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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:08 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:50:08 -0700 |
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diff --git a/17003-h/17003-h.htm b/17003-h/17003-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a493d30 --- /dev/null +++ b/17003-h/17003-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,13419 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Indiscreet Letters From Peking, by B. L. Putman Weale</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; text-indent: 0; font-weight: normal; color: gray; font-size: 0.7em; text-align: right;} + /* page numbers */ + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + + table {padding: 1em; text-align: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; padding: 2em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} + .tocch { text-align: right; vertical-align: top;} + .tocpg {text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;} + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .date {margin-left:65%; } + .date1 {margin-left:60%;} + + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 75%;} + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Indiscreet Letters From Peking, Edited by B. +L. Putman Weale</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Indiscreet Letters From Peking</p> +<p> Being the Notes of an Eye-Witness, Which Set Forth in Some Detail, from Day to Day, the Real Story of the Siege and Sack of a Distressed Capital in 1900--The Year of Great Tribulation</p> +<p>Editor: B. L. Putman Weale</p> +<p>Release Date: November 4, 2005 [eBook #17003]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDISCREET LETTERS FROM PEKING***</p> +<p> </p> +<h4>E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Sankar Viswanathan,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (https://www.pgdp.net/)</h4> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h1> +INDISCREET LETTERS FROM<br /> +PEKING</h1> + +<h3>BEING THE NOTES OF AN EYE-WITNESS,<br /> +WHICH SET FORTH IN SOME DETAIL, FROM<br /> +DAY TO DAY, THE REAL STORY OF THE<br /> +SIEGE AND SACK OF A DISTRESSED CAPITAL<br /> +IN 1900—THE YEAR OF GREAT TRIBULATION</h3> + +<h4> </h4> +<h4> </h4> +<h4>EDITED BY</h4> +<h2>B. L. PUTNAM WEALE</h2> + +<h5>Author of "Manchu and Muscovite," +and "The Re-shaping of the Far East."</h5> + + +<h3> </h3> +<h3> </h3> +<h3>CHINA EDITION</h3> +<h3>1922</h3> + +<h3> </h3> +<h3> </h3> +<h3>SHANGHAI</h3> +<h3>KELLY AND WALSH, LIMITED</h3> + +<h5> </h5> +<h5> </h5> +<h5> </h5> +<h5>BRITISH EMPIRE AND CONTINENTAL<br /> + +COPYRIGHT EXCEPTING SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRIES<br /> + +BY PUTNAM WEALE FROM 1921</h5> +<h2> </h2> +<h2> </h2> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<p><span style="margin-left:9em;"><b><a href="#FOREWARD">FOREWORD</a></b></span></p> + + + +<table summary="contents" style="font-variant: small-caps"> + <tr> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td colspan="6"><a href="#PARTI_THEWARNING">Part I—The Warning</a></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td colspan="6"> </td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">I</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#I">Fragments</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">II</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#II">Mutterings</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">III</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#III">Overcast Skies</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IV</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#IV">Our Guards Arrive</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">V</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#V">The Plot Thickens</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VI</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#VI">The Licking Flames Approach</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VII</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#VII">The City of Peking and All its Glories</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VIII</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#VIII">Some Incidents and the One Man</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IX</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#IX">The Coming of the Boxers</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">X</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#X">Barricades and Reliefs</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XI</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#XI">Some Men and Things</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XII</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#XII">Hell Hounds</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIII</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#XIII">A Few Crumbs</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIV</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#XIV">The Ultimatum</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XV</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#XV">The Debacle Begins</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td colspan="6"><a href="#PART_II_THE_SIEGE">Part II—The Siege</a></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="4"> </td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">I</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#II_I">Chaos</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">II</td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td><a href="#II_II">The Retreat and the Return</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_120">120</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">III</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_III">Fires and Food</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_IV">The Bonds Tighten</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">V</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_V">The Mysterious Board of Truce</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_VI">Shells and Sorties</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_VII">The Hospital and the Graveyard</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_VIII">The Failure</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IX</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_IX">An Interlude</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">X</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_X">The Guns</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_XI">Sniping</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_XII">The Gallant French</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_206">206</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_XIII">The British Legation Base</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_XIV">The Ever-growing Casualty List</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#II_XV">The Armistice</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_224">224</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XVI">The Resumption of a Semi-diplomatic Life</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_232">232</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XVII">Diplomacy Continues</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XVIII">The Unrest Grows and Diplomacy Continues</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIX</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XIX">The First Real News</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XX</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XX">The Third Phase Continues</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_248">248</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXI">More Diplomacy</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_251">251</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXII">The World Beyond Our Bricks</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXIII">Trifles</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXIV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXIV">Diplomatic Confidences</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXV">The Plot Again Thickens</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXVI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXVI">More Messengers</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXVII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXVII">The Attacks Resumed</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXVIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXVIII">The Thirteenth</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXIX</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXIX">The Night of the Thirteenth</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_278">278</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XXX</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#XXX">How I Saw the Relief</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_284">284</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch"> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td colspan="2"><a href="#PART_III-THE_SACK">Part III—The Sack</a></td> + + + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td colspan="2"> </td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + <td></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">I</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_I">The Palace</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_307">307</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">II</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_II">The Sack</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_327">327</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">III</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_III">The Sack Continues</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_354">354</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_IV">Chaos</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_370">370</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">V</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_V">Settling Down</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_374">374</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_VI">The Forbidden Fruit</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_377">377</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_VII">The Few Remains</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_397">397</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">VIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_VIII">The Palsy Remains</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_412">412</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">IX</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_IX">Drifting</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_420">420</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">X</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_X">Picking Up Threads</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_424">424</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_XI">The Impossible</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_428">428</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_XII">Suspense</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_434">434</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIII</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_XIII">Still Drifting</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_436">436</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XIV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_XIV">Punitive Expeditions</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_438">438</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XV</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_XV">The Climax</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_440">440</a></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="tocch">XVI</td> + <td> </td> + <td> </td> + <td><a href="#III_XVI">The End</a></td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"> </td> + <td class="tocpg"><a href="#Page_443">443</a></td> + </tr> + +</table> + + + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> +<h2> </h2> +<h2><a name="FOREWARD" id="FOREWARD"></a>FOREWORD</h2> +<p>The publication of these letters, dealing with the startling events +which took place in Peking during the summer and autumn of 1900, at +this late date may be justified on a number of counts. In the first +place, there can be but little doubt that an exact narrative from the +pen of an eye-witness who saw everything, and knew exactly what was +going on from day to day, and even from hour to hour, in the +diplomatic world of the Chinese capital during the deplorable times +when the dread Boxer movement overcast everything so much that even in +England the South African War was temporarily forgotten, is of intense +human interest, showing most clearly as it does, perhaps for the first +time in realistic fashion, the extraordinary <i>bouleversement</i> which +overcame everyone; the unpreparedness and the panic when there was +really ample warning; the rivalry of the warring Legations even when +they were almost <i>in extremis</i>, and the curious course of the whole +seige itself owing to the division of counsels among the Chinese—this +last a state of affairs which alone saved everyone from a shameful +death. In the second place, this account may dispel many false ideas +which still obtain in Europe and America regarding the position of +various Powers in China—ideas based on data which have long been +declared of no value by those competent to judge. In the third place, +the vivid and terrible description of the sack of Peking by the +soldiery of Europe, showing the de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>moralisation into which all troops +fall as soon as the iron hand of discipline is relaxed, may set +finally at rest the mutual recriminations which have since been +levelled publicly and privately. Everybody was tarred with the same +brush. Those arm-chair critics who have been too prone to state that +brutalities no longer mark the course of war may reconsider their +words, and remember that sacking, with all the accompanying excesses, +is still regarded as the divine right of soldiery unless the +provost-marshal's gallows stand ready. In the fourth place, those who +still believe that the representatives assigned to Eastern countries +need only be second-rate men—reserving for Europe the +master-minds—may begin to ask themselves seriously whether the time +has not come when only the most capable and brilliant diplomatic +officials—men whose intelligence will help to shape events and not be +led by them, and who will act with iron firmness when the time for +such action comes—should be assigned to such a difficult post as +Peking. In the fifth place, the strange idea, which refuses to be +eradicated, that the Chinese showed themselves in this Peking seige +once and for all incompetent to carry to fruition any military plan, +may be somewhat corrected by the plain and convincing terms in which +the eye-witness describes the manner in which they stayed their hand +whenever it could have slain, and the silent struggle which the +Moderates of Chinese politics must have waged to avert the catastrophe +by merely gaining time and allowing the Desperates to dash themselves +to pieces when the inevitable swing of the pendulum took place. +Finally, it will not escape notice that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>many remarks borne out all +through the narrative tend to show that British diplomacy in the Far +East was at one time at a low ebb.</p> + +<p>Of course the Peking seige has already been amply described in many +volumes and much magazine literature. Dr. Morrison, the famous Peking +correspondent of the <i>Times</i>, informs me that he has in his library no +less than forty-three accounts in English alone. The majority of +these, however, are not as complete or enlightening as they might be; +nor has the extraordinarily dramatic nature of the Warning, the Siege, +and the Sack been shown. Thus few people, outside of a small circle in +the Far East, have been able to understand from such accounts what +actually occurred in Peking, or to realise the nature of the fighting +which took place. The two best accounts, Dr. Morrison's own statement +and the French Minister's graphic report-to his government, were both +written rather to fix the principal events immediately after they had +occurred than to attempt to probe beneath the surface, or to deal with +the strictly personal or private side. Nor did they embrace that most +remarkable portion of the Boxer year, the entire sack of Peking and +the extraordinary scenes which marked this latter-day Vandalism. A +veil has been habitually drawn over these little-known events, but in +the narrative which follows it is boldly lifted for the first time.</p> + +<p>The eye-witness whose account follows was careful to establish with as +much lucidity as possible each phase of existence during five months +of extraordinary interest. Much in these notes has had to be +suppressed for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>many reasons, and much that remains may create some +astonishment. Yet it is well to remember that "one eye-witness, +however dull and prejudiced, is worth a wilderness of sentimental +historians." The historians are already beginning to arise; these +pages may serve as a corrective to many erroneous ideas. Perhaps some +also will allow that this curious tragedy, swept into Peking and +playing madly round the entrenched European Legations, has intense +human interest still. The vague terror which oppressed everyone +before the storm actually burst; the manner in which the feeble chain +of fighting men were locked round the European lines, and suffered +grievously but were providentially saved from annihilation; the +curious way in which diplomacy made itself felt from time to time only +to disappear as the rude shock of events taking place near Tientsin +and the sea were reflected in Peking; the final coming of the strange +relief—all these points and many others are made in such a manner +that everyone should be able to understand and to believe. The +description of the last act of the upheaval—the complete sack of +Peking—shows clearly how the lust for loot gains all men, and hand in +hand invites such terrible things as wholesale rape and murder.</p> + +<p>The eye-witness attempts to account for all that happened; to make +real and living the hoarse roll of musketry, the savage cries of +desperadoes stripped to the waist and glistening in their sweat; to +give echo to the blood-curdling notes of Chinese trumpets; to limn the +tall mountains of flames licking sky high. If there is failure in +these efforts, it is due to the editing.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p> + +<p>The summer of 1900 in Peking will ever remain as famous in the annals +of the world's history as the Indian Mutiny; it was something unique +and unparalleled. With the curious movements now at work in the Far +East, it may not be unwise to study the story again. And after Port +Arthur these pages may show something about which little has been +written—the psychology of the seige. The seige is still the rudest +test in the world. It is well to know it.</p> + +<p><span class="date1 smcap">B. L. Putnam Weale.</span></p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left:10% ">China, June, 1906.</span></p> + + + + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="INDISCREET_LETTERS_FROM_PEKING" id="INDISCREET_LETTERS_FROM_PEKING"></a>INDISCREET LETTERS FROM PEKING</h2> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p> + +<h2> </h2> +<h2> </h2> +<h2><a name="PARTI_THEWARNING" id="PARTI_THEWARNING"></a>PART I—THE WARNING</h2> +<h3>I</h3> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>FRAGMENTS</h3> + + +<p class="date">12th May, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>The weather is becoming hot, even here in latitude 40 and in the month +of May. The Peking dust, distinguished among all the dusts of the +earth for its blackness, its disagreeable insistence in sticking to +one's clothes, one's hair, one's very eyebrows, until a grey-brown +coating its visible to every eye, is rising in heavier clouds than +ever. In the market-places, and near the great gates of the city, +where Peking carts and camels from beyond the passes—<i>k'ou wai</i>, to +use the correct vernacular—jostle one another, the dust has become +damnable beyond words, and there can be no health possibly in us. The +Peking dust rises, therefore, in clouds and obscures the very sun at +times; for the sun always shines here in our Northern China, except +during a brief summer rainy season, and a few other days you can count +on your fingers. The dust is without significance, you will say, since +it is always there more or less. It is in any case—healthy; it chokes +you, but is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>reputed also to choke germs; therefore it is good. All of +which is true, only this year there is more of it than ever, meaning +very dry weather indeed for this city, hanging near the gates of +Mongolian deserts—a dry weather spelling the devil for the Northern +farmer.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, is there anything special for me to chronicle? Not much, +although there is a cloud no bigger than your hand in Shantung not a +thousand miles from Weihaiwei, and the German Legation is consequently +somewhat irate. It was noticed at our club, for instance, which, by +the way, is a humble affair, that the German military attaché, a +gentleman who wears bracelets, is somewhat effeminate, and plays vile +tennis and worse billiards, had a "hostile attitude" towards the +British Legation—that is, such of the British Legation as gather +together each day at the "ice-shed"—which happens to be the club's +peculiar Chinese name. The military attaché is somewhat irate, because +the spectacle of the Weihaiwei regiment, six hundred yellow men under +twelve white Englishmen, chasing malcontents in Shantung, is +derogatory to Teutonic aspirations. Germany has earmarked Shantung, +and it is just like English bluntness to remind the would-be dominant +Power that there is a British sphere and a British colony in the +Chinese province, as well as a German sphere and a German colony. But +the German Minister, a <i>beau garçon</i> with blue eyes and a handsome +moustache, says nothing, and is quite calm.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the cloud no bigger than your hand is quite unremarked by +the rank and file of Legation Street—that I will swear. Chinese +malcontents—"the Society of Harmonious Fists," particular habitat +Shantung province—are casually mentioned; but it is remembered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>that +the provincial governor of Shantung is a strong Chinaman, one Yuan +Shih-kai, who has some knowledge of military matters, and, better +still, ten thousand foreign-drilled troops. Shantung is all right, +never fear—such is the comment of the day.</p> + +<p>But the political situation—the <i>situation politique</i> as we call it +in our several conversations, which always have a diplomatic +turn—although not grave, is unhappy; everybody at least acknowledges +that. Peking has never been what it was before the Japanese war. In +the old days we were all something of a happy family. There were +merely the eleven Legations, the Inspectorate of Chinese Customs, with +the aged Sir R—— H—— at its head, and perhaps a few favoured +globe-trotters or nondescripts looking for rich concessions. Picnics +and dinners, races and excursions, were the order of the day, and +politics and political situations were not burning. Ministers +plenipotentiary and envoys extraordinary wore Terai hats, very old +clothes, and had an affable air—something like what Teheran must +still be. Then came the Japanese war, and the eternal political +situation. Russia started the ball rolling and the others kicked it +along. The Russo-Chinese Bank, appeared on the scenes led by the great +P——, a man with an ominous black portfolio continually under his +arm, as he hurried along Legation Street, and an intriguing expression +always on his dark face—a veritable master of men and moneys, they +say. This intriguing soon found Expression in the Cassini Convention, +denounced as untrue, and followed by a perfectly open and frank +Manchurian railway convention, a convention which, in spite of its +frankness, had future trouble written unmistakably on the face of it. +Besides these <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>things there were always ominous reports of other +things—of great things being done secretly.</p> + +<p>After the Russo-Chinese Bank and the Manchurian railway business, +there was the Kiaochow affair, then the Port Arthur affair, the +Weihaiwei and Kwangchowwan affairs, nothing but "affairs" all tending +in the same direction—the making of a very grave political situation. +The juniors to-day make fun of it, it is true, and greet each other +daily with the salutation, "<i>La situation politique est très grave</i>," +and laugh at the good words. But it is grave notwithstanding the +laughter. Once in 1899, after the Empress Dowager's <i>coup d'état</i> and +the virtual imprisonment of the Emperor, Legation Guards had to be +sent for, a few files for each of the Legations that possess squadrons +in the Far East, and, what is more, these guards had to stay for a +good many months. The guards are now no more, but it is curious that +the men they came mainly to protect us against—Tung Fu-hsiang's +Mohammedan braves from the savage back province of Kansu who love the +reactionary Empress Dowager—are still encamped near the Northern +capital.</p> + +<p>The old Peking society has therefore vanished, and in its place are +highly suspicious and hostile Legations—Legations petty in their +conceptions of men and things—Legations bitterly disliking one +another—in fact, Legations richly deserving all they get, some of the +cynics say.</p> + +<p>The Peking air, as I have already said, is highly electrical and +unpleasant in these hot spring days with the dust rising in heavy +clouds. Squabbling and cantankerous, rather absurd and petty, the +Legations are spinning their little threads, each one hedged in by +high <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>walls in its own compound and by the debatable question of the +<i>situation politique</i>.</p> + +<p>Outside and around us roars the noise of the Tartar city. At night the +noise ceases, for the inner and outer cities are closed to one another +by great gates; but at midnight the gates are opened by sleepy Manchu +guards for a brief ten minutes, so that gorgeous red and blue-trapped +carts, drawn by sleek mules, may speed into the Imperial City for the +Daybreak Audience with the Throne. These conveyances contain the high +officials of the Empire. It has been noticed by a Legation stroller on +the Wall—the Tartar Wall—that the number of carts passing in at +midnight is far greater than usual; that the guards of the city gates +now and again stop and question a driver. It is nothing.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the dust rises in clouds. It is very dry this year—that is +all.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>MUTTERINGS</h3> + + +<p class="date">24th May, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>We are beginning to call them Boxers—grudgingly and sometimes harking +back and giving them their full name, "Society of Harmonious Fists," +or the "Righteous Harmony Fist Society"; but still a beginning has +been made, and they are becoming Boxers by the inevitable process of +shortening which distinguishes speech.</p> + +<p>We have been talking about them a good deal to-day, these Boxers, +since it has been the birthday of her most excellent Majesty Queen +Victoria, and the British Legation has been <i>en fête</i>. Her Majesty's +Minister, in fine, has been entertaining us in the vast and princely +gardens of the British Legation at his own expense. Weird Chinese +lanterns have been lighted in the evening and slung around the +grounds; champagne has been flowing with what effervescence it could +muster; the eleven Legations and the nondescripts have forgotten their +cares for a brief space and have been enjoying the evening air and the +music of Sir R—— H——'s Chinese band. Looking at lighted lanterns, +drinking champagne cup, listening to a Chinese band—where the devil +is the protocol and the political situation, you will say? Not quite +forgotten, since the French Minister attracted the attention of many +all the evening by his vehement man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>ner. I pushed up once, too, and +with a polite bow listened to what he was saying. Ah, the old words, +the eternal words, the political situation, or the <i>situation +politique</i>, whichever way you like to use them. But still you listen a +bit, for it is droll to hear the yet unaccustomed word Boxers in +French. "<i>Les Boxeurs</i>," he says; and what the French Minister says is +always worth listening to, since he has the best Intelligence corps in +the world—the Catholic priests of China—at his disposal.</p> + +<p>Curiously enough, he was speaking of the arch-priest of priests, +renowned above all others in this Peking world, Monseigneur F——, +Vicar Apostolic of the Manchu capital—almost Vicar of God to +countless thousands of dark-yellow converts. It is Monseigneur F——'s +letter of the 19th May, written but five days ago, and already locally +famous through leakage, which was the subject-matter of his impromptu +oration. Monseigneur F—— wrote and demanded a guard of marines for +his cathedral, his people and his chattels—<i>quarante ou cinquante +marins pour protéger nos personnes et nos biens</i>, were his exact +words, and his request has been cruelly refused by the Council of +Ministers on the ground that it is absurd. The Vicar Apostolic, +however, gave his grounds for making such a demand calmly and +logically—depicted the damage already done by an anti-foreign and +revolutionary movement in the districts not a thousand miles from +Peking, and solemnly forecasted what was soon to happen....</p> + +<p>The French Minister was irate and raised his fat hands above his fat +person, took a discreet look around him, and then hinted that it was +this Legation, the British Legation, which stopped the marines from +coming.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p> + +<p>The French Minister was quite irate, and after his discourse was ended +he slipped quietly away—possibly to send some more telegrams. The +crumbs of his conversation were soon gathered up and distributed and +the conviviality somewhat damped. As yet, however, the Boxers are only +laughed at and are not taken quite seriously. They have killed native +Christians, it is true, and it has been proved conclusively now that +it was they who murdered Brooks, the English missionary in Shantung. +But Englishmen are cheap, since there is a glut in the home market, +and their government merely gets angry with them when they get into +trouble and are killed. So many are always getting killed in China.</p> + +<p>So the Boxers, with half the governments of Europe, led by England, as +we know by our telegrams, seeking to minimise their importance—in +fact, trying to stifle the movement by ignoring it or lavishing on it +their supreme contempt—have already moved from their particular +habitat, which is Shantung, into the metropolitan province of Chihli. +Already they are in some force at Chochou, only seventy miles to the +southeast of Peking—always massacring, always advancing, and driving +in bodies of native Christians before them on their march. Nobody +cares very much, however, except a vicar apostolic, who urgently +requests forty or fifty marines or sailors "to protect our persons and +our chattels." Foolish bishop he is, is he not, when Christians have +been expressly born to be massacred? Does he not know his history?</p> + +<p>Lead on, blind ministers plenipotentiary and envoys extraordinary; +lead on, with your eternal political situations in embryo, your +eternal political situations that have not yet hatched out; while one +that is more preg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>nant than any you have ever conceived is already +born under your very noses and is being sniffed at by you. But no +matter what happens outside, Peking is safe, that is your dictum, and +the dictum of the day. So, yawning and somewhat tired of the evening's +convivialities, we go our several ways home, in our Peking carts and +our official chairs, and are soon lost in sleep—dreaming, perhaps, +that we have been too long in this dry Northern climate, and that it +is really affecting one's nerves.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>OVERCAST SKIES</h3> + + +<p class="date">28th May, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is only four days since we discussed the Vicar Apostolic's letter, +and laughed somewhat at French excitability; but in four days what a +change! The cloud no bigger than your hand is now bigger than your +whole body, bigger, indeed, than the combined bodies of all your +neighbours, supposing you could spread them fantastically in great +layers across the skies. What, then, has happened?</p> + +<p>It is that the Boxers, christened by us, as you will remember, but two +or three short weeks ago, have blossomed forth with such fierce growth +that they have become the men of the hour to the exclusion of +everything else, and were one to believe one tithe of the talk +babbling all around, the whole earth is shaking with them. Yet it is a +very local affair—a thing concerning only a tiny portion of a +half-known corner of the world. But for us it is sufficiently grave. +The Peking-Paotingfu railway is being rapidly destroyed; Fentai +station, but six miles from Peking—think of it, only six miles from +this Manchu holy of holies—has gone up in flames; a great steel +bridge has succumbed to the destroying energy of dynamite. All the +European engineers have fled into Peking; and, worst of all, the Boxer +banners have been unfurled; and lo and be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>hold, as they floated in the +breeze, the four dread characters, "<i>Pao Ch'ing Mien Yang</i>," have been +read on blood-red bunting—"Death and destruction to the foreigner and +all his works and loyal support to the great Ching dynasty."</p> + +<p>Is that sufficiently enthralling, or should I add that the +invulnerability of the Boxer has been officially and indisputably +tested by the Manchus, according to the gossip of the day? Proceeding +to the Boxer camp at Chochou, duly authorised officers of the Crown +have seen recruits, who have performed all the dread rites, and are +initiated, stand fearlessly in front of a full-fledged Boxer; have +seen that Boxer load up his blunderbuss with powder, ramming down a +wad on top; have witnessed a handful of iron buckshot added, but with +no wad to hold the charge in place; have noticed that the master Boxer +gesticulated with his lethal weapon the better to impress his audience +before he fired, but have not noticed that the iron buckshot tripped +merrily out of the rusty barrel since no wad held it in place; and +finally, when the fire-piece belched forth flames and ear-breaking +noise at a distance of a man's body from the recruit's person, they +have seen, and with them thousands of others, that no harm came. It is +astounding, miraculous, but it is true; henceforth, the Boxer is +officially invulnerable and must remain so as long as the ground is +parched. That is what our Chinese reports say.</p> + +<p>There are myriads of men already in camp and myriads more speeding on +their way to this Chochou camp of camps, while in village and hamlet +local committees of public safety against the accursed foreigner and +all his works are being quite naturally evolved, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>red cloth—that +sign manual of revolt—is already at a premium. The whole-province of +Chihli is shaking; North China will soon be in flames; any one with +half a nose can smell rebellion in the air....</p> + +<p>This is one side of the picture, the side which friendly Chinese are +painting for us. Yet when you glance at the eleven Legations, placidly +living their own little lives, you will see them cynically listening +to these old women's tales, while at heart they secretly wonder what +political capital each of them can separately make out of the whole +business, so that their governments may know that Peking has clever +diplomats. Clever diplomats! There have been no clever diplomats in +Peking since G—— of the French Legation took his departure, and that +purring Slav P—— went to Seoul.</p> + +<p>Of course Peking is safe, that goes without saying; but merely because +there are foolish women and children, some nondescripts, and a good +many missionaries, we will order a few guards. This, at least, has +just been decided by the Council of Ministers—a rather foolish +council, without backbone, excepting one man. All the afternoon +everybody was occupied in telegraphing the orders and reports of the +day, and these actions are now beyond recall.</p> + +<p>Guards have been ordered from the ships lying out at the Taku bar. The +guards will soon be here, and when they have come the movement will +cease. Thus have the eleven Legations spoken, each telegraphing a +different tale to its government, and each more than annoyed by this +joint action. Incidentally each one is secretly wondering what is +going to happen, and whether there is really any danger.</p> + +<p>It has been directly telegraphed from London by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>Her Majesty's +Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Lord Salisbury, so gossip says, that as +quite enough has been heard of this Boxer business it must cease at +once. Is not the South African War still proceeding, and has England +not enough troubles without this additional one? It is almost +pathetic, this peremptory order from a vacillating Foreign Office that +never knows its own mind—this Canute-like bidding of the angry waves +of human men to stand still at once and be no more heard of. People in +Europe will never quite understand the East, for the East is ruled by +things which are impossible in a temperate climate.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in the Palace, whose pink walls we see blinking at us in +the sun just beyond Legation Street, all is also topsy-turvy, the +Chinese reports say. The Empress Dowager, shrewdly listening to this +person and that, must feel in her own bones that it is a bad business, +and that it will not end well, for she understands dynastic disasters +uncommonly well. She has sent again and again for P'i Hsiao-li, +"Cobbler's-wax" Li, as he is called, the reputed false eunuch who is +master of her inner counsels, if Chinese small talk is to be believed. +The eunuch Li has been told earnestly to find out the truth and +nothing but the truth. A passionate old woman, this Empress Dowager of +China, a veritable Catherine of Russia in her younger days they say, +with her hot Manchu blood and her lust for ruling men. "Cobbler's-wax" +Li, son of a cobbler and falsely emasculated, they say, so that he +might become an eunuch of the Palace, from which lowly estate he has +blossomed into the real power behind the Throne, hastens off once more +to the palace of Prince Tuan, the father of the titular heir-apparent. +As Prince Tuan's discretion has <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>long since been cast to the winds, +and Lao t'uan-yeh, or spiritual Boxer chiefs, now sit at the princely +banqueting tables discussing the terms on which they will rush the +Tartar city with their flags unfurled and their yelling forces behind +them, a foolish and irresolute government, made up of the most diverse +elements, and a rouge-smirched Empress Dowager, will then have to side +with them or be begulfed too. Anxiously listening, "Cobbler's-wax" Li +weights the odds, for no fool is this false eunuch, who through his +manly charms leads an Empress who in turn leads an empire. Half +suspicious and wholly unconvinced, he questions and demands the exact +number of invulnerables that can be placed in line; and is forthwith +assured, with braggart Chinese choruses, that they are as locusts, +that the whole earth swarms with them, that the movement is +unconquerable. Still unconvinced, the false eunuch takes his +departure, and then the Throne decrees and counter decrees in agonised +Edicts. It is noticed, too, that the distributors of the official +organ, the <i>Peking Gazette</i>, no longer staidly walk their rounds, +pausing to gossip with their friends, but run with their wooden-block +printed Edicts wet from the presses, and shout indiscreetly to the +passers-by, "Aside, our business is important." In all faith there is +something in this movement. It is also noticed that roughness and +rudeness are growing in the streets; little things that are always the +precursors of the coming storm in the East are freely indulged in, and +"foreign devil" is now almost a chorus. The atmosphere is obviously +unwholesome, but guards have been ordered and it will soon be well. +All these other things of which I speak are merely native reports....</p> + +<p>Meanwhile each Legation does not forget its dignity, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>but walks +stolidly alone. Alone in front of the French Legation is there some +commotion almost hourly. It is, however, only the arrival and +departure of Catholic priests posting to and from the Pei-t'ang about +that little business of forty or fifty marines <i>pour protéger nos +personnes et nos biens</i>, that is all. A singularly importunate fellow +this Monseigneur F——, our most reverend Vicar Apostolic of the +Manchu capital.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>OUR GUARDS ARRIVE</h3> + + +<p class="date">31st May, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>We had been dining out, a number of us, this evening, with result that +the good wine and the good fare, for the Peking markets are admirable, +left us reasonably content and in quite a valorous spirit. The party I +was at was neither very large nor very small; we were eighteen, to be +exact, and the political situation was represented in all its gravity +by the presence of a Minister and his spouse. The former has always +been pessimistic, and so we had Boxers for soup, Boxers with the +<i>entrées</i>, and Boxers to the end. In fact, if the truth be told, the +Boxers surrounded us in a constant vapour of words so formidable that +one might well have reason to be alarmed. P——, the Minister, was, +indeed, very talkative and gesticulative; his wife was sad and sighed +constantly—<i>elle poussait des soupirs tristes</i>—at the lurid +spectacle her husband's words conjured up. According to him, anything +was possible. There might be sudden massacres in Peking itself—the +Chinese Government had gone mad. Rendered more and more talkative by +the wine and the good fare, he became alarming, menacing in the end. +But we became more and more valiant as we ate and drank. That is +always so.</p> + +<p>It was all the guards' fault. Telegrams despatched in the morning from +Tientsin distinctly told us that the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>guards were entraining; later +news said the guards had actually started; and yet when we were almost +through dinner, and it was nearly ten o'clock, there was not a sign of +them. That was the distressing point, and in the end, as it thrust +itself more and more on people's attention, the first great valour +began to ooze. For although the Guardian of the Nine Gates—a species +of Manchu warden or grand constable of Peking—has been officially +warned that foreign guards, whose arrival has been duly authorised by +the Tsung-li Yamen, may be a little late and that consequently the +Ch'ien Men, or the Middle Gate, should be kept open a couple of hours +longer, the chief guardian may become nervous and irate and +incontinently shut the gates. This alone might provoke an outbreak.</p> + +<p>This train of thought once started, we busily followed it up, and soon +all the wives were sighing in unison more heavily than ever. I shall +always remember what happened at that psychological moment. A strip of +red-lined native writing-paper was placed in somebody's hands with a +long list of the different detachments which had just passed in +through the Main Gate. At last the guards had arrived. Speedily we +became very valorous again. P—— afterwards said that he knew +something which he had not dared to tell any one—not even his +secretaries.</p> + +<p>From this little list, it was soon clear that the British, French, +Russian, American, Italian, and Japanese detachments had arrived. The +Germans and the Austrians were missing, but we concluded that they +would arrive by another train within very few hours. The important +point was that men had been allowed to come through—that the Chinese +Government, in spite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>of its enormous capacity for mischief, could not +yet have made up its mind how to act. That consoled us.</p> + +<p>After this, a faint-hearted attempt was made to continue our talk. But +it was no good. We soon discovered that each one of us had been +simulating a false interest in our never-ending discussion. We really +wished to see with our own eyes these Legation Guards who might still +save the situation.</p> + +<p>Strolling out in the warm night, just as we were, we first came on +them in the French Legation. The French detachment were merely sailors +belonging to what they call their <i>Compagnies de débarquement</i>, and +they were all brushing each other down and cursing the <i>sacrée +poussière</i>. Such a leading <i>motif</i> has this Peking dust become that +the very sailors notice it. Also we found two priests from Monseigneur +F——'s Cathedral, sitting in the garden and patiently waiting for the +Minister's return. I heard afterwards that they would not move until +P—— decided that twenty-five sailors should march the next day to +the Cathedral—in fact at daylight.</p> + +<p>In all the Legations I found it was much the same thing—the men of +the various detachments were brushing each other down and exchanging +congratulations that they had been picked for Peking service. It was, +perhaps, only because they were so glad to be allotted shore-duty +after interminable service afloat off China's muddy coasts that they +congratulated one another; but it might be also because they had heard +tell throughout the fleets that the men who had come in '98, after the +<i>coup d'état</i>, had had the finest time which could be imagined—all +loafing and no duties. They did not seem to understand or suspect....</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span></p> + +<p>I found later in the night that there had actually been a little +trouble at the Tientsin station. The British had tried to get through +a hundred marines instead of the maximum of seventy-five which had +been agreed on. The Chinese authorities had then refused to let the +train go, and although an English ship's captain had threatened to +hang the station-master, in the end the point was won by the Chinese. +By one or two in the morning everybody was very gay, walking about and +having drinks with one another, and saying that it was all right now. +Then it was that I remembered that it was already June—the historic +month which has seen more crises than any other—and I became a little +gloomy again. It was so terribly sultry and dry that it seemed as if +anything could happen. I felt convinced that the guards were too few.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE PLOT THICKENS</h3> + + +<p class="date">4th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>No matter in what light you look at it, you realise that somehow—in +some wonderful, inexplicable manner—normal conditions have ceased +long ago—in the month of May, I believe. The days, which a couple of +weeks ago had but twenty-four hours, have now at least forty-two. You +cannot exactly say why this strange state of affairs obtains, for as +yet there is nothing very definite to fix upon, and you have +absolutely no physical sensation of fear; but the mercury of both the +barometer and the thermometer has been somehow badly shaken, and the +mainsprings of all watches and clocks, although still much as the +mainsprings of clocks and watches in other parts of the +world—bringing your mind to bear on it you know they are exactly the +same—are merely mechanism, and allow the day to have at least +forty-two hours. It is strange, is it not, and you begin to understand +vaguely some of the quite impossible Indian metaphysics which tell you +gravely that what is, is not, and that what is not can still be.... In +the crushing heat you can understand that.</p> + +<p>Perhaps it is all because the hours are now split into ten separate +and different parts by the fierce rumours which rage for a few minutes +and then, dissipating their strength through their very violence, die +away as sud<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>denly as they came. The air is charged with electricity of +human passions until it throbs painfully, and then.... You are +merrily eating your <i>tiffin</i> or your dinner, and quite calmly cursing +your "<i>boy</i>" because something is not properly iced. Your "<i>boy</i>," who +is a Bannerman or Manchu and of Roman Catholic family, as are all +servants of polite Peking society, does not move a muscle nor show any +passing indignation, as he would were the ordinary rules and +regulations of life still in existence. He, like everyone of the +hundreds of thousands of Peking and the millions of North China, is +waiting—waiting more patiently than impatient Westerners, but waiting +just as anxiously; waiting with ear wide open to every rumour; waiting +with an eye on every shadow—to know whether the storm is going to +break or blow away. There is something disconcerting, startling, +unseemly in being waited on by those who you know are in turn waiting +on battle, murder, and sudden death. You feel that something may come +suddenly at any moment, and though you do not dare to speak your +thoughts to your neighbour, these thoughts are talking busily to you +without a second's interruption. For if this storm truly comes, it +must sweep everything before it and blot us all out in a horrible way. +Our servants tell us so.</p> + +<p>These servants of polite Peking society are favoured mortals, for they +one and all are of the Eight Banners, direct descendants of the Manchu +conquerors of China. And, strangely enough, although they are thus +directly tied to the Manchu dynasty, and that some of them may be even +Red Girdles or lineal descendants of collateral branches of the +Imperial house, they are still more tightly tied to the foreigner +because they are Roman <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>Catholic dating from the early days of +Verbiest and Schall, when the Jesuits were all supreme. On Sundays and +feast days they all proceed to the Vicar Apostolic's own northern +cathedral, and witness the Elevation of the Host to the discordant and +strange sound of Chinese firecrackers, a curious accompaniment, +indeed, permitted only by Catholic complacency. This they love more +than the Throne.</p> + +<p>Your Bannerman servant is now the medium of bringing in countless +rumours which he barefacedly alleges are facts, and in impressing on +you that everyone must certainly die unless we quickly act. The three +Roman Catholic Cathedrals of Peking, placed at three points of the +compass, are almost strategic centres surrounded by whole lanes and +districts of Catholics captured to the tenets of Christ, or that +portion deemed sufficient for yellow men, in ages gone by. Every +household of these people during the past few weeks has seen +fellow-religionists from the country places running in sorely +distressed in body and mind, and but ill-equipped in money and means +for this impromptu escape to the capital which everyone vainly hopes +generally is to be a sanctuary. The refugees, it is true, do not +receive all the sympathy they expect, for the Peking Catholic being +the oldest and most mature in the eighteen provinces of China, holds +his head very high, and "new people"—that is, those whose families +have only been baptized, let us say, during the nineteenth +century—are somewhat disdained. In a word, the Peking cathedrals and +their Manchu and other adherents are the Blacks; and not even in papal +Rome could this aristocracy in religion be excelled. But although the +newcomers are disdained, their news is not. Everything they say is +believed. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>The servants, therefore, browsing rumours wherever they go, +bring back a curious hotchpotch after each separate excursion. +Sometimes the balance swings this way, sometimes that; sometimes it is +ominously black, sometimes only cloudy. You never know what it will be +ten minutes hence, and you must content yourself as best you can. Your +body-servant being a Bannerman (my particular one is a Manchu), and +being reasonably young, is also a reservist of the Peking Field Force, +and consorts with other Bannermen who may be actually on guard at one +of the Palace gates. Who passes in and who passes out of the Palace +now spreads like wildfire round the whole city, for the success of the +Boxers will depend upon the support the Peking Government intends to +give them when the worst comes to the worst. And the Peking Government +is still fencing, because the Palace cannot make up its mind whether +the time has really come when it must act. This lack of decision is +fatal.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon it transpired that the Empress Dowager was not +in the Imperial city at all, but out at the Summer Palace on the +Wan-shou-shan—the hills of ten thousand ages, as these are poetically +called. Tung Fu-hsiang, whose ruffianly Kansu braves were marched out +of the Chinese city—that is the outer ring of Peking—two nights +before the Legation Guards came in, is also with the Empress, for his +cavalry banners, made of black and blue velvet, with blood-red +characters splashed splendidly across them, have been seen planted at +the foot of the hills. Tung Fu-hsiang is an invincible one, who +stamped out the Kansu rebellion a few years ago with such fierceness +that his name strikes terror to-day into every Chinese heart. As for +P'i <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>Hsiao-li—the false eunuch—he is everywhere, they say, sometimes +here, sometimes there, and quite defying search. The eunuch has a +mighty fortune at stake, and all natives believe that he will betray +himself. Half the pawnshops and banks of Peking belong to him, and he +will not sacrifice his thirty million taels until he is convinced that +his head is at stake. The Summer Palace lies but a dozen miles beyond +Peking's embattled walls, and from the top, straining your eyes to the +west, you can vaguely see the Empress's plaisaunce. A journey in and +out is nothing by cart, and this favoured eunuch has the best mules in +the Empire—black jennets fifteen hands high—and is using them night +and day. And so everyone is asking again and again whether the +Empress has arranged with Prince Tuan, since that is the burning +question; and did this eunuch of eunuchs have his fateful confidential +interview with the secret Boxer leaders, which was to decide finally +on extermination.</p> + +<p>The families of other palace eunuchs say yes, and the wife of one +eunuch, living near the South Cathedral, is quite positive, my +servants inform me. Wife of a eunuch, did I say? You will think me +mad, but it is nevertheless true, for Chinese eunuchs have wives. Why +have they wives, you will ask, since they are only half men, and +cannot perform the duties of the male? Well, I can only answer as did +my teacher once when I asked him years ago. "Eunuchs are still men," +he said, smiling doubtfully, "insomuch as they like homes of their own +beyond the Palace walls and desire children to play with. Since their +wives can bear no children they buy children from poor people, and +these duly become their own. Thus when the eunuch dies he has children +to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>worship at his grave." In this land of mystery even eunuchs can +correctly become ancestors. Yet this is a trivial detail which I +should not speak of.</p> + +<p>So the eunuch's wife living near the South Cathedral, who gossips with +her Black Catholic neighbours, and whose gossip gives me news many +times a day, avers most positively that the chief eunuch has been in +town—that the whole matter has been decided—and that every foreigner +will die. And very late in the evening my Manchu servant rushed in on +me with his eyes sparkling strangely, and his voice so hoarse with +excitement that he did not speak, but shout. "Master," he cried, "I +have seen myself this time; three long carts full of swords and spears +have passed in from the outer city through the Ha-ta Gate. The city +guards stopped and questioned the drivers—then let them go. They had +a pass from the Governor of Peking, and the people all say it is now +coming." Now do you wonder about our clocks and our watches, and our +time? Nothing can ever be normal again until this terrible question is +solved.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE LICKING FLAMES APPROACH</h3> + + +<p class="date">9th June 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is getting desperate, of that there is now no shadow of doubt. The +Tientsin trains that have been lately running more and more slowly and +irregularly, as if they, too, were waiting on the pleasure of the +coming storm, are going to run no more, and the odds are heavily +against to-day's train ever reaching its destination. It is true these +trains have long ceased running as far as we are personally concerned, +for the weariness of living forty-two hours during twenty-four dulls +one's perception of everything excepting one's immediate surroundings. +And even one's surroundings are somehow shrinking until they will soon +be but the four walls of a courtyard. But about the trains—why are +they stopping? Because the licking flames are approaching so near that +they will soon overwhelm all who are concerned with the running of +trains unless they disappear very nimbly. One of the Chinese railway +managers, an educated man in the Western sense who can quote +Shakespeare, has been all over Legation Street yesterday and to-day, +pointing out the hopelessness of the general position and almost +openly urging the Legations to call on Europe to take steps. General +Nieh, an intelligent general, with foreign-drilled troops, has indeed +been fitfully ordered by Imperial Edict to "protect the railway," and +to keep communication open, but this order has already come to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>nothing, and the position is worse than it was before. His troops, +merely desirous of testing their brand-new Mausers, and as calmly +cruel as only Easterns can be, did open a heavy fire a day or two ago +on some Boxer marauders who had strayed into a station on the +Tientsin-Peking line, and proposed to crucify the native +station-master and beat all others, who were indirectly eating the +foreign devils' rice by working on the railway, into lumps of jelly. +General Nieh's men let their rifles crash off, not because their +sympathies were against the Boxers, but probably because every living +man armed with a rifle loves to fire at another living man when he can +do so without harm to himself. This is my brutal explanation. But in +any case these soldiers have now been marched off in semi-disgrace to +their camp at Lutai, a few miles to the north of Tientsin, and told +never to do such rash and indiscreet things again. That means the end +of any attempts to control. For the Boxer partisans in Peking allege +that the soldiers actually hit and killed a good many men, which is +quite without precedent, and is upsetting all plans. On such occasions +it is always understood that you fire a little in the air, warwhoop a +good deal, and then come back quietly to camp with captured flags and +banners as undeniable evidences of your victory. This has been the old +method of making domestic war in China—the only one.</p> + +<p>But all this is many miles from the sacred capital. The cry is still +that we of Peking are safe, and that even if this is to be a true +rebellion we cannot be hurt. The cry, however, is not so lusty as it +was even three or four days ago, and, indeed, has only become an +official cry—that is, one you are permitted to contradict privately +when you meet your dear colleagues in the street and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>wonder aloud +what is really going to happen. In the despatches Peking is still +quite safe, although unwholesome. Yet our own private political +situations, of which we were so proud and talked so vauntingly, have +all now disappeared, miserable things, and are quite lost and +forgotten. No one cares to talk about them. People merely say that all +business is temporarily suspended; that we must wait and merely mark +time.</p> + +<p>But we discovered something worth knowing at the last moment to-day +which is, without any doubt, true. The Empress Dowager returned to-day +from the Summer Palace, and is now actually in the Forbidden City. We +are at a loss to know exactly as yet what this means, and whether it +is an augury of good or of bad. The Winter Palace is so near us; it is +just to the west of us. The fact that the redoubtable Tung Fu-hsiang +rode behind his Imperial mistress with his banner-bearers flaunting +their colours and his trumpets blaring as loudly as possible is, +however, not very reassuring. It seemed like defiance and treachery.</p> + +<p>But at first, in spite of the Empress's entry, there were not many +rumours accompanying her; in the late afternoon they came so thick and +fast that no one had time to write them down. But of rumours we have +had more than our bellyful. Let me tell some of the facts.</p> + +<p>First and foremost. The racecourse grand-stand where less than a month +ago we were all watching the struggles for victory between our various +short-legged ponies, has gone up in flames and puff—just like +that—the social battle-ground is no more. The Boxers, for everybody +who does anything nowadays is a Boxer, tried to grill our official +caretakers on the red-hot bricks, but the neighbouring village came to +the rescue and shouted <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>the marauders out of the place. That is the +nearest danger which has been heard of. Immediately after this some +Legation students, riding out on the sands under the Tartar Wall, were +openly attacked by spear-armed men, and only escaped by galloping +furiously and firing the revolvers which everyone now carries. Most +important of all, however, to us is that aged Sir R—— H—— is +hauling down his colours, and has been rapidly calling in all his +scattered staff who live near the premises of the Tsung-li +Yamen—China's Foreign Office. Here we are, the Legations of all +Europe, with five hundred sailors and marines cleaning their rifles +and marking out distances in the capital of a so-called friendly +Power; with our <i>pro formâ</i> despatches still being despatched while +our real messages are frightened; attempting to weather a storm which +the Chinese Government is powerless to arrest. The very passers-by are +becoming sheep-eyed and are looking at us askance.</p> + +<p>Passers-by, did I say? But do not imagine from this that there are +many of these, for the Chinese have been for days avoiding the +Legation quarter as if it were plague-stricken, and sounds that were +so roaring a few weeks ago are now daily becoming more and more +scarce. A blight is settling on us, for we are accursed by the whole +population of North China, and who knows what will be the fate of +those seen lurking near the foreigner?</p> + +<p>And now when we wander even in our own streets—that is, those +abutting immediately on our compounds of the Legation area—a new +nickname salutes our ears. No longer are we mere <i>yang kuei-tzu</i>, +foreign devils; we have risen to the proud estate of <i>ta mao-tzu</i>, or +long-haired ones of the first class. <i>Mao-tzu</i> is a term of some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>contemptuous strength, since <i>mao</i> is the hair of animals, and our +barbarian heads are not even shaved. The <i>ta</i>—great or first +class—is also significant, because behind our own detested class +press two others deserving of almost equal contempt at the hands of +all believers in divine Boxerism. These are <i>ehr-mao-tzu</i> and <i>san +mao-tzu</i>, second and third class coarse-haired ones. All good converts +belong to the second class, and death awaits them, our servants say; +while as to the third category, all having any sort of connection, +direct or indirect with the foreigner and his works are lumped +indiscriminately together in this one, and should be equally detested. +The small talk of the tea-shops now even says that officials having a +few sticks of European furniture in their houses are <i>san mao-tzu</i>. It +is very significant, too, this open talk in the tea-shops, because in +official Peking, the very centre of the enormous, loose-jointed +Empire, political gossip is severely disliked and the four characters, +"<i>mo t'an kuo shih</i>" (eschew political discussions), are skied in +every public room. People in the old days of last month heeded this +four-character warning, for a bambooing at the nearest police-station, +<i>ting erh</i>, was always a possibility. Now everyone can do as he +likes.</p> + +<p>It is, therefore, becoming patent to the most blind that this is going +to be something startling, something eclipsing any other anti-foreign +movement ever heard of, because never before have the users of foreign +imports and the mere friends of foreigners been labelled in a class +just below that of the foreigners themselves. And then as it became +dark to-day, a fresh wave of excitement broke over the city and +produced almost a panic. The main body of Tung Fu-hsiang's savage +Kansu braves—that is, his whole army—re-entered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>the capital and +rapidly encamped on the open places in front of the Temples of Heaven +and Agriculture in the outer ring of Peking. This settled it, I am +glad to say. At last all the Legations shivered, and urgent telegrams +were sent to the British admiral for reinforcements to be rushed up at +all costs.</p> + +<p>But too late—too late; the Manchu servants who have friends among the +guards at the Palace gates have said this all the evening. For the +Chinese Colossus, lumbering and lazy, sluggish and ill-equipped, has +raised himself on his elbow, and with sheep-like and calculating eyes +is looking down on us—a pigmy-like collection of foreigners and their +guards—and soon will risk a kick—perhaps even will trample us +quickly to pieces. How bitterly everyone is regretting our false +confidence, and how our chiefs are being cursed!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE CITY OF PEKING AND ALL ITS GLORIES</h3> + +<p class="date">11th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>You do not know this Capital of Capitals, perhaps—that is, you do not +know it as you should if the scenes which may presently move across +the stage, now in shouting crowds of sword-armed men, now in pitiable +incidents of small account, are to be properly understood, and their +dramatic setting, stirring blood-thrilling, incongruous as they must +be and can only be. I feel that something will come—I even know it. I +have been talking vaguely about this and about that; have begun +preparing colours, as it were, in the usual careless fashion without +explanations or digressions—until you possibly wonder what it is all +about. For you have not yet seen the barbaric frame which will hedge +in the whole—the barbaric frame in all truth, since it is gradually +closing in on us on every side until, like some mediæval torture-room, +we may have the very life crushed out of us by a cruel pressure. But +enough of fine phrases; while there is time let me write something.</p> + +<p>Peking is at least two thousand years old. Several hundred years +before Christ, they say a Chinese kingdom made the present site the +capital, and began building the outer walls; but the Chinese, the +gentler Chinese who had all military spirit crushed out of them five +thousand years before by having to tramp from <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>Mesopotamia to where +they now are in the eighteen provinces, these Chinese, I say, never +had in Peking anything but a temporary trysting-place. For Peking +stands for a sort of blatant barbarianism, mounted on sturdy ponies, +pouring in from the far North; and the history of Peking can only be +said to begin when Mongol-Tartars, who have always been freebooters +and robbers, forced their way in and imposed their militarism on a +nation of shopkeepers and collectors of taxes.</p> + +<p>Even before the Christian era, the Chinese chronicles tell of the +pressure of these fierce barbarians from the North being so much felt +and their raids so constant, that Chi Huang-ti, the ruler of the +powerful Chinese feudatory state which laid the foundations of the +present Empire of China, began to build the Great Wall of China and to +fortify old Peking as the only means of stopping these living waves. +The Great Wall took ages to build, for the Northern barbarians always +kept cunningly slipping round the uncompleted ends, and the Mings, the +last purely Chinese sovereigns to reign in Peking, actually added +three hundred miles to this colossal structure in the year 1547, or +nearly two thousand years after the first bricks had been cemented. +That shows you what people they were, and what the contest was.</p> + +<p>For hundreds of years the war with the semi-nomadic hordes of the +North continued. Sometimes isolated bands of Tartars broke through the +Chinese defence and enslaved the people, but never for very long; +instinctively by the use of every stratagem the cleverer Chinese +compassed their destruction. While Attila and his Huns were ravaging +Europe in the fifth century, other <i>Hwingnoo</i>, or Huns, veritable +scourges of God, forced their way into China. In this fashion, while +China itself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>was passing through a dozen different forms of +government, and had a dozen capitals—sometimes owning allegiance to a +single Emperor such as those of the T'ang dynasty who added Canton and +the Cantonese to the Empire, sometimes split into petty kingdoms such +as the "Ten States"—this curious frontier war continued and was +handed down from father to son. Chinese industrialism and socialism, +content to accept whatever form of government Chinese strong men +succeeded in imposing, instinctively kept up an iron resistance to +these Northern invaders. Such was the fear inspired, that a proverb +coined thousands of years ago is still current. "Do not fear the cock +from the South, but the wolf from the North," it says. Everybody is +always quoting this saying. I have heard it twice to-day.</p> + +<p>It was not until the tenth century that the Tartars finally broke +through and established themselves definitively on Chinese soil. The +Khitans, a Manchu-Tartar people, springing from Central Manchuria, +then captured Peking and made it their capital. The Khitans were a +cheerful people, with a peculiar sense of humour and a still greater +conviction of the inferiority of women. To show their contempt for +them, it is still recorded that they used to slit the back of their +wives and drink their blood to give them strength. For two and a half +centuries the Khitans, under the style of the Liao or Iron dynasty, +maintained their position by the use of the sword, and then succumbing +to the sapping influence of Chinese civilisation, they in turn were +unable to resist a second Manchu-Mongol horde, the Kins. The Kins, +under the style of the Silver dynasty, reigned in Northern China for a +term of years, but there was nothing of a permanent character in their +rule, since they were un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>couth barbarians who soon drank themselves to +death and destruction.</p> + +<p>At the beginning of the thirteenth century Genghis Khan, the great +Mongol, born in the bleak Hsing-an Mountains, gathered together all +the restless bands of Mongolia, and sweeping down on Peking drove out +the Kins and established the purely Mongol dynasty of the Yüan. Up +till then Peking had consisted of what is to-day the Chinese city, or +the older outer city. Kublai Khan, Genghis's grandson, fixed his +residence definitively in Peking in 1264, and began building the +<i>Ta-tu</i>, or Great Residence—the Tartar city of to-day. The Chinese +city is oblong; the Tartar city is squat and square and overlaps and +dominates the northern walls of the older city. Kublai Khan, by +building the Tartar city on the northern edge of the Chinese city and +fortifying it with immense strength, may be said to have fitted the +spear-head on to the Chinese shaft, and to have given the key-note to +the policy which exists to this day—the policy of the North of China +dominating the South of China.</p> + +<p>In time the Yüan dynasty of Mongols passed away—their strength sapped +by confinement to walled cities because their power was only on the +tented field. Ser Marco Polo, that audacious traveller, never tires of +telling of the magnificence of the Mongol Khans and their resplendent +courts. It requires no Marco Polo to assure us that the thirteenth +century of the Far East was immeasurably in advance of the thirteenth +century of Europe. The vast and magnificent works which remain to this +day, weather-beaten though they be; the fierce reds, the wonderful +greens, the boldness and size of everything, speak to us of an age +which knew of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>mighty conquests of all Asia by invincible Mongol +horsemen....</p> + +<p>The Mongols were succeeded by the Mings—a purely Chinese house; but +the Mings, in some terror of the rough North, since for over four +centuries Tartars or Manchu-Mongols had been the overlords of China, +discreetly established their capital on the Yangtsze and called it +Nanking, or the Southern capital. It was only the third Emperor of the +Mings who dared to remove the court to Peking. His choice was ill made +for his dynasty, since a century and a half had hardly passed before +fresh hordes—the modern Manchus—began to gather strength in the +mountains and valleys to the northeast of Moukden. Fighting +stubbornly, Nurhachu, the founder of this new enterprise, steadily +broke through Chinese resistance in the Liaotung, then a Chinese +province colonised from Chihli, and slowly but surely reached out +towards Peking, the goal which beckons to everyone. The Great Wall, +built eighteen hundred years before as a protection against other +barbarians of the same stock, stopped Nurhachu a hundred times, and +although he captured Moukden and made it a Manchu capital, he died +worn out by half a century of warfare. His son, Tai Tsung, or Tien +Tsung, nothing daunted, took up the struggle, and finding it +impossible to break through the fortifications of the East, near +Shan-hai-kwan, adopted Genghis Khan's route—the passes leading in +from the great grassy plains of Mongolia many hundreds of miles to the +West. Allying himself by marriage with Mongols, the Manchu monarch +began a series of grand raids through their territory in the direction +of Peking. Once he actually reached Peking and sat down in front of +its mighty walls to besiege it. But he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>found his strength unequal to +the task, and once more was forced to retire. Then this second Manchu +prince died, and was succeeded by a tiny grandson of five. The regent +appointed by the Manchu nobles owed his final success to the fact that +he was called in by the Chinese generals commanding the coveted +Shan-hai-kwan gates to rescue Peking from the hands of Chinese +insurgents, who had everywhere arisen; and in 1644, after seventy +years of warfare, the Manchus seated themselves on the Dragon Throne, +in defiance of the wishes of the people, but backed up by a vast +concourse of Manchus and Mongols, and half the fierce blades of +Eastern Asia.</p> + +<p>The history of all these centuries of warfare is eloquently written on +all the buildings, the fortifications, the monuments, the palaces and +temples of Peking which surround us. Peking is the Delhi of China, and +the grave of warlike barbarians. Four separate times have Tartars +broken in and founded dynasties, and four separate times have Chinese +culture and civilisation sapped rugged strength, and made the rulers +the <i>de facto</i> servants of the ceremonious inhabitants. In the Tartar +city there are Yellow Lama temples, with hundreds of bare-pated lama +priests, the results of Buddhist Concordats guaranteeing Thibetan +semi-independence in return for a tacit acknowledgment of Chinese +suzerainty. Near the Palace walls is a Mongolian Superintendency, +where the Mongol hordes still grazing their herds and their flocks on +the grassy plains of high Asia, as they have done for countless +centuries, are divided up into Banners, or military divisions, showing +the enormous strength in irregular cavalry they possessed two hundred +and fifty years ago. Round the Forbidden City are the Six Boards and +the Nine Ministries, the outward signs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>of those bonds of etiquette +and procedure which bind the Manchu Throne to the eighteen provinces. +The walls of the Tartar city heave up fifty feet in the air, and are +forty feet thick. The circumference of the outer ring of +fortifications is over twenty miles. Each gate is surmounted by a +square three-storied tower or pagoda, vast and imposing. Round the +city and through the city run century-old canals and moats with +water-gates shutting down with cruel iron prongs. In the Chinese city +the two Temples of Heaven and Agriculture raise their altars to the +skies, invoking the help of the deities for this decaying but proud +Chinese Empire. Think of the millions of dead hands that fashioned +such enormous strength and old-time magnificence! On the corner of the +Tartar Wall is the old Jesuit Observatory with beautiful +dragon-adorned instruments of bronze given by a Louis of France. There +are temples with yellow-gowned or grey-gowned priests in their +hundreds founded in the times of Kublai Khan. There are Mohammedan +mosques, with Chinese muezzins in blue turbans on feast days; Manchu +palaces with vermillion-red pillars and archways and green and gold +ceilings. There are unending lines of camels plodding slowly in from +the Western deserts laden with all manner of merchandise; there are +curious palanquins slung between two mules and escorted by sword-armed +men that have journeyed all the way from Shansi and Kansu, which are a +thousand miles away; a Mongol market with bare-pated and long-coated +Mongols hawking venison and other products of their chase; comely +Soochow harlots with reeking native scents rising from their hair; +water-carriers and barbers from sturdy Shantung; cooks from epicurean +Canton; bankers from Shansi—the whole <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>Empire of China sending its +best to its old-world barbaric capital, which has now no strength.