CHAPTER XV

CHAPTER XVRELIEF IN SIGHTOn the afternoon of the 4th of August the British and American troops marched out from Tientsin to Hsi–Ku. The route led through the almost deserted and ruined city, and through villages which straggled away for miles on the northern road. The weather was threatening when the start was made, and heavy rain began to fall when they were half–way out. The roads soon became soft and slippery, and all felt that they would have a bad time of it if the weather continued to be wet. The rain ceased, however, when they reached their destination. They halted at a village near the fort. Here General Gaselee took up his head–quarters, while the British troops bivouacked to the left and the Americans to the right of the road. Orders were issued for an early start, and the troops lay down on the wet and miry ground to get what sleep they could.The enemy were known to be entrenched in a position extending across the river and railway, their right resting on an embankment running from Hsi–Ku in a westerly direction, their left being five miles away on the other side of the river, at a camp near a railway bridge. Beyond this the country was inundated. The main body of their force was in the centre, where the line crossed the river. Here the position was covered by a series of rifle–pits and trenches, which, being partly concealed by the high crops, would have been very difficult to capture from the hand of a determinedenemy. A grove of trees on the left bank of the river, and within the loop made by a double bend, marked the centre of the position. A battery of artillery was posted on the embankment, and a line of entrenchments across the plain. On the left bank of the river the position was protected by a canal running along its whole length.It had been arranged that the Japanese, British, and Americans were to advance against the enemyʼs position on the right bank of the river; that the Japanese were to lead the attack, with the British in support and the Americans in reserve; while the Russians and French, assisted by the guns of the British Naval Brigade, were to operate on the left bank.The British and American troops had not a very long period of rest, for before the night had passed, the Japs arrived, having started after dark. They marched straight through the village, and the troops there, by no means sorry to leave their uncomfortable quarters, at once got under arms and followed them. All moved forward to the westward under cover of the embankment upon which the Chinese battery stood. It was necessary to capture this before advancing against the main position.When the orders were issued for the Japs to leave at eight oʼclock, Rex had been rather disposed to sleep comfortably at home, and join them in the morning, for he knew that his services would not be required, and as a thunderstorm was coming on just as they formed up, that feeling increased. Finally, however, he made up his mind to march with the troops, and when he found that they were not to halt, but were going straight forward to the attack, he rejoiced that he had not given way to his first impulse. He had brought with him a waterproof sheet and carried his rifle. Ah Lo, who of course accompanied him, had a large bag of provisionsslung over his shoulders. His waterproof, which he wrapped round him, kept him dry during the thunder showers, and the brisk march which the Japanese kept up prevented him from feeling the cold.“You are not going forward to the attack, are you, master?” Ah Lo asked, as they approached the scene of action.“No; my father only allowed me to come with the force on condition that I would not take part in the fighting unless the position became so critical that I could not help myself, and really I have no desire to fight. I want to be able to see what is going on all round, and if I were to go forward I should only see the little that happened near me.”Presently bright flashes broke out ahead on the embankment, and these speedily grew into a storm of musketry. As it was still dark the Japanese did not suffer heavily, the majority of the bullets going overhead. Rex climbed up on the embankment, and from there he could see, by their fire, that the Japanese advanced steadily till they were close to the guns. Then they suddenly stopped firing, but two or three minutes later a volley flashed out, evidently but a few yards from the Chinese line. For a moment the two lines became mixed; then, even above the roar of musketry, Rex could hear the cheers of the Japs, and he knew that the guns were won. For some distance the fire drifted away along the embankment, showing that a hot pursuit was being kept up.It was now three in the morning and there was a cessation of hostilities for an hour and a half. Then, when the Chinese position could be made out, the Japanese and British guns opened fire upon it from behind the embankment. The Chinese replied energetically, but in half an hour their fire began to relax, and soon ceased altogether; it was evident that they were already withdrawing their guns.Meanwhile the Japanese had been advancing. Supported by a mountain battery on their right, and taking cover in the high maize, they worked up close to the position held by the enemy on the river bank. A little after five oʼclock they burst out from their cover with a cheer, and dashed at the outlying trenches. As they crossed the open they suffered heavily from a flanking fire poured in upon them from the grove of trees on the other side of the river. The Chinese in front also stood sufficiently long to inflict severe loss upon them, for they had left the maize in too close formation. Without a halt, however, they held on, sweeping the Chinese before them, and carrying entrenchment after entrenchment. Their cavalry cut up the flying Chinese whenever opportunity offered.The British and Americans had now come up, and with the Japanese on the right, and the Americans on the left, the combined force worked their way along the river bank.Occasionally the Chinese offered some slight resistance at long range, and it was expected that they would make a stand at Peitsang, where they had a number of strong positions. But, as at Tientsin, the panic of the first fugitives speedily communicated itself to those behind, and position after position was evacuated, without an effort to retain them, before the steady advance of the allies. The troops moved along the river, clearing out the villages and quickening the pace of the fugitives. At nine oʼclock they occupied Nangsung, and as all firing ceased pushed on to Peitsang, which they found deserted, and halted there.On the left bank of the river the Russians and French had failed to turn the Chinese right in the early morning, as they found that the whole country was flooded there, but the defeat of the Chinese left involved, of course, the retirementof their right, and at nine oʼclock the Russians were able to occupy the position on the railway.Almost the whole of the casualties involved in the battle were among the Japanese, who lost sixty killed and two hundred and forty wounded. The British had four killed and twenty–one wounded, while the Americans, being in reserve, had not suffered at all. The loss of the Chinese was very small. At one point they had lost fifty killed, but very few had fallen in the rest of the entrenchments, owing to their hurried flight. They had been defeated simply because they had lost heart, a fact which promised well for the success of the expedition, for in their flight they had probably communicated their fears to the troops behind them. That in an army of twenty–five thousand men there should have been only a hundred killed was a proof that the courage that had evaporated after their first dayʼs sturdy defence of Tientsin had been by no means restored during the interval that had since elapsed.The Russians and French joined the rest of the force at ten oʼclock, and that day the baggage came up. It was of the most miscellaneous description. There were pack animals of all sorts—horses, mules, ponies, and donkeys; there were carts of all shapes and sizes, from the great American wagons, each drawn by four mules, down to little vehicles like costersʼ barrows, drawn by little Japanese ponies. Even the Japanese, whose arrangements were far better than those of the rest of the allies, were but poorly provided. They had only intended originally to take a brigade to Pekin, and had brought transport sufficient for that; but when so large a portion of the British force was detained for work in the south, they were obliged to take a division, and consequently a double strain was thrown upon their transport.ill318THEIR CAVALRY CUT UP THE FLYING CHINESE.On the following morning the main body of the Japanese advanced along the right bank of the river, repairing the breaches that had been made in it. The British and Americans, with two battalions of Japs and a battery of field–artillery, were to advance upon Yangtsun; the Russians and French were also to march upon that bank. An early start was made, the Russians and French going on ahead of the British. They followed the line of the river. General Gaselee marched by more direct roads, and, getting ahead of them, came into touch with the enemy at half–past nine. Their position was a strong one, their right resting on a bridge close to the river, in an angle made between it and the railway embankment. Near this bridge were the ruins of Nangsung railway–station, which formed the centre of their position. Their left extended far to the eastward, where the town of Nangsung lay hidden behind a number of villages. Generals Gaselee and Chaffee took