings; but apart from these marching troops there was not a living

soul to be seen. The ruins and the houses had become mere landmarks

and the city a veritable desert.

I wandered about listlessly and exchanged small talk disconsolately

with numbers of people. Nobody knew what was going to happen, but

everybody was trying to learn from somebody else. The wildest rumours

were circulating. The Russians and Japanese had disappeared through

the Eastern Gates of the city, and the gossip was that each, in trying

to steal a march on the other, had knocked up against large bodies of

Chinese troops, who, still retaining their discipline, had stood their

ground and inflicted heavy losses on the rivals. But whether this was

true or not, there was, for the time being, no means of knowing. I

thought of my last rifle-shots of the siege at those endless white and

black dots, which had suddenly debouched on that long, dusty street,

and held my tongue. Idly we waited to see what was going to happen.

After so many climaxes one's imagination totally failed.

It was still very early in the morning when, without any warning,

gallopers came suddenly from the American headquarters and set all the

soldiery in motion. I remember that it seemed only a few minutes

before the American infantry had become massed all round the southern

entrances to the Palace, while with a quickness which came as an odd

surprise to me after the deliberation of the siege field-guns suddenly

opened on the Imperial Gates. A number of shells were pitched against

the huge iron-clamped entrances at a range of a few hundred yards with

a horrid coughing, and presently, yielding to this bombardment, with a

crash the first line had been beaten to the ground. I understood then

why the powerful American Gatlings had been kept playing on the fringe

of walls and roofs beyond; for as the infantry charged forward in some

confusion, with their cheering and bugling filling the air, the

dusting Chinese fire, which we knew so well, rang out with an unending

rattle and hissing. Thousands of riflemen had been silently lying

inside the Palace enclosures ever since the previous afternoon waiting

for this opportunity. It was the last act. Well, it had come....

The Chinese fire was partially effective, for as I ran forward through

the burst and bent gates, panting as if my heart would break, a

trickle of wounded American soldiers came slowly filing out. Some were

hobbling, unsupported, with pale faces, and some were being carried

quite motionless. On the ground of this first vast enclosure, which

was hundreds and hundreds of yards long and entirely paved with stone,

were a number of Chinese dead--men of some resolution, who had met

the charge in the open and died like soldiers. That, indeed, had been

our own experience. Even with the ambiguous orders which must have

been given in every command ranged against us, there were always men

who could not be restrained, but charged right up to our bayonets....

Now as I ran forward firing was going on just as heavily, and the ugly

rush and swish of bullets filled the air with war's rude music. It

seemed curious to me that everyone should be out in the open with no

cover; after a siege one has queer ideas.

The bursting of this first set of gates meant very little, as I

personally knew full well, for immediately beyond was a far more

powerful line, with immense pink walls heaving straight up into the

air. The Tartar conquerors, who had designed this Palace, had with

good purpose made their Imperial residence a last citadel in the huge

city of Peking--a citadel which could be easily defended to the death

in the old days even when the enemy had seized all the outer walls,

for without powerful cannon the place was impregnable. On the sky-line

of this great outer wall Chinese riflemen, with immense audacity,

still remained, and as I ran for cover rifles were quickly and

furiously discharged at me.... Presently the American guns came

rapidly forward, but their commanders were wary, and did not seem to

like to risk them too close. There was a short lull, while immense

scaling ladders, made by the Americans for attacking the city walls in

case the relief had failed to get in any other way, were rushed up.

The idea was evidently to storm the walls and batter in the gates,

line upon line, until the Imperial residences were reached and the

inmost square taken. It might take many hours if there was much

resistance. The area to be covered was immense. To the north a faint

booming proclaimed that other forces, perhaps the Russians and the

Japanese still in rivalry, were at work on this huge Forbidden City,

racing once more to see that neither got the advantage of the other.

... All this meant slow work without startling developments. Everybody

was moving very deliberately, as if time was of no value. A new idea

came into my head. It was impossible to cover such distances

continually on foot without becoming exhausted. Already I was tired

out. I must seize a mount somewhere before it was too late. I must go

back.

Trotting quickly, I reached the Legation area to find that the scene

had changed. The ruined streets were once again filled with troops.

The transport and fighting trains of a number of Indian regiments,

which had spent the night somewhere in the outer Chinese city, had

evidently been hurriedly pushed forward at daylight to be ready for

any eventualities. Ambulance corps and some very heavy artillery were

mixed with all these moving men and kicking animals in hopeless

confusion, and rude shouts and curses filled the air as all tried to

push forward. Among these countless animals and their jostling drivers

it was almost impossible to fight one's way; but with a struggle I

reached the dry canal, and, once more jumping down, I had a road to

myself. I went straight along it.

Under the Tartar Wall, as I climbed again to the ground-level, I met

the head of fresh columns of men. This time they were white

troops--French Infanterie Coloniale, in dusty blue suits of torn and

discoloured Nankeen. There must have been thousands of them, for after

some delay they got into movement, and, enveloped in thick clouds of

dust, these solid companies of blue uniforms, crowned with

dirty-white helmets, started filing past me in an endless stream. The

officers were riding up and down the line, calling on the men to exert

themselves, and to hurry, hurry, hurry. But the rank and file were

pitifully exhausted, and their white, drawn faces spoke only of the

fever-haunted swamps of Tonkin, whence they had been summoned to

participate in this frantic march on the capital. They had always been

behind, I heard, and had only been hurried up by constant forced

marching, which left the men mutinous and valueless. Once again they

were being hurried not to be too late....

I only lost these troops to find myself crushed in by long lines of

mountain artillery carried on mules, and led by strange-looking

Annamites. In a thin line they stretched away until I could only

divine how many there were. These batteries, however, were not going

forward, and to my surprise I found the guns being suddenly loaded and

hauled to the top of the Tartar Wall up one of the ramparts which had

been our salvation. This was a new development, and in my interest,

forgetting my pony, I ran up, too.

Up there I found a mass of people, mostly comprising those who had

been spectators rather than actors in the siege. I remember being

seized with strange feelings when I saw their little air of derision

and their sneers as they looked down towards the Palace in pleasurable

anticipation. They imagined, these self-satisfied people who had done

so little to defend themselves, that a day of reckoning had at last

come when they would be able to do as they liked towards this

detestable Palace, which had given them so many unhappy hours. It

would all be destroyed, burned. Little did they know!

Soon enough these small French batteries of light guns came into

action, and sent a stream of little shells into the Palace enclosures

a couple of thousand yards away. The majority pitched on the gaudy

roofs of Imperial pavilions far inside the Palace grounds, bursting

into pretty little fleecy clouds, and starting small smouldering fires

that suddenly died down before they had done much damage. But a number

fell short, and swept enclosures where I knew American soldiery had

already penetrated. I drew my breath, but said nothing....

The view from here was perfect. The sun had risen and was shining

brightly. Directly below lay the ruined Legations, with their rude

fortifications and thousands of surrounding native houses levelled

flat to the ground; but beyond, for many miles, stretched the vast

city of Peking, dead silent, excepting for these now accustomed sounds

of war, and half hidden by myriads of trees, which did not allow one

to see clearly what was taking place. The Palace, with its immense

walls, its yellow roofs, and its vast open places, lay mysteriously

quiet, too, while this punishment was meted out on it. You could not

understand what was going on. To the very far north a heavy cloud,

which had already attracted my attention, now rose blacker and

blacker, until it spread like a pall on the bright sky. Cossacks or

Japanese, who by this time had swept over the entire ground, must have

met with resistance; they were burning and sacking, and a huge

conflagration had been started.

For a quarter of an hour and more I watched in an idle, tired

curiosity, which I could not explain, those little French shells

bursting far away and falling short, and presently, as I expected, the

inevitable happened. A young American officer rode up and began

shouting angrily up to the Wall. I knew exactly what he meant, but

everybody was so interested that he remained unnoticed. And so,

presently, more furious than ever, he dismounted and rushed up red

with rage. He Was so angry that he was funny. He wanted to know if the

commander of these d---- pop-guns knew what he was firing at, and

whether he could not see the United States army in full occupation of

the bombarded points. He swore and he cursed and he gesticulated,

until finally cease fire was sounded and the guns were ordered down.

All the Frenchmen were furious, and I saw P----, the Minster, go down

in company with the gaunt-looking Spanish _doyen_, vowing vengeance

and declaiming loudly that if they were stopped everybody must be

stopped too. There must be no favouring; that they would not have. I

understood, then, why the mountain guns had come so quickly into

action; they were gaining time for that exhausted colonial infantry to

get round to some convenient spot and begin a separate attack. It was

each one for himself.

Somehow I understood now that it was a useless time for ceremony, and

that one must act just as one wished. So, finding some ponies tethered

to a post below, without a word I mounted one and rode rapidly back to

the Palace. For an instant, as I passed the great Ch'ien Men Gate, I

could see Indian troops filing out in their hundreds, and forcing a

path through the press of incoming transport and guns. Evidently the

British commanders considered that the thing was over; that it was no

use going on. Already they had had enough of our Peking methods....

I must have ridden nearly a mile straight through the vast enclosures

of the Palace, past lines and lines of American infantry lying on the

ground, with the reserve artillery trains halted under cover of high

walls, before I saw ahead of me a set of gates which were still

unbroken. General firing had quite ceased now, and excepting for an

occasional shot coming from some distant corner, there was no sound.

The bulk of the American infantry had not even been advanced as far as

I had come. A skirmishing line, evidently formed only a short time

before my arrival, was still lying on the ground; but the men were

laughing and smoking, and the officers had withdrawn out of the heat

of the sun into a side building, where they were examining a map. The

scaling-ladders were left behind. I was soon told that orders had come

direct from headquarters to stop the attack absolutely, and not to

advance an inch further on any consideration. The inner courts of the

Palace and the residences of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager could

not be approached until concerted action had been taken up by all the

Allies. I laughed--it was the hydra-headed diplomacy of Peking raising

its head defiantly less than eighteen hours after the first soldiers

had rushed in....

The massive set of gates in front of me were those just without a most

beautiful marble courtyard. That I knew from the rude Chinese maps of

the Forbidden City which are everywhere sold; if this boundary were

passed the Imperial Palaces, with all their treasures, would be

reached. I thought, with my mouth watering a little, although I had no

actual desire for riches, of General Montauban, created Comte de

Palikao, because in the 1860 expedition, when the famous Summer Palace

was so ruthlessly sacked, he had taken all the most splendid black

pearls he could find and had carried them back to the Empress Eugenie

as a little offering. If one could only get past this boundary and the

protocol had not stepped in!

Moved a little by such thoughts, I advanced on the central gate, and

peered through a chink near which an infantryman was standing alert,

rifle in hand. There were the marble courtyards, the beautiful yellow

decorated roofs. I could see them clearly, and then ... a rifle from

the other side was discharged almost in my ear; a bullet hissed past a

few inches from my head, too; and I had a flitting vision of a Chinese

soldier in the sky-blue tunic of the Palace Guards darting back on the

other side. There must still be numbers of soldiery waiting sullenly

beyond for the expected advance; they would only fall back in rapid

flight as our men rushed in, just as they had been doing from the

beginning. I discharged my own revolver rather aimlessly through the

chink in the hope that something would happen, but all became quiet

again. Everything was finished here.