</p> + +<p>And right in the centre of it all is the Forbidden City, enclosing +with its high pink walls the palaces which are full of warm-blooded +Manchu concubines, sleek eunuchs who speak in wheedling tones, and is +always hot with intrigue. At the gates of the Palace lounge bow and +jingal-armed Imperial guards. Inside is the Son of Heaven himself, the +Emperor imprisoned in his own Palace by the Empress Mother, who is as +masterful as any man who ever lived....</p> + +<p>I beg you, do you begin to see something of Peking and to understand +the eleven miserable little Legations, each with its own particular +ideas and intrigues, but crouching all together under the Tarter Wall +and tremblingly awaiting with mock assurance the bursting of this +storm? If you are so good as to see this you will realise the +wonderful stage effects, the fierce Mediævalism in senile decay, the +superb distances, the red dust from the Gobi that has choked up all +the drains and tarnished all the magnificence until it is no more +magnificence at all—this dust which is such a herald of the coming +storm—the new guns and pistols of Herr Krupp and the camels of the +deserts and all the other things all mixed up together....</p> + +<p>Oh, I see that we are absurd and can only be made more ridiculous by +coming events. Of course the Boxers coming in openly through the gates +cannot be true, and yet—shades of Genghis Khan and all his Tartars, +what is that? When I had got as far as this from all sides came a +tremendous blaring of barbaric trumpets—those long brass trumpets +that can make one's blood curdle horribly, a blaring which has now +upset every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>thing I was about to write and also my inkpot. I rushed +out to inquire; it was only a portion of the Manchu Peking Field Force +marching home, but the sounds have unsettled us all again, and in the +tumult of one's emotions one does not know what to believe and what to +fear. Everything seems a little impossible and absurd, especially what +I am now writing from hour to hour.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>SOME INCIDENTS AND THE ONE MAN</h3> + + +<p class="date">12th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Even the British Legation—"the stoical, sceptical, ill-informed +British Legation," as S—— of the American Legation calls it—is +wringing its hands with annoyance, and were it Italian, and therefore +dramatically articulate, its curses and <i>maladette</i> would ascend to +the very heavens in a menacing cloud like our Peking dust. For on +England we have all been waiting because of an ancient prestige; and +England, everyone says, is mainly responsible for our present plight. +Everybody is lowering at England and the British Legation along +Legation Street, because S—— was not sent for two weeks ago, and the +language of the minor missions, who could not possibly expect to +receive protecting guards unless they swam all the way from Europe, is +sulphurous. They ask with much reason why we do not lead events +instead of being lead by them; why are we so foolish, so confident. +What has happened to justify all this, you will ask? Well, permit me +to speak.</p> + +<p>The day before yesterday several Englishmen rode down to the Machiapu +railway station, which is just outside the Chinese city, and is our +Peking station, to welcome, as they thought, Admiral S—— and his +reinforcements, so despairingly telegraphed for by the British +Legation just fourteen days later than should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>have been done. Their +passage to the station was unmarked by incidents, excepting that they +noted with apprehension the thickly clustering tents of Kansu soldiery +in the open spaces fronting the vast Temples of Heaven and +Agriculture. Once the station was reached a weary wait began, with +nothing to relieve the tedium, for the vast crowds which usually +surround the "fire-cart stopping-place," to translate the vernacular, +all had disappeared, and in place of the former noisiness there was +nothing but silence.</p> + +<p>At last, somewhat downcast, our Englishmen were forced to return +without a word of news, passing into the Chinese city when it was +almost dusk. Alas! the Kansu soldiery, after the manner of all +Celestials, were taking the air in the twilight; and no sooner did +they spy the hated foreigner than hoots and curses rose louder and +louder. The horsemen quickened their pace, stones flew, and had it not +been for the presence of mind of one man they would have been torn to +pieces. They left the great main street of the outer city in a +tremendous uproar and seemed glad to be back among friends.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, the 11th, it seemed absolutely certain S—— would arrive, +since he must have left Tientsin on the 10th, and it is only ninety +miles by rail. The Legations wished to despatch a messenger, but the +Kansu soldiery on those open spaces were not attractive, and nobody +was very anxious to brave them. Who was to go? No sooner was it +mentioned in the Japanese Legation than, of course, a Japanese was +found ready to go; in fact, several Japanese almost came to blows on +the subject. Sugiyama, the <i>chancelier</i>, somehow managed to prove that +he had the best right, and go he did, but never to return.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was dark before his carter turned up in Legation Street, covered +with dust and bespattered with blood, while I happened to be there. It +was an ugly story he unfolded, and it is hardly good to tell it. On +the open spaces facing the supplicating altars of Heaven and +Agriculture this little Japanese, Sugiyama, met his death in a horrid +way. The Kansu soldiery were waiting for more cursed foreigners to +appear, and this time they had their arms with them and were +determined to have blood. So they killed the Japanese brutally while +he shielded himself with his small hands. They hacked off all his +limbs, barbarians that they are, decapitated him, then mutilated his +body. It now lies half-buried where it was smitten down. The carter +who drove him was eloquent as only Orientals can be when tragedy +flings their customary reserve aside: "May my tongue be torn out if I +scatter falsehoods," he said again and again, using the customary +phrase, as he showed how it all happened. And late into the night he +was still reciting his story to fresh crowds of listeners, who gaped +with terror and astonishment. Squatting in a great Peking courtyard on +his hams and calling on the unseen powers to tear out his tongue if he +lied, he was a figure of some moment, this Peking carter, for those +that thought; for everybody realises that we are now caught and cannot +be driven out....</p> + +<p>This was the 11th. On the 12th, the day was still more startling, for +somehow the shadow which has been lurking so near us seems to have +been thrown more forward and become more intense. The hero of the +affair is the one really brave man among our chiefs, of course—the +Baron von K——, the Kaiser's Minister to the Court of Peking.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Baron is no stranger in Peking, although he has been here but a +twelvemonth in his new capacity as Minister. Fifteen years ago his +handsome face charmed more than one fair lady in the old pre-political +situation days, when there was plenty of time for picnics and +love-making. Then he was only an irresponsible attaché; now he is here +as a very full-blooded plenipotentiary, with the burden of a special +German political mission in China, bequeathed him by his pompous and +mannerless predecessor, Baron von H——, to support. But a man is the +present German Minister if there was ever one, and it was in the newly +macadamised Legation Street that the incident I am about to relate +occurred.</p> + +<p>Walking out in the morning, the German Minister saw one of the +ordinary hooded Peking carts trotting carelessly along, with the mule +all ears, because the carter was urging him along with many digs near +the tail. But it was not the cart, nor the carter, nor yet the mule, +which attracted His Excellency's immediate attention, but the +passenger seated on the customary place of the off-shaft. For a moment +Baron von K—— could not believe his eyes. It was nothing less than a +full-fledged Boxer with his hair tied up in red cloth, red ribbons +round his wrists and ankles, and a flaming red girdle tightening his +loose white tunic; and, to cap all, the man was audaciously and calmly +sharpening a big carver knife on his boots! It was sublime insolence, +riding down Legation Street like this in the full glare of day, with a +knife and regalia proclaiming the dawn of Boxerism in the Capital of +Capitals, and withal, was a very ugly sign. What did K—— do—go home +and invite some one to write a despatch for him to his government +deprecating the growth of the Boxer movement, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>impossibility +of carrying out conciliatory instructions, as some of his colleagues, +including my own chief, would have done? Not a bit of it! He tilted +full at the man with his walking stick, and before he could escape had +beaten a regular roll of kettledrums on his hide. Then the Boxer, +after a short struggle, abandoned his knife, and ran with some +fleetness of foot into a neighbouring lane. The gallant German +Minister raised the hue and cry, and then discovered yet another Boxer +inside the cart, whom he duly secured by falling on top of him; and +this last one was handed over to his own Legation Guards. The fugitive +was followed into Prince Su's grounds, which run right through the +Legation area, and there cornered in a house. The mysterious Dr. M—— +then suddenly appeared on the scenes and insisted upon searching the +Manchu Prince's entire grounds and most private apartments. But time +was wasted in <i>pourparlers</i>, and in spite of a minute inspection, +which extended even to the concubine apartments, the Boxer vanished in +some mysterious way like a breath, and is even now untraced. This +shows us conclusively that there are accomplices right in our midst.</p> + +<p>No sooner had this incident occurred and been bandied round with +sundry exaggerations, than the life of the Legations and the +nondescripts who have been coming in from the country became more +abnormal than ever. For in spite of our extraordinary position, even +up to to-day we were attempting to work—that is, writing three lines +of a despatch, and then rushing madly out to hear the latest news. Now +not so much as one word is written, and our eleven Legations are +openly terribly perturbed in body and mind and conscious of their +intense impotence, although we have all the so-called resources <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>of +diplomacy still at our command, and we are officially still on the +friendliest terms with the Chinese Government.</p> + +<p>This morning, the 12th, there was another commotion—this time in +Customs Street, as it is called. Three more Boxers, armed with swords +and followed by a crowd of loafers, fearful but curious, ran rapidly +past the Post Office, which faces the Customs Inspectorate, and got +into a small temple a few hundred feet away, where they began their +incantations. It was decided to attack them only with riding-whips, so +as to avoid drawing first blood. But when a party of us arrived, we +could not get into their retreat, as they had barricaded themselves +in. So marines and sailors were requisitioned with axes; after a lot +of exhausting work it was discovered that the birds had flown. This +was another proof that there is treachery among friendly natives, for +without help these Boxers could never have escaped.</p> + +<p>And now imagine our excitement and general perturbation. Since the 8th +or 9th, I really forget which date, we have been acting on a more or +less preconcerted plan—that is, as far as our defences are concerned, +as we have been quite cut off from the outer world. The commanders of +the British, American, German, French, Italian, Russian, Austrian and +Japanese detachments have met and conferred—each carefully instructed +by his own Minister just how far he is to acquiesce in his colleagues' +proposals, which is, roughly speaking, not at all. We can have no +effective council of war thus, because there is no commander-in-chief, +and everybody is a claimant to the post. There is first an Austrian +captain of a man-of-war lying off the Taku bar, who was merely up in +Peking on a pleasure trip when he was caught by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>the storm, but this +has not hindered him taking over command of the Austrian sailors from +the lieutenant who brought them up; and everybody knows that a captain +in the navy ranks with a colonel in the army. There are no military +men in Peking excepting three captains of British marines, one +Japanese lieutenant-colonel and his aide-de-camp, and some unimportant +military attachés, who are very junior. So on paper the command should +lie between two men—the Austrian naval captain and the Japanese +lieutenant-colonel. But, then, the Japanese have instructions to +follow the British lead, and the senior British marine captain has +orders to follow, his own ideas, and his own ideas do not fancy the +unattached Austrian captain of a man-of-war. So the concerted plan of +defence has only been evolved very suddenly, a plan which has resolved +itself naturally into each detachment-commander holding his own +Legation as long as he could, and being vaguely linked to his +neighbour by picquets of two or three men. But about this you will +understand more later on. The point I wish you now to realise is that +the counsels of the allied countries of Europe in the persons of their +Legation Guards' commanders are as effective as those of very juvenile +kindergartens. Everybody is intensely jealous of everybody else and +determined not to give way on the question of the supreme command. Of +course, if the storm comes suddenly, without any warning, we are +doomed, because you cannot hold an area a mile square with a lot of +men who are fighting among themselves, and who have fallen too quickly +into our miserably petty Peking scheme of things.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>THE COMING OF THE BOXERS</h3> + + +<p class="date">14th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I had risen yesterday some what late in the day with the oddness and +uncomfortableness—I do not mean discomfort—which comes from too much +boots, too much disturbance of one's ordinary routine, too much +listening to people airing their opinions and recounting rumours, and, +last of all, very wearied by the uncustomary task of transporting a +terrible battery of hand artillery (for we are at last all heavily +armed); and consequent of these varied things, I, like everybody else, +was a good deal out of temper and rather sick of it all. I began to +ask myself this question: Were we really playing an immense comedy, or +was there a great and terrible peril menacing us? I could never get +beyond asking the question. I could not think sanely long enough for +the answer.</p> + +<p>The day passed slowly, and very late in the afternoon, when some of us +had completed a tour of the Legations, and looked at their various +picquets, I finished up at the Austrian Legation and the Customs +Street. Men were everywhere sitting about, idly watching the dusty and +deserted streets, half hoping that something was going to happen +shortly, when suddenly there was a shout and a fierce running of feet. +Something had happened.</p> + +<p>We all jumped up as if we had been shot, for we had been sitting very +democratically on the sidewalk, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>round the corner, running with +the speed of the scared, came a youthful English postal carrier. That +was all at first.</p> + +<p>But behind him were Chinese, and ponies and carts ridden or driven +with recklessness that was amazing. The English youth had started +gasping exclamations as he ran in, and tried to fetch his breath, when +from the back of the Austrian Legation came a rapid roll of musketry. +Austrian marines, who were spread-eagled along the roofs of their +Legation residences, and on the top of the high surrounding wall, had +evidently caught sight of the edge of an advancing storm, and were +firing fiercely. We seized our rifles—everybody has been armed +<i>cap-â-pie</i> for days—and in a disorderly crowd we ran down to the end +of the great wall surrounding the Austrian compounds to view the broad +street which runs towards the city gates. The firing ceased as +suddenly as it had begun, and in its place arose a perfect storm of +distant roaring and shouting. Soon we could see flames shooting up not +more than half a mile from where we stood; but the intervening houses +and trees, the din and the excitement, coupled with the stern order of +an Austrian officer, shouted from the top of an outhouse, not to move +as their machine-gun was coming into action over our heads, made it +impossible for us to understand or move forward. What was it?</p> + +<p>Presently somebody trotted up from behind us on a pony, and, waiting +his opportunity, rode into the open, and with considerable skill +seized a fleeing Chinaman by the neck. This prisoner was dragged in +more dead than alive with fear, and he told us that all he knew was +that as he had passed into the Tartar city through the Ha-ta Gate a +quarter of an hour before, myriads of Boxers—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>those were his +words—armed with swords and spears, and with their red sashes and +insignia openly worn, had rushed into the Tartar city from the Chinese +city, slashing and stabbing at everyone indiscriminately. The +foreigners' guns had caught them, he said, and dusted them badly, and +they were now running towards the north, setting fire to chapels and +churches, and any evidences of the European they could find. He knew +nothing more. We let our prisoner go, and no sooner had he disappeared +than fresh waves of fugitives appeared sobbing and weeping with +excitement. The Boxers, deflected from the Legation quarter, were +spreading rapidly down the Ha-ta Great Street which runs due north, +and everybody was fleeing west past our quarter. Never have I seen +such fast galloping and driving in the Peking streets; never would I +have believed that small-footed women, of whom there are a goodly +number even in the large-footed Manchu city, could get so nimbly over +the ground. Everybody was panic-stricken and distraught, and we could +do nothing but look on. They went on running, running, running. Then +the waves of men, women and animals disappeared as suddenly as they +had come, and the roads became once again silent and deserted. Far +away the din of the Boxers could still be heard, and flames shooting +up to the skies now marked their track; but of the dreaded men +themselves we had not seen a single one.</p> + +<p>We had now time to breathe, and to run round making inquiries. We +found the Italian picquet at the Ha-ta end of Legation Street nearly +mad with excitement; the men were crimson and shouting at one another. +But there was nothing new to learn. Bands of Boxers had passed the +Italian line only eighty or a hundred yards <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>off, and a number of dark +spots on the ground testified to some slaughter by small-bore Mausers. +They had been given a taste of our guns, that was all; and, fearing +the worst, every able-bodied man in the Legations fell in at the +prearranged posts and waited for fresh developments.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock, while we were hurriedly eating some food, word was +passed that fires to the north and east were recommencing with renewed +vigour. The Boxers, having passed two miles of neutral territory, had +reached the belt of abandoned foreign houses and grounds belonging to +the foreign Customs, to missionaries, and to some other people. +Pillaging and burning and unopposed, they were spreading everywhere. +Flames were now leaping up from a dozen different quarters, ever +higher and higher. The night was inky black, and these points of fire, +gathering strength as their progress was unchecked, soon met and +formed a vast line of flame half a mile long. There is nothing which +can make such a splendid but fearful spectacle as fire at night. The +wind, which had been blowing gently from the north, veered to the +east, as if the god's wished us to realise our plight; and on the +breeze leading towards the Legations, some sound of the vast tumult +and excitement was wafted to us. The whole city seemed now to be alive +with hoarse noises, which spoke of the force of disorder unloosed. +Orders for every man to stand by and for reinforcements to be massed +near the Austrian quarter were issued, and impatient, yet impotent, we +waited the upshot of it all. Chinese officialdom gave no sign; not a +single word did or could the Chinese Government dare to send us. We +were abandoned to our own resources, as was inevitable.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p> + +<p>Suddenly a tremor passed over all who were watching the brilliant +scene. The flames, which till then had been confined to a broad belt +at least three thousand yards from our eastern picquets, began leaping +up a mile nearer. The Boxers, having destroyed all the foreign houses +in the Tsung-li Yamen quarter, were advancing up rapidly on the Tung +T'ang—the Roman Catholic Eastern Cathedral, which was but fifteen +minutes' walk from our lines. We knew that hundreds of native +Christians lived around the cathedral, and that as soon as their lives +were threatened they would at once seek refuge in their church, and we +knew, also, what that would mean.</p> + +<p>The roar increased in vigour, and then hundreds of torches, dancing +like will-o'-the-wisps in front of our straining eyes, appeared far +down the Wang-ta, or so-called Customs Street, which separates Sir +R—— H——'s Inspectorate from the Austrian Legation. They were less +than a thousand yards away. The Boxers, casting discretion to the +winds, appeared to be once more advancing on the Legations. But then +came a shout from the Austrian Legation, some hoarse cries in guttural +German, and the big gates of the Legation were thrown open near us. +The night was inky black, and you could see nothing. A confused +banging of feet followed, then some more orders, and with a rattling +of gun-wheels a machine-gun was run out and planted in the very centre +of the street.</p> + +<p>"At two thousand yards," sang out the naval lieutenant unexpectedly +and jarringly as we stood watching, "slow fire."</p> + +<p>I was surprised at such decision. <i>Tang, tang, tang, tang, tang</i>, spat +the machine-gun in the black night, now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>rasping out bullets at the +rate of three hundred a minute, as the gunner under the excitement of +the hour and his surroundings forgot his instructions, now steadying +to a slow second fire. This was something like a counter-excitement; +we were beginning to speak at last. We were delighted. It was not so +much the gun reports which thrilled us as the resonant echoes which, +crackling like very dry fagots in a fierce fire as the bullets sped +down the long, straight street, made us realise their destroying +power. Have you ever heard a high-velocity machine-gun firing down +deserted and gloomy thorough-fares? It crackles all over your body in +electrical shocks as powerful as those of a galvanic battery; it +stimulates the brain as nothing else can do; it is extraordinary.</p> + +<p>The will-o'-the-wisp torches had stopped dancing forward now, but +still they remained there, quite inexplicable in their fixity. We +imagined that our five minutes' bombardment must have carried death +and destruction to everyone and everything. And yet what did this +mean? The flames, which had been licking round near the cathedral, +suddenly burst up in a great pillar of fire. That was the answer; the +cathedral was at last alight. At this we all gave a howl of rage, for +we knew what that meant. The picquets had been mysteriously reinforced +by Frenchmen, Englishmen, and men of half a dozen other nationalities, +all chattering together in all the languages of Europe. "<i>Que faire, +que faire</i>," somebody kept bawling. "Get your damned gun out of the +way," shouted other angry voices, "and let us charge the beggars." But +Captain T——, the Austrian commander, was already conferring with a +dear colleague whom he had discovered in the dark. Even in this storm +of excitement the protocol could not be for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>gotten. Marines, sailors, +and Legation juniors groaned; was this opportunity to be missed? At +last they arranged it; it should be a charge of volunteers.</p> + +<p>"Volunteers to the front," shouted somebody. Everybody sprang forward +like one man. A French squad was already fixing bayonets noisily and +excusing their rattle and cursing on account of the dark; the +Austrians had deployed and were already advancing. <i>"Pas de charge,"</i> +called a French middy. Somebody started tootling a bugle, and +helter-skelter we were off down the street, with fixed bayonets and +loaded magazines, a veritable massacre for ourselves in the dark....</p> + +<p>The charge blew itself out in less than four hundred yards, and we +pulled up panting, swearing and laughing. Somebody had stuck some one +else through the seat of the trousers, and the some one else was +making a horrid noise about this trivial detail. Some rifles had also +gone off by themselves, how, why and at whom no one would explain. A +very fine night counter-attack we were, and the rear was the safest +place. Yet that run did us good. It was like a good drink of strong +wine.</p> + +<p>But we had now reached the first torches and understood why they +remained stationary. The Boxers, met by the Austrian machine-gun, had +stuck them in long lines along the edge of the raised driving road, +and had then sneaked back quietly in the dark. Every minute we +expected to have our progress checked by the dead bodies of those we +had slain, but not a corpse could you see. The Austrian commander was +now once again holding a council of war, and this time he urged a +prompt retreat. We had certainly lost touch with our own lines, and +for all we knew we might suddenly be greeted with a volley from our +own people coming out to rein<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>force us. Our commanders wobbled this +way and that for a few minutes, but then, goaded by the general +desire, we pushed forward again, with a common movement, without +orders this time. We moved more slowly, firing heavily at every shadow +along the sides of the road. Here it seemed more black than ever, for +the spluttering torches, which cast a dim light on the raised road +itself, left the neighbouring houses in an impenetrable gloom. Whole +battalions of Boxers could have lurked there unmarked by us; perhaps +they were only waiting until they could safely cut us off. It was very +uncanny.</p> + +<p>In front of us the flames of the burning Roman Catholic Cathedral rose +higher and higher, and the shouts and roars, becoming ever fiercer and +fiercer, could be plainly heard. Just then a Frenchman stumbled with a +muttered oath, and, bending down, jumped back with a cry of alarm. At +his feet lay a native woman trussed tightly with ropes, with her body +already half-charred and reeking with kerosene, but still alive and +moaning faintly. The Boxers, inhuman brutes, had caught her, set fire +to her, and then flung her on the road to light their way. She was the +first victim of their rage we had as yet come across. That made us +feel like savages. We were now not more than three hundred yards from +the cathedral, and in the light of the flames, which were now burning +more brightly than ever, we could see hundreds of figures dancing +about busily. We had just halted to prepare for a final charge when +something moved in front of us. "Halt," we all cried, marking our +different nationalities by our different intonations of the word. A +sobbing Chinese voice called back to us: "<i>Wo pu shih; wo pu shih</i>," +which merely means, "I am <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>not," leaving us to infer that he was +referring to the Boxers; and then without waiting for an answer the +night wanderer, whoever he might be, scampered away hurriedly. The +immediate result was that we opened a terrible fusillade in the +direction he had fled, our men firing at least a hundred shots. Many +mocking voices then called back to us from the shadows. There was +laughter, too. It was obviously hopeless trying to do anything in this +dark; so when a bugler trotted up from our lines with stern orders +from the French commandant for his men to retire, we all stumbled back +more than willingly We had gone out of our depth.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the flames spread farther and farther, until half the Tartar +city seemed on fire. All Peking awoke, and from every part confused +noises and a vast barking of dogs was borne down on us. What course +should we take, if the attack was suddenly carried all round our area?</p> + +<p>The French Minister was by this time officially informed that native +Catholics were being butchered wholesale; that there were plenty of +men who were willing to go and rescue them, but that no one seemed to +have any orders, and that everyone was swearing at the general +incompetence. Absolute confusion reigned within our lines; the +picquets broke away from their posts; the different nationalities +fraternised under the excitement of the hour and lost themselves; and +it would have been child's play to have rushed the whole Legation +area. We felt that clearly enough.</p> + +<p>It was not until well past midnight, and after several heated +discussions, that a relief party was finally organised; but when they +got to the cathedral there was hardly anything to see, for the +butchery was nearly over and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>the ruin completed. Several hundred +native Roman Catholics had disappeared, only a few Boxers were seen +and shot and a few converts rescued.</p> + +<p>How well I remember the scene when this second expedition returned, +excited and garrulous as only Frenchmen can be. The French Minister +led them in. He explained to us that the Boxers had already absolutely +demolished everything—that it was no use risking one's self so far +from one's own lines any more—that it was a terrible business, but +<i>que faire</i>.... The French Minister did not hurry away, but stood +there talking endlessly. It was at once dramatic and absurd. Sir R—— +H——, in company with many others, stood listening, however, with an +awestruck expression on his face. He carried a somewhat formidable +armament—at least two large Colt revolvers strapped on to his thin +body, and possibly a third stowed away in his hip pocket. From +midnight to the small hours there was a constant stream of our most +distinguished personages coming and looking down this street and +wondering what would happen next. It was not a very valiant spectacle.</p> + +<p>In this curious fashion the memorable night of the 12th passed away, +with sometimes one picquet firing, sometimes another, and with +everybody waiting wearily for the morning. We had almost lost interest +by that time.</p> + +<p>At half-past four the pink light began chasing away the gloom; the +shadows lightened, and day at last broke. At six o'clock native +refugees from the foreign houses that had been burned came slinking +silently in with white faces and trembling hands, all quite broken +down by terrible experiences. One gate-keeper, whose case was +tragically unique, had lost everything and everybody <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>belonging to +him, and was weeping in a curious Chinese way, without tears and +without much contortion of features, but persistently, without any +break or intermission, in a somewhat terrifying fashion. His wife, six +children, his father and mother, and a number of relations had all +been burned alive—thirteen in all. They had been driven into the +flames with spears. Moaning like a sick dog, and making us all feel +cowardly because we had not attempted a rescue, the man sought refuge +in an outhouse. Sir R—— H—— was still standing at his post, +looking terribly old and hardly less distressed than the wretched +fugitives pouring in. His old offices and residences, where forty +years before he had painfully begun a life-long work, were all stamped +out of existence, and the iron had entered into his soul. A number of +the officers commanding detachments, and people belonging to various +Legations, attempted to glean details as to the strength of the Boxer +detachments from these survivors, but nobody could give any +information worth having. I noticed that no Ministers came; they were +all in bed!</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock, still afoot, we heard that there was a deuce of a +row going on at the Ha-ta Gate, because it was still locked and the +key was gone. It now transpired that a party of volunteers, led by the +Swiss hotel-keeper of the place and his wife, had marched down to the +gate after the Boxers had rushed in, had locked it, and taken the key +home to bed, so that no one else could pay us their attentions from +this quarter. This is the simplest and the most sensible thing which +has been yet done, and it shows how we will have to take the law into +our own hands if we are to survive.</p><p><span class='pagenum'> +<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +</p> +<p>In this fashion the Boxers were ushered in on us. Most of us kept +awake until ten or eleven in the morning for fear that by sleeping we +might miss some incidents. But even the Boxers had apparently become +tired, for there was not a sign of a disturbance after midnight. In +spite of the quiet, however, the streets remain absolutely deserted, +and we have no means of knowing what is going to happen next.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>BARRICADES AND RELIEFS</h3> + + +<p class="date">16th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>We have entered quite naturally in these unnatural times on a new +phase of existence. It is the time of barricades and punitive +expeditions; of the Legations tardily bestirring themselves in their +own defence, and realising that they must try and forget their private +politics if they are even to live, not to say one day to resume their +various rivalries and animosities. Imperceptibly we are being impelled +to take action; we must do something.</p> + +<p>We woke up late on the 14th to the fact that loopholed barricades had +been everywhere begun on our streets, as effective bars to the inrush +of savage torch-bearing desperadoes, each Legation doing its own work; +and that the Chinese Government, with its likes and dislikes, would +have to be seriously and cynically disregarded if we wished to +preserve the breath of life. So barricades have been going up on all +sides, excepting near the British Legation, where the same +indifference and sloth, which have so greatly contributed to this +<i>impasse</i>, still remain undisturbed. Near the Austrian, French, +American, Italian and Russian Legations barricade-builders are at +work, capturing stray Peking carts, turning them over and filling them +full of bricks. So quickly has the work been pushed on, that in some +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>places there are already loopholed walls three feet thick stretching +across our streets, and so cleverly constructed that carts can still +pass in and out without great difficulty. We are still on speaking +terms with the Chinese Government, but who knows what the morrow may +bring?</p> + +<p>But although you may have gathered some idea of the general aspect of +Peking from what I have written, it is more than probable that you +have no clear conception of the Legation quarter and what this +barricading means. It seems certain that we will have to fight some +one in time, so I will try and explain.</p> + +<p>Legation Street, or the <i>Chiao Min hsiang</i>, to give it the native +appellation, runs parallel to the Tartar Wall. Beginning at the west +end of the street—that is, the end nearest the Imperial City and the +great Ch'ien Men Gate—the Legations run as follows: Dutch, American, +Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, French, Italian. Of the eleven +Legations, therefore, eight are in the one street, some on one side, +some on the other; some adjoining one another, with their enormous +compounds actually meeting, others standing more or less alone with +nests of Chinese houses in between. Apart from the eight Legations, +there are a number of other buildings belonging to Europeans in this +street, such as banks, the club, the hotel, and a few stores and +nondescript houses. Taking the remaining three Legations, the Belgian +is hopelessly far away beyond the Ha-ta Gate line; the Austrian is two +hundred yards down a side street on which is also the Customs +Inspectorate; and, finally, the British is at the back of the other +Legations—that is, to the north of the south Tartar Wall. The extent +of this Legation and its sheltered position make it a sort of natural +sanctuary for all non-combatants, since it is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>masked on two sides by +the other Legations, and is only really exposed on two sides, the +north and the west. Already many missionaries and nondescripts have +been coming in and claiming protection, and in the natural course of +events it must become the central base of any defence. Everyone sees +and acknowledges that.</p> + +<p>At the two ends of Legation Street, the western Russo-American end and +the eastern Italian end, heavy barricades have already gone up. The +Dutch Legation, lying beyond the Russian and American Legations at +this west end of the street, being without any guards and protectors, +will, therefore, have to be abandoned immediately there is a rush from +the Ch'ien Men Gate. The Belgian Legation is naturally untenable, and +will also have to be sacrificed. The Austrian Legation is likewise a +little too far away; but for the time being a triple line of +barricades have gone up, having been constructed along the road +between this Legation and the Customs inspectorate. To-day, the 16th, +carts are no more to be seen on these streets; foot traffic is +likewise almost at an end. There is a tacit understanding that +everybody must act on the defensive.</p> + +<p>Also every Chinaman passing our barricades is forced to provide +himself with a pass, which shows clearly his reason for wandering +abroad in times like this. There has already been trouble on this +score, for our system has had no proper trial....</p> + +<p>Since the 14th and that dreadful first Boxer night, we have begun to +take affairs a good deal into our own hands, and have attempted to +strike blows at this growing movement, which remains so unexplained, +whenever an occasion warranted it—that is, those of us who have any +spirit. Thus, on the afternoon of the 14th, Baron <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>von K—— took a +party of his marines on top of the Tartar Wall, pointed out to them a +party of Boxer recruits openly drilling below on the sandy stretch, +and gave orders to fire without a moment's hesitation. So the German +rifles cracked off, and the sands were spotted with about twenty dead +and dying. This action of the German Minister's at once created an +immense controversy. The timid Ministers unhesitatingly condemned the +action; all those who understand that you must prick an ulcer with a +lancet instead of pegging at it with despatch-pens, as nearly all our +chiefs have been doing, approved and began to follow the example set. +This is the only way to act when the time for action comes in the +East, and the net result is that we have been unendingly busy. There +have been expeditions, raids, and native Christians pouring in and +demanding sanctuary within our lines. One story is worth telling, as +showing how we are being forced to act.</p> + +<p>Word came to us suddenly that the Boxers had caught a lot of native +Christians, and had taken them to a temple where they were engaged in +torturing them with a refinement of cruelty. One of our leaders +collected a few marines and some volunteers, marched out and +surrounded the temple and captured everybody red-handed. The Boxers +were given short shrift—those that had their insignia on; but in the +sorting-out process it was impossible to tell everybody right at first +sight. Christians and Boxers were all of them gory with the blood +which had flown from the torturing and brutalities that had been going +on; so the Christians were told to line up against the wall of the +temple to facilitate the summary execution in progress. Then a big +fellow rushed out of a corner, yelling, "I have received the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>faith." +Our leader looked at the man with a critical eye, and then said to him +in his quietest tones, "Stand up against the wall." The Boxer stood up +and a revolver belched the top of his head off. With that quickness of +eye for which he is distinguished, our leader had seen a few red +threads hanging below the fellow's tunic. The man, as he fell with a +cry, disclosed his sash underneath. He was a Boxer chief. At least +thirty men were killed here.</p> + +<p>But it was at the Western Roman Catholic Cathedral that the most +exciting times up till now have been had, for there, as at the other +cathedral, the Boxers have been at work. The first relief expedition +went out during the night—that is, last night. Headed by some one +from the French Legation, the expedition managed to bring in all the +priests and nuns attached to the cathedral mission. Old Father +d'A——, a charming Italian priest, was the most important man +rescued. After having been forty years here, he surveys the present +scenes of devastation and pillage with the remark, "<i>En Chine il n'y a +ni Chrétiens ni civilisation. Ce ne sont là que des phrases</i>." That is +what he said.</p> + +<p>This morning a second relief corps, containing the most miscellaneous +elements, tramped away stolidly in the direction of the still smoking +cathedral ruins in the hopes of saving some more unfortunates, and our +expectations were soon realised. After a walk of a mile and a half, we +rounded a corner with the sound of much wailing on all sides, and ran +suddenly full tilt into at least two or three dozen Boxers, who have +been allowed to do exactly as they like for days. There was a fierce +scuffle, for we were down on them in a wild rush before they could get +away, and they showed some fight. I marked down <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>one man and drove an +old sword at his chest. The fellow howled frightfully, and just as I +was going to despatch him, a French sailor saved me the trouble by +stretching him out with a resounding thump on the head from his Lebel +rifle. The Boxer curled over like a sick worm and expired. There was +not much time, however, to take stock of such minor incidents as the +slaying of individual men, even when one was the principal actor, for +everywhere men were running frantically in and out of houses, shouting +and screaming, and the confusion was such that no one knew what to do. +The Boxers had been calmly butchering all people who seemed to them to +be Christians—had been engaged in this work for many hours—and all +were now mixed up in such a confused crowd that it was impossible to +distinguish friends and foes. As they caught sight of us, many of the +marauders tore off their red sashes and fell howling to the ground, in +the hope that they would be passed by. Dozens of narrow lanes round +the ruined cathedral, which was still smoking, were full of Christian +families hiding in the most impossible places, and everywhere Boxers +and banditti, sometimes in groups, sometimes singly, still chased them +and cut them down. Numbers had already been massacred, and several +lanes looked like veritable shambles. The stench of human blood in the +hot June air was almost intolerable, and the sights more than we could +bear. Men, women and children lay indiscriminately heaped together, +some hacked to pieces, others with their throats cut from ear to ear, +some still moving, others quite motionless.</p> + +<p>Gradually we collected an ever-growing mob of terror stricken people +who had escaped this massacre. Some of the girls seemed quite +paralysed with fear; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>others were apparently temporarily bereft and +kept on shrieking with a persistency that was maddening. A young +French sailor who did not look more than seventeen, and was splashed +all over with blood from having fallen in one of the worst places, +kept striking them two and three at a time, and cursing them in fluent +Breton, in the hope of bringing them to reason. "<i>Eh bien, mes belles! +Vous ne finissez pas</i>," he ended despairingly, and rushed off again to +see whether he could find any more.</p> + +<p>The blood was rising to our men's heads badly by now, and I saw +several who could stand it no longer stabbing at the few dead Boxers +we had secured. We had none of us imagined we were coming to such +scenes as these; for nobody would have believed that such brutal +things were possible. When we judged we had finished rescuing every +one alive, a man in the most pitiable condition ran out from behind +the smouldering cathedral carrying a newly severed human head in +either hand. He seemed but little abashed when he saw us, but came +forward rapidly enough towards us, glancing the while over his +shoulder. Several sailors were rushing at him with their bayonets, +ready to spit him, when he fell on his knees, and, tearing open his +tunic, disclosed to our astonished eyes a bronze crucifix with a +silver Christ hung on it. "<i>Je suis catholique</i>," he cried to us +repeatedly and rapidly in fair French, and the sailors stayed their +cold steel until we had extracted an explication. Then it transpired +that he had used this horrible device to escape the notice of some +Boxers who were still at work in a street on the other side of the +cathedral. We ran round promptly on hearing this, and caught sight of +a few fellows stripped to the waist, and gory <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>with blood as I have +never seen men before. Instead of fleeing, they met our charge with +resolution, and one tall fellow put me in considerable danger of my +life with a long spear, finally escaping before we could shoot him +down.</p> + +<p>On this side the ruins of the cathedral were covered with corpses +burned black from the heat of the flames and exposure to the sun. One +woman, by some freak of nature, had her arms poised above her head as +she sat dead, shrivelled almost beyond human recognition. It was +probable that the Boxers had pitched many of their victims alive into +the flames and driven them back with their swords and spears whenever +they attempted to escape....</p> + +<p>At last we got away with everybody who was still alive, as far as we +could judge. Tramping back slowly and painfully, the rescued looked +the most pitiable concourse I have ever seen. Somehow it was exactly +like that eloquent picture in "Michael Serogoff," showing the crowds +of Siberian prisoners being driven away by Feofar Khan's Tartars after +the capture of Omsk. Among our people there were the same old +granddames, wrinkled and white haired, supporting themselves with +crooked sticks and hobbling painfully on their mutilated feet; the +same mothers with their children sucking their breasts; the same +little boys and little girls laden with a few miserable rags; the same +able-bodied men carrying the food they had saved. The older people +gazed straight in front of them with the stolid despair of the +fatalist East, and did not utter a word. A woman who had given birth +to a child the very night before was being carried on a single plank +slung on ropes, with a green-white pallor of death on her features. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>I +have never taken part in such a remarkable procession as this.</p> + +<p>Thus bloodstained and very weary we finally reached our Legation +quarter, and once again the energy and resolution of Dr. M—— +expressed themselves. The grounds of the Su wang-fu, belonging to the +Manchu prince Su, where the first Boxer we had openly seen had sought +refuge a few days previously, were commandeered by him, and by evening +nearly a thousand Catholic refugees were crowded into its precincts. +All day people were labouring to bring in rice and food for their +people, and camp-fires were soon built at which they could cook their +meals. Several of the <i>chefs de mission</i> were again much alarmed at +this action of ours in openly rescuing Chinese simply because they +were doubtful co-religionists. They say that this action will make us +pay dearly with our own lives; that the Legations will be attacked; +that we cannot possibly defend ourselves against the numbers which +will be brought to bear against us; that we are fools. Perhaps we are, +but still there is some comfort in discovering that this nest of +diplomacy still contains a few men.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile there is not a word of news from S——, and there are +indications that our despatches to the Chinese Government, which are +being sent from every Legation more and more urgently, are hardly +read. The situation is becoming more and more impossible, and our +servants say it is useless bringing in any news, as there is such +confusion in the Palace that nobody knows anything reliable.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>SOME MEN AND THINGS</h3> + + +<p class="date">16th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>No developments have taken place during the past few hours. So far +very few men have been conspicuous; and as it is these few who have +brought about the only developments, and outlined our position, and +that they are to-day all terribly tired, we have absolute monotony. I +have not heard what the German Minister has been doing, but it is +rumoured that he is engaged in trying to re-establish communication +with Tientsin and the sea by bribing the Tsung-li Yamen smaller +officials to take down packets of his despatches by pony-express. It +seems doubtful whether this will succeed. For all communication has +absolutely ceased now, and the Customs postal carriers say that it is +impossible to get through by any stratagem, as all the roads are +swarming with Boxers and banditti. The Chinese Government, in its few +despatches to some of the Legations, is clearly temporising and trying +to save itself. There is no means of knowing what is going on inside +the Palace, or of understanding what the Empress Dowager has decided. +Everybody says it is all topsy-turvydom now in the capital, and that +the most extraordinary reports are coming in from the provinces. Our +Chinese despatch writers, our Manchu servants, and the few natives who +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>come through our barricaded streets, all say the same thing—that it +is too soon to speak, but that the dangers are enormous. Meanwhile the +more timid of these people attached to the Legation area are sending +word that they are sick and cannot come any more. It is a polite way +of saying that they are afraid. I do not blame them, since anything +now is possible. You cannot surely ask men to sacrifice themselves +when they are only bound to you by the hire system. Such is the +external and general situation.</p> + +<p>Within our own quarter things are much the same, developing naturally +along the line of least resistance.</p> + +<p>Now that Prince Su's palace grounds have been openly converted into a +Roman Catholic sanctuary, hundreds of converts are pouring in on us +from everywhere, laden with their pots and pans, their beds, and their +bundles of rice; indeed, carrying every imaginable thing. The great +Northern Cathedral and Monseigneur F—— are in no danger, for the +time being at least, since the cathedral and its extensive grounds are +surrounded by powerful walls and the bishop has now got his fifty +guards and possibly a couple of thousand young native Catholics, who +can probably be armed and fight. So although it seems as if the whole +Roman Catholic population of Peking is pouring in on us, we are in +reality only getting a few hundred miserables who had no time to fly +to their chief priest when the storm caught them; we have to prepare +for the worst, as everything is developing very slowly.</p> + +<p>Even in this matter of Chinese refugees the attitude of our foolish +Legations is rather inexplicable. Actually up to within a few days ago +some of the Ministers were still resolutely refusing to entertain the +idea that native Chris<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>tians—men who have been estranged from their +own countrymen and marked as pariahs because they have listened to the +white man's gospel—could be brought within the Legation area. In +consequence of this hardly any Chinese Protestants have as yet come +in. Of course circumstance, the force of example, and a timidity in +the face of the growing irritation, have at length broken down this +weak-kneed attitude, but people have not yet finished discussing it. +For instance, there is a remarkable story about the well-known S——, +who wrote that celebrated book, "Chinese Characteristics." He turned +up at the British Legation late one evening, long before the Boxers +entered the Tartar city, and brought positive proof that unless S—— +was hurried in we would all be murdered by a conspiracy headed by the +most powerful men. S—— was kept waiting for an hour, and then told +that no time could be spared to see him as everybody was busy writing +despatches! This is indeed our whole situation expressed in a trivial +incident; all the plenipotentiaries are trying to save their positions +and their careers by violent despatch-writing at the eleventh hour. +They know perfectly well that it is they alone who are responsible for +the present <i>impasse</i>, and that even if they come out alive they are +all hopelessly compromised. Young 0—— told me that in their Legation +they were actually antedating their despatches so as to be on the safe +side! This shows how absolutely inexcusable has been the whole policy +for three entire weeks.</p> + +<p>We do not know what is going on around us; we do not know of what the +Peking Court is thinking; we do not know by whom S—— has been +stopped. We know nothing now excepting that we are gradually but +surely getting so dirty that our tempers cannot but be vile. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>One +never realises how great a part soap and water play in one's scheme of +things until times like these. With upturned Peking carts blocking the +ingresses to our quarter; with everything disgruntled and out of +order; with native Christians crowding in on us, sensible heathen +servants bolting as hard as they can, ice running short, we, the +eleven Legations of Peking, await with some fear and trepidation and +an ever-increasing discomfort our various fates under the shadow of +the gloomy Tartar Wall. What is to be the next thing? I could possibly +imagine and write something about this were I not so tired.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>HELL HOUNDS</h3> + + +<p class="date">Night, 17th June 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is past twelve o'clock at night, but in spite of the late hour and +my fatigue—I have been dead tired for a week now—I am writing this +with the greatest ease, my pen gliding, as it were, over a surface of +ice-like slippiness, although my fingers are all blistered from manual +work. Why, you will ask? Well, simply because my imagination is afire, +and taking complete control of such minor things as the nerves and +muscles of my right arm, my eyes and my general person, it speeds me +along with astonishing celerity. Let your imagination be aflame and +you can do anything....</p> + +<p>It began last night. No sooner had the gates which pierce the Tartar +Wall been closed by the Imperial guards, who still remain openly +faithful to their duties, than there arose such a shouting and roaring +as I have never heard before and never thought possible. It was the +Boxers. The first time the Boxers had rushed in on us, it was through +the Ha-ta Gate to the east of the Legations. Last night, after having +for three days toured the Tartar city pillaging, looting, burning and +slaying, with their progress quite unchecked except for those few +hundred rifle shots of our own, the major part of the Boxer +fraternity, to whom had joined themselves all the many rapscallions of +Peking, found themselves in the Chinese or outer city after dark, and +consequently <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>debarred from coming near their legitimate prey. (The +gates are still always closed as before.) Somebody must have told them +that they could do as they liked with Christians and Europeans; for, +mad with rage, they began shouting and roaring in chorus two single +words, "<i>Sha-shao,"</i> kill and burn, in an ever-increasing crescendo. I +have heard a very big mass of Russian soldiery give a roar of welcome +to the Czar some years ago, a roar which rose in a very extraordinary +manner to the empyrean; but never have I heard such a blood-curdling +volume of sound, such a vast bellowing as began then and there, and +went on persistently, hour after hour, without ever a break, in a +maddening sort of way which filled one with evil thoughts. Sometimes +for a few moments the sound sank imperceptibly lower and lower and +seemed making ready to stop. Then reinforced by fresh thousands of +throats, doubtless wetted by copious drafts of <i>samshu</i>, it grew again +suddenly, rising stronger and stronger, hoarser and hoarser, more +insane and more possessed, until the tympanums of our ears were so +tortured that they seemed fit to burst. Could walls and gates have +fallen by mere will and throat power, ours of Peking would have +clattered down Jericho-like. Our womenfolk were frozen with +horror—the very sailors and marines muttered that this was not to be +war, but an Inferno of Dante with fresh horrors. You could feel +instinctively that if these men got in they would tear us from the +scabbards of our limbs. It was pitch dark, too, and in the gloom the +towers and battlements of the Tartar Wall loomed up so menacingly that +they, too, seemed ready to fall in and crush us.</p> + +<p>For possibly three or four hours this insane demonstra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>tion proceeded +apace. The Manchu guards listened gloomily and curiously from the +inside of the gates, but made no attempt to open them, but they +equally refused sullenly to parley with a strong body of sailors and +volunteers we sent with instructions to shoot any one attempting to +unlock the barriers. Yet it was evident that the guards had received +special instructions, and that the gates would not be handed over to +the mob.</p> + +<p>A few minutes before midnight the sounds became more sullen, and +beneath the general uproar another note, one of those in distress, +began, as it were, like an undercurrent to this pandemonium. The cause +we had not long to seek, for presently flames began to shoot up, a +sight we were by now well accustomed to, though not in this purely +trading quarter of the city. The fire, started with savage disregard +in the very centre of the most densely populated street of the Chinese +city, spread with terrible rapidity. Soon both sides of Ch'ien Men +great street, just on the other side of the Tartar Wall, were +enveloped in raging flames, and a lurid light, growing ever brighter +and brighter, turned the dark night into an unnatural day.</p> + +<p>Between the incendiaries and ourselves the great Tartar Wall stood +firm, but though this ancient defence against other barbarians was an +effective protection for us, it could not long remain immune itself. +The <i>lou</i>, or square pagoda-like tower facing the Chinese city side, +caught some of the thousands and tens of thousands of sparks flying +skywards, and it was not long before the vast pile was burning as +fiercely as the rest. The great rafters of Burmese teak, brought by +Mongol Khans six centuries before to Peking, were as dry as tinder +with the dryness of ages; and thus almost before we had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>noted that +the bottom of the tower was well alight the flames were shooting +through the roof and out through the hundreds of little square windows +which in olden days were lined by archers. Higher and higher the +flames leaped, until the top of the longest tongues of fire, pouring +out through a funnel of brick, was hundreds of feet above the ground +level. Only Vereschagin could have done justice to this holocaust; I +have never seen anything so barbarically splendid.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile below this in the Chinese city all had become quiet, except +for the increasing and growing roar of the all-devouring flames. The +Boxers, as if appalled by their own handiwork and the mournful sight +of the capital in flames, had retreated into their haunts and had left +the unfortunate townfolk to battle with this disaster as they could. +From the top of the wall, which I hastily climbed as soon as I +obtained permission to leave my post, thousands and tens of thousands +of figures could be seen moving hurriedly about laden with +merchandise, which they were attempting to save. Busy as ants, these +wonderful Chinese traders were rescuing as much of their invested +capital from the very embrace of the flames as they could at a moment +when the Boxer patriots, menacing and killing them with sword and +spears as <i>san mao-tzu,</i> or third-class barbarians who sold the cursed +foreigners' stuffs and products, had hardly disappeared.</p> + +<p>Yet it seemed vain, indeed, to talk of salvage with half the city in +flames, for other fires now began mysteriously in other places, which +"lighted" the horizon. "<i>Tout Pékin brûlé</i>," muttered a French sailor +to me as I passed back to my post, and his careless remark made me +think that this was the Commune and Sansculottism inter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>mixed—the +ends of two centuries tumbled together—because we foreigners had +upset the equilibrium of the Far East with our importunities and our +covetousness of the Yellow Man's possessions....</p> + +<p>And what of S——, what of the Peking Government—what is everybody in +the outside world doing—the distant world of which we have so +suddenly lost all trace, while we are passing through such times? We +do not know; we have no idea; we have almost forgotten to think about +it. S—— was heard of twice some days ago from Langfang, a station +only forty miles from Peking, but why he does not advance, why there +is this intolerable delay, we do not know. The Peking Government is +still decreeing and counter-decreeing night and day according to the +Government Gazettes. The Ministers of our eleven Legations are meeting +one another almost hourly, and are eternally discussing, but are doing +nothing else. We have blocked our roads with barricades and provided +our servants and dependents with passes written in English, French, +German, Italian, Russian and Chinese—so that everyone can +understand. We are now sick of such a multitude of languages and wish +all the world spoken Volapük.</p> + +<p>Thus with our rescued native Christians, our few butchered Boxers, our +score and more of fires lighting the whole of the horizon, here in the +middle of the night of the 16th of June we are no further forward in +our political situation than we were two and a half weeks ago, when +our Legation Guards arrived, and we esteemed ourselves so secure. Two +and a half weeks ago! It seems at least two and a half months; but +that is merely the direct fault of having to live nearly twice the +proper number of hours in twenty-four.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>A FEW CRUMBS</h3> + + +<p class="date">18th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It has just transpired that Hsü Tung, an infamous Manchu high +official, who has been the Emperor's tutor, and whose house is +actually on Legation Street some fifty yards inside the lines of the +Italian Legation, has been allowed to pass out of our barricaded +quarter, going quite openly in his blue and red official chair. This +is a terrible mistake which we may pay for dearly.</p> + +<p>Hsü Tung is a scoundrel who is at least thorough in his convictions as +far as we are concerned. It is he who has long been boasting—and all +Peking has been repeating his boast—that in the near future he is +going to line his sedan chair with the hides of foreign devils and +fill his harem with their women; and it is he, above all other men, +who should have been seized by us, held as hostage, and shot out of +hand the very moment the Chinese Government gives its open official +sanction to this insane Boxer policy. Had we acted in this way and +taken charge of a number of other high officials who live just around +us, we might have shown the trembling government that a day of +retribution is certain to come. And yet listen what happened. Either +on the 15th or 16th Hsü Tung sent the majordomo of his household +cringing to the French Legation for a <i>passepartout</i>. He had already +tried once to escape by way of the Italian barri<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>cades, but had been +sternly ordered back, and his house placed under watch. Somehow, +through the foolishness of an interpreter of the French Legation, he +got his safe-conduct pass, and started out bold as brass in the +morning, seated in his official chair and accompanied by his official +outriders. He passed a first French barricade and reached an outer +second barrier manned by volunteers, who challenged him roughly and +then refused to let him pass.</p> + +<p>The outriders then tried to ride our men down, and it needed a +rifle-shot to bring them to their senses. Fortunately nobody was hurt, +and presently the youthful volunteers had Hsü Tung himself out of the +chair, and kept him seated on the ground while they debated whether +they should respect the French pass or strap the great man up and send +him to their own quarters as a prisoner of war.</p> + +<p>In the end, however, one of the secretaries came up and inquired what +it all meant, and then, of course, weak counsels prevailed, and Hsü +Tung was allowed to sneak off unmolested down a side lane.</p> + +<p>This incident is typical as showing the stamp of men who have +commanding voices in our beleagued quarter.</p> + +<p>God help us if any considerable force is sent against us, for we can +never help ourselves. Every proper-minded young man is a natural +soldier methinks, even in Anno Domini 1900, but every elderly person +in the same year of grace is quite valueless—that is what we have +already discovered.</p> + +<p>And yet even to-day all the senior people in our Legation area—those +who are our guides and mentors—though they be secretly much alarmed, +are comforting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>themselves with a great deal of garrulous talk because +a letter has arrived from Tientsin—in fact, several letters have +arrived. This is the first reliable news we have had for many days, +and everybody seems now to imagine that we are safe. The chief item in +these fateful missives seems to be that the Roman Catholic Cathedral +at Tientsin has also been burned; that this was accompanied by +massacres of native converts; and that the riverine port is swarming +with Boxers. And there is no news of S——, no news of anything good. +What has become of him we cannot imagine. Yet Ministers, secretaries, +and elderly nondescripts are somewhat relieved, and go about nervously +smiling in a very ridiculous way. No one can quite make out why they +are relieved, excepting perhaps, that they are delighted to find that +the visible world still exists elsewhere, and goes on revolving on its +own axis in spite of our dilemma. Why should the obvious be so often +discovered?</p> + +<p>Our poor Legation Guards and their commanding officers, with whom we +were so pleased a fortnight ago, are quite as crushed as everyone +else now—perhaps even more. You see the rank and file are merely a +crowd of uneducated sailors, who have not yet made head or tail of +what all this Peking <i>bouleversement</i> means. They were suddenly +entrained and rushed up to Peking many days ago; they arrived in the +dark; they were crammed into their respective Legations as quickly as +possible; they have done a little patrol and picquet work on the +streets, and have stood expectantly behind barricades which they were +told to erect; but otherwise they are as completely at sea again as if +they were back to their ships.... In all the clouds of dust and smoke +around them, how can they understand? It is true I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>rather a +grudge against some persons of the Legation defenders as yet unknown, +and think of them perhaps a little angrily, for, like all soldiery, +they loot. They have already taken my field-glasses, an excellent +revolver, and several other things during the confusion of the nights. +Of course this is the fortune of war, as all old campaigners will tell +you, but a more decent interval should have been allowed to elapse +before beginning the inevitable stripping process....</p> + +<p>As for the detachment officers, some of them are very good fellows and +some of them are not; but already they have each of them instinctively +adopted the old attitude of the Legations towards one another. They +are mutually suspicious. The detachment officers are also considerably +tired and in very bad tempers, for the night has been turned into day +with a regularity which cannot leave anybody very happy. Then dirt is +accumulating, too, sad truth; and in the East you cannot feel dirty in +the summer and be happy. That is quite impossible....</p> + +<p>Thus we are all in a very grunting frame of mind. The British Legation +appears to be at length hopelessly crowded with perspiring +missionaries of all denominations and creeds, who have suddenly come +in from beyond the barricades. Life must be quite impossible there. +The novelty of this experience has been worn off, and I for one would +welcome any change, either for better or worse. So long as it is only +a change....</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE ULTIMATUM</h3> + + +<p class="date">19th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>How foolish we can be! Only last night I was bewailing the dulness and +the dirt of it all, and the general absurdity and discomfort, and now +without one qualm I confess I would willingly exchange yesterday's +uncertainty for to-day's certainty—that we are all going to be made +into mincemeat. But I do not even feel serious or desperate now; it +has got beyond that.</p> + +<p>I do not know at what hour the ultimatum came to-day; it may have been +eleven in the morning or one in the afternoon; but one thing I do know +is, that here, at four in the afternoon, the great majority of one +thousand Europeans are shaking, absolutely distraught. It is evident +therefrom that there is something impressive and demoralising to most +people in the idea of finality, and that on the threshold of the +twentieth century, courage, since it is seldom dealt in, is hardly a +great living force. It makes one realise, too, that with all their +faults, the aristocrats of France, who, a hundred years ago, were +condemned to the shameful death of the guillotine and went in their +tumbrils through streets filled with cursing crowds of sansculottes, +with scorn and contempt written on their features, were rather +exceptional people. Things have changed since then, and the so-called +Americanisation of the world has not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>conduced to gallantry. Fortunate +are we that there is no white man's audience to watch us impassively, +and to witness the effects of this bombshell of an ultimatum which has +come to-day. There is nothing so humiliating as abject fear. Curiously +enough, the women bear it much better than the elder men, who are +openly distraught; and when I say women, I mean all the women, both +those belonging to the Legations and the dozens of missionary women +who have crowded in. Nearly everyone of them is better than the +elderly men; at least, they try and say nothing so as not to add to +the terrible confusion....</p> + +<p>But the ultimatum—what is it, and against whom is it so summarily +directed? Briefly the ultimatum is a neat-looking document written on +striped Chinese despatch-paper, and comes from the Tsung-li Yamen, or +office charged with the overseeing of "the outside nations' +affairs"—which are the affairs of Europe. After very briefly +referring to a demand made by the allied admirals for a surrender of +the Taku forts off the muddy bar of the Tientsin River—about which we +know nothing—it goes on to say that as China can no longer protect +the Legations, the Legations will have to protect themselves by +leaving Peking within twenty-four hours, dating from to-day at four +o'clock. That is all. Not another word. Yet in other words this +document means this: that the demand of the admirals must have been +refused; that they would not have made it unless something disastrous +had happened to S—— and to Tientsin; that acts of war have already +been committed, and that it will be no longer a Boxer affair, but a +government affair. This makes our position desperate enough in all +truth. There is to be war.... <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>The ultimatum was conveyed to the +eleven Legations and the Inspectorate-General of Foreign Customs in +twelve neat red envelopes by trembling <i>t'ing ch'ai</i> of the Chinese +Government, and in spite of some attempt at first to hide its contents +was soon known by everyone. The twelve copies, indeed, were exactly +alike, twelve bombshells, which, bursting in twelve different parts of +our barricaded quarter, finally united their fumes until we were all +fairly suffocated. For we have either got to flee now or be butchered. +Mechanically all eyes were turned at once to the chiefs of the eleven +missions to China, who have brought things to such a pass, and +everybody demanded frantically that something should be done. People +lost control themselves and behaved insanely. It was not long before +the whole diplomatic body met—in a terrible gloom—at the Legation of +the Spanish Minister, who is the <i>doyen</i> of the Corps, and soon a +tremendous discussion was raging. There were mutual recriminations, +and proposal after proposal was taken up and rejected as being too +dangerous. Nobody had for a moment dreamed that such a menace would +come so swiftly. Expectant crowds soon gathered round the gates of the +Spanish Legation, and attempted to find out what was being decided, +but the only thing I could learn was that brave Von K—— proposed at +once that the Ministers should go in a body to the Yamen and force the +Chinese Government to agree to an armistice. This was vetoed by all, +of course, and one gentleman openly wept at the idea. In the end, at +seven o'clock, when it was nearly dark, a joint Note was prepared, +saying that the Ministers could only accept the demand made on them +and prepare to leave Peking at once, but that twenty-four hours was +too short a notice <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>in which to pack their trunks, and that, besides, +they must have some guarantees as to the ninety miles road to +Tientsin, which were so swarming with bandits that communication had +been completely interrupted. That is to say, the Ministers were +prepared to accept....</p> + +<p>No sooner had this weak reply been despatched than a fresh wave of +consternation passed over the whole Legation quarter, for we now +number nearly a thousand white people in all, and we could never march +that distance to Tientsin unbroken. But beneath that wave of +consternation a fiercer note steadily rose—the note of revolt against +the decrees of eleven men. I cannot describe to you what an intensity +of passion was suddenly revealed. Muttering first, this revolt became +quite open and almost unanimous. All of us would have a fair fight +behind barricades and entrenchments, but no massacre of a long, +unending convoy. For picture to yourself what this convoy would be +crawling out of giant Peking in carts, on ponies and afoot, if it were +forced to go; we would be a thousand white people with a vast trail of +native Christians following us, and calling on us not to abandon them +and their children. Do you think we could run ahead, while a cowardly +massacre by Boxers and savage soldiery was hourly thinning out the +stragglers and defenceless people in the rear? Never!</p> + +<p>Hardly anybody thought of eating all that long evening. Most of us +were trying to find out whether some sensible understanding could not +be arrived at; whether we could not prepare before it was too late. +But it was quite in vain to plan anything or attempt to think of +anything. Everything was so topsy-turvy, everybody so panic-stricken.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span></p> + +<p>But as the night grew later and later, some people began busying +themselves packing boxes, still deluding themselves that they were +going to leave comfortably on the morrow as if nothing had happened. +Yet the world is really upside down as far as we are concerned, and it +is quite absolutely impossible that the situation should end so +normally as to find us quietly retreating down the Tientsin road. +Others kept sending out servants to discover at what price carts would +undertake to drive the whole way down to the sea, or at least to +Tientsin. Forty, fifty, and even one hundred taels were demanded for +three days' work; and then, although the carters said they would come +if the government sends proper escorts of soldiers as has been +promised, Heaven only knows if they will ever dare to move near our +stricken quarter. Still in some Legations they ordered fifty carts at +any price, with the most lavish promises of reward for those that +could manage to secure them. All the official servants soon came back +trembling, saying that they had found a few carts, but that it was <i>pu +yi t'ing</i>—not at all sure whether the carters would dare to move when +daylight came. For the whole city is already in a fresh uproar; people +are flying in every direction in the night. Stories come in of +officials who have been pulled out of their chairs and forced to +<i>K'et'ou</i> to Boxers to show their respect to the new power. Prince +Tuan has been appointed President of the Tsung-li Yamen, high Manchus +have been placed in charge of the Boxer commands, and rice is being +issued to them from the Imperial granaries. There is no end to the +tales that now come in, since everybody has understood that there is +no need for concealment and that there is going to be some sort of +war. At two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>o'clock I even began to get news of what the Empress +Dowager had been doing, and how the Boxer partisans had become so +strong that it was absolutely impossible to hope for anything but the +worst.