up their position on a high sand–hill two miles away from the railway–station, from which they were able to direct the operations.The enemyʼs fire was first drawn by a company of Cossacks, who had been sent on ahead of the Russian force to reconnoitre. The main body of the Russians had not arrived, nor had the Japanese detached to co–operate with the British and Americans. Nevertheless, the general decided to attack at once. The 12th Field Battery was brought up on the left, and opened fire on the villages near the railway–station. Under cover of this the infantry attack developed, the British advancing in extended order through the high maize, and the Americans on the left of the railway embankment, covered by the fire of Rallyʼs battery.While the preparations were being made, General Linivitch came up and explained to General Gaselee that the Russians were advancing on the enemyʼs right, along the road running parallel with the river. The Japanese detachmentalso came up. The advance now became general, the British in the centre, the Americans on the right, and the Russians on the left. The British led the direct assault upon the enemyʼs entrenchments. The 1st Sikhs, who were at the head of the line, moved steadily forward in the face of a very heavy rifle fire, which was maintained until they arrived at a short distance from the railway–station. As usual, however, the Chinese lost heart when they saw that they were about to be charged with the bayonet, and retreated to the top of the railway embankment, from which for a short time they kept up a fire upon the American regiment next to the Sikhs. The front entrenchment was carried just about eleven oʼclock, and a quarter of an hour later the fire ceased, the enemy retiring towards Yangtsun.The Russians passed out to the rear of the captured villages, seized the railway–station, erected a battery, and bombarded the villages round Yangtsun and the town itself. Meanwhile the force on the right were engaged in clearing out the villages in that direction, the Bengal Lancers scattering the demoralized enemy in every direction. Yangtsun was occupied without resistance during the afternoon. The losses had been comparatively slight. The British casualties were under fifty, of which twenty–four were among the Sikhs. The Americans lost seventy–four and the Russians twenty–seven, but these proportionately large numbers were accounted for by the fact that both these detachments advanced in somewhat closer order than the British, who, keeping their line well extended, suffered comparatively little loss, though they were exposed to a heavier fire than the others. The Japanese had taken no part in the engagement, as they had been on the other bank of the river.The troops were very much exhausted after their two daysʼ marching and fighting in the great heat, and the next daythey remained at Yangtsun, partly for rest and partly to give time to the junks to come up. A council of war was held, and it was decided that the road should now be left, and that the whole force should proceed on the right bank of the river. The Japs were to lead the advance, the Russians were to follow, the Americans to come next, and the British to bring up the rear.During the day Rex went out to look at some of the captured villages, but he was so horrified by the number of peasants whom he found lying dead that he soon returned to Yangtsun. The Russians appeared to have killed everyone they met, whether soldiers or quiet peasants. The Americans, in the villages they had taken, had acted very differently. In these places he found that the peasants had not been molested. He had himself been with the detachment of the Japanese that joined the British, and had therefore been a witness of the fighting.“I cannot say much for your countrymen, Ah Lo,” he said. “If they are not going to fight better than they have done, they had much better have cleared off the road altogether and left it open for us to go quietly to Pekin.”“Chinaman no good to fight,” Ah Lo said contemptuously. “Fight well enough at distance, but no good when they see that Europeans always come on in spite of their firing. Very good to kill missionaries, no good to fight soldiers.”“Do you think we shall find the Legations safe, Ah Lo?”“I hope so, master; but if they go on fighting all the time, instead of same as when we were there, Chinese must have taken nearly all the Legations. I expect all the people are crowded up into British Legation; they make great fight there.”“That is so, Ah Lo; the less space they have to defend, the stronger they become, but they will have a terrible experienceif they are all crowded into the British Legation. The place was full enough when we left. Still, I can hardly hope that, if the Chinese have gone on attacking all the time, we could hold more than our own Legation. The French Legation was almost destroyed before we came away, the Russian Legation could only be held with difficulty, and more than half the Fu had already been captured. I try to think that it is all right, but I am horribly anxious. All the time that was wasted after we had taken Tientsin I was regretting that we had not stopped at Pekin. Our two rifles might not have been of much good, but we should certainly have been of some use, and above all, I wanted to be there in case the Legations were captured. My cousins have their Chinese dresses ready, and I cannot help thinking that there must have been some points that were not attacked where I could have lowered them down from the wall and so escaped into the city. Once away from the fighting, we ought to have been able to find some place of concealment among so many ruined and deserted houses.”“Perhaps they stand out all right,” said Ah Lo.“I hope so, Ah Lo, I hope so with all my heart, but I am terribly anxious, and I grudge even this dayʼs halt, knowing that every hour is of importance, and that even while we are staying here to–day, the massacre may be going on.”Ah Lo had no consolation to offer. He felt that what his master said was true, and that at any moment the catastrophe might occur.The Japanese started early on the following day. They were already in advance, and for this reason they had been chosen to lead. A halt was made at Tung–Chow, ten miles distant, no resistance having been encountered on the way. The Japanese arrived long before the rest of the allies. They were very fast marchers, and their transport was light andhandy, and able to keep up with the infantry column. The Russians, on the other hand, were very slow marchers. They slouched along as if half–asleep, made very frequent halts, and their average pace rarely exceeded a mile an hour. Consequently the Americans, who followed them, were frequently blocked. The Russians, too, always stopped at a village, thus compelling the Americans to halt on the hot and sandy road. This accounted for the great number of casualties from sun–stroke among the American troops, for the very slow progress made by the Americans and British, and for the great amount of marching which they had to do during the hottest hours of the day, instead of completing their journey before the sun had attained its full strength.The Japanese generally completed their marches before the sun was high. The Americans seemed to suffer most from the sun, but they marched fast in the early morning and when the heat of the day was over. The British marching was good, and the Indian troops carried themselves well and marched in good order even in the hottest part of the day, though many fell out. As regards uniforms, the British were better off than the others. The Japs wore white, and consequently they were visible for miles, while the British khaki could scarcely be seen at a hundred yards. The Russians were also in white, but their uniforms being always extremely dirty the disadvantage was not so apparent. The Americans, like the British, had khaki, but they seldom wore their coats, and their blue shirts rendered them visible for considerable distances.On the following day a mixed body of Lancers, Cossacks, and Japanese cavalry scouted the country ahead and came in contact with the enemy half–way to Ho–hsi–Wu, where it was expected that the Chinese would make another stand. The main body halted and encamped, and the Japs threw outoutposts. During the day two squadrons of Bengal Lancers came upon a force of four hundred Chinese cavalry, whom they charged, killing forty or fifty and capturing their standards.The British always came in a long time after the rest of the force. They followed the winding of the river to protect the junks which were carrying up the heavy guns intended for the siege of Pekin. It was fortunate that forage was plentiful for the cavalry and the animals of the artillery and transport. The millet was standing high, and as frequently a large extent of this grain had to be cut down to make a clearance for a camping–ground, there was abundant fodder to supply all the demands. The junks came up very slowly, towed by lines of coolies on the bank, and their late arrival frequently excited great exasperation among the troops, who were dependent upon them for their supplies.Ho–hsi–Wu was a small village, near which was situated an arsenal stored with an enormous quantity of gunpowder as well as a supply of guns of the latest pattern. The Chinese had made an attempt to divert the course of the river by digging an enormous trench in the direction of some lowlying ground. Fortunately they had not had time to complete the work, for not only would it have still further lowered the river, but it would have rendered an attack on the village difficult, as the trench was twenty feet