But although the advance down this grand approach to the inner halls

and Palaces had been stayed, nothing had been said about piercing

through the great outer enclosures to the right and left; and,

catching my pony, I rode round a corner where a broad avenue led to

another set of entrances. Perhaps here would be something. All along I

found a sprinkling of American infantrymen, in their sweaty and

dust-covered khaki suits, lying down and fanning themselves with

anything that came handy, and sending rude jests at one another.

Old-fashioned Chinese jingals, gaudy Banners, and even Manchu

long-bows, were scattered on the ground in enormous confusion. The

Palace Guards belonging to the old Manchu levies had evidently been

surprised here by the advance of the main body of American troops

through the Dynastic Gate, and had fled panic-stricken, abandoning

their antiquated arms and accoutrements as they ran. The soldiery who

had been doing all the fighting and firing must have been the more

modern field forces engaged in the last attacks on the Legations, or

those driven in on Peking by the rout on the Tientsin road. Still,

there was nothing worth seeing, and the miniature Tartar towers

crowning the angles of the great pink walls looked down in contempt,

as if conscious that no enemy could hurt them. I must push along.

I trotted quickly, exchanging chaff with the Americans, who called out

to me with curious oaths that they had had no breakfast, and wanted to

know why in h---- this fun was being stopped, and that they were being

left there. Alas! I could give them no news. I only swore back in the

same playful way. At the end of an immense wall I came on the last of

this soldiery--a corporal's guard, squatting round a small wicket-gate

and looking very tired. They told me that they were still being shot

at from somewhere on the inside; and even as I paused and looked a

curious _pot-pourri_ of missiles grounded angrily against the

gate-top. There were modern bullets, old iron shot, and two arrows--a

strange assortment. Somehow those quivering arrows, shot from over the

immense pink walls, and attempting to vent their old-fashioned wrath

on the insolent invaders who had penetrated where never before an

enemy's foot had trod, made us all stare and remain amazed. It seemed

so curious and impossible--so out of date. Then one of the Americans

ran into a guard-house, bringing out with him a huge Manchu bow, which

he had secreted there as his plunder. He plucked with difficulty the

arrows out of the woodwork in which they had been plunged, and with

an immense twanging of catgut sent them high into the air, until they

were suddenly lost to our sight in the far beyond. An answer was not

long in coming. In less than half a minute a crackle of firearms broke

harshly on the air, and a fresh covey of bullets whistled high

overhead. The enemy was plainly still on the alert inside the last

enclosures, where no one might penetrate. What a pity it had been

stopped....

I rode off, bearing away some flags and swords, and, making due east,

as last reached some broad avenues near the Eastern Gates of this

Forbidden City.... Fresh masses of moving men now appeared. The main

body of French infantry I had seen a couple of hours before were being

marched in here, while smaller bodies were tramping off to the north,

and sappers were blowing down walls to clear their way. As I ambled

along, seeking a way out, a couple of officers galloped up to me, and,

touching their helmets, begged me in the name of goodness to tell them

what was being done. What were the general orders, they wanted to

know. I explained to them that nobody knew anything; that as far as I

could see, the Americans had stopped attacking for good; that the

Indian troops were already marching out into the Chinese city; and

that nothing more was to be done, as the other columns had been

completely lost touch with.

"_Toujours cette confusion, toujours pas d'ordres,"_ the French

officers angrily commented, and in a few words they told me rapidly

how from the very start at Tientsin it had been like this, each column

racing against the others, while they openly pretended to co-operate;

with everyone jealous and discontented. Where were the Russians, the

Italians, and the Germans? I answered that I had not the slightest

idea, and that nobody knew, or appeared to care at all. I personally

was going on; I had had enough of it....

To my surprise, as I turned to go, I found that the men of the

Infanterie Coloniale, in their dirty-blue suits, had pushed up as

close as possible to overhear what was being said, and now surrounded

us. One private indeed boldly asked the officers whether they were

going to be able to enter the Palace at once; and when he got an angry

negative, he and his comrades took to such cursing and swearing, that

it seemed incredible that this was a disciplined army. The men wanted

to know why they had been dragged forward like animals in this burning

heat and stifling dust, day after day, until they could walk no

longer, if they were to have no reward--if there was to be nothing to

take in this cursed country. In the hot air the sullen complaints of

these sweating men rang out brutally. They wanted to loot; to break

through all locked doors and work their wills on everything.

Otherwise, why had they been brought? These men knew the history of

1860.

I turned in disgust, and went slowly back the way I had come, only to

find all unchanged.... Everything had obviously been stopped by

explicit orders; there was no doubt about that now; diplomacy, afraid

to allow any one to enter the inner Palaces for fear of what would

follow, and how much one Power might triumph over another, had called

an absolute halt. But no one was taking any chances, or placing too

much confidence in the assurances of the dear Allies. That was plain!

For, even as I had almost finished trotting up to the Dynastic Gate, I

came on a large body of Italian sailors, who had evidently just

entered Peking, and who, marching with the quick step of the

Bersaglieri, were being led by C----, the lank Secretary of Legation,

right up to the last line of gates. They were in an enormous hurry,

and looked about them with eager eyes. C---- and some others called

out to me as I passed, and wanted to know whether it was true that the

Americans and the French had already got in, and had sacked half the

place, and whether fire had been set to the buildings. I answered with

no compunction that it appeared to be so, and that the Russians and

the Japanese had burst in also through the north, and had actually

fired on the others coming from the south, thinking they were Manchu

soldiery.... I told them that they were too late; that every point of

importance had already been seized. That set them moving faster than

ever. It was truly comical and ridiculous. Beyond this there were more

troops of other nationalities that had just arrived, and were now

looking about them in bewilderment. No wonder. With no orders and no

maps, and surrounded by these immense ruins, and still more immense

squares, they could not understand it at all. What confusion!

As I paused, debating what I should do, once again something else

speedily attracted my attention. This time big groups of American

soldiery, whom I had not observed before, were gathering like swarms

of flies at the door of one of the Chinese guard-houses, which line

the enclosing walls of the Palace. They were evidently much excited by

some discovery. Wishing to learn what it was, I dismounted and pushed

in. Grovelling on the ground lay an elderly Chinese, whose peculiar

aspect and general demeanour made it clear what he was. He was a

Palace eunuch, left here by some strange luck. The man was in a

paroxysm of fear, and, pointing into the guard-house behind him, he

was beseeching the soldiery with words and gestures not to treat him

as those inside had been handled. Through the open door I could see a

confused mass of dead bodies--men who had been bayonetted to death in

the early morning--and from a rafter hung a miserable wretch, who had

destroyed himself in his agony to escape the terror of cold steel. As

the details became clear, the scene was hideous. Never, indeed, shall

I forget that horrid little vignette of war--those dozens upon dozens

of curious soldier faces framed in slouch hats only half

understanding; the imploring eunuch on the ground, the huddled mass of

slaughtered men swimming in their blood in the shadow behind; that

thick smell of murder and sudden death rising and stinking in the hot

air; and the last cruel note of that Chinese figure, with a shriek of

agony and fear petrified on the features, swinging in long, loose

clothes from the rafter above. In the bright sunlight and the sudden

silence which had come over everything, there was a peculiar menace in

all this which chilled one....

Perhaps the eunuch had divined from my different dress that he would

be better understood by me than by these rough crowds of rank and file

who crushed him in; for, as I gazed, he had thrown himself at my feet,

with muttered words and a constant begging and imploring. I noticed

then that the unfortunate man could not walk, could only drag himself

like a beaten dog. The reason soon transpired: both his legs had been

broken by some mad jump which he must have essayed in his agony to

escape. I quieted the man's fears as best I could, and, tearing a

sheet from a note-book, wrote a description of him, so that a field

hospital would dress him. Then, anxious to learn something concrete

with this vapour of haziness and confusion blinding us all, I began

questioning him quickly about the Palace, the numbers of soldiery

within, the strength of the inner enclosures, and the residences of

the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. The man answered me willingly

enough, but suddenly said it was all no use, that we were too late.

The Emperor, the Empress Dowager, indeed, the whole Court, had

disappeared--had fled, was gone....

Gone!

On my life, I could scarcely believe my ears. After all these weeks of

confusion and plotting, had the Empress Dowager and her whole Court

fled at the very last moment, and, by so doing, escaped all

possibility of vengeance? Was it really so? One might have known that

this loose-jointed relief expedition could accomplish nothing, would

do everything wrong; and still we were acting as if everything was in

our hands. Then, suddenly, I fined down my questions, and imperatively

asked when the Court had fled; exactly at what hour and in what

direction.

At first I could get no reliable answer, but, pushing my questions and

assuming a threatening attitude, the shattered eunuch at length

collapsed, and whiningly informed me that the flight had taken place

at nine o'clock exactly the previous night, and had been carried out

by way of the Northern Gates of the city. They had left five hours

after the relief had come in! I calculated quickly. That meant twenty

hours' start at four miles an hour--for they would travel frantically

night and day--eighty miles! It was hopeless; they were safe through

the first mountain-passes, and if they had soldiery with them, as was

more than certain, these had most certainly been dropped at the

formidable barriers which nature has interposed just forty miles

beyond Peking. The mountain-passes would protect them. There could be

no vengeance exacted; no retribution could overtake the real authors

of this _debacle_. Nothing. It was a strange end....

Disconsolately I turned and rode back into the Legation lines, feeling

as if an immense misfortune had come. Here I met finally some Japanese

cavalry and some Cossacks. After being actually in Peking twenty-four

hours, they had at length formed junction with their Legations. The

cavalrymen were trotting up and down, and trying to discover their own

people. Neither did they understand it all.

I communicated the news I had learned speedily enough to all people of

importance whom I could find, told it to them all frantically; but it

aroused no interest, even hardly any comment. Once or twice there was

a start of surprise, and then the old attitude of indifference. A

species of torpor seems to have come over everyone as a crushing

anti-climax after the various climaxes of the terrible weeks. No one

cares, excepting that the siege is finished. C----, of the British

Legation, who has practically directed its policy for years (indeed,

ever since it has been in the present hands), told me that when the

British commander had come in, he had simply placed himself at the

disposal of the Legation, and had said that his orders were concerned

only with the relief. He was not to attempt anything else; to do

nothing more, absolutely nothing....

Later in the afternoon, at a Ministerial meeting, convened in haste,

the Ministers decided that as they did not know what was going to

happen to them or what policy their governments proposed to adopt, in

the absence of instructions they could take no steps about anything.

Of course, everyone of importance will be transferred elsewhere, and

probably be sent to South America, or the Balkan States, or possibly

Athens. The confirmation of the news that the Empress Dowager and the

Court had fled concerned them less than the dread possibilities which

the field telegraphs bring. The wires have already been stretched into

Peking, and messages would have to come through soon....

That evening, as dusk fell, and I was idly watching some English

sappers blowing an entrance from the canal street through the pink

Palace walls, so that a private right of way into this precious area

could be had right where the twin-cannon were fired at us for so many

weeks, a sound of a rude French song being chanted made me turn round.