</p> + +<p>Once when I got some details which I thought of importance, I tried to +find my chief in order to communicate it to him. But he was lost in +the middle of the night, conferring unofficially with some of his +colleagues; and I could but feel immensely amused when in his office I +saw that he had been scribbling some frenzied notes on the back of a +completed despatch, dealing with one of those petty little affairs +which were so important only the other day.</p> + +<p>Ah, where are the dear little political situations of only a few weeks +ago; those safe little political situations which redounded so much to +the credit of those that made them and did not contain any of the +dread elements of our present very real and terrible one! Like +soldiers who have degenerated from the chasing of mere vagabonds of +mediocre importance, so have our Peking Ministers Plenipotentiary and +Envoys Extraordinary fallen from their proud estate to mere diplomatic +make-beliefs full of wind—wind-blown from much tilting at windmills, +with their Governments rescuing them Sancho Panza-like at the eleventh +hour....</p> + +<p>But though for us there is still some hope, there is very little for +the wretched native Christians quartered in the palace grounds of +Prince Su, whom we have saved from the Boxers.</p> + +<p>They soon heard the news, too, that the foreigner who has once saved +them is going—going away because he has been ordered to. All night +long there was an awful panic among these people which made one's +heart sick, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>for they understood better than us how quickly they would +be massacred once they left our care.</p> + +<p>I shall never forget the night of the 19th of June, 1900, with all its +tragedy and tragi-comedy, though I live to be a hundred. It allowed me +to see something of real human nature in momentary flashes; of how +mean and full of fear we really are, how small and how easily +impressed. A hundred times I longed to have the time and the power to +set down exactly so that everyone might understand the incidents and +the sudden impulses which took place—all prompted by that master of +human beings—FEAR. That is why we worship heroes, or we pretend we +worship them, because it is the <i>culte</i>. For a moment these people who +have been set on pedestals were not afraid. Is it only the power not +to be afraid which makes one a hero?</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>THE DEBACLE BEGINS</h3> + + +<p class="date">20th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is notorious that in moments of tension, when the mind has been +stimulated to too great an activity by unhealthy excitement, you think +of the most curiously assorted things—in fact, of absurd things which +are quite out of place. I have been thinking the whole time of +something very stupid which is only fiction: That a Zulu, named +Umslopagas, rode and ran one hundred miles in a single night and then +refreshed himself sufficiently by a couple of hours' sleep to deliver +battle with such vigour at the head of a marble staircase, that he +saved the haggard hero. That is what I have been thinking of....</p> + +<p>We of Peking are, unfortunately, not of the mettle of Zulus, and as +far as I am personally concerned, three hours' sleep is but the +appetite-giver for five hours more. And so on this fateful 20th June, +with the time limit of our ultimatum expiring at four o'clock, I got +up in no sort of valorous spirit, and with the feeling that tragedies +outside the theatre—at least those that spin themselves out for an +indefinite number of days—are quite impossible for us Moderns. But, +then, probably everybody has always thought the same thing—even those +who lived before the Renaissance.</p> + +<p>At eight o'clock everyone was once more afoot, although most have +hardly had a wink of sleep. All over <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>our Legation quarter, dusty and +dirty men, unwashed and unbathed, now squatted along the edge of the +streets, hanging their weary heads against their rifles, with their +faces very white from too much sentry-go and too little sleep. There +is little distinction between sailors and Legation people, for we are +all in the same dilemma. On this eventful 20th of June, instead of +being resolute and alert, everybody is merely tired and weakened by a +couple of weeks' watchfulness against Boxers during an unofficial +semi-siege, a state of affairs which has quite unfitted us for fresh +strains. Yet beyond our barricades of upturned carts and stolen +building-bricks all was quiet and peaceful, and hardly a thing moves. +It seemed as if we had been only dreaming.... Wandering down beyond +the eastern end of Legation Street, which gives you the most view of +the mysterious world around the great Ha-ta Street, which the Boxers +have conquered, indeed you find everything practically deserted, the +people having learned that it is best to stay indoors until this +crisis is solved in some manner. Occasionally a rag-picker, or some +humble person so little separated from the life hereafter that to push +a trifle closer does not spell much peril, can be seen hooking up rags +and whatnots from the piles of Peking offal. If you speak to him he +gives an unintelligent <i>pu chih tao</i>—"I do not know"—and moves +boorishly on. As my old Chinese writer said a week ago, Peking has +never been in such a state of topsy-turvydom since the robber who +unseated the Ming dynasty rushed in two and a half centuries ago....</p> + +<p>Going on top of the great Tartar Wall and gazing down on the scene of +devastation and ruin beyond the Ch'ien Men Gate, one can hardly +believe one's eyes, for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>where there was once a mighty bustle one now +sees thousands of houses with nothing but their walls standing and +charred timbers strewing the grounds. The great burned tower which +blazed so wondrously a few nights ago is still half standing, its +mighty brickwork too powerful and too proud to succumb totally to the +flames' destroying energy. Gaunt and hollow-eyed, the old Tartar tower +surveys the scene somewhat contemptuously, as if saying that the pigmy +men of to-day are far removed from the paladins of old and their +works....</p> + +<p>Quiet and perfectly silent it all looks—but below the tower, and, +indeed, on all sides as far as the eyes can see, some search shows +little ants of men are at work in the ruins—not moving much, but +bobbing up and down with unending energy and regularity. They are the +beggars of Peking in their hundreds and thousands salving what they +can from all this immense destruction by poking deep holes into the +ruins and pulling out all manner of things from under the mass of +bricks and rubbish. In the conserving hands of the Chinaman nothing is +ever irremediably destroyed....</p> + +<p>Looking far to the east, even the Ha-ta Gate, where no harm has been +done, does not show much movement. The carts passing in and out are +very few and far between, and the dust which in ordinary times floats +above the din and roar of the gates in heavy clouds is to-day +seemingly absent. Even our Peking dust is awed by the approaching +storm and nestles close to Mother Earth, so that it may come to no +harm.</p> + +<p>The more I looked the more observant I became. The sun lolling up in a +red ball, the birds, twittering and flying about while the heat of the +day is not severe, showed themselves in a new light; and thus the 20th +June is ush<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>ered in so complaisantly, when all the world of men appear +merely tired and watchful, that the contrast makes one wonder, and at +nine o'clock once more our Ministers Plenipotentiary and our <i>Chargés +d'Affaires</i> gather their eleven estimable persons together at the +Legation of the <i>doyen</i>. For yesterday's Ministerial reply agreeing to +the Manchu order to vacate the capital, if certain conditions were +fulfilled, had begged for an urgent answer by nine o'clock regarding +the little counter-demands for a time-extension, and a definite +arrangement concerning the Chinese troops who are to be the safe +conduct along the Tientsin road. Nine o'clock has come, but alas! with +it there is no neat Chinese despatch on striped paper which would so +relieve our Ministerial feelings. The Chinese Government remains +grimly silent, for the Chinese Government has spoken plainly once, and +never within the memory of man has it done so on two consecutive +occasions. So the eleven Ministers meet once more in anything but a +happy frame of mind—eleven sorely tried and wholly fearful persons, +except for two or three who vainly try to instill some courage into +the others. All idea of completing the packing commenced last night +has vanished; even that would demand action and resolution. A proposal +to visit the Tsung-li Yamen in a body is set aside with nervous +protestations once more. The meeting thereupon became very stormy, and +the French Minister was kind enough to report afterwards that the +British Minister became thereafter very red—<i>il est devenu +soudainement très rouge</i>, for what reason is unknown. S——, who did +the minutes afterwards, said that the French Minister volunteered to +go with the others if they would proceed in a body, and became very +pale at the idea, that he confessed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>himself. Here we have, then, a +red Minister and a white Minister, and if we add those who were most +certainly blue and green, the national flags of the entire assembly +could be fitly made up. The French Minister, although simply a +<i>citoyen</i> sent by the Republic to intrigue in times of peace, and aid +his Russian colleague to the best of his ability, is a man withal, +although quite unfitted <i>de carrière</i> for wars and sieges. In the +French Legation he has been receiving such tearful instructions from +his wife during the past three weeks that it is a wonder he has any +backbone at all....</p> + +<p>The meeting became stormier and stormier as it went on, S—— says, +until old C—— argued that the only way to decide was to put +everything to the vote. Every vote put was promptly lost, and after an +hour's haggling they had got no farther than at the beginning!</p> + +<p>The dramatic moment came when Baron Von K—— got up and stated shortly +that as he had a previous appointment with the Tsung-li Yamen at +eleven o'clock, in spite of the ultimatum and a possible state of +war—in fact, in spite of everything—it was his intention to keep his +appointment, cost what it might. The others urged him not to go, for +they must have been feeling rather ashamed of themselves and their +overvalued lives. But K—— insisted he would go; he had said so once, +and did not intend to allow the Chinese Government to say he broke an +appointment through fear.</p> + +<p>S——, who told me the whole story a few hours afterwards, said that +he added that as soon as his own personal business was finished, he +would attend to the general question of the Legations' departure from +Peking, if the diplomatic corps would give him authority. As time was +pressing they gave it to him promptly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>enough. I remember everything +that happened afterwards with a very extraordinary accuracy of detail, +because I had just walked past the Spanish Legation when the +Ministerial meeting broke up, and I had determined to follow any move +in person so as to know what our fate was to be.</p> + +<p>The German Minister turned into his Legation, and after a time he +reappeared in his green and red official chair, with C——, the +dragonman, in a similar conveyance. There were only two Chinese +outriders with them, as Von K—— had refused to take any of his +guards. I remember Von K—— was smoking and leaning his arms on the +front bar of his sedan, for all the world as if he were going on a +picnic. The little <i>cortège</i> soon turned a corner and was swallowed +up. I walked out some distance beyond our barricades with Baron R——, +of the Russian Legation, and we wondered how long he would take to +come back. We soon knew! How terrible that was! For not more than +fifteen minutes passed before, crashing their Manchu riding-sticks +terror-stricken on to their ponies' hides, the two outriders appeared +alone in a mad gallop and nearly rode us down. Through the barricades +they passed, yelling desperately. It was impossible to understand what +they were saying, but disaster was written in the air.</p> + +<p>At this we started running after these two men, but when we reached +the corner of the French Legation the people there had already +understood, and said the German Minister had been shot down and was +stone-dead. Everybody was paralysed.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the outriders had reached the German Legation and had flung +themselves, disordered, from their sweating ponies. The men of the +Legation Guard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>were swarming round them and questioning them roughly +when I came up, but there was nothing further to be learned about Von +K——. A shot had passed through his chair and he had never moved +again, while other shots struck all round. C——, the dragonman, +dripping with blood, had run round a corner closely pursued by Chinese +riflemen. What happened to him they cannot say, for they, too, would +have been shot had they not fled. The tragedy was so simple, but so +crushing, that we all stood dazed. Our one man of character and +decision was dead—lost beyond recall!</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour after this half the German detachment was +marching rapidly down Customs Street, with fixed bayonets and an air +of desperation on their harsh Teutonic faces. They were determined to +try and at least save the body. I thought of going with them, too, but +a moment's thought told me there were other things which were now more +pressing. I went and gave some attention to the contents of +despatch-boxes which no one else had a right to see....</p> + +<p>The detachment reached the scene of the murder led by a trembling +outrider. Drops of blood were found on the ground; the Peking dust was +scraped this way and that, as if it had only been made an accomplice +unwillingly and with a violent struggle too; but the sedan-chairs, the +bearers, the murderous soldiers, and every other trace had vanished +completely. To question people was impossible, since everyone was +keeping closely indoors and barred entrances everywhere met the eye. +The Peking streets have become so lonely and deserted that not even a +dog allows himself to be entrapped in the open. Later I heard that +C—— had escaped, although terribly wounded.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p> + +<p>The detachment tramped back stolidly, and would not answer a word when +spoken to, for German despair is very gloomy. The remaining +Plenipotentiaries at last understood the nature of the game that was +being played, and realised that we were down to the naked and crude +facts of life and death. Their confounded vacillation has alone +brought us to this pass. They do realise it now, and they are made to +realise it more and more by the savage looks everyone has been giving +them....</p> + +<p>The departure for Tientsin half-acquiesced in but fifteen short hours +ago is no longer thought of, for what the Ministers propose to do now +interests no one. After impotently attempting to deal with questions +for which they were in no wise fitted they have resigned themselves to +the inevitable, and have become mere pawns like the rest of us. +Fortunately the men who are men begin to work with frenzied energy, +rushing about collecting food and materials. S——, the first +Secretary of the American Legation, began it, and soon stood out with +some insistence. He guesses with no one contradicting him that rice is +useful, that flour is still more useful, and that every pound we can +find in the native shops should be taken. The obvious is often +somewhat obscure in times like these, and the men who act are very +laudable. There is no denying it that on this 20th the Americans +showed more energy than anybody else, and pushed everybody to sending +out their carts and bringing in tons upon tons of food. Every shop +containing grain was raided, payment being made in some cases and in +others postponed to a more propitious moment. The American +missionaries concentrated in a fortified missionary compound a couple +of miles from us, and the last people to remain outside were hastily +sent for, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>given twenty minutes in which to pack their things, and +marched in as quickly as possible by a guard of American marines. +There were seventy white men, women and children, and countless herds +of native schoolgirls and converts. Their reports were the last we +got. Vast crowds of silent people had watched them pass through the +eastern Tartar city to our Legation lines without comment or without +hostility. Gloomily the Peking crowd must have watched this strange +convoy curling its way to a safer place, the missionaries armed in a +droll fashion with Remingtons and revolvers, and some of the converts +carrying pikes and carving-knives in their hands, for the Peking crowd +and Peking itself has been, and is being, terrorised by the Boxers and +the Manchu extremists, and is not really allied to them—of that we +all are now convinced. But C——, who was so nearly massacred, came in +too with the American missionaries. He managed somehow, after he was +shot in a deadly place, to half-run and half-crawl until he was picked +up and carried into the American missionary compound. From what I +heard, he knows nothing more about the death of the German Minister. +It was only a few hours ago, and yet it already seems days!</p> + +<p>All the non-combatants were now rushed into the British Legation, and +to the women and children join themselves dozens of men, whose place +should be in the fighting-line, but who have no idea of being there. +Lines of carts conveying stores, clothing, trunks and miscellaneous +belongings were soon pouring towards the British Legation, and long +before nightfall the spacious compounds were so crowded with +impedimenta and masses of human beings that one could hardly move +there. It was a memorable and an extraordinary sight.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + +<p>The few Chinese shops that had been until now carrying on business in +our Legation quarter in spite of the semi-siege and the barricades in +a furtive way, were soon quietly putting up their shutters—not +entirely, but what they call three-quarters shut after the custom on +their New Year holidays, when they are not supposed to trade, but do +trade all the same. The shop-boys, slipping their arms into their long +coats and dusting off their trousers and shoes after the Peking manner +with their long sleeves, made one feel in a rather laughable sort of +way that finality had been reached! They had that curious half-laugh +on their faces which signifies an intense nervousness being politely +concealed. Up to three o'clock these complaisant shopmen were still +selling things at a purely nominal price, which was not entered in the +books, but quietly pocketed by them for their own benefit. Having +completed my own arrangements, I began idly watching their actions, +they were so curious. At three o'clock sharp the last shutters went +up, the last shopman pasted a diamond-shaped Fu, or Happiness, of red +paper over the wooden bars, and vanished silently and mysteriously. It +was for all the world once again exactly like the telegraph-operator +in "Michael Strogoff," when the Tartars smash in the front doors of +his office and seize the person of the hero, while the clerk coolly +takes up his hat and disappears through a back door. These Chinese had +done business in the very same way, until the very last moment—the +very last.</p> + +<p>And not only are the few shopmen slipping away, but also numbers of +others within our lines who had been half-imprisoned during the past +week by our barricades and incessant patrolling. Men, women, and +children, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>each with a single blue-cloth bundle tied across their +backs containing a few belongings, slip away; gliding, as it were, +rapidly across the open spaces where a shot could reach them, and +scuttling down mysterious back alleys and holes in the walls, the +existence of which has been unknown to most of us. This time the rats +are leaving the sinking ship quietly and silently, for a quiet word +passed round had informed everyone of what is coming, and no one +wishes to be caught. This is the sort of silent play I love to watch.</p> + +<p>Just before this, however, down beyond the Austrian Legation came a +flourish of hoarse-throated trumpets—those wonderful Chinese +trumpets. Blare, blare, in a half-chorus they first hang on a high +note; then suddenly tumbling an octave, they roar a bassoon-like +challenge in unison like a lot of enraged bulls. Nearer and nearer, as +if challenging us with these hoarse sounds, came a large body of +soldiery; we could distinctly see the bright cluster of banners round +the squadron commander. Pushing through the clouds of dust which +floated high above them, the horses and their riders appeared and +skirted the edge of our square. We noted the colour of their tunics +and the blackness of the turbans. Two horsemen who dismounted for some +reason, swung themselves rapidly into their saddles, carbine in hand, +and galloped madly to rejoin their comrades in a very significant way. +For a moment they half turned and waved their Mannlichers at us, +showing their breast-circle of characters. They were the soldiers of +savage Tung Fu-hsiang, and were going west—that is, into the Imperial +city. The manner in which they so coolly rode past fifty yards away +must have frightened some one, for when I passed here an hour later +the Austrian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>Legation and its street defences had been suddenly +abandoned by our men. We had surrendered, without striking a blow, a +quarter of our ground! I remember that I was only mildly interested at +this; everything was so <i>bouleversé</i> and curious that a little more +could not matter. It was like in a dream. Tramping back, the Austrian +sailors crowded into the French Legation and all round their lines and +threw themselves down. One man was so drunk from lack of sleep that he +tumbled on the ground and could not be made to move again. Everybody +kicked him, but he was dead-finished and could be counted out. This +was beginning our warfare cheerfully.</p> + +<p>On top of the Austrians a lot of volunteers came in at a double, very +angry, and cursing the Austrians for a retreat which was only +discovered by them by chance. Like so many units in war-time, these +volunteers had been forgotten along a line of positions which could +have been held for days. Nobody could give any explanation excepting +that Captain T——, the Austrian commander, said that he was not going +to sacrifice his men and risk being cut off, when there was nobody in +command over the whole area. T—— was very excited, and did not seem +to realise one thing of immense importance—that half our northeastern +defences have been surrendered without a shot being fired.</p> + +<p>At the big French barricades facing north an angry altercation soon +began between the French and Austrian commanders. The French line of +barricades was but the third line of defence here, and only the +streets had been fortified, not the houses; but by the Austrian +retreat it had become the first, and the worn-out French sailors would +have hastily to do more weary fatigue-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>work carting more materials to +strengthen this contact point. I remember I began to get interested in +the discussion, when I found that there was an unfortified alley +leading right into the rear of this. It would be easy at night-time to +rush the whole line.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile nobody knew what was going to happen. All the Ministers, +their wives and belongings, and the secretaries and nondescripts had +disappeared into the British Legation, and the sailors and the +volunteers became more and more bitter with rage. A number of young +Englishmen belonging to the Customs volunteers began telling the +French and Austrian sailors that we had been <i>trahis</i>, in order to +make them swear louder. I know that it was becoming funny, because it +was so absurd when ... bang-ping, bang-ping, came three or four +scattered shots from far down the street beyond the Austrian Legation. +It was just where Tung Fu-hsiang's men had passed. That stopped us +talking, and as I took a wad of waste out of the end of my rifle I +looked at my watch—3.49 exactly, or eleven minutes too soon. I ran +forward, pushing home the top cartridge on my clip, but I was too +late. "<i>A quatre-cents mètres</i>," L——, the French commander, called, +and then a volley was loosed off down that long dusty street—our +first volley of the siege.</p> + +<p>Our barricades were full of men here, and it was no use trying to push +in. I postponed my own shooting, for after a brisk fusillade here, +urgent summons came from other quarters, and I had to rush away.... +The siege had begun in earnest. I record these things just as they +seemed to happen. We are so tired, my account cannot seem very +sensible. Yet it is the truth.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PART_II_THE_SIEGE" id="PART_II_THE_SIEGE"></a>PART II—THE SIEGE</h2> + +<h2><a name="II_I" id="II_I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>CHAOS</h3> + + +<p class="date">21st June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I passed the night in half a dozen different places, assimilating all +there was to assimilate; gazing and noting the thousand things there +were to be seen and heard, and sleeping exactly three hours. Few +people would believe the extraordinary condition to which twelve hours +of chaos can reduce a large number of civilised people who have been +forced into an unnatural life. It is indeed extraordinary. Half the +Legations are abandoned, excepting for a few sailors; others are being +evacuated, and most people have even none of the necessities of life +with them. For instance, at eight o'clock I discovered that I had had +no breakfast, and on finding that it would be impossible for me to get +any for some hours, I forthwith became so ravenously hungry that I +determined I would steal some if necessary. What a position for a +budding diplomatist!</p> + +<p>Fortunately I thought of the Hôtel de Pékin before I had done anything +startling, and soon C——, the genial and energetic Swiss, who is the +master of this wonderful hostelry, had given me coffee. He told me +then to go into his private rooms, ransack the place and take what I +liked. I found I was not alone in his private apartments. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>Baron +R——, the Russian commandant, had just come in before me, and had +fallen asleep from sheer fatigue as he was in the act of eating +something. He looked so ridiculous lying in a chair with his mouth +wide open and his sword and revolver mixed up with the things he had +been eating, that I began laughing loudly, and, aroused by this sound, +two more men appeared suddenly—Marquis P——, the cousin of the +Italian <i>chargé</i>, and K——, the Dutch Minister. What they were doing +there I did not inquire. The Dutch Minister was in a frightful rage at +everything and everybody, and began talking so loudly that R—— woke +up, and commenced eating again in the most natural way in the world, +without saying a single word. As soon as he had finished he went to +sleep again. He was plainly a man of some character; the whole +position was so ridiculous and yet he paid no attention.</p> + +<p>I soon got tired of this, as plenty of other people now came in, all +calling for food, and I was really so weary from lack of sleep and +proper rest that I could not remember what they were talking about two +seconds after they had finished speaking. Most of the men were angry +at the "muddle," as they called it, and said it was hopeless going on +this way. One of the Austrian midshipmen told me that there had been +altogether very little firing, and not more than a few dozen Chinese +skirmishers engaged, but that the whole northern and eastern fronts of +our square were so imperfectly garrisoned that they could be rushed in +a few minutes. Everybody agreed with him, but nobody appeared to know +who was in supreme command, or who was responsible for a distribution +of our defending forces, which would total at least six <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>hundred or +seven hundred men if every able-bodied man was forced into the +fighting-line. Fortunately the Chinese Government appears to be +hesitating again; we have been all driven into our square and can be +safely left there for the time being—that seems to be the point of +view.</p> + +<p>I now became anxious about a trunk containing a few valuables, which I +had sent into the British Legation, and I determined to go in person +and see how things were looking there. What confusion! I soon learned +that it had been very gay at the British Legation during the night. At +four o'clock of the previous afternoon, when the first shots had +already been dropping in at the northern and eastern defences, not a +thing had been done in the way of barricading and sandbagging—that +everybody admitted. The flood of people coming in from the other +Legations, almost weeping and wailing, had driven them half insane. At +the Main Gate, a majestic structure of stone and brick, a few sandbags +had actually been got together, as if suggesting that later on +something might be done. But for the time being this Legation, where +all the women and children have rushed for safety, is quite +defenceless. Yet it has long been an understood thing that it was to +become the general base. It was not surprising, then, that at six in +the evening yesterday a tragedy had occurred within eyesight of +everybody at the Main Gate. A European, who afterwards turned out to +be Professor J——, of the Imperial University, an eccentric of +pronounced type, had attempted to cross the north bridge, which +connects the extreme north of Prince Su's palace walls with a road +passing just one hundred yards from the British Legation northern +wall, and perhaps three <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>hundred yards from the Main Gate itself. It +was seen that the European was running, onlookers told me, and that +after him came a Chinese brave in full war-paint, with his rifle at +the trail. Instead of charging his men down the street to save this +wretched man, the British officer, Captain W——, ordered the Main +Gate to be closed, and everybody to go inside except himself and his +file of marines. He then commanded volley-firing, apparently at the +pink walls of the Imperial city, which form a background to the +bridge, although he might as well have ordered musical drill. +Meanwhile the unfortunate J—— was caught half way across the stone +bridge by some other Chinese snipers, who had been lying concealed +there all the time behind some piles of stones. He was hit several +times, though not killed, as several people swear they saw him +crawling down into the canal bed on his hands and knees. Volley-firing +continued at the Main Gate, and the aforesaid British officer cursed +himself into a fever of rage over his men. Even when J—— had finally +disappeared, no steps were taken to see what had become of him; he was +calmly reported lost. This was the opening of the ball at the British +Legation.</p> + +<p>No sooner was it dark than M——, the chief, appeared on the scenes, +smoking a cigarette reminiscent of his Egyptian campaign, and clad in +orthodox evening dress. This completed everyone's anger, but the end +was not yet. At ten in the evening a scare developed among the women, +and it was decided to begin fortifying some of the more exposed +points. Everybody who could be found was turned on to this work, but +in the dark little progress could be made excepting in removing all +possibility of any one going to sleep.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the sublimely ridiculous was reached in an out-of-the-way building +facing the canal, an incident displaying even more than anything else +the attitude of some of the <i>personnel</i> of our missions to China. +Sleeping peacefully in his nice pyjamas under a mosquito net was found +a sleek official of the London Board of Works, who wanted to know what +was meant by waking him up in the middle of the night. Investigations +elsewhere found other members of this Legation asleep in their beds; +everybody said the young men were all right, but those above a certain +age...!</p> + +<p>The night thus spent itself very uneasily. They were only learning +what should have been known days before.</p> + +<p>When day broke in the British Legation things had seemed more +impossible than ever. Orders and counter-orders came from every side; +the place was choked with women, missionaries, puling children, and +whole hosts of lamb-faced converts, whose presence in such close +proximity was intolerable. Heaven only knew how the matter would end. +The night before people had been only too glad to rush frantically to +a place of safety; with daylight they remembered that they were +terribly uncomfortable—that this might have to go on for days or for +weeks. It is very hard to die uncomfortably. I thought then that +things would never be shaken into proper shape.</p> + +<p>In this wise has our siege commenced; with all the men angry and +discontented; with no responsible head; with the one man among those +high-placed dead; with hundreds of converts crowding us at every +turn—in a word, with everything just the natural outcome of the +vacillation and ignorance displayed during the past weeks by those who +should have been the leaders. Fortunately, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>as I have already said, so +far there has been no fighting or no firing worth speaking of. Only +along the French and Italian barricades, facing east and north, a +dropping fire has continued since yesterday, and one Frenchman has +been shot through the head and one Austrian wounded. It is worth while +noting, now that I think of it, that the French, the Italians, the +Germans, and, of course, the Austrians, have accepted Captain T——, +the cruiser captain, as their commander-in-chief, and that the +Japanese have signified their willingness to do so, too, as soon as +the British and Americans do likewise. Thus already there are signs +that a pretty storm is brewing over this question of a responsible +commander; and, of course, so long as things remain as they are at +present, there can be no question of an adequate defence. Each +detachment is acting independently and swearing at all the others, +excepting the French and Austrians, for the good reason that as the +Austrians have taken refuge in the French lines they must remain +polite. Half the officers are also at loggerheads; volunteers have +been roaming about at will and sniping at anything they have happened +to see moving in the distance; ammunition is being wasted; there are +great gaps in our defences, which any resolute foe could rush in five +minutes were they so inclined; there is not a single accurate map of +the area we have to defend!</p> + +<p>All this I discovered in the course of the morning, and by afternoon I +had nothing better to do than go over to the great Su wang-fu, or +Prince Su's palace grounds, now filled with Chinese refugees, both +Catholic and Protestant, and there watch the Japanese at work. The +Japanese Legation is squashed in between Prince Su's palace grounds +and buildings and the French Legation <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>lines, and, consequently, to be +on the outer rim of our defences the little Japanese have been shifted +north and now hold the northeast side of our quadrilateral. Prince Su, +together with his various wives and concubines and their eunuchs, has +days ago fled inside the Imperial city, abandoning this palace with +its valuables to the tender mercies of the first comers; and thus the +Japanese sailor detachment, reinforced by a couple of dozen Japanese +and other volunteers, has made itself free with everything, and is +holding an immense line of high walls, requiring at least five hundred +men to be made tolerably safe. But they have an extraordinary little +fellow in command, Colonel S——, the military attache. He is awkward +and stiff-legged, as are most Japanese, but he is very much in +earnest, and already understands exactly what he can do and what he +cannot. After a search of many hours, I found here the first evidences +of system. This little man, working quietly, is reducing things to +order, and in the few hours which have gone by since the dreadful +occurrences of yesterday he has succeeded in attending to the thousand +small details which demanded his attention. He is organising his +dependents into a little self-contained camp; he is making the hordes +of converts come to his aid and strengthen his lines; in fact, he is +doing everything that he should do. Already I honour this little man; +soon I feel I shall be his slave.</p> + +<p>But not only is there order within these Japanese lines; attempts are +being made to find out what is going on beyond—that is, to discover +what is being done in this deserted corner of the city, which is +abandoned to the European. Although all is quiet without, it is not +possible that everyone has fled, because some rifle-firing is going +on.... When I arrived the Japanese had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>already discovered that a +Chinese camp had been quietly established less than a quarter of a +mile away. Half an hour afterwards a breathless Japanese sailor +brought in a report that snipers had been seen stealthily approaching. +I was just in the nick of time, as Colonel S—— immediately decided on +a reconnaissance in force; any one who liked could go. Would I go?</p> + +<p>We slipped out under command of the colonel himself and worked through +tortuous lanes down towards the abandoned Customs Inspectorate and the +Austrian Legation. We reached the rear of the Customs compounds +without a sound being heard or a living thing seen. All along hundreds +of yards of twisting alleyways the native houses stood empty and +silent, abandoned by their owners just as they are. Even the Peking +dog, a cur of great ferocity, who in peaceful times abounds everywhere +and is the terror of our riding-parties, had fled, as if driven away +by the fear of the coming storm. In the distance, as we stealthily +moved, we could hear an occasional rattle of musketry, probably +directed against the French Legation and the Italian barricade, where +it has been going on for twenty-four hours; but so isolated is one +street in Peking from the rest by the high walls of the numberless +compounds and the thick trees which intercept all sounds that we could +be certain of nothing. Perhaps the firing was not even the enemy at +work, whoever he may be; it might be our men....</p> + +<p>But directly in front of us all was still, and just as we thought of +stealing on, a Japanese whispered "Hush," and pointed a warning +finger. We flattened ourselves against houses and scurried into open +doors. Suddenly it was getting exciting. Down another lane then came a +noisy sound of feet, incautiously pattering on the hard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>ground to the +accompaniment of some raucous talk. It is the very devil in this +network of lanes and blind alleys which twist round the Legations, and +no force could properly patrol them....</p> + +<p>Without any warning two men came round the corner, peering everywhere +with sharp eyes and bobbing up and down. Simultaneously with the sob +of surprise they gave our rifles crashed off. And this time, owing to +the short range and the Japanese warning, we got them fair and square, +and both of them rolled over. But no, one fellow jumped to his feet +again, and before we could stop him was down another lane like a flash +of lighting. We promptly gave chase, yelling blue murder in an +incautious manner, which might have brought hundreds of the enemy on +our heels. But we did not care. Round a corner, as we followed the man +up, a high wall rose sheer, but nothing daunted, the fellow took a +tremendous leap, and by the aid of the lattice-work on a window, +climbed to a roof. Then bang, bang, bang, seven shots went at him +rapidly, one after another. In spite of the volley the man still +crawled upwards, but as he reached the top of the low house and passed +his legs over he gave a feeble moan and then.... <i>flopper-ti flop, +flopper-ti flop</i>, he crashed down the other side and ended with a dull +thud on the ground. On the other side there he was dead as a door-nail +and all covered with blood. It was our first proper work. But he was +not a soldier, he was a Boxer; and in place of the former incomplete +attire of red sashes and strings, this true patriot wore a long red +tunic edged with blue, and had his head tied up in the regulation +<i>bonnet rouge</i> of the French Revolution. Round his waist he had also +girded on a blue cartridge-belt of cloth, with great thick <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>Martini +bullets jammed into the thumb holes. This we thought very curious at +the time, as the Boxers were supposed to laugh at firearms. Elated by +this little affair, we pushed on, and came upon other men working +round our lines in small bands, and exchanged shots with them. All +were Boxers in this new uniform; but although we tried to entice them +on and corner them in houses, they were too cunning for us, and broke +back each time. In the end we had so stirred up this hornet's nest +that the scattered firing became more and more persistent, and stern +orders came for us to fall back.</p> + +<p>We came in feeling elated, but Colonel S—— was looking serious, for +he had discovered that the extent of Prince Su's outer walls, which +have to be held in their entirety, is so much greater than was +expected, and every part can be so easily attacked from the outside, +that the task is desperate. There are less than fifty men in all for +these long Japanese lines, and if we take more from elsewhere it will +be merely creating fresh gaps.... Decidedly it is not enticing. The +whole line from the north right round to the south, where the +Japanese, French, Austrians, Italians and Germans are distributed, +ending on the Tartar Wall itself, is terribly weak. And as I began to +understand this, an hour after this afternoon adventure I became quite +gloomy at the outlook.</p> + +<p>Everything, indeed, was upside down. Matters in the British Legation +were not improving, and the fighting air which exists elsewhere is not +to be found here. Men, women and children; ponies, mules and +packing-cases; sandbags and Ministers Plenipotentiary—are still all +engaged in attempting to sort themselves out and keep distinct from +one another. Already the British Legation has surrendered itself, not +to the enemy, but to com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>mittees. There are general committees, food +committees, fortifications committees, and what other committees I do +not know, except that American missionaries, who appear at least to +have more energy than any one else, are practically ruling them. This +is all very well in its way, but it is curious to see that dozens of +able bodied men, armed with rifles, are hiding away in corners so that +they shall not be drafted away to the outer defences. Everywhere a +contemptible spirit is being displayed, because a feeling prevails +that there are no responsible chiefs in whom absolute trust can be +placed. A pleasant mess in all truth. It is now everyone for himself +and nobody looking after the others....</p> + +<p>Some of the people, however, have begun dividing themselves up, and +now are billeted, nationality by nationality, in separate quarters. +But many persons seem lost and distraught. H——, the great director +of Chinese affairs, was siting on an old mattress looking quite +paralysed; P——, his counterpart in the Russian bank, was striding +about excitedly and muttering to himself. The Belgian Legation has +disappeared entirely; whether they have run away or been lost in the +confusion I could not for the life of me tell. What a position, what a +condition! Already it is a great feat to be on speaking terms with a +dozen people, and if we could only instill some of the savageness we +all feel towards one another into our defence, it would become so +vigorous and unconquerable that not all the legions of the Boxer +Empire, massed in serried ranks, could break in on us. But this very +defence, which should be so determined, is the most half-hearted thing +imaginable. It has no real leader, and merely resolves itself <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>into +the old policy of each Legation holding its own in an irregular +half-circle round the British Legation, which itself is a mass of +disorder. I feel certain that if we have a night attack at once the +Chinese will break in with the greatest ease, and then.... <i>Tant pis!</i></p> + +<p>The last thing I saw in the British Legation was M——, the great +correspondent, sitting on a great stack of his books, looking wearily +around him. His former energy and resolution have all departed, sapped +by the spectacle of extraordinary incompetence around him. Of what +good has all that rescuing of native Christians been—all that energy +in dragging them more dead than alive into our lines in the face of +Ministerial opposition, when we cannot even protect ourselves? But +just when I began this moralising, the hundred and fifty mules and +ponies that have been collected together all broke loose, frightened +by some stray shots, and went careering madly around us. It was pitch +dark and most gloomy before they had been all tied up again, and +although firing became heavier and heavier as Chinese snipers found +they could approach our outer lines in safety, I finally sought out a +spot for myself and fell asleep with my rifle on my chest—cursing +everybody. It is a sign of the times—my nerves are becoming +Ministerial!</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_II" id="II_II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE RETREAT AND THE RETURN</h3> + + +<p class="date">23rd June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Yesterday the inevitable happened, and only Heaven and the foolishness +of the attacking forces, who are only playing with us, and do not seem +to have settled down to their work, saved us from complete +annihilation. Without a word of explanation, Captain T——, the +Austrian commander, suddenly ordered all the French, Italians and +Austrians to fall back on the British Legation, sending word meanwhile +to the Japanese and the Germans to follow his example. This meant that +the whole vast semicircle to the northeast and the southeast was being +thrown up. The result was that for ten minutes armed men of all +nationalities poured into the British Legation, until every +rifle-bearing effective was standing there, all jabbering in a mass, +and not knowing what it was all about. The Americans, who had +established themselves on the Tartar Wall as the main point in the +western defence, guessed they were not going to be left there cut off +from salvation by a failure to remember their existence; and presently +they, too, ran in, openly swearing at their officers. These American +marines have never quite liked this idea of being planted on the +Tartar Wall; for with that smartness for which their race is +distinguished, they see it is quite on the cards that they are +forgotten up there if a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>rush occurs while the others are sitting safe +in the main base. And the Americans are not going to be forgotten—we +soon found that out. They are the people of the future.</p> + +<p>Depict to yourself, if you can, the blind fear of all the +Plenipotentiaries, of all the missionaries and their lamb-faced +converts, on seeing the gallant defenders of the outer lines rushing +in on them at a fast trot, and then falling into line and standing +very much at ease awaiting the next move. I may be brutal, but I +relished that scene a little; it was a lesson that was sadly needed. +It was the British Minister who remained the most calm; perhaps he +immediately understood that the game was now in his hands. But the +other Ministers, I wish you could have but seen them! They crowded +round his British Excellency in an adoring and trembling ring, and +without subterfuge offered him the supreme command; that was exactly +what we had been expecting. Underneath their manner you could easily +see they meant to say that they knew it was the British Legation in +which they had taken refuge; that they had had enough of all these +alarums and excursions; and that so long as they were left in peace +they did not care about the rest. What mean little people we are in +this world! The French, the Russian, the Italian and the Japanese +Ministers were the first to act thus, and as they represented a +majority of the detachments, the others who had Legation Guards had +pretty well to follow suit, whether they liked it or not, and some did +not like it, as I shall show hereafter. M—— had been hinting very +plainly that he had been in a kilted regiment, and that the British +Legation was the hub of the defence—the asylum for all; and so with a +satisfied smile, he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>pleased to accept the proffered appointment. +Yet it was one only in name. For just as he was writing out his first +<i>ordre du jour</i> the various Plenipotentiaries showed their +appreciation of the office they had conferred on him by ordering, each +one of them separately, their respective detachments to return to +their respective Legations so hurriedly abandoned. So the sailors and +the marines, and the fighting volunteers who bear them company, +bundled back to the outer lines and barricades again, finding all just +as it had been before, except that the Italian Legation was in flames +and the Italian barricades therefore useless. The snipers had found +that they could suddenly work in peace, and had thrown blazing +torches. Four Legations are now destroyed and abandoned, for the +Belgian, the Austrian and the Dutch have all gone up in flames at +different times during the last days. Seven Legations remain and ten +Ministers.</p> + +<p>The defence is thus getting into reasonable limits and so long as our +attacks are confined to what they have been up till now, we may really +pull through. Incendiary fires round the outer lines, lighted by means +of torches stuck on long poles, a heavy rifle-fire poured into the +most exposed barricades by an unseen enemy, and very occasionally a +faint-hearted rush forward, which a fusillade on our part turns into a +rout—these have so far been the dangers with which we have had to +contend. But the very worst feature of the defence is that no one +trusts the neighbouring detachment sufficiently to believe that it +will stand firm under all circumstances and not abandon its ground; +consequently this fear that a sudden breakdown along some barricades +will allow of an inrush of Chinese troops and Boxers makes men fight +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>all the time with their eyes over their shoulders, which is the very +worst way of fighting I can possibly imagine. And another hardly less +important point is that the burden is not evenly apportioned, and that +the men know it. For instance, the British Legation, which is as yet +not in the slightest exposed, is full of able-bodied men doing +nothing—whereas on the outer lines of the other Legations many men +are so dead with sleep that they can hardly sit awake two hours. It +can easily be seen from the rude sketches I have made and re-made, +what I mean. I have been over every inch on my own legs; there can be +no mistake.</p> + +<p>From the main sketch you will see that the holding of the Tartar Wall, +together with the American and Russian Legations, protects the British +Legation effectively from the south and partially, from the west; that +the Franco-German-Austrian lines, and the Su wang-fu, with the +Japanese, mask the east; and that of the other two sides on which the +British Legation walls and outbuildings really constitute the actual +defence line directly in touch with the enemy, the Imperial Carriage +Park, a vast grass-grown area with but half a dozen yellow-roofed +buildings in it, makes the western approaches very difficult to +attack, since they are easily swept by our rifle-fire; and that the +northern side is so filled with buildings belonging to the Chinese +Government (which it now seems cannot be destroyed), that I do not +apprehend attacks here. The only real dangers to the British Legation +in any case are these two corners to the north and the southwest....</p> + +<p>Passing over to the Su wang-fu, you realise the extraordinary +difference between the danger points along the British Legation +northern and western barricades, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>and little Colonel S——'s command. +Here you are in direct touch with the enemy, for the snipers of +forty-eight hours ago have been strongly reinforced, doubtless +attracted by the possibility of loot.</p> + +<p class="figcenter"><a href="images/image_02.png"><img src="images/image_01.png" alt="Map of the Siege" width="700" height="471" title="Map of the Siege" /></a><span class="caption"><br /> +Map of the Siege</span></p> + +<p>Soldiers and all sorts of banditti must have joined hands with the +Boxers, for it is clear that every hour is mysteriously adding more +and more men round our lines. You can hear the men talking, and you +can see bricks moving but fifty or sixty yards from where you are +squinting through a loophole as fresh barricades, that are gradually +surrounding us in a vise which may yet crush us to death, are silently +built. The forty or fifty Japanese, and the few volunteers who are +with them, have now been reinforced by all the Italians, who have been +given a big strip of outer wall and a fortified hillock in Prince Su's +ornamental garden—a hillock which commands a great stretch of +territory, as territory goes in our wall split area. For here in the +Su wang-fu the number of walls and buildings is terrible, and Heaven +only knows how seventy or eighty men can even make a pretence of +holding such positions. First there is the great outer wall eighteen +feet high and three feet thick. Then from this outer wall, other thick +walls run inwards at right angles, splitting up the place into little +squares, in which as likely as not there will be a group of houses +with great dragon-adorned roofs. Further towards the centre of the Fu +is Prince Su's own palace and his retainers' quarters; to the south of +this is an ornamental garden full of trees, a vast and mournful +enclosure, standing in which the crack of outpost rifles can only be +distantly heard. Moving across to the southern side—that is, the side +near the French Legation and the protected Legation Street—the +Christian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>refugees are found gathered here in huge droves. In one +building there are alone four hundred native schoolgirls, rows upon +rows of them that never seem to come to an end, sitting on the ground +in their sober blue coats and trousers, peacefully combing each +other's hair, or working on sandbags with the imperturbability of the +Easterner who is placid under death. Farther on, again, you come on +families, sometimes three generations huddling together on a six-foot +straw mat. A mother trying to feed a child from her half-dry breasts +tells you quietly that it is no use, since the meagre fare she is +already getting does not make sustenance enough for her, let alone her +child. Yet everything possible is being done to feed them. All the +able-bodied converts have long ago been drafted off for +barricade-building and loophole-making in the endless walls, and here +the curious Japanese passion for order and detail is shown on the +coats of the older men. The boss-shifts, each responsible for so many +men who have to accomplish a given amount of work in a specified time, +have big white labels with characters written squarely across them, +telling everyone clearly what they are. At a little table near by +writers, who have been carefully sorted out from this incongruous +gathering, are provided with brush and ink, and have been set to work +making up reports and lists of all the people. These are handed to a +Japanese Secretary of Legation, who has been evolved into an +engineer-in-chief and overseer of native labour, and thus at every +hour of the day the distribution of the barricaders is known. Amid +these crowds of native refugees, who number at least a couple of +thousand people, two or three Japanese occasionally wander to see that +all's well, and give the babies little things they have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>looted from +Prince Su's palace to play with. Content to be where they are and +assured that the European will not abandon them, these natives exhibit +in a strange manner that inexplicable thing—Faith. Poor people—they +little know! Is it always thus with faith?</p> + +<p>So the Su wang-fu, which is but the northwestern part of our lines, is +now a city in itself, inhabited by the most unlikely people in the +world. Three days have sufficed to give it an entity of its own. The +nature of the defence and the fighting value of the Japanese as +compared to the Italians, are fitly illustrated by the distribution of +forces which little Colonel S—— has already made. The Italians hold +perhaps a hundred feet of the outer wall and one hillock of some +importance. The Japanese have at least a thousand feet of loopholed +and unloop-holed wall, and are quite ready to take another thousand if +some one would be kind enough to give it to them. In posts of three +and four men, distant sometimes hundreds of feet apart, the little +Japanese takes his two hours on and his four hours off night and day +without a murmur or without ever a break. Only at one place are there +more than three or four little men together. At the eastern end of the +Fu there is a big post grouped round the fortified Main Gate, where +there are actually eight or nine men under the command of a Japanese +naval lieutenant.</p> + +<p>But the genius who has organised all this system, the little Japanese +colonel, does not waste time walking around. He is at work at an +eternal map decorated with green, blue and red spots, which show the +distribution of his forces and their respective strength and fighting +value. Somehow I could not tear myself away from this quarter. It was +so orderly....</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p> + +<p>Behind the commanding hillock in the Italian centre I found Lieutenant +P——, the Italian naval officer, dining off bread and Bologna +sausage, which he was stripping after the Italian fashion, inelegantly +using his knife both to punctuate his sentences and to assist the +passage of his food. "Look out," he cried, as soon as I had appeared, +"it is very warm here; the bullets are flying low." The leaves of the +trees under which he was sitting were indeed falling thickly, cut down +by snipers' fire. But still I wish he would walk down to a Japanese +post not more than five hundred feet away and watch a little Jap and a +half dozen Chinese snipers at work against each other. That is where I +had just been—convoying some supplies. The little Japanese had +ostentatiously placed his sailor cap just in front of an empty +loophole twenty feet from where he actually squatted, and where he had +probably been a few seconds before I had arrived. The snipers saw this +and promptly fired, bang, bang, bang, a long line of shots following +one after the other in quick succession. Hum! they must be reloading +now, said the little Jap plainly by the expression on his face; and +jumping straight on top of the wall in front of him he hastily snapped +at one of his enemies. Then down he came again, but hardly quick +enough, for bricks were dislodged all around him, and once he received +one on the head. The little man rubbed his cranium ruefully, shook +himself like a dog to get rid of the sting, and then with a little +more caution began his strange performance again. This is what is +going on all round the Japanese posts—men bobbing up and firing +rapidly, in some cases only fifty feet away from one another. The +Italians are lying comfortably on their stomachs completely out of +sight, and wildly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>volleying far too often. Already their ammunition +is running low, although there is hardly any need really to reply at +all to our enemies. They have crept closer, it is true, and without +surprising any one, or even causing notice, their numbers of riflemen +have grown from hour to hour. Now I come to think of it, there must be +many hundreds of men lying all round us and firing just as they +please. But they are hidden behind walls and ruined houses; they +belong to our curious state; they are the essential things after all. +How foolish one becomes!</p> + +<p>Threading your way due south you come suddenly on a French picquet, +four Frenchmen and two Austrians behind a heavy barricade. This +precious Su wang-fu is merely linked to the French Legation by a +system of such posts audaciously feeble when you consider the duty +they have to undertake—to keep up a connection hundreds of yards long +which any moment may be broken in a dozen places by a determined rush +of the enemy. This first French post is the extreme left of the French +defence, and it is only after some long alleyways that you come on the +centre itself. Here on roofs, squatting behind loopholes, and even on +tree-tops, though these are very dangerous, French and Austrian +sailors exchange shots with the enemy. Half a dozen men have been +already hit here, but in spite of the strictest orders men are +fearlessly exposing themselves and reaping the inevitable result. It +is only at the beginning that one is so unwise. One giant Austrian had +spread himself across the top of a roof near which I passed, with two +sandbags to protect his head, and looked in his blue-black sailors +clothes like an enormous fly squashed flat up there by the anger of +the gods. Now leaning this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>way, now that, he flashed off a Mannlicher +there towards the Italian Legation, where only one hundred hours ago +no one ever dreamed that Chinese desperadoes would have made our +normal life such a distant memory.</p> + +<p>As I came up the French commander allowed the remark to drop that the +position did not please him—<i>ça ne me dit rien</i> is the exact +expression he used—and that his defence was too thin to be capable of +resisting a single determined rush. The abandoned Italian barricade, +with the Italian Legation still smouldering behind it, is indeed now +filling up with more and more Chinese sharpshooters, who continually +pour in a hot fire only fifty feet from the French lines. Occasionally +a reckless Chinese brave dashes across from the hiding-place he has +selected to cover his advance into the nest of Chinese houses which +are only separated by a twenty-foot lane from the French Legation +wall, and coolly applies the torch. Then puff; first there is a small +cloud of smoke, then a volley of crackling wood, and finally flames +leaping skyward. You can see this here at all hours. Aided by fire and +rifle-shots the Chinese are pushing nearer and nearer the French. It +is clear that they will have a worse time than the Japanese if the +situation develops as quietly but as rapidly as it has been doing....</p> + +<p>Across Legation Street connection with the Germans is now had by means +of more loopholed barricades; for the Germans link hands with the +French and Austrians, just as they on their part link up with the +little colonel of the Su wang-fu. But the Germans are not in force at +their own Legation; they are merely using it as their base, for it is +only by means of the Peking Club, whose <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>grounds run sheer back, that +they touch the priceless Tartar Wall. Spread-eagled along a very +indifferently barricaded line, the marines of the German Sea Battalion +now lie in an angry frame of mind dangerous for everyone. They have +felt hurt ever since the loss of their Minister, and the men are +recklessly desperate. On the Tartar Wall itself they are exposed to a +dusting fire from the great Ha-ta Towers that loom up half a mile from +them, and men are already falling. A three-inch gun commenced firing +in the morning—nobody but the Wall posts noticed it at first—and now +overhead whiz with that odd shaking of the air so hard to explain +these light but dangerous projectiles. Happily it is rather a modern +gun, and the Chinese, unaccustomed to the flat trajectory, are firing +far too high. I noticed as I crept along that the shells fell +screaming into the Imperial city a mile or two away. If they only get +the range!</p> + +<p>Far along the Tartar Wall, towards the Ch'ien Men Gate, yellow dots +could be indistinctly seen. These were the Americans, in their slouch +hats and khaki suits, lying on the ground and facing the enemy's fire +in the other direction. Held in check by the Germans and Americans in +two feeble posts of a few men each, the Chinese commanders cannot get +their men along the Tartar Wall, and command the Legations that crouch +below. Perhaps that is why playing is only going on and no assaults. +Now sobbing, now gurgling, the bullets pass thickly enough overhead +here, sometimes in dense flights like angry wild-fowl, sometimes +speeding in quick succession after one another as if they were all +late and were frantically endeavouring to make up for lost time.... I +am certain now that this fusillade is increasing from hour to +hour—almost from minute to minute. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>I do not think playing will soon +be the right expression....</p> + +<p>To get to the Russo-American side of the defence, there is no help for +it, you have to make a long voyage; to climb down off the Wall, pass +through the German Legation, cross Legation Street into the French +lines, and work your way slowly through acres of compounds and +deserted houses. Yesterday I would have made a dash, but after +watching the four hundred yards of wall between the German and +American posts, you are easily convinced that even to sneak along, +hugging the protecting parapet, would be an undertaking of utter +foolishness. For as I stood looking, the rank undergrowth, which +Chinese sloth has allowed in past years to grow up along the top of +the Tartar Wall, was apparently alive, now swinging this way, now +swaying that, and sometimes even jumping into the air in pieces as if +galvanised into madness by the rush of bullets. The number of riflemen +is growing fast. So passing into the French Legation, great holes let +you into the next compound, which happens to be that of my friend +C——, the Peking hotel-keeper. Here there is a new sight; everybody +is at work quite peacefully, milling wheat, washing rice, slaughtering +animals, barricading windows—doing everything, in fact at once. This +fellow C—— is an original, who knows how to make his Chinese slave +with the greatest industry and sets them an admirable example himself. +A rather desperate lot are these servants, although most of them are +professed Roman Catholics, and can gabble French learned years ago at +Monseigneur F——'s. And that reminds me: no one has thought of the +gallant bishop during the past few days. That shows how indifferent +the ab<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>normal makes one; the French Legation has attempted once to get +into communication with the distant cathedral and failed. Since then +nobody I have seen has even mentioned the great Catholic mission.</p> + +<p>These lonely and deserted compounds, merely connected with our bases +and the outlying works by great holes rudely picked through their +massive walls, are curiously mournful and passing strange. The houses +are absolutely empty and silent; everything has been left exactly as +it stood, when the occupants rushed off feverishly to the British +Legation, where they now sit in idleness relying for protection on the +thin outer lines I have described. In these abandoned Legations and +residences you can scarcely hear more than a distant rattle of +musketry, and when you think how great the distances are it is very +easy to understand why the panic occurred yesterday morning among the +men on the outer lines, at which those smugly safe in the British +Legation were so indignant. Occupying widely separated positions, +imperfectly linked together, and with no responsible commander to +watch them with a keen and discerning eye, the defenders of the +eastern, southern and western lines could well suppose that the +incompetence of the Ministers and the disorders which have reigned +during the past few weeks would culminate in their being abandoned +without a word of warning being sent them. It is so silly to say that +because men are soldiers and sailors they must be prepared to do their +duty everywhere. There must have been times when even the Roman +soldier at Pompeii felt like revolting.</p> + +<p>Pushing on, I crossed the southern bridge of stone, in order to reach +the Russo-American lines and the rear of the British Legation, and +marvelled more and more at <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>our good luck. As yet nothing has been +done to protect this very exposed connecting link; and so bending low +you have once more to sneak rapidly along, using the stone parapet as +a traverse to save you from the enfilading fire, which is coming from +heavens know where. The bullets were singing in all manner of tones +here as I ran, the iron ones of old-fashioned make muttering a deep +bass; the nickel-headed modern devils spitting the thinnest kind of +treble as they hastened along. It was almost amusing to gauge their +speed. Some had already travelled so far that with a flop which raises +a little cloud of dust they dropped exhausted at your feet. The +ricochets are in the majority, for with the vast number of intervening +walls and trees and the sloping Chinese roofs which pen us in on all +sides, the nickel, iron and lead of Mannlicher and Mauser rifles and +Tower muskets are soon converted into mere discordant humming-birds, +whose greatest inconvenience is their sound. Never have I heard such a +humming as these spent ricochets make.</p> + +<p>Fifty feet past this southern stone bridge you meet the first Russian +barricade, with half a dozen tired Russian sailors sleeping on the +ground and a sleepy-eyed lookout man leaning on his rifle. This +barricade faces in both directions in the shape of a V, and under its +protection this part of Legation Street is supposed to be safe from a +rush, if the men stand firm. In the Russian and American Legations it +is everywhere the same story—barricades and loopholed houses and +outworks, now mostly crowned with sandbags, succeed one another with a +regularity which becomes monotonous. But on this western side the +bullets are few and far between as yet, and sometimes for a few +seconds a curious quiet reigns, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>only broken by the distant and +muffled hum of sound and crackling towards the east. Decidedly up to +date it is the Japanese and the French and their companions who have +all the honours in the matter of cannonading and fusillading, and the +Germans are soon going to be not far behind them. Right up on the +Tartar Wall I found the American marines once again lying mutinously +silent. They, too, do not like it, frankly and unreservedly; and as I +lay up there and told them what I had seen elsewhere, an old fellow +with a beard said it was S——, the first secretary, who had insisted +on their stopping, and had almost had a fight with everyone about it. +The old marine told me that the other men would be damned—he used the +word in a wistful sort of way which had nothing profane about it—if +they stopped much longer. They wanted other people to share the +honours; they did not see why every man should not have a turn at the +same duty.... I was glad these Americans were making this fuss, for +everything is just as unbalanced as it was at the beginning, and there +is no sort of confidence anywhere. After three days of siege the only +clear thing I can see is that there are a lot of bad tempers, and that +the few good men are saving the situation by acting independently to +the best of their ability and are not trying to understand anything +else.</p> + +<p>Much depressed, I at last slipped down through the back of the Russian +Legation into the British Legation. Yes! the others are right, for on +reaching the English grounds you feel unconsciously that you have +passed from the fighting line to the hospital and commissariat base. +Here, mixed impartially with the women, crowds of vigorous men, +belonging to the junior ranks of the Legations' staffs and to numbers +of other institutions, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>are skulking, or getting themselves placed on +committees so as to escape duty. I suppose you could beat up a +hundred, or even a hundred and fifty, rifle-bearing effectives in an +hour. Many of the younger men were furious, and said they were quite +willing to do anything, but that everybody should be turned out.... In +the afternoon some of them fell in with my idea—volunteering under +independent command on the outer lines—and now the Japanese, the +French and the Germans have got more men. But what I wish to show you +in this rambling account is the unbalanced condition. Except in two or +three places we can be rushed in ten minutes.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_III" id="II_III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>FIRES AND FOOD</h3> + +<p class="date">24th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I am convinced that not only does everything come to him who knows how +to wait, but that sooner or later everybody meets with their deserts.</p> + +<p>The British Legation, allowed to sink into a somewhat somnolent +condition owing to its immunity from direct attack, has been now +rudely awakened. Fires commencing in earnest yesterday, after a few +half-hearted attempts made previously, have been raging in half a +dozen different places in this huge compound; and one incendiary, +creeping in with the stealthiness of a cat, threw his torches so +skilfully that for at least an hour the fate of the Ministerial +residences hung in the balance, and Ministerial fears assumed alarming +proportions. Again I was satisfied; everybody should sooner or later +meet with their deserts.</p> + +<p>I have already said how the British Legation is situated. Protected on +the east and south entirely by the other Legations and linked +defences, it can run no risk from these quarters until the defenders +of these lines are beaten back by superior weight of numbers. +Partially protected on the west, owing to the fact that an immense +grass-grown park renders approach from this quarter without carefully +entrenching and barricading simple suicide, there remain but two +points of meagre <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>dimensions at which the Chinese attack can be +successfully developed without much preliminary preparation; the +narrow northern end and a southwestern point formed by a regular +rabbit-warren of Chinese houses that push right up to the Legation +walls. It is precisely at these two points that the Chinese, with +their peculiar methods of attack, directed their best efforts.</p> + +<p>Beginning in earnest at the northern end, after some inconsiderable +efforts on the southwestern corner, they set fire to the sacro-sanct +Hanlin Yuan, which is at once the Oxford and Cambridge, the Heidelberg +and the Sorbonne of the eighteen provinces of China rolled into one, +and is revered above all other earthly things by the Chinese scholar. +In the spacious halls of the Hanlin Academy, which back against the +flanking wall of the British Legation, are gathered in mighty piles +the literature and labours of the premier scholars of the Celestial +Empire. Here complete editions of Gargantuan compass; vast cyclopædia +copied by hand and running into thousands of volumes; essays dating +from the time of dynasties now almost forgotten; woodblocks black with +age crowded the endless unvarnished shelves. In an empire where +scholarship has attained an untrammelled pedantry never dreamed of in +the remote West, in a country where a perfect knowledge of the +classics is respected by beggar and prince to such an extent that to +attempt to convey an idea would cause laughter in Europe, all of us +thought—even the pessimists—that it could never happen that this +holy of holies would be desecrated by fire. Listen to what happened.</p> + +<p>To the sound of a heavy rifle-fire, designed to frustrate all efforts +at extinguishing the dread fire-demon, the flaming torch was applied +by Chinese soldiery to half a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>dozen different places, and almost +before anybody knew it, the holy of holies was lustily ablaze. As the +flames shot skywards, advertising the danger to the most purblind, +everybody at last became energetic and sank their feuds. British +marines and volunteers were formed up and independent commands rushed +over from the other lines; a hole was smashed through a wall, and the +mixed force poured raggedly into the enclosures beyond. They had to +clamber over obstacles, through tightly jammed doors, under falling +beams, occasionally halting to volley heavily until they had cleared +all the ground around the Hanlin, and found perhaps half a ton of +empty brass cartridge cases left by the enemy, who had discreetly +flown. From a safe distance snipers, hidden from view an untraceable, +kept on firing steadily; but they were careful not to advance.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the flames were spreading rapidly, the century-old beams and +rafters crackling with a most alarming fierceness which threatened to +engulf the adjacent buildings of the Legation. What huge flames they +were! The priceless literature was also catching fire, so the +dragon-adorned pools and wells in the peaceful Hanlin courtyards were +soon choked with the tens of thousands of books that were heaved in by +many willing hands. At all costs this fire must be checked. Dozens of +men from the British Legation, hastily whipped into action by sharp +words, were now pushed into the burning Hanlin College, abandoning +their tranquil occupation of committee meetings and commissariat work, +which had been engaging their attention since the first shots had been +fired on the 20th, and thus reinforced the marines and the volunteers +soon made short work of twenty centuries of literature. Beautiful +silk-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>covered volumes, illumined by hand and written by masters of the +Chinese brush, were pitched unceremoniously here and there by the +thousand with utter disregard. Sometimes a sinologue, of whom there +are plenty in the Legations, unable to restrain himself at the sight +of these literary riches which in any other times would be utterly +beyond his reach, would select an armful of volumes and attempt to +fight his way back through the flames to where he might deposit his +burden in safety; but soon the way was barred by marines with stern +orders to stop such literary looting. Some of these books were worth +their weight in gold. A few managed to get through with their spoils, +and it is possible that missing copies of China's literature may be +some day resurrected in strange lands.