deep, and from twenty to thirty feet wide. As it was left it was still above the level of the water, and could be crossed easily. The village was therefore captured after only a slight resistance.The scene on board the long lines of junks was interesting, and, to a looker–on, amusing. Two or three times Rex handed his horse to Ah Lo and took passage in one of the junks. These, of course, were guarded by soldiers of the variousnationalities whose supplies were on board. All did their best to urge on their coolies, and as collisions were frequent, and boats every now and again ran ashore, the hubbub of shouting in five or six languages was appalling. Rudders were smashed, bulwarks crashed in, and damage done in every way, but the crowd of lubberly craft pushed on in spite of the confusion that everywhere reigned.The Japanese had unquestionably the best of it. They were comfortably settled down with their hospital erected before the Russians lumbered up. Everything they did was as well arranged as if they had been at home, and Rex could not but admit that these little soldiers were far ahead of those of any European country in point of organization, discipline, and the quickness and cheeriness of their movements. No looting was allowed among them, and very few outrages indeed were committed by them on the unfortunate peasantry. In this respect they compared very favourably with the troops of all other nationalities, even including our own, although General Gaselee set himself strongly against such acts, severely punishing such offenders as could be brought to justice.On the tenth the Japanese again pressed on, their outposts getting to within a mile of the retreating enemy. General Fukushima, the moving spirit of the pursuit, was asked in the evening if his troops were not very tired.“Yes,” he said grimly, “and so are the enemy.”This was the spirit in which he carried on the movement. The enemy were to be kept on the run, no time was to be given them to recover their spirits. They were even worse off than their pursuing enemy, for they had no commissariat, carried no provisions with them, and had to feed upon what they could gather at their halting–places, which was seldom more than melons and millet from the fields.The Japanese cavalry and infantry halted about three miles in advance of the main body. When the rest of the infantry came up, they were extended and searched all the villages near the line of march. This done, the cavalry again went on ahead for some distance, and the process was then repeated.In this way the army marched down to Matou. It was a long march, and the troops all suffered terribly from the heat, with the exception of the British, who were wisely kept at their last halting–place until late in the afternoon, and came on in the cool of the evening. The main body of the force bivouacked at Matou, the Japanese camp being three miles farther ahead.The next morning the Japanese arrived at Chan–Chia–Wan. The day was cooler than the preceding one, and some rain fell, affording great relief from the heat. The Japanese reached the place at eleven oʼclock, and sent on a strong detachment of cavalry, infantry, and artillery to reconnoitre. They discovered the enemy in a position south of Chungtaw. At about two oʼclock the Japanese brought up some more artillery and shelled the place, whereupon the enemy retired into Tung–Chow, a large and very wealthy city only thirteen miles from Pekin. The next morning the Japanese entered Tung–Chow without meeting with any resistance and took possession of half of the city. The rest of the allied army arrived somewhat later, and at once began to loot their portion of the town.All the river trade down to Tientsin passes through Tung–Chow, which contains even richer pawn–shops than Pekin itself. These are very important institutions in China, not only because of the richness of the securities on which money is advanced, but because they are used as storing–places for valuables by the general public, and contain immense quantitiesof jewellery, costly furs, jade, and works of art of all sorts and descriptions.The greater part of the lower class of the population had remained in the city, and they joined in the general looting, which was carried on everywhere whenever they saw a chance. Officers in vain tried to keep their men in control in the narrow streets, but in the Russian section the soldiers were allowed to do just as they pleased, and they gave themselves entirely to looting, rapine, and crime of every kind. The reports of the flying Chinese soldiers had aroused in the people an intense fear of the foreign devils, and so when the troops arrived at a town or village many of the inhabitants made away with themselves to avoid the outrages of a licensed soldiery. Women threw themselves out of windows or drowned themselves in wells, indeed whole families often committed suicide in order to avoid a worse fate. Thus, although very many terrible outrages were committed, these accounted for but a small proportion of the deaths among the Chinese people.The British camp was at the edge of the river, and the soldiers were not allowed inside the town, and stringent orders had been given against looting. Had the other generals taken the same view of the matter, the campaign would not have been disgraced by the plundering and murder of innocent people. The British general was proud of his troops, and justly so.Rex had secured a room in the quarter held by the Japanese and enjoyed a good sleep. He was greatly grieved at the awful destruction that went on in the town, and he could not but wonder at the cowardice of the Chinese in evacuating, without striking a blow, a place whose walls were at least as strong as those at Tientsin, and leaving its enormous wealth to the enemy. He got up early in the morning androde out. The sun had not yet risen, but the narrow streets were filled with the scum of the town, who, invisible the day before, had now returned in numbers, bent on looting the houses of their more wealthy countrymen who had forsaken them. Filthy beggars and coolies staggered along under the weight of furs and rolls of silk. The front of nearly every house was broken in and its contents turned topsy–turvy. The allies had taken the pick of the goods, but vast quantities remained for any who chose to carry them away.The changes of fortune that twenty–four hours had wrought were extraordinary. Rich men had become beggars, beggars had acquired that which made them wealthy.Rex let his horse help himself at the grain shop; the day was likely to be a heavy one, and the rations served out were but scanty.“Now, Ah Lo,” he said, as he joined the Japanese troops, who as usual started before daylight, “this is the last day of the march. By to–night our suspense will be over and we shall know what has happened.”The Japanese had reason to be proud of themselves. General Yamaguchi, on entering the town, issued a proclamation promising protection to non–combatants, and telling the people to remain in their houses. It was unfortunate indeed that the Japanese had not occupied the whole of the city. If they had, the scenes that have disgraced the nations would have been avoided.The Japanese advanced by an old stone causeway leading to the eastern gate of the Tartar City, the Russians by a road more to the south, but north of the canal, and leading to the northern gate of the Chinese city. South of the canal were the Americans, and still farther to the south the British. It had been arranged on the previous evening, at the meetingof the generals, that the column should halt a short distance from the city. This arrangement, however, was broken by the Russians, who marched close up to the city walls, and, meeting with no opposition and thinking that a surprise might be effected, advanced up to the gate. Here, however, they were met by a heavy rifle fire, which killed and wounded many men. They could not well retire, and their message begging for reinforcements was the first intimation of what had occurred. A subsequent rumour stated that they had succeeded in entering the city, and the other generals, annoyed at the trick by which the Russians hoped to have the glory of being the first to get into the city, at once marched forward with all haste and without consultation.The Japs had, as agreed, halted at a village three miles from the eastern gate, and in one of the dwellings attached to a joss–house, or temple, Rex and a few Japanese took shelter. As night came on, a drizzling rain began to fall. At nine oʼclock desultory firing was heard to the east, and half an hour after, a few shots somewhat nearer came from the direction of the eastern gate. Later, the fire increased, and the Japs got under arms. As the night was very dark it was impossible to tell what was going on, and, mindful of the arrangement that had been made, they could not attempt to advance. Just before daylight they started again, and then Rex learned of the trick the Russians had played, and that a messenger had arrived begging Fukushima to send reinforcements. The officer who brought the message said that if the Japanese joined the Russians the combined force could succeed in making an entrance through the wall into the city.Fukushima replied: “What about the Americans and the British?”The Russian officer shrugged his shoulders and said: “Whyshould we trouble about them when we can do without them?”Fukushima replied angrily that he had undertaken to attack at a certain time, and that he should stick to his undertaking.“This is a pretty bad beginning to the dayʼs work,” Rex said to the Japanese officer who was marching alongside.