I saw then that it was a soldier of the Infanterie Coloniale in his

faded blue suit of Nankeen, staggering along with his rifle slung

across his back and a big gunny-sack on his shoulder. He approached,

singing lustily in a drunken sort of way, and reeling more and more,

until, as he tried to step over the ruins of a brick barricade, he at

last tripped and fell heavily to the ground. The English sappers

watched him curiously for a few moments as he lay moving drunkenly on

the ground, unable to rise, but no one offered to help him, or even

stepped forward, until one soldier, who had been looking fixedly at

something on the ground, said suddenly to his mates in a hoarse

whisper, "Silver! Silver!" He spoke in an extraordinary way.

I stepped forward at these words to see. It was true. The sack had

been split open by the fall, and on the ground now scattered about lay

big half-moons of silver-_sycee_, as it is called. The sappers took

a cautious look around, saw that all was quiet and only myself there;

and then the six of them, seized with the same idea, went quietly

forward and plundered the fallen Frenchman of his loot as he lay. Each

man stuffed as many of those lumps as he could carry into his shirt or

tunic. Then they helped the fallen drunkard to his feet, handed him

the fraction of his treasure which remained, and pushed him roughly

away. The last I noticed of this curious scene was this marauder

staggering into the night, and calling faintly at intervals, as he

realised his loss, "_Sacres voleurs! Sacres voleurs anglais_!" Then I

made off too. It was the first open looting I had seen. I shall always

remember absolutely how curiously it impressed me. It seemed very

strange.

II

THE SACK

18th August, 1900.

* * * * *

After these events and the curious entry of our relieving troops,

nothing came as a surprise to me. I can still remember as if it had

only occurred ten seconds ago how, after witnessing those English

sappers calmly strip that drunken French marauder of his gains, I came

back into the broken Legation Street to find that a whole company of

savage-looking Indian troops--Baluchis they were--had found their way

in the dark into a compound filled with women-converts who had gone

through the siege with us, and that these black soldiery were engaged,

amidst cries and protests, in plucking from their victims' very heads

any small silver hair-pins and ornaments which the women possessed.

Trying to shield them as best she could was a lady missionary. She

wielded at intervals a thick stick, and tried to beat the marauders

away. But these rough Indian soldiers, immense fellows, with great

heads of hair which escaped beneath their turbans, merely laughed, and

carelessly warding off this rain of impotent blows, went calmly on

with their trifling plundering. Some also tried to caress the women

and drag them away.... Then the lady missionary began to weep in a

quiet and hopeless way, because she was really courageous and only

entirely over-strung. At this a curious spasm of rage suddenly seized

me, and taking out my revolver, I pushed it into one fellow's face,

and told him in plain English, which he did not understand, that if he

did not disgorge I would blow out his brains on the spot. I remember I

pushed my short barrel right into his face, and held it there grimly,

with my finger on the trigger. That at least he understood. There was

a moment of suspense, during which I had ample time to realise that I

would be bayonetted and shot to pieces by the others if I carried out

my threat. It was ugly; I did not like it. At the last moment,

fortunately, my fellow relented, and throwing sullenly what he had

taken to the ground, he shouldered his rifle and left the place. The

others followed with mutterings and grumbles, and the women being now

safe, began barricading the entrance of their house against other

marauders. They were green-white with fear. They feared these Indian

troops....

That same night, very late, a transport corps, composed of Japanese

coolies, in figured blue coats, belonging to some British regiment,

came in hauling a multitude of little carts; and within a few minutes

these men were offering for sale hundreds of rolls of splendid silks,

which they had gathered on their way through the city. You could get

them for nothing. Some one who had some gold in his pocket got an

enormous mass for a hundred francs. The next day he was offered ten

times the amount he had paid. In the dark he had purchased priceless

fabrics from the Hangchow looms, which fetch anything in Europe. Great

quantities of things were offered for sale after that as quickly as

they could be dragged from haversacks and knapsacks. Everybody had

things for sale. We heard then that everything had been looted by the

troops from the sea right up to Peking; that all the men had got

badly out of hand in the Tientsin native city, which had been picked

as clean as a bone; and that hundreds of terrible outrages had come to

light. Every village on the line of march from Tientsin had been

treated in the same way. Perhaps it was because there had been so

little fighting that there had been so much looting.

The very next morning a decision was arrived at to send away all

non-combatants in the Legation lines as quickly as possible from such

scenes--to let them breathe an air uncontaminated by such ruin and

devastation and rotting corpses--to escape from this cursed bondage of

brick lines. There would be a caravan formed down to Tungchow, which

is fifteen miles away, and then river transport. To provide

conveyances for these fifteen miles of road, people would have to

sally forth and help themselves; near the Legations there was

absolutely nothing left. We must hustle for ourselves.... The same men

who have done all the work would have to do this.

I shall never forget the renewed sense of freedom when I went out the

next morning with my men and some others I picked up, this time boldly

striking into the rich quarter in the eastern suburbs of the Tartar

city and leaving the garrisoned area far behind. It was something to

ride out without having to take cover at every turning.... The first

part of our route was the same as that of my scouting expedition made

so few days before. But this time we went forward so quickly to the

main streets beyond the white ruins of the Austrian Legation that it

seemed incredible that we should have wasted so much time covering the

ground before. That shows what danger means. I alone was mounted,

riding the old pony I had commandeered the day before; my men were on

foot and ran pantingly alongside. We were so keen!

For half a mile or so we met occasional detachments of European

troops, an odd enough _pot-pourri_ of armed men such as few people

ever witness. They made a curious picture, did this soldiery in the

deserted streets, for every detachment was loaded with pickings from

Chinese houses, and some German mounted infantry, in addition to the

great bundles strapped to their saddles, were driving in front of them

a mixed herd of cattle, sheep and extra ponies which they had

collected on the way. The men were in excellent humour, and jested and

cursed as they hastened along, and in a thick cloud of dust raised by

all these hoofs they finally disappeared round a corner. It was only

when they were gone that I realised how silent and deserted the

streets had become. Not a soul afoot, not a door ajar, not a

dog--nothing. It might have been a city of the dead. After all the

roar of rifle and cannon which had dulled the hearing of one's ears

for so many days there was something awesome, unearthly and

disconcerting in this terrified silence. What had happened to all the

inhabitants?

I had ridden forward slowly for a quarter of an hour or so, glancing

keenly at the barred entrances which frowned on the great street, when

suddenly I missed my men. My pony had carried me along the raised

highway--the riding and driving road, which is separated from the

sidewalks by huge open drains. My men had been across these drains,

keeping close to the houses so that they could soon discover some sign

of life. Then they had disappeared. That is all I could remember.

I rode back, rather alarmed and shouting lustily. My voice raised

echoes in the deserted thoroughfare, which brought vague flickers of

faces to unexpected chinks and cracks in the doors, telling me that

this desert of a city was really inhabited by a race made

panic-striken prisoners in their own houses by the sudden entry of

avenging European troops. There were really hosts of people watching

and listening in fear, and ready to flee over back walls as soon as

any danger became evident. That explained to me a great deal. I began

to understand. Then suddenly, as I looked, there were several rifle

shots, a scuffle and some shouting, and as I galloped back in a sweat

of apprehension I saw one of my men emerge from the huge

_porte-cochere_ of a native inn mounted on a black mule. My men were

coolly at work. They were providing themselves with a necessary

convenience for moving about freely over the immense distances. In the

courtyard of the inn two dead men lay, one with his head half blown

off, the second with a gaping wound in his chest. My remaining

servants were harnessing mules to carts, and each, in addition, had a

pony, ready saddled to receive him, tied to an iron ring in the wall.

I angrily questioned them about the shots, and pointed to the ghastly

remains on the ground; but they, nothing abashed, as angrily answered

me, saying that the men had resisted and had to be killed. Then, as I

was not satisfied, and continued muttering at them and fiercely

threatening punishment, one of them went to the door of a gate-house,

and flinging it back, bade me look in. That was a sight! It was full

of great masses of arms and all sorts of soldiers' and Boxers'

clothing; and tied up in bundles of blue cloth were stacks of booty,

consisting of furs and silks, all made ready to be carried away. This

was evidently one of the many district headquarters which the Boxers

had established everywhere. My men had known it, because these things

become speedily known to natives. They had acted. After all, this was

a vengeance which was overtaking everybody. What could I do?...

I said nothing then, and somewhat gloomily watched them proceed. With

utmost coolness they finished harnessing the carts; drove them with

curses to a point near the gate-house, and silently loaded all those

bundles of booty into them, strapping the swords and rifles on in

stacks behind. It was evidently to be a clean sweep, with nothing

left. Then, when they had made everything ready, one of them

disappeared for a short time into a back courtyard, and after some

fresh scuffling, reappeared, driving in front of him three men in torn

clothing and with dishevelled hair, who had been hiding all the while,

and were trembling like aspen leaves now that they had been caught. My

men, without undue explanations, told them that they had to drive, one

to each cart, and that if one tried to escape all would be shot down.

With protestations, the captives swore that they would obey; only let

them escape with their lives; they were innocent.... Then in a body we

sallied forth, this time a fully-equipped and well-mounted body of

marauders. It was a fate from which it was impossible to escape--my

men had such decision left when every person in authority was already

drifting....

Fitted out in this wise, we now rattled along the streets with faster

speed, and the clanking cart-wheels, awaking louder and louder echoes

which sounded curiously indiscreet in these deserted streets, made

heads bob from doorways and windows with greater and greater

frequency. Down in the side alleys, now that we were a mile or two

away from our lines, people might be even seen standing in frightened

groups, as if debating what was going to happen; these melted silently

away as soon as we were spied. But finding that they were disregarded,

and that no rifles cracked off at them as they half expected,

forthwith the groups formed again, and men even came out into the main

street and followed us a little way, calling half-heartedly to the

drivers to know if there was any news.... The terrible quiet which had

spread over the city after the Allies had burst in from two or three

quarters seemed indeed inexplicable; such troops as had passed had

gone hurriedly westwards towards the Palace. This quarter could

scarcely have been touched....

Our little cavalcade was clattering along midst these strange

surroundings, when my attention was attracted by the similarity of the

occupation which now appeared to be engaging numbers of people on the

side streets. The occupation was plainly a doubtful one, since as soon

as we were seen everyone fled indoors. All had been standing scraping

away at the door-posts with any instruments which came handy; and one

could hear this scratching and screeching distinctly in the distance

as one approached. It was extraordinary. Determined to solve this new

mystery, on an inspiration I suddenly drove my old pony full tilt up

an alleyway before the rest of my men had come in view, and, dashing

quickly forward, secured one old man before he could escape. Once

again I understood: all these people had been scraping off little

diamond-shaped pieces of red paper pasted on their door-posts; and on

these papers were written a number of characters, which proclaimed the

adherence of all the inmates to the tenets of the Boxers. In their

few weeks' reign, this Chinese sansculottism had succeeded in imposing

its will on all. Everyone was implicated; the whole city had been in

their hands; it had been an enormous plot....