</p> + +<p>With such curious scenes proceeding these fires were checked in one +direction only to break out in another. For later on, sneaking in +under the cover of trees and the many massive buildings which pushed +up so close, Chinese marauders finding that they could escape, threw +torch after torch soaked in petroleum on the neighbouring roofs and +rafters. In some cases they forced our posts to seek cover by firing +on them very heavily, and then with a sudden dash they could +accomplish their deadly work at ease. At one time, thanks to this +policy, the outbuildings of the British Legation actually caught fire, +and the flames, urged on by a sharp north wind, lolled out their +tongues longingly towards the main buildings. Lines of men, women, and +children were hastily formed to our wells and hundreds of utensils of +the most incongruous character were brought into play. I came back to +find ladies of the Legations handing even <i>pots de chambre</i> full of +water to the next person in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>long chain which had been formed; and +among all these people who were at length willing to work because of +the imminent danger of their being smoked out, I found long-lost +faces, including that of my own chief. Where they had all sprung from +I could not make out. But to see Madame So-and-so, a Ministerial wife, +handing these delectable utensils, and forced to labour hard, was +worth a good many privations. There are so many elements of the +tragic-absurd now to be seen.</p> + +<p>That work on the British Legation lines confined me for some time to +this area, and determined to profit by it, I sought out Viscount +T——, who loves delicacies, and offered to exchange champagne for a +few tins of preserves. We have mules, we have ponies, and we have even +donkeys, it is true, and a great mass of grain and rice which will +last for weeks. But it is dry and sorrowful food, and I long for a few +delicacies. To-day my midday tiffin consisted of a rude curry made of +pony meat; and in the evening, because I was busy and had no time to +search out other things, I ate once again of pony—this time cold! 'I +will frankly confess that I was not enchanted, and had it not been for +the Monopole, of which there are great stores in the hotel and the +club—thousand cases in all, I believe—I should have collapsed. For +as Monsieur la Fontaine has informed us, even the most willing of +stomachs has certain rights, and there are times when a good deal of +zeal is necessary. It is true we have now a narcotic to feed on which +supports us at all times almost without the aid of anything else—the +never-ending roll of rifle-fire now blazing forth with grim violence +and sending a storm of bullets overhead, now muttering slowly and +cautiously with merely a falling leaf or a snipped branch <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>to show +that it is directed at our devoted heads. You can live on that for +many hours, but it is a bad thing to feed on, of course, for it must +leave after-effects more hard to overcome than those of opium. Little +d'A——, of the French Legation, swears he never feels hungry at all +so long as the firing continues....</p> + +<p>To perform this work of feeding so many mouths, there are +committees—committees far too big, since everyone is anxious to join +their safe ranks—committees which, although they number men of all +nationalities, are simply standing examples, I opine, of the +organising capacity of the Yankee and his masterfulness over other +people. For it is the Yankee missionary who has invaded and taken +charge of the British Legation; it is the Yankee missionary who is +doing all the work there and getting all the credit. Beginning with +the fortifications committee, there is an extraordinary man named +G——, who is doing everything—absolutely everything. I believe there +are actually other members of this committee—at least, there are some +people who assist—but G—— is the man of the hour, and will brook no +interference. Already the British Legation, which at the commencement +of the siege was utterly undefended by any entrenchments or sandbags, +is rapidly being hustled into order by the masterful hand of this +missionary. Coolies are evolved from the converts of all classes, who, +although they protest that they are unaccustomed to manual work, are +merely given shovels and picks, sandbags and bricks, and resolutely +told to commence and learn. Already the discontented in the outer +lines are sending for him and asking him to do this and that, and the +hard-worked man always finds time for everything. It is a wonder.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p> + +<p>And behind this one man fortifications committee there are many other +committees now. There is a general committee which no one has yet +fathomed; a fuel committee; a sanitary committee; nothing but +committees, all noisily talking and quite safe in the British +Legation. Out of the noise and chatter the American missionary +emerges, sometimes odorous and unpleasant to look upon, but whose +excuse for not shouldering a rifle and volunteering for the front is +written on his tired face. It is the selfsame Yankee missionary who is +grinding the wheat and seeing that it is not stolen; it is the +American missionary who is surveying the butcher at work and seeing +that not even the hoofs are wasted. And I am sad to confess that it is +he who is feeding those thousands of Roman Catholics in the Su +wang-fu, while the French and Italian priests and fathers, divorced +from the dull routine of their ordinary life, sit helplessly with +their hands folded, willingly abandoning their charges to these more +energetic Anglo-Saxons. This Protestantism is not my religion, but for +masculine energy there is none other like it. I would not have you +think by this and my constant irritation that there are no Englishmen +doing well; it is merely that the ponderous atmosphere of the British +Legation is such that very few men who live habitually there can shake +themselves free from it even in such times as these. I know that half +of them are much upset at the <i>rôle</i> they are being forced to play, +but who can help them?</p> + +<p>We are progressing more quietly now that the big fires are out; but +still there is scant reason for any congratulations. S——, for +instance, is quite forgotten, I assure you, for I mentioned his name +to P——, the French Minister, only an hour ago, and the only reply he +made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>was to spread out his hands in front of him and give vent to an +immense sigh. Then he muttered as he went away, "<i>II a disparu +complètement—entièrement; c'est la fin</i>"....</p> + +<p>All relief is now felt to be out of the question. Men are also +beginning to fall with regularity, and are carried in bloodstained, as +evidence that this is really a serious business. The British Chancery +is now the hospital; despatch tables have been washed and covered with +surgical cloth; cases are dropping in (seventeen up to date, I hear), +and doctors are busy. Already in the night smothered cries burst from +the walls of these torture-rooms, and make one conscious that it may +be one's turn next. I have always felt that it is all right up in the +firing line, but it is that dreadful afterwards on the +operating-table.... But nurses and doctors are doing valiantly. There +is a German army doctor who knows his business very well, they say; +and his reputation has already spread so far among the men of our +all-nation sailors and marines that they all ask for him. I have heard +that request in four languages already.</p> + +<p>To me it seems that by incontestable laws each actor is taking his +proper place, and that each nationality is pushing out its best to the +proper perspective. Ah! a siege is evidently the testing-room of the +gods. If we could only in ordinary life apply the great siege test, +what mistakes would be avoided, what reputations would be saved from +being shattered! Because no weak man would ever be given advancement.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_IV" id="II_IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>THE BONDS TIGHTEN</h3> + + +<p class="date">25th June, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>On all sides our position has become less secure, less enviable, and +the enemy more menacing, more daring and more intent in breaking in on +us. The few dropping shots which opened the ball on the 20th have now +duly blossomed into a rich harvest of bullets that sometimes continues +for hours without intermission or break. The Japanese, unable to hold +their huge line, consisting of Prince Su's outer wall, have already +been forced to give way at several points, but in doing so they have +each time managed to bite hard at the enemy's attacking head. The day +before yesterday the little Japanese colonel decided he would have to +give up a block of courts on the northeast—some of those courts I +have already described, which, hemmed in by walls almost as high as +the outer monster, itself eighteen or twenty feet high and three feet +thick, form veritable death-traps if you can entice any one inside and +hammer them to pieces by loophole fire. This is precisely the policy +adopted by Colonel S——.</p> + +<p>The battalion of the Peking Field Force which faces the northern front +had been industriously pushing forward massive barricades until they +almost touched Prince Su's outer wall. Secure behind these +sharpshooter fortifications a distressing fire was concentrated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>on +the half a dozen fortified Japanese posts that lined the outer wall. +Here on high stagings, crudely made of timber and bamboo poles and +protected by thick wedges of sandbags, Japanese sailors and some +miscellaneous volunteers, grouped in posts of four and five men, lay +hour after hour unable to show a finger or move a hand. Hundreds of +Chinese rifles at the closest possible range poured in a never-ending +fire on these facile targets, and the sandbagged positions, literally +eaten away by old-fashioned iron bullets in company with the most +modern nickel-headed variety, crumbled down to practically nothing. +Lying on your back at these advanced posts and looking at the sloping +roofs of Prince Su's ornamental pavilions a few hundred feet within +our lines was a droll sight. The Chinese riflemen, being on a slightly +lower level and forced to fire upwards at the Japanese positions, +caused many of their bullets to skim the sandbagged crest and strike +the line of roofs behind. Many, I say; I should have said thousands +and tens of thousands, for the roofs seemed alive and palpitating with +strange feelings; and extraordinary as it may sound, big holes were +soon eaten into the heavily tiled roofs by this simple rifle +fusillade. It seemed as if the Chinese hoped to destroy us and our +defences by this novel method. But there was a more ominous sign than +this. A Japanese sailor perched high up aloft on a roof five hundred +feet inside these advance positions and armed with a telescope, had +seen two guns being dragged forward. In a few hours at the most, even +allowing for Chinese sloth and indifference as to time, the guns would +be in position, and then the outer wall would be demolished, and +possibly a disordered retirement would be the result. So the little +Japanese colonel took the bull by the horns. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>Setting all the coolies +he could muster from among the converts, he quickly formed a second +line of defence by loopholing and sandbagging all the chess-board +squares that flank the northern wall. When night came the advanced +positions were quietly abandoned, and as soon as the Chinese scouts, +who always creep forward at daybreak, discovered that our men had +flown, their leaders ordered a charge. A confused mass rushed forward, +penetrated one of the courtyards, and finding it apparently deserted, +incautiously pushed into the next square. Before they could fly, a +murderous fire caught them on three sides and wiped out several dozens +of them, the rifles and ammunition being taken by our men and the +corpses thrown outside. This has apparently had a chilling effect on +the policy of open charges in this quarter, and now the Chinese +commanders are advancing their lines by means of ingenious parallels +and zig-zag barricades, which will take some time to construct.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the Japanese main-gate fort, at the extreme Japanese east, +with its outlying barricades, is being slowly reached for by the same +means. Two or three times the French, who make connection with the +Japanese lines a hundred feet to the south, have had to send as many +men as they could spare to hold back a sudden rush. Each time the +threatened Chinese charge has not come off, and the incipient attack +has fizzled out to the accompaniment of a diminishing fusillade.</p> + +<p>The commanding Italian knoll on the northwest corner of the Su wang-fu +remains firm, but somehow no one has very much confidence in the +Italians, and secondary lines are being formed behind them, towards +which the Italians look with longing eyes. And yet next to the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>British Legation posts the Italians are having the easiest time of +all. Lieutenant P——, their commander, is a brave fellow; but he is +brave because he is educated. The uneducated Italian, unlike the +uneducated Frenchman, has little stomach for fighting, and it is easy +to understand in the light of our present experiences why the +Austrians so long dominated Northern Italy, and why unlucky Baratieri +and his men were seized with panic and overwhelmed at Adowa.</p> + +<p>Opposite the French and German Legations, Chinese activity is not so +intense as it has been heretofore. Everything in this quarter for +thousands of yards is practically flat with the ground, for +incendiaries have destroyed hundreds and hundreds of houses, and the +Chinese commanders are favouring low-lying barricades, which are hard +to pick out from the enormous mass of partially burned ruins which +encumber the ground. Just as in South Africa we were reading only the +other day, before this plight overtook us, that the hardest thing to +see is a live Boer on the battlefield, so here it is the merest chance +to make out the soldiery that is attacking us. Sometimes dozens of men +scuttle across from position to position, and for a moment a vision of +dark, sunburned faces and brightly coloured uniforms waves in front of +us; but in the main, so well has the enemy learned the art of taking +cover, and of utilising every fold in the ground, that many, have not +even seen a Boxer or a soldier or know what they look like, although +their fire has been so assiduously pelting us. But some sharp-eyed men +of the Legations have learned two things—that the Manchu Banners and +Tung Fu-hsiang's Kansu soldiery now divide the honour of the attack. +Tung Fu-hsiang fortunately has mostly cavalry, and a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>strong force of +his dismounted men armed with Mannlicher carbines are on the northeast +of the Japanese position, for two have been shot and dragged into our +lines. These cavalrymen are not much to be feared.</p> + +<p>Farther to the south the German position has become exceedingly +curious. While from the American marines on the Tartar Wall round in a +vast sweep on to the French Legation, each hour sees more defences go +up, the Germans have to content themselves with what practically +amounts to fighting in the open. There has been no time to give them +enough coolies, and so they have only lookout men, with the main body +entrenched in the centre of their position. But yesterday they +surprised some Boxers, who had daringly pushed their way into a +Chinese house a few yards from one outwork, and who were about to set +fire to it, preparatory to calling forward their regular troops. The +Germans charged with a tremendous rush, killed everyone of the +marauders, and flung the dead bodies far out so that the enemy might +see the reward for daring. Being certain that the Chinese commanders +would attempt to revenge this blow, what driblets of men could be +spared have been lent to make the German chain more continuous. It is +almost impossible now to follow the ebb and flow of reinforcements +from one point to another; but it may be roughly said that the +southeastern, eastern, northern and northwestern part of our +square—that is, the Germans, French, Austrians, Japanese and +Italians—feed one another with men whenever the rifle fire in any +given direction along their lines and the flitting movements of the +enemy make post commanders suppose a mass attack is coming; and that +the British Legation and the western Russo-American front, together +with the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>American posts on the Tartar Wall, work together. It is, of +course, self-evident from what I have written that the first, or +Continental and Japanese lines, are having by far the worst time. For, +apart from the American posts on the Tartar Wall, no outposts in the +second section are as yet in direct touch with the enemy. The strain +on those who are within a few yards of Chinese commands is at times +terrible. At night many men can only be held in place by a system of +patrols designed to give them confidence....</p> + +<p>I have just said that no part of the second half of our irregular +system was in direct touch with the enemy, but this, although true +enough to-day, was not so yesterday. The Chinese pushed up a gun +somewhere near the dangerous southwestern corner of the British +Legation, and the fire became so annoying that it was decided to make +a sortie and effect a capture if possible. Captain H——, the second +captain of the British detachment, was selected to command the sortie, +and with a small force of British marines who have been pining at +their enforced inaction and dull sentry-go, and are jealous of the +greater glory the others have already earned by their successful +butchery of the enemy, a wall was breached and our men rushed out. +Being off duty, I witnessed most of the affair. Of course, the sortie +ended in failure, as every such movement is foredoomed to, when the +nature of the ground which surrounds us is considered. There are +nothing but small Chinese houses and walls on every side, making it +impossible to move beyond our lines without demolishing and breaking +through heavy brickwork. The marines went forward as gallantly as they +could, and surprised some of the nests of sharpshooters protecting the +gun; but the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>Chinese, as they retreated, set fire to the houses on +all sides, and in the thick flames and smoke it was impossible to move +save back by the way they had come. Under cover of the smoke the +Chinese soldiery opened a tremendous fire on the sortie party, who +were picking up some of the rifles and swords with which the ground +was strewn, and seeing that our men could not possibly advance, the +enemy pushed forward boldly, rapidly firing more and more +energetically. The British captain received a terrible wound, but +refused to retire; a marine was shot through the groin and died in a +few minutes; bullets cut the men's tunics to pieces; and in a +hailstorm of fire, poured on them a few yards away, they retreated. +H—— covered the retreat all the way, wounded as he was, and shot +three men with his revolver, who were heading a last desperate rush at +his men as they made for the hole in the wall. Dripping with blood, +this brave man staggered all the way to the hospital alone, refusing +all support, and gripping his smoking revolver to the last. His +battered appearance so frightened all the miserables who swarm in the +British Legation that everyone was very gloomy until the next meal +had been eaten, and they had restored themselves by garrulous talk. +The German doctor says that H—— will probably die.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Americans on the Wall are behaving more erratically than +ever. They have retired and reoccupied their position three or four +times since the siege began, and the men are now more than mutinous. +Yesterday they came down twice—no one could quite make out why—and +after a lapse of an hour or two in each case, they returned. Matters +reached a crisis this morning, and a council of war was called by the +British Min<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>ister, composed of all the officers commanding +detachments. The meeting took place under the American barricade on +the Tartar Wall itself, apparently to give confidence to the men and +to make them ashamed of themselves. But the most curious part of it +all was that our commander-in-chief excused himself on the diplomatic +ground that he was sick, and amid the smiles of all, Captain T——, the +Austrian, presided and laid down the law. This clearly shows how +absurd is our whole system. Everyone says the Americans were quite +ashamed of themselves when the meeting was over, for the general vote +of all the detachment officers was that the position was well +fortified, easy to retain, and absolutely essential to hold. They say +the whole reason is that there is internal trouble in the American +contingent, and that one of the officers is hated. Whether this is +really so or not, I do not know; we never know anything certain now. +But although the American has but little discipline, as a sharpshooter +on the defensive he is quite unrivalled by reason of his superior +intelligence and the interest he takes in devoting himself to the +matter in hand. You only have to see these mutinous marines at work +for five minutes as snipers to be convinced of that. I saw a case in +point only a few hours ago. Men were wanted to drive back, or at least +intimidate, a whole nest of Chinese riflemen, who had cautiously +established themselves in a big block of Chinese houses across the dry +canal, which separates the British Legation from the Su wang-fu. This +block of houses is so placed that an enfilading fire can reach a +number of points which are hidden from the Japanese lines; and this +enfilading fire was badly needed, as the Chinese riflemen were +becoming more and more daring, and had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>already made several hits. +Half a dozen of the best American shots were requisitioned.</p> + +<p>The six men who came over went deliberately to work in a very +characteristic way. They split into pairs, and each pair got, by some +means binoculars. After a quarter of an hour they settled down to +work, lying on their stomachs. First they stripped off their slouch +hats and hung them up elsewhere, but instead of putting them a few +feet to the right or left as everybody else, with a vague idea of Red +Indian warfare, within our lines had been doing, they placed them in +such a way as to attract the enemy's fire and make the enemy disclose +himself, which is quite a different matter. This they did by adding +their coats and decorating adjacent trees with them so far away from +where they lay that there could be no chance of the enemy's bad +shooting hitting them by mistake—as had been the case elsewhere where +this device had been tried.</p> + +<p>All this by-play took some time, but at last they were ready—one man +armed with a pair of binoculars and the other with the American naval +rifle—the Lee straight-pull, which fires the thinnest pin of a +cartridge I have seen and has but a two-pound trigger pull. Even then +nothing was done for perhaps another ten minutes, and in some cases +for half an hour; it varied according to individual requirements. Then +when the quarry was located by the man with the binoculars, and the +man with the rifle had finished asking a lot of playful questions so +as to gain time, the first shots were fired. The marines armed with +binoculars were not unduly elated by any one shot, but merely reported +progress in a characteristic American fashion—that is, by a system of +chaffing. This provided tonic, and presently the bul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>lets crept in so +close to the marks that all chaff was forgotten. Sometimes it took an +hour, or even two, to bring down a single man; but no matter how long +the time necessary might be, the Americans stayed patiently with their +man until the sniper's life's blood was drilled out of him by these +thin pencils of Lee straight-pull bullets. Once, and once only, did +excitement overtake a linked pair I was watching. They had already +knocked over two of the enemy aloft in trees, and were attacking a +third, who only showed his head occasionally above a roof-line when he +fired, and who bobbed up and down with lightning speed. The sole thing +to do under the circumstances was to calculate when the head would +reappear. So the man with the binoculars calculated aloud for the +benefit of the man with the rifle, and soon, in safety below the +wall-line, a curious group had collected to see the end. But it was a +hard shot and a disappointing one, since it was essential not to scare +the quarry thoroughly by smashing the roof-line instead of the head. +So the bullets flew high, and although the sharpshooter was comforted +by the remarks of the other man, no progress was made. Then suddenly +the rifleman fired, on an inspiration, he said afterwards, and lo! and +behold, the head and shoulders of a Chinese brave rose clear in the +air and then tumbled backwards. "Killed, by G——; killed, by G——!" +swore the man with the binoculars irreverently; and well content with +their morning's work, the two climbed down and went away.</p> + +<p>You will realise from all these things that everything is still very +erratic, and that the men remain badly distributed. Nor is this all. +The general command over the whole of the Legation area is now plainly +modelled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>on the Chinese plan—that is, the officer commanding does +not interfere with the others, excepting when he can do so with +impunity to himself. As I have shown, orders which are distasteful are +simply ignored. There is a spirit of rebellion which can only spring +from one cause. People who have read a lot say that every siege in +history has been like this—with everything incomplete and in +disorder. If this is so, I wonder how history has been made! Certainly +in this age there is very little of real valour and bravery. Perhaps +there has been a little in the past, and it is only the glozing-over +of time which makes it seem otherwise.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_V" id="II_V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>THE MYSTERIOUS BOARD OF TRUCE</h3> + + +<p class="date">25th June, 1900 (night-time).</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is always true that the unexpected affords relief when least +awaited. In our case it has been amply proved.</p> + +<p>The sun, which had been shining fiercely all day long until we felt +fairly baked and very disconsolate, was heaving down slowly towards +the west, flooding the pink walls of the Imperial city with a golden +light and sinking the black outline of the sombre Tartar Wall that +towers so high above us, when all round our battered lines the +dropping rifle-fire drooped more and more until single shots alone +punctuated the silence. Our outposts, grouping together, leaned on +their rifles and gave vent to sighs of relief. Perhaps something had +at last really happened, for though five days only have passed since +the beginning of the real siege, they seemed to everyone more like +five weeks, or even five months, so clearly do startling events +separate one by huge gaps from the dull routine of every-day life. All +of us listened attentively, and presently on all sides the fierce +music of the long Chinese trumpets blared out uproariously—blare, +blare, sobbing on a high note tremulously, and then, boom, boom, +suddenly dropping to a thrilling basso profondissimo. Even the +children know that sound now. Louder and louder the trumpet-calls rang +out to one another in answering voice, im<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>peratively calling off the +attacking forces. Impelled to retire by this constant clamour, all the +Chinese soldiery must have retreated, except a few straggling snipers, +who remained for a few minutes longer, dully and methodically loosing +off their rifles at our barricades. Ten or fifteen minutes passed, and +then, as if the growing solitude were oppressing them, these last +snipers desisted, and, coolly rising and disclosing their brightly +coloured tunics and sombre turbans, they sauntered off in full view. I +saw half a dozen go off in this way. Clearly something remarkable was +happening and our astonishment deepened.</p> + +<p>Presently the word ran round our half-mile of barricades that a board, +with big Chinese characters written across it, had been placed by a +Chinese soldier bearing the conventional white flag of truce on the +parapet of the north bridge, where J——, the first man killed, had +fallen, and that the curious board was exciting everyone's +astonishment. Getting leave to absent myself, I ran into the British +Legation, and from a scaffolding not a hundred yards from the bridge I +saw the mysterious placard with my own eyes. Already binoculars and +telescopes had been busily adjusted, and all the sinologues mustered +in the British Legation had roughly written copies of the message in +their hands and were disputing as to the exact meaning. It was only +then that I realised what a strange medley of nationalities had been +collected together in this siege. Frenchmen, Russians, Germans, +Japanese, English, Americans, and many others were all arguing +together, until finally H——, the great administrator, was called +upon to decide. The legend ran:</p> + +<p>"In accordance with the Imperial commands to pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>tect the Ministers, +firing will cease immediately and a despatch will be delivered at the +Imperial canal-bridge."</p> + +<p>A vast commotion was created, as you may judge, when this news +circulated among the refugee Ministers and all the heterogeneous crowd +who have been behaving so strangely since the serious business began. +Not one of us had relished the idea of being massacred after the +manner of the Indian Mutiny, but there are different ways of behaving +under such perils; some of those we had witnessed would not bear +relating.</p> + +<p>In a very short time, indeed, a suitable reply had been written +briefly in Chinese on another board, but the finding of a messenger +was more difficult. We must send a proper man. A chinaman was at +length discovered, who, after having been invested with the customary +official hat and the long official coat, was persuaded to advance +towards the bridge bearing our message and piteously waving a white +flag to show that he likewise was a harbinger of peace. The man +progressed but slowly towards the Imperial bridge, and twice he gave +unmistakable signs of wishing to bolt; but urged on by cries and a +frantic waving, he at last reached the parapet on which leaned our +enemy's placard. Then depositing our own reply, his courage left him +completely, and he incontinently bolted for our lines as hard as he +could run, casting his dignity to the winds. In his haste he had set +his board all askew, and the enemy could not possibly have understood +it. But no arguments could induce our messenger to return. He swore, +indeed, that he had just escaped in time, as the enemy's rifles were +all pointed towards him from a number of positions just beneath the +Imperial city wall, which we could not see from our lines. So nothing +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>more was done by our headquarters, and an hour passed away with all +the world waiting, but with no Imperial despatch brought to us.</p> + +<p>The sun was now down only six inches above the pink walls—in another +hour it would be dark and our position would be exactly the same as +before. On all sides our fighting line had clambered over their +barricades and were examining the enemy's silent ones with curiosity. +Beyond the fortified Hanlin courtyards, to the north of the British +Legation courtyards, which had been occupied and heavily sandbagged +after the big fires there, so as to keep the enemy at a safe +distance—the mass of ruins were indeed as silent and as deserted as a +graveyard. Cautiously escalading walls and pushing down narrow +alleyways, some of us advanced several hundred yards to see what was +happening beyond; and presently, standing on the top of an unbroken +wall line, there were the Palace gates and the mysterious pink walls +almost within a stone's throw of us. The sun had moved still farther +west, and its slanting rays now struck the Imperial city, under whose +orders we had been so lustily bombarded, with a wonderful light. Just +outside the Palace gates were crowds of Manchu and Chinese +soldiery—infantry, cavalry, and gunners grouped all together in one +vast mass of colour. Never in my life have I seen such a wonderful +panorama—such a brilliant blaze in such rude and barbaric +surroundings. There were jackets and tunics of every colour; +trouserings of blood red embroidered with black dragons; great +two-handed swords in some hands; men armed with bows and arrows mixing +with Tung Fu-hsian's Kansu horsemen, who had the most modern carbines +slung across their backs. There were blue banners, yellow banners +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>embroidered with black, white and red flags, both triangular and +square, all presented in a jumble to our wondering eyes. The Kansu +soldiery of Tung Fu-hsiang's command were easy to pick out from among +the milder looking Peking Banner troops. Tanned almost to a colour of +chocolate by years of campaigning in the sun, of sturdy and muscular +physique, these men who desired to be our butchers showed by their +aspect what little pity we should meet with if they were allowed to +break in on us. Men from all the Peking Banners seemed to be there +with their plain and bordered jackets showing their divisions; but of +Boxers there was not a sign. Where had the famed Boxers vanished to?</p> + +<p>Thus we stood for some time, the enemy gazing as eagerly at us as we +at them. Strict orders must have come from the Palace, for not a +hostile sign was made. It was almost worth five days of siege just to +see that unique sight, which took one back to times when savage hordes +were overrunning the world. Peking is still so barbaric!</p> + +<p>We sent back word that it might be possible to parley with the enemy, +and to learn, perhaps, the reason for this sudden truce; and soon +several members of the so-called general committee, whose organisation +and duties I confess I do not clearly understand, came out from our +lines and stood waving their handkerchiefs. But it was some time +before the gaudy-coated enemy would pay any attention to these +advances, and finally one of our committeemen, to show that he was a +man of peace and really wished to speak with them, went slowly forward +with his hands held high above his head. Then a thin, sallow Chinese, +throwing a sword to the ground, advanced from the Palace walls, and +finally these two <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>were standing thirty or forty yards apart and +within hail of one another. Then a parley began which led to nothing, +but gave us some news. The board ordering firing to cease had been +carried out under instructions from Jung Lu—Jung Lu being the +Generalissimo of the Peking field forces. A despatch would certainly +follow, because even now a Palace meeting was being held. The Empress +Dowager, the man continued, was much distressed, and had given orders +to stop the fighting; the Boxers were fools....</p> + +<p>Then the soldier waved a farewell, and retreated cautiously, picking +his way back through the ruins and masses of <i>débris</i>. Several times +he stopped and raised the head of some dead man that lay there, victim +to our rifles, and peered at the face to see whether it was +recognisable. In five days we have accounted for very many killed and +wounded, and numbers still lie in the exposed positions where they +fell.</p> + +<p>The disappearing figure of that man was the end to the last clue we +came across regarding the meaning of this sudden quiet. The shadows +gradually lengthened and night suddenly fell, and around us were +nothing but these strangely silent ruins. There was barricade for +barricade, loophole for loophole, and sandbag for sandbag. What has +been levelled to the ground by fire has been heaped up once more so +that the ruins themselves may bring more ruin!</p> + +<p>But although we exhausted ourselves with questions, and many of us +hoped against hope, the hours sped slowly by and no message came. The +Palace, enclosed in its pink walls, had slunk to sleep, or forgotten +us—or, perhaps, had even found that there could be no truce. Then +midnight came, and as we were preparing, half <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>incredulously, to go to +sleep, we truly knew. Crack, crack, went the first shots from some +distant barricade, and bang went an answering rifle on our side. +Awakened by these echoes, the firing grew naturally and mechanically +to the storm of sound we have become so accustomed to, and the short +truce was forgotten. It is no use; we must go through to the end....</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_VI" id="II_VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>SHELLS AND SORTIES</h3> + + +<p class="date">3rd July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>For a week I have written nothing, absolutely nothing, and have not +even taken a note, nor cared what happened to me or to anybody else. +How could I when I have been so crushed by unending sentry-go, by such +an unending roar of rifles and crash of shells, that I merely +mechanically wake at the appointed hour, mechanically perform my duty +and as mechanically fall asleep again. My <i>ego</i> has been crushed out +of me, and I have become, doubtless, quite rightly so, an +insignificant atom in a curious thing called a siege. No mortal under +such circumstances, no matter how faithful to an appointed task, can +put pencil to paper, and attempt to sketch the confusion and smoke +around him. You may try, perhaps, as I have tried, and then, suddenly, +before you can realise it, you fall half asleep and pencil and paper +are thrice damned.</p> + +<p>For we have been worked so hard, those of us who do not care and are +young, and the enemy is pushing in so close and so persistently, that +we have not much farther to run if the signs that I see about me go +for anything. Artillery, to the number of some eight or ten pieces, is +now grinding our barricades to pieces and making our outworks more and +more untenable. Rifle bullets float overhead in such swarms that by a +comparison of notes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>I now estimate that there must be from five to +six thousand infantry and dismounted cavalry ranged against us. Mines +are being already run under so many parts of our advanced lines, and +their dangers are so near that on the outworks we fall asleep ready to +be blown up....</p> + +<p>... Nor are the dangers merely prospective.' They are actual and +grimly disgusting. During the past week the casualty list has gone on +rapidly increasing, and to-day our total is close on one hundred +killed and wounded in less than two weeks' intermittent fighting out +of a force of four hundred and fifty rifles. The shells occasionally +fly low and take you on the head; the bullets flick through loopholes +or as often take you in the back from some enfilading barricades, and +thus through two agencies you can be hastened towards the Unknown. As +far as I am personally concerned, it is largely a matter of food +whether this affects one acutely or not. If you have a full stomach +you do not mind so much, and even shrug your shoulders should the man +next to you be hit; but at four or five in the morning, when +everything is pale and damp, and you are stomach-sick, it is +nerve-shaking to see a man brutally struck and gasping under the blow. +I have seen this happen three times; once it was truly horrible, for I +was so splashed with blood....</p> + +<p>It is also largely a matter of days. On some days, you think, in a +curious sort of a way, that your turn has come, and that it will be +all over in a few minutes. You try to convince yourself by silent +arguing that such thoughts are the merest foolishness, that you are at +heart a real coward; but in spite of every device the feeling remains, +and in place of your former unconcern <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>a nervousness takes possession +of you. This nervousness is not exactly the nervousness of yourself, +for your outer self surveys your inner depths with some contempt, but +the slight fear remains. You do not know what it is—it is +inexplicable. Yet it is there.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I had the experience in full force, just as a line of us in +extended order were galloping up to a threatened position. My boots +untied and twice nearly tripped me. I had to stop, perhaps two +seconds, perhaps five, dropping on my knee with my head low beside it. +For some reason I did not finish tying the laces. I sprang up, threw +my right leg forward preparatory to doubling, and then <i>ping</i>—I was +spinning on the ground, laughing at my own clumsiness in falling down. +Then I glanced to see why my right knee-cap stung me so much. I +stopped laughing. A bullet had split across the skin—<i>raflé</i>, the +French call it—and a shred of my trousers, mixed with some shreds of +skin, was hanging down covered with blood. Half a second before my +head had been exactly where my knee was, and had I not moved, spurred +by some curious intuition, I would have been dead on the ground. +Perhaps one's inner consciousness knows more than one thinks....</p> + +<p>But such personal experiences are trivial compared with what is going +on around us generally. I should not speak of them. For if the Chinese +commands are closing in on us on every side, our fighting line is +biting back as savagely as it can, and is giving them better than they +give us when we get to grips. But in spite of this our position is +less enviable than ever, and it requires no genius to see that if the +Chinese commanders persist in their present policy the Legations must +fall unless relief comes in another two weeks.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p> + +<p>Look at the Su wang-fu and the plucky little Japanese colonel! You +will, perhaps, remember that I said that the great flanking wall of +the Su wang-fu was far too big a task for the Japanese command, and +that sooner or later they would have to give way. It has been proved +days ago that what I said was correct, for slowly but surely the fire +of two Chinese guns has demolished successively the outer wall, the +enclosed courtyards behind it, and then a line of houses linked +together by field-works hastily constructed from the rubble lying +around. It was my duty to be one of a post six men hastily sent here +and entrenched on the fringe of our defence in one of these Chinese +houses. It was a curious experience. It lasted for hours.</p> + +<p>Inside the partly demolished wall of one house we were forced to squat +on a staging, peeping at the enemy, who was not more than twenty yards +off, lying <i>perdu</i> just behind a confused mass of low-lying +barricades. These riflemen, flung far forward of the main Chinese +positions in this quarter, lay very silent, hardly moving hour after +hour. A couple of hundred yards or so behind them, the main body of +the enemy, secure behind massive earthen and brick works, poured in an +unending fire on our devoted heads with a vigour which never seemed to +flag. Our loopholes, which we had carefully blocked up with loose +bricks so that the merest cracks remained, spat dust at us as the +enemy's bullets persistently pecked at the outside, but could gain no +entrance. Sometimes a single missile would slue its way in through +everything and end with a sob against the inside wall. Once one came +crash through and struck the Japanese who was next to me full in the +face. It knocked out two teeth, cut his mouth and his cheek so that +they bled red <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>blood hour after hour, making him hideous to look on; +but the Japanese, calmly untying the clout which encased his head, +bound it instead across the wound, merely cursing the enemy and not +stirring an inch. The rest of us had not time to note much even of +that which was taking place right alongside of us; for we had orders +to be ready at any moment for a forward rush. If it had come we should +have been caught in a trap and lost. That I knew and understood.</p> + +<p>We had stood this storm for a couple of hours, and were beginning to +revenge ourselves on the advanced line of skirmishers by winging them +whenever an incautious movement disclosed an arm or a leg, although we +had the strictest orders not to fire except to check a rush, when a +new danger presented itself, and was added to our already +uncomfortable position. An antiquated gun that had been sending +screeching shells over our heads, had evidently been given orders to +drive us from where we lay, for the shells which had been flying high +moved lower and lower, and buzzed more and more fiercely, until at +last one struck the roof. The aim, however, was still too high, for +the <i>débris</i> of tiles, timber and mortar clattered down the other side +of the house and did us no harm.</p> + +<p>It may have been five or ten minutes when a tremendous blow shook our +staging, and a vast shower of falling tiles and bricks drowned all +other sound. A shell, aimed well and low, had taken the roof full and +fair, and brought a big piece in on top of us. For some time we could +see nothing, nor realise the extent of the damage done, for clouds of +choking dust filled our improvised fort, and made us oblivious to +everything except a supreme desire for fresh air. Pushing our +loopholes open, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>regardless of the enemy's fire, we gasped for breath; +never have I been so choked and so distressed, and presently, the air +clearing a little, a huge rent in the roof was disclosed. On the +ground behind lay piles upon piles of rubbish and broken tiles, and +perilously near our heads a huge rafter sagged downwards, half split +in two. We were debating how long we could stand under such +circumstances, when a second shock shook the building, and once more +we were deluged with dust and dirt. This time the hanging rafter was +dislodged and fell sullenly with a heavy crash to the ground; and now, +in addition to the gap in the roof, a long rent appeared in the rear +wall. Our top line of loopholes was obviously, worse than useless, and +as it seemed more than likely that with the accurate range they had +got the Chinese gunners would soon be pitching their shells right into +our faces, we decided to climb down off the staging and man a lower +line of loopholes pierced two feet above the ground line. Here we +could see very little in front on account of the ruins. We were not a +minute too soon, for the very next missile struck our front wall +fairly and squarely, and showered bricks and ragged bits of segment on +to the platform above us. Luckily the planks and timber with which +this edifice was stoutly constructed saved our heads, and the loosened +bricks, piling up on the improvised flooring above us, made our +position below even more secure. Seizing the breathing time the clumsy +reloading of the gun attacking us gave, we pulled spare rafters and +bricks around us in the shape of a blockhouse, and thus apparently +buried in the ruins of the house, we-were soon in reality quite +comfortably and securely ensconced. Slowly and methodically the +artillerymen demolished the upper <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>part of our fort, and brought tons +and tons of bricks and slates rattling about our ears; but with the +exception of many bruises impartially distributed among all of us, no +one was further hurt. After two hours' bombardment and throwing forty +or fifty shells right on top of us, the enemy apparently tired of the +amusement, and we, on our part, seeing no good in remaining where we +were, sallied out of the side of the building and suddenly faced the +skirmishers, who were still lying on the sunburned bricks. The Chinese +soldiery, alarmed at this sudden appearance when they must have +thought us dead, took precipitously to flight, and in their haste to +escape so exposed themselves that we had no difficulty in rolling over +a couple. As soon as they had retreated we reoccupied a little +position slightly in advance of the house, and lay there contentedly +munching biscuit and having a pull at the water bottles. It is +extraordinary how callous you become.</p> + +<p>It was not until four or five o'clock in the afternoon that we were +relieved, and then in a fashion that highly flattered our vanity. The +little Japanese colonel appeared in person with a small force of +riflemen and some stretcher bearers, and he fell back in astonishment +when he saw our occupation. We had pushed forward a lookout a few +yards in advance, and the rest of us were playing noughts and crosses +on some broken tiles. In front of us the barricades were silent, and +the Japanese sailor so curiously wounded in the earlier part of the +day was fiercely wrangling with an English volunteer, who had taught +him the game and had just insulted him by saying he was cheating. The +colonel declared he had thought us all dead, but that although he had +sent twice to find out how we were faring, the tremendous storm of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>shells and bullets raging round our entire lines had made it +impossible to reinforce us. The French, he said, had been so heavily +beaten that he had had to prepare for a general retreat into the +British Legation; the Germans had been swept off the Tartar Wall; the +Americans had been shaken and almost driven back; and had not the +Chinese themselves tired of the game, another hour would have seen a +general retreat sounded. We were much commended for not having fallen +back, but we pointed out that it had been really nothing, since we had +only had one man slightly wounded. Still, it was an experience hard to +beat to be left in a house practically levelled to the ground by +shell-fire, and as I got eighteen hours off duty granted me, during +which time I slept solidly without waking once, the whole affair +remains most firmly impressed on the tablets of my memory. It is only +when you have been through it that you understand what you can endure.</p> + +<p>All this was some days ago, and was really nothing to what we had the +day before yesterday, which happened to be the 1st of July.</p> + +<p>The Chinese artillery practice, although poor, the guns and shells +being hopelessly ancient, had become so annoying and so distressing +that it was determined to adopt a policy of reprisals, taking the form +of sorties, and by bayonetting the gunners and damaging the guns if we +could not drag them off, to induce the enemy to make his offensive +less galling. The ball was opened by an attack which was miserably +conducted on the selfsame gun that had so harshly treated that little +post I have described a few days before. On the 1st of the month, +Lieutenant P——, the commander of the Italian hillock, laid a plan of +sortie before headquarters to which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>consent was given. Supported by +British marines and volunteers, the Italians were to make a sortie in +force from their position and seize the gun. The Japanese were to +co-operate from their barricades and trenches by opening a heavy fire, +and moving slowly forward in extended order as soon as the Italian +charge had commenced. All the morning the Italians were noisily +preparing, and as soon as their attack was delivered, it justified all +we had already thought about them. They issued from their lines with a +wild rush, but no sooner did the Chinese fire strike them than they +broke and fled, losing several killed and wounded, and fighting like +madmen to escape through a passageway which led back. P—— was very +severely wounded in the arm, and had to give up his command, and the +bodies of the Italians killed were never recovered. A section of the +British Legation students, who had gone forward with the Italians, had +a man badly wounded, and the sight of this young fellow staggering +back with his clothes literally dripping with blood gave the British +Legation inmates a start it took some time to recover from. Later, it +turned out that P——'s sortie plan was based on a faulty map; that +the whole command found itself being fired on from a dozen quarters +before fifty yards had been covered; and that there were nothing but +impossible walls and barricades. But still this does not excuse the +fact that while the Italians were behaving like madmen the young +students stood stock-still and awaited orders to retire. In truth, we +are being educated by events.</p> + +<p>The loss of the Italian commander has made the Italian posts more +useless than ever. These men are now nervous, and have hardly a round +of ammunition left, al<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>though they were given some of the captured +Chinese Mausers and a fresh stock of cartridges three days ago. Every +shadow is fired at by them at night, and the vague uneasiness which +overcomes everyone when dozens of the enemy are moving in the inkly +black only a few feet off seems more than they can stand.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the French Legation, thanks to this gun-fire, is now but a +ruined mass of buildings, a portion of which has fallen into Chinese +hands. Alarmed at the progress which has been made everywhere, M——, +the British Minister, who is still the nominal commander-in-chief, has +for days been pestering the French commandant to send him men to +reinforce other points. The same stubborn answer has been sent back, +that not a sailor can be spared, and that none will be sent. This +curious contest between the commander of the French lines and the +British Minister has ended in a species of deadlock, which bodes ill +for us all. The Frenchman believes that the remains of the French +lines form a vital part in the defence; the British Minister, invested +with military rank by his colleagues, instead of examining the entire +area of the defence carefully with his own eyes and seeing exactly +whether this is so or not, never ventures beyond the limits of the +British Legation. At least, no one has ever seen him. Even the +so-called chief of the staff, who is the commander of the British +marines, does not regularly visit the French lines. Practically, it +may be said that while there is death and murder outside there is only +armed neutrality within. It is an extraordinary position.</p> + +<p>In spite of the way they have been treated up to the 1st Of July, the +French and Austrians still sullenly cling to the ruins of the French +barricades. But on the 1st the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>Chinese, elated at their success in +capturing the eastern half of the French Legation, pushed their +barricades nearer and nearer, and only one hundred yards behind their +advanced lines they brought two guns into action, firing segment and +shrapnel alternately. Under this devastating bombardment, almost <i>à +bout portant</i>, as the French say, the last line of French trenches and +their main-gate blockhouse became untenable. Pieces of shell tore +through everything; men were wounded more and more quickly, and in the +most sheltered part a French volunteer, Wagner, had his entire face +blown off him, dying a horrible death. The French commander, +disheartened by the treatment he had received from the +commander-in-chief, and convinced that all his men would be blown to +pieces if they remained where they were, ordered his bugler to sound +the retire. The clarion's notes rose shrilly above this storm of fire, +and dragging their dead with them, the Franco-American survivors +retreated into the fortified line behind them—the Peking hotel. Here +they manned the windows and barricades of the intrepid Swiss' +hostelry, which had already been heavily damaged by the Chinese guns. +A determination was arrived at not to be driven out of this hotel +until the last man had been killed; it was necessary at all costs to +prevent the enemy from breaking in so far. More volunteers were +brought to reinforce this line, and the sinking spirits of the French +were restored; for within half an hour of their retreat the bugler had +sounded the advance again, and with a rush the abandoned positions +were reoccupied and the Chinese driven back. Then the guns stopped +their cannonade, and a breathing space was given which was sufficient +to repair some of the damage done.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>While these stirring events had been following each other in quick +succession down on level ground, the grim Tartar Wall has been at once +our salvation and destroyer of men. The Germans have been having a +terrible time, and although they have borne themselves with soldiery +composure, they have been at last driven clean down with +heart-breaking losses. The guns, which the Chinese had been firing +from the great Ha-ta Gate half a mile off, were advanced during the +night of the 30th June to within a hundred yards of the imperfect +German defences, and on the 1st of July four marines were killed and +six wounded out of a post of fifteen men with nerve-shaking rapidity. +The Chinese soldiers, then swarming forward under the Tartar Wall +itself, threatened the little blockhouse at the base, which kept up +connection with the Club and the German Legation line of barricades, +and soon there was no help for it, the eastern Tartar Wall posts had +to be abandoned. With the German retirement the Americans abandoned +their positions facing west and rushed down to safety below. It cannot +be said that the Americans are afraid; they have merely realised from +the beginning what a few of us have understood. The motley crowd +gathered in the British Legation, as well as our commander-in-chief, +were much stirred by the American retirement, for they already saw +themselves directly bombarded from the menacing height of the city +walls—a prospect which can enchant no one, as the confusion already +reigning would have been worse confounded had all the elderly persons +been given a taste of what the outworks are experiencing. So a council +of war was hastily convened very much after the style of the Boer +commandoes, with everybody talking at once, and it was at once decided +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>that the blessed Tartar Wall must be at once reoccupied at any cost. +A mixed force, under the command of the American captain, stormed back +again, and with a rush found themselves back in their old quarters +with everything intact. The representation of the American marines had +at last made themselves felt, for British marines took the places of +half the Americans, who were given duty elsewhere. We thought that +that had solved the question.</p> + +<p>But this was on the 1st of the month. To-day, the 3rd of the month, +the position became once more untenable, for the Chinese now being +able to attack the wall defences from both sides, were pushing their +barricades rapidly closer and closer until only a few feet separated +them from their prey. So more men were called for, and this morning, +after a short harangue, a storming-party, numbering sixty bayonets and +composed of British, Americans and Russians, dashed over into the +Chinese lines killing thirty of the enemy and driving the rest back in +great confusion. It was a brilliant little affair and well conducted, +but unfortunately Captain M——, who commanded, was wounded in the +foot, and the Americans have no officer now fit to lead them. It is a +curious fact worth recording that owing to wounds and staff work, +neither the British nor Americans have any good officers left. It is +only many days of this close-quarter fighting that shows you that +without good officers no men care for moving out of shelter. Unless +there are men who will sacrifice themselves, the ordinary rank and +file feel under no obligation to do anything more arduous than to lie +comfortably firing at the enemy. You can have no idea how hard it is +to get men to make sorties; on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>slightest provocation, once they +have left their own barricades, they rush back to safety....</p> + +<p>Fortunately with all these events, we have been given something else +to think about, and it is a thing of this sort which re-establishes +confidence more than any warlike deeds. I mention it because it is the +simple truth. It is also a pretty commentary on <i>la bête humaine</i>.</p> + +<p>You remember the V-shaped barricade garrisoned by Russian sailors, I +spoke about a few days ago? Well, if you do not happen to remember, I +merely need say again, that it is a barricade facing both ways on +Legation Street, which now in the fulness of time has blossomed into a +whole network of barricades which protect our inner lines and the +British Legation base from any rush of the enemy which might succeed +momentarily in getting past our outworks. The Russian sailors who +furnish these posts have been having a very easy time with nothing to +do but to eat and to sleep, and to mount guard, turn and turn about. +Of course, this comparative idleness in all the storm and stress +around us gave them time to look around and to loot the vacant houses +near them. Not content with this, some of them discovered that a large +number of buxom Chinese schoolgirls from the American missions were +lodged but a stone's throw from their barricades. The missionaries, +fearing that some scandal might occur, had placed some elderly native +Christians in charge of the schoolgirls, with the strictest orders to +prevent any one from entering their retreat. This was effective for +some time. One dark night, however, when the usual fusillade along the +outer lines began, the sailors made tremendous preparations for an +attack which they said was bound to reach them. At eleven o'clock they +developed the threatened attack <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>by emptying a warning rifle or two in +the air. Then warming to their work, and with their dramatic Slav +imaginations charmed with the <i>mise en scène</i>, they emptied all their +rifles into the air. Then they started firing volley after volley that +crashed horribly in the narrow lanes, retreating the while into the +forbidden area. Fiercely fighting their imaginary foe they fell back +slowly; and as soon as the elderly native converts had sufficiently +realised the perils to which they were exposed, these cowardly males +fled hurriedly through the passageways which have been cut into the +British Legation. The sailors then placed their rifles against a wall +and disappeared. Unfortunately for them a strong guard sent to +investigate this unexpected firing almost immediately appeared, and +presently the sailors were rescued, some with much scratched faces. +The girls, catlike, had known how to protect themselves!</p> + +<p>The next day there was a terrible scene, which everybody soon heard +about. Baron von R——, the Russian commander, on being acquainted +with the facts of the affair, swore that his honour and the honour of +Russia demanded that the culprits be shot. I shall never forget that +absurd scene when R——, who speaks the vilest English, demanded with +terrible gestures that the ring-leaders be identified by the victims. +It was pointed out to him that the affair had occurred when all was +dark—that the whole post was implicated—that it was impossible to +name any one man. Then R—— swore he would shoot the whole lot of +them as a lesson; he would not tolerate such things. But the very next +day, when a notice was posted on the bell-tower of the British +Legation forbidding everyone under severe penalties to approach this +delectable building, R—— had his <i>révanche <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>à la Russe</i>, as he +called it. Taking off his cap, and assuming a very polite air of doubt +and perplexity, he inquired of the lady missionary committee which +over-sees the welfare of these girls, "<i>Pardon, mesdames</i>," he said +purposely in French, "<i>cette affiche est-ce seulement pour les civiles +ou aussi pour les militaires!</i>"</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_VII" id="II_VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE HOSPITAL AND THE GRAVEYARD</h3> + + +<p class="date">5th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It depends very much on moments as to whether one has time to laugh or +to cry. The last time I wrote, we were nearly all laughing—when we +had the time; to-day most of us are doing the reverse. Be one ever so +hardened, it is impossible to go to the humble hospital and the little +graveyard of our battered lines without tender feelings welling up, +and perhaps even a silent tear dropping. We have all been to either +one or the other place to-day; our losses are mounting up. In the +hospital alone there are now fifty sorely wounded and tortured men, +groaning and moving this way and that. The bullet and shell wounds +have so far been distinguished for their deadliness, probably because +of the close ranges at which we are fighting. It is a strange +assembly, in all truth, to be mustered within the precincts of a +diplomatic Chancery, wherein were prepared only a few short weeks ago +dry-as-dust documents, which so hastened the storm by not promptly +arresting it. For the Chancery of the British Legation is now the +hospital, and on despatch tables, lately littered with diplomatic +documents, operations are now almost hourly performed and muttered +groans wrung from maimed men. It is a curious thought this—to think +that the vengeance of foolish despatches overtakes innocent men and +lays them groaning and bleeding on the very spot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>where the ink which +framed them flowed. It does not often happen that cause and effect +meet like this.</p> + +<p>It is a wretched hospital, too, even though it is the best which can +be made. Every window has to be bricked in partially; every entrance +where bullets might flick in must be closed; and in the heat and dust +of a Peking summer the stench is terrible. Worse still are the flies, +which, attracted by the newly spilt blood of strong men, swarm so +thickly that another torture is added. Half the nationalities of +Europe lie groaning together, each calling in his native tongue for +water, or for help to loosen a bandage which in the shimmering heat +has become unbearable. And as the rifle cracking rises to the storm it +always does every few hours, more men will be brought in and laid on +that gruesome operating table. The very passageways have been already +invaded by men lying on long chairs, because there are no more beds. +Even they are happy; they have crept to a place where they can gasp in +quiet; that is all they ask for.</p> + +<p>In a hideous little room at the back the dead are prepared for their +last resting place—prepared in a manner which is shocking, but is the +best that can be done. I cannot describe it. In the cool of the +evening, when perhaps the enemy's fire has slackened a little, and the +bullets only sob very faintly overhead, and the shells have ceased +their brutal attentions, stretcher parties come quietly and carry out +the corpses. That is the worst sight of all.</p> + +<p>There are no coffins, and the dead, shrouded in white cloth, have +sometimes their booted feet pushing through the coarse fabric in which +they are sewn. Never shall I forget the sight of one man, a great, +long fellow, who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>seemed immense in his white shroud. A movement of +the bearers struggling under his unaccustomed weight burst his winding +sheet and his feet shot out as if he were making a last effort to +escape from the pitiless grasp of Mother Earth extending her arms +towards him in the form of a narrow trench. There was something +hideous and terrible in these booted feet. One man, unnerved at the +sight, gave a short cry, as if he had been struck. That is the brutal +side of life—death.</p> + +<p>There is also no room and not time to give each one a separate grave, +these our dead; and so, strapped to a plank, they are lowered into the +ground, a few shovelfuls of earth are hastily dropped in on top, and +then another corpse is laid down. Sometimes there are three or four in +a single grave, and when the grave is filled up the dead men's order +is written on rough crosses. That is all.</p> + +<p>At such burials you may see the real truth which is hidden by the mask +of every-day life. Men you thought were good fellows turn out to be +hearts of stone; the true hearts of gold are generally those who are +devil-may-care and indifferently regarded when there is no <i>Sturm und +Drang.</i> I, who have never been religious, begin to understand what +such phrases mean—"that many are called, but few are chosen." It is +not possible that the final valuation can be that of the every-day +world. Then when I think of these things, I long to get away from this +imprisonment; to revalue things in a new light; to see and to +understand.</p> + +<p>But as you pass away from this torture room and this execution ground +a sullen anger seizes you. Why should so many be called—why should we +die thus in a hole?...</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_VIII" id="II_VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE FAILURE</h3> + + +<p class="date">6th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I have always found that there is a corrective for everything in this +world. Action is the best one of all, people say. It is not always so.</p> + +<p>The little Japanese colonel stood this morning pulling his thin +moustaches very thoughtfully and looking earnestly ahead of him when I +came on duty with a dozen others. In front was a great mass of ruins, +concealing a couple of entrenched posts of our own men, where I was +going, and farther on, half masked by the ruins, some of the enemy's +advanced barricades lay.</p> + +<p>"I think," said the colonel finally, pronouncing on the situation with +inherited Japanese caution, "that it will be very difficult, but we +must try."</p> + +<p>He referred to the wretched Chinese gun belonging to the redoubtable +Tung Fu-hsiang, as we had discovered from big banners pitched near by, +which had been steadily and methodically smashing in the northern +front of our defence, and was fast rendering our lines untenable here. +We always went on duty at these posts with little enthusiasm. We could +not hit back. Another gun, a newcomer, had also been posted somewhere +near the ruins of the Chinese Customs, as if encouraged by the success +of the other one, and was now playing on the main-gate posts of the Su +wang-fu, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>and rendering even these more and more dangerous for us to +hold permanently.</p> + +<p>The newcomer was, however, still, comparatively speaking, far away; it +was our old friend we most dreaded. Well hidden, it pelted us with +rusty but effective shells night and day. To make another sortie was +highly dangerous for the ill-success of the first one in this quarter +had certainly encouraged the Chinese, and this time we would have to +be prepared for a very vigorous defence, which might bring on a series +of counter-attacks. Then, too, the wall-split and barricaded grounds +beyond our own feeble defences meant that a single false step would +lead us into an <i>impasse</i> from which we could not lightly escape. +Rifle-fire would pelt us at close quarters, shells would burst right +in our midst; it was not a pleasant prospect even for the biggest +fire-eaters of our lines. We had, however, to remember that so long as +we held firm on the outer rim of our ruins would the enormous piles of +brickwork which lie around, either in the form of ruined houses or +wrecked compound walls, act as traverses and make the heavy rifle and +cannon fire being poured in nothing very terrible. But as soon as we +are forced to abandon our advanced lines the enemy speedily will swarm +in, and then no sortie, however well planned, can dislodge him. He +will make our best defences his parallels—and in a week he will be +able to split us in half. These things made immediate action really +advisable, and soon the word was passed round that a big sortie was to +be made at once.</p> + +<p>Once more all the morning was spent in making preparations. Marines +and volunteer reserves were brought over from the British Legation to +line the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>trenches and barricades, and cover the advance with a heavy +rifle fire; the Italians, who were to co-operate by jumping down off +their northwestern hillock and rushing forward, were warned for duty, +and had fresh ammunition served out to them; and finally volunteers +were called for, and the command of the sortie handed over to a +Japanese officer, Captain A——.</p> + +<p>When everything was ready, we stood for a minute massed together while +some parting instructions were given. We presented a curious and +unique spectacle. There were fifteen Japanese sailors in the dirty +remains of their blue uniforms, without caps or jumpers, with broken +boots and begrimed faces; and alongside of them were twenty-five +miscellaneous volunteers, some with bayonets to their rifles, some +with none—but all determined to get home on the enemy at all costs +this time. There had been sixteen days' incessant work at the trenches +and barricades with next to no sleep. Mud and brickwork clung to us +all with an insistence which no amount of rough dusting would remove. +We were a tattered and disreputable crowd.</p> + +<p>There was little time to reflect or to cast one's eyes around, +however, for no sooner had Captain A—— received his last +instructions than his bugler sounded the charge, and from the Italian +lines, eight hundred feet away, which were hidden from us by walls and +trees, came an answering blast. The Italians were ready. I gripped my +rifle and took the flank of my detachment.</p> + +<p>We tumbled forward in silence, forty effectives in all, with a couple +dozen native converts behind us, who had been provided with some of +the captured rifles and swords. As soon as we were clear, Captain +A——, who was a tiny man, even among a tiny race, drew a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>little +sword, and pointing to the enemy's barricades now looming up very +close, ordered his bugler to sound the charge once more. The notes +ripped out, and giving a mixed attempt at a European cheer, we +quickened our pace, running as rapidly as we could over the rubbish +which covered the ground and taking advantage of every piece of cover. +A few stray shots pecked at us, but in this quarter, so strange that +it appeared unreal, the enemy gave hardly a sign of life. Behind us, +on our left, a tremendous fusillade was in progress, and the cracking +of the rifles came back to us in one high-pitched roar. But the +intervening trees and the ruins did not allow us to see or understand +what was the cause. We had completely lost touch with the others.</p> + +<p>Rushing round a corner, we suddenly came on the gun we had been sent +to capture; it was perched high on a long, loopholed barricade, and +stood quite silent and alone. We gave a shout and pitched forward in a +momentary ecstasy of delight, but like a flash the scene around us +changed. Dozens of soldiers jumped up around us, looking every bit +like startled pheasants in their bright uniforms, and retired, firing +rapidly. This, as if a preconcerted plan, was the signal for a +tremendous fire on all sides, which absolutely surprised us. From +every adjacent ruin and roof the enemy appeared by magic, and fired at +us with ever-increasing vigour. Now just above us the selfsame gun +which had demolished my outpost house a few days before loomed +invitingly, and determined to have our revenge and stick the gunners +like pigs if we could only get to grips, a knot of us ran on. The +bugler blew a few sharp notes to rally some of those who were hanging +back in confusion, and finally, riflemen in advance and the converts +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>herded tremblingly behind by a brave Japanese Secretary of Legation +in spectacles, we succeeded in climbing up on to the gun platform. The +gunners, who had been lying beside their weapon, fled precipitately as +soon as they saw our heads come over the barricade, but to our right +and left the enemy was now swarming forward with frantic yells. The +converts, who were to drag off the gun while we covered them with our +rifles and bayonets, could not be made to advance, but clung to the +wall screaming piteously. We beat some of them over the head with our +rifle-butts and kicked them savagely in a fever of anxiety to put some +spirit in them, but nothing could move them forward. It must be always +so; the Christian Chinaman face to face with his fierce, heathen +countrymen is as a lamb; he cannot fight. Then before we knew it the +little Japanese captain was on the ground, two or three Japanese +sailors fell too, a <i>sauve qui peut</i> began, and everything was in +inextricable disorder. The Chinese commanders, seeing our plight, +urged their men forward, and soon hundreds of rifles were crashing at +us, and savage-looking men in brightly coloured tunics and their red +trouser-covers swinging in the breeze leaped forward on us. It was a +terrible sight. There was nothing to do but to retire, which we did, +dragging in our wounded with brutal energy. At a ruined wall, half a +dozen of us made a stand, covering the retreat, which had degenerated +into a rout, and, firing steadily at a close range, we dropped man +after man. Some of the Kansu soldiers rushed right up to us, and only +fell a few feet from our rifles, yelling, "Sha, Sha,"—kill, kill, to +the last moment; and one fellow, as he was beaten down, threw a sword, +which stabbed one of our men in the thigh and terribly wounded him.