“I wish we had come without the Russians at all,” the officer replied; “they have brought disgrace upon us all by their infamous doings. They have worked on their own account since they started. They are surly brutes, and I would infinitely rather fight against them, as I have no doubt we shall have to do some day, than against these poor beggars of Chinese. It is perfectly scandalous that, after making an agreement only last night that we were to hold a council this morning and arrange for an attack in unison, they should sneak forward and try to get all the glory themselves.”CHAPTER XVITHE CAPTURE OF PEKINThe day was just breaking as the Japanese moved forward. Rex rode with their advance guard, which was moving along on the road with flanking parties in the woods close by. Suddenly there was a sound of rifle shots in the woods, and bullets whizzed through the air overhead. The column at once broke up, and, taking shelter among the bushes, began to advance in the direction of the firing, which became heavier every moment. It was a complete surprise, for no idea had been entertained that the Chinese would advance beyond the protection of their walls.The main body behind had halted. Some wounded men were carried out of the woods, but they could give no particulars as to the force that had attacked them. Presently a mounted Russian officer dashed out from the wood and rode up to the head–quarter staff, where he shouted to Fukushima that the Russians and Japs were firing upon each other.Orders were at once given to cease firing, and investigations showed that the affair had been caused by a few Chinese lurking in the wood, who had fired upon the Japs. The Russians, whose movements were unknown to the Japs, were advancing on the other side of the wood, and the Japanese bullets flying over their heads led them to believe that they were attacked by the Chinese, and so the two allied forces skirmished briskly with each other until the mistakewas discovered. Unfortunately several men were wounded on both sides, and two Russians killed.As soon as the matter was cleared up the Japanese resumed their forward march, and in a short time, on rounding the base of a small eminence, they saw the great wall of Pekin and the massive gate–house.For a quarter of a mile outside the town extended a labyrinth of narrow streets. The road ran straight through these to the first gate leading through the great tower. To reach this the wide moat, crossed by a great stone bridge, had to be traversed. The gate itself could not be seen, as the road made a sharp angle at the tower, and therefore guns could not be brought to play upon it until they were close up. Beyond this gate was a large yard, and from this opened the inner gate of the wall itself.Not a soul was to be seen in the streets, and the Japanese moved forward with a general feeling of expectation and wonderment. Why did not the Chinese open fire? They were within short range, and yet there was no sign whatever of the foe.They began to think that, as at Tung–Chow, the entry was not going to be opposed, when suddenly, as they rounded the bend, a tremendous fire broke out from the walls and a storm of bullets smote the column. Pending orders, there was nothing for it but to rush for shelter, and the dispersal of the solid battalions resembled that of a crowd when a thunder–shower breaks suddenly overhead. For a time nothing could be done. Crowded in the little houses, the troops waited for the engineers, who were to blow up the gate, to complete their work.Rex, by stooping low, made his way forward until he reached a point where he could watch what was going on in front. Here he could see the little Japanese soldiers cheeringas they advanced, running forward towards the gate under a tremendous fire of musketry. Of the first detachment more than half fell before they had gone many yards, but others pushed on until almost the last man had fallen. Attempt after attempt was made, the brave fellows going forward as cheerfully to almost certain death as if to a fête. It soon became evident, however, that success could not be attained even at the greatest sacrifice of life, and twenty minutes after its commencement the attack was given up.Nothing could now be done until night fell and afforded a screen for the forlorn hope to get up to the gate. The Japanese artillery were brought up and placed on some elevated ground beyond the suburb outside the wall, and opened fire on the gate and its surroundings. Meanwhile the troops were withdrawn from the houses near the walls, and, scattering among those at a safer distance from it, lay down and waited for further orders.Rex went out with Fukushima to the hill on which the Japanese guns were preparing to open fire. There were no fewer than sixty–four of them, for the most part quite small, and these were soon all at work pounding the great tower and the wall. It was not long, however, before it became evident that the massively–built structure was not to be seriously injured by such puny missiles, and while the larger guns were still kept at work the smaller ones were turned upon the city wall. As a result the enemyʼs musketry fire diminished, and soon only an occasional shot rang out from the wall. The Chinese fired a few shells in reply, but strangely enough they did but little in that way, although the outlying suburb might very speedily have been set on fire and the Japs driven out from their shelter.The Japanese fire continued for six hours, but even at the end of that time the gate–tower, although its face was closelypock–marked by the balls, had not been seriously damaged. The day passed slowly, and it was a relief indeed when, as darkness came on, the men again moved up into the houses on the main road and in the lanes branching from it. After all were ready they were still kept waiting, but at last two loud explosions were heard. The engineers had done their work, and in a few seconds the Japanese were swarming out of the houses and going forward at the double, keeping time as they went to the cheerful cry of “One, two; one, two,” with which they always advanced. But the Chinese were not taken unprepared. A storm of fire broke out from the great tower and the battlements on the walls, as heavy as that which they had encountered in the morning. But happily it was to a certain extent a random one, for although the moon had just risen, its light was not sufficiently strong to enable the defenders of the walls to make out the advancing enemy with any accuracy. Nevertheless, the middle of the road was so swept with fire that the Japs, as they advanced, had to take what shelter they could in the houses on either side. As they got to the last broad open space they halted at the corner and then went forward in batches, cheering and singing. Many fell, but many also reached the gate, and once under the wall they were in shelter from the fire. The leading parties, dashing through the gate which had been blown down, speedily drove back those of the defenders gathered there. The gate–house was soon captured, and the troops, as they entered, were marched up to the top of the wall, and, following this to the right and left, drove the Chinese before them, the latter, however, offering an obstinate resistance at each bastion.From the walls the city appeared a mass of ruins. The continuous fire of the Japanese guns had created immense destruction; large spaces had been swept by shot and shell.At some points a heavy fire was opened from the ruins upon the white–clad column, which showed up very clear in the moonlight on the top of the wall; but this form of opposition presently ceased. Great fires could be seen burning in the direction of the Legations, and the column pressed on, anxious to be among the first to arrive there. Just at midnight, however, they came upon a Russian picket on the wall, and to their disappointment learned that the Legations had been relieved in the afternoon. They pressed on, however, and at two oʼclock entered the Legations.The general and his staff stopped at the Japanese Legation, but Rex and Ah Lo pushed on over barricades and ruins to that of the British. Here they found almost every square foot of ground occupied, but they made their way among the sleepers until they reached the hospital. Here alone there were signs of life; lights shone in the windows. Rex, knowing the way well, moved quietly into the kitchen. Fires were still burning, and kettles and pots were boiling. On the floor, with her head resting on a chair, Mabel was sitting fast asleep. Feeling sure that Jenny was assisting in the wards, he remained quiet for a minute or two until the head nurse entered with a can for water.“Ah, Mr. Bateman!” she exclaimed as she saw him, “I am indeed glad to see you. Your cousins have been very anxious about you. We have nearly finished in the hospital now, and shall get an hour or twoʼs sleep, I hope. I will send your cousin out to you at once.”“No, thank you!” said Rex; “now that I know they are both well I am quite content to wait till morning, but I should be obliged if you would let Jenny know that I have been here.”“I shall be very glad to do so.”“We have been practically two nights without sleep,” saidRex, “and now I know that the girls are well, I feel that I have only to find room enough to lie down somewhere, and I shall be off to sleep almost before my head touches the ground.”“I cannot ask you to stop here, Mr. Bateman, for our regulations are very strict.”