Inside the house I had singled out, we found only old women and young

boys--the rest had all fled. Spread on the ground were pieces of white

cloth on which flags were being rudely fashioned--Japanese, English,

French and some others. They were changing their colours, all these

people, as fast as they could--that is what they were doing; and

farther on, as we came to more remote quarters, we found these

protecting insignia already flying boldly from every house. Everybody

wished to be friends. But my men exhorted me to proceed quickly and to

escape from these districts, which, they alleged, were still full of

Boxers and disbanded soldiery; and yielding to their entreaties, we

again dashed onwards quicker and quicker. For half an hour and more we

had, indeed, lost sight of every friendly face.

The succession of streets we passed was endless. There were nothing

but these deserted main thorough-fares, and the scuttling people on

the side alleys, and in absolute silence we reached an immense street

running due north and south. To my surprise, although everything was

now quite quiet, dead Chinese soldiers lay around here in some

numbers. There were both infantry and cavalry flung headlong on the

ground as they had fled. One big fellow, carrying a banner, had been

toppled over, pony and all, as he rode away, and now lay in

picturesque confusion, half thrown down the steep slope of the raised

driving road, with his tragedy painted clearly as a picture. In the

bright sunshine, with all absolutely quiet and peaceful around, it

seemed impossible that these men should have met with a violent death

such a short while ago amid a roar of sound. It was funny, curious,

inexplicable.... For my men, however, there were no such thoughts;

they climbed off their ponies, and, whipping out knives or bayonets,

they slit the bandoliers and pouches from every dead soldier and threw

them into the carts. They had become in this short time good

campaigners; you can never have too much ammunition.

The big Shantung recruit, whom I had come across so oddly only three

days before, was now once again plainly excited and smelled quarry. I

remembered, then, that there was nothing very strange in the decisive

actions of all my followers; they were being led by this man and told

exactly what to do. He had, after all, been outside all the time, and

knew what had been going on and where now to strike hard! Quickly,

without speaking a word, he pushed ahead, and arriving at the big

gates of another inn, loudly called on some one inside to open. He

could not have got any very satisfactory answer, for the next thing I

saw was that he had sprung like lightning from his stolen pony, had

thrown his rifle to the ground, and was attacking a latticed window

with an old bayonet he had been carrying in his hand. With half a

dozen furious blows he sent the woodwork into splinters, and,

springing up with a lithe, tiger-like jump, he clambered through the

gap, big man as he was, with surprising agility. Then there was a dead

silence for a few seconds and we waited in suspense. But presently

oaths and protests came from far back and drew nearer and nearer,

until I knew that the some one who had refused to answer had been duly

secured. The gates themselves were finally flung open, and I saw that

an oldish man of immense stature had been driven to do this work--a

man who, so far from being afraid, was only held in check by a loaded

revolver being kept steadily against his back. The Shantung man's face

had become devilish with rage, and I could see that he was slowly

working himself up into that Chinese frenzy which is such madness and

bodes no good to any one. I was at a loss to understand this scene.

Our captured carts were driven in and the gates securely shut; and

then, driving his captive still in front of him, my man led us, with a

rapidity which showed that he knew every inch of his ground, to a big

building at the side. Then it was my turn to understand and to stare.

Within the building a big altar had been clumsily made of wooden

boards and draped with blood-red cloth; and lining the wall behind it

was a row of hideously-painted wooden Buddhas. There were sticks of

incense, too, with inscriptions written in the same manner as those we

had seen being scraped so feverishly from the door-posts a few minutes

ago. Red sashes and rusty swords lay on the ground also. Here there

could be absolutely no mistake; it was a headquarters of that evil

cult which had brought such ruin and destruction in its train. The

Boxers had been in full force here.

The Shantung man, for reasons I could not yet unravel and did not care

to learn, had become absolutely livid with rage now, and the others,

who were all Catholics, shared his fury. They said that here converts

had been tortured to death--killed by being slit into small pieces and

then burned. Everybody knew it. With spasmodic gestures they called on

the captive to fling to the ground the whole altar, to smash his idols

into a thousand pieces, to destroy everything. But the man, resolute

even in captivity, sullenly refused. Then, with a movement of

uncontrollable rage, one man seized a long pole, and in a dozen blows

had broken everything to atoms. Idols, red cloth, incense sticks,

bowls of sacrificial rice and swords lay in a shapeless heap. And with

ugly kicks my men ground the ruin into yet smaller pieces. Somehow it

made me wince. It was a brutal sight; to treat gods, even if they be

false, in this wise....

As I looked and wondered, scarcely daring to interfere, the Shantung

man had pushed his face, after the native manner, close into that of

his enemy and was muttering taunts at him, which were hissed like the

fury of a snake in anger. This could not last--my man was carrying it

too far. It was so. With a cry his victim suddenly closed on him,

seized him insanely by the throat and hair, tried to tear him to the

ground. I remember I had just a vision of those brown wrestling bodies

half-bared by the fury of their clutches, and I could hear the quickly

drawn pants which came at a supreme moment, when there was a sharp

report, which sounded a little muffled, a piece of plaster flew out of

the wall behind the two, and some biting smoke bit one's nostrils.

Before I realised what had been done, the giant Boxer was staggering

back; then he tottered and fell on his knees, talking strangely to

himself, with his voice sliding up and down as if it now refused

control. Some blood welled up to his lips and trickled out; he shook a

bit, and then he crashed finally down. There he lay among the ruins of

his faith--dead, stone-dead, killed outright. The Shantung man stood

over him with a smoking revolver in his hand. I remembered then that

he had never taken his hand from the weapon. He had been waiting for

this--it was an old score, properly paid....

I had had enough, however, of this mode of settling up under cover of

my protection, and angrily I intimated that if there was any more

shooting I should draw too, and pistol every man. I was proceeding to

add to these remarks, and was even becoming eloquent as my righteous

feelings welled up, when a thunder of blows suddenly resounded on the

outer gates, and made me realise with a start that this was no place

for abstract morality. Strayed so far from safety, we had taken our

lives into our own hands; at any moment we might have to fight once

more desperately against superior numbers. Perhaps in the end we would

totter over in the same way as the unfortunate who had strayed across

our path.... Indeed, it was no time for morality....

The thunder on the gates continued, and then with a crash they came

open suddenly, and a party of French soldiers, with fixed bayonets and

their uniforms in great disorder, rushed in on us. They did not see me

at first, and, charging down on our captured carters, merely yelled

violently to them, "_Rendez-vous! Rendez-vous!_" Before we could move

or disclose ourselves, they had seized some of the carts and were

making preparations to drive them off without a second's delay. But

then I made up my mind in a flash, too, and becoming desperate, I

threw down the gauntlet. The contagion had caught me. Running at them

with my drawn revolver, I, too, shouted, "_Rendez-vous! Rendez-vous!_"

and with my men following me, we interposed ourselves between the

marauders and their only line of retreat. There was no time for

thinking or for explanations; somebody would have to give way or else

there would be shooting. In a second, a fresh desperate situation had

arisen.

The marauders, astonished at my sudden appearance and the manner in

which their _razzia_ had been interrupted, stood debating in loud

voices what they should do, and calling me names. Twice they turned as

if they would shoot me down; then one of them made up the minds of the

others by declaring that their object was not to fight, but to

pillage--these few carts did not matter. With lowering faces they

speedily withdrew, cursing me with calm insolence as they reached the

gates. Outside we saw that they had a number of other carts and mules,

all loaded up with huge bundles; and reeling round these captured

things were other drunken soldiers, whose disordered clothing and

leering faces proclaimed that they had given themselves solely up to

the wildest orgies. To-day there would be no quarter....

We waited until the clamour of these men had died away in the

distance, and then, with a strange double grin, the big Shantung man

turned silently back into an inner courtyard, and pointed me out

another building. I did not understand, for the very stables were

empty and deserted here, as if everything had been already looted or

carried away into safety. There appeared to be not a cart, not a piece

of harness, not a stick of furniture, nothing left at all. The big

Shantung man still grinned, however, and quickly made for the building

he had pointed out. The door was open, as if there was nothing to

conceal, and only enormous bins made of bamboo matting half blocked

the entrance. But with a few rough efforts my men sent these soon

flying; then there was a mighty stamping and neighing of alarm, and as

I looked in I laughed from sheer surprise. The house was full of

ponies, mules, and even donkeys, which had been driven in and tethered

together tightly behind barricades of tables and chairs. Now seeing

us, they stood there all eyes and ears, and with prolonged whinnies

and gruntings plainly welcomed this diversion. With glee we drove them

out and counted them up--ten more animals!

It was with disgust, however, that I remembered that there was neither

harness nor carts; but to my surprise, now that the animals had been

discovered, my men were running busily around searching every likely

hiding-place of the huge straggling courtyards. Like rats, they ran

into every corner, turned over everything, pulled up loose floorings,

and presently the body of a cart was found hidden in a loft in the

most cunning way. But it was only the body of a cart; there were no

wheels. And yet the wheels could not be far off. Five more minutes'

search had discovered them suspended down a well, under a bucket,

which itself contained a mass of harness; and then in every impossible

place we discovered the inn property cleverly stored away. In the end,

we had all the animals hitched up, and the carts themselves full of

fodder. Then, by employing the same tactics as before, just outside

drivers were discovered and induced to follow us, and now, with a

heavy caravan to protect against all comers, we sallied forth. This

time we would have our work cut out.

An hour and more had elapsed since we had been on the open streets,

and it being near midday, and everything still quiet, we were

surprised to see people of the lower classes moving cautiously about

on the main streets, but disappearing quickly at the mere sight of

other people whose business they could not divine. That, too, was

soon explained; for, seeing one rapscallion trying to run away with a

sack over his back, we discharged a rifle at him. Straightway the man

stopped running, fell on his knees, and whiningly said that he had

been permitted to take what he was carrying by honourable foreign

soldiery whom he had been allowed to assist. The bundle contained only

silks and clothes; with a kick we let him go. Plainly the plot was

thickening on all sides, and it was becoming more and more dangerous

to be abroad. Seized with a new thought, I stopped the whole caravan,

and giving orders to that effect, we soon had every driver we had so

summarily impressed securely strapped to his cart with heavy rope. At

least, if we had to cut our way back I had secured that our carts

could not be stampeded with ease. The drivers would make them go on;

it would be easier to run forward than to turn back.

Then, as if we realised the danger of the road, we began driving

frantically. We wished to carry the carts into safety. It was not long

before we saw in the distance many groups of people clustering round a

big building surrounded by high walls. That made me nervous, for the

groups formed and dissolved continually, as if they were in doubt, and

seeking to gain something which was bent on resisting. But no sooner

had they seen this than my men began laughing coarsely, and exclaimed

in the vernacular that it was a pawn-shop which the common people were

trying to loot. Of course, it was certain that every pawn-shop would

go sooner or later; but the sight of an actual attack in progress

seemed strange while the populace was still so terror-stricken. To our

further surprise, on coming up we found that a number of marauders and

stragglers belonging to a variety of European corps had been halted

by this sight; and as we drew nearer we found a private of the French

Infanterie Coloniale groaning on the ground, with a ghastly wound in

his leg. No one was attending to him--they were too busy with their

own business, and had we not tied him roughly with some cloth and

rope, he might have lain there bleeding to death. We carried the man

to the carts and decided we would take him to safety. But as we made

preparations to start a warning shout in French bade us not to pass in

front of the pawn-shop gates, and, looking up, I found that several

other French soldiers, together with some Indians and Annamites, had

climbed the roofs of adjacent houses, and with their rifles thrown out

in front of them, were attempting to get a shot at people inside. The

place was evidently securely held and refused to surrender. Grouped

all round, and armed with choppers, bars of iron and long poles, the

crowd of native rapscallions waited in a grim silence for the

_denouement_. It was an extraordinary scene. Everything and everyone

was so silent. I decided to stop and see it through. Such things never

happen twice in a lifetime.