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span></p> + +<p>It must have been all over in a very few minutes, for the next thing I +remember is that we were all inside our lines again, and that my knees +were bleeding profusely from the scrambling over barricades and ruins. +We were completely out of breath from the excitement and the running, +and most of us were crimson with rage at our ill-success when we had +practically had everything in our own hands. Everyone was for +shooting a convert or two as an example for the rest, but in the end +it came to nothing. Meanwhile the fusillade against us grew enormously +in vigour. From every side bullets flicked in huge droves. The +Chinese, as if incensed at our enterprise, strove to repay us by +pelting us unmercifully, and awakened into action by this persistent +firing, the roar of musketry and cannon soon extended to every side +until it crashed with unexampled fury. Messages came from half a dozen +quarters for the reserves to be sent back, and in the hurry and +general confusion we could not learn what had happened to the Italians +or the rest of the enterprise.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile our wounded were lying on the ground, and the news soon +spread that the Japanese surgeon had pronounced the little captain's +case hopeless. I went to see him as soon as I could, and seldom have I +seen a more pitiful sight. Lying on a coat thrown one the ground, with +his side torn open by an iron bullet, the stricken man looked like a +child who had met with a terrible accident. He could not have been +more than five feet high, and his sword, which was a tiny blade, about +thirty inches long, was strapped to his wrist by a cord, which he +refused to have released. Beating his arms up and down in the air with +that tiny sword bobbing with them, he struggled to master the pain, +but the effort was too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>great for him, and he kept moaning in spite of +himself. A few feet from him sat a wounded Japanese sailor, who had +been struck in the knee by a soft-nosed bullet. His trousers had been +ripped up to put on a field dressing, and never have I before seen a +more ghastly wound. The bullet had drilled into his knee-cap in a neat +little hole, but the soft metal, striking the bony substance within, +had splashed as it progressed through, with the result that the hole +made on coming out was as big as the knee-cap itself. The sailor bore +his wound with a stoicism which seemed to me superhuman. The sweat was +pouring off his face in his agony, but he had stuffed a cap into his +mouth so that he might not disgrace himself by crying out, and even in +his agony he lay perfectly still, with staring eyes, as he waited to +be carried to the operating table.</p> + +<p>Presently the captain died with a sudden stiffening, and news came in +from a number of other posts that men were falling, and we must detach +some of ours to reinforce threatened points. In utter gloom the day +ended, and miserably tired, we got hardly any sleep until the small +hours.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_IX" id="II_IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>AN INTERLUDE</h3> + + +<p class="date">8th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>And yet in spite of such things there are plenty of interludes. For of +the nine hundred and more European men, women and children besieged in +the Legation lines, many are playing no part at all. There are, of +course, some four hundred marines and sailors, and more than two +hundred women and children. The first are naturally ranged in the +fighting line; the second can be but non-combatants. But of the +remainder, two hundred and more of whom are able-bodied, most are +shirking. There are less than eighty taking an active part in the +defence—the eighty being all young men. The others have claimed the +right of sanctuary, and will do nothing. At most they have been +induced to form themselves into a last reserve, which, I hope, may +never be employed. If it is.... The duties of this reserve consist in +mustering round the clanging bell of the Jubilee Tower in the British +Legation when a general alarm is rung. When the firing becomes very +heavy that bell begins clanging.</p> + +<p>There was a general alarm the other night when I happened to be off +duty, and I stopped in front of the bell-tower to see it all. The last +reserve tumbled from their sleeping-places in various stages of +deshabille, all talking excitedly. The women had too much sense to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>move a great deal, although the alarm might be a signal for anything. +A few of them got up, too, and came out into the open; but the +majority stayed where they were. Presently the commander-in chief +appeared in person in his pyjamas, twirling his moustaches, and +listened to the increasing fusillade and cannonade directed against +the outposts. The din and roar, judged by the din and roar of +every-day life, may have been nerve-breaking, but to any one who had +been so close to it for eighteen days it was nothing exceptional. The +night attack, which had been heralded after the usual manner by a +fierce blowing of trumpets, simply meant thousands of rifles crashing +off together, and as far as the British Legation was concerned, you +might stand just as safely there as on the Boulevard des Italiens or +in Piccadilly. There was a tremendous noise, and swarms of bullets +passing overhead, but that was all. The time had not arrived for +actual assaults to be delivered; there was too much open ground to be +covered.</p> + +<p>The groups of reserves stood and listened in awe, the +commander-in-chief twirled his moustaches with composure, and two or +three other refugee Plenipotentiaries slipped out and nervously waited +the upshot of it all. It was a very curious scene. Well, the fusillade +soon reached the limit of its <i>crescendo</i>, and then with delighted +sighs, the <i>diminuendo</i> could plainly be divined. The Chinese +riflemen, having blazed off many rounds of ammunition, and finding +their rifle barrels uncomfortably warm, were plainly pulling them out +of their loopholes and leaning them up against the barricades. The +<i>diminuendo</i> became more and more marked, and finally, except for the +usual snipers' shots, all was over. So the reserves were dismissed and +went contentedly off <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>to bed. As far as the actual defence was +concerned, this comedy might have been left unplayed. In the dense +gloom those men could never have been moved anywhere. Such a manoeuvre +would have brought about a panic at once, for there is little mutual +confidence, and nothing has been done to promote it.</p> + +<p>At first, in the hurry and scurry and confusion of the initial +attacks, when everything and everybody was unprepared and upset, this +state of things escaped attention. Now all the fighting line is +becoming openly discontented. There is favouritism and incompetency in +everything that is being done. Two days ago a young Scotch volunteer +got killed almost on purpose, because he was sick and tired of the +cowardice and indecision. And now, not content with all this, there is +a new folly. An alleged searchlight has been seen flickering on the +skies at night, and M——, the British Minister, has in a burst of +optimism declared that it is the relief under S—— signalling to us. +Yet there are men who know exactly what it is—the opening of the +doors of a blast-furnace in the Chinese city, which sends up a ruddy +light in certain weather.</p> + +<p>Discipline is becoming bad, too, and sailors and volunteers off duty +are looting the few foreign stores enclosed in our lines. Everything +is being taken, and the native Christians, finding this out, have been +pouring in bands when the firing ceases and wrecking everything +which they cannot carry away.</p> + +<p>A German marine killed one, and several have been dangerously wounded. +In our present condition anything is possible. Still, the +fortification work is proceeding steadily, and the appearance of the +base, the British Legation, has been miraculously changed. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>Enormous +quantities of sandbags have been turned out and placed in position, +and all the walls are now loopholed. With all this access of strength, +we are much more secure, and yet our best contingents are being very +slowly but very continuously shot to pieces. Our casualty list is now +well into the second hundred, and as the line of defenders thins, the +men are becoming more savage. In addition to looting, there have been +a number of attempts on the native girl converts, which have been +hushed up.... Ugly signs are everywhere, and the position becomes from +day to day less enviable.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_X" id="II_X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>THE GUNS</h3> + + +<p class="date">10th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Had we a single gun how different it would be! We could parade it +boldly under the enemy's nose; sweep his barricades and his advanced +lines away in a cloud of dust and brick-chips; bombard his camps which +we have located; make him sorry and ashamed ... as it is we can do +nothing; we have not a single piece which can be called serious +artillery; and we must suffer the segment which the enemy affects in +almost complete silence. Listen to our list of weapons.</p> + +<p>First, there is the Italian one-pounder firing ballistite. It is +absolutely useless. Its snapping shells are so small that you can +thrust them in your pocket without noticing them. This gun is merely a +plaything. And yet being the best we have, it is wheeled unendingly +around and fired at the enemy from a dozen different points. It may +give confidence, but that is all it can give. The other day I watched +it at work on a heavy barricade being constructed by night and day by +the methodical enemy. By night the Chinese soldiery work as openly as +they please, for no outpost may waste its ammunition by indiscriminate +shooting. But during the day, orders or no orders, it has become rash +for the enemy to expose himself to our view; and even the fleeting +glimpse of a moving hand is made the excuse for a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>hailstorm of fire. +This has made excessive caution the order of the day, and you can +almost believe, when no rifles are firing to disturb such a +conviction, that there are only dead men round us. Yet with nothing to +be seen, countless hands are at work; in spite of the greatest +vigilance barricades and barriers grow up nearer and nearer to us both +night and day; we are being tied in tighter. These mysterious +barricades, built in parallels, are so cunningly constructed that our +fiercest sorties must in the end beat themselves to pieces against +brick and stone; if the enemy can complete his plans we shall be +choked silently. That is why the Italian gun is so often +requisitioned.</p> + +<p>I was saying that I watched the one-pounder at work against the +enemy's brick-bound lines. Each time, as ammunition is becoming +precious, the gun was more carefully sighted and fired, and each time, +with a little crash, the baby shell shot through the barricades, +boring a ragged hole six or eight inches in diameter. Two or three +times this might always be accomplished with everything on the Chinese +side silent as death. The cunning enemy! Then suddenly, as the gun was +shifted a bit to continue the work of ripping up that barricade, +attention would be distracted, and before you could explain it the +ragged holes would be no more. Unseen hands had repaired the damage by +pushing up dozens of bricks and sandbags, and before the game could be +opened again, unseen rifles were rolling off in their dozens and +tearing the crests of our outworks. In that storm of brick-chips, +split sandbags and dented nickel, you could not move or reply. That is +the Italian gun.</p> + +<p>The next most useful weapon should be the Austrian machine-gun, which +is a very modern weapon, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>throws Mannlicher bullets at the rate of +six hundred to the minute. Yet it, too, is practically useless. It has +been tried everywhere and found to be defective. When it rattles at +full speed, it has been seen that its sighting is illusory—that it +throws erratically high in the air, and that ammunition is simply +wasted. It cannot help us in the slightest. The value of machine-guns +has been always overrated.</p> + +<p>Then there is a Nordenfeldt belonging to the British marines, and a +very small Colt, which was brought up by the Americans. The +Nordenfeldt is absolutely useless and now refuses to work; the Colt is +so small, being single-barrelled, that it can only do boy's work. Yet +this Colt is the most satisfactory of all, and when we have dragged it +out with us and played it on the enemy, it has shot true and straight. +They say it has killed more men than all the rest put together....</p> + +<p>There should be a Russian gun, too—a good Russian gun of respectable +calibre. But although the shells were brought, a thousand of them, +too, the gun was forgotten at the Tientsin Station! Such a thing could +only happen to Russians, everybody says. But some people say it was +forgotten on purpose, because De G—— had received absolute assurance +from the Chinese Government that the Russian Legation would not be +attacked under any circumstances, and that sailors were only brought +up to keep faith with the other Powers....</p> + +<p>This miserable list, as you will see, means that we have nothing with +which to reply to the enemy's fire. We are not so proud and foolish as +to wish to silence the guns ranged against us, but, at least, we +should be able to make some reply. In desperation, the sailor-gunners +tried to manufacture a crude piece of ordnance by lash<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>ing iron and +steel together, and encasing it in wood. Fortunately it was never +fired, for in the nick of time an old rusty muzzle-loader has been +discovered in a blacksmith's shop within our lines, and has been made +to fire the Russian ammunition by the exercise of much ingenuity. It +belches forth mainly flames, and smokes and makes a terrific report. +Some say this is as useful as a modern twelve-pounder....</p> + +<p>About the Chinese guns we can find out very little, excepting that +none, or very few, of the modern weapons which are in stock at Peking +have been used against us. There are at most only nine or ten in +constant use; perhaps the others have been dragged away down the long +Tientsin road. But even these nine or ten, if they were worked +together, would nearly wreck us. Our sorties have pushed some of them +back.</p> + +<p>Two of these guns are being fired at us from a staging on the Palace +wall—sometimes regularly and persistently, sometimes as if they had +fallen under the influence of the conflicting factors which are +struggling to win the day in the Palace. If they bombarded us without +intermission for twenty-four hours, they would render the British +Legation almost untenable. Two or three more guns are on the Tartar +Wall; three or four are ranged against the Su wang-fu and French +lines; some are kept travelling round us searching for a weak spot. +They have no system or fire-discipline. Some use shrapnel and segment; +others fire solid round shot all covered with rust. Silent sometimes +with a mysterious silence for days at a time, they come to life again +suddenly in a blaze of activity, and wreak more ruin in a few minutes +than weeks of rifle fusillade and days of firing on the fringe of +outer buildings. And yet we <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>cannot complain. We have so many walls, +so many houses, so many trees, so many obstructions of every kind, +that they cannot get a clear view of anything. These singing shells, +which might breach any one part, were the guns massed and their fire +continuous, are sneered at by most of us already. Provided you can lie +low, shell-fire soon loses even its moral effect.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_XI" id="II_XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>SNIPING</h3> + +<p>...</p> + + +<p>The siege has now become such a regular business with everyone that +there are almost rules and regulations, which, if not promulgated +among besieged and besiegers, are, at least, more or less understood +things. Thus, for instance, after one or two in the morning the +crashing of rifles around us is always quite stilled; the gunners have +long ceased paying us their attentions, and a certain placid calmness +comes over all. The moon may then be aloft in the skies; and if it is, +the Tartar Wall stands out clear and black, while the ruined +entrenchments about us are flooded in a silver light which makes the +sordidness of our surroundings instantly disappear in the enchantment +of night. Our little world is tired; we have all had enough; and even +though they may run the risk of being court-martialled, it is always +fairly certain that by three or four in the morning half the outposts +and the picquets will be dead asleep. It was not like that in the +beginning, for then nobody slept much night or day; and if one did, it +was only to awake with a moan, the result of some weird nightmare.</p> + +<p>Now with the weeks which have gone by since we broke off relations +with the rest of the world it is quite different, and we pander to our +little weakness of forty winks before a loophole, although orderly +officers may stumble by all night on their rounds and curse and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>swear +at this state of affairs. By training yourself, however, I have found +that you can practically sleep like a dog, with one eye open and both +ears on the alert—that light slumber which the faintest stirring +immediately breaks; when you are like this you can do your duty at a +loophole.</p> + +<p>It is such dull work, too, in front of the eternal loopholes, with +nothing but darkness and thick shadows around you, and the rest of a +post of four or five men vigorously snoring. The first half hour goes +fairly quickly, and, perhaps even the second; but the last hour is +dreary, tiresome work. And when your two hours are up, and contentedly +you kick your relief on the ground beside you, he only moans faintly, +but does not stir. Dead with sleep is he. Then you kick him again with +all that zest which comes from a sense of your own lost slumbers, and +once more he moans in his fatigue, more loudly this time, but still he +does not move.</p> + +<p>Finally, in angry despair you land the butt of your rifle brutally on +his chest, and he will start up with a cry or an oath.</p> + +<p>"Time," you mutter. The relief grumblingly rises to his feet, rubbing +his glued eyes violently, and asks you if there is anything. +"Nothing," you answer curtly. It is always nothing, for although the +enemy's barricades rear themselves perhaps not more than twenty or +thirty feet from where you stand, you know that it takes a lusty +stomach to rush that distance and climb your fortifications and +ditches in the dark in the face of the furious fire which sooner or +later would burst out. For we understand our work now. Experience is +the only schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>So with your two hours on and your four hours off the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>night spends +itself and dawn blushes in the skies. It is in all truth weary work, +those long watches of the night.... Sometimes even your four hours' +sleeping time is rudely broken into by half a dozen alarms; for +separated sometimes by hundreds of feet from your comrades of the next +post, the instinct of self-preservation makes you line your loopholes +and peer anxiously into the gloom beyond, when any one of the enemy +shows that he is afoot. A single rifle-shot spitting off near by is as +often as not the cause of the alarm; for that rifle-shot cracking out +discordantly and awakening the echoes may be the signal for the dread +rush which would spell the beginning of the end. Once one line is +broken into we know instinctively that the confusion which would +follow would engulf us all. There is no confidence....</p> + +<p>When you have time you may relieve his monotony by sniping.</p> + +<p>In the early morning, the very early morning, is the time for this +work—say, roughly, between the hours of four and six, when the +soldier Chinaman beyond our lines is yawningly arousing himself from +his slumbers and squats blinking and inattentive before his morning +tea. Then if you are a natural hunter, are inclined to risk a good +deal, and something of a quick shot, you may have splendid chances +which teach you more than you could ever learn by months in front of +targets. Baron von R——, the cynical commander of the Russian +detachment, is the crack sniper of us all, because he has not a great +deal to do in the daytime, and, also, because beyond his lines of the +Russian Legation all is generally quiet with a curious and suggestive +quietness. At four in the morning R——, with his sailor's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>habits, +generally rises, shakes himself like a dog, lights his eternal Russian +cigarette, takes a few whiffs, and then sallies forth with a +Mannlicher carbine and a clip of five cartridges. His sailors are duly +warned to cover him if he has to retire in disorder, but so far he has +met with no mishap. Cautiously pushing out beyond his barricades, he +climbs a ruined wall, reaches the top and buries himself in the dust +in pleasant anticipation of what will follow.</p> + +<p>Presently he is rewarded. A Chinese brave comes out into the open, +selects a corner, and sits down to smoke under cover of a barricade. +The Baron pushes his clip of cartridges deliberately into the +magazine, shoots one into the rifle barrel through the feed, and then +very cautiously and very slowly draws a steady bead on the man. I have +seen him at work. Five seconds may go by, perhaps even ten, for the +Baron allows himself only one shot in each case, and then bang! the +bullet speeds on its way, and the Chinaman rolls over bored through +and through. On a good day the bag may be two or three; on a bad day +the Russian commander returns with his five cartridges intact and a +persistent Russian shrug, for he never fires in vain, and there are +certain canons in this sport which he does not care to violate +lightly.</p> + +<p>Myself, enamoured with this game, after I had watched the Russian +commander two mornings, I, too, determined that I would embark on it, +although I have no such leisure in the early hours. Eleven or twelve +o'clock in the bright sunlight has become my hour, when the sun beats +down hotly on our heads, and everyone is drowsy with the noon-heat. +Then you may also catch the Chinaman smoking and drinking his tea once +again, and if you are quick a dead man is your reward. Every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>dead man +puts another drop of caution into the attackers. It is therefore good +and useful.</p> + +<p>Yesterday I had great luck, for I got three men within very few +minutes of one another; and then when I was fondly imagining that I +might pick off dozens more from my coign of vantage, I was swept back +into our lines under such a storm of fire as I have never experienced +before. I should tell you that there are practically only two +shooting-grounds where this curious sport may be had; there are only +two areas of brick and ruins where by judicious manoeuvring you may +steal out and get the enemy on his exposed flank where no barricades +protect him from an enfilading fire. These two areas lie opposite the +Russian front, and beyond the extreme Japanese western posts of the Su +wang-fu. Since the Russian front is the Russian commander's own +preserve, it is from the Japanese posts that I work.</p> + +<p>On the day when I made my record bag, half-past eleven found everybody +drowsy and the time propitious. Our northern Peking sun beats down +pitilessly from the cloudless skies at such a time, and so I had the +field completely to myself. Firing had ceased absolutely on all sides, +and the Chinese had begun to sleep. Crouching low down I scurried +across from the Japanese post to some ruins fifty feet off, and +remained quietly squatting there, panting in the heat, to get myself +bearings. Around me all was silent, and thirty or forty yards from +where I lay I could see the brown face of the Japanese sailor laughing +at me through a loophole. Presently bringing my glasses into play I +swept the huge pile of ruined houses and streets lying huddled on all +sides.</p> + +<p>There was not a twig stirring or a shadow moving. All was dead quiet. +The main Chinese camp on this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>side was placed in H——'s abandoned +compounds—that we had discovered long ago—but the battalions there +were now apparently asleep with not so much as a sentry out. So, +gaining confidence, I pushed on, working parallel to Prince Su's outer +walls and about fifty feet beyond them. Suddenly I stopped and +dropped, quite by instinct, for although my mind had telegraphed the +danger to my knees, I did not fully realise what it was until I was on +the ground. Just round the corner there was a glimpse of three men +stripped to the waist to be seen. Had they seen me? I waited in some +suspense for a few seconds pressed my glasses back into their case, +and gripped my rifle. My anxiety was soon set at rest, for with a +clatter, which seemed ten times greater than it really was, the men +set quickly to work on a structure. They were building something, and +now was my chance. Getting to the corner again I peered cautiously +around, and there but seventy or eighty feet from where I lay three +strapping fellows were raising a heavy log. They had pulled off their +red and black tunics, and were only in their baggy breeches and the +curious little stomach apron the Northern Chinaman affects to keep +himself from catching cold.</p> + +<p>Their brown backs glistened with sweat in the bright sunshine, and +between their belts and the loose black turbans, under which their +pigtails were gathered up, an ideal two-feet target presented itself. +Carefully I fired.</p> + +<p>In a flash one broad brown back was suddenly splashed with red, a +fellow sank on his knees with outstretched arms, and at last rolled +over without a moan, apparently as dead as dead could be. It was +brutalising.</p> + +<p>The log the men were carrying crashed down heavily <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>on the ground and +the two remaining soldiers started back in surprise. From whence came +that shot? In front of where they were working lay their advanced +posts, which, facing our own, two or three hundred feet away, should +completely cover them. They peered around for a few minutes, anxiously +searching their front and not looking behind them. At last they +apparently decided that it must have been a stray shot, for, bending +down, they once more raised the log, paying no more attention to their +dead companion than they would to a dead dog.</p> + +<p>This time I let them advance towards their outposts until they were a +hundred feet farther away. Then I fired again. The log came down once +more with a dull thud, and both the men fell as well. But imagine my +disgust when they both rose to their feet, one man merely showing the +other a snipped shoulder which must be bleeding, but was evidently +nothing as a wound. I cursed my government rifle, which always throws +to the right. At less than a hundred yards such practice was +disgraceful. This time both the men were aroused, and, abandoning +their log, they disappeared round some ruins, only to reappear with +their tunics on, their bandoliers strapped round them, and their +Mausers in their hands. They meant to have some revenge. I lost sight +of them for quite ten minutes, only to have them both out again almost +halfway between myself and the Japanese posts from which I had sallied +forth. I was cut off! I would have to wipe those two men out or else +they would do that to me.</p> + +<p>They were in no hurry, however, for they began by beating the ground +carefully and taking advantage of every piece of cover. They evidently +suspected that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>some of our men had come out in skirmishing order and +were still lying hidden; at last one saw something. He had caught +sight of the Japanese sentry who was looking out anxiously to see what +had become of me. So rising hurriedly, the soldier fired at the brown +Japanese face. Before he had sunk on his knees again I had drilled him +fair with a snapshot—in the head it must have been, because he went +over with a piercing yell and with his hands plucking at his cap. The +other man did not wait to see what would happen, but fled as fast as +he could down a small lane that ran only twenty feet past me. Seeing +the game was played out, I rose and fired rapidly from under the crook +of my arm and missed. Reloading as I scrambled after him, I drove +another bullet at him, and he staggered wildly but did not fall. My +blood was now up, and I was determined to get him, even if I had to +follow into the Chinese camp, so I sped along too. The fellow was now +yelling lustily, calling his comrades to his aid, and I seemed to be +going mad in my excitement. I fired again as I ran, and must have hit +him again, for he reeled still more; then he turned totteringly into a +ruined doorway....</p> + +<p>Just as I determined that I must give it up the scene changed like the +flash of a lamp. My quarry stumbled and fell flat; dozens of +half-stripped men came charging towards me, loading as they ran, and +almost before I knew it, the ground around me was ripped with bullets.</p> + +<p>Then in turn how I raced!</p> + +<p>Such was the storm of fire around me that I nearly dropped my rifle so +as to improve my pace, and all the moisture left my mouth. Holding +grimly on I at last cleared the exposed ground, and jumped through +into the Japanese barricades. In their rage the Chinese soldiery +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>rushed into the open after me, firing angrily all along the line, and +before the loopholes could be properly manned and the fusillade +returned they were almost up to us. Then, as always happens, they +suddenly became irresolute, and trickled away, and from behind safe +cover they poured in the same long-range rifle-fire....</p> + +<p>This, however, is only an incident—one which I provoked. Generally we +are not so enterprising, but are inclined to accept events as they +unroll. But this escapade proved to me that attacks are thrown against +us only after special orders have been issued by the government, and +that the camps of soldiery established round our lines are as much to +imprison us as to slay us. They have bound us in with brickworks, and +they bombard us intermittently with nine or ten guns; but each +bombardment and each attack seems to be conducted quite without any +relation to the general situation.... Fortunately, then, although we +are ill organised and badly commanded as a whole, our units are well +led, and we meet the situation as it actually is on the best plan +possible for the time being. But will this last? Will not something +happen which will fling our enemy against us animated by one desire +—a desire to slay us one and all? It requires now but one rush of the +thousands of armed men encamped about us to sweep our defence off the +face of the earth like so many dried and worthless leaves.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_XII" id="II_XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>THE GALLANT FRENCH</h3> + + +<p class="date">14th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>The post fighting is becoming more desperate, and the French are +steadily losing ground. Is it true that they are losing courage? Of +course, everyone knows that they are a gallant race, and that +although the Germans, by their relentless science and unending +attention to detail, are rated superior in machine-like warfare, they +can never be quite like the brilliant conquerors of Jena, Austerlitz, +and a hundred other battles; and yet no one expected the French were +going to cling to the ruins of their Legation with the bulldog +desperation of which they complained in the English at Waterloo; a +desperation making each house a siege in itself, and only ending with +the total destruction of that house by shells or fire; were going to +treat all idea of retirement with contempt, although their shabby +treatment caused them two weeks ago to temporarily evacuate their +lines in a fit of moroseness.... This is what has happened until now, +for the French have set their teeth, and now everyone almost believes +that nothing—not even mines, shells, myriads of bullets, and foolish +order after order from headquarters ordering men to be sent elsewhere +—will beat them back. And yet they cannot keep on this way for ever. +All round them the connecting posts and blockhouses are losing more +and more men, and matters are reaching a dangerous point.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is now nearly four weeks since the first bullet flicked out the +brains of the first French sailor ten minutes after the opening of +hostilities at barricades far away down Customs Street, and in these +twenty-five days which have elapsed the French positions have been +beaten into such shapeless masses that they are quite past +recognition. I had not been there for a week, and was shocked when I +saw how little remains. The Chinese have, foot by foot, gained more +than half of the Legation, and all that is practically left to the +defenders is their main-gate blockhouse, a long barricaded trench and +the remains of a few houses. These they have sworn to retain until +they are too feeble to hold. Then, and then only, will they retreat +into the next line behind them, the fortified Hôtel de Pékin, which +has already four hundred shell holes in it.</p> + +<p>Yesterday's losses at the French lines were five men wounded, four +blown up by a mine, of whom two never have been seen again, and two +men killed outright by rifle-fire. Then the last houses were set fire +to by Chinese soldiers, who, able to push forward in the excitement +and confusion of the mine explosions, attempted to seize and hold +these strategic points, and were only driven out by repeated +counter-attacks. Such events show that for some occult reason the +Chinese commands are trying to carry the French lines by every +possible device.... It has been like this for a week now.</p> + +<p>For, from the 7th of July, the Chinese commands having prepared the +ground for their attacks by a heavy cannonade lasting for sixty hours, +which riddled everything above the ground level with gaping holes, +started pushing forward through the breaches, and setting fire, by +means of torches attached to long bamboo poles, to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>everything which +would burn. No living men, no matter how brave, can hold a glowing +mass of ruins and ashes, and the Chinese were showing devilish +cunning. Isolated combats took place along the whole French line—in a +vain effort to drive off the incendiaries, little sorties of two or +three men furiously attacking the persistent enemy, and each time +driving him back with loss, only to find him dribbling in again like +muddy water through every hole and cranny in the imperfect defences. +But even this did not do much good. No one could keep an accurate +record of these curious encounters during the first few days, for they +have succeeded one another with such rapidity that men have become too +tired, too sleepy to wish to talk. They try to act, and some of their +adventures have been astonishing.</p> + +<p>Thus a young Breton sailor, not more than seventeen years old, seeing +men armed with swords collecting one night for a rush, jumped down +among them from the top of an earthwork, and shot and bayonetted three +or four of them before they had time to defend themselves. Then it +took him half an hour to get back to safety by creeping from one hole +in the ground to another and avoiding the rifle-fire....</p> + +<p>Self-preservation makes it necessary to rush out thus single handed +and ease your front. Every man killed is a discouragement, which holds +the enemy back a bit.</p> + +<p>Exploits of this nature must at length have shown the Chinese soldiery +that they have to face men endowed with the courage of despair in this +quarter; and fearing cold steel more than anything else, they have +decided that the only way of reaching their prey is by blowing them up +piecemeal. That is why they have taken to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>mining—most audacious +mining, carried on under the noses of the French defenders. If you +come here at night, and remain until one of those curious lulls in the +rifle-fire suddenly begins, you will distinctly hear this curious +tapping of picks and shovels, which means the preparation of a +gallery.</p> + +<p>So as to save time, such mining is not begun from behind the enemy's +trenches; it is audaciously commenced in the ruins which litter some +of the neutral territory, which neither side holds and into which +Chinese desperadoes creep as soon as it is dusk. For a few days the +French did not dare to make sorties against such enterprises, but some +of the younger volunteers, discovering that these sappers were only +armed with their tools, have taken to creeping out and butchering in +the bowels of the earth.... This is terribly but absolutely true. Thus +a young volunteer, named D——, found, after watching for two days, +that a number of men crept into a tunnel mouth every night only twenty +feet from his post, and began working on a mine right under his feet. +He decided to go out himself and kill them all.... He told me the +story. He crept out two days ago as soon as he had seen them go in, +and, posting himself at the entrance, called on the men to come out, +else he would block them in and kill them in the most miserable way he +could think of. They came out, crawling on their hands and knees, and +as each man slipped up to the level he was bayonetted.... in the end +thirteen were killed like this. Three remained, but D——'s strength +was not equal to it, and he had to drive them in as captives. Then +they were despatched and beheaded. They say the French sailors slung +back those heads far over into the advanced Chinese barricades with +taunts <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>and shouts. That stopped all work for a few hours. But it was +not for long enough.</p> + +<p>Yesterday, the 13th, the Chinese had their revenge for the loss of the +hundred odd men who have been shot or bayonetted along this front +during the past week. At six in the evening, when the rifle-fire all +along the line had become stilled, a tremendous explosion shook every +quarter of our besieged area and made everyone tremble with +apprehension. Even in the most northerly part of our defences—the +Hanlin posts beyond the British Legation, which are probably three or +four thousand feet away—the men said it was like an earthquake. In +the French lines it seemed as if the end of the world had come. The +Chinese, having successfully sapped right under one of the remaining +fortified houses, had blown it up with a huge charge of black +gunpowder. D——, the French commander, R——, the Austrian <i>Chargé +d'Affaires,</i> the same indomitable volunteer D——, and a picket of +four French sailors were in the house, and were buried in the ruins. +Hardly had the echoes of the first explosion died away, when a second +one blew up another house, and out of the ruins were lifted, as if the +powers of darkness had taken pity on them all, the defenders who had +been buried alive, excepting two. Never has such a thing been heard of +before. Providence is plainly helping us. The wretched men thus +cruelly treated were all the colour of death and bleeding badly when +they were dragged out. The two missing French sailors must have been +crushed into fragments. Only a foot has been found....</p> + +<p>That was afterwards; for the mine explosions were the signals for a +terrible bombardment and rifle-fire all along the line, from which we +have not yet recovered. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>The French, more than a little shaken, were +driven into their last trench—the <i>tranche Bartholin</i>, which has just +been completed. They held this to this morning and then +counter-attacked. That is why I have found myself here. Reinforcements +were rushed in by us at daybreak, and after a sleepless forty hours +the Chinese advance has been fairly held. But for how long? If they +act as earnestly during the next week we are finished!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_XIII" id="II_XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>THE BRITISH LEGATION BASE</h3> + + +<p class="date">15th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Fortunately, startling events of the sort I have just described are +confined to the outposts, and the half a dozen closely threatened +points. Our main base, the British Legation, is little affected, and +many in it do not appear to realise or to know anything of these +frantic encounters along the outer lines. They can tell from the +stretcher-parties that come in at all hours of the day and night, and +pass down to the hospital, what success the Chinese fire is having, +but beyond this they know nothing. They secretly hope, most of them, +that it will remain like this to the end; that bullets and shells may +scream overhead, but that they may be left attending to minor affairs. +As I look around me, it appears more and more evident that +self-preservation is the dominant, mean characteristic of modern +mankind. The universal attitude is: spare me and take all my less +worthy neighbours. In gaining in skin-deep civilisation we have lost +in the animal-fighting capacity. We are truly mainly grotesque when +our lives are in danger.</p> + +<p>In the British Legation time has even been found to establish a model +laundry, and several able-bodied men actually fought for the privilege +of supervising it, they say, when the idea was mooted.</p> + +<p>Neither have our Ministers improved by the seasoning <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>process of the +siege. Most of them have become so ridiculous, that they shun the +public eye, and listen to the roar of the rifles from safe places +which cannot be discovered. And yet fully half of them are able-bodied +men, who might do valuable work; who might even take rifles and shoot. +But it is they who give a ridiculous side, and for that, at least, one +should be thankful. It is something to see P——, the French Minister, +starting out with his whole staff, all armed with <i>fusils de chasse</i>, +and looking <i>très sportsman</i> on a tour of inspection when everything +is quiet. Each one is well told by his tearful wife to look out for +the Boxers, to be on the alert—as if Chinese banditti were lurking +just outside the Legation base to swallow up these brave +creatures!—and in a compact body they sally forth. These are the +married men: marriage excuses everything when the guns begin to play. +Thus the Secretary of Legation, whose name I will not divulge even +with an initial, amused me immensely yesterday by calculating how much +more valuable he was to the State as a father of a family than an +unmarried youngster like myself. He tried to prove to me that if he +died the economic value of his children would suffer—what a fool he +was!—and that my own value capitalised after the manner of +mathematicians was very small. I listened to him carefully, and then +asked if the difference between a brave man and a coward had any +economic significance. He became suddenly angry and left me. Some of +the besieged are becoming truly revolting.</p> + +<p>Even P——, who some people think ought to stay in the remains of his +own Legation, is rather disgusted, and as he marches out in an +embroidered nightshirt, with little birds picked out in red thread on +it, he is not as ab<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>surd as I first thought. Poor man, he is +attempting to do his duty after his own lights, and excepting two or +three others, he has been the most creditable of all the elderly men, +who think that position excuses everything.</p> + +<p>Labouring at the making of sandbags, the women sit under shelter, and +keep company with those men who have not the stomach to go out. And as +shells have been falling more and more frequently in and around this +safe base, and rumour has told them that the outer lines may give way, +bomb-proof shelters have been dug in many quarters ready to receive +all those who are willing to crouch for hours to avoid the possibility +of being hit....</p> + +<p>Otherwise, there is nothing much to note in the British Legation, for +here the storm and stress of the outer lines come back oddly enough +quite faintly, excepting during a general attack. The dozens of walls +account for that. In the evenings the missionaries now gather and sing +hymns ... sometimes Madame P——, the wife of the great Russian Bank +Director, takes compassion, and gives an <i>aria</i> from some opera. She +used to be a diva in the St. Petersburg Opera House, they say, years +ago, and her voice comes like a sweet dream in such surroundings. A +week ago a strange thing happened when she was giving an impromptu +concert. She was singing the Jewel song from <i>Faust</i> so ringingly that +the Chinese snipers must have heard it, for immediately they opened a +heavy "fire," which grew to a perfect tornado, and sent the listeners +flying in terror. Perhaps the enemy thought it was a new war-cry, +which meant their sudden damnation!</p> + +<p>Yet we have had so much time to rectify all our mistakes that things +are in much better working order. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>Public opinion has made the +commander-in-chief distribute the British marines in many of the +exposed positions and thus allow inferior fighting forces to garrison +the interior lines. Twice last week, before this redistribution had +been completed, there was trouble with both the Italian and the +Austrian sailors and some volunteers. Posts of them retreated during +the night.... They gave as their excuse that they knew that the loose +organisation would cause them to be sacrificed if the enemy began +rushing. There is much to be said for them; the general command had +been disgraceful, especially during the night, when only good fortune +saves us from annihilation. One single determined rush is all that is +needed to end this farce....</p> + +<p>These retreats, which have not been confined to the sailors, have +ended by causing great commotion and alarm among the non-combatants, +and reserve trenches and barricades are being improved and manned in +growing numbers. Still, the distribution is unequal. There is a force +of nearly sixty rifles in what is the northern front of the British +Legation—the sole front exposed to direct attack on this side of the +square. With difficulty can the command be induced to withdraw a +single man from here. They say it is so close to all those who have +sought the shelter of the British Legation, so close to the women and +children and those who are afraid, that it would be a crime to weaken +this front. And yet there has been hardly a casualty among those sixty +men during four weeks' siege, while elsewhere about one hundred and +twenty have been killed and wounded....</p> + +<p>The fear that fire-balls will be flung far in from here, or +fire-arrows shot from the adjacent trenches, has made them institute +patrols, which make a weary round all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>through the night to see that +all's well. In the thick darkness these men can act as they please, +and already the are several <i>sales histoires</i> being sold. One is very +funny. The patrol in question was composed entirely of Russian +students, who are not rated as effectives. Beginning at nine o'clock +the day before yesterday, the patrol had got as far as the Japanese +women's quarters at this northern front of the British Legation, when +they were halted for a few minutes to communicate some orders. One of +the volunteers, of an amorous disposition, noticed a buxom little +Japanese servant at work on a wash-tub in the gloom. An appointment +was made for the morrow....</p> + +<p>The next night duly came. Once more the patrol halted, and once more +the young Russian told his companions to go on. The patrol moved away, +and the adventurous Russian tiptoed into the Japanese quarters. +Cautiously feeling his way down a corridor, he opened a door, which he +thought the right one; then the tragedy occurred. Suddenly a quiet +voice said to him in French out of the gloom:</p> + +<p>"<i>Monsieur desire quelque chose? Je serai charmée de donner à Monsieur +ce qu'il voudra s'il veut bien rester à la porte</i>." The wretched +Russian student imagined he was lost; it was the wife of a Minister! +He hesitated a minute; then, gripping his rifle and with the perfect +Russian imperturbability coming to his rescue, he replied, with a deep +bow: "<i>Merci, Madame, Merci mille fois! Je cherchais seulement de la +vaseline pour mon fusil</i>!"</p> + +<p>This phrase has become immortal among the besieged.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_XIV" id="II_XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE EVER-GROWING CASUALTY LIST</h3> + + +<p class="date">16th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>And yet one is lucky if one can laugh at all. The rifle and cannon +fire continues; barricades are pushing closer and closer, more of our +men are falling—it is always the same monotonous chronicle. A few +days ago poor T——, the Austrian cruiser captain, who aspired to be +our commander-in-chief with such disastrous results, was killed in the +Su wan-fu while he was encouraging his men to stand firm and not +repeat some of their former performances. To-day little S——, the +British Minister's chief of the staff, has been mortally hit, and has +just died. It was a sad affair. In the morning a party from +headquarters was making a tour of inspection of the Su wang-fu posts, +in order to see exactly how much battering they could stand, and how +soon the Italian contention that already the hillock works were +untenable would become an undeniable fact. The Italian defences had +been inspected and the little party was crossing the ornamental +gardens, which are always swept by a storm of fire, when suddenly +S—— fell mortally wounded, M——, the correspondent, was badly hit +in the leg, the Japanese colonel alone escaping with a bullet-cut +tunic. They had drawn the enemy's fire. Great was the dismay when the +news became generally known; it meant that the authority of +headquarters had received a cruel <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>blow. There is no officer left who +can really perform the duties of the chief of the staff, and all the +outer lines will feel this loosening of a control which has really +only been complimentary and nominal. Casualties among the officers of +the other detachments had allowed the British marine commanders to +increase their influence. Now it is finished. The only two good ones +have now been struck off the list.</p> + +<p>All day long men looked gloomily about them, and felt that gradually +but surely things were progressing from bad to worse. Six of the best +officers have either been killed or so badly wounded that they cannot +possibly take the field again; about fifty of our most daring regulars +and volunteers have been killed outright; the number of admittances to +the hospital up to date is one hundred and ten; and thus of the four +hundred and fifty rifles defending our lines, nearly a third have been +placed out of action in less than four weeks. Excepting for a small +gap across the Northern Imperial canal bridge, a continuous double, or +even treble, line of the enemy's barricades now stretch unbroken from +a point opposite the American positions on the Tartar Wall round in a +vast irregular curve to the city wall overlooking the German Legation.</p> + +<p>These barricades are becoming more and more powerful, and are being +pushed so close to us by a system of parallels and traverses that at +the Su wang-fu and the French lines only a few feet separate some of +our own defences from the enemy's. Already it had twice happened that +a fierce and unique deed had taken place at the same loophole between +one of our men and a Chinese brave, ending in the shooting of one or +the other, forcing a retirement on our part to the next line of +barricades. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>Thus, by sheer weight of brickwork they are crushing us +in, and if they have only two weeks' more uninterrupted work, it can +only end in one way. Colonel S—— has made two more frantic sorties, +in both of which I took part at daybreak, with a few men, which +succeeded each time in pushing back the enemy for a few days in one +particular corner at the cost of casualties we cannot afford. But the +work and the strain are becoming exhausting, and even the Japanese, +who are being driven by little S—— like mules, are showing the +effects in their lack-lustre eyes and dragging legs. The men are half +drunk from lack of sleep and from bad, overheated blood, caused by a +perpetual peering through loopholes and a continual alertness even +when they are asleep. The strain is intolerable, I say, and pony meat +is becoming nauseating, and fills me with disgust.</p> + +<p>On top of it all the trenches are now sometimes half full of water, +for the summer rains, which have held back for so long, are beginning +to fall. The stenches are so bad from rotting carcases and obscene +droppings that an already weakened stomach becomes so rebellious that +it is hard to swallow any food at all.</p> + +<p>In the morning it is sometimes revolting. For four days I was at a +line of loopholes, with Chinese corpses swelling in the sun under my +nose.... At the risk of being shot, I covered them partially by +throwing handfuls of mud. Otherwise not I myself, but my rebellious +stomach, could not have stood it.</p> + +<p>Scorched by the sun by day, unable to sleep except in short snatches +at night, with a never-ending rifle and cannon fire around us, we have +had almost as much as we can stand, and no one wants any more. I +wonder now sometimes why we have been abandoned by our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>own people. +Reliefs and S—— are only seen in ghastly dreams....</p> + +<p>And yet there are others near who must be faring worse than we. Far +away in the north of the city, where are Monseigneur F——'s +cathedral, his thousands of converts, and the forty or fifty men he so +ardently desired, we hear on the quieter days a distant rumble of +cannon. Sometimes when the wind bears down on us we think we can hear +a confused sound of rifle-firing, far, far away. They say that Jung +Lu, the Manchu Generalissimo of Peking, whose friendship has been +assiduously cultivated by the French Bishop, is seeing to it that the +Chinese attacks are not pushed home, and that a waiting policy is +adopted similar to that which the Chinese have used towards us. But no +matter what be the actual facts of the case, the besieged fathers must +be having a terrible time....</p> + +<p>Ponies and mules are also getting scarcer, and the original mobs, +numbering at least one hundred and fifty or two hundred head, have +disappeared at the rate of two or three a day as meat. Our remaining +animals are now quartered in a portion of the Su wang-fu, where they +are feeding on what scant grass and green vegetation they can still +find in those gloomy gardens. Sometimes a humming bullet flies low and +maims one of the poor animals in a vital spot. Then the butcher need +not use his knife, for meat is precious, and even the sick horses that +die, and whose bodies are ordered to be buried quickly, are not safe +from the clutches of our half-starving Chinese refugees....</p> + +<p>A few days ago a number of ponies, frightened at some sudden roar of +battle, broke loose and escaped by jumping over in a marvellous way +some low barricades front<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>ing the canal banks. Caught between our own +fire and that of the enemy, and unable to do anything but gallop up +and down frantically in a frightened mob, the poor animals excited our +pity for days without our being able to do a single thing towards +rescuing them. Gradually one by one they were hit, and soon their +festering carcases, lying swollen in the sun, added a little more to +the awful stenches which now surround us. Some men volunteered to go +out and bury them, and cautiously creeping out, shovel in hand, just +as night fell, once more our Peking dust was requisitioned, and a +coverlet of earth spread over them.</p> + +<p>The droves of ownerless Peking dogs wandering about and creeping in +and out of every hole and gap are also annoying us terribly. These +pariahs, abandoned by their masters, who have fled from this ruined +quarter of the city, are ravenous with hunger, and fight over the +bodies of the Chinese dead, and dig up the half-buried horses; nothing +will drive them away. In furious bands they rush down on us at night, +sometimes alarming the outposts so much that they open a heavy fire. +An order given to shoot everyone of them, so as to stop these night +rushes, has been carried out, but no matter how many we kill, more +push forward, frantic with hunger, and tear their dead comrades to +pieces in front of our eyes. It is becoming a horrible warfare in this +bricked-in battle-ground.</p> + +<p>Inside our lines there are a number of half-starving natives, who were +caught by the storm and are unable to escape. They are poor people of +the coolie classes, and it is no one's business to care for them. +Several times parties of them have attempted to sneak out and get +away, but each time they have been seized with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>panic, and have fled +back, willing to die with starvation sooner than be riddled by the +enemy's bullets. The native troops beyond our lines shoot at +everything that moves. A few days ago an old rag-picker was seen +outside the Tartar Wall shambling along half dazed towards the +Water-Gate, which runs in under the Great Wall into the dry canal in +our centre. The Chinese sharpshooters saw him and must have thought +him a messenger. Soon their rifles crashed at him, and the old man +fell hit, but remained alive. After a while he raised himself on his +hands and knees and began crawling towards his countrymen like a poor, +stricken dog, in the hope that they would spare him when they saw his +condition. But pitilessly once more the rifles crashed out, and this +time their bullets found a billet in his vital parts, for the beggar +rolled over and remained motionless. There he now lies where he was +shot down in the dust and dirt, and his white beard and his rotting +rags seem to raise a silent and eloquent protest to high Heaven +against the devilish complots which are racking Peking.</p> + +<p>The feeding of our native Christians, an army of nearly two thousand, +is still progressing, but babies are dying rapidly, and nothing +further can be done.</p> + +<p>There is only just so much rice, and the men who are doing the heavy +coolie work on the fortifications must be fed better than the rest or +else no food at all would be needed....</p> + +<p>The native children, with hunger gnawing savagely at their stomachs, +wander about stripping the trees of their leaves until half Prince +Su's grounds have leafless branches. Some of the mothers have taken +all the clothes off their children on account of the heat, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>their +terrible water-swollen stomachs and the pitiful sticks of legs +eloquently tell their own tale. Unable to find food, all are drinking +enormous quantities of water to stave off the pangs of hunger. A man +who has been in India says that all drink like this in famine time, +which inflates the stomach to a dangerous extent, and is the +forerunner of certain death.</p> + +<p>To the babies we give all the scraps of food we can gather up after +our own rough food is eaten, and to see the little disappointed faces +when there is nothing is sadder than to watch the wounded being +carried in. If we ever get out we have some heavy scores to settle, +and some of our rifles will speak very bitterly.</p> + +<p>Thus enclosed in our brick-bound lines, each of us is spinning out his +fate. The Europeans still have as much food as they need; the Chinese +are half starving; shot and shell continue; stinks abound; rotting +carcases lie festering in the sun; our command is looser than ever. It +is the merest luck we are still holding out. Perhaps to-morrow it will +be over. In any case, the glory has long since departed, and we have +nothing but brutal realities.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="II_XV" id="II_XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>THE ARMISTICE</h3> + + +<p class="date">17th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>The impossible has happened at the eleventh hour. Around us those +hoarse-throated trumpets have been ringing out stentoriously all day. +How blood-curdling they sounded! Calling fiercely and insistently to +one another, this barbaric cease-fire of brass trumpets has grown to +such a blood-curdling roar that attention had to be paid, and +gradually but surely the rifles have been all stilled until complete +and absolute silence surrounds us. At last diplomacy in the far-away +outer world has made itself heard, and we who are placed in the very +centre of this Middle Kingdom of China, being parleyed with by the +responsible Chinese Government. It has been a long and heart-breaking +wait, but it is always better late than never.</p> + +<p>This is exactly what has happened, although I have only just learned +the full details. On the 14th—that is, three days ago—a native +messenger, bearing our tidings, was sent out in fear and trembling, +induced to attempt to reach Tientsin by lavish promises, and by the +urgency of missionary entreaties. But instead of even getting out of +the city, the messenger was captured, beaten, and detained for several +days at the headquarters of the Manchu commander-in-chief, Jung Lu, in +the Imperial city. Then, finally, when he thought that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>was being +led out to be put to death, he was brought back to our barricades, +presenting a very sorrowful appearance, but bearing a fateful despatch +from Prince Ching and all the members of the Tsung-li Yamen. This +despatch had nothing very sensational in it, but it marked the +beginning. It merely stated that soldiers and bandits had been +fighting during the last few days; that the accuracy and vigour of our +fire had created alarm and suspicion; and that, in consequence, our +Ministers and their staffs were invited to repair at once to the +Tsung-li Yamen, where they would be properly cared for. As for the +rest of the thousand living and dead Europeans and the two thousand +native Christians within our lines, they were not even dignified by +being mentioned. Most people inferred from this that by some means +even the extremists of the Chinese Government had realised that if all +the foreign Ministers were killed, it would be necessary for Europe to +sacrifice some members of the Imperial family.</p> + +<p>But the despatch, although its terms were trivial and even childish, +had a vast importance for us. It showed that something had happened +somewhere in the vague world beyond Peking—perhaps that armies were +arriving. We were reminded that we were still alive. A dignified reply +was sent, and the very next day came an astonishing Washington cipher +message, which has been puzzling us ever since. It was only three +words: "Communicate to bearer." No one can explain what these words +mean; even the American Minister has cudgelled his brains in vain, and +asked everybody's opinion. But about one thing there is no doubt—that +it comes straight from Washington untampered with, for these three +words are in a secret cipher, which only half a dozen of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>the highest +American officials in Washington understand, and in Peking there is no +one excepting the Minister himself who has the key.</p> + +<p>This is absolutely the first authentic sign we have had. If the reply +message ever gets through, public opinion may force our rescue....</p> + +<p>Finding that they could trust us, our own messenger has been followed +by Chinese Government messengers, who, tremblingly waving white flags, +march up to our barricades hand in their messages, and crouch down, +waiting to be given a safe-conduct back.</p> + +<p>There have been several such messages delivered at one point along our +long front while the rifle duel was continuing elsewhere with the same +monotony. Now those trumpets, gaining confidence, have brought +absolute silence.</p> + +<p>At first there was only this absolute silence. It seemed so odd and +curious after weeks of rifle-fire and booming of old-fashioned cannon, +that that alone was like a holiday. Then, as everyone seemed to +realise that it was a truce, men began standing up on their barricades +and waving white cloths to one another.</p> + +<p>Both sides did this for some time, and as no one fired, a mutual +inquisitiveness prompted men to climb over their entrenched positions +and walk out boldly into the open. Still the same friendliness.</p> + +<p>By midday friendliness and confidence had reached such a point, that +half our men were over the barricades, and had met the Chinese +soldiery on the neutral zone of ruins and rubbish extending between +our lines. All of us left our rifles behind, and stowed revolvers into +our shirts lest treachery suddenly surprised us and found us +defenceless. I placed an army revolver <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>in my trousers pocket, with a +vague idea that I would attempt the prairie trick of shooting through +my clothing if there was any need to resort to force. I soon found +that this was unnecessary.</p> + +<p>Boldly walking forward, we pushed right up to the Chinese barricades. +Nothing surprised us so much as to see the great access of strength to +the Chinese positions since the early days of the siege. Not only were +we now securely hedged in by frontal trenches and barricades, but +flanking such Chinese positions were great numbers of parallel +defences, designed solely with the object of battering our sortie +parties to pieces should we attempt to take the offensive again. +Lining these barricades and improvised forts were hundreds of men, all +with their faces bronzed by the sun, and with their heads encased in +black cloth fighting caps. Relieving the sombre aspect of this +headgear were numbers of brightly coloured tunics, betokening the +various corps to which this soldiery belonged. What a wonderful sight +they made! There were Tung Fu-hsiang's artillerymen, with violet +embroidered coats and blue trousers; dismounted cavalry detachments +belonging to the same commander in red and black tunics and red "tiger +skirts"; Jung Lu's Peking Field Force; Manchu Bannermen; provincial +levies and many others. All these men, standing up on the top of their +fortifications, made a most brilliant picture, and we looked long and +eagerly. I wish some painter of genius could have been there and +caught that message. For there were skulls and bones littering the +ground, and representing all that remained of the dead enemy after the +pariah dogs had finished with them. Broken rifles and thousands of +empty brass cartridge cases added to the battered look of this +fiercely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>contested area, and down the streets the remains of every +native house had been heaped together in rude imitation of a fort, +with jagged loopholes placed at intervals of eight or ten inches, +allowing any number of rifles to be brought into play against us under +secure cover. The men who had manned these defences had left their +rifles where they were, and by peering over we could see that the +majority of these fire-pieces were tied into position by means of +wooden forks so as to bear a converging fire on the exposed points of +our defences. Only then did I realise how much a protracted resistance +places an attacking force on the defensive. We were afraid of one +another. Sauntering about, some of the enemy were willing to enter +into conversation. A number of things they told filled us with +surprise, and made us begin to understand the complexity of the +situation around us. The Shansi levies and Tung Fu-hsiang's men—that +is, all the soldiery from the provinces—had but little idea of why +they were attacking us; they had been sent, they said, to prevent us +from breaking into the Palace and killing their Emperor.</p> + +<p>If the foreigners had not brought so many foreign soldiers into +Peking, there would have been no fighting. They did not want to +fight.... They did not want to be killed....</p> + +<p>Somebody tried to explain to them that the Boxers had brought it all +on. But to this they answered that the Boxers were finished, driven +away, discredited; there were none left in Peking, and why did we not +send our own soldiers away, who had been killing so many of them. Such +things they repeated time without number; it was their only point of +view.</p> + +<p>The morning passed away in this wise, but there were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>several +<i>contretemps</i> which nearly led to the spilling of blood. In one case, +an English marine tried to take a watermelon from a soldier, who was +very anxious to sell it; but as the latter would not give it up +without immediate payment, the marine thumped his head and then +knocked him over. Everyone rushed for their rifles, but some of us +shouted for silence, and going over to the marine, whispered to him to +keep quiet while we tied up his hands. We told him to march back into +our lines, and informed our audience that he would be beaten, and that +the man who had been knocked over would get a dollar. We managed by +this crude acting to save an open rupture, but it was plain that the +rank and file must not be allowed to mix. We managed eventually to +restore a semblance of good-fellowship by purchasing at very heavy +prices a great number of eggs. The women, the children, and the +wounded have been long in want of eggs and fresh food, and we knew +that these would do a great many people good.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon, as a result of this extraordinary fraternising, +a very singular thing occurred along the French front, where the +bitter fighting has rebounded into a hot friendship. A French +volunteer, who is as dare-devil as many of his friends, suddenly +climbed over the Chinese barricades and shouted back that he was going +away on a visit. They tried to make him return, but in spite of a +little hesitation, he went on climbing and getting farther and farther +away. Then he suddenly disappeared for good. Nobody expected to see +him alive again, and everybody put it down to a manifestation of the +incipient madness which is affecting a number of men....</p> + +<p>But two hours afterwards a letter came from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>French volunteer. It +merely said that he was in Jung Lu's camp, having an excellent time. +Very late in the evening he came back himself. In spite of the +foolhardiness of the whole thing his news was the most valuable we had +received.</p> + +<p>It shows us plainly that not only has something happened elsewhere, +but that the Boxer plan is miscarrying in Peking itself.</p> + +<p>The young Frenchman had been really well treated, fed with Chinese +cakes and fruit, and given excellent tea to drink. Then he had been +led direct to Jung Lu's headquarters, and closely questioned by the +generalissimo himself as to our condition, our provisions, and the +number of men we had lost. He had replied, he said, that we were +having a charming time, and that we only needed some ice and some +fruit to make us perfectly happy, even in the great summer heat. +Thereupon Jung Lu had filled his pockets with peaches and ordered his +servants to tie up watermelons in a piece of cloth for him to carry +back. Jung Lu finally bade him good-bye, with the significant words +that his own personal troops on whom he could rely would attempt to +protect the Legations, but added that it was very difficult to do so +as everyone was fearful for their own heads, and dare not show too +much concern for the foreigner. This makes it absolutely plain that +this extraordinary armistice is the result of a whole series of events +which we cannot even imagine. It is like that curious affair of the +Board of Truce, but much more definite. It means ... what the devil +does it mean? After S——'s mysterious disappearance, when he was only +a day's march from Peking—month ago—it is useless to attempt any +speculations. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>How long will this last?... In the evening, when we +had exhausted the discussion of every possible theory, somebody +remarked on the silence. I will always remember how, for some +inexplicable reason, that remark annoyed me immensely—made me nervous +and angry. Perhaps it was that after weeks of rifle-fire and cannon +booming, the colourless monotone of complete silence was +nerve-destroying. Yes, it must have been that; a perpetual, +aggravating, insolent silence is worse than noise.... But this will +mean nothing to you; experience alone teaches.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE RESUMPTION OF A SEMI-DIPLOMATIC LIFE</h3> + + +<p class="date">20th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>The third phase continues unabated, with nothing even to enliven it. +Despatches in Chinese from nowhere in particular continue to drop in +from the Tsung-li Yamen; pen had been put to paper, and the despatches +have been duly answered, leaving the position unchanged. I have been +even requisitioned, rebelliously, I will confess, to turn my hand to +despatch writing; but my fingers, so long accustomed only to +rifle-bolts and triggers, and a clumsy wielding of entrenching tools, +produce such a hideous caligraphic result, that I have been coldly +excused from further attempts. It is incredible that one should so +easily forget how to write properly, but it is nevertheless +true—eight weeks in the trenches will break the best hand in the +world. An ordinary man would think that what I write now is in a +secret cipher!</p> + +<p>But of diplomatic life. All these despatches which come in are in the +same monotonous tone; they are entreaties and appeals to evacuate the +Legations and place ourselves under the benevolent care of the +Tsung-li Yamen, to come speedily before it is too late. Of course, not +even our Ministers will go.</p> + +<p>But there is more news, although it is not quite cheering or definite. +On the 18th the Japanese received a message direct from Tientsin, +giving information to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>effect that thirty thousand troops were +assembling there for a general advance on Peking. They say that ten +days or a fortnight may see us relieved, but somehow the Japanese are +not very hopeful.</p> + +<p>On this same date came a secretary from the Tsung-li Yamen in person, +accompanied by a trembling <i>t'ingoh'ai,</i> or card-bearer, frantically +waving the white flag of truce. They must been very frightened, for +never have I seen such convulsiveness. The secretary, walking quickly +with spasmodic steps, held tight to the arm of his official servant, +and made him wave, wave, wave that white flag of truce until it became +pitiful.</p> + +<p>Thus preceded, the Tsung-li Yamen secretary advanced to the main-gate +blockhouse of the British Legation, where he was curtly stopped, given +a chair, and told to await the arrival of the Ministers, or such as +proposed to see him. Seated just outside this evil-smelling +dungeon—for the blockhouse, encased in huge sandbags, is full of dirt +and ruins and has many smells—the feelings of this representative of +the Chinese Government must have been charmingly mixed. Near by were +grimy and work-worn men, in all manner of attire, with their rifles; +in the dry canal alongside were rude structures of brick and +overturned. Peking carts, line upon line, thrown down and heaped up to +block the enemy's long-expected charges; and on all sides were such +stenches and refuse—all the flotsam and jetsam cast up by our sea of +troubles. Until then I did not realise how many carcases, fragments of +broken weapons, empty cartridge cases, broken bottles, torn clothing, +and a hundred other things were lying about. It was a sordid picture. +Presently the British Minister, in his capacity of commander-in-chief +and protector of the other Ministers, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>came out and took his seat by +the side of his guest, an interpreter standing beside him to help the +interview. Then the French Minister approached and insinuated himself +into the droll council of peace; the Spanish Minister, as <i>doyen</i>, +also appeared, and one or two others. But those Ministers who are +without Legations, who so uncomfortably resemble their colleagues at +home—those without portfolios—formed a group in the middle distance, +humble as men only are who have to rely upon bounty. I saw the Belgian +Minister and the Italian Charge for the first time for several weeks. +My own chief was also there, rubbing his hands, trying to seem +natural. The interview proceeded apace, and as far as we could judge +there were no noticeable results.</p> + +<p>There were assurances on both sides, regrets, the crocodile tears of +diplomacy, and vague threats. All our Ministers seemed comforted to +feel that diplomacy still existed—that there was still a world in +which protocols were binding. And yet nothing definite could be +learned from this Yamen secretary. He said that everyone would be +protected, but that the "bandits" were still very strong. After this +official interview, other private interviews took place. Buglers and +orderlies from the Chinese generals around us trooped in on us for +unknown reasons. Three came over the German barricades, and were led +blindfolded to the British Legation to be cross-questioned and +examined. One trumpeter said that his general wished for an interview +with one of our generals at the great Ha-ta Gate, where were his +headquarters. He wished to discuss military matters. Other men came in +a big deputation to the little Japanese colonel, and said they wanted +an interview too. It means the temporary resumption of a species of +diplo<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>matic life. I suppose it is in the air, and everybody likes the +change. Yesterday, too, came another despatch from Prince Ching and +others—as these letters are now always curiously signed, the lesser +men hiding their identity in this way—asking the Ministers once more +to do something impossible; and once more a despatch has gone back, +saying that we are perfectly happy to remain where we are, only we +would like some vegetables and fruit.... And so, to-day, four +cartloads of melons and cabbages have actually come with the Empress +Dowager's own compliments. The melons looked beautifully red and ripe, +and the cabbages of perfect green after this drab-coloured life. But +many people would not eat of this Imperial gift; they feared being +poisoned. More despatches from Europe have also been +transmitted—notably a cipher one to the French Minister, saying that +fifteen thousand French troops have left France. Evidently a change +has taken place somewhere.