“Thank you! I was not thinking of that, and indeed I should much prefer the open air.”He joined Ah Lo again, and, lying down on the ground close to the entrance of the hospital, he fell asleep almost immediately.Although the Japanese had done by far the heaviest fighting and suffered the greatest loss, the other allies had in some cases had serious fighting. The Russian attack, although it had been made in defiance of the agreement entered into, that no advance whatever should be made against the city until all the allies had arrived at the positions assigned to them, was a gallant affair, and to a certain extent an accident. Their reconnoitring party, consisting of four hundred infantry and three guns, had pushed forward, meeting with no signs of the enemy until, to their surprise, they found themselves close up to the outer walls, at the angle where the walls of the Chinese and Tartar cities join. It was pitch dark when they arrived, and with a sudden rush they disposed of the Chinese guard on duty on the bridge immediately outside the Tung Pien gate, and then blew a hole in the gate itself with their guns. They then mounted on the Tartar Wall.Up to this time the opposition they had encountered had been very slight, which may be accounted for by the fact that the Chinese were so briskly engaged at the time in an attack upon the Legations that the proceedings of the Russians had really been unnoticed. About this time,however, the moon rose, bringing into relief the Russians moving on the wall. Immediately a desperate fire was opened upon them. Nearly all the horses with the guns were at once killed, and the infantry, taking their places, dragged the guns back to shelter, near the point where they had entered the city. Urgent demands for reinforcements were then sent to the main body of the Russian force. The refusal of the Japanese to take part in the affair, on the ground that it was the result of a breach of the arrangement arrived at by the allied commanders, paralyzed the action of the Russian general, and it was not until ten oʼclock on the following morning that reinforcements arrived.In the meantime the detachment had been exposed to a continuous and heavy fire, and had been obliged to sally out to defeat a force which advanced with the intention of taking them in rear. The attack, although made contrary to the agreement, was of great advantage to the Legations, for a furious onslaught had been made upon them with the evident intention of destroying them before the allies attacked the city, and therefore releasing the whole of the Chinese force for the purposes of defence. As soon, however, as the Chinese learned that the Russians had entered the gate, a considerable portion of the force round the Legation was withdrawn to oppose their advance, and from that moment the fury of the assault abated considerably.The British had met with but slight resistance. Their main body had left Tung–Chow at two oʼclock on the morning of the fourteenth. When within a mile of the southeast gate, they bombarded a village and drove the enemy holding it into the town, and then advancing they entered the Chinese city, and pushed on until they reached the Chien gate of the Tartar Wall. Here they were welcomed by the allied troops holding the wall near the gate.They could not, however, let them in, and for a short time the British force were exposed to a galling fire from the Chinese city and from other parts of the wall. The British, however, knew of the water gate which opens into the canal, running up between the Russian and British Legations and the Fu, having received news that it was likely to be unguarded, by a messenger sent out by Sir Claude Macdonald. General Gaselee, therefore, taking with him the 7th Rajputs and a party of the 1st Sikhs, made a dash for this gate, and got through without much trouble.The Chinese, never dreaming that an attack would be made on that side of the city, had not placed a strong force there, and as soon as General Gaselee had entered by the water gate, a party of Americans and Russians was able without much difficulty to seize the Chien Mên, and so admit the main body of the British force, who were waiting there to enter.The loss sustained altogether by the allies was small in comparison with what might have been anticipated in capturing a town very strongly fortified and defended by a garrison of courageous men. The Japanese lost about two hundred killed and wounded, the Russians a hundred and twenty–eight killed and wounded, the Americans, who with the French entered the city immediately after the Russians, twenty–four killed and wounded, while the British had but half a dozen casualties.Rex slept soundly for three hours, and was then aroused by the din going on around him. When he started up he found that, in addition to the crowd who had occupied the place during the siege, numbers of soldiers—Sikhs, Rajputs, and Welsh Fusiliers, Royal Marine Infantry, and sailors, were moving about. Scattered among them were a few men of other nationalities who had missed their columns during the night and had straggled in. Officers and men alike wereendeavouring, with the scanty amount of water at their disposal, to get rid of the dust gathered during the two preceding days. All were talking and laughing in the highest glee at the satisfactory conclusion of their work. Most of them, like Rex, had slept on the ground, for it was impossible to find quarters in the already crowded houses.Giving himself a shake as a substitute for a wash he went across to the hospital. One of the nurses came to the door.“You are too early, Mr. Bateman,” she said. “Your cousins did not go to bed till half–past two, and we cannot think of waking them till eight. Fortunately not many wounded were brought in with the troops, and almost all our patients have benefited so greatly by the arrival of our friends that we are likely to have a quiet day of it. We did not tell your eldest cousin last night; we thought it best not to do so. They heard, of course, that you did not come in with the British, but one of the officers whom we questioned about it said that you were with the Japs, and would no doubt arrive with them. Your own arrival was the first intimation we had that the Japs had come in, so it was much better to let your cousin go quietly to sleep. Had she known that you were here she would have been wanting to see you, and to hear all about your doings.”“Thank you!” said Rex; “it was much the best way. I should not have thought of coming in last night, but I feared that they would be uneasy when they found that I did not arrive with the British. Of course on the way up I spoke to several of the officers who had been with Seymourʼs expedition, but the chances are that none of them would come your way. Well, I will go to my friends at the college.”He was received quite joyously by the young men he knew, and as he had only eaten a biscuit on the previous day, some cold food was at once placed before him.“We have been out of meat for some time,” said Sandwich; “only about half a dozen mules are left alive, and they are so desperately thin that it would be useless to kill them; one might as well try to make soup out of a clothes–horse. Here, however, is bread and rice and some jam. During the amnesty we managed to buy a good many things, and among them six pots of jam. This is the last pot, so you see we are treating you royally.”“Rice and jam are not to be despised, only I hope there is enough rice. I should be sorry to place any limit to the powers of my appetite just at present.”“Well, you can eat as much as you like, but eat quickly, for we want to know about everything. We have only heard that there was very little fighting on the way up, and that the Japs did the principal part of it.”“Yes, and I was fortunate enough to see it all, for I came up as interpreter to their head–quarter staff. I can tell you in very few words about our march up here; the principal event was the fighting yesterday. But I must finish eating before I begin talking about that.”After he had made a good meal Rex gave them a full account of the storming of the gate by the Japanese. When he finished, Sandwich said: “Now, tell us how it is that they have been such a tremendous time in relieving us, and also what has happened at Tientsin.”“The first question is easy enough to answer. All the generals made up their minds that the Legations had been captured and the whole lot of you massacred, and it was not until a despatch came down from Conger about ten days before we started, that they really woke up in earnest. But nothing had worked smoothly since the day when they came up to relieve Tientsin. We and the Japs and the Americans got on capitally together, but the others were always raisingdifficulties, especially the Russians. The general opinion among us was that they were playing a double game.”“In what way, Bateman?”“Well, that I really cannot tell you. Certainly their generals altogether opposed the march up, and it was only when Gaselee and Chaffee declared that they would go alone, if none of the others would accompany them, that the Russians had to give way. It was generally believed that they wanted in some way to pose as friends of China, and on the strength of that to get concessions and that sort of thing, and especially to obtain from China the concession of the whole of Manchuria. I have no doubt they will try on that game now, when things settle down again, unless the other Powers back up China.”“It is a rum state of things altogether,” Sandwich said.“Well, tell us all about Tientsin.”“To begin with, then, Tientsin and the settlements have to a large extent ceased to exist.”“What? Was the fighting so severe as that? We have heard nothing whatever about it.”