A shot fired from the gate at an incautious man, who darted across the

street, showed that the defenders were both vigilant and desperate,

and knew what to expect at the hands of the foreign soldiery and the

populace once they poured in. Spurred by this sound, the French

soldiers on the roofs pushed down cautiously nearer and nearer to

their prey; but presently, when I thought that they had almost won

their way, a shower of bricks and heavy stones was sent at them by

unseen hands with such savageness and skill that another man was

placed _hors-de-combat,_ and came down groaning with his head split.

His, however, was only a scalp wound, and, discovering that a bandage

left him practically none the worse, he took his place with savage

curses at a corner just beyond the main gate, fixing his bayonet in

grim preparation for the end. Decidedly there would be no quarter when

that end came.

But there appeared to be, nevertheless, no means of bringing about the

desired climax. The defenders showed their alertness by occasional

shots that grated harshly on the still air, and the attack could make

no progress. I wondered what would happen. Yet it did not last long,

for Providence was at work. Two Cossacks came cantering along the

street, bearing some message from a Russian command; and although

warning shouts were sent at them, too, as they approached, they paid

no heed, but rode carelessly by. As they came abreast of the main gate

a sudden volley, which made their mounts swerve so badly that less

adept horsemen would have been flung heavily to the ground, greeted

them and sent them careering wildly for a few yards. But here were men

who understood this kind of warfare. First, it is true, they were a

little angry as they pulled up, unslung their carbines and shot home

cartridges as if they would act like the rest.... But then, when they

saw how things were, they grinned in some delight, and finally

dismounting and driving their beasts with shouts off the road, they

prepared to join the fray. With renewed interest I watched them go to

work.

A little inspection showed the newcomers that the pawn-shop was too

difficult to capture by direct assault unless special means were

adopted, for such places being constructed with a view to resisting

the attacks of robbers even in peaceful times, are nearly always

little citadels in themselves. They are the people's banks. For some

time the two new arrivals walked stealthily around, with their

carbines in their hands, peering here and there, and trying to find a

weak spot. Then one man said something to the other, and they

disappeared into a neighbouring house, only to emerge almost

immediately with some bundles of straw and some wood. To their minds

it was evidently the only thing to be done; they were going to set

fire! Before there was time to protest, the Cossacks had piled their

fuel against an angle of the gate-house, just where they could not be

shot at, and with a puff the whole thing was soon ablaze. The

scattered groups of native rapscallions on the street, when they saw

what had been done, gave a subdued howl of despair, and cried aloud

that the whole block of buildings would catch fire, and that

everything in them would be destroyed. These confident looters had

already imagined that the pawn-shop was theirs to dispose of--after

the honourable foreign soldiery had had their fill!

The Cossacks, however, were men of many ideas, and paid not the

slightest attention to all this tumult beyond striking two or three of

the nearest men. They watched the blaze with cunning little eyes, and

as the short flames shot across the gate, driven by the wind, and

raised blinding clouds of smoke, one of them said it was all right and

that we would be soon inside. On the roofs the French soldiers and

their companions lay silently watching in amazement the antics of the

two dismounted horsemen, and from the shouts and curses which now came

from the pawn-shop compound itself, it was plain that this method of

attack would be productive of some result. It was becoming more and

more interesting.

My attention was distracted for an instant by seeing one of the

Cossacks climb up beside two French soldiers and explain to them

gravely, with a violent pantomime of his hands, what they should do in

a moment or two. When I turned, it was to find that the second had

driven with boot-kicks and some swinging blows from his loaded carbine

a number of the street people towards some of those long poles which

can always be found stacked on the Peking main streets. My own men,

understanding now what was to be done, ran forward, too, to help, and

in the twinkling of an eye two long poles had been borne forward and

laid in position across the highway. In spite of all modern progress,

much the same ways of attack have still to be adopted in siege work.

Then, with some further pantomine explaining how it would be

impossible to see or hurt them under cover of that smoke, the Cossacks

induced the crowd to raise the poles again. This time everybody's

blood was up, and, urging one another on with short staccato shouts,

dozens of willing men, stripped to the waist, jumped forward, and the

timbers were driven with a tremendous impetus against the gates. As

they crashed against the wood, and half splintered the stout

entrances, a succession of shots rang out from the roofs, and I saw

the French marauders sliding rapidly down and fall out of sight into

the compound. The defence had been broken down--at least, at this

point. It seemed quite over.

It was the work of a moment to hack the gates aside, and through the

choking fumes and charred remains the whole infuriated crowd now

poured. The little blaze, having met with much brick and stone, was

smouldering out, and so long as it was not kindled anew there was no

danger of the fire spreading.

Like a rush of muddy waters, the sweating, brown-backed men, now mad

with a lust for pillage, tore through the first courtyard. I was born

along with them perforce like a piece of flotsam on a raging

flood-tide; there was no turning back. Besides, such things do not

happen every day....

The Frenchmen and their companions had already disappeared inside, and

on the ground lay two of the pawn-shop men, dead or dying, swimming

silently in their own blood. Beyond this there was a first hall, empty

and devoid of furniture, excepting for immensely long wooden counters;

and as I jumped through to the warehouses beyond, I saw dimly in the

darkened room those dozens of city rapscallions whom we had unleashed

hurl themselves on to the counters and literally tear them to pieces.

They knew! Thousands of strings of cash were laid bare by this action,

and with the quickness of lightning hundreds of furious hands tore and

snatched, while hot voices smote the air in snarls and gasps. They

wanted this money--would lose their lives for it. In an instant the

pawn-shop hall had been turned into a sulphurous saturnalia horrid to

witness. That gave you a grim idea of mob violence. I rushed to escape

it....

In the warehouses beyond I found the Frenchmen and the first Cossack,

who had directed the carrying of the place by assault, breaking open

with rude jests chests and boxes, and flinging to the ground the

contents of countless shelves. They cared nothing for the things they

found; they were hunting for treasure. With curses as their

disappointment deepened, and always hurling more and more shelves and

cupboards to the ground, they soon reduced room after room to a

confusion such as I have never before witnessed. Rich silks and costly

furs, boxes of trinkets, embroideries, women's head-dresses, and

hundreds of other things were flung to the ground and trampled under

foot into shapeless masses in a few moments, raising a choking dust

which cut one's breathing. They wanted only treasure, these men, gold

if possible, something which possessed an instant value for

them--something whose very touch spelled fortune. Nothing else. In

some amazement I watched this frantic scene. From the outer courtyards

came the same roar of excitement as the street crowd fought with one

another for possession of all that wealth in cash; separated from one

another by only a few yards, European marauders and Chinese vagabonds,

I reflected, were acting in much the same way. I followed the

Frenchmen and their companions into the last great rooms, all

dust-laden and filled with boxes without number, which were carefully

ticketed and stacked one upon another. Some were prized open with

bayonets; some had their pigskin covers beaten through by butt-end

blows; but whatever their treatment, there were always the same furs

and silks. There was no treasure.

My men had now fought their way through the outer crowd, and rapidly

flinging out coat after coat, suggested that sables were at least

worth the taking and the keeping. They selected two or three score of

these coats of precious skins, beautiful long Chinese robes reaching

to the feet, and tumbling them into emptied trunks, we went out as

soon as possible. We had had enough. The explanation of why the crowd

had not rushed through was in front of us. The remaining Cossack had

seated himself, carbine in hand, on the stone ledge at the entrance to

the inner courtyards and held everyone in check; just beyond hundreds

and hundreds of men stripped to the waist, glistening in their sweat

and trembling in their excitement, were waiting for the signal which

would let them go. I noticed that now there were old women, too. The

whole quarter was coming as fast as it could....

The Cossack grinned when he saw me appear, and looked with a shrug of

his shoulders at the sables. To him these were not priceless. Then he

explained his unconcerned attitude in a single gesture. He pushed a

hand down into his rough riding boots and pulled out one of those

Chinese gold bars which look for all the world like the conventional

yellow finger-biscuits which one eats with ice-cream. The rascal had

elsewhere come across some rich preserve and had his feet loaded with

gold--for he pulled out other bars to show me--and he did not care for

this petty pilfering. Then the Frenchmen began coming out, with the

Annamites and the Indians, each man with a bundle on his back, and the

Cossack, esteeming his watch ended, got up and stepped back. Once

again, like bloodhounds, the crowd rushed in, an endless stream of

men, women, and even children, all summoned by the news that the

pawn-shop, which was their natural enemy, had fallen. They roared past

us, striking and tearing at one another with insane gestures as if

each one feared that he would be too late. Inside the scene must have

baffled description, for a clamour soon rose which showed that it was

a battle to the death to secure loot at any price. Shrill cries and

awful groans rose high above the storm of sound, as the desperadoes of

the city, who were mixed with the more innocent common people, struck

out with choppers and bar iron and mercilessly felled to the ground

all who stood in their way. With conflicting feelings we struggled

outside, and as I mounted my pony, a wretched man covered with blood

rushed forward, and flinging himself at my feet, cried to me sobbingly

to save him. He was the last of the pawn-shop defenders and was

bleeding in a dozen places. Him, too, we roughly tied up and saved,

and telling him to mount a cart and to lie concealed inside, at last

we moved on again. We were gathering odd cargo.

The day was now waning, for the time had flown swiftly with such

strange scenes, and people began to slink out from side alleys more

and more frequently, as if they had been waiting for this dusk.

Several times we passed bands of men armed with swords and

knives--Boxers, without a doubt--who calmly watched us approach, as if

they were debating whether they should attack us or not. Once, too, a

roll of musketry suddenly rang out sharp and clear but a few hundred

feet away from the high road, only to be succeeded by an icy

silence--more speaking than any sound. We did not dare to stray away

to inquire what it might be; the high road was our only safety. Even

that was doubtful. Curious isolated encounters were taking place all

over the vast city of Peking; it was now everyone for himself, and

not even the devil taking care of the hindmost. It was no place for

innocents.

At last, by vigorous riding and driving, which caused a great clatter

and drew forth many leering faces from darkened doorways, we debouched

into that long main street down which I had shot so few days before in

such an agony of doubt. Hurrying homeward in the same direction, we

now met bands of our siege converts in groups of forty and fifty

strong. These men, who had come so near to starving during the siege,

were having their own revenge. They had sallied forth with such arms

as they could lay their hands on, and had been plundering all day

within easy reach of the Legations. They had done what they could, and

had gathered every manner of thing in which they stood most in need.

Each man had immense bundles tied to his back--it was the revenge for

all they had suffered. They had given no quarter either, and before

many more hours had gone by they would have made up for those long

weeks.... We soon left these groups behind, and with the whole

cavalcade now going at a hand-gallop, it dawned on our companions and

beasts which we had so curiously gathered during the day that we were

nearing our destination.