</p> + +<p>But while these <i>pourparlers</i> are proceeding, some of us are not at +all quieted. Fortification of the inner lines is going on harder than +ever. The entire British Legation has now walls of immense strength, +with miniature blockhouses at regular intervals, and a system of +trenches. If our advanced posts have to fall back they may be able to +hold this Legation for a few days in spite of the artillery fire. +French digging, in the form of very narrow and very deep cuts designed +to stop the enemy's possible mining, is being planned and carried out +everywhere, and soon the general asylum will be even more secure than +it has been since the beginning. Undoubtedly we are just marking +time—stamping audibly with our diplomatic feet to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>reassure +ourselves, and to show that we are still alive. For in spite of all +this apparent friendliness, which was heralded with such an outburst +of shaking hands and smiling faces, there have already been a number +of little acts of treachery along the lines, showing that the old +spirit lurks underneath just as strong.</p> + +<p>In the Northern Hanlin posts which skirt the British Legation, a +black-faced Bannerman held up a green melon in one hand, and signalled +with the other to one of our men to advance and receive this gift. Our +man dropped his rifle, and was sliding a leg over his barricade, when +with a swish a bullet went through the folds of his shirt—the nearest +shave he had ever had. The volunteer dropped back to his side, and +then, after, a while, waved an empty tin in his hand as a notice that +he desired a resumption of friendly relations. The Chinese brave +cautiously put his head up, and once again, with a crack, the +compliment was returned, and the soldier was slightly wounded, and now +we only peer through our loopholes and are careful of our heads. The +novelty of the armistice is wearing off, and we feel that we are only +gaining time.</p> + +<p>Still, we are improving our position. There is a more friendly feeling +among the commands in our lines, and the various contingents are being +redistributed. By bribing the Yamen messenger, copies of the <i>Peking +Gazette</i> have been obtained, and from these it is evident that +something has happened. For all the decreeing and counter-decreeing of +the early Boxer days have begun again, and the all-powerful Boxers +with their boasted powers are being rudely treated. It is evident that +they are no longer believed in; that the situation in and around +Peking is changing from day to day. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>Boxers, having shown +themselves incompetent, are reaping the whirlwind. They must soon +entirely disappear.</p> + +<p>It is even two weeks since the last one was shot outside the Japanese +lines at night, and now there is nothing but regular soldiery encamped +around us. This last Boxer was a mere boy of fifteen, who had stripped +stark naked and smeared himself all over with oil after the manner of +Chinese thieves, so that if he came into our clutches no hands would +be able to hold him tight. The most daring ones have always been boys. +He had crept fearlessly right up to the Japanese posts armed only with +matches and a stone bottle of kerosene, with which he purposed to set +buildings on fire and thus destroy a link in our defences. This is +always the Boxer policy. But the Japanese, as usual, were on the +alert. They let the youthful Boxer approach to within a few feet of +their rifles—a thin shadow of a boy faintly stirring in the thick +gloom. Then flames of fire spurted out, and a thud told the sentries +that their bullets had gone home.</p> + +<p>When morning came we went out and inspected the corpse, and marvelled +at the terrible muzzle velocity of the modern rifle. One bullet had +gone through the chest, and tiny pin-heads of blood near the +breast-bone and between the shoulders was all the trace that had been +left. But the second pencil of nickel-plated lead had struck the +fanatic on the forearm, and instead of boring through, had knocked out +a clean wedge of flesh, half an inch thick and three inches deep, just +as you would chip out a piece of wood from a plank. There was nothing +unseemly in it all, death had come so suddenly. The blows had been so +tremendous, and death so instantaneous, that there had been no +bleeding.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was extraordinary.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, from the Pei-t'ang we can still plainly hear a distant +cannonade sullenly booming in the hot air. We have breathing space, +but they, poor devils are still being thundered at. No one can +understand how they have held out so long.</p> + +<p>Our losses, now that we have time to go round and find out accurately, +seem appalling. The French have lost forty-two killed and wounded out +of a force of fifty sailors and sixteen volunteers; the Japanese, +forty-five out of a band of sixty sailors and Japanese and +miscellaneous volunteers; the Germans have thirty killed and wounded +out of fifty-four; and in all there have been one hundred and seventy +casualties of all classes. Many of the slightly wounded have returned +already to their posts, but these men have nothing like the spirit +they had before they were shot.</p> + +<p>The shell holes and number of shells fired are also being counted up. +The little Hotel de Pékin, standing high up just behind the French +lines, has been the most struck. It is simply torn to pieces and has +hundreds of holes in it. Altogether some three thousand shells have +been thrown at us and found a lodgment. The wreckage round the outer +fringe is appalling, and in this present calm scarcely believable. +Another three thousand shells will bring everything flat to the +ground.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII</h2> + +<h3>DIPLOMACY CONTINUES</h3> + + +<p class="date">24th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>The situation is practically unchanged, and there is devilish little +to write about. During the last two or three days no Chinese soldiers +have been coming in to parley with us, except in one or two isolated +instances. Cautious reconnaissances of two or three men creeping out +at a time, pushing out as far as possible, have discovered that the +enemy is nothing like as numerous as he was at the beginning of this +armistice.</p> + +<p>Some of his barricades seem even abandoned, and stand lonely and quite +silent without any of the gaudily clothed soldiery to enliven them by +occasionally standing up and waving us their doubtful greetings. But, +curious contradiction, although some barricades have been practically +abandoned, others are being erected very cautiously, very quietly, and +without any ostentation, as if the enemy were preparing for +eventualities which he knows must inevitably occur. Sometimes, too, +there is even a little crackle of musketry in some remote corner, +which remains quite unexplained. A secret traffic in eggs and +ammunition is still going on with renegade soldiery from Tung +Fu-hsiang's camp; but no longer can these things be purchased openly, +for a Chinese commander has beheaded several men for this treachery, +and threatens to resume fighting if his soldiers are tampered with.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p> + +<p>But there is another piece of curious news. A spy has come in and +offered to report the movements of the European army of relief, which +he alleges has already left Tientsin and is pushing back dense bodies +of Chinese troops. This offer has been accepted, and the man has been +given a sackful of dollars from Prince Su's treasure-rooms. He is to +report every day, and to be paid as richly as he cares if he gives us +the truth. Some people say he can only be a liar, who will trim his +sails to whatever breezes he meets. But the Japanese, who have +arranged with him, are not so sceptical; they think that something of +importance may be learned.</p> + +<p>Down near the Water-Gate, which runs under the Tartar Wall, the +miserable natives imprisoned by our warfare are in a terrible state of +starvation. Their bones are cracking through their skin; their eyes +have an insane look; yet nothing is being done for them. They are +afraid to attempt escape even in this quiet, as the Water-Gate is +watched on the outside night and day by Chinese sharpshooters. It is +the last gap leading to the outer world which is still left open. +Tortured by the sight of these starving wretches, who moan and mutter +night and day, the posts near by shoot down dogs and cows and drag +them there. They say everything is devoured raw with cannibal-like +cries....</p> + +<p>The position is therefore unchanged. We have had a week's quiet, and +some letters from the Tsung-li Yamen, which assures us of their +distinguished consideration, yet we are just as isolated and as uneasy +as we were before. This solitude is becoming killing.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE UNREST GROWS AND DIPLOMACY CONTINUES</h3> + + +<p class="date">27th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is not so peaceful as it was. Trumpet calls have been blaring +outside; troops have been seen moving in big bodies with great banners +in their van; the Imperial world of Peking is in great tumult; the +soldier-spy alleges new storms must be brewing.</p> + +<p>In spite of this, however, the Tsung-li Yamen messengers now come and +go with a certain regularity. This curious diplomatic correspondence +must be piling up. Even the messengers, who at first suffered such +agonies of doubt as they approached our lines, frantically waving +their flags of truce and fearing our rifles, are now quite accustomed +to their work, and are becoming communicative in a cautious, curious +Chinese way which hints at rather than boldly states. They tell us +that our barricades can only be approached with some sense of safety +from the eastern side—that is, the Franco-German quarter; in other +quarters they may be fired on and killed by their own people. The +Peking troops, who can be still controlled by Prince Ching and the +Tsung-li Yamen, are on the eastern side of the enclosing squares of +barricades; elsewhere there are field forces from other +provinces—men who cannot be trusted, and who would massacre the +messengers as soon as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>they would us, although they are clad in +official dress and represent the highest authority in the Empire. This +position is very strange.</p> + +<p>But more ominous than all the trumpet calls and the large movements of +troops which have been spied from the top of the lofty Tartar Wall, +are the tappings and curious little noises underground. Everywhere +these little noises are being heard, always along the outskirts of our +defence. It must be that the mining of the French Legation is looked +upon as so successful, that the Chinese feel that could they but reach +every point of our outworks with black powder placed in narrow +subterranean passages, they would speedily blow us into an ever +narrower ring, until there was only that left of us which could be +calmly destroyed by shells. We now occupy such an extended area, and +are so well entrenched, that shelling, although nerve-wracking, has +lost almost all its power and terror. Were Chinese commanders united +in their purpose and their men faithful to them, a few determined +rushes would pierce our loose formation. As it is, it is our +salvation. In the quiet of the night all the outposts hear this +curious tapping. It is heard along the French lines, along the German +lines, along the Japanese lines, and all round the north of the +British Legation. Were we to remain quiescent the armistice might be +suddenly broken some day by all our fighting men being hoisted into +the air. Our counter-action has, however, already commenced.</p> + +<p>For while the enemy is pushing his lines cunningly and rapidly under +our walls and outworks, we are running out counter-mines under his—at +least, we are attempting this by plunging a great depth into the +earth, and only beginning to drive horizontally many feet <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>below the +surface line. Hundreds of men are on this work, but the Peking soil is +not generous; it is, indeed, a cursed soil. On top there are thick +layers of dust—that terrible Peking dust which is so rapidly +converted into such clinging slush by a few minutes' rain. Then +immediately below, for eight feet or so, there is a curious soil full +of stones and <i>débris</i>, which must mean something geologically, but +which no one can explain. Finally, at about a fathom and a half there +is a sea of despond—the real and solid substratum, thick, tightly +bound clay, which has to be pared off in thin slices just as you would +do with very old cheese. This is work which breaks your hands and your +back. Somebody must do it, however; the same men who do everything +help this along as well....</p> + +<p>With all this mining going on many curious finds are being made, which +give something to talk about. In one place, ten feet below the +surface, hundreds and hundreds of ancient stone cannon-balls have been +found which must go back very many centuries. Some say they are six +hundred years and more old, because the Mongol conqueror, Kublai Khan, +who built the Tartar City of Peking, lived in the thirteenth century, +and these cannon-balls lie beneath where tilled fields must then have +been. Are they traces of a forgotten siege? In other places splendid +drains have been bared—drains four feet high and three broad, which +run everywhere. Once, when Marco Polo was young, Peking must have been +a fit and proper place, and the magnificent streets magnificently +clean. Now ...!</p> + +<p>To-day the soldier-spy has brought in news that the Court is preparing +to flee, because of the approach of our avenging armies, and that the +moving troops and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>the hundreds of carts which can be seen picking +their way through the burned and ruined Ch'ien Men great street in the +Chinese city will all be engaged in this flight. Our troops are +advancing steadily, he says, driving everything before them. Still no +one believes these stories very much. We have had six weeks of it now +and several distinct phases. Somehow it seems impossible that the +whole tragedy should end in this unfinished way—that thousands of +European troops should march in unmolested and find us as we are.... +There is practically no day duty now and very easy work at night. One +can have a good sleep now, but even this seems strange and out of +place.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST REAL NEWS</h3> + + +<p class="date">28th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Something has again happened, something of the highest importance. A +courier from Tientsin has arrived at last—a courier who slipped into +our lines, delivered his quill of a message which had been rolled up +and plaited into his hair for many days, and is now sitting and +fanning himself—a thin slip of a native boy, who has travelled all +the way down that long Tientsin road and all the way back again for a +very small earthly reward. A curious figure this messenger bringing +news from the outside world made as he sat calmly fanning himself with +the stoicism of his race. Nobody hurried him or questioned him much +after he had delivered his paper; he was left to rest himself, and +when he was cool he began to speak. I wish you could have heard him; +it seemed to me at once a message and a sermon—a sermon for those who +are so afraid. The little pictures this boy dropped out in jerks +showed us that there were worse terrors than being sealed in by +brickwork. He had been twenty-four days travelling up and down the +eighty miles of the Tientsin road, and four times he had been caught, +beaten, and threatened with death. Everywhere there were marauding +bands of Boxers; every village was hung with red cloth and pasted with +Boxer legends; and each time he had been captured he had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>been cruelly +beaten, because he had no excuse. Once he was tied up and made to work +for days at a village inn. Then he escaped at night, and went on +quickly, travelling by night across the fields. Somehow, by stealing +food, he finally reached Tientsin. The native city was full of Chinese +troops and armed Boxers; beyond were the Europeans. There was nothing +but fighting and disorder and a firing of big guns. By moving slowly +he had broken into the country again, and gained an outpost of +European troops, who captured him and took him into the camps. Then he +had delivered his message, and received the one he had brought back. +That is all; it had taken twenty-four days. This he repeated many +times, for everybody came and wished to hear. It was plain that many +felt secretly ashamed, and wished that there would be time to redeem +their reputations. There would be that!</p> + +<p>For about then some one came out from headquarters and posted the +translation of that quill of a cipher message, and a dense crowd +gathered to see when the relief would march in. March in! The message +from an English Consul ran:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Your letter of the 4th July received. Twenty-four thousand troops +landed and 19,000 at Tientsin. General Gaselee expected at Taku +to-morrow; Russians at Pei-tsang. Tientsin city under foreign +government. Boxer power exploded here. Plenty of troops on the way +if you can keep yourselves in food. Almost all the ladies have left +Tientsin."</p></div> + +<p>I suppose it was cruel to laugh, but laugh I did with a few others. +Never has a man been so abused as was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>that luckless English Consul +who penned such a fatuous message. The spy had already marched our +troops half way and more; even the pessimistic allowed that they must +have started; an authentic message showed clearly that it was folly +and imagination. We would have to have weeks more of it, perhaps even +a whole month. The people wept and stormed, and soon lost all +enthusiasm for the poor messenger boy who had been so brave.</p> + +<p>Two hours afterwards I found him still fanning himself and cooling +himself. He was quite alone; most people had rather he had never come. +Yet the message has been heeded. The significant phrase is that we +must keep ourselves in food. Ponies are running short; there is only +sufficient grain for three weeks' rations; so if there is another +month, it will be a fair chance that a great many die for lack of +food. Lists are therefore being made of everything eatable there is, +and all private supplies are to be commandeered in a few days. People +are, of course, making false lists and hiding away a few things. If +there is another month of it there will be some very unpleasant +scenes—yes, some very unpleasant scenes.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX</h2> + +<h3>THE THIRD PHASE CONTINUES</h3> + + +<p class="date">30th July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>From the north that dull booming of guns ever continues. The Pei-t'ang +is still closely besieged, and no news comes as to how long +Monseigneur F——, with his few sailors and his many converts, can +hold out, or why they are exempted from this strange armistice, which +protects us temporarily. Nothing can be learned about them.</p> + +<p>And yet our own armistice, in spite of Tsung-li Yamen despatches and +the mutual diplomatic assurances, cannot continue for ever. Barricade +building and mining prove that. To-day the last openings have been +closed in on us for some curious reason, and the stretch of street +which runs along under the pink Palace walls and across the Northern +canal bridge has been securely fortified with a very powerful +barricade. Outside the Water-Gate the Chinese sharpshooters have dug +also a trench....</p> + +<p>This last barricade was not built without some attempt on our part to +stop such a menacing step, for we tried with all our might, by +directing a heavy rifle-fire, and at last dragging the Italian gun and +a machine-gun into position, to make the barricade-builders' task +impossible. But it was all in vain, and now we are neatly encased in a +vast circle of bricks and timber; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>we are absolutely enclosed and shut +in, and we can never break through.</p> + +<p>Of course this has been a violation of the armistice, for it was +mutually agreed that neither side should continue offensive +fortification work, or push closer, and that violation would entail a +reopening of rifle and gun fire. We reopened our fire for a short +interval, but little good that did us. We lost two men in the +operation, for an Italian gunner was shot through the hand and made +useless for weeks, and a volunteer was pinked in both shoulders, and +may have to lose one arm. After that we stopped firing, for those +bleeding men showed us how soon our defence would have melted away had +we not even this questionable armistice.</p> + +<p>Very soon there was a partial explanation of why this immense +barricade had been built. Late in the afternoon Chinese troops began +to stream past at a trot under cover of the structure. First there +were only infantrymen, whose rifles and banners could just be seen +from some of our lookout posts on the highest roofs. But presently +came artillery and cavalry. Everybody could see those, although the +men bent low. Unendingly they streamed past, until the alarm became +general. Even in Peking, quite close to us, there were thousands of +soldiery. When the others were driven in off the Tientsin road it +would be our doom.</p> + +<p>From the top of the Tartar Wall came the same reports. Our outposts +saw nothing but moving troops picking their way through the ruins of +the Ch'ien Men great street—troops moving both in and out, and +accompanied by long tails of carts bearing their impedimenta. Yet it +was impossible to trace the movements of the corps streaming past +under cover of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>the newly built barricade. The flitting glimpses we +got of them as they swarmed past were not sufficient to allow any +identification. Perhaps they were passing out of the city; perhaps +they were being massed in the Palace; perhaps.... Anything was +possible, and, as one thought, imperceptibly the atmosphere seemed to +become more stifled, as if a storm was about to break on us, and we +knew our feebleness. Yet we are strong as we can ever be. The +fortification work has gone on without a break. It has become +unending....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI</h2> + +<h3>MORE DIPLOMACY</h3> + + +<p class="date">31st July, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>More despatches have been sent by our diplomats to the Tsung-li Yamen, +complaining about all the ominous signs we see around us, and asking +for explanations. Explanations—they are so easy to give! Every +question has been promptly answered, even though the Yamen itself is +probably only just managing to keep its head above the muddy waters of +revolution which surge around. Listen to the replies. The sound of +heavy guns we hear in the north of the city are due to the +government's orders to exterminate the Boxers and rebels, who have +been attacking the Pei-t'ang Cathedral and harassing the converts. The +great barricade across the Northern canal bridge was built solely to +protect the Chinese soldiery from the accuracy of our fire, which is +greatly feared. As for the mining, our ears must have played us false. +None is going on.</p> + +<p>Such was the gist of the answers which have been promptly sent in. +These answers and this correspondence give our diplomats satisfaction, +I suppose, but most people think that they are making themselves more +undignified than they have been ever since this storm broke on us. The +Yamen can in any case do nothing; it is merely a consultative or +deliberative body of no importance. Probably exactly the same type of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>despatches are being sent to the commanders of the relieving columns +at Tientsin.</p> + +<p>There being so little for the rank and file to do or talk about at the +present moment, there is endless gossip and scandal going on. The +subject of eggs is one of the most burning ones! Great numbers of eggs +are being obtained by the payment of heavy sums to some of the more +friendly soldiery around us, who steal in with baskets and sacks, and +receive in return rolls of dollars, and these eggs are being +distributed by a committee. Some people are getting more than others. +Everybody professes tremendous rage because a certain lady with +blue-black hair is supposed to have used a whole dozen in the washing +of her hair! She is one of those who have not been seen or heard of +since the rifles began to speak. There are lots of that sort, all well +nourished and timorous, while dozens of poor missionary women are +suffering great hardships. Several people who had relations in Paris +thirty years ago tell me it was the same thing then, and that it will +always be the same thing. This story of the eggs, however, has had one +immediate result. People are hiding away more provisions and marking +them off on their lists as eaten. What is the use of depriving one's +self for the common good later on under such circumstances? What, +indeed!</p> + +<p>There is another sign which is not pleasing any one. An official diary +is being now written up under orders of the headquarters. It will be +full of our Peking diplomatic half-truths. But, worst of all, our only +correspondent, M——, who was shot the other day and is getting +convalescent, has been taken under the wing of our commander-in-chief, +and his lips will be sealed by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>the time we get out—if ever we get +out. With an official history and a discreet independent version, no +one will ever understand what bungling there has been, and what +culpability. It is our chicken-hearted chiefs, and they alone, who +should be discredited. With a few exceptions, they are more afraid +than the women, and never venture beyond the British Legation. +Everything is left to the younger men, whose economic value is +smaller! I hope I may live to see the official accounts....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII</h2> + +<h3>THE WORLD BEYOND OUR BRICKS</h3> + + +<p class="date">2nd August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>A new month has dawned, and with it have come shoals of letters +bringing us exact tidings from the outer world. Yesterday one +messenger slipped in bearing three letters. To-day another has arrived +with six missives—making nine letters in all for those who have had +nothing at all except a couple of cipher messages for two entire +months. Those nine letters meant as much to us as a winter's mail by +the overland route in the old days....</p> + +<p>For as each one confirms and adds to the news of the others, we can +now form a complete and well-connected story of almost everything that +has taken place. We even begin to understand why S—— and his two +thousand sailors never reached us. There have been so many things +doing.</p> + +<p>But all minor details are forgotten in the fact that there is absolute +and definite news of the relief columns—news which is repeated and +confirmed nine times over and cannot be false this time. The columns +were forming for a general advance as the letters were sent off. The +advance guard was leaving immediately, the main body following two +days later; and the whole of the international forces would arrive +before the middle of the month of August. That is what the letters +said. Also, the American Minister's cipher <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>message had got through, +and was now known to the entire world. Everybody's eyes were fixed on +Peking. There was nothing else spoken of. That made us stronger than +anything else. Poor human nature—we are so egotistical!</p> + +<p>But there were other items of news. For the first time we learned that +Tientsin has had a siege and bombardment of its own; that all +Manchuria is in flames; that the Yangtse Valley has been trembling on +the brink of rebellion; that Tientsin city has at last been captured +by European troops and a provisional government firmly established; +and that many of the high Chinese officials have committed suicide in +many parts of China. It is curious what a shock all this news gave, +and how many people behaved almost as if their minds had become +unhinged. But then we have had two months of it, and in two months you +can travel far. In the hospital it was noticed, too, that all the +wounded became more sick.... It has been decided that any further news +must be only gradually divulged, and that despatches which give +absolute details can no longer be posted on the Bell-tower....</p> + +<p>A network of ruined houses around the old Mongol market have just been +seized and occupied by a volunteer force. This is the last weak spot +there is—a half-closed gap, which could be rushed by bodies of men +coming in from the Ch'ien Men Gate and ordered to attack us. This new +angle of native houses are being sandbagged and loopholed. Both sides, +defenders and attacking forces, are now as ready as possible. What is +going to happen? I am mightily tired of speculating and of writing.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII</h2> + +<h3>TRIFLES</h3> + + +<p class="date">4th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>There is now, and has been for the best part of the last forty-eight +hours, outpost shooting on all sides, which remains quite unexplained. +Listen how it happens.</p> + +<p>You are sitting at a loophole, half asleep, perhaps, during the +daytime, when crack! a bullet sends a shower of brick chips and a +powder-puff of dust over your head. You swear, maybe, and quietly +continue dozing. Then come two or three rifle reports and more dust. +This time the thing seems more serious, it may mean something; so you +reach for your glasses and carefully survey the scene beyond through +your loophole. To remain absolutely hidden is the order of the day. So +there is nothing much to be seen. Far away, and very near, lie the +enemy's barricades, some running almost up to your own, but quite +peaceful and silent, others standing up frowningly hundreds of yards +off, monuments erected weeks ago. These latter are so distant that +they are unknown quantities. Then just as you are about to give it up +as a bad job, you see the top of a rifle barrel glistening in the sun. +You ... bang! perilously near your glasses another bullet has struck. +So you pull up your rifle by the strap, open out your loophole a +little by removing some of the bricks, and carefully and slowly you +send the answering message at the enemy's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>head. If you have great +luck a faint groan or a distant shout of pain may reward your efforts; +but you can never be quite sure whether you have got home on your +rival or not. Loophole shooting is very tricky, and the very best +shots fire by the hour in vain. I have seen that often....</p> + +<p>Yesterday I directly disobeyed orders by opening the ball myself. I +had been posted in the early morning very close to one of the enemy's +banners—perhaps not more than forty feet away—and this gaudy flag, +defiantly flapping so near the end of my nose, must have incensed me; +for almost before I had realised what I was doing I was very slowly +and very carefully aiming at the bamboo staff so as to split it in two +and bring down the banner with a run. I fired three shots in ten +minutes and missed in an exasperating fashion. It is the devil's own +job to do really accurate work with an untested government rifle. But +my fourth shot was more successful; it snapped the staff neatly +enough, and the banner floated to the ground just outside the +barricade.</p> + +<p>This Chinese outpost must have been but feebly manned, as, indeed, all +the outposts have been since the armistice, for it was fully ten +minutes before anything occurred. Then an arm came suddenly over and +pecked vainly at the banner. I snapped rapidly, missed, and the arm +flicked back. Another five minutes passed, and then a piece of curved +bamboo moved over the barricade and hunted about. It was no use, +however, the arm had to come, too. I waited until the brown hand +clasping the bamboo was low and then pumped a quick shot at it. A yell +of pain answered me; the bamboo was dropped, the arm disappeared. I +had drawn blood.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nothing now occurred for a quarter of an hour, and I heard not a +sound. Then suddenly half a dozen arms clasping bamboos appeared at +different points, and as soon as I had fired six heads swooped out and +directed this bamboo fishing. In a trice they had harpooned the flag, +and before I could fire again it was back in their camp. I had been +beaten! Then, as a revenge, I was steadily pelted with lead for more +than half an hour and had to lie very low. They searched for me with +their missiles with devilish ingenuity. This firing became so +persistent that one of our patrols at last appeared and crept forward +to me from the line of main works behind. Only by ingenious lying did +I escape from being reported....</p> + +<p>Probably incidents like this account for the outpost duels which are +hourly proceeding, in spite of all the Tsung-li Yamen despatches and +the unending mutual assurances. Many of our men shoot immediately they +see a Chinese rifle or a Chinese head in the hopes of adding another +scalp to their tale. In any case, this does no harm. It seems to me +that only the resolution of the outposts, acting independently, and +sometimes even in defiance to orders from headquarters, has kept the +enemy so long at bay. The rifle distrusts diplomacy.</p> + +<p>This diplomatic correspondence with the Yamen is rapidly accumulating. +Many documents are now coming through from European Foreign Offices in +the form of cipher telegrams, that are copied out by the native +telegraphists in the usual way. No one is being told what is in these +documents; we can only guess. The Yamen covers each message with a +formal despatch in Chinese, generally begging the Ministers to commit +themselves to the care of the government. They now <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>even propose that +everyone should be escorted to Tientsin—at once. And yet we have +learned from copies of the <i>Peking Gazette</i> that two members of the +Yamen were executed exactly seven days ago for recommending a mild +policy and making an immediate end of the Boxer <i>régime</i>. It is thus +impossible to see how it will end. Our fate must ultimately be decided +by a number of factors, concerning which we know nothing.</p> + +<p>This breathing space is giving time, however, which is not being +entirely wasted on our part. At several points we have managed to +enter into secret relations with some of the Chinese commands, and to +induce traitors to begin a secret traffic in ammunition and food +supplies....</p> + +<p>It is curious how it is done. By tunnelling through walls and houses +in neglected corners, protected ways have been made into some of the +nests of half-ruined native houses. And by spending many bags of +dollars, friendship has first been bought and then supplies.</p> + +<p>The Japanese have been the most successful. Instead of killing the +soldier-spy, who had been selling them false news, they pardoned him +and enlisted him in this new cause. He has been very useful, and +arranged matters with the enemy....</p> + +<p>The other night I crept out through the secret way to the Japanese +supply house to see how it was done. There were only two little +Japanese in there squatting on the ground, with several revolvers +lying ready. A shaded candle just allowed you to distinguish the torn +roof, the wrecked wooden furniture. Nobody spoke a word, and we all +listened intently.</p> + +<p>A full hour must have passed before a very faint noise was heard, and +then I caught a discreet scratch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>ing. It was the signal. One of the +little men got up and crawled forward to the door like a dog on his +hands and knees. Then I heard a revolver click—a short pause, and the +noise of a door being opened. Then there was a tap—tap—tap, like the +Morse code being quietly played, and the revolver clicked down again. +It was the right man. He, too, crawled in like a dog; got up +painfully, as if he were very stiff, and silently began unloading. +Then I understood why he was so stiff; he was loaded from top to +bottom with cartridges.</p> + +<p>It took a quarter of an hour for everything to be taken out and +stacked on the floor. He had carried in close on six hundred rounds of +Mauser ammunition, and for every hundred he received the same weight +in silver. This man was a military cook, who crept round and robbed +his comrades as they lay asleep, not a hundred yards from here. Of +course, he will be discovered one day and torn to pieces, but I have +just learned that by marvellous ingenuity and with the aid of a few of +his fellows thousands of eggs have been brought in by him. It is a +curious business, and adds yet another strange element to this +strangest of lives.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV</h2> + +<h3>DIPLOMATIC CONFIDENCES</h3> + + +<p class="date">6th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Firing has been more persistent and more general during the last two +days, although the armistice ostensibly still continues in the same +way as before. A number of our men have been wounded, and two or three +even killed during the past week. It is an extraordinary state of +affairs, but better than a general attack all along the line. We have +no right to complain. The day before yesterday several Russians were +badly wounded; yesterday a Frenchman was killed outright and a couple +of other men wounded; to-day three more have been hit. In spite of the +discharges from the hospitals, the numbers <i>hors de combat</i> remain the +same.</p> + +<p>To-day, too, trumpets are again blaring fiercely, and more and more +troops can be seen moving if one looks down from the Tartar Wall. Up +on the wall itself, however, all is dead quiet. It has been like that +for weeks. No men have been lost there.</p> + +<p>Neither is there any news of the thick relief columns which should be +advancing from Tientsin. In spite of the shoals of letters I have duly +recorded, assuring us of their immediate departure, the majority of us +have again become rather incredulous about our approaching relief. It +has become such a regular thing, this siege life, and all other kinds +of life are somehow so far away and so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>impossible after what we have +gone through, that we look upon the outer world as something +mythical.... Some men have their minds a little unhinged; two are +absolutely mad. One, a poor devil of a Norwegian missionary, who has +been living in misery for years in a vain effort to make converts, +became so dangerous long ago that he had to be locked up, and even +bound. But one night he managed to escape, climb our defences and +deliver himself up to the Chinese soldiery. They led him also to the +Manchu Generalissimo, Jung Lu, half suspecting that he was crazy. Jung +Lu questioned him closely as to our condition, and the Norwegian +divulged everything he knew. He said the Chinese fire had been too +high to do us very much harm; that they should drive low at us, and +remember the flat trajectory of modern weapons. After keeping him for +some hours and learning all he could, Jung Lu sent him back. The poor +devil, when he lurched in again, vacantly told the people in the +British Legation what he had said, and a number demanded that he be +shot for treason. If they once began doing that an end would never be +reached....</p> + +<p>Some go mad, too, during the fighting. It is always those who have too +much imagination. Thus, during a lull in the attacks against the +French lines, a Russian volunteer, with rifle and bandolier across his +back and a bottle of spirits in his hand, charged furiously at the +Chinese barriers with insane cries. No effort could be made to save +him, because hundreds of Chinese riflemen were merely waiting for an +opportunity to pick off our men. So the doomed Russian reached the +first Chinese barricade unmolested, put a leg over, and then fell back +with a terrible cry as a dozen rifles were emptied into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>his body. By +a miracle he picked himself up even in his dying condition, and made +another frantic effort to climb the obstacle. But more rifles were +then discharged, and finally the wretched man fell back quite +lifeless. Then over his body a fierce duel took place. Chinese +commanders having placed a price on European heads, these riflemen +were determined not to lose their reward. Man after man attempted to +drag in that dead body; but each time our men were too quick for them, +and a Chinese brave rolled over. In the end they hooked the corpse in +with long poles and it was seen no more.</p> + +<p>A yet more blood-curdling case is that of a British marine, who has +been hopelessly mad for weeks now. He shot and bayonetted a man in the +early part of the siege, and the details must have horrified him. They +say he first drove his bayonet in right up to the hilt through a +soldier's chest; and then, without withdrawing, emptied the whole of +the contents of his magazine into his victim, muttering all the time. +Now he lies repeating hour after hour, "How it splashes! how it +splashes!" and at night he shrieks and cries.... In that miserable +Chancery hospital, swept by rifle-fire and full of such cries and +groans, the nights have become dreaded, until it is a wonder the +wounded still live....</p> + +<p>Still, with all this, the Yamen messengers continue to come and go +with clockwork regularity. Yesterday the Chinese Government excelled +itself, and made some who have still a sense of humour left laugh +cynically. In an original official despatch—that is, not a mere +covering despatch—it politely informed the Italian <i>Chargé +d'Affaires</i> that King Humbert had been assassinated by a lunatic, and +it begged to convey the news with its most <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>profound condolences! +Perhaps, however, there was a wish to point a moral—a subtle moral +such as Chinese scholars love. Yes, on second thoughts that was rather +a clever despatch; in diplomacy the Chinese have nothing to learn....</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV</h2> + +<h3>THE PLOT AGAIN THICKENS</h3> + + +<p class="date">8th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Some strange deity is helping the Chinese Government. There is always +something appropriate to write about. Yesterday the Duke of Edinburgh +died. We were officially informed to that effect, after the King +Humbert manner, and the condolences were great. Yesterday, also, +during the evening, shelling suddenly commenced and the cannon-mouths +that have been leering at us from a distance in dull curiosity at +their inactivity have barked themselves hoarsely to life again. Thus, +while diplomacy still continues, shrapnel and segment are plunging +about. At times it really seems as if the Chinese Government had +succeeded in dividing us up into two distinct categories. It has tried +to save the diplomats from shells and bullets; since they remain with +the others they must share their fate.</p> + +<p>We listened to this cannonade with tightly pressed lips last night for +an hour and more, and, lying low, watched the splinters fly; and then, +just as the clamour appeared to be growing, it ceased as suddenly as +it had commenced, and the uproarious trumpets, that we know so well, +once more called off the attacking forces with their stentorian +voices. It seems as if an internecine warfare had begun outside our +lines—that the loosely jointed Chinese Government is also struggling +with itself. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>Thus legs and arms thrash around for a while and cause +chaos; then the brain reasserts its sway, and the limbs become quieted +and reposeful for a time. Never will there be such a siege again. I am +beginning to understand something of all its vast complexity, to know +that everybody is at once guilty and innocent, and that a strange +deity decrees that it must be so....</p> + +<p>For while we are beginning to be attacked fitfully, other strange +things have been observed from the Tartar Wall. There has been some +fighting and shooting in the burned and ruined Ch'ien Men great street +down below, and Chinese cavalry have been seen chasing and cutting +down red-coated men. A species of Communism may in the end rise from +the ashes of the ruined capital, or a new dynasty be proclaimed, or +nothing may happen at all, excepting that we shall die of starvation +in a few weeks....</p> + +<p>The native Christians in the Su wang-fu are already getting ravenous +with hunger, and are robbing us of every scrap of food they can garner +up. Their provisioning has almost broken down, in spite of every +effort, and the missionary committees and sub-committees charged with +their feeding are beginning to discriminate, they say. These vaunted +committees cannot but be a failure except in those things which +immediately concern the welfare of the committees themselves. The +feeble authority of headquarters, now that puny diplomacy has been so +busy, has become more feeble than it was in the first days, and, like +the Chinese Government, we, too, shall soon fall to pieces by an +ungumming process. Native children are now dying rapidly, and two +weeks more will see a veritable famine. The trees are even now all +stripped of their leaves; cats and dogs <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>are hunted down and rudely +beaten to death with stones, so that their carcases may be devoured. +Many of the men and women cling to life with a desperation which seems +wonderful, for some are getting hardly any food at all, and their ribs +are cracking through their skin. There is something wrong somewhere, +for while so many are half starving, the crowds of able-bodied +converts used in the fortification work are fairly well fed. Nobody +seems to wish to pay much attention to the question, although many +reports have been sent in. Perhaps, from one point of view, it is +without significance whether these useless people die or not. Hardly +any of the many non-combatant Europeans stir beyond the limits of the +British Legation, even with this lull. All sit there talking—talking +eternally and praying for relief, calculating our chances of holding +out for another two or three weeks, but never acting. A roll, indeed, +has been made at last, with every able-bodied man's name set down, and +a distribution table drawn up. But beyond that no action has been +taken, and the hundred and more men who might be added to our active +forces are allowed to do nothing.</p> + +<p>This might be all right were there not certain ominous signs around +us, which show that a change must soon come. For the enemy has planted +new banners on all sides of us, bearing the names of new Chinese +generals unknown to us. Audaciously driven into the ground but twenty +or thirty feet from our outposts, these gaudy flags of black and +yellow, and many other colours, flaunt us and mock us with the +protection assured by the Tsung-li Yamen. Still, those despatches +continue to come in, but the first interpreter of the French +Lega<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>tion, who sees some of them in the original, says that their tone +is becoming more surly and imperative.</p> + +<p>It is ominous, too, that the Chinese commands, which have been so +reinforced and are now of great strength, are so close to our outer +line that they heave over heavy stones in order to maim and hurt our +outposts without firing. All the outer barricades and trenches are +being hurriedly roofed in to protect us from this new danger. One of +our men, struck on the head with a twenty-pound stone, has been +unconscious ever since, and a great many many others are badly hurt in +other ways. The Chinese can be very ingenious devils if they wish, and +the score against them is piling up more and more.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI</h2> + +<h3>MORE MESSENGERS</h3> + + +<p class="date">10th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>At last some great news! Messengers from the relief columns have +actually arrived, and the columns themselves are only a few days' +march from Peking. What excitement there has been among the +non-combatant community; what handshaking; what embracing; what +fervent delight! This unique life is to end; we are to become +reasonably clean and quite ordinary mortals again, lost among the +world's population of fifteen hundred millions—undistinguished, +unknown—that is, if the relief gets in....</p> + +<p>The messengers came to us apparently from nowhere, walking in after +the Chinese manner, which is quite nonchalantly, and with the sublime +calm of the East. One of the first slid in and out of the enemy's +barricades with immense effrontery at dawn, and then climbed the +Japanese defences, and produced a little ball of tissue paper from his +left ear. Fateful news contained so long in that left ear! It was a +cipher despatch from General Fukishima, chief of the staff of the +relieving Japanese columns. It said that the advance guard would reach +the outskirts of Peking on the 13th or 14th, if all went well. +Heavens, we all said, as we calculated aloud, that meant only three or +four days more....</p> + +<p>This news was soon duplicated, for hardly had the first excitement +subsided when the news spread that a second <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>messenger from the +British General of the relieving forces had managed to force his way +through. It was a confirmation, was his message; three or four days +more.... But the messenger, when he spoke, had other things to say. He +had been sent out by us a week before by being lowered by ropes from +the Tartar Wall. Forty miles from Peking he had met Black cavalry and +Russian cavalry miles in advance of the other soldiery. They had +charged at him and captured him, and led him before generals and +officers.... The roads leading to Peking were littered with wounded +and disbanded Chinese soldiery; there had been much fighting, but the +natives could not withstand the foreigner—that is what their +compatriot said. Everybody was terrified by the Black soldiery from +India; they had come in the same way forty years before....</p> + +<p>So the relieving armies are truly rolling up on Peking. It seems +incredible and unreal, but it is undoubtedly true, and it must be +accepted as true....</p> + +<p>As if goaded by the terrors conjured up by these avenging armies, +which are now so close, the Tsung-li Yamen, in some last despatches, +has informed our Plenipotentiaries that it is decapitating wholesale +the soldiery that have been firing on us—that it wishes for personal +interviews with all our Ministers to arrange everything, so that there +may be no more misunderstandings later on. Vain hope! Numbers of +documents are coming in, and every Minister wishes to write something +in return—to show that with the return of normal conditions there +will be a return of importance. Somehow it seems to me that not one of +them can become important again in Peking. They have been too +ridiculous—politically, they are already all dead.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII</h2> + +<h3>THE ATTACKS RESUMED</h3> + + +<p class="date">12th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>All thoughts of relief have been pushed into the middle distance—and +even beyond—by the urgent business we have now on hand. For the +attacks have been suddenly resumed, and have been continuous, well +sustained, and far worse than anything we have ever experienced +before, even in the first furious days of the siege. What stupendous +quantities of ammunition have been loosed off on us during the past +forty-eight hours—what tons of lead and nickel! Some of our +barricades have been so eaten away by this fire, that there is but +little left, and we are forced to lie prone on the ground hour after +hour, not daring to move and not daring to send reliefs at the +appointed intervals. So intense has the rifle-fire been around the Su +Wang-fu and the French Legation lines, that high above the deafening +roar of battle a distinct and ominous snake-like hissing can be +heard—a hiss, hiss, hiss, that never ceases. It is the high-velocity +nickel-nosed bullet tearing through the air at lightning speed, and +spitting with rage at its ill success in driving home on some +unfortunate wretch. They hiss, hiss, hiss, hour after hour, without +stopping; and as undertone to that brutal hiss there is the roll of +the rifles themselves, crackling at us by the thousand like dry +fagots. At first this storm of sound paralyses you a little; then a +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>lust for battle gains you, and you steadily drive bullets through the +Chinese loopholes in the hope of finding a Chinese face. Whenever they +bunch and press forward we wither them to pieces.... But men are +falling on our side more rapidly than we care to think—one rolled +over on top of me two hours ago drilled through and through—and if +anything should happen to the relieving columns and delay their +arrival for only two or three days, this tornado of fire will have +swept all our defenders into the hospitals. The Chinese guns are also +booming again, and shrapnel and segment are tearing down trees and +outhouses, bursting through walls, splintering roofs, and wrecking our +strongest defences more and more. Just now one of our few remaining +ponies was struck, and it was a pitiable sight, giving a bloody +illustration of the deadly force of shell-fragments. The piece that +struck this poor animal was not very big, but still it simply tore +into his flank, and seemed to burst him in two. With his entrails +hanging out and his agonised eyes mutely protesting, the pony +staggered and fell. Then we despatched him with our rifles.</p> + +<p>Our casualty list has now passed the two hundred mark, they say. In a +few days more, fifty per cent. of the total force of active combatants +will have been either killed or wounded.</p> + +<p>During the lulls which occur between the attacks, when the Chinese +soldiery are probably coolly refreshing themselves with tea and pipes +and hauling away those who have succumbed, we hear from the north of +the city the same dull booming of big guns, continuous, relentless, +and never-tiring. It is the sound of the Chinese artillery ranged +against the great fortified Roman Catholic Cathedral. When we have a +few moments we can well <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>picture to ourselves this valiant Bishop +F——, with cross in hand, like some old-time warrior-priest, pointing +to the enemy, and urging his spear-armed flocks to stand firm along +the outer rim. We can also see, in the smoke and dust, the thin fringe +of sailors who must be forming the mainstay of the defence. Perhaps, +sprinkled along the compound walls, with harsh-speaking rifles in +their hands, they are a sort of human incense, exorcising by their +mere presence the devils in pagan hearts....</p> + +<p>Scant time for thoughts; none for recording, as each hour shows more +clearly what we may expect. Scarcely has the fire been stilled in one +quarter than it breaks out with even greater violence in another, and +we are hurried in small reinforcements from point to point. And from +the positions on the Tartar Wall, which are now also dusted by a +continually growing fire that would sweep our men off in a cloud of +sandbags and brick-chips, the enemy's attacks can be best understood. +The growing number of rifles being brought to bear on us; the violence +and increasing audacity; the building of new barricades that press +closer and closer to our own, and are now so near that they almost +crush in our chests—are all clear from the reports sent down. The +relief columns on the Tientsin road are driving in unwieldy Chinese +forces on top of us, and this native soldiery is falling back on the +capital to be remarshalled after a fashion—placed on the city walls +or flung against us in a despairing attempt to kill us all, and remove +the Thing which is making the relieving columns advance so quickly. +Crazy with fear, and with ghosts of the chastisement of 1860 etched on +every column of dust raised by their retreating soldiery, the Chinese +Government is acting like one possessed.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p> + +<p>To-day I saw it all beautifully, with the aid of the best glasses we +have got. First came bodies of infantry trotting hurriedly in their +sandals and glancing about them. In the dust and the distance they +seemed to have lost all formation—to be mere broken fragments. But +once a man stopped, looked up at us, a mere dot in the ruined streets +hundreds and hundreds of yards away, and then savagely discharged his +rifle at us. He knew we were on the Tartar Wall, and so sent his +impotent curses at us through a three-foot steel tube.... Behind such +men were long country carts laden with wounded and broken men, and +driven by savage-looking drivers, powdered with our cursed dust and +driving standing up with voice and whip alone. The teams of ponies +were all mud-stained and tired, and moved very slowly away; and their +great iron-hooped wheels clanked discordantly over the stone-paved +ways. Sometimes a body of cavalry, with gaudy banners in the van and +the men flogging on their steeds with short whips, have also ridden by +escaping from the rout. Infantry and horsemen, wounded in carts and +wounded on foot, flow back into the city through the deserted and +terror-stricken streets, and it is we who shall suffer. So much of +this has been understood by everybody, that an order has been +privately given that no one is to be allowed on the Tartar Wall, +excepting the regular reliefs. There is in any case no time for most +of us to creep up there and look on the city below; we are tied to the +barricades and trenches down in the flat among the ruins, chained to +our posts by a never-ending rifle-fire.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII</h2> + +<h3>THE THIRTEENTH</h3> + + +<p class="date">13th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>It is the 13th, that fateful number, and there are some who are +divided between hope and fear. Is it good to hope on a 13th, or is it +mere foolishness to thing about such things? Who knows?—for we have +become unnatural and abnormal—subject to atavistic tendencies in +thought and action.... Most people are keeping their thoughts to +themselves, but actions cannot be hidden. You would not believe some +of the things....</p> + +<p>There has not been a sign or a word from the relief column for many +hours. The fleeing Chinese soldiery we witnessed in such numbers +yesterday entering the city have stopped rushing in, and now from the +Tartar Wall the streets below in the outer city seem quite silent and +deserted. Last night, too, it was seen that the line of the enemy's +rifles packed against us was so continuous, and the spacing so close, +that one continuous flame of fire ripped round from side to side and +deluged us with metal. So heavy was this firing, so crushing, that it +was paralysing. Any part broken into would have been irretrievably +lost. The bullets and shells struck our walls and defences in great +swarms sometimes several hundred projectiles swishing down at a time. +There must have been ten or twelve thousand infantry firing at us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>and +fifteen guns. Where I lay, with a post of sixteen men, there were more +than five hundred riflemen facing us, at distances varying from forty +feet to four hundred yards. Every ruined house outside the fringe of +our defence has now been converted into a blockhouse by the persistent +enemy. Every barricade we have built has a dozen other barricades +opposing it in parallels, in chessboards, in every kind of formation; +and from these barricades the fire poured in since the 10th—that is, +for sixty long hours—has only ceased at rare intervals. Our +stretcher-parties have been very busy, but how many men we have lost +since the armistice was deliberately broken no one knows. Yesterday a +French captain, a gallant officer, who feared nothing, was shot dead +through the head, making the ninth officer killed or severely wounded +since the beginning. Yesterday, also, the new Mongol market defences +trembled on the brink hour after hour, and with them the fate of three +thousand heads. New Chinese troops armed with Mannlicher carbines, the +handiest weapons for barricade fighting, had been pushed up behind a +veil of light entrenchments to within twenty feet of the Mongol market +posts, and their fire was so tremendous that it drove right through +our bricks and sandbags. God willed that just as the final rush was +coming a Chinese barricade gave way; our men emptied their magazines +with the rapidity of despair into the swarms of Chinese riflemen +disclosed; dozens of them fell killed and wounded, and the rest were +driven back in disorder. Ten seconds more would have made them masters +of our positions. The closeness of this final agony was such that +squads of reserves, who had not fired a shot during the siege, +voluntarily went forward to the threatened points and lay there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>the +whole night. At last it has been driven home on all that our fate +hangs in the balance, and has hung in the balance for weeks. But it is +too late now. If a single link in our chain is broken there will be a +<i>sauve qui pent</i> which no heroism can stop.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX</h2> + +<h3>THE NIGHT OF THE THIRTEENTH</h3> + + +<p class="date">14th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>All yesterday the fire hardly diminished in violence, and more and +more of our men were hit.... The Chinese commanders, having learned of +the loss of a Chinese general and a great number of his men at the +Mongol market, have been having their revenge by giving us not a +minute's rest. Up to six o'clock yesterday evening I had been +continually on duty for forty-eight hours, with a few minutes' sleep +during the lulls. At six in the evening I stretched out. At half-past +eight the pandemonium had risen to such a pitch that sleep without +opiates was impossible. All round our lines roared and barked Mausers, +Mannlichers, jingals, and Tower muskets, every gun that could be +brought to bear on us firing as fast and as fiercely as possible in a +last wild effort. The sound was so immense, so terrifying, that many +could hardly breathe. Against the barricades, through half-blocked +loopholes, and on to the very ground, myriads of projectiles beat +their way, hissing and crashing, ricochetting and slashing, until it +seemed impossible any living thing could exist in such a storm.</p> + +<p>It was the night of the 13th. Not a word had been heard of the relief +columns, not a message, not a courier had come in. But could anything +have dared to move to us? Even the Tsung-li Yamen, affrighted anew at +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>this storm of fire which it can no longer control, had not dared or +attempted to communicate with us. We were abandoned to our own +resources. At best we would have to work out our own salvation. Was it +to be the last night of this insane Boxerism, or merely the beginning +of a still more terrible series of attacks with massed assaults pushed +right home on us? In any case, there was but one course—not to cede +one inch until the last man had been hit. All the isolated +post-commanders—I had risen to be one—decided that on us hinged the +fate of all. The very idea of a supreme command watching intelligently +and overseeing every spot of ground was impossible. It had been a war +of post-commanders and their men from the beginning; it would remain +so to the bitter end. A siege teaches you that this is always so.</p> + +<p>By ten o'clock every sleeping man had been pulled up and pushed +against the barricades. Privately all the doubtful men were told that +if they moved they would be shot as they fell back. Everywhere we had +been discovering that in the pitch dark many could hardly be held in +place. By eleven o'clock the fire had grown to its maximum pitch. It +was impossible that it could become heavier, for the enemy was manning +every coign of vantage along the entire line, and blazing so fiercely +and pushing in so close that many of the riflemen must have fallen +from their own fire. From the great Tartar Wall to the Palace +enclosure, and then round in a vast jagged circle, thousands of jets +of fire spurted at us; and as these jets pushed closer and closer, we +gave orders to reply steadily and slowly. Twice black bunches of men +crept quickly in front of me, but were melted to pieces. By twelve +o'clock the exhaustion of the attackers became <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>suddenly marked. The +rifles, heated to a burning pitch, were no longer deemed safe even by +Chinese fatalists; and any men who had ventured out into the open had +been so severely handled by our fire that they had no stomach for a +massed charge. Trumpet calls now broke out along the line and echoed +pealingly far and near. The riflemen were being called off.</p> + +<p>But hardly had the fire dropped for ten or fifteen minutes than it +broke out again with renewed vigour. Fresh troops lying in reserve had +evidently been called up, and by one o'clock the tornado was fiercer +than ever. Our men became intoxicated by this terrible clamour, and +many of them, infuriated by splinters of brick and stone that broke +off in clouds from the barricades and stung us from head to foot, +sometimes even inflicting cruel wounds, could no longer be held in +check. By two o'clock every rifle that could be brought in line was +replying to the enemy's fire. If this continued, in a couple of hours +our ammunition would be exhausted, and we would have only our bayonets +to rely on. I passed down my line, and furiously attempted to stop +this firing, but it was in vain. In two places the Chinese had pushed +so close, that hand-to-hand fighting had taken place. This gives a +lust that is uncontrollable.... Everything was being taken out of our +hands....</p> + +<p>Suddenly above the clamour of rifle-fire a distant boom to the far +east broke on my ears, as I was shouting madly at my men. I held my +breath and tried to think, but before I could decide, boom! came an +answering big gun miles away. I dug my teeth into my lips to keep +myself calm, but icy shivers ran down my back. They came faster and +faster, those shivers.... You will never know that feeling. Then, +boom! before I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>calmed myself came a third shock; and then ten +seconds afterwards, three booms, one, two, three, properly spaced. I +understood, although the sounds only shivered in the air. It was a +battery of six guns coming into action somewhere very far off. It must +be true! I rose to my feet and shook myself. Then, in answer to the +heavy guns, came such an immense rolling of machine-gun fire, that it +sounded faintly, but distinctly, above the storm around us. Great +forces must be engaged in the open....</p> + +<p>I had been so ardently listening to these sounds that the enemy's fire +had imperceptibly faded away in front of me unnoticed, until it had +become almost completely stilled. Single rifles now alone cracked off; +all the other men must be listening too—listening and wondering what +this distant rumble meant. Far away the Chinese fire still continued +to rage as fiercely—but near us, by some strange chance, these +distant echoes had claimed attention.</p> + +<p>Again the booming dully shook the air. Again the machine-guns beat +their replying rataplan. Now every rifle near by suddenly was stilled, +and a Chinese stretcher-party behind me murmured, "<i>Ta ping lai tao +liao</i>"—"the armies arrived." Somebody took this up, and then we began +shouting it across in Chinese to our enemy, shouting it louder and +louder in a sort of ecstasy, and heaving heavy stones to attract their +attention. We must have become quite crazy, for my throat suddenly +gave out, and I could only speak in an absurd whisper.... Oh, what a +night!...</p> + +<p>Behind the barricades facing us we could now distinctly hear the +Chinese soldiery moving uneasily and muttering excitedly to one +another. They had under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>stood that it must be the last night of +Boxerism, so we threw more stones and shouted more taunts. Then, as if +accepting the challenge, a rifle cracked off, a second one joined it, +a third, a fourth, and soon the long lines blazed flames and +ear-splitting sounds again. But it was the last night—this did not +matter—assuredly it was the last night, and from our posts we +despatched the first news to headquarters to report that heavy guns +had been heard to the east....</p> + +<p>Presently, going back during a lull to see ammunition brought up, I +found that inside our lines the women and children had all risen, and +were craning their necks to catch the distant sounds which had been so +long in coming. All night long the buildings in the Su wang-fu, which +are packed with native Christians, had been filled with the sound of +praying. The elders appointed to watch over this vast flock had been +warned that perhaps they would all have to retreat to the base at the +last minute, and that all must remain ready during the night and none +sleep. As soon as it was possible, they were told that the relief was +coming—that the end was near.... What a sight it was to see them all +grouped together, for they had scrupulously obeyed orders! In one +great hall five hundred Roman Catholic women and children in sober +blue gowns were sitting patiently and silently, with their hands +folded—had been sitting so all the long night, waiting to hear any +news or orders that might be brought to them. Relief or retreat, +massacre or deliverance—all must be taken with the stoicism of the +East. A single lamp cast its dim rays over these people; and a hundred +feet farther on were other halls and buildings, all filled to +overflowing with these waiting miserables. A word would have sent them +surging back <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>across the dry Imperial Canal—to seek safety for a few +hours in our base. Would it have been safety? An immense flood of +feeling overwhelmed me....</p> + +<p>So the night passed uneasily away, but no more distant sounds were +heard, and in the end we began to wonder whether our ears after this +strain of weeks had not played us false.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX</h2> + +<h3>HOW I SAW THE RELIEF</h3> + + +<p class="date">14th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Day broke, after that tremendous night, in a somewhat shambling and +odd fashion. Exhausted by so much vigilance and such a strain, we +merely posted a scattered line of picquets and threw ourselves on the +ground. It was then nearly five o'clock, and with the growing light +everything seemed unreal and untrue. There was not a sound around us; +there was going to be no relief, and we had been only dreaming horrid +dreams—that was the verdict of our eyes and looks. There was but +scant time, however, for thinking, even if one could have thought with +any sense or logic. The skies were blushing rosier and rosier; a +solitary crow, that had lived through all that storm, came from +somewhere and began calling hoarsely to its lost mates. We were dead +with sleep; we would sleep, or else....</p> + +<p>I awoke at eleven in the morning sick as a beaten dog. The sun beating +hotly down, and a fierce ray had found its way through the branches of +my protecting tree and had been burning the back of my neck. The +Eastern sun is a brute; when it strikes you long in a tender spot, it +can make you sicker than anything I know of. Arousing ourselves, we +got up all of us gruntingly; reposted the sentries; drank some black +tea; made a faint pretence at washing; and finding all dead quiet and +not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>a trace of the enemy, sauntered off for news. Not a word +anywhere, not a sound, not a message. Everybody was standing about in +uneasy groups, from the French and German lines to the northern +outposts of the British Legation. Where the devil were our relieving +columns?</p> + +<p>From the Tartar Wall we scanned the horizon with our glasses. Not a +soul afoot—nothing. Was all the world still asleep, tired from the +night's debauch, or was it merely the end of everything? As time went +on, and the silence around us was uninterrupted, we became more and +more nervous. In place of the storm of fire which had been raging for +so many hours this unbroken calm was terrible; for far worse than all +the tortures in the world is the one of a solitary silent confinement.</p> + +<p>At one o'clock I could stand it no longer. Getting leave to take out a +skirmishing party, I called for volunteer and got six men and two +Chinese scouts. At half-past one we slid over the Eastern Su wang-fu +barricades—near where the messengers are sent from—and scurried +forward into the contested territory beyond. Working cautiously in a +long line, we beat the ground thoroughly; approached the enemy's +flanking barricades; peered over in some trepidation, and found the +Chinese riflemen gone. Every soul had fled. Something had most +certainly happened somewhere. This quiet was becoming more and more +eloquent....</p> + +<p>We abandoned our cover, and boldly taking to the brick-littered +street, climbed over fortifications which had shut us in for so long. +Not a sound or a living thing. On the ground, however, there were many +grim evidences of the struggle which had been so long proceeding. +Skulls picked clean by crows and dogs and the dead bodies of the +scavenger-dogs themselves dotted the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>ground; in other places were +pathetic wisps of pigtails half covered with rubbish, broken rifles, +rusted swords, heaps of brass cartridges—all proclaiming the +bitterness with which the warfare had been waged in this small corner +alone. Eagerly gazing about us, we slowly pushed on, drinking in all +these details with eager eyes. How sweet it is to be an escaped +prisoner even for a few short minutes!</p> + +<p>In a quarter of an hour we had cleared the ground intervening between +our defences and the long-abandoned Customs Street—perhaps a couple +of hundred yards; and peering about us, we at last jumped over the +French barricade, where our first man had been shot dead two months +ago. Two months—it might have been two years! Still there was not a +sound. Nothing but acres of ruins. Forward.</p> + +<p>Splitting into two sections, we began working down Customs Street +towards the Austrian Legation, tightly hugging the walls and expecting +a surprise every moment. Suddenly, as we were going along in this +cautious manner, a tall, gaunt Chinaman started up only twenty feet +from us, where he had been lying buried in the ruins. Our rifles went +up with a leap, and "Master," cried the man, running towards me with +outstretched arms, "master, save me; I am a carter of the foreign +Legations, and have only just escaped." He pulled up his blue tunic, +this strange apparition, and showed me underneath his scapula. He was +of Roman Catholic family; there was no time to investigate; he was all +right. Telling him to join us, we marched on. We progressed another +fifty yards, and then there was a scuffle. I looked round, and our +Catholic had disappeared. Were we trapped? Just as I was calling out, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>he reappeared; this time he was bearing a rifle and a bandolier. This +was disconcerting. "I saw the man," he began calmly, "and with my +hands I killed him by pulling on the throat—thus." He made a horrid +pantomime with his hands. Behind a wall we found the red and black +tunic of a Chinese soldier, the sash and the boots, but of a corpse +there was no sign. I was glad I understood. "What do you mean by +deceiving me?" I sternly asked the carter. "These are yours, and it +was you who were fighting against us." The man fell on his knees, and +confessed then and there without subterfuge. He had been captured, he +said and imprisoned weeks ago by a Chinese commander, who had +threatened to break the bones of his legs unless he enlisted against +us. So he had joined and had been fighting for a month. Last night, as +soon as the big guns had been heard, he deserted, and had lain where +we found him for fifteen hours, waiting for our advances, and may his +legs be broken if he lied. I paused in doubt for a minute; then I made +up my mind—we let him follow! The odds were in any case against him.</p> + +<p>As we moved stealthily forward we came on more and more +fortifications. A formidable blockhouse had been constructed by +dragging out big steel safes, looted from the various European offices +in this abandoned area, and building them into a thick half-moon of +stone and brick, making a shell-proof defence. On the ground brass +cartridge-cases and broken straps and weapons were littered more and +more thickly, but of any sign of life there was absolutely none. +Absolute stillness reigned around us. We might have been in a city +abandoned for dozens of years....</p> + +<p>Past this blockhouse we crept more and more cautiously, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>beating the +ground thoroughly, and wasting many minutes to make sure that no +riflemen lurked in the ruins which covered the ground. Our new recruit +had shown us how easily we could be trapped. Loopholes squinted at us +from countless low-lying barricades roughly made by heaping bricks and +charred timbers together. They had feared our sorties evidently as +much as we had their rushes, had these Chinese soldiers. Their +fortified lines were hundreds of feet deep.</p> + +<p>We were now down near the abandoned Austrian Legation, and, rapidly +trotting forward in Indian file under cover of the high encircling +wall, we at last reached the main entrance. This was debatable ground. +I looked round the corner with one cautious eye, and even as I did so, +a shadow rushed along the ground.... Instantly I snapped off my rifle +from my hip, the others followed suit, and a howl of canine rage +answered us. We had rolled over a wolfish dog searching for dead +bodies. Before we had time to realise much, the savage animal was up +again and rushing at us—to escape through the gate. As it passed, we +clubbed and bayonetted him with neatness, for we have now some art in +close-quarter work, and with a last howl the animal's life flickered +out. Dogs are highly dangerous, as we knew to our cost; they give the +alarm in a way which no living man, even in these civilised days, can +fail to understand. We waited in some anguish to see whether this +scuffle had been heard; we were a quarter of a mile away from our own +lines by the circuitous route we had been forced to take, and if we +were ambuscaded, no one would probably go back to tell the tale....