“Yes, it was very severe. As far as actual fighting went, you were not in it here at all. For eight or nine days we were bombarded by any number of guns. The French settlement, which was nearest to the enemy, may be said to have been completely destroyed, the cathedral and mission–houses burned, and the rest of the houses practically knocked to pieces. Our quarters were pounded pretty heavily, but not to the same extent. We were exposed to a continuous fire from the ruins of the Chinese college on the other side of the river, and from all the houses that remained on that side. Of course we had barricades erected at the ends of all the streets, but nevertheless it was not altogether pleasant to walk about in the showers of bullets and shot and shell whichcame practically from all directions. The hottest fighting was at the railway–station, where it went on night and day.“Well, when large reinforcements came up, we took the offensive. The Russians and French did not do much, but the Japs, the Americans, and our fellows had some very hard work. At the end of the first day things looked pretty bad. We were established in the suburb outside the town, but farther than that we could not get, and indeed there was some question whether we should not fall back after dark. This, however, was negatived, but that it should have been even proposed showed that we were really in a tight place. Fortunately, during the night the same question was discussed by the Chinese, and they concluded that as it was evident that we did not intend to go they had better do so, and the greater portion of them accordingly marched away. In the morning we carried the gate between us, the Japs doing most of the fighting, and as soon as we were in, the Chinese bolted like sheep.“We found that our artillery fire had been most destructive in the town, and that a large portion of the place was in ruins. This, however, was principally the work of the Chinese themselves, who, during the first stage of the affair, acted like madmen. No one knows how many of the people suspected of being friendly to us were massacred; some put it at tens of thousands. At any rate, it was a great many thousands, and the river was literally full of corpses. Besides killing these people they sacked and set fire to their houses, and this way an enormous amount of damage was done.“The allies, it must be confessed, did a lot of looting. The Japs, all agreed, behaved best; we and the Americans very fairly; but the Russians, who had done practically nothing towards the taking of the town, acted in a most brutal way. Moreover, they actually wanted one of their number appointedgovernor. Fortunately, the other Powers would not agree to this, and in the end a commission of three—a Russian, a Jap, and an Englishman—were appointed to manage things. A lot of the Chinese were enlisted as policemen, and in a day or two the place, which was littered with dead, was got into some sort of order. If this had not been done, there certainly would have been a pestilence.”“But what about Seymourʼs force?”“They had to fight their way back, and were getting into great straits for provisions, when, luckily enough, by a sudden attack, they captured the arsenal of Hsi–Ku, five miles north of the native town. Here they found a tremendous quantity of weapons and stores, and a big supply of rice, and although the Chinese tried to recapture the place, they were able to hold it without much difficulty until, when the reinforcements came up from the sea, a strong body went out and relieved them. They could hardly have fought their way down without aid, for they had some hundreds of wounded, and a large number of the fighting–men would have been required to carry them.”“And how about the capture of the Taku Forts?”“Well, I will tell you all about that later. Of course, I did not see that; we were cut off from the sea for some days.”“And what were you doing all that time?”“I joined the volunteers—every able–bodied man did so—and helped in beating off several attacks on the barrier. I also had a part in some of the fighting at the railway–station, which was about the hottest thing in the whole affair; indeed, we were only saved by the fortunate arrival of a party of Sikhs who came out to take the place of the garrison, and even with their aid it was a close thing, for the Boxers fought with the greatest pluck, and even crossed bayonets with us.“But there, I have given you now a rough account of itall; details will follow later. Here is your breakfast coming in. I want to take a turn round and see how matters stood up to the time when we arrived, and after that I am going to see my cousins. I was going to say I suppose you will be all off duty now, but I hear that the firing has broken out again. That shows that although we have got in, the Chinese have not got out, and may give us more trouble before we have done with them. By the way, what has become of the Empress?”“She bolted three days ago when she heard, I fancy, that you had taken Tung–Chow. I donʼt know whether it would be wise to send a force in pursuit of her, considering that the town is still full of Chinese troops and that there is so much to be done here. Besides, though she has a tremendous train of baggage with her, it would take some daysʼ march for infantry to catch her, and it would be a risky thing for our small force of cavalry to go alone, as of course she has taken a considerable body of troops with her.”“Yes, I donʼt think they will pursue her,” Rex said. “There must be someone for us to treat with, and if we were to take her prisoner it is pretty certain that, directly we had gone, she would repudiate any treaty she might make, on the ground that it was obtained from her by force. The Chinese never hold to treaties, and this would afford them so excellent an excuse for breaking one that the agreement would hardly be worth the paper it was written on.”“Well, I shall come back about ten oʼclock, and then, before I give you any details of what I have seen, I shall expect you to give me a full account of all that has taken place here since I went away.”Rex now went to the hospital again. A nurse went to inform the girls of his arrival, and almost immediately they came flying out.“We are glad to see you again, Rex,” Jenny said; “we have been in dreadful anxiety about you. When you went away we had no idea that it would be so dreadfully long before you came back.”“I did not think it would be myself,” he said, “but it has certainly not been my fault that I did not get back sooner. I can assure you that I have been quite as anxious about you as you can have been about me.”“We were so dreadfully disappointed yesterday when the troops came in, to find that you were not with them. We asked a good many officers, but only one knew anything about you, and he said that you were with the Japanese.”“Yes, that was so. It would have been very difficult for me to get leave to come with my own people, but the Japanese were glad of an extra interpreter. Now, how have you been all the time?”“We have been very well on the whole. Of course we are both thinner, for recently rations have had to be reduced very much; we have had no meat for the past fortnight, and not a great deal of anything else. At the same time we have been kept very busy, for the number of wounded has been large; but we were very glad to be fully employed, for it was much better to be working here than to have nothing to do but make bags to hold earth and sand.”“I can quite understand that. The students were telling me that it was terribly tedious when they had nothing to do. Certainly they were called out to aid the guard at the barriers, when these were heavily attacked, but often two or three days passed without their being summoned.”“And how are Uncle and Aunt, Rex?” asked Jenny.“They are both well. They have been besieged just as you were here, and there was very hard fighting. The settlement indeed was very much knocked about, but fortunately,in spite of the severe shelling, hardly any lives were lost.“We can come out with you now for an hour,” said Jenny, “and then you can tell us all about it, and what prevented the army from coming up to help us.”The girls put on their hats and the three sallied forth. As they walked about, Rex gave them a graphic account of the fighting at Tientsin.“And has Ah Lo come up with you, Rex?”“Certainly he has. I should as soon have thought of coming without a hat as without him. He is a splendid fellow, and I have got so accustomed to his company that I really donʼt know what I should do without him.”“It is time for us to go back,” Jenny said at last. “We shall be off duty this afternoon at three, and to–morrow or next day we shall leave the hospital, for most of the wounded are convalescent, and unless there is tough fighting the hospital will empty fast, especially now that we can get fresh fruit and meat and other things for the patients.”Rex returned to the room occupied by the students, and there he found Sandwich waiting for him.“I am feeling like a fish out of water, Bateman,” his friend said. “After being in readiness for the past two months to snatch up our rifles at any moment and run out to repel an attack, it seems strange indeed that we can ramble about without any fixed duty, and that our military work is over. Now, then, I will give you an account of what has happened here since you left. I have kept a journal ever since the siege began, so that I can tell you how everything was done in its right order.