But here the roadway was absolutely deserted, and in the dusk I

realised that had we been farther from home we would almost certainly

be ambuscaded by some of the many ruffians Boxerism had unloosed on

the city. Here was a sort of neutral belt. At every turning I half

expected a volley to greet us; at every door-creak I thought there

would be some rush of armed men which would have been impossible for

us to meet without losing half the convoy. Yet these fancies were not

justified, for to my immense surprise, at a cross-road I saw numbers

of women in their curious Manchu head-dress standing at a big gateway,

all dressed in their best clothes. As we passed they caught sight of

me, and, nothing abashed, began immediately calling to me and waving

with their arms. This was extraordinary and unlocked for. At first I

thought that they were only courtesans, who had been deprived for so

long of all custom that they had been rendered desperate, and were

seeking to inveigle me _faute de mieux_; but remembering that such

women are confined to the outer city, I reined in my mount, halted

the whole caravan, and went slowly towards them, half fearing, I

confess, some ruse. Yet the women greeted me with fresh cries and

words. There were a full dozen of them of the best class, and they

explained to me that they had been left, absolutely abandoned, two

nights before by all the men of the household, who, fearing the worst

and hearing that the way out through the north of the city was still

open, had seized all the draft and riding animals and ridden rapidly

away, saying that the women would be spared by the foreign soldiery,

but that probably every man of rank would be killed. No one had

molested them so far, because this house lay so close to the foreign

troops, but with so many armed men on the streets, and with the

pillaging and the murder that was going on, they did not know how long

they would be spared. They told me this quickly in gasps. I paused in

doubt to know what to answer; it was everyone for himself, and the

devil not even looking after the hindmost, as I have just said. But

women.... I must propose something.

They saw my hesitation, and women-like, renewed their pleading in

chorus. I noticed, also, that two or three of the older ones grouped

themselves close together, and, putting down their heads, began

rapidly discussing in loud whispers, which showed their trepidation.

Then they called a tall, splendidly built woman, and, telling her

something in an undertone, pushed her forward towards me. Unabashed,

she advanced on me with a firm step, and laying a white-skinned

hand--for the Manchus can be very white--on my arm, she begged me to

stop here myself--to make this my house for the time being--to do as I

pleased with all of them.... After all those weeks of privation, that

constant rifle-fire, that stench of earth-soiled men, this woman so

close seemed strange.... I answered, in greater confusion, that I

could not yet say whether it was possible for me to stay so far away;

that there might be trouble; that I would see and let them know before

the night was far advanced....

Not wholly satisfied and half doubting, they let me draw off with

their pleadings renewed. Then, as I thought something might happen

before I could let them know, I gave them two rifles from the store we

had collected, and telling them to bar and bolt their gate, showed

them how a shot or two would probably drive off an attack. We

clattered on and lost them in the gloom....

It was almost dark as we re-entered the ruined Legation lines and

picked our way slowly though the _debris_ which still stood stacked on

the streets. Fatigue parties of many corps were finishing their work

of attempting to restore some order and cleanliness, and clouds of

murky dust hung heavily in the air. All round these narrow streets

there was an atmosphere of exhaustion and disorder, crushed on top of

one another, which oppressed one so much after the open streets, that

an immense nostalgia suddenly swept over me. We had had too much of

it; I was tired and weary of it all. It was mean and miserable after

the great anti-climax. It was like coming back to a soiled dungeon.

We picked our way right through where two days before no vehicles

could have passed, and I stabled all the animals and carts, and handed

them over to where they were needed. Then I ordered that our captured

things, our weapons, and my few last belongings should be loaded into

one remaining cart, and ordering my men to follow, without a word of

explanation I started off again. I had made up my mind.

We passed rapidly enough out and again sped in the blackening night

down the long street just as we had returned. Almost too soon we

reached that great gate on the corner to find it barred and bolted.

Somehow my heart sank within me at this; was it too late?

But there were cries and a confusion of voices. Somebody peered

through. Then there was delight. The gate was unbarred by weak women's

hands, and the soft Manchu voice which had first begged me to stop was

speaking to me again....

Inside I found the courtyards and the lines of rooms which fronted

each square were immense and furnished with richly carved woodwork; it

was a rich house, and there was a profusion of everything which could

be wanted--only no men! We securely bolted and barred the main gate,

and for safety loopholed a little, because that is an art in which we

had become adepts. Then, with candles murkily shedding their light, I

explored every nook and corner to guard against surprise, always with

that soft voice explaining to me. It was very quiet and soft with that

atmosphere around; it was like a narcotic when a roar of fever still

hangs in one's ears. I became more and more content. After all, we had

become abnormals; a shade more or less could make no difference....

That night was a pleasant dream....

III

THE SACK CONTINUES

August, 1900.

* * * * *

To rediscover the ease and luxury of lying down, not brute-like, but

man-like, seemed to me an immense thing. I had had my first night's

sleep on a bed for nearly three months, and I wished never to rise

again. I wished to be immensely lazy for a long period--not to have to

move or think or act. But that could not be. All sorts of marauders

were sweeping the city and working their wills in a hundred different

ways. Half a dozen times, as soon as daylight had come, shots had been

fired through my gateway. European soldiery, who had broken away from

their corps, and native vagabonds and disguised Boxers, who had hidden

panic-stricken during the first hours after the relief, were now

prowling about armed from head to foot. The vast city, which had been

given over for weeks to mad disorders and insane Boxerism, was in a

receptive condition for this final climax. There was no semblance of

authority left; with troops of many rival nationalities always pouring

in, and a nominal state of war still existing, with the possibility of

a Chinese counter-advance taking place, how could there be?... There

was nothing left to restrain anybody....

I thought of these things lying at my ease, and debated how long I

could stay in that unconcerned attitude. It was not long. For as I

lay, there was a thunder of blows somewhere near, and then a crackle

of shots, whose echoes smote so clean that I knew that firearms were

pointed in the direction of this house. I jumped up without delay. I

was not a minute too soon, for as I seized my rifle, one of my men ran

in and shouted to me that foreign cavalrymen had burst in, shooting in

the air, and were now driving out all the animals and looting all the

carts as well. Nothing could be done unless I lent my leadership.

Hastily I ran out, feeding a cartridge into my rifle-chamber as I

rushed. This time I was determined to give a lesson and pay back in

the same coin. The marauders were Cossacks again.

There were only four of them, however, and when they caught sight of

me they tried to stampede my mob and bolt ingloriously with them. But

we were too quick. I gave the first man's mount my first cartridge in

a fast shot, which took the animal well behind the shoulder and

brought the rider instantly down in a heap to the ground. That mixed

them up so that before they could extricate themselves they were all

covered with our rifles and the gates tight shut. Then we calmly

dragged the men off their ponies and kept them in suspense for many

minutes, debating aloud what to do. Finally we let them go after some

harsh threatening. The man who had lost his mount, nothing abashed,

swung himself coolly up behind a comrade, with his saddle and bridle

on his arm, without a comment. And as soon as they were in the open

street they galloped fast away, as if they feared we would shoot them

down from behind. That showed what was going on elsewhere....

I knew now what to expect unless we made very ready, for surely a

sharp revenge attack would come as soon as it was dark. So grimly we

set to work, with a return of-our old fighting feelings, and rapidly

fortified the main gate against all cavalry raids. We dug a broad moat

behind the gate, and threw up a respectable barricade with the earth

we had gained. Then we brought some timbers and built them in on top

with the aid of bricks and stones, so as to have a line of loopholes

converging on the entrance. We trained some of the many rifles we had

picked up in the same direction, and strapped them into position, just

as the Chinese commands had done all along their barricades during the

siege. In this way we made it so that in a few seconds a dozen of the

enemy could be brought to the ground without the defending force

showing a finger. That would be enough for any Cossacks....

Before midday we had added a couple of lookout posts to the roofs, and

then, secure in this new-found strength, I determined to go abroad

once more to collect supplies and food. That decision was materially

helped by an incident which showed that everyone was acting and that

it was the only way. As we cautiously opened our main gate and

prepared to sally out, a cart came by, accompanied by several men from

the Legations on horseback, who were much excited. Well might they be;

they had two of their number inside that cart, both shot and bleeding

badly from flesh wounds. They had been right to the east of the city,

they reported, where the Russians and Japanese had come in. It was

terrible there, they said. Nothing but dead people and fires and

looting. Chinese soldiers had still remained there in hiding and were

defending some of the bigger buildings belonging to Manchu princes.

Plunderers, also, were everywhere on the road. They advised caution

and told us not to trust ourselves in the alleyways. They had been

caught like that, and their servants and horse-boys had deserted in a

body four miles away immediately fire was opened on them from some

fortified house. That made me all the more determined. I would go and

be shot, too, if necessary, since it was the order of the day, but I

made up my mind that it would be no easy job to catch me sleeping.

Already I understood fully the new methods and the new requirements.

We rode away, stirrup to stirrup, I, a single white man, with a dozen

doubtful adherents, made savage at the idea of loot, as companions,

and held to me only by a questionable community of interests. Yet what

did it matter, I thought. One lives only once and dies only once. That

is elemental truth. So _tant pis_.

In our joy at being on those open streets again, with never a

passer-by or a vehicle to obstruct one's rapid passage, we went ahead

in a whirlwind of dust. We passed street after street with always the

same silence about us we had noticed the day before. Everything was

closed, tight shut; there was not a cat or a dog stirring abroad. Near

the Legations and the Palace, where the fear lay the heaviest, it

seemed like a city of the dead.

Yet we knew that there were plenty of living men only biding their

time and waiting their opportunity. It was only night that these

people desired; a good black night so that no one could see them flit

about. You felt in the small of your back as you rode along that ugly

faces were looking at you from the silent houses, and that at any

moment shots might ring out suddenly and bear you to the ground. But

that was merely a preliminary feeling. Soon it added zest to the

entertainment. What, indeed, did it matter? It only made one more and

more reckless.

We sped swiftly along, only twice seeing men of any sort in several

miles of streets. Once they were fellows who, on our approach,

scuttled so quickly away to hide their identity that we could not be

sure whether they were white or yellow. But once, without concealment,

a band of mixed European soldiery, in terrible disorder, who first

wished to fire on us, and then when they saw me set up a colourless

sort of cheer, appeared suddenly, only to disappear. We never paused

an instant; we kept straight on.

As we made our way farther and farther to the east and came across

rich districts of barricaded shops, signs were clear that pillaging

had gone on here already with insane violence, but by whom or at what

time it was impossible to say. Sometimes there were battered-in doors

and windows, with ugly, swollen corpses stretched near by; sometimes

the contents of a rich emporium had been swept, as if by some strange

whirlwind, out on the street to litter the whole driving road many

inches deep with the most heterogeneous things. On the ground, too,

were dozens of the rude imitation flags which had been so frantically

made by the terror-striken populace in order to disclaim all

association with Boxerism and the mad Imperialism being now so

summarily swept away. Jeering looters had torn these things down and

cast them in the dirt to show, as a reply, that there was to be no

quarter if they could help it. These grim notes limned speakingly on

everything, made it plain that a movement was in the air which could

hardly be arrested. It made one feel a little insane and intoxicated

to see it all; and as one's blood rushed through one's veins, after

that long captivity, one had, too, the desire to add a little more

destruction, to break down places and to shoot for the amusement of

the thing. You could not help it; it was in the air, I say. It was a

subtle poison which could not be analysed, but which kept on coursing

through one's veins and heating the blood to fever-pitch. The vast

open streets needed filling up with noise and rapid movements, one

thought; the inhabitants must be galvanised to life again, one

felt....