</p> + +<p>Still not a sound, not a word. A little encouraged, we crept more +valiantly into the Austrian Legation, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>stood amazed at the +spectacle. Rank-growing weeds covered the ground two or three feet +high; all the houses and residences had been gutted by fire, +everything combustible burned, leaving a terrible litter. But the +brickwork and stonework stood almost intact, and the tall Corinthian +pillars with which it had been the architect's fancy to adorn this +mission of His Most Catholic Majesty, stood up white and chaste in all +this scene of devastation and ruin; they might have dated from +centuries ago. Broken weapons, thousands more of brass cartridges, and +sometimes even a soldier's bloodstained tunic could be seen among the +weeds. This must have been the site of another camp of Chinese +soldiery. Abandoned straw matting showed where rough huts had once +been built line upon line. But all these hosts had flown.</p> + +<p>We now held a council of war. What should we do—push on or go back? +It seemed highly dangerous, but suddenly making up my mind, I cut +short all deliberations and ordered an advance. To feel for the enemy, +to get in touch with the enemy at all costs, and to scratch him if +possible, is evidently the scout's duty, even when the scout is but a +siege amateur, with broken trousers, a mud-stained shirt and a +battered rifle. But we must make ourselves secure. We bolted the big +gates behind us; we sweatily piled up sufficient bricks to make its +opening a matter of minutes for an enemy's hand, and then we once +again trotted forward. This time we were irrevocably inside the +Legation, and separated, perhaps, for good and all from our own +people....</p> + +<p>We rapidly covered the ground until we reached the extreme eastern +corner of the vast enclosing Legation wall. Very recently there had +been some one just here <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>for a fire was still smouldering on the +ground, and in some earthenware bowls there was some cold rice. We +must see what was beyond....</p> + +<p>The big recruit lent me his broad shoulder, and with some struggling I +caught the edge of an outhouse roof and hitched myself astride of the +main wall. Still nothing to be seen except ruined and battered houses; +again not a soul, not a dog, not a vestige of life. The others came +up, too, and we rapidly improvised a ladder to get down the other side +and back again if necessary.</p> + +<p>We were busily at work completing these preparations when suddenly the +big recruit grabbed me unceremoniously by the shoulder and uttered a +single word in a hoarse tone of excitement. "Look," he said; "look!" I +looked, and far down the street below us towards where lay the Palace +and the Imperial city, I saw a figure rapidly moving. A pair of +binoculars were pulled out and brought to bear. It was a Chinese +soldier!</p> + +<p>We flattened ourselves on the top of the wall like so many crawling +snails, pushed out our rifles in front of us, and at four hundred +yards we most foolishly opened on the man. By instinct and experience, +we had all learned much in two months; yet in a moment of excitement +everything was being rapidly unlearned....</p> + +<p>It takes some shooting to get home on a flickering figure, dodging +along a street with irregular lines, at that range, and I confess we +drew no blood. But still loophole shooting must spoil open-air work, +otherwise at that range.... The man had paused irresolutely as the +stream of bullets had hissed past him, and had then run violently into +a doorway. Presently, as we intently watched, his head emerged, then +his whole body; and, finally dodging quickly in and out, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>gained a +cross-road and disappeared. What did this mean?</p> + +<p>It did not take long to learn, for just as we had finished swearing at +our ill luck, other figures began to appear in the same direction, and +as they ran we could see that they were throwing down their things. It +seemed plain now; these must be deserters slipping out of the Imperial +city and the Palace enclosures and fleeing rapidly to escape some +fate. Something must have certainly happened somewhere, although there +was still nothing to be heard, except perhaps a distant movement in +the air, which might mean the rattle of musketry. Sometimes we could +hear that faint suggestion of sound, sometimes we could not; it was +impossible to say what it was.</p> + +<p>Running gives Dutch courage, so we dropped from our wall, and we, too, +began running—towards the deserters. Most foolish scouts were we +becoming. The first band of fugitives saw us and bolted to the north, +one man loosing off his rifle at us as he ran, and his bullet making +an ugly swish in the air just above our heads. It was that Chinese +hip-shot which is practised with jingal and matchlock in the native +hunting, and which these Northern Chinese can with difficulty unlearn. +As that swish reached us we pressed forward even more eagerly, and +soon had debouched once more on the long Customs Street—this time +many hundreds of yards higher up than we had ever been before. +Flattening ourselves on the ground, and barricading our heads with +bricks, we waited in silence for more of the enemy to appear. We were +now admirably and safely posted.</p> + +<p>It was some time before any more of them were to be seen, but at last, +in twos and threes, other soldiers ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>peared, running hurriedly, and +looking quickly about them, as if they expected to be shot down. This +time they were men of many corps, whose uniforms we could almost make +out at this short distance, and as they ran many of them threw off +their tunics and loosened their leggings. This meant open and flagrant +desertion. Just as I was about to give the order to fire a volley, a +dense mass of men, in close formation, came out of a great building +leaning up against the pink Palace walls and started marching rapidly +towards us. Then as soon as they reached a cross-road five hundred +yards away, they bent quickly due north and disappeared in a cloud of +dust. What did this fleeing to the north of the city and this ominous +quiet mean? What in the name of all that is extraordinary was +happening to cause these strange doings?</p> + +<p>There was little time for reflection, however, for like some theatre +of the gods new scenes began to unroll. Soon other bodies of troops +appeared and disappeared, always heading away there towards the north, +always marching rapidly with hurried looks cast around them. Now safe +in the knowledge that a general retreat was taking place from this +quarter, we started volleying savagely. Bunched together in twos and +threes, the enemy offered an easy mark, and with a callousness born of +long privations we dropped at least fifteen or twenty men in very few +minutes. Lying flat on the ground our angles soon grew fixed on to our +rifle-sights, and at one house-corner four hundred yards away, six +times I made the same shot and dropped a deserter. But this heavy +firing must have attracted attention, for lead began to pelt at us +from hidden places, and soon this little action became very warm. It +was a curious experience....</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was now three in the afternoon, and, excepting for this unexplained +movement of Chinese troops, we had not discovered any sign of our +relief. Our volleying was becoming nonsensical, for having picked up +numbers of Chinese Mauser cartridges, we amused ourselves firing away +almost all the ammunition we carried. This could not continue +indefinitely. So once more I drew my men together, and once again we +scurried away, changing our direction to due east towards the great +Ha-ta Gate. We were becoming callous, now that we knew there was small +possibility of our being cut off, and half a mile from home meant +nothing to us.</p> + +<p>We had almost reached the Ha-ta great street, and were beginning to +feel that by some strange chance we had half the city to ourselves, +when a furious galloping gave us a timely signal, and made us shrink +into a native house, the doorway of which had been beaten in by +marauders. We were just in time, for no sooner had we disappeared than +a body of Manchu cavalry came rapidly past, flogging their ponies, and +shouting excitedly to one another as they passed. At their head were a +number of high officials, and our new recruit whispered in a hoarse +voice that an old man was no other than Jung Lu, the Manchu +Generalissimo, who had command of everything. But whether this was +actually so or not, there could be no doubt about the soldiery. They +were <i>ch'in ping</i>, or body-guard troops, in sky-blue tunics, and this +retirement was the most significant of all. There was now not a shadow +of doubt.</p> + +<p>We waited patiently in some trepidation, until the sound of these +galloping hoofs had died away completely and then peering out and +finding the coast clear, we ran for it as hard as we could leg. Faster +and faster <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>we spun along; we were not as safe as we thought, Three +minutes brought us back again on Customs Street, and, panting sorely +from this unaccustomed exertion, we looked around. Here there was now +not a single sound, not the sight of a single man.</p> + +<p>For many minutes nothing again occurred, but at length more Chinese +troops began to appear, all running rapidly in long flights, and a +troop of cavalry came out of a side street not more than two hundred +yards away from where we lay, and headed away at a furious gallop. +Everybody was obviously making for the north of the city; what was +going on in the other quarters to cause this exodus? The cavalry, as +they moved in close formation, were so tempting, that without +hesitation once more our rifles rang out in a well-knit volley. That +caused a terrible commotion, for cavalry are an easy mark. Ponies +broke away and galloped frantically into side streets; there was a +waving and a mix-up which blurred everything, and yet before we had +time to realise it, bullets were hissing all round us and kicking up +little spurts of dust a few inches from our bodies; a resolute +commander was in front of us. This firing became so violent that we +were driven to take shelter, and as we ran and were seen the bullets +hissed quicker and quicker. Then as suddenly as it had commenced this +pelting ceased; we saw our cavalrymen flicker away in the distance, +and once more everything was absolutely quiet. It was obvious that +something so urgent was taking place, that no one had any time to lose +in pranks.</p> + +<p>Many minutes elapsed before we noticed any fresh signs of life, and we +remained spread across the street on our stomachs, earnestly searching +in vain for some explanation. At last, when I was becoming tired of +it, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>figures began to move on the long street again—little indecisive +blue dots that jerked forward, halted, appeared and disappeared in a +most curious way. They were also coming towards us—jerking about like +people possessed. Climbing a wall, I brought my glasses to bear; they +were ordinary townspeople, there was not a shadow of doubt about that, +men, women, and children, running violently, waving and calling to one +another, and apparently much distressed.</p> + +<p>I remained on this wall-top idly gazing until my vision began to +become blurred, and I could no longer see. Then something made me +close my eyes for a second to regain command over them again; and when +I opened them and looked again through that powerful Leiss, my jaw +dropped. This time, with a vengeance, it was something new. Dense +bodies of men in white tunics and dark trousers were debouching into +the street, thousands of yards away, and were then marching due +east—that is, towards the Palace. They came on and on, until it +seemed they would never cease. What were these newcomers? Were they +white troops at last—were they Bannermen of the white Banners?...</p> + +<p>They might be anything—anything in the world—but they might be....</p> + +<p>Yes, without a doubt they might be ordinary Russian infantry of the +line. Russian infantry of the line! It was imperative to learn.</p> + +<p>I clambered off the wall and decided at once on a grim test. All of us +pushed up our flaps to the extreme range and gave four sharp +volleys—the eight rifles crashing off jarringly together. As we were +preparing to give them the last cartridge on the clips, the white +specks we could just see with the naked eye <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>stopped and flickered +away. Then as we waited there was a moment's silence; a little vapour +spurted up far away, and bang! a shell whizzed, and burst two hundred +yards to our rear. That was an immense surprise! But now we had no +doubts; these were European troops; the relief must have come; it was +all over, we must communicate the news....</p> + +<p>Before our ideas had grouped themselves coherently, we found ourselves +bolting home—bolting like madmen. We charged clear down the middle of +the streets, with a disregard for everything; we headed straight as +arrows for the French lines, right through the heart of the most +formidable Chinese works, where but twelve hours before furious +attacks had been developed. We tore through hundreds of feet of +trenches, barricades, saps, half-opened tunnels, where everything was +scored and beaten by the riotous passage of nickel and lead. We +vaguely saw, as we rushed, lines of mat huts, broken walls, charred +timbers, countless brass cartridge cases, gaping holes—all the +wreckage left by these weeks of insane warfare. But of living things +there was not a trace.</p> + +<p>Beating our way rapidly forward, we at length passed through those +death-strewn French Legation lines, and reached our own last +barricades, where the defence had been driven. Supposing that our men +were still behind them, we violently shouted that we were friends. +Nobody answered us.</p> + +<p>Curiously alarmed, we clambered forward more and more quickly, and at +last near the fortified little Hôtel de Pékin a confused sound of +voices arose from a stoutly fortified quadrangle. Then as we drew +nearer the voices grew, until they framed themselves into +half-suppressed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>cheers—a multitude of men uneasily greeting and +calling to one another. At least, we had not been abandoned I put my +leg up to swarm over a wall, and suddenly a thick smell greeted my +nostrils, a smell I knew, because I had smelt it before, and yet a +smell which belonged to another world.... With tremendous +heart-beating, I looked over. It was the smell of India! Into this +quadrangle beyond hundreds of native troops were filing and piling +arms. They were Rajputs, all talking together, and greeting some of +our sailors and men, and demanding immediately <i>pane, pane, pane</i> all +the time in a monotonous chorus. I could not understand that word. The +relief had come; this must be some sections of an advance guard which +had been flung forward, and had burst in unopposed....</p> + +<p>We hurried forward in a sort of daze and looked for officers, to ask +them how they had come, and whether it was all right. We found a knot +of them standing-together, wiping the sweat from their streaming +faces, and calling for water. They wanted to go to the British +Legation; not to this place—what was it; where was the British +Legation? In the heat and smell and excitement those continuous +questions made one confused and angry. This advance guard which had +rushed in could not understand our all-split area; yet it had been the +saving of us. I told them where the British Legation was. I told them +to follow me; I was going to run.</p> + +<p>I ran on, once more choking a little, and with a curious desire to +weep or shout or make uncouth noises. I was now terribly excited. I +remember I kicked my way through barricades with such energy that once +for my foolishness I came crashing down, my rifle loosing off of its +own account and the bullet passing through my hat. I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>did not care; +the relief had come. It was an immense occasion and I had not been +there to see it.</p> + +<p>Along the dry canal-bed, as I ran out of the Legation Street, I noted +without amazement that tall Sikhs were picking their way in little +groups, looking dog-tired. But they were very excited, too, and waved +their hands to me as I ran, and called and cried with curious +intonations. Pioneers, smaller men, in different turbans, were already +smashing down our barricades, and clearing a road, and from the west, +the Palace side, a tremendous rifle and machine-gun fire was dusting +endlessly. I rushed into the British Legation through the canal +open-cut, and here they were, piles and piles of Indian troops, +standing and lying about and waving and talking. A British general and +his staff were seated at a little table that had been dragged out, and +were now drinking as if they, too, had been burned dry with thirst. +Around all our people were crowding a confused mass of marines, +sailors, volunteers, Ministers—everyone. Many of the women were +crying and patting the sweating soldiery that never ceased streaming +in. People you had not seen for weeks, who might have, indeed, been +dead a hundred times without your being any the wiser, appeared now +for the first time from the rooms in which they had been hidden and +acted hysterically. They were pleased to rush about and fetch water +and begin to tell their experiences. All that day, I was told, these +hidden ones had taken a sudden interest in the hospital; had roused +themselves from their lethargy and fright, because the end was coming. +Now....</p> + +<p>As we stood about, twisting our fingers and cheering, and trying to +find something sensible to say or to do, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>there was a rush of people +towards the lines connecting with the American Legation and the Tartar +Wall This caused another tremendous outburst of cheering and +counter-cheering, and led by C——, the American Minister, columns of +American infantry in khaki suits and slouch hats came pressing in. In +they came—more and more men, until the open squares were choking with +them. These men were more dog-tired than the Indian troops, and their +uniforms were stained and clotted with the dust and sweat flung on +them by the rapid advance. Soon there was such confusion and +excitement that all order was lost, until the Americans began filing +out again, and the native troops were pushed to the northern line of +defences. In the turmoil and delight everything had been temporarily +forgotten, but the growing roar of rifles had at length called +attention to the fact that there might be more fierce fighting. Every +minute added to the din, and soon the ceaseless patter of sound showed +machine-guns were firing like fury. Somebody called out to me that +there was a fine sight to be seen from the Tartar Wall, for those who +did not mind a few more bullets; and, enticed by the storm of sound +that rose ever higher and higher, I ran hastily through our lines +towards the city bastions. Every street and lane from the Ch'ien Men +Gate was now choked with troops of the relieving column, all British +and American, as far as I could see, and already the pioneers attached +to each battalion were levelling our rude defences to the ground in +order to facilitate the passage of the guns and transport waggons.... +Strange cries smote one's ears—all the cursing of armed men, whose +discipline has been loosened by days of strain and the impossibility +of manoeuvring. One word struck me and clung to me again; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>everybody +among the Indian troops was crying it: "<i>Chullo, chullo, chullo</i>," +they were calling.</p> + +<p>The general advance, which had been from the outer city, as soon as +the news had been brought through that a way to the Legations had been +opened, had thrown the various units into an immense confusion. +Infantry, cavalry, artillery, and the fighting trains, were all mixed +in a terrible tangle. Some had come forward so rapidly, in their +eagerness not to be left out of it all, that they had passed in under +the walls as soon as the gates had been burst open, and had now got +jammed into our narrow streets and were unable to move. Just under the +ramp of the Tartar Wall I came on some Indian cavalry—about thirty or +forty troopers covered with mud and dirt, and led by a single British +officer. As soon as the latter caught sight of me, he shouted an angry +question as to what all this firing meant, and how in h—— he could +get out of this into the open.... He rained his questions at me like +the others had done, never waiting for an answer. The firing, in all +truth, had increased enormously, and now rang out with a most +tremendous roar. It always came from over there to the northwest, +round about the Palace entrances. Evidently Chinese troops were +holding all the Palace gates in great force, and for some reason +wished to keep the relief columns at bay at all costs until nightfall. +I yelled something of this to my disconsolate cavalry officer, and +suggested that he should follow me up the wall and see for himself. I +knew nothing. "Cavalry can't climb a wall," he furiously replied as I +rushed up above, and as I climbed higher that voice followed me in +gusts which became fainter and fainter, "Cavalry can't climb a wall! +cavalry can't climb a wall!" Then the road blotted him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>and his voice +completely out and a swelling scene was before me.</p> + +<p>For up there I soon understood. A mass of Indian infantry, with some +machine-guns, had established themselves for hundreds of yards along +this commanding height, among the old Chinese barricades, and were now +firing as fast as they could down into the distant Palace enclosures. +Overhead bullets were passing in continuous streams, and crouching low +in an angle of the buttresses lay a number of wounded men. Of the +enemy, however, there was no sign to be seen; that he was firing back +more and more quickly and desperately was certain. All these +bullets....</p> + +<p>As I stood and looked, suddenly the horrid bark of the modern +high-velocity field-gun began down below in our lines, and the word +passed along that a British battery had succeeded in getting through +the jam, and was opening on the enemy from just outside the Legations. +The barking went on very rapidly for a few minutes, and then ceased as +suddenly as it had begun. The cause was not long to seek; an infantry +advance had followed, for without any warning swarms of Chinese +riflemen began running out from the nests of ruined Chinese houses a +few hundred yards to the rear of our old lines. They came out in rapid +rushes just as flights of startled sparrows dart over the ground, and, +although very distant, from the commanding height of the Tartar Wall +they offered a splendid mark. The rifles rattled at them as hard as +possible, but the practice was as poor as ever. Of the first batch a +dozen fell and began crawling and staggering away; but the next lot, +although they ran and halted at first like dazed men under the sleet +of nickel, rapidly became more cunning. All fell as if by some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>sudden +signal on the ground, and crawling and jumping forward, they soon +managed to push through without losing a single man, and immediately +after this there was a droll incident such as only occurs at such +times as these.</p> + +<p>These bunches of men had ceased falling back in their sudden rout, and +the firing of our men was being concentrated on some distant walls +flanking the Palace enclosures, when a solitary Chinese rifleman, who +had evidently been forgotten in the turmoil, trotted peacefully out. +Then, seeing he was almost in the hands of his enemies, he ran like a +hunted deer straight across a vast open, which lies directly in front +of the Dynastic Gate—never seeking cover, but running like a madman +in the open. It was wonderful.</p> + +<p>A roar went up from our whole line when he was seen, but the infantry +did not attempt to bring him down. A single machine-gun started +rapping at him.... The man ran faster and faster as the swish of +bullets hurtled around him, until his legs were twinkling so rapidly +that he seemed to be fairly flying. The machine-gun went on rapping +and clanging ever quicker as it followed him up, and it seemed at +length impossible that he should get through. With a natural impulse, +everybody's attention became concentrated on this fugitive: would he +reach cover in safety? The answer came almost before one had thought +the question, for with sudden disgust the machine-gun stopped dead; +the man ran a few seconds longer, and then with a last bound he had +disappeared—a tiny dot of blue and red flicking vaguely away behind +some wall. Instinctively, then, some one began laughing; the next man +took it up, and soon a roar of hoarse-throated laughter came from the +hundreds of Indian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>soldiery who had witnessed the scene. It was like +a scene in a theatre from that height, and I remember that this +laughter of free men resounded in my ears for a long time—the +laughter of free men who have never been enslaved in bricks. It came +from straight off the chest, without any nervous nasal twanging or +sudden stopping....</p> + +<p>Soon after this the firing dropped and dwindled away to nothing, as if +by common consent. Everybody was dog-tired, and as night fell both +sides felt that nothing could be gained or materially changed until +another day had dawned. I wandered round for the last time. Our lines, +so carefully and painfully built up during those long never-ending +weeks, had crumbled to pieces in half as many hours. The barricades +and trenches obstructing the streets had been thrown all in a lump and +sent to join the huge litter which surrounded them. There was hardly a +sentry or a picquet to be seen, only a hundred of little camp-fires +twinkling and twinkling everywhere. Such battalions and units as had +pushed in had bivouacked exactly where they had halted. Far away under +the Tartar Wall, on the long, sandy stretches, there were little wood +fires blazing at regular intervals, with countless dots moving around. +From a hundred other places there came that confused murmur which, +speaks of masses of men and animals. There were faint cries, hoarse +calls, and orders, with always a vague undercurrent trembling in the +air. For the time being, they were only British and American +troops—not a soldier of a single other nationality had been seen. As +the hours went, other people, whose troops had not come in, began +making excuses, and pretending that their generals were very wise in +acting as they had done. There <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>were all sorts of theories. Some said +that they were securing all the gates of the city, and capturing the +Court, and seeing to very important things. It was the political +situation of three months ago being suddenly reborn, reincarnated, by +all these people, before we had even breathed the air of freedom. It +was for this that we had been rescued by the main body of the troops: +merely because had we been all killed and all recent Peking history +made an utter blank, there would have been a terrible gulf which no +protocols could bridge. It would have meant an end, an absolute end, +such as governments and their distinguished servants do not really +love. We were mere puppets, whose rescue would set everything merrily +dancing again—marionettes made the sport of mad events. We had merely +saved diplomacy from an impossible situation....</p> + +<p>As I stood there in the night, thinking of these things, and trying to +escape from people with theories, a faint cheering arose, a hurrahing +which somehow had but little vigour. I knew what it meant; the ground +was being noisily cleared right up to the Palace walls, to make sure +that none of the enemy were lurking in the ruins, and that the play +could begin merrily on the morrow. After that cheering came a few dull +explosions, the blowing-up of a few unnecessary walls, and then all +was dead quiet again, excepting for the faint stirring of the soldiery +encamped around us, which never ceased. There was not a volley, not a +shot. It was all over, this siege, everything was finished.</p> + +<p>With a growing blackness and distress in my heart, which I could not +explain, and sought in vain to disguise, I wandered about. I wanted +some more move<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>ment—some fresh distraction to tear my attention away +from gloomy thoughts.</p> + +<p>Near the battered Hôtel de Pékin officers who had strayed from their +commands and who were hungry had already gathered, and were paying in +gold for anything they could buy. Luckily, there were a few cases of +champagne left and a few tins of potted things, which could now be +tranquilly sold. I found some French uniforms. Some officers had at +last come in from the French commander, saying that at daylight the +French columns would march in. At present they were too exhausted to +move.</p> + +<p>All these men, seated at the tables, were noisily discussing the +relief. I learned how it had been effected and the moves of the few +preceding days. They said that the Russians had attempted to steal a +march on the Japanese on the night of the 13th, in order to force the +Eastern gates, and reach the Imperial city and the Empress Dowager +before any one else. That had upset the whole plan of attack, and +there had then simply been a mad rush, everyone going as hard as +possible, and trusting to Providence to pull them through.</p> + +<p>Most of the officers at the tables soon became highly elated. That is +the way when your stomach has been fed on hard rations and you have +had fourteen days of the sun. They then all began shouting and singing +and not talking so much. But still they were all devilishly keen to +know about the siege, and who had fought best, and who had been +killed.</p> + +<p>I left them in what remains of a little barricaded and fortified hotel +disputing away in rather a foolish fashion, because they were more or +less inebriate and the sun had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>burned them badly. And speeding to my +<i>cache</i>, I drew out my two blankets and my waterproof. While I had +been forgetting other things, I had learned two new things—how to +sleep and how to shoot—and now since there was no more need to +practise the one, I would do the other.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="PART_III-THE_SACK" id="PART_III-THE_SACK"></a>PART III-THE SACK</h2> + +<h2><a name="III_I" id="III_I"></a>I</h2> + +<h3>THE PALACE</h3> + + +<p class="date">16th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>shot at—of +that unending excitement? Oh! was it really over?...</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>was going to happen. +After so many climaxes one's imagination totally failed.</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>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 <i>doyen</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>I must have ridden nearly a mile straight through the vast enclosures +of the Palace, past lines and lines of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>them back to the Empress Eugénie +as a little offering. If one could only get past this boundary and the +protocol had not stepped in!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>pot-pourri</i> 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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"<i>Toujours cette confusion, toujours pas d'ordres,"</i> 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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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, march<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>ing 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!</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>Gone!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>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 <i>débâcle</i>. Nothing. It was a strange end....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span><i>sycee</i>, 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, "<i>Sacrés voleurs! Sacrés voleurs anglais</i>!" 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.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_II" id="III_II"></a>II</h2> + +<h3>THE SACK</h3> + + +<p class="date">18th August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>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 +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>mounted, +riding the old pony I had commandeered the day before; my men were on +foot and ran pantingly alongside. We were so keen!</p> + +<p>For half a mile or so we met occasional detachments of European +troops, an odd enough <i>pot-pourri</i> 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?</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>I rode back, rather alarmed and shouting lustily. My <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>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 +<i>porte-cochère</i> 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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>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?...</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>taken his hand from the weapon. He had been waiting for +this—it was an old score, properly paid....</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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, "<i>Rendez-vous! Rendez-vous!</i>" 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, "<i>Rendez-vous! Rendez-vous!</i>" +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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>be shooting. In a second, a fresh desperate situation had +arisen.</p> + +<p>The marauders, astonished at my sudden appearance and the manner in +which their <i>razzia</i> 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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>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 +<i>dénouement</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>hors-de-combat,</i> and came down groaning with his head <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>My attention was distracted for an instant by seeing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Like a rush of muddy waters, the sweating, brown-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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 +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>faute de mieux</i>; but remembering that such +women are confined to the outer city, I reined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>It was almost dark as we re-entered the ruined Legation lines and +picked our way slowly though the <i>débris</i> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>follow, without a word of +explanation I started off again. I had made up my mind.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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....</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_III" id="III_III"></a>III</h2> + +<h3>THE SACK CONTINUES</h3> + + +<p class="date">August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>I thought of these things lying at my ease, and debated how long I +could stay in that unconcerned attitude. It <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>I knew now what to expect unless we made very ready, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <i>tant pis</i>.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>merely a preliminary feeling. Soon it added zest to the +entertainment. What, indeed, did it matter? It only made one more and +more reckless.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>given. It was curious +shopping, but everybody was curious now. What you did not take, +somebody would seize ten minutes later.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen them?" he said, not pausing for a reply. "It is the +sight of all others—the best of all. Hsü 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, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>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."</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<p>"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."</p> + +<p>Then he came up to me and whispered how soldiers were behaving after +they had outraged women. It was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>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, "<i>Défense absolue de piller; nous autres +avons tout pris</i>"; or, "No looting permitted. This show is cleaned +out." Everywhere these signs were to be seen. Here they must have +worked fast and furiously....</p> + +<p>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 mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>ing 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 <i>sycee</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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?...</p> + +<p>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 <i>mitrailleuses</i>. +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 +with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>out 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....</p> + +<p>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 <i>tired to death</i>. 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.</p> + +<p>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 +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>Conscious that only a big effort would pull us through, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>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....</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_IV" id="III_IV"></a>IV</h2> + +<h3>CHAOS</h3> + + +<p class="date">August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Thus, winding away over the sands and through the dust, the only +<i>raison d'être</i> 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, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>bound for places no one can ascertain. Nothing +but moving men on the great roads.</p> + +<p>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....</p> + +<p>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 gar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>dens 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."</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>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 +tur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>bans 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....</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_V" id="III_V"></a>V</h2> + +<h3>SETTLING DOWN</h3> + + +<p class="date">End of August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>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.</p> + +<p>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 Tüan's Palace +I had seen, a couple of days before, the incredible sight of thousands +of pieces of porcelain and baskets full of wonderful <i>objects de +vertu</i> 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!</p> + +<p>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 +re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>spectable 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_VI" id="III_VI"></a>VI</h2> + +<h3>THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT</h3> + + +<p class="date">August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Fortunately my friend K——, of the Russian Legation, rescued me at a +moment when I was prepared only to moralise on this infernal +situation, and to see nothing but evil in everything both around me +and in myself. I like to put it all down to the strange stupor and +lack of energy which have settled down on everything like a blight, +but I believe, also, that there must be a little bit of remorse at the +bottom of my feelings. K—— came in gaily enough, pretending that he +was looking for a breakfast and had learned of my retreat by mere +chance as he rode by. He had heard, I believe, as a matter of fact, +that there were a number of women on the premises, and that I was +living <i>en prince</i>. Perhaps, he had a number of reasons for coming. +From what he told me, however, it soon appeared that he had known +L——, the commander of the Russian columns, for many years, and had +just done business with him; and that, in consequence, the Russian +commander, who is a pleasant old fellow, risen from the ranks, had +said that he could have a private view of the Palace if he swore on +his honour that he would not divulge the excursion to any one. He +must, also, not take anything. He did not tell me all at first. It +came out bit by bit, after I had been sounded on a number of points. +Then he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span>asked me if I would like to come, and if I, too, would swear.</p> + +<p>Of course, I duly swore!</p> + +<p>Eventually we started on our long ride; for it was necessary for us to +go right round the Imperial city, skirting the pink walls so as not to +become involved in other people's territory, or to be noticed too +much. That was one of the preliminary precautions, K—— said. All the +way round, that ride was a beautiful illustration of the way the +International Concert (written with capital letters) is now working. +At absolutely every entrance into the Imperial city there were troops +of one nationality or another: American, British, French, German, +Japanese, and others—all looking jealously at every passer-by, and +holding so tight to their precious gates, that it appeared as if all +the world was conspiring to wrest them from their grasp. They thought, +perhaps, that this Palace is the magic wand which touches all China +and can produce any results; that both in the immediate and dim future +the obtaining of a good foothold here will mean an immense amount to +their respective countries. What fatuous, immense foolishness! For a +moment, as I looked at these guards, I had the insane desire to charge +suddenly forward and call upon the French, in the name of their dear +Ally, Czar Nicholas, to hand me their gate, or else take the +consequences; to do the same to the others; to mix them up and confuse +them; to tell them that a new war had been declared; that they would +soon have to fight for their lives against formidable foes—to tell +them mad things and to add to the rumours which already fill the air. +These troops, which had been hurled on Peking in frantic haste, had +only come because it was a matter of jealousy—that was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>now clear to +me. They themselves did not know why they had come, or with whom they +were fighting, or why they were fighting. They knew nothing and cared +less. And yet it does not much matter. It is not really they who are +to blame, nor even their officers. I know full well how instructions +are issued and how little the pawns really count.... The despatches +from the Chancelleries of Europe, how grotesque they can be! Everybody +is always so afraid of everybody else.</p> + +<p>Yet while I was thinking these things, K—— was not. He was secretly +worried, as he rode, whether L——'s promise would materialise, or +whether there would be another <i>impasse</i>. Somehow I felt certain that +there would be more difficulties, in spite of all assurances. <i>Ce +n'est pas pour rien qu'on connaît les Russes</i>, as C——, our old +<i>doyen</i>, always says....</p> + +<p>We passed at length into the Imperial city by the northern entrances, +far away from everybody else, and found ourselves in the midst of a +big Russian encampment, with rows upon rows of guns ranged in regular +formation and lots of tents and horses. All the soldiery here were +taking it very easy on this sunny day; had, indeed, stripped +themselves, and were now engaged in sluicing themselves over with +ice-cold water from a beautiful marble-enclosed canal. These hundreds +upon hundreds of clean white men, with their flaxen hair and their +blue eyes, seemed so strange and out of place in this semi-barbaric +Palace and so indifferent. How curious it was to think that only a few +days ago the Empress and all her <i>cortège</i> had passed here!</p> + +<p>We sought out the post commander and told him our purpose. The +difficulties began quickly enough then, as I had anticipated. The +officer explained to us that our <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>request was out of order and +impossible; that no one was allowed inside the inner precincts or had +ever been there; and hinted, incidentally, that we must be mad. +K—— listened to all this in that insulting silence which is a sure +sign of gentility, and then, ransacking his pockets, brought out a +letter and handed it to our man. That produced a change which might +have been highly amusing at other times. There was the complete +<i>volte-face</i> which amuses. The officer suddenly saluted, clicked his +heels, and said in a silky way, like a cat which has tasted milk, that +this order was explicit and made things different; that, indeed, we +might go at once if we liked, only we must be discreet—highly +discreet. He would accompany us himself. Such trivial details were +soon arranged.</p> + +<p>We left our ponies and our outriders then and marched forward quickly +on foot. The soldiery around us stared and laughed among themselves as +soon as they saw where we were going. This made me understand that +this excursion had been taken before, probably under the same orders +and in exactly the same way. It was only a well-rehearsed comedy. +K——, who is really a bit of a coward, did not appear to relish the +comments made, and now became suddenly reluctant. He told me +afterwards that he had overheard the men saying that we might be +killed inside, as there were many people there. So in silence we all +marched on.</p> + +<p>The first gate we reached was a beautiful example of the art of this +Northern country. There were splendid pillars of teak, marble tigers +and marble fretwork beneath, with much glittering colouring around. A +strong post of Russian infantry was on guard here, and sitting inside +the enclosure with the men off duty were a number of Palace eunuchs. +They all seemed quite intimate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>together and were chaffing one +another—soldiers and eunuchs laughing heartily at some coarse jest.</p> + +<p>We wended our way through a marble courtyard, which wore a rather +deserted and forlorn look, and which had huge low-lying halls and +dwellings for the Palace servants ranged on either side. These +appeared to be all deserted now, but at regular intervals were Russian +sentries standing up on lookout platforms. They were peering over the +walls in every direction, and seemed to be keeping a very sharp +lookout. The officer said that many guards of other nationalities were +well within rifle-shot from here, and that men were continually trying +to steal their way right into the inner Palace by scaling the walls. +He called them robbers!</p> + +<p>The next gate was much smaller, and showed from its very appearance +that we were nearing the actual Palaces—the hidden, mysterious abodes +of the Tartar rulers who had so ignominiously fled. Here the sentries +had the strictest orders, for, stopping us short with their lowered +bayonet points, they looked askance at us, and politely asked the +officer who we were and why we had ventured here. In the end, to set +their minds at ease, he had to tear a leaf from his pocket-book, write +an order, and make us sign our names. Upon this, the non-commissioned +officer in charge of this post detached himself and joined our little +party. We were not going to be allowed in alone, and imperceptibly the +affair assumed a graver and more consequential aspect. Then, quietly +advancing, we four were speedily lost in the huge maze of gardens and +buildings. The area covered by the Palaces was enormous.</p> + +<p>Beyond this was a succession of high, picturesque-looking buildings of +a curious Persian-Tartar appearance, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>with little galleries running +round them, and drum-shaped gateways of stone pierced in unexpected +places. There were also flowering trees and beautiful groves. It was, +indeed, charming, and over everything there was a refined coolness +which to me was something very new. We came on a last sentry, who, at +a word from his sergeant, drew a heavy iron key from a wooden box +hanging on the wall and fitted it to a lock. The key turned with a +faint screeching, which seemed out of place; the little gate was +thrust open and closed behind us, and ... at last we were within the +sacro-sanct courtyards of the rulers of the most antique Empire in the +world....</p> + +<p>Around us there was now a curious and unnatural quiet, as if the world +was very old here, and the noises of modern life remained abashed at +the thresholds. I knew well from a study of the curious old Chinese +maps, which the vendors of Peking <i>objets d'art</i> always offer you, +where we were, and it was almost with a sense of familiarity that I +turned and made my way to the east. There I knew in ordinary times the +Empress Dowager herself lodged in a whole Palace to herself. Somewhere +not very far from us I caught the soft cooing of the doves, which +everyone in Peking, from Emperor to shopkeepers, delights to keep, in +order to send sailing aloft on balmy days with a low-singing whistle +attached to their wings—a whistle which makes music in the air and +calls the other birds. Who has not heard that pleasant sound? Even the +Empress Dowager must have loved it. Here, in her private realm, the +doves were cooing, cooing, cooing, just like the French word +<i>roucoulement</i>, spoken strongly with the accent of Marseilles. You +could hear these birds of the Marseilles accent saying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>continually +that French word: <i>Roucoulement, roucoulement, roucoulement</i>, with +never a break....</p> + +<p>We ran up some flights of marble steps, following these gentle sounds, +and walked along a broad terrace adorned with fantastically curved +dwarf-trees, set in rich porcelain pots, and made stately with +enormous bronze braziers. The Russian officer, and even the Russian +sergeant, were agreeably stroked by the contact with all this quiet +and seclusion and this old-world air, and they murmured in sibilant +Russian. It pleased them immensely.</p> + +<p>We hastened to the end of the terrace, going quickly, because we were +anxious to find more delights; and as we turned at the end, without +any warning there were a few light screams and a little scuffle of +feet which died away rapidly. Women....</p> + +<p>We caught a disappearing vision of brilliantly coloured silks and +satins and rouged faces passing away through some doors, and then +before we had satisfied our eyes, several flabby-faced men suddenly +came out and called imperatively to us to stop and go away. We could +not go farther, they said.</p> + +<p>The two men of the Russian army, with the instinct of discipline which +we lacked, halted as if orders were being disobeyed, and looked at +K—— for inspiration. K—— stroked his thin moustaches, and put his +head a little on one side, as if he were debating what to say. I—well +since I had nothing to lose, and it did not really matter, I went +forward without any delay, asking our interlocutors roughly what they +meant and what they were doing here, and telling them, too, that we +were going on. I knew that they were sexless eunuchs, who would +stammer as I had heard them stammer in the old days when I had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span>seen +them trafficking things they had been donated by officials desirous of +cultivating their friendship, in the mysterious curio shops beyond the +great Ch'ien Men Gate. Nor was I wrong. Stammering, they replied by +asking how it was that orders had been broken. Stammering, they said +that all the great generals had promised that the inner Palaces were +to be kept immune; now men were for ever climbing in, and others were +coming openly as we were doing. What did we wish?</p> + +<p>I am afraid I was rude, for questions in these times do not sit well +on such folk, and I told them more roughly than ever to go quickly +away, or else we would hurt them. Perhaps we would even hurt them +badly I insinuated, fingering my revolver, for we had a duty to do. We +were going to inspect the entire Palace and see that all was well. And +before these men had recovered from their surprise we had pushed right +into the Empress Dowager's own ante-chambers.</p> + +<p>I saw, as I walked in, that a long avenue in the distance led directly +to a high yellow-walled enclosure. That must be the Imperial seraglio, +where the hundreds of young Manchu women provided by tradition for the +amusement of the Emperor were imprisoned for life. In the haste of the +Court's flight, the majority of them had been abandoned, and only the +most valuable taken off. Everybody had heard of that.</p> + +<p>Gently discoursing to the disturbed eunuchs, we went through room +after room, which even on the hot autumn day seemed cool and peaceful. +The <i>objects de vertu</i> which littered the small tables, and the +scrolls which hung from the walls, did little to relieve the sombre +effect of those high ceilings and carved wood frescoes. Yet there was +a little air of distinction and refinement <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span>which showed that an +immeasurable gulf separated the favoured dwellers of this Palace from +even the greatest outside. Even here Royalty does more than oblige; it +compels....</p> + +<p>With the eunuchs protesting more and more vigorously, and seeking to +stay our advance by a curious mixture of suggestion and imploring and +resistance which is a quality of the East, we slowly passed through +apartment after apartment. Some now were furnished with luxurious long +divans which eloquently invited graceful repose. What scenes had not +this silent furniture witnessed, and how little could the makers have +supposed, as they cunningly carved and stained and coloured, that +barbarians from Europe would be one day insolently gazing on their +handiwork!...</p> + +<p>I had lagged somewhat behind, when some curses and imprecations +dragged my wandering attention to the doors beyond. Two eunuchs had +fallen on their knees and were now kowtowing and begging with renewed +vigour, while a third was standing more resolutely than his fellows +with outstretched arms, imperatively forbidding any further advance. +The most interesting point had been reached; this must be the greatest +thing of all.</p> + +<p>But these eunuchs were beginning to fatigue us with their airs of duly +authorised custodians who could do as they pleased, and going up, we +now told them that unless they went quickly away we would kill them +then and there. We all drew our revolvers, stood over them, and waited +a minute of two. Then, as if they had acted their parts right up to +the end, the men on their knees got up suddenly, shook themselves, +bowed to us politely without a trace of feeling, and left.... +"<i>Enfin,"</i> said K——.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span></p> + +<p>At last we were in this dear Empress's bedroom, the abode which +shelters for such a considerable number of hours of every twenty-four +the most powerful woman in Asia. We looked eagerly. At one side of the +room was a large bed, beautifully adorned with embroidered hangings; +ranged round there was a profusion of handsome carved-wood furniture, +with European chairs upholstered in a style out of keeping with the +rest; on a high stand there were jewelled clocks noisily ticking; and +hidden modestly in one corner was nothing less than a magnificent +silver <i>pot de chambre</i>. She was here evidently very much at her ease, +the dear old lady. That little detail delighted me. The rest was +rather <i>banal</i>.</p> + +<p><i>Sans cérémonie</i>, I seated myself on the Imperial bed—it seemed to be +the most peaceful act of vandalism I could commit in repayment for +certain discomforts occasioned by this old lady's whims during eight +weeks of rifle-fire. And as my recollections went back to those +terrible days, I came down heavily as I could on this august couch. I +must confess that as a bed it was excellent; the old lady must have +slept well through it all, while she caused us our ceaseless vigil....</p> + +<p>This solitude in the most secluded of spots in the whole Palace made +us more and more inquisitive, and soon K—— and myself were hard at +work, rummaging every likely hiding-place.</p> + +<p>Our escort watched our antics and said nothing. It made an odd enough +little scene that, and I liked to think of its incongruity—we two +sets of men, who had not known of each other's existence an hour ago, +now absolutely alone in this retreat, from whence the siege had been +largely directed.</p> + +<p>K—— continued rummaging, making an extraordinary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span>amount of noise, +and exclaiming to himself now and again as he came across trifles +which interested him. Then I discovered a <i>compote</i>, or preserve made +of rose-leaves, which was so sweet and fragrant that we began promptly +eating. There were also Russian cigarettes, <i>au bonheur des dames</i>, +yet quite fit to smoke, and then just as we were becoming reasonably +content, K—— gave a tremendous oath and brought out something in his +hand. Then I knew that he was lost—that there would be speedy +complications; it was a Louis XV. painted watch—his greatest +weakness. Peking is full of these watches, some genuine enough and +many spurious. They were made the vogue centuries ago by the clever +Jesuit priests, when the first disciples of Loyola to come to China +were playing for kingly stakes in the capital of Cathay, and were not +ashamed to use any means which the ingenuity might discover to delight +the Manchu rulers of that day. Many of the most beautiful watches in +France, with amorous paintings of the most voluptuous kind decorating +the inside case, were brought to Peking and distributed among the high +and mighty. That set up a fashion for such pretty things; more and +more were brought, until Peking became a storehouse, stocked with this +specialty. Everyone even to-day has an example or two of this art, if +they can afford it.</p> + +<p>I thought of these things as I saw K—— trifle with that watch and +scrutinise it more and more closely. He looked at it for a last time +longingly, and then, without a word, suddenly placed it in his pocket. +That was cool. But at once the Russian officer started forward +protesting; we were breaking our words; we had begun looting; he would +be forced to arrest us. As he spoke, the man <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span>became so red and +excited, that K——, who pretended at first merely to smile +indulgently, became more and more alarmed, and finally replaced the +watch without a word. But still he continued this curious search, and +coming across other things, I noticed vaguely that he seemed to be +placing them all together in little collections, so that he could +easily get at them again....</p> + +<p>Then we wandered away to other great buildings, and we came on a +beautiful set of princely rooms, full of ticking clocks and rich +tapestries, and with such things as solid gold <i>bonbonnières</i>, studded +with coarse, uncut stones, lying on the secrétaires and small tables. +These, I believe, were the Emperor's apartments in normal times. There +were lots of beautiful things here—vases, enamels, jade, cloisonne, +and much wondrous porcelain; and although everyone had been saying +that Peking was not as rich as in 1860, when those strings of +beautiful black pearls had been brought home for the Empress Eugénie, +still it was clear that these Palaces contained a wealth undreamed of +outside. Indeed, there were magnificent things....</p> + +<p>Round the corners, as we walked, we saw the eunuchs looking and +lurking, and finally disappearing whenever they thought that they were +seen. There were more of them now, too, and, seeing us quite alone, +they were beginning to pluck up courage and wished once more to +interfere. I thought for an instant as I looked at their evil faces of +tearing down some rich embroidery and fashioning from it a sack just +as I had seen those Indian troopers do so few days before; then of +setting to work and piling everything I fancied into it and making as +if I intended to go off.</p> + +<p>Yet such a comedy would not be worth the candle; the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span>officer and the +sergeant would have to go through the formality of arresting me, and +the eunuchs would not even be noticed....</p> + +<p>Engrossed with such thoughts, and no longer amused by my surroundings, +I must have forgotten myself for a moment in a brown study; for when I +came to, I was surprised to find that we four had drifted some +distance apart, and that K—— was now whispering rapidly to the +Russian officer alone, and that the sergeant was standing far away, +with his back turned to them, slily fingering the things on the +tables. Then the sergeant allowed his hand to linger longer than was +necessary, and, throwing a sharp look round out of the corners of his +eyes, he suddenly thrust some object into his pocket. He, too, had +succumbed! I paid not the slightest attention to these curious +developments, but pretended to be gazing idly at nothing. Still, I +kept my eyes on the alert. K—— was manifestly plotting for those +watches; it was not my business—what did it matter to me if he took +everything there was?</p> + +<p>The officer, whatever the arguments, was obviously not yet very +convinced, nor very happy. He shook his head vigorously again and +again, and protested in that thick Russian undertone, which always +seems to me to explain what Russians really are. Yet those thick tones +were becoming gradually monotonous and less emphatic, and presently +slower and slower, until they stopped altogether. Then K—— came +towards me, and said carelessly that he supposed I wanted to wander +around a little more on my own account to see what else there was. It +was an invitation to disappear. Very well! I moved off suddenly and +sent the eunuchs scurrying back. There was a wish to split up the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span>party for a few minutes so that no one would know what the others +were doing. I knew I should immensely annoy the eunuchs by going +towards the women's quarters. Well, I would not cavil....</p> + +<p>I walked rapidly enough then down that back avenue I had observed +before, and looked neither behind me nor to the right or left. I would +go straight through to the end, <i>Dieu voulant</i>! It would be +interesting to have the unique experience of exploring the poor +Emperor's most private domains. But then I remembered that the women +had screamed and run away when they had caught sight of us in the +beginning. Now they would be securely locked in, and it was absurd and +dangerous to think of storming a gate by one's self. Farther and +farther I walked away until I became doubtful....</p> + +<p>I suddenly became aware that I was in front of a small door; that the +door was ajar; and that an amused talking and moving was going on very +near with many ripples of laughter rising clearly in the still air. It +seemed that the fates were helping me for some inscrutable purpose. I +must discover that purpose. Without a quiver I boldly walked in.</p> + +<p>I came on them without any sense of emotion, although nothing could +have been so novel—a number of groups of young Manchu women, some +clothed in beautiful robes, some in an undress which was hardly +maidenly. They were sitting and standing scattered round a large +courtyard, and hidden somewhere above them in the yellow tiled roofs +were more of those cooing doves with that strong accent of Marseilles: +"<i>Roucoulement, roucoulement, roucoulement</i>," they said very gently +this time, yet without ever ceasing. Their soft voices made beautiful +music.... <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span>For some reason none of the harem were surprised. Two or +three of the younger women ran back a step or two, and clasped the +hands of the others with broken ejaculations. Then they all sought my +eyes, and somehow we began smiling at one another. All women are the +same; these knew somehow that I would not hurt them. Yet in spite of +this fact I stood there embarrassed, knowing not what to say or do. I +had supposed myself inured by now to all the most impossible +situations—yet it seemed so absurd that I should be here, alone, +absolutely alone, among dozens of young women who were the Emperor's +most inviolate property—virgins selected from among the highest and +most comely in the land; forbidden fruit, which had not even been +tasted because of the Emperor's lack of masculinity.... I thought +rapidly of the various classes into which these women are divided +according to immemorial custom: of the concubines of the first rank, +of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, who are merely +favoured hand-maidens of the Biblical type. Then I wondered whether it +was true that when the former Emperor Hsien Feng had suddenly died, +and the Empress Dowager had selected the child Kuang-shü to succeed +him, she had caused the child to be mutilated, so that the question of +the next heir should remain in her own hands.... The women would know.</p> + +<p>And yet even Imperial concubines must have opportunities which no one +suspects, for I was suddenly relieved of the necessity of breaking the +ice by their breaking it for me. Without embarrassment they suddenly +began plying me with questions, and not waiting for replies, they +asked what was going on outside; what was going to happen; who was I; +why had I come; why <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span>was I not a soldier?... The questions came so +fast and thick that before I had realised it I had forgotten my +surroundings, forgotten the time, forgotten most things, I am afraid, +and was deep in the middle of an astonishing conversation, which never +flagged and which was continually broken with laughter. Then I was +brought to ominously. I heard a door shut with a thump; I saw the +women pinch and look at one another and cease talking. What did that +door mean?</p> + +<p>On purpose I did not turn round; that would have been fatal. I did as +I always do now: I gained time to lessen the shock. Some day, when I +have much leisure, I shall, doubtless, prepare tables specially +adapted to every situation and to every temperament, which will show +exactly the number of seconds, minutes, and hours which are necessary +on an average to accustom one's self to anything. It is possible to do +so; it will be astonishing when it is done. For the time being, I +thought of this rather glumly—indeed, without a trace of +enthusiasm—and I wished a little that I had not been so foolish in +putting my head inside the lion's mouth. I remembered the story a +former Secretary of the British Legation used to tell us of two +Englishmen, who, in the unregenerate days in Cairo—or was it +Constantinople?—climbed into the harem, and were cruelly mutilated +for their audacity before they could be rescued. I became so glum as +this flashed through my mind, that my great system of preparation was +in imminent danger of breaking down. So I turned suddenly round on my +heel, and looked squarely ... it was as I had thought.</p> + +<p>The door I had entered had been quietly locked, and now, inside, were +standing, with moving lips and menacing air, those evil-looking +eunuchs. This time there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span>were four of them. Two were the two who had +knelt and prayed that we should not enter the Empress Dowager's +private apartments; one was the man who had stood up and been almost +threatening; the last one was so tall that his aspect of strength +almost gave the lie to the assumption that he had been mutilated for +Palace use. These last two would be difficult; the others I could +leave out of my calculations.</p> + +<p>Faithful to my theory, and trusting to this strange ally, I merely +opened my revolver-pocket; then it was with a sense that I was +irretrievably lost that I saw that two of the opponents were armed in +the same way. My theories and preparations were all falling to the +ground. I would probably follow them in person in a very few minutes. +Nobody would be the wiser....</p> + +<p>I stood there waiting while these men muttered at me, as if they now +hated me bitterly, and yet did not know how to commence, and with the +women behind me chattering affrighted. In vain I tried to work out how +many eunuchs there really were in this vast Palace; whether a great +number had gone away with the Court, or whether these four men would +summon four more, or perhaps fourteen, and possibly even forty or four +hundred. They always say the Palace contains three thousand....</p> + +<p>It was all no good, however, for it was my turn to play, and without I +played we might remain standing there in this manner until it became +dark. Then I could be beaten to the ground and thrown down a well +without any one being the wiser. No search could be made for me, and +if one was made, nothing would be found. Men were continually missing +in Peking, and no one knew how they met their fate....</p> + +<p>I advanced now with my hands empty and my mind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span>fairly made up. +Everything depended on a new theory, which I was about to test, a mere +Chinese theory concerning eunuchs—that their mutilation makes them +bestial, but also downtrodden and quite spiritless and peculiarly +weak. That is why the old Empress could thrash them to death whenever +they displeased her, without their daring to raise their hands or make +one single struggle. Now, as I walked forward, I could see my old +Chinese teacher, who had taught me these strange theories concerning +eunuchs, sitting in front of me and slowly waving his fan, and showing +by an analysis of things I did not clearly understand, how Nature had +laws and decrees which cannot be violated without bringing heavy and +immediate punishment in their train. As I walked forward I could not +help seeing that old figure of a Chinese teacher in front of me, and +prayed that he was correct. If he was not ... then I stopped thinking +and acted.</p> + +<p>I did it neatly, with some brutality, because I had been absolutely +surprised, and had not yet recovered, and, also, because I was more +than a little afraid. Six paces off I threw myself in two savage +bounds against the tall man; caught him with my right hand by the +outstretched right arm, hurled him round once by the force of my own +impetus and the strength of my grasp; and then, as he swiftly swung +with loosened legs, stopped him suddenly short with a mighty up-driven +blow of my right knee, which sang so deep and cruelly into his soft +flesh, that it grated harshly against his spinal column. Nobody can +resist that blow—according to the old man's theory, least of all a +eunuch—nobody, nobody. It should be certain as death, once you have +the right grip. With a gurgle my man had sunk to the ground <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span>a mere +shapeless mass, perhaps really dead; and with by breath coming hot +through my nostrils at this success I closed fiercely with the second, +seized him by the throat, wrenched at him like a madman, and carried +him staggering back. The other trick demands the six paces and the +impetus; I would have liked to have tried it again, but I had not +dared....</p> + +<p>But it was finished with dramatic suddenness, for even as I ran the +second eunuch, gasping for breath, backwards, the other two rushed to +the door, opened it hurriedly, and then stepped aside with loud +implorings and supplications. I accepted. I let go my grasp and +quickly jumped out. I, too, had had enough. As I went through I caught +a last glimpse of that curious scene framed by the red gate-posts and +the roofs beyond—the senseless eunuch on the ground, the other +standing near by, coughing and reaching at his throat, the women of +the seraglio in their gaily flowered coats pressing curiously +round.... But I had enough. I did not tarry. Rapidly I walked away, +with a little prayer in my heart. I felt almost as I had felt once +when I was nearly drowning.</p> + +<p>I found K——, five minutes later, sitting on the first marble +terrace, with his pockets bulging out and an expression of ox-like +satisfaction on his face. That was an antidote which speedily sobered +me. The officer was farther on, and had also looted by his looks. The +sergeant of the guard—well, I knew about him already. K—— smiled +when I appeared, and said that I had been very quick and that he did +not expect me so soon. I did not take the trouble to answer; +explanations are always apologies. If I had told him the truth, he +would never have believed me, and certainly never have understood. +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span>And if I had lied there would have been the same result. So I merely +said I was ready, and that we had seen enough; and then, in silence, +each man thinking of what he had done, we covered the way back very +quickly and mounted our ponies. All the way home during that long ride +I was amused by watching the heavy posts of soldiery belonging to the +other columns, who were so jealously guarding their own entrances. How +angry they would have been if they had only known!... That was an +extraordinary day.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_VII" id="III_VII"></a>VII</h2> + +<h3>THE FEW REMAINS</h3> + + +<p class="date">End of August, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Imperceptibly, I believe, things are settling down a little and +assuming broad outlines which can be more easily understood as the +days go by. Most people who went through the siege have now gone away. +A few remaining missionaries and their converts have flowed far away +and quartered themselves in some of the residences of the minor Manchu +princes, and are now selling off what they have found by auction. They +have the special permission of the Ministers and Generals to act in +this way. Loot-auctions, indeed, are going on everywhere, and the few +people who have managed to get through from other places in China with +loads of silver dollars are making fortunes. There are enormous masses +of silver <i>sycee</i> in nearly everybody's hands, and I am certain now +that several of our <i>chefs de mission</i> are in clover. My own chief, +who pretends to be virtuous because he is something of a <i>fainéant</i>, +to put it mildly, eyed me very severely the other day and said that +everyone reported that I had developed into a species of latter-day +robber-chief, and had slain hundreds of people. He said all sorts of +other things, too. I let him exhaust his oratory before I replied. +Then I inquired regarding the definition of the term treasure-trove, +which has become the consecrated phrase for all <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span>our many hypocrites. +The generals and many of his colleagues had much treasure-trove, I +said; I had some, too. Of course, I admitted that if there were +investigations, and everyone had to render a strict account, I would +do the same; but for the time being I wanted to know that there was +going to be only one law for everyone. Those were good replies, for +some of the biggest people in the Legations are so mean and so bent on +covering up their tracks that they are using their wives to do their +dirty work.</p> + +<p>I believe my chief thought for a moment that I knew something about an +affair in which he was involved, for he only said one word, "<i>Bien,"</i> +and looked at me in a strange way. I knew I had frightened him, and +that he must have thought that if I chose to speak later on there +would be trouble. I had no such intention, of course, only I hated +being annoyed by a man of little courage. Had he been courageous I +should never have answered at all, except perhaps to offer him a share +of my private treasure-trove!</p> + +<p>Yet with all this settling down it seems to me that people must be +becoming suddenly more and more commercial, and that an inspection of +their accounts makes them wish for a little more on the profit side. +For one morning a young Englishman, who has been living in Peking +rather mysteriously for a number of years, marched in on me at a very +early hour, accompanied by several Chinese, whom I immediately knew +from their appearance to be small officials. The Englishman said that +he had a plan and a proposition, and these he unfolded so rapidly that +he made me laugh. It appeared that the men he had brought with him +were <i>ku-ping</i>, or Treasury Guards of the Board of Revenue <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_399" id="Page_399">[399]</a></span>under the +old <i>régime</i>; and, according to their accounts, they knew exactly +where the secret stores of treasure were hidden in the secret vaults +of the government. They explained that these stores belonged not only +to the government, but were also portions of what peculating officials +took from day to day and hid away until they could remove their +plunder in safety after an inspection had been made. They said, did +these informants, that there were millions in both gold and silver. +They became very enthusiastic and excited as they talked.</p> + +<p>I waited patiently to see how they proposed to solve this problem—did +they wish a bold, open, frontal attack or an underground plot? Nothing +is very astonishing now, and we have all the resourcefulness of +<i>condottieri</i>, with a certain modern respectability added. But they +were sensible people, and did not dream of the impossible. They +supposed, they said, that I knew that the Russians had now full +control of the Board of Revenue. Perhaps, if their commander could be +approached in the proper way, the matter could be very rapidly +attended to. The treasure could be seized in the name of the Russian +Government and everyone could get a share. That is what they said.</p> + +<p>At first I thought of refusing point-blank, for I was rather tired of +these adventures; but the men were so persistent, and I had been so +irritated by the pious insincerity of my own chief, that in the end I +told them that I would see what could be done, although the matter did +not interest me very much. I privately again thought of what our old +<i>doyen</i> says, "<i>Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'on connaît les Russes</i>," and +wondered how long negotiations would last.