“Nothing came of the letters sent in by Prince Ching. It was soon evident that the war party were supreme again, and the fighting went on as usual. One prisoner, who was takenthe day after you left, said that the Empress had issued an edict explaining that the firing of large guns was a dangerous practice and liable to do much mischief, and she therefore ordered the troops to confine themselves to the use of rifles only. There can be no doubt that this curious edict was issued, and it was supposed to have been the result of representations by the inhabitants of the damage inflicted by their gun fire. No doubt this was very extensive, for their fire was always high and every shot that flew over the Legations must have fallen in the city and inflicted damage there. At any rate there was much less firing afterwards, and although the shells did not inflict any very great damage here, it was a relief to be free of them. The gun, however, that was being worked against the defenders of the Fu, distant only about fifty yards, continued to do great damage, and one night the attack of the Chinese was so fierce that the Italian guard posted between the British and Japanese retired, and had the Chinese taken advantage of the movement both the Japs and ourselves would have been cut off and the Fu altogether lost.“Next day the attack was renewed with great vigour, both on the defenders of the Fu and on the French Legation. At the latter place two explosions took place, the enemy having driven mines under it. The French were forced to retire from the main building, but held entrenchments that they had prepared behind it. At the same time the Chinese made a desperate attempt to force their way into the German Legation. They did actually break into the club and set it on fire, but were driven back at the point of the bayonet. The fire, however, spread, and there was great danger that the defence would be forced. The alarm–bell was rung here, the gates were shut, and everyone stood at his post. The attack was maintained with fury till eight in the evening, then it graduallyceased, and when the enemy retired they left the French and Germans still holding the remains of their Legations. All night the French Legation continued to burn, and the coolies in the Fu worked unceasingly to extinguish the flames.“The next day letters were received from Ching urging that the Europeans should all leave the Legations and go to the yamen. The proposition was so absurd that a refusal, of course in polite terms, was sent, as even had the Europeans been inclined to trust themselves to the mercy of the Chinese, they would have been obliged to abandon the native Christians under their protection.“On the sixteenth another communication arrived from Ching. The night passed quietly. In the morning two Chinese presented themselves at the German Legation. Both said they had come to enquire what we meant to do, and to ask if the Foreign Chinese Secretary would go out to discuss matters with the generals. They explained that orders had come to cease firing on the Legations, and the bugler said that General Nieh had been defeated between Taku and Tientsin and had committed suicide.“An answer was sent that we did not propose to fire without cause, but that we could not allow the Chinese to continue to build barricades, as they had been doing ever since the first message from Prince Ching reached us. While these letters were being exchanged, Chinese soldiers kept coming up to the barricade unarmed and professing friendship. A French volunteer was foolish enough to get over a barricade and go out. He had better luck than he deserved, for he was taken to Jung Luʼs head–quarters, where he was well treated. He was closely questioned as to the state of things in the Legation, and said, in reply, that we were having a first–rate time, enjoying ourselves greatly, and wanted nothing but freshfruit. The Chinese thereupon gave him some melons and peaches and sent him back.“Now I think I must stop for ten minutes and wet my whistle. I have not had as much experience as you in relating adventures, and I find this continuous talking somewhat trying.”

CHAPTER XVRELIEF IN SIGHTOn the afternoon of the 4th of August the British and American troops marched out from Tientsin to Hsi–Ku. The route led through the almost deserted and ruined city, and through villages which straggled away for miles on the northern road. The weather was threatening when the start was made, and heavy rain began to fall when they were half–way out. The roads soon became soft and slippery, and all felt that they would have a bad time of it if the weather continued to be wet. The rain ceased, however, when they reached their destination. They halted at a village near the fort. Here General Gaselee took up his head–quarters, while the British troops bivouacked to the left and the Americans to the right of the road. Orders were issued for an early start, and the troops lay down on the wet and miry ground to get what sleep they could.The enemy were known to be entrenched in a position extending across the river and railway, their right resting on an embankment running from Hsi–Ku in a westerly direction, their left being five miles away on the other side of the river, at a camp near a railway bridge. Beyond this the country was inundated. The main body of their force was in the centre, where the line crossed the river. Here the position was covered by a series of rifle–pits and trenches, which, being partly concealed by the high crops, would have been very difficult to capture from the hand of a determinedenemy. A grove of trees on the left bank of the river, and within the loop made by a double bend, marked the centre of the position. A battery of artillery was posted on the embankment, and a line of entrenchments across the plain. On the left bank of the river the position was protected by a canal running along its whole length.It had been arranged that the Japanese, British, and Americans were to advance against the enemyʼs position on the right bank of the river; that the Japanese were to lead the attack, with the British in support and the Americans in reserve; while the Russians and French, assisted by the guns of the British Naval Brigade, were to operate on the left bank.The British and American troops had not a very long period of rest, for before the night had passed, the Japs arrived, having started after dark. They marched straight through the village, and the troops there, by no means sorry to leave their uncomfortable quarters, at once got under arms and followed them. All moved forward to the westward under cover of the embankment upon which the Chinese battery stood. It was necessary to capture this before advancing against the main position.When the orders were issued for the Japs to leave at eight oʼclock, Rex had been rather disposed to sleep comfortably at home, and join them in the morning, for he knew that his services would not be required, and as a thunderstorm was coming on just as they formed up, that feeling increased. Finally, however, he made up his mind to march with the troops, and when he found that they were not to halt, but were going straight forward to the attack, he rejoiced that he had not given way to his first impulse. He had brought with him a waterproof sheet and carried his rifle. Ah Lo, who of course accompanied him, had a large bag of provisionsslung over his shoulders. His waterproof, which he wrapped round him, kept him dry during the thunder showers, and the brisk march which the Japanese kept up prevented him from feeling the cold.“You are not going forward to the attack, are you, master?” Ah Lo asked, as they approached the scene of action.“No; my father only allowed me to come with the force on condition that I would not take part in the fighting unless the position became so critical that I could not help myself, and really I have no desire to fight. I want to be able to see what is going on all round, and if I were to go forward I should only see the little that happened near me.”Presently bright flashes broke out ahead on the embankment, and these speedily grew into a storm of musketry. As it was still dark the Japanese did not suffer heavily, the majority of the bullets going overhead. Rex climbed up on the embankment, and from there he could see, by their fire, that the Japanese advanced steadily till they were close to the guns. Then they suddenly stopped firing, but two or three minutes later a volley flashed out, evidently but a few yards from the Chinese line. For a moment the two lines became mixed; then, even above the roar of musketry, Rex could hear the cheers of the Japs, and he knew that the guns were won. For some distance the fire drifted away along the embankment, showing that a hot pursuit was being kept up.It was now three in the morning and there was a cessation of hostilities for an hour and a half. Then, when the Chinese position could be made out, the Japanese and British guns opened fire upon it from behind the embankment. The Chinese replied energetically, but in half an hour their fire began to relax, and soon ceased altogether; it was evident that they were already withdrawing their guns.Meanwhile the Japanese had been advancing. Supported by a mountain battery on their right, and taking cover in the high maize, they worked up close to the position held by the enemy on the river bank. A little after five oʼclock they burst out from their cover with a cheer, and dashed at the outlying trenches. As they crossed the open they suffered heavily from a flanking fire poured in upon them from the grove of trees on the other side of the river. The Chinese in front also stood sufficiently long to inflict severe loss upon them, for they had left the maize in too close formation. Without a halt, however, they held on, sweeping the Chinese before them, and carrying entrenchment after entrenchment. Their cavalry cut up the flying Chinese