My men needed every kind of wearing apparel, for they had been in rags

althrough the siege, and as soon as possible they showed that they

appreciated the situation, and did not intend to stand on ceremony.

They set to work as soon as they saw what they wanted. A huge Chinese

boot, gaudily painted on a swinging sign-board, proclaimed a

boot-shop, where in ordinary times they could buy every kind of

foot-covering. But now it was no good attempting such methods. So they

tilted straight at the shop-door without hesitation, and beating a

wild rataplan of blows on the wooden shutters, demanded an entry in a

roar of voices. Otherwise they would shoot, they added. In very few

seconds, at this clamour, some shuffling steps were heard and

trembling hands unbarred in haste, fearing a worse fate. We then saw

two blanched and trembling shopkeepers, whose dirtied clothes and

dishevelled hair showed that they had had days and nights of the most

wretched existence. Shakingly they asked what we wanted, adding that

they had not a piece of silver or yet a string of cash left. The

Boxers had taken everything weeks before; now honourable foreign

soldiery were beating them because they were so poor. My men did not

trouble to answer; they went to work. They wanted boots and shoes,

and plenty of them, since there were plenty to take, and so they

searched and picked and chose. But presently one man gave vent to an

oath, and them, in his surprise, laughed coarsely. He had discovered

that there were only boots and shoes for the left foot. There was

nothing for the right foot, not a single boot, not a single shoe! Once

again they did not trouble to speak, but merely pushing fire-pieces

against the luckless shopkeepers' heads waited in silence. Immediately

the men broke down anew and began whining more explanations. It was

true there were no right feet, they said. The right feet were over

there in a neighbour's shop. That shop had all the right feet; they

had only left feet. This seemed strange humour. Yet it was a good, if

crude, device which these cunning shopkeepers had hit on even in their

distress. For they knew that looters would probably not waste time

attempting to match shoes in such confusion, when so much better

things were lying near. They hoped at least to save their stock by

this device; and it seemed certain that they would. I said not a word;

this was a family affair.

In the end a bargain was struck; two pairs of shoes for each man, and

the rest to be left untouched. Then the right feet appeared soon

enough from hidden places, and the shopmen were saved from further

loss. With all the other things the same procedure was adopted along

this shopman's street. A bargain was struck in each case, which saved

one side from undue loss and gave the other far less trouble. In this

new fashion we captured chickens, eggs, sheep, rice, flour, and a

dozen other necessaries, only taking a quarter of what we would have

seized otherwise, in return for the help given. It was curious

shopping, but everybody was curious now. What you did not take,

somebody would seize ten minutes later.

These occupations were so peaceful and gave so little difficulty, that

it soon seemed to me as if everything was actually settling down

quietly in this one corner of the city. Yet it was not so. We were

only having momentary luck. For presently soldiers of various

nationalities began passing in many directions, some returning from

successful forays, and others just starting out to see what they could

pick up. And on top of them all came a curious young fellow from one

of the Legations, galloping along on a big white horse he must have

just looted. He was accompanied by no one. He had been half-mad for

weeks during the siege and now seemed quite crazy as he rode.

It was he who had again and again volunteered to play the part of

executioner to all the wretched coolies engaged in sapping under our

lines who had been captured from time to time, and whose heads had at

once paid the last penalty. This man had done it always with a

shot-gun, and he had seemed to gloat over it; and in the end people

had taken a detestation for him, and looked upon him for some strange

reason as a little unclean. Now he was madly excited, and as soon as

he saw me he called out, in his thick Brussels accent, and made a long

broken speech, which I shall never forget.

"Have you seen them?" he said, not pausing for a reply. "It is the

sight of all others--the best of all. Hsu Tung, you remember, the

Imperial Tutor, who wished to make covers for his sedan chair with our

hides, and who was allowed to escape when we had him tight? Well, he

is swinging high now from his own rafters, he and his whole

household--wives, children, concubines, attendants, everyone. There

are sixteen of them in all--sixteen, all swinging from ropes tied on

with their own hands, and with the chairs on which they stood kicked

from under them. That they did in their death struggles. Everywhere

they have acted in the same way. They call it hanging, but it is not

that; it is really slow strangulation, which lasts for many minutes,

because at the last moment the victims become afraid and try to regain

their footholds."

The man paused a minute and licked his dry lips. To me there was

something hideous in this story being told on that sacked street. His

voice sounded a little like those Chinese trumpets, whose gurgling

notes make one think instantly of evil things. Then he went on, more

furiously than ever:

"And the wells near the Eastern Gates, have you seen them, where all

the women and girls have been jumping in? They are full of women and

young girls--quite full, because they were afraid of the troops,

especially of the black troops. The black troops become insane, the

people say, when they see women. So the women killed themselves

wherever they heard the guns. Now they are hauling up the dead bodies

so that the wells will not be poisoned. I have seen them take six and

seven bodies from the same well, all clinging together, and the men

have tried to kill me because I looked. But I was well mounted; I

could look as long as I liked, and then gallop away so fast that not

even their shots could catch me. The place is full of dead people,

nothing but dead people everywhere, and more are dying every minute."

Then he came up to me and whispered how soldiers were behaving after

they had outraged women. It was impossible to listen. He said that

our own inhuman soldiery had invited him to stay and see. Yet although

I swore at the man and told him to go away, I could not drive him from

me. He wanted to talk and he had found some one who had to listen.

Indeed, he clung to me all the way home, as if he had been at length

frightened by his own stories and by his imagination. Steadily he

became more and more curious. He watched me eat, he watched me drink,

but he would take nothing himself. He wanted to go out again. He must

have movement, he said, and he insisted on riding to Monseigneur

F----'s Pei-t'ang Cathedral. He had not been there yet, and a

curiosity suddenly seized him to see the place where others had

suffered in the same way as ourselves. That reminded me, too, that

everybody had almost forgotten about this Roman Catholic cathedral,

forgotten completely because they were now at their ease. It had been

two whole days before troops were even sent there to see that all was

well, and even these only went because a priest had been killed half

way between the Legations and the Cathedral. I decided to go, too. It

was almost a duty to make this pilgrimage. So we quickly left again.

For a few minutes after leaving the occupied area we threaded streets

with men from the relief columns in full view, but soon enough we

found ourselves in treacherous roadways, all littered with the ruins

and the inexpressible confusion which come of desultory

street-fighting spread over long weeks. To me this was a new

quarter--one which I had not been near since the month of May, and

soon it was equally clear that it was still a very evil place. Only

yesterday men who had broken away from the French corps were found

here, some dead and some horribly mutilated. Yet in spite of this the

same signs of mock friendliness greeted our eyes on every side--those

fluttering little flags of all nations, so rudely made from whatever

cloth had been handy. Every building displayed some flag--every single

one; but there now were other signs, too--signs which showed that all

this quarter had been picked so clean that it was of no more value to

marauders. Little notices, some in French, some in English, and a few

in other tongues, were scratched on the walls or written on dirty

scraps of paper and nailed up. Half in jest and half in earnest, these

curious notices said all manner of things. For the wretched people who

had been plundered or otherwise ill used had already fallen into the

habit of asking from the soldiery for some scrap of writing which

would prove that they had contributed their quota, and might,

therefore, be exempted from further looting. Scrawled in soldiers'

hands were such things as, "_Defense absolue de piller; nous autres

avons tout pris_"; or, "No looting permitted. This show is cleaned

out." Everywhere these signs were to be seen. Here they must have

worked fast and furiously....

Riding quickly, at last we reached the famous cathedral, with great

trenches and earthworks surrounding it, and the torn and battered

buildings showing how bitter the struggle had been. To our

siege-taught eyes a single look explained the nature of the defence,

and the lines which had been naturally formed. It was written as plain

as on a map. The priests and their allies had now hauled the enemy's

abandoned guns to the cathedral entrances and the spires were now

crowned with garlands of flags of all nations. But that was all. There

was no one to be seen. Everybody was away, out minding the new

business--that of making good the damage done by levying contributions

on the city at large. It was all dead quiet, silent like some deserted

graveyard. The sailors and the priests and their converts, remembering

that Heaven helps those who help themselves, had sallied out and were

reprovisioning themselves and making good their losses. Indeed, the

only men we could find were some converts engaged in stacking up

silver shoes, or _sycee_, in a secluded quadrangle. These had become

the property of the mission by the divine right of capture; there

seemed at the moment nothing strange about it.

This silent cathedral, with its vast grounds and its deserted

quadrangles torn up by the savage conflict, became to us curiously

oppressive--almost ghostlike in the bright sunshine. It seemed absurd

to imagine that forty or fifty rifle-armed sailors, a band of priests

and many thousands of converts had been ringed in here by fire and

smoke for weeks, and had lost dozens and hundreds at a time through

mine explosions. It seemed, also, equally absurd that the twenty or

thirty thousand men who had poured into Peking had already become so

quickly lost in the expanses of the city. Where were they all?...

My mad companion had tired, too, of looking, and wanted again to rush

off and discover some signs of life. He wanted, above all, to see the

place where the first companies of the French infantry had suddenly

come on a mixed crowd of Boxers, soldiers and townspeople fleeing in

panic all mixed together, and had mown them down with _mitrailleuses_.

There was a cul-de-sac, which was horrible, it was reported. The

machine-guns had played for ten or fifteen minutes in that death-trap

without stopping a second until nothing had moved. The incident was

only a day or two old, yet everyone had heard of it. People exclaimed

that this was going too far in the matter of vengeance. But everything

had been allowed to go too far....

We rode out at a canter, and wondered more and more as we rode at the

solitude, where so few hours before there had been such a deafening

roar. We plunged straight into the maze of narrow streets, and then

suddenly, before we were aware of it, our mounts were swerving and

snorting in mad terror! For corpses dotted the ground in ugly

blotches, the corpses of men who had met death in a dozen different

ways. Lying in exhausted attitudes, they covered the roadway as if

they had been merely _tired to death_. It was awful, and I began to

have a terrible detestation for these Asiatic faces, which, because

they are dead, become such a hideous green-yellow-white, and whose

bodies seem to shrivel to nothing in their limp blue suitings. Such

dead are an insult to the living.

We picked our way on our trembling mounts, trying vainly to push

through quickly to escape it all. But it was no good. We had stumbled

by chance on the actual route taken by an avenging column, and the men

who had been mad with lust to loot the Palace, and had been turned off

almost as an afterthought to relieve co-religionists, had vented their

wrath on everything. The farther and farther we penetrated the more

hideous did the ruins and the corpses become. There was nothing but

silence once again--death, ruin, and silence; and at last we came on

such a mountain of corpses that our ponies suddenly stampeded and went

madly careering away. Frightened more and more by the sound of their

galloping hoofs, the animals soon laid their legs to the ground and

bolted blindly. Vainly we tugged at our bridles; vainly we tried every

device to bring them to a halt. But again it was no good. It had

become a sort of mad gallop of death; the animals had to be allowed to

rid themselves of their feelings.