</p> + +<p>Of course it was a wretchedly long business, and before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_400" id="Page_400">[400]</a></span>long I +regretted bitterly that I had not been more hard-hearted. I managed to +communicate with L—— that same day through R——, and explained to +him as well as I could the whole affair. I found the Russian +Commander-in-Chief a sly old fox, for his first idea was to thank me +for the information and have the whole Treasury searched; if +necessary, to dig down to a depth of twenty feet or so with the help +of a regiment or two of infantry. That was his idea. In the end we +managed to convince him that this was foolish, and that there must be +places which his soldiers could not reach even by prodding down with +their bayonets and spades to great depths. Secret chambers cannot be +easily discovered even in this way, we said. That made L—— very +angry, for no reason apparently but that the affair seemed a huge +bother and trouble. He said in reply that the Japanese had taken +everything in any case, and that this was going to be a fool's quest +if he went on with it. Also, he would not listen to any arrangements +being made and put in writing regarding the proportions to be paid to +everyone if a find was actually made. Indeed, this last idea +irritated him so much that he angrily said that we were deliberately +plotting to take away the property of the Russian Government—property +which the Russian Government could not afford to lose, and did not +intend to lose, either. He even added that this was a city of robbers, +and that people would not keep to their own territory, but were always +trying to trespass. This made us laugh so much that he suddenly +changed his manner, and said that the whole question was a serious one +and would have to be referred home by telegraph. Otherwise he could +not authorise any payments. K——, who was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_401" id="Page_401">[401]</a></span>present, replied +sarcastically that perhaps he would like to refer the question direct +to the Czar, and begged him to be cautious in such a very important +affair!</p> + +<p>The last thing which could be got out of the Russian +Commander-in-Chief was that he would telegraph at once to Alexieff at +Port Arthur and ask his permission to arrange matters. If Alexieff +said yes, we would go to work at once; otherwise nothing could be +attempted. I knew that probably not a single word would be mentioned +to any one out of Peking, and that these were mere manoeuvres. +However....</p> + +<p>I had almost forgotten the matter when, a few mornings after this +interview, I was suddenly awakened at daylight and told that there +were several Russian officers in my courtyard who wished to speak to +me at once. Their business was urgent. I went out and greeted the men, +and they said that L—— would be ready at two o'clock that day to go +with his staff to the Board of Revenue and effect the seizure; and +that a quarter share on all amounts seized would be given by the +Russian Government for the information supplied. These officers added +that they would have to go back at once; but in the end they remained +with me the whole morning, drinking as hard as they could, and +contenting themselves with despatching a Cossack to say that all was +arranged.</p> + +<p>We started to go to the Russian headquarters at an early hour, but in +some mysterious way news must have been conveyed to other people of +this latest development, for half a dozen men arrived and appeared +immensely surprised to find these Russian officers there with me on +their horses. They asked me, each in turn, whether everything had been +arranged, and how much everyone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_402" id="Page_402">[402]</a></span>was going to get, and where the +treasure was to be stored. There was, indeed, no end to their +questions, and they said that they estimated that the sum seized would +amount to about ten or twelve million francs. Later on, each man took +me aside, and explained what he had done to help the thing along, +hoping that he would be remembered in the end, as this was a very big +affair, and the more people in it the better. I confess I did not +clearly understand all this; it was like floating a mining company. +But I knew that most of these dear friends had been sitting shivering +inside the Legations while the sack was going on, because they had no +wish to risk their lives; and now that they thought they could safely +earn an honest penny in a legitimate affair, they would stoop to +anything!</p> + +<p>We were soon such a huge cavalcade that I became nervous about the +reception L—— would give us. The Russian officers, too, became more +and more drunk in the open air, and kept on saying that they hoped +there would be fighting, heavy fighting, for they felt just like it. A +charge was what they wanted, they said. No one could find out with +whom they proposed to fight, as the place we were going to was only a +stone's throw away, with not a Chinaman near and a couple of strong +companies of Russian infantry inside. The officers became intensely +angry when everyone laughed, and said that although they were drunk, +they were not like many people without stomachs about whom there had +been so much talk. That was a nasty home-blow for some of them.</p> + +<p>We found L—— ready enough; indeed, we had kept him waiting. He had +most of his staff with him, and the usual escort of Cossacks standing +by their horses, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_403" id="Page_403">[403]</a></span>making it seem very official. Of course, L—— +became furious when he saw the big crowd of people, and asked whether +it was going to be a picnic. This word tickled one of the drunken +officers so much, that suddenly he let his loose legs relapse and +clapped his spurs into his animal, which reared horribly, and in the +end sent him on the ground. I thought I should die of laughter. Then +everybody became more and more fussy, because they were afraid of +L——, but, fortunately, the general started off ahead, muttering to +himself, and we rode after him like some procession. It seemed to me +very absurd, and at that point I lost all confidence in the success of +the expedition. Everyone had become too sanguine, and I fully believe +that you cannot have any luck in such affairs with a crowd of idiots. +Other people, who had no business to know of the affair, somehow +managed to join us on the way, and when we reached the Board of +Revenue we numbered dozens of men, not including the escorts.</p> + +<p>There were about two companies of Russian infantry in occupation +there, as I have already said, and in the first halls we found armed +guards superintending hundreds of small Chinese boys at work stringing +together copper cash. There must have been millions and hundreds of +millions of these worthless coins either piled up in great mountains +or scattered on the floors, and it would take months to sort them out +and market them. It was the only thing the cunning Japanese had openly +left!</p> + +<p>L—— now called the officers of the guard, and explained to them that +he was about to seize secret treasure which had been so well hidden by +the Chinese that the Japanese had not been able to find it. He told +them <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_404" id="Page_404">[404]</a></span>to give their assistance. The new officers, when they heard +this, looked so sharply at one another, that everyone began to +comment on it, and say that if there was nothing left they knew who +was guilty. It was becoming delightful.</p> + +<p>We started off in a body with the <i>ku-ping</i>, or treasury guards, who +were giving the information, leading us. They took us past a good many +huge buildings that looked like grimy old warehouses, and then stopped +us short at one that appeared to be still barred and bolted. It took +some time to open these doors, although the officers of the guard said +that they had only been closed after they had taken over the place +from the Japanese; and when we got inside it was so dark and dank that +we could see nothing and could scarcely breathe. Candles had to be +lighted, and as they threw feeble flickers of light across the gloom, +hideous bats began flying madly about, and dashing to the ground in +their fright great shreds of dusty cobwebs that must have been +centuries old. Nobody minded that, however; it seemed just the sort of +place where millions could really be found in these prosaic days!</p> + +<p>The thing was now interesting, if only from a psychological point of +view....</p> + +<p>The <i>ku-ping</i> advanced, without hesitation, and brought us to a high +wooden paling which shut off one half of this immense hall from the +other. Inside the paling, as far as we could see, there were just +mountains of empty sacks—hundreds of thousands of them, even +millions, I should think.</p> + +<p>But the paling was impassable. A small gate leading through it was +still locked with a heavy Chinese padlock, and there was no key. One +of the officers gave a wave <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_405" id="Page_405">[405]</a></span>of his hand, and a couple of the soldiers +went out and reappeared with axes. In a few blows they had cleared a +broad opening; the <i>ku-ping</i> sprang through, and, like bloodhounds +that scent a trail, ran swiftly up the steep slopes of the great +masses of empty bags, looking eagerly about them. Then, finally +calculating aloud, they marked down a spot. They had located the exact +place where they would have to begin to work. They stripped themselves +to the waist with great rapidity, and, feeling that their reputations +were at stake, without any warning they were heaving away among those +empty sacks like so many madmen. Faster and faster they worked, +throwing away the sacks. Choking clouds of dust, now rising as if by +magic, filled the whole vast hall and drove us back coughing and +gasping for air, until, fairly beaten, we had to stand outside. As if +through a thick vapour we could dimly see those men still working more +and more rapidly. I wondered how they could breathe....</p> + +<p>In very few minutes, however, they also had had enough, but as they +sprang down, and quickly gasping, sought the open air, they brought +with them the end of a rope. They had evidently not only located the +exact spot they were seeking, but had found the first trace which was +necessary to make their search successful. Still, it was impossible to +continue work in this way. It would take hours, at such a slow rate, +to dig down beneath those mountains of old treasure-sacks. It would +take more hours to excavate or open up chambers beneath. So we held a +short consultation. There was but one thing to do. We must tear down +one side of the building, so as to have more light, and to be able to +put more men to work. No sooner decided on, than the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_406" id="Page_406">[406]</a></span>thing was done, +for in this work the Russians are supreme. They called in fatigue +parties from the infantry companies in garrison, and telling them in +simple language to break down one side of the building, in a few +moments a wonderful scene began. I had seen some rapid work at short +intervals during the worst agony of the siege, but never have I seen +men who could handle the axe and the crowbar like these rude +infantrymen. Everything went down under their blows—brickwork, +woodwork, stonework, iron stanchions, everything; and with a rapidity +which seemed incredible, gaping spaces appeared. Soon, standing +outside, from a dozen different points, you could see the Chinese +informants inside at work again, in those clouds of choking dust, +thrashing up and down, like men possessed.</p> + +<p>But energy is not sufficient for some things. Three men were +attempting the work of a hundred. We must have more hands.</p> + +<p>This time the dozens of small boys stringing cash in the outer +courtyards were called in and told to fall to; and forming lines which +oddly resembled those made by firemen, they were soon bundling out the +empty sacks to the open at the rate of thousands a minute. Faster and +faster they worked, as if the same frenzy had spread to them; wider +and wider moved the rings of floating dust, until they hung high above +everything and made the day seem dull and threatening. Then suddenly +the <i>ku-ping</i> inside gave a shout. They had got low enough for the +time being—they wanted to be able to see. The squads of sweating +soldiers and the dozens of grimy little boys desisted and stood +open-eyed to see what was to follow. They were beginning to appreciate +the significance of it all.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_407" id="Page_407">[407]</a></span></p> + +<p>We waited patiently and watched the great clouds melt away and settle +on our clothes and silt into our eyes; and then finally, when it was +clearer, a man inside struck a match, lit a candle and handed it down +into a great hole which had been dug through the very centre of these +decade-old bullion coverings. How deep the hole was I could not see, +but the three men slipped in and were entirely lost to our view.</p> + +<p>They seemed a long time down there without giving a single sign or +making any noise, and we all became a little nervous. Perhaps the +thing was really miscarrying. Soon I felt certain that it had +miscarried, and bitterly regretted taking the matter in hand. Then one +man came up gruntingly and began cursing and swearing as soon as he +saw us. He did that because he was afraid. I feared the worst. On his +shoulders there was one single great lump of silver and nothing else, +and as he clambered out to where we stood he tilted it with a dull +thud to the ground, and said sullenly that that was the only thing +left, and that others had been there before us. He repeated this +several times, so that there should be no mistake; there was only this +enormous piece of silver and nothing else. The smile's left +everybody's face. Never have I seen such a sudden change. However, to +me it was <i>kismet</i>....</p> + +<p>In some trepidation we at length approached L—— and told him what had +been said, and then there was another storm. He said that it was +impossible—that there must be some mistake—that the men had said +that the bullion was there, and there it must be. As he spoke his +anger rose again, and coming up and kicking the massive silver ingot, +he asked again and again in a few words of French, which I believe he +had learned <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_408" id="Page_408">[408]</a></span>especially for the occasion, "<i>Mais où est l'or? mais où +est l'or?</i>" It was almost pitiful to hear him repeat these words again +and again like a child. He believed we were cheating him....</p> + +<p>The position had now become suddenly ridiculous, and I did not know +what to do. Everyone soon took up L——'s attitude, and felt that +they had been cheated by some one. Indeed, they acted as if they had +lost valued possessions. They all clambered around me, and said that +it was disgraceful, and that something should be done to punish the +men who had brought the false information. They became so excited that +it was necessary to create a diversion by going down into that hole +ourselves to see exactly what it meant. That proved the last straw.</p> + +<p>It was the dirtiest and most uncomfortable descent I have ever made. +Sliding down through those piles of sacks led one to a false floor, +some planks of which had been forced up by the Chinese informants. +Beneath this was a short ladder, and, stepping down, one found one's +self in an immense underground chamber. The air was so thick and dank +here that it was almost impossible to breathe, and in the flickering +light of the candles we could just see a confused mass of chests and +boxes ranged round. Everyone of these had been battered open. The +cunning Japanese must have been there first and taken everything. +Alone that big lump of silver had been left because of its weight.</p> + +<p>But there was something I missed. These <i>ku-ping</i> had been emphatic +about the valuable weights we would find hidden—the standard weights +of China in pure gold, which were centuries old, they said, and were +the same as had been used during the Ming dynasty hundreds <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_409" id="Page_409">[409]</a></span>of years +before. I asked for them—where were they kept? Perhaps we might at +least have these.</p> + +<p>Alas! they led me to a smaller chamber, with a curious little door +formed of a single slab of stone, and pointed once again +disconsolately to more rifled boxes. These outer chests covered +smaller boxes, which were of the size of the weights themselves. I had +always heard that the biggest weight of all was a square block of gold +equal to the weight of a full-grown man. I would like to have seen +that, but everything was gone. It was useless wasting any more time.</p> + +<p>We came up again carrying some of those silk-lined boxes as +explanations and souvenirs. But our friends were now all standing +round some soldiers, who had accidentally knocked aside some flags of +stone, and had found a deep hole underneath. They were now jerking +away violently at some last obstruction, and finally they swept aside +everything and bared some steep steps. As we stood wondering what had +been discovered, and our hopes were almost revived, far down below +appeared a grimy face, and a man at last ran up, rapidly exclaiming +from surprise, as he mounted to the surface. It was one of our Chinese +informants! Then suddenly we saw the point, and in spite of our +discomfiture began laughing. The soldiers of the fatigue parties, +slower than us to understand, at length followed our example; then the +hundreds of small Chinese boys; then everyone else, until we were all +laughing. For we had been fooled and well fooled by those clever +little Japanese. When they had seized the Treasury, they had not only +discovered the general stores of silver, but had managed to find this +hidden entrance or some other near by. Without any trouble they had +gone down and taken <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_410" id="Page_410">[410]</a></span>everything, swept the place clean, and left, +probably as a supreme sarcasm, that one enormous lump of blackened +silver.... We were indeed well sold. It was immense.</p> + +<p>At that particular moment I do not think any one was very bitter at +this absurd anti-climax after those great expectations. That is, +excepting the old general. Somehow, he became convinced by our +preparations that there would be much gold found as a just reward. Now +once again he accused us all of making a fool of him, of knowing from +the beginning that it was a wild-goose chase. I thought sarcastically +about his telegram and the desire he had had in the first place to +haggle about the terms; and I let him mutter on. It is always the one +who laughs last who laughs best. I made a little plan.</p> + +<p>We retired from the Chinese Treasury with rather indecent haste. L—— +did not even look at the guard which turned out as we passed the +entrance. When we had entered they had hurrahed him, and hoped that +his health was good, in a chorus after their custom; and he had made a +little speech in return, trusting that his children were also well! It +was amusing if you happened to be able to appreciate that kind of wit. +Most of my companions, however, did not. And yet with the clouds of +dust which had settled on us and covered us from head to food with +dirt it was impossible to look even dignified with success. And all my +friends, who had been so cordial and admiring in the morning, how cold +and distant they had become! They had not made anything—was not that +a sufficient excuse for any behaviour?</p> + +<p>Somehow news of this expedition must have leaked <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_411" id="Page_411">[411]</a></span>out everywhere +through the indiscretion of confident busybodies, until everybody knew +about it, for we kept on meeting men riding across our road as if by +chance, and asking what luck we had had. This made the companions I +had gathered more furious than ever, and at the last moment, as we +parted, I could not restrain myself. I rode up to one of the staff +officers who had been the most officious and the most offensive, and +begged him not to forget to remind the general that he had a duty to +perform. An account must be telegraphed at once to Alexieff! That was +the last word—the very last.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_412" id="Page_412">[412]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_VIII" id="III_VIII"></a>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THE PALSY REMAINS</h3> + + +<p class="date">September, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I have now ridden to every point of the compass in the city, and even +beyond, and I have inspected everything with a critical eye. It is +wonderful how things shape themselves. There are now some portions of +the city that are reasonably peaceful even at night, and where even +women can come forth and walk openly about; others that are quiet on +the surface and yet throw up mad things at all hours; and lastly, +there are those where riot and disorder still reign supreme. Some +people estimate that half or even three quarters of the native +population have fled, and that this accounts for the curious silence +which now reigns, only to be broken by the noise of marauders or +marching troops. Yet I do not believe that so many of the population +have really fled; many people remain half hidden in quiet spots, +where, packed dozens and dozens in a single house, they tremulously +await the return to happier days. The Chinese, I sometimes think, of +all peoples of this earth must have their historic sense enormously +developed. Thousands of years of civil wars and countless endless +sieges have placed them in the dilemma of to-day more often than it is +possible to say. Only fifty years ago the Taipings made whole +provinces suffer the way Peking has now suffered.... Such things must +live in the blood of a people and never be quite forgotten....</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_413" id="Page_413">[413]</a></span></p> + +<p>You muse like this very often when you ride out and meet lumbering +military trains going back to Tientsin, laden with countless chests of +loot. What immense quantities of things have been taken! Every place +of importance, indeed, has been picked as clean as a bone. Now that +the road is well open, dozens of amateurs, too, from the ends of the +earth have been pouring in to buy up everything they can. The armies +have thus become mere bands of traders eternally selling or +exchanging, comparing or pricing, transporting or shipping. Every man +of them wishes to know whether there is a fortune in a collection of +old porcelain or merely a competence, and whether it is true that a +long robe of Amur River sables, when the furs are perfect and undyed, +fetch so many hundreds of pounds on the London market. There are +official military auctions going on everywhere, where huge quantities +of furs and silks and other things come under the hammer. Yet it is +noticed that the very best things always disappear before they can be +publicly sold. A phrase has been invented to meet the case. "<i>Cherchez +le général</i>," people say.</p> + +<p>Even with these sales the stocks never seem to sink lower. There are +always fresh finds being made—seizures made officially by an officer +or two with a few files of men so that there may be some reasonable +excuse to offer to those who persist in remaining mulishly prudish. +These new finds are, of course, called treasures-trove. They are good +words. Looting has officially ceased; is, indeed, forbidden under the +most severe penalties. That is why it is being systematised and made +open and respectable. It is in the blood. You cannot escape it; it +still follows you everywhere, no matter how far away you go.</p> + +<p>Listen to this. I rode some days ago into the Imperial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_414" id="Page_414">[414]</a></span>city in order +to climb the famous Mei Shan, or Coal Hill, built, according to +ancient tradition, so that when some immense disaster overwhelmed the +ruling dynasty, it might be lighted and consume in its flames the +whole Imperial family. That is the tradition—that the hill is an +immense funeral pyre. (Nowadays, however, ruling dynasties are so +human that they merely run away.) All the way up that historic hill I +was followed by the whining voices of disappointed looters. A +battalion of the French troops, which came straight from Europe a week +or so too late for the relief, was in garrison at the base of this +eminence, and French soldiers escorted me to the top, probably under +orders to see that I did not try and chip off the gold-leaf which is +reputed to line the roofs of the pavilions. You can never be quite +certain for what reason you are watched by rival nationalities now.</p> + +<p>It was a long climb to the top, up winding steps that never ceased and +through little pavilions which looked out on the scene below. A final +flight of stairs at last introduced you into a structure which crowned +the whole. From here the view was magnificent. Right below you +could see far into the Palace and inspect the marble bridges, the +lotus-covered sheets of water and all the other things of the Imperial +plaisaunce. Farther on, the city of Peking spread out in huge expanses +hemmed in only miles away by the grey tracing of the city walls and +the high-standing towers. Farther again were waving fields with uncut +crops rotting as they stood, because all the country people had fled +to escape the vengeance. On the very horizon line were dark hills. The +view was indeed immense and wonderful.</p> + +<p>I stood lost a little in this contemplation, and forgot <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_415" id="Page_415">[415]</a></span>the +attendants who had so persistently followed me, until suddenly their +voices rose in a dispute which was purposely loud so that it should +engage my attention. At last, as the stratagem had failed, and I did +not turn, a soldier bolder than his comrades pushed up to me, and +saluting politely enough, said that they had a few things to sell, +although they had had hard luck and had found Peking almost empty. +Indeed, before showing me anything, they complained bitterly of the +men from Tonkin, who were no better than disciplinary battalions and +who got everything because they had come with the first columns. This +they called cruelly unjust. Then from their pockets and tunics these +men began producing their little <i>articles de vertu</i>. They made me +laugh at first, for they had systematised so much that each man's +possession had a ticket attached, with the price in francs clearly +marked. That was good commercialism brought straight from France.</p> + +<p>They were, however, only the usual things—watches, rings, +snuff-boxes, hair-ornaments, curios of minor value, and a few stones +of bad colour. But the men crowded round me and extolled their wares +like the hucksters of Europe, and beseeched me to buy in a most +anxious manner. They would sell cheap, very cheap, they confessed, at +the present moment, because they had just learned that an order had +been issued to search all their kits and to turn over the finds to a +common fund. Rumours had spread to Europe, they said—it was the first +I had heard of it—of the dark things which had been going on, and the +generals were becoming alarmed....</p> + +<p>Fortunately I had with me some gold coin, and for a mere song I +purchased everything. I did not want to do so, but already experience +has taught us that it is best to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_416" id="Page_416">[416]</a></span>buy when you are alone and no help +near by, otherwise your pockets may be turned out and everything taken +without an excuse. That happened to a man in the German Legation.</p> + +<p>I climbed down from the famous Coal Hill, thinking very little of the +renowned view. I wondered merely when it was all going to end, and how +normal conditions were going to come. I wandered, thinking in this +manner, over the famous marble bridge, that delicate, delightful +tracing of stone which so charmingly crosses an artificial lake thick +with swaying lotus. I turned this way and that, not thinking very much +where I was going; and presently, on my way back, walked past the +Little Detached Palace, where, they say, the Emperor was imprisoned +after the 1898 <i>coup d'état</i>. Here there was a curious sight, which +brought back my wandering attention. French and English soldiers +divided the honour of guarding this Palace entrance. Rival sentries +stood only ten or fifteen feet away from one another and jealously +watched to see that this prize was not secretly seized. The British +regiment had the actual gates; it seemed that the French had posted +themselves so close merely to watch. I passed these lines of sentries +and wandered along, only to be accosted once more as soon as I was in +a quiet alley. I soon found that this man and his mates were more +cunning than those with whom I had had previously to deal and that +some time must elapse before a bargain could be struck. They wasted +time ascertaining who I was, and only hinted at good things—not the +usual watches and rings, they said, but really things worth their +weight in pure gold. Then one man tempted me deliberately with an +abrupt movement which reminded me of the way the sellers of obscene +playing-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_417" id="Page_417">[417]</a></span>cards in Paris disclose to the unsuspecting stranger their +wares. He drew from his tunic a little wooden box, opened it quickly, +and laid bare a most exquisite Louis XV. gold belt-buckle, set in +diamonds and rubies, and beautifully painted. I, who knew a little of +Manchu history, understood that belt-buckle. It must have been one of +the countless presents made during the early days of the Jesuits in +Peking, when they almost controlled the destinies of the Empire. It +was a priceless relic.</p> + +<p>Of course I succumbed. Such things have an international value, and +were not merely the sordid pickings from deserted private dwellings. +Who would not rob a fleeing Emperor of his possessions?</p> + +<p>After this we went into the English camp unostentatiously, and by some +means men came forward from nowhere, and without greeting or +superfluous words showed me what they had. The English are good +traders; they never waste their words; and as I looked I thought of +the anguish which the patrons of the Hôtel Drouot or Christie's would +have felt could they have seen this marvellous collection. For these +common men had made one of such taste and value that there could be no +doubt where the things had been obtained. Every piece was good and a +century or two old. There were enamels and miniatures which must have +lain undisturbed for countless years watching the Manchu Emperors come +and go. There were beautiful stones and snuff-boxes, and many other +things. There might be none of the black pearls of General Monttauban, +Comte de Palikao, that had delighted the Empress Eugénie half a +century ago, but there were <i>objets de vertu</i> such as duchesses love.</p> + +<p>In the end, I, too, became commercial and arranged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_418" id="Page_418">[418]</a></span>that some men +should come and find me that same evening, bringing as much as they +could carry of the spoils they had amassed. They were to be paid in +gold coin or in gold bars just as I pleased, weight for weight, and a +quarter in my favour. That was soon settled. In the evening the men +duly came, not the few I had supposed, but so many that they filled my +courtyards, yet managing to remain curiously, silent. For them an +important turning-point had been reached; they would make small +fortunes if the thing went through successfully. With scales in front +of me and gold alongside, we weighed and calculated unendingly—weight +for weight, with that one quarter in my favour. It took two hours and +more, for these common men were very careful, and everything had to be +written down and recorded with strange marks and numbers, denoting the +private division of profits which would afterwards follow. In the end +everything was finished with and bought. Then the men stood up and +shook themselves as if they had been bathed in a perspiration of +anxiety, and the spokesman, a dark man with a quick tongue, which +showed that he had not always been a soldier, thanked me curtly. When +they had drunk, at my request, he explained to me how it was done. +There was something dramatic in the way he described. It was so +simple. I recorded what he said so as not to forget. "When it's dark" +he said, in a low voice, with no introduction, "there's only the +picquets. They have everything to themselves excepting that the +Frenchies are just alongside. The Frenchies watch us close, but we +watch them closer, and there's always a way. Rounds are not kept up +the whole night, for everything is slack now, and when they are +finished the fun begins. The reliefs, lying on the ground, strip <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_419" id="Page_419">[419]</a></span>off +everything so that they can crawl like snakes and that no one can get +hold of them. They crawl in through holes, over walls, with never a +match or a light to show them how. In the end they get inside." The +man laughed a little hoarsely, spat, and again went on.</p> + +<p>"The palace they call the Little Detached Palace will soon be picked +clean—clean as any dog's bone, with the Frenchies only fifteen feet +off, and you'll get nothing more from there. Sometimes the Frenchies +suspect and want to march right in on us, but our corporals are +waiting, and are ready for them, and our bayonets stop them short. +Twice it's happened that their officers march a guard right up to the +gates of the Little Detached, and want to stay there all night with +our fellows crawling about inside. They suspected. But we bluffed them +away every time, and now that all the good things are gone we are +carrying away the big ones—vases, small tables, carvings, jars, +bowls—everything. We wrap them up in a bundle of great-coats and +feed-bags in the morning, and carry them away; no one's ever the +wiser. All round the Palace they are doing the same. The Yankees, the +Russians, and all of them are in the same boat. All night they climb +the walls to get the swag. Give them another six months and there will +be nothing left."</p> + +<p>Thus spoke the spokesman of the party. It was organised plundering, +and everybody winked at it. After they had gone I sat long and +reflected. This was the retribution and the vengeance. We were all +tarred with the same brush; we were returning to primitive methods. +Yet, what could be done—what steps could be taken? It was rather a +hopeless tangle, and once more I gave it up.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_420" id="Page_420">[420]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="III_IX" id="III_IX"></a>IX</h2> + +<h3>DRIFTING</h3> + + +<p class="date">September, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>There is not a single scrap of news worth recording, although +telegrams are now coming through more and more freely by the field +telegraphs from Europe. Still, no one knows what is going to happen. +As an appreciation of the astute action of the Court in fleeing at the +last second of the eleventh hour becomes more and more general, people +begin to see how absurd we have become with our avenging armies which +were going to do so much, and are now merely traders collecting and +valuing and slowly taking away the best loot of the capital. The +troops effected the relief, it is true; but there should have been +other steps. If these are now taken it is too late. Some, indeed, say +that punitive expeditions are going to be sent into the country as +soon as a transport service can be organised. Even now nests of Boxers +and disbanded soldiers are reported in great numbers only a few miles +beyond Peking. These men seem to understand that they are quite safe +even so close as this to the European corps, and that ample warning +will be conveyed to them directly there is any movement, so as to +allow them to escape. They, too, are now pillaging and setting fire +far and wide. Cossacks and other cavalry are supposed to be out many +miles beyond Peking, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_421" id="Page_421">[421]</a></span>sweeping the country, and blowing up or setting +fire to temples and rich country-seats as a warning to others of the +fate which may overtake all for harbouring evil-doers. Yet even this +is done on no system. It is irresolute, foolish. A day or two ago, +from the top of the Tartar Wall, where I was idly sitting, I saw a +huge pillar of smoke roll up on the horizon ten or fifteen miles away, +and gradually spread farther and farther. The air was very still, for +the heat can still be baking in the midday of this autumn month, and +that smoke hung on the skies like some funeral pall. Into the hearts +of a whole country-side it must have struck a blind terror, for the +peasants still believe that they are all to die as soon as the troops +move out. The panic is thus only being added to; and a sort of blind +scourging of people who may not be in the least guilty can never be of +use. There is also still the same palsy on everyone and everything in +Peking. No one really knows what is going to happen. No one very much +cares. They say that this is being debated in Europe, and that there +are divided counsels which may bring about a split and really turn the +various corps now nominally allied to one another into active enemies, +as I dream when I see those jealous guards at the Palace entrances....</p> + +<p>Yesterday some Chinese whom I had known in the old days came +stealthily to see me, and as soon as they were alone with me, without +excuse or warning, they fell on their knees and began bitterly +weeping. How sad, indeed, they were, these respectable people of the +Chinese <i>bourgeoisie</i>—so sad that for a long time I could not +persuade them to speak. Yet even as they wept they were dignified in a +curious way, and you felt that you were in the presence of men who had +only been cruelly <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_422" id="Page_422">[422]</a></span>wronged. At length they began speaking. They had +lost everything, absolutely everything, they said, what with the +Boxers and the sack, all this long, unending Reign of Terror. But that +they did not mind. They were bitter and beyond consolation because +they had lost the intangible—their honour. Each one had had women of +their households violated. One, with many hideous details, told me how +... soldiers came in and violated all his womankind, young and old. +That account, muttered to me with trembling lips, was no invention. +Their blanched and haggard faces showed that it was only the truth +they were speaking. About such elemental tragedies no one lies.</p> + +<p>I tried to comfort these poor men as best I could. I told them old +sayings which had once been familiar to me; it was hard to know really +what to do. Yet they at length became more philosophic, and said they +understood that this was a visitation which the nation had deserved. +China had been utterly wrong; it had been madness. Then they remained +silent, and that silence was like a sermon straight from Heaven, both +for them and for me. I saw dimly for a few seconds many things, and +understood that it was useless saying more. But as they were +wretchedly poor, I gave them silver from the rich men's houses, which +seemed very Biblical—each man as much as he could carry—and told +them that they could always come for more. I asked them also to tell +all the people I had known to come, too; I would do as much as I could +for all of them. So all to-day they have been coming, and I have +showered largesse. A few households have thus some relief, but the +last man who came told me that a Hanlin scholar, who was his +neighbour—a learned man, who in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_423" id="Page_423">[423]</a></span>times of peace was courted by +all—is now selling wretched little cakes down the side alleys so as +to save himself and his few remaining relations from slow starvation. +Such things are the dregs. It is too much....</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_424" id="Page_424">[424]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_X" id="III_X"></a>X</h2> + +<h3>PICKING UP THREADS</h3> + + +<p class="date">September, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I suppose in some subtle way the conviction is being gradually forced +home that something must really be done to try and ameliorate the +general situation. It could obviously not go on forever in this way, +with the commanders of the rival columns almost fighting among +themselves, and with everybody quietly looting, and our Ministers, who +have lost so much, just twiddling their thumbs and delaying their +departure because they are afraid of worse things happening. So +somebody has been getting into communication with whoever represents +the last vestiges of Chinese authority in this ruined capital, and +diligent search has discovered that there are actually a few high +officials left and a great number of smaller ones. These have all +shown a trembling haste to oblige; and after some <i>pourparlers</i>, there +is now a faint possibility of a <i>modus vivendi</i> being arranged during +the next few weeks.</p> + +<p>For it soon transpired, after the confidence of these remaining +officials had been gained, that Prince Ching had been discreetly +dropped by the fleeing Court only about fifty miles to the southwest +of Peking—dropped just behind the first mountain barriers, so that he +was at once safe and yet within easy call. He had been in waiting +there for weeks, it appears. Sage old man! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_425" id="Page_425">[425]</a></span>Those conciliatory +despatches, coming from the officers of the defunct Tsung-li Yamen, +have made of this old Manchu prince the natural person to bridge over +the ever-widening gulf the Court has dug by its insanity. People +remember now that this procedure of leaving behind a Prince to begin +the first <i>pourparlers</i> is only the precedent of 1860. Then Prince +Kung played exactly the same <i>rôle</i> when the Court had fled to Jehol.</p> + +<p>Prince Ching fenced a long time before he would move forward, or even +disclose his safe hiding-place; but in the end he was prevailed upon +by some one. And yesterday he actually entered Peking through the same +Northern Gates which witnessed the mad flight of the Court a month +ago.</p> + +<p>Many rode out to see this entry, half expecting something spectacular, +which would give them a change of thought. But they were grievously +disappointed. Prince Ching merely appeared in a sedan chair, looking +very old and very white, and with his <i>cortège</i> closely surrounded by +Japanese cavalry, whose drawn swords gave the great man the appearance +of a prisoner rather than that of an Envoy. Every Chinese official, +large and small, in the city came out on this occasion for the first +time since the troops burst in; and sitting in what carts they could +find, and clothed in the remains of their official clothes, they paid +their Manchu dignitary their trembling respects. What terror these +wretched men exhibited until they actually met the Prince, and saw +that there was going to be no treachery of shooting down by ignorant +soldiery! For a whole month everyone of them had been living +disguised in the most humble clothes, escaping over back walls +directly news was brought that marauders were at their front doors; +offer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_426" id="Page_426">[426]</a></span>ing their very women up so as to escape themselves; living in +all truth the most wretched lives. Hourly they had expected to be +denounced by enemies to the European commanders as ex-Boxer chiefs, +and then to be summarily shot. That is what had happened for miles +round Monseigneur F——'s cathedral, it is being whispered. The native +Catholics, having died in hundreds, and lost whole families of +relatives, had revenged themselves as cruelly as only men who have +been between life and death for many weeks do. They had led French +soldiers into every suspected household, and pointing out the man on +whom rumour had fixed some small blame, they had exacted vengeance. +Even on this day of Prince Ching's entry this search and revenge was +still going on; there were so many scores to pay....</p> + +<p>It was plain to me that every official was thinking of these things, +for the little convoys that I watched all day wending their way to the +north of the city represented petrified fear in forms that I hope I +may never see again. I stopped one cart, all bedecked with +flags—German flags, English flags, Russian flags, French flags, +Japanese flags, every kind of flag, to help to protect from all +possible injury—merely to inquire at what hour precisely Prince Ching +would arrive and where he was going to live. What a result these +questions had! Instantly he heard my voice, the official inside the +cart crawled half out with a deathly green pallor on his face, and +with his whole body trembling so violently that I thought he would +collapse for good. As it was, he remained in a sort of stricken +attitude, like a man who has been stunned. He was quite speechless. I +called to him several times that all was well, that he would not be +hurt, to calm himself.... In vain. Every word I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_427" id="Page_427">[427]</a></span>spoke only added to +his terror and remained unintelligible because of his panic. He was a +lost soul—for ever. The iron had entered too deeply. He was so +smitten that he never could be cured.</p> + +<p>His outriders, who had swung themselves from their saddles, at last +bowed to me. They were a little pale, but quite collected. +"Excellency," they said, "forgive him; it is not his fault. He has +been frightened into semi-insanity." "<i>Hsia hu-tu-lo,"</i> they said. +Yes, that is the phrase, frightened into semi-lunacy. They are +employing this for everyone. The tragedy has been so immense, the +strain has been endured for so many months, there has been so much of +it, that all minds excepting those of the common people have become a +little unhinged. Half the time you speak to men you are not +understood; they look at you with staring eyes, wondering whether the +rifle or the bayonet is to follow the question. It is past curing for +the time being.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Prince Ching has got in safely, and has been given a big +residence, which is closely guarded by the Japanese. Perhaps the +<i>modus vivendi</i> will after all be arranged.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_428" id="Page_428">[428]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_XI" id="III_XI"></a>XI</h2> + +<h3>THE IMPOSSIBLE</h3> + + +<p class="date">30th September, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Prince Ching has been here a number of days now—I have not even taken +the trouble to note how many—but still nothing has been done. They +say that half the Powers refuse to treat with him until things are +better arranged, and that the Russians have already raised insuperable +difficulties because they say the Japanese have the big Manchu in +their pocket. Others argue that expeditions must really be launched +against a number of cities in Northern China, where hideous atrocities +have been committed, and where missionaries and converts were +butchered in countless numbers during the Boxer reign. Until these +expeditions have marched and had their revenge, there can be no +treating. There must be more killing, more blood. That is what people +say.</p> + +<p>The fleeing Court has reached Taiyuanfu, it is reliably reported. This +is three hundred miles away, but the Court does not yet feel safe; it +is going farther west, straight on to Hsianfu, the capital of Shensi +province, which is seven hundred miles away. That is a big gulf to +bridge; yet if there is any advance of European corps in that +direction, already Chinese say that the Empress will flee into the +terribly distant Kansu province—perhaps to Langchou, which is another +four hundred miles inland; perhaps even to Kanchau or Suchau, which +are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_429" id="Page_429">[429]</a></span>five hundred miles nearer Central Asia. These cities, lying at +the very southwestern extremity of the Great Wall of China, look out +over the vast steppes of Mongolia, where there are nothing but Mongols +belonging to many hordes, who live in the saddle and drive their +flocks of sheep and their herds of ponies in front of them, forever +moving. It is nearly two thousand miles in all; no European armies +could ever follow, not in five years. They would slowly melt away on +that long, interminable road. With such a line of retreat open the +Court is absolutely safe, and knows it. It can act as it pleases.</p> + +<p>Prince Ching is so miserably poor, they say, and has so little of the +things he most needs, that he has been forced to borrow looted <i>sycee</i> +from corps commanders and to give orders on the Southern Treaty ports +in payment. It is an extraordinary situation.</p> + +<p>A number of little expeditions have already been pushed out forty, +fifty and even sixty miles into the country, feeling for any remnants +of the Chinese armies which may remain. I went with one of these +<i>faute-de mieux</i>, as Peking has become so gloomy, and there is so +little to do that it fills one with an immense nostalgia to remain and +continually to contemplate the ruins and devastation, from which there +can be no escape.</p> + +<p>Never shall I regret that little expedition into the rude hills and +mountains, where climbs in wonderful manner the Great Wall of China. +It was divine. There was a sense of freedom and of openness which no +one who has not been a prisoner in a siege can ever experience. In the +morning sweet-throated cavalry trumpets sounded a réveillé, which +floated over hill and dale so chastely and calmly that one wished they +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_430" id="Page_430">[430]</a></span>might never stop. How those notes floated and trembled in the air, as +grey daylight was gently stealing up, and how good the brown earth +smelt! I almost forget the other kind of trumpet—that cruel Chinese +trumpet which only shrieks and roars.</p> + +<p>Each day we rode farther and farther away, and higher and higher, +beating the ground and examining the villages, from which whole +populations had fled, to see that no enemy was secretly lurking. +Travelling in this wise, and presently climbing ever higher and +higher, we came at last to little mountain burgs, with great thick +outer walls and tall watch-towers, where in olden days the marauders +from the Mongolian plains were held in check until help could be +summoned from the country below. It was a wonderful experience to +travel along unaccustomed paths and to come on endless ruined bastions +and ivy-clad gates, which closed every ingress from Mongolia. Once +these defences must have been of enormous strength.</p> + +<p>One night, after journeying for a long time, we camped in one of these +little mountain burgs, taking full possession, so that there should be +no treachery while it was dark. The night passed quietly, for even +fifty miles beyond Peking the terror lies heavy on the land, and in +the morning we wandered to the massive iron-clad gates and the tall +watch-towers which stood sentinel on either side to see if there was +anything to be had. How old these were, how very old! For, mounting +the staircase leading to the towers, we found that, although the rude +rooms beneath showed signs of having been recently occupied, the stone +steps which led to the roof-chambers were covered with enormous +cobwebs and great layers of dust, showing that nothing had been +disturbed for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_431" id="Page_431">[431]</a></span>very many years. That was as it should be. At the very +top of one tower we discovered a locked door, and beating it in amid +showers of dust, we penetrated a room such as a witch of mediaeval +Europe would dearly have loved. Nothing but cobwebs, dust, flapping, +grey-yellow paper and decay. It was immensely old.</p> + +<p>And yet we found something. For there were some chests hidden away, +and prizing these open, we discovered great books of yellow parchment, +so old and so sodden that they fell to pieces as soon as one touched +them. They were in some Mongol or Manchu script. They, too, were +centuries old. But there was something else—a great discovery. +Beneath the books we found helmets, inlaid with silver and gold and +embellished with black velvet trappings studded with little iron +knobs. There were also complete suits of chain armour. It seemed to us +in that early morning that we were suddenly discovering the Middle +Ages, perhaps even the Dark Ages. For these things were not even early +Manchu; they were Mongol; Mogul—the war-dress of conquerors whose +bodies had been rotting in the dust for five, six, seven, eight, or +even nine centuries. These relics had lain there undisturbed for all +this time because China has been merely tilling the fields and +neglecting everything else. In a curious mood we donned these suits +and went down below clad as the conquerors of old.</p> + +<p>There were some Indian troopers waiting, and when they saw these +things they exclaimed and muttered excitedly to one another, casting +half-startled looks. These were the same trappings and war-dresses as +in the days of the Great Moguls at Delhi. The very same. The +conquerors who had swept across high Asia had worn such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_432" id="Page_432">[432]</a></span>things, and +every man from Northern India must have understood their meaning and +message. As they looked the Indian troopers chattered and talked to +one another in a growing excitement. It seemed as if we had suddenly +dug up some links of the half-forgotten past which showed how the +chain of armed men had been tightly bound by Genghis Khan and Batu +Khan, and all the other great Khans, from the Great Wall of China all +round Northern and Central Asia, until it had reached down over the +Himalayas into India. It was very curious.</p> + +<p>When we had finished this reconnaissance, which carried us in every +direction under the shadow of the Great Wall, we turned bridle and +made back towards Peking by another route. A day's march away from the +capital, word was brought us that there were still numbers of +disbanded soldiery and suspected Boxers hiding in the Nan-Hai-tsu—a +great Imperial Hunting Park, which had fallen into decay during the +present century. We would have to sweep this park, which was dozens of +miles broad and quite wild, and scatter any bands we might find. So +starting after midnight, we marched hard in the gloom for several +hours with native guides leading us, and daylight found us under the +encircling wall of the ancient hunting-ground. We halted there a bit +and refreshed ourselves quickly, and then galloped in through a +breach. There were miles upon miles of beautiful grass stretches, and +we and our mounts were fairly pumped before we saw or heard anything. +But towards midday we came on some tiny hills and a few low buildings, +which seemed suspicious, and no sooner had we approached than a whole +nest of men rushed out on us, firing and shouting as they ran. Some +had only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_433" id="Page_433">[433]</a></span>huge lances made of bamboo, fifteen feet and more long, and +tipped with iron and with little red pennons fluttering; yet these +were the most effective of all. Waving these lances violently, and +holding them in such a manner that it was impossible to get near, +these men scattered our charge before it got home and unhorsed a +number of troopers. Then it became a general <i>mélée</i>, which ended in +the killing or capture of a few of the enemy and the rapid escape of +the remainder.</p> + +<p>Very late in the evening we rode into Peking with our helmets and our +coats of mail and our long lances as trophies. The capital seemed +terribly listless and oppressed after the country beyond, and I was +bitterly sorry that expedition had not lasted for weeks and months.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_434" id="Page_434">[434]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_XII" id="III_XII"></a>XII</h2> + +<h3>SUSPENSE</h3> + + +<p class="date">October, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Another month has come and there has been practically no change. They +say now Prince Ching has no power to treat, and that he is a mere +Japanese prisoner. Li Hung Chang is in Tientsin, too, it appears. He +is to be the other plenipotentiary when negotiations really commence, +but for the time being he is the Russian captive. The Russians have +him surrounded with their troops, and no one but a favoured few may +even see him. Already there has been trouble with the British on this +score at Tientsin, and some people say that some pretext will be +seized to bring about an international crisis among the expeditionary +corps. They are fighting about the destroyed railway up to Peking +already. Various people are claiming the right to rebuild the line, +and refuse to give up the sections they have garrisoned. Everywhere +there are pretty complications in the air.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in Peking itself things have become more and more quiet, +and as the policing is slowly improving, confidence is a little +restored. But still new troops are being marched in all the +time—notably German troops—and as soon as night closes down all +these men fall to looting and outraging in any way they can. They say +that the Kaiser, in his farewell speech to his first contingent, +before Peking had been heard of for weeks, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_435" id="Page_435">[435]</a></span>told the men to act in +this way. They are strictly obeying orders. Even the officers of the +new troops take a hand in this looting in a modified way. They force +their way into the remains of the curio shops, take the few pieces +which are left, place a dollar or so on the counter and then walk out. +This makes a legitimate purchase.</p> + +<p>In the Japanese district, which is now the best policed and the most +tranquil, shops are being reopened, but are now being panic-stricken +by this new procedure. It is the refinement of the game, and there is +no redress possible. Beyond this I know not of a thing worth the +mentioning.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_436" id="Page_436">[436]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_XIII" id="III_XIII"></a>XIII</h2> + +<h3>STILL DRIFTING</h3> + + +<p class="date">October, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>There is, after all, to be no immediate peace—that seems now quite +certain. We hear that the Russians have invaded all Manchuria and are +strengthening their hold there by bringing in more and more troops +from the Amur districts. They say, too, that the French have crossed +the Tonkin frontier. But really accurately we know nothing very much +of what is being done. With sixty or seventy thousand soldiery +suddenly flung down on the ruined stretch of country between Peking +and the sea, everything has been put in the most horrible confusion. +You can get nothing, nor hear anything. Telegrams are the only things +which are coming through with any regularity, and even these are cut +to pieces by the field telegraphs or continually getting lost. The +mails, it is true, have at last arrived, but they are all mixed in +such a way, and there is such old correspondence heaped on top of the +new, that general instructions and the proposals made read in this way +seem to be the ravings of madmen. There are hundreds of despatches of +April, May and June, showing the calibre of some Foreign Offices in an +unmistakable way. I sometimes wonder if only the fools are left in the +home offices.</p> + +<p>Still, after a good many headaches, one can begin to appreciate the +general plan which was finally settled on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_437" id="Page_437">[437]</a></span>by the various +<i>Chancelleries</i>, and to understand what delayed the relief so much. +Most of all it has been the South African war. Also, is seems to me, +they wanted Waldersee, the German Field Marshal, to have time to take +over the supreme command for the sake of peace in Asia, and so that +there should be an enormous massed advance on Peking, which would +capture all North China to Christendom and enslave the cunning old +Empress Dowager, and do everything as arranged in Europe. It was, +above all, necessary not to cause an imbroglio in Europe.</p> + +<p>Of course, the very opposite has happened, and everybody is now as +discontented and jealous as before the siege. Waldersee is in Tientsin +and has been there for weeks for some new decision to be made. The +grand advance is finished and done with, but now some column +commanders wish to push down into the south of the province and +isolate the Court, if possible. Meetings are being held the whole +time, but as Waldersee is coming up, nothing is to be done until his +arrival. By one ingenious stroke—the sudden flight of the Court—the +Chinese have turned the tables on allied Europe and made us all +ridiculous. Any one might have anticipated something of this—there is +a precedent in the histories. Yet history is only made to be +immediately forgotten.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_438" id="Page_438">[438]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_XIV" id="III_XIV"></a>XIV</h2> + +<h3>PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS</h3> + + +<p class="date">October, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>At length Waldersee has arrived. He made a sort of entry which seemed +to me farcical. I only noticed that he was very old, and that the hats +that have been served out to the special German expeditionary corps +are absurd. They are made of straw and are shaped after the manner of +the Colonial hats used in South Africa. They have also a cockade of +the German colours sewn to the turned-up edge. This must be some +Berlin tailor's idea of an appropriate head-dress for a summer and +autumn campaign in the East. The hat is quite useless, and had it been +a month earlier all the men would certainly have died of sunstroke.</p> + +<p>Of course, now with Waldersee in Peking, something more has to be +done, and the rumour is to-day that the Court has begun fleeing yet +farther to the West. The rulers of China are being kept accurately +informed of every move by some one, and any indication of a pursuit +will see them penetrate farther and farther towards the vast regions +of Central Asia. It seems to me that it would be almost amusing (would +not the consequences be so tragic) to begin this pursuit and really to +attempt to push the Court so far away that it finally lost touch with +all the rest of China. Then something beneficial to everyone might +come. An ultimatum, to which atten<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_439" id="Page_439">[439]</a></span>tion would be paid, might be +served, and guarantees exacted which would do service for a number of +years. At present the flight has done no harm whatever to China. The +Court is not even ridiculous in the eyes of the populace. It is merely +terribly unfortunate—a really luckless Court, which deserves to be +commiserated with and wept over rather than upbraided. For it is plain +to everyone that the first and last reason for all this is the +foreigner and no one else. Everything the foreigner does is always a +source of trouble.</p> + +<p>Even the machinery of government has not been disturbed by the fact +that vast Peking, the vaunted capital, is in the hands of ruthless +invaders. At first everyone thought that with the Palace empty, and +all the great Boards and offices made mere camping-places for +thousands of hostile soldiery, the government of the whole empire +would be paralysed—sterilised. Yet that has not happened. The +government goes on much the same as ever. We know that now. For as the +Court flees it issues edicts, receives reports and accounts, is met +with tribute from provincial governors and viceroys, is clothed and +banqueted, makes fresh appointments, does its day's work while it +runs. I cannot understand, therefore, how this is to end. It is beyond +the keenest intellects in Peking, and people are now simply waiting +for things to happen and to accept facts as they may be dealt out by +the Fates. It is an inevitable policy. For you must always accept +facts when you cannot mould them.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_440" id="Page_440">[440]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_XV" id="III_XV"></a>XV</h2> + +<h3>THE CLIMAX</h3> + + +<p class="date">October, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>I am becoming tired of it all once again—inexpressibly tired. It +seems to me at times now as if those of us who remain had been very +sick, and then, when we had become convalescent, had been ordered by +some cruel fate to remain sitting in our sick-rooms forever. A siege +is always a hospital—a hospital where mad thoughts abound and where +mad things are done; where, under the stimulus of an unnatural +excitement, new beings are evolved, beings who, while having the +outward shape of their former selves, and, indeed, most of the old +outward characteristics, are yet reborn in some subtle way and are no +longer the same.</p> + +<p>For you can never be exactly the same; about that there is no doubt. +You have been made sick, as it were, by tasting a dangerous poison. +Great soldiers have often told their men after great battles have been +fought and great wars won that they have tasted the salt of life. The +salt of life! Is it true, or is it merely a mistake, such as +life-loving man most naturally makes? For it can be nothing but the +salt of death which has lain for a brief instant on the tongue of +every soldier—a revolting salt which the soldier refuses to swallow +and only is compelled to with strange cries and demon-like mutterings. +Sometimes, poor mortal, all his struggles and his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_441" id="Page_441">[441]</a></span>oaths are in vain. +The dread salt is forced down his throat and he dies. The very +fortunate have only an acrid taste which defies analysis left them. Of +these more fortunate there are, however, many classes. Some, because +they are neurotic or have some hereditary taint, the existence of +which they have never suspected, in the end succumb; others do not +entirely succumb, but carry traces to their graves; yet others do not +appear to mind at all. It is a very subtle poison, which may lie +hidden in the blood for many months and many years. I believe it is a +terrible thing.</p> + +<p>Nobody should have been allowed to stay behind after hearing for so +many weeks that ceaseless roar, sustaining that endless strain, +enduring so much. They should have been made to forget—by force.</p> + +<p>And yet even this nobody understands or cares to speak of, although a +number of men are still half mad. The newcomers, soldiers and +civilians alike, who never cease streaming in now to gaze and gape and +inquire how it was all done, are quite indifferent. Some say that it +must have been an immense farce—that there was really nothing worth +speaking about. Others wish to know curious details which have no +general importance. The Englishmen are proud, and want to know whether +you were inside the British Legation, their Legation, and when they +have heard yes or no their interest ceases. They little know what the +Legation stood for. The Americans march up to the Tartar Wall, talk +about "Uncle Sam's boys," and exclaim that it requires no guessing to +tell who saved the Legations. The French are the same, so are the +Germans, so even the Italians. Only the Japanese and the Russians say +nothing.</p> + +<p>At first I was at some pains to explain to each separate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_442" id="Page_442">[442]</a></span>man what +really occurred. I pulled out my rough map, all thumb-marked and +dirtied with brick chips and the soil of the trenches, and showed +stage by stage how the drama unrolled. It was no good. Poor me! nobody +quite understood. Some thought possibly that I was a glib liar; others +did not even trouble to think anything. How much they understood! They +had not the background, the atmosphere, the long weeks which were +necessary to teach even us ourselves. They had not tasted the poison +and did not yet suspect its existence. So I gradually desisted. Now I +say nothing, never a word. I listen and understand how history is +made. It is best never to explain or argue if you thoroughly +understand. Rhetoric is only the amplification of something long +understood in one's heart of hearts.</p> + +<p>I am, therefore, tired of it all, inexpressibly tired. I wish to +escape from my hospital, to go away to some clean land where they +understand so little of such things that their indifference will in +the end, perhaps, convince me and make me forget.</p> + +<p>Yet can one ever forget?</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_443" id="Page_443">[443]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="III_XVI" id="III_XVI"></a>XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE END</h3> + + +<p class="date">November, 1900.</p> + +<p>...</p> + +<p>Another month, and I have made up my mind quite suddenly. I have +finished with it—at least, in outward form. After waiting a couple of +weeks and wondering what I should do, a last argument brought it +about—an argument with a German which ended by enraging me to an +impossible point and making me challenge him to anything he liked. +That showed me that my last safe moment had arrived.</p> + +<p>He was a youngish officer sent from the Field-Marshal's staff to +discuss some diplomatic-military details with my chief. The business +part was soon over, for there was really little to decide, and then +the man fell to talking about what should be done. He said that were +there not so much rivalry and jealousy, and could Waldersee only act +as he wished, they would have proper punitive expeditions which would +shoot all the headmen of every village for hundreds of miles, and make +such an example of everybody that the memory would endure for +generations in every district where there had been Boxers. The officer +was eloquent because he had only just arrived, and understood +nothing—absolutely nothing. For some reason our stars crossed and I +hated him immediately. So I waited until he had finished so that I +could begin. Then I began.</p> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_444" id="Page_444">[444]</a></span></p> + +<p>I cannot even remember all I said, for I was greatly enraged by the +brutality of the man's ideas, but I treated him as he had never been +treated before. As I poured out my lava stream and he slowly +understood what I meant, he first became very red, and then very pale, +and finally he stood up. I took advantage of that action, and since we +all still are armed, I told him he could have satisfaction, at once if +he wished, and at any number of paces he chose to name.</p> + +<p>My chief then suddenly intervened, and, trembling violently, said that +it could not go on—that it was a mistake. He took the blame on his +shoulders, he said, and would apologise himself later on. For many +minutes he harangued, and in the end the officer went away with his +eyes glittering, but not too reluctantly. He knew that I could have +killed him with my second chamber unless his first shot hit my +vitals....</p> + +<p>After that there was a second scene—but one which was much more +brief. My chief attempted to deal with me, and to him I spoke my mind. +I am afraid I said many things which were so brusque that modern +society would have reproved me. I told him that it was well known that +he and every other man of position had been tremulously fearing death +at every turn for weeks, and had been unwilling to do anything when +they might have really saved the situation; merely because they were +so afraid; that everything had been misstated in the reports, and that +although the full truth might not be known for years, eventually it +would be known and people would understand. I said that this petty +life created by men without stomachs had ended by disgusting me, and +that I had finished with it for good and for ever. Then I went out in +silence, slamming the door behind <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_445" id="Page_445">[445]</a></span>me with all the strength of my +arms. It was a most enormous slam. It had to be so; it was my last +word. In my commandeered residence I found that the breath of +misfortune had also come. The rightful owners had managed to steal +into Peking in the train of some big official who had had an escort of +foreign soldiery provided him, and now smilingly and cringingly +greeted me, and thanked me for my guardianship during their +unavoidable absence. The Manchu women were grouped round in great +excitement. They did not relish the change—they did not want it. The +tall and stately one who had first touched my knee on that dark night +during the sack was not there.</p> + +<p>The rightful owners irritated me intensely with their obsequiousness. +I was irritated because they lived: they should have ceased to exist +long ago. They were still very much afraid, although they had reached +Peking in safety, for they half thought that I would hand them over to +some provost-marshal as Boxer partisans in order to get rid of them. +They were very afraid. The Manchu women were all talking and praising +me, and telling wonderful stories of all I had done. But the most +important one of them was absent. I became vaguely conscious that this +also meant something, that perhaps there was to be another tragedy. I +found her later wishing to kill herself, to commit suicide, so that +she, too, need never return to her other life.... That was more +terrible than the other scenes. I could do nothing, yet my +responsibility had been great. In the end something was arranged. I +hardly remember what.</p> + +<p>I was soon ready to go; on the same afternoon I had completed all my +preparations. I had so little to prepare. Then I rode out for the last +time with all my <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_446" id="Page_446">[446]</a></span>men behind me, and not a single other person. We +passed down the streets out from the Tartar City, through the ruins of +the great Ch'ien Men Gate, and then followed straight along the vast +main street, still covered with <i>débris</i> and dirt, and skulls and +broken weapons, as if the weeks and months which had gone by since the +fighting had been quite unheeded. Near the outer gates of the city I +met my three cavalrymen of the Indian regiment waiting to bid +good-bye. They joined me with some attempt at gaiety, but that soon +fizzled out. I had so plainly collapsed.</p> + +<p>We passed into the country with the tall crops still rotting as they +stood, because everyone had fled and no one dared to return. We went +on faster and faster as the roads broadened, and as we galloped we met +new troops marching in on Peking. They were Germans driving captives +of many kinds in front of them. "Damned Germans," said the smaller +officer, who was the senior, and who had been quite silent for some +time. "Damned Germans," repeated the two others mechanically, as if +this was a new creed, and I, approving, faintly smiled. That stirred +them to talk again, and they told me that the expeditions had been +settled on, and that they would have to go, too. Orders had come from +home that they must not fall out with Waldersee. It was highly +important to placate the Germans because of South Africa. But the +Americans would not go, neither would the Russians, nor yet the +Japanese. It was to be a new arrangement. They went on talking in this +wise for a long time, and I heard these scraps of conversation vaguely +as in a dream. Cynically I thought that, although I was leaving it all +behind me in company of men who were strangers to Peking, the last +words would still be con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_447" id="Page_447">[447]</a></span>cerned with our tortuous diplomacy. Yet my +gallant friends were only trying to console me—to make me forget. +Such things they understood far better than others. They were from +India, where men think a good deal, and sometimes act. They were +treating me as best they could. Then when we came to a sharp rise over +which the road curled and crawled, they halted suddenly, stretched out +their hands, and bade me good-bye. They meant it to be a sharp +wrench—to be over quickly. Just on the rim of the horizon stretched +the grey of the fading Tartar Walls with their high-pitched towers. +The sun sinking behind the western hills threw some last flames of +golden fire, but the air remained chill. It was becoming cold, and +even the dust no longer rose in clouds. Everything was pinned to the +soil—tired—finished....</p> + +<p>I rode on abruptly. Then, for the last time, my cavalrymen turned +round and shouted faintly back to me. It was a word which carried +well. "Chubb, Chubb, Chubb," they were shouting, to give my thoughts a +turn. They knew what I must be thinking. They knew; they had been in +India. I quickened my horse into a gallop, rode faster and faster, and +before night had fallen I had gained the river-boats. It was over....</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2> </h2> +<h2> </h2> +<h2> </h2> +<h2><a name="BOOKS_BY_PUTNAM_WEALE" id="BOOKS_BY_PUTNAM_WEALE"></a><i>BOOKS BY PUTNAM WEALE</i></h2> +<p><b><i>Political</i></b></p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">Manchu and Muscovite</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Re-shaping of the Far East</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:2em">(2 volumes)</span></p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Truce in the East and its After-math</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Coming Struggle in Eastern Asia</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Conflict of Colour</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Truth about China and Japan</p> + +<p><span class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Pageant of Peking</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left:2em">(In collaboration with Donald Mennie)</span></p> + +<p><b><i>Romantic</i></b></p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">Indiscreet Letters from Peking</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Forbidden Boundary</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Human Cobweb</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Unknown God</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Romance of A Few Days</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Revolt</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Eternal Priestess</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">The Altar Fire</p> + +<p class="smcap" style="margin-left:2em">Wang, The Ninth</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDISCREET LETTERS FROM PEKING***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 17003-h.txt or 17003-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/0/0/17003">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/0/0/17003</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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