Eventually we pulled up far away to the west of where we had started.

We were now near the districts which had only the day before been

proclaimed highly dangerous to everyone until clearing operations had

swept them clean of lurking Boxers or disbanded soldiery. But now

attracted by a roar of flames, and indifferent to any dangers which

might lurk near by, we followed up the trail of smoke hanging on the

skies to see what was taking place. One's interest never ceased, yet

it was only the same thing. French soldiers, some drunk and some

merely savage, had found their way here by some strange fate, and

being quite-alone had evidently looted and then set fire to a big pile

of buildings. They were discharging their rifles, too; for as we

approached, bullets whistled overhead, and sobbing townspeople, driven

from their hiding-places, began rushing away in every direction. This

was strange.

Our arrival was only the signal for a fresh discharge of rifles, and

then there was no doubt who was attracting the fire. The men were

deliberately aiming at us to drive us away! We halted behind cover,

and then with the same callousness as they displayed, we gave them a

volley back, as a note of warning. It was my insane companion who

drove us to do that; but, forthwith, on the sound of that well-knit

discharge, there was more firing on every side, some shots coming from

houses quite close to us and some from the open streets. With the

growing roar and crackle of the flames these shots made very

insignificant popping and attracted but little attention. Yet I soon

saw that this continuous firing could not come from the rifles of

European soldiery, unless there were whole companies of them, and that

perhaps we had been mistaken for other people. And soon my suspicions

were confirmed by a confused shouting in the vernacular, and a rush of

men from lanes not a hundred yards away. Then there were some

half-suppressed blasts on the hideous Chinese trumpet and--Chinese

soldiery....

They came out with a mad rush and charged straight at the drunken

French marauders, firing quickly as they ran after the old manner

which we knew so well. As we gazed, the men from the relief columns

fell back in disorder without any hesitation--indeed, fled madly to

the nearest houses and began pelting their assailants with lead in

return. Suppressed trumpet-blasts came again, rallying the attackers;

more and more men rushed out from all sorts of places, and as this was

no affair of ours, and our retreat would certainly be cut off if we

dallied, we retreated at full gallop farther and farther to the west.

We were going straight away to where might be our damnation.

I do not remember clearly how far we rode, or why we galloped, but

soon we arrived almost at the flanking city walls miles away, and

found ourselves among scores and hundreds of the enemy, who were still

lurking on the streets, half disguised and mixed with the townspeople.

They fired at us as we rode; they fired at us when we stopped; for

many minutes there was nothing to be heard but the hissing of lead and

fierce yells....

Conscious that only a big effort would pull us through, we boldly

turned bridle and galloped to the south--reached a city gate, went

through at a frantic pace, and sought safety in the outer Chinese

town. Here it was quieter for a time, but as once more we approached

the central streets, down which the Allies had marched, we came across

other marauders. This time they were Indian troops going about in

bands, with only their side arms with them, but leaving the same

destruction behind them. Then we came across Americans, again some

French, then some Germans, until it became an endless procession of

looting men--conquerors and conquered mixed and indifferent....

It was eight at night before I pulled up on my foundered mount at

home. I confess I had had enough. We were dead with fatigue. This was

too much after one had those weeks of siege.

IV

CHAOS

August, 1900.

* * * * *

The refugee columns have gone at last, and have got down safely to the

boats at Tungchow, which is fifteen miles away, and in direct water

communication with Tientsin. It is good that nearly all the women and

children and the sick have been packed off. This is, indeed, no place

for them. An Indian regiment sent a band, which played the endless

columns of carts, sedan chairs, and stretchers out along the sands

under the Tartar Wall, until they were well on their way. That made

everyone break down a little and realise what it has been. They say

it was like India during the Mutiny, and that it was impossible for

any one to have a dry eye. Even the native troops, rich in traditions

and stories of such times, understood the curious significance of it

all. They talked a great deal and told their officers that it was the

same.

Thus, winding away over the sands and through the dust, the only

_raison d'etre_ of this great relief expedition has passed away.

Probably a conviction of this is why the situation in Peking itself

shows no signs of improving. Some say that it has become rather worse,

in a subtle, secret way. More troops have marched in, masses of German

troops and French infantry of the line, and columns of Russians are

already moving out, bound for places no one can ascertain. Nothing

but moving men on the great roads.

It is the newly arrived who cause the most trouble. Furious to find

that those who came with the first columns have all feathered their

nests and satisfied every desire, they are trying to make up for lost

time by stripping even the meanest streets of the valueless things

which remain. They say, too, now, that punitive expeditions are to be

organised and pushed all over North China, because these new troops,

which have come from so far, must be given something to do, and cannot

be allowed to settle down in mere idleness until something turns up,

which will alter the present irresolution and confusion....

But for the time being there is little else but quiet looting. Even

some of the Ministers have made little fortunes from so-called

official seizures, and there is one curious case, which nobody quite

understands, of forty thousand taels in silver shoes being suddenly

deposited in the French Legation, and as suddenly spirited away by

some one else to another Legation, while no one dares openly to say

who are the culprits, although their names are known. Silver, however,

is a drug in the market. Everybody, without exception, has piles of

it. Also, the Japanese, who are supposed to be on their good conduct,

have despoiled the whole Board of Revenue and taken over a million

pounds sterling in bullion. They have been most cunning. The only

currency to be had is the silver shoe. These shoes can be bought at an

enormous discount for gold in any form, and even with silver dollars

you can make a pretty profit. The new troops, who have arrived too

late, are doing their best to find some more of this silver by digging

up gardens and breaking down houses. Marchese P----, of the Italians,

who always pretends that he has been a mining engineer in some

prehistoric period of his existence, calls it "working over the

tailings."

In consequence of this glut of silver and curiosities, a regular

buying and selling has set up, and all our armies are becoming armies

of traders. There are official auctions now being organised, where you

will be able to buy legally, and after the approved methods, every

kind of loot. The best things, however, are being disposed of

privately, for it is the rank and file who have managed to secure the

really priceless things. I heard to-day that an amateur who came up

with one of the columns bought from an Amerian soldier the Grand Cross

of the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, set in magnificent diamonds,

for the sum of twenty dollars. It seems only the other day that Prince

Henry was here for the special purpose of donating this mark of the

personal esteem of the Kaiser after the Kiaochow affair. Twenty

dollars--it is an inglorious end!

The native troops from India, seeing all these strange scenes around

them, and quickly contaminated by the force of bad example, are most

curious to watch. When they are off duty they now select a good corner

along the beaten tracks where people can travel in safety, squat down

on their heels, spread a piece of cloth, and display thereon all the

lumps of silver, porcelain bowls, vases and other things which they

have managed to capture. You can sometimes see whole rows of them thus

engaged. The Chinese Mohammedans, of whom there are in normal times

many thousands in Peking, have found that they can venture forth in

safety in all the districts occupied by Indian troops once they put on

turbans to show that they are followers of Islam; and now they may be

seen in bands every day, with white and blue cloths swathed round

their heads in imitation of those they see on the heads of their

fellow-religionists, going to fraternise with all the Mussulmans of

the Indian Army. It is these Chinese Mohammedans who now largely serve

as intermediaries between the population and the occupation troops.

They are buying back immense quantities of the silver and silks in

exchange for foodstuffs and other things. A number of streets are now

safe as long as it is light, and along these people are beginning to

move with more and more freedom. But as soon as it is dark the uproar

begins again. The Chinese have had time now, however, to hide all the

valuables that have been left them. Everything is being buried as

quickly as possible in deep holes, and search parties now go out armed

with spades and picks, and try to purchase informers by promising a

goodly share of all finds made. It is really an extraordinary

condition....

V

SETTLING DOWN

End of August, 1900.

* * * * *

It shows how little is still generally known of what is going on in

our very midst, and low disordered things really are, when I say that

I only learned to-day that the whole city--in fact, every part of

it--has been duly divided up some time ago by the Allied Commanders

into districts--one district being assigned to every Power of

importance that has brought up troops. They are trying to organise

military patrols and a system of police to stop the looting, which

shows no signs of abating. Everybody is crazy now to get more loot.

Every new man says that he only wants a few trifles, but as soon as he

has a few he must, of course, have more, and thus the ball continues

rolling indefinitely.... Nothing will stop it.

Yesterday, just as a man of the British Legation was telling me that

the system was really all right, that it was, in fact, a working

system which would soon be productive of results, and that the bad

part was over, a huge Russian convoy debouched into the street where

we were standing. It was a curious mixture of green-painted Russian

army-waggons and captured Chinese country carts, and every vehicle was

loaded to its maximum capacity with loot. The convoy had come in from

the direction of the Summer Palace, and was accompanied by such a

small escort of infantrymen that I should not have cared to insure

them against counter-attacks on the road from any marauders who might

have seen them in a quiet spot. A dozen mounted men of resolution

could have cut them up.

The carts lumbered along, however, indifferent to every danger, in

their careless disorder. Their drivers were half asleep, and things

kept on dropping to the ground and being smashed to atoms. Just near

us the ropes stretched round one cart became loosened by the rocking

and bumping occasioned by the vile road, and the contents, no longer

held in place, began spilling to the ground. As soon as he had seen

this, the Russian soldier-driver became furious. He would have had to

do a lot of work to repack his load properly, so he soon thought of a

shorter and easier way: he began deliberately throwing overboard his

overload! Three beautiful porcelain vases of enormous size and

priceless value suffered this fate; then some bulky pieces of jade

carved in the form of curious animals. C---- tried to stop the man,

but I only smiled grimly. What did it matter? In Prince Tuan's Palace

I had seen, a couple of days before, the incredible sight of thousands

of pieces of porcelain and baskets full of wonderful _objects de

vertu_ smashed into ten thousand atoms by the soldiery who had first

forced their way there. They only wanted bullion. Porcelain painted in

all the colours of the rainbow, and worth anything on the European

markets--what did that mean to them!

The convoy at last bumped away, leaving merely a long trail of dust

behind it and those fragments on the ground, and C---- became silent

and then left me suddenly. Perhaps the idea had finally entered his

respectable British head that we had become grotesque and out of

date, and that we should retreat and make room for other men. Nobody

cares for anybody else. Only a few hours before a reliable story had

been going the rounds that some Indian infantry had opened fire on a

Russian detachment in the country just beyond the Chinese city,

pleading that it was a mistake. How could it have been? There is only

one really sensible thing to do, and now it is too late to do that; to

set fire to the whole city and then retreat, as Napoleon did from

Moscow. The road to the sea is too short and the winter too far off

for any harm to come.

The first cables have at length come through in batches from Europe,

by way of the field telegraphs, which are now working smoothly and

well. Everybody of importance is being transferred, but it is

impossible to find out where they are all going. All the Ministers now

pretend that they had asked for transfers before the siege actually

began, and that they will be heartily glad to go away and forget that

such a horrible place as Peking exists. Yet from the nervousness of

those who have been told to report for orders in Europe, it cannot be

all joy.

VI

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

August, 1900.

* * * * *