whenever opportunity offered.The British and Americans had now come up, and with the Japanese on the right, and the Americans on the left, the combined force worked their way along the river bank.Occasionally the Chinese offered some slight resistance at long range, and it was expected that they would make a stand at Peitsang, where they had a number of strong positions. But, as at Tientsin, the panic of the first fugitives speedily communicated itself to those behind, and position after position was evacuated, without an effort to retain them, before the steady advance of the allies. The troops moved along the river, clearing out the villages and quickening the pace of the fugitives. At nine oʼclock they occupied Nangsung, and as all firing ceased pushed on to Peitsang, which they found deserted, and halted there.On the left bank of the river the Russians and French had failed to turn the Chinese right in the early morning, as they found that the whole country was flooded there, but the defeat of the Chinese left involved, of course, the retirementof their right, and at nine oʼclock the Russians were able to occupy the position on the railway.Almost the whole of the casualties involved in the battle were among the Japanese, who lost sixty killed and two hundred and forty wounded. The British had four killed and twenty–one wounded, while the Americans, being in reserve, had not suffered at all. The loss of the Chinese was very small. At one point they had lost fifty killed, but very few had fallen in the rest of the entrenchments, owing to their hurried flight. They had been defeated simply because they had lost heart, a fact which promised well for the success of the expedition, for in their flight they had probably communicated their fears to the troops behind them. That in an army of twenty–five thousand men there should have been only a hundred killed was a proof that the courage that had evaporated after their first dayʼs sturdy defence of Tientsin had been by no means restored during the interval that had since elapsed.The Russians and French joined the rest of the force at ten oʼclock, and that day the baggage came up. It was of the most miscellaneous description. There were pack animals of all sorts—horses, mules, ponies, and donkeys; there were carts of all shapes and sizes, from the great American wagons, each drawn by four mules, down to little vehicles like costersʼ barrows, drawn by little Japanese ponies. Even the Japanese, whose arrangements were far better than those of the rest of the allies, were but poorly provided. They had only intended originally to take a brigade to Pekin, and had brought transport sufficient for that; but when so large a portion of the British force was detained for work in the south, they were obliged to take a division, and consequently a double strain was thrown upon their transport.ill318THEIR CAVALRY CUT UP THE FLYING CHINESE.On the following morning the main body of the Japanese advanced along the right bank of the river, repairing the breaches that had been made in it. The British and Americans, with two battalions of Japs and a battery of field–artillery, were to advance upon Yangtsun; the Russians and French were also to march upon that bank. An early start was made, the Russians and French going on ahead of the British. They followed the line of the river. General Gaselee marched by more direct roads, and, getting ahead of them, came into touch with the enemy at half–past nine. Their position was a strong one, their right resting on a bridge close to the river, in an angle made between it and the railway embankment. Near this bridge were the ruins of Nangsung railway–station, which formed the centre of their position. Their left extended far to the eastward, where the town of Nangsung lay hidden behind a number of villages. Generals Gaselee and Chaffee took up their position on a high sand–hill two miles away from the railway–station, from which they were able to direct the operations.The enemyʼs fire was first drawn by a company of Cossacks, who had been sent on ahead of the Russian force to reconnoitre. The main body of the Russians had not arrived, nor had the Japanese detached to co–operate with the British and Americans. Nevertheless, the general decided to attack at once. The 12th Field Battery was brought up on the left, and opened fire on the villages near the railway–station. Under cover of this the infantry attack developed, the British advancing in extended order through the high maize, and the Americans on the left of the railway embankment, covered by the fire of Rallyʼs battery.While the preparations were being made, General Linivitch came up and explained to General Gaselee that the Russians were advancing on the enemyʼs right, along the road running parallel with the river. The Japanese detachmentalso came up. The advance now became general, the British in the centre, the Americans on the right, and the Russians on the left. The British led the direct assault upon the enemyʼs entrenchments. The 1st Sikhs, who were at the head of the line, moved steadily forward in the face of a very heavy rifle fire, which was maintained until they arrived at a short distance from the railway–station. As usual, however, the Chinese lost heart when they saw that they were about to be charged with the bayonet, and retreated to the top of the railway embankment, from which for a short time they kept up a fire upon the American regiment next to the Sikhs. The front entrenchment was carried just about eleven oʼclock, and a quarter of an hour later the fire ceased, the enemy retiring towards Yangtsun.The Russians passed out to the rear of the captured villages, seized the railway–station, erected a battery, and bombarded the villages round Yangtsun and the town itself. Meanwhile the force on the right were engaged in clearing out the villages in that direction, the Bengal Lancers scattering the demoralized enemy in every direction. Yangtsun was occupied without resistance during the afternoon. The losses had been comparatively slight. The British casualties were under fifty, of which twenty–four were among the Sikhs. The Americans lost seventy–four and the Russians twenty–seven, but these proportionately large numbers were accounted for by the fact that both these detachments advanced in somewhat closer order than the British, who, keeping their line well extended, suffered comparatively little loss, though they were exposed to a heavier fire than the others. The Japanese had taken no part in the engagement, as they had been on the other bank of the river.The troops were very much exhausted after their two daysʼ marching and fighting in the great heat, and the next daythey remained at Yangtsun, partly for rest and partly to give time to the junks to come up. A council of war was held, and it was decided that the road should now be left, and that the whole force should proceed on the right bank of the river. The Japs were to lead the advance, the Russians were to follow, the Americans to come next, and the British to bring up the rear.During the day Rex went out to look at some of the captured villages, but he was so horrified by the number of peasants whom he found lying dead that he soon returned to Yangtsun. The Russians appeared to have killed everyone they met, whether soldiers or quiet peasants. The Americans, in the villages they had taken, had acted very differently. In these places he found that the peasants had not been molested. He had himself been with the detachment of the Japanese that joined the British, and had therefore been a witness of the fighting.“I cannot say much for your countrymen, Ah Lo,” he said. “If they are not going to fight better than they have done, they had much better have cleared off the road altogether and left it open for us to go quietly to Pekin.”“Chinaman no good to fight,” Ah Lo said contemptuously. “Fight well enough at distance, but no good when they see that Europeans always come on in spite of their firing. Very good to kill missionaries, no good to fight soldiers.”“Do you think we shall find the Legations safe, Ah Lo?”“I hope so, master; but if they go on fighting all the time, instead of same as when we were there, Chinese must have taken nearly all the Legations. I expect all the people are crowded up into British Legation; they make great fight there.”“That is so, Ah Lo; the less space they have to defend, the stronger they become, but they will have a terrible experienceif they are all crowded into the British Legation. The place was full enough when we left. Still, I can hardly hope that, if the Chinese have gone on attacking all the time, we could hold more than our own Legation. The French Legation was almost destroyed before we came away, the Russian Legation could only be held with difficulty, and more than half the Fu had already been captured. I try to think that it is all right, but I am horribly anxious. All the time that was wasted after we had taken Tientsin I was regretting that we had not stopped at Pekin. Our two rifles might not have been of much good, but we should certainly have been of some use, and above all, I wanted to be there in case the Legations were captured. My cousins have their Chinese dresses ready, and I cannot help thinking that there must have been some points that were not attacked where I could have lowered them down from the wall and so escaped into the city. Once away from the fighting, we ought to have been able to find some place of concealment among so many ruined and deserted houses.”“Perhaps they stand out all right,” said Ah Lo.“I hope so, Ah Lo, I hope so with all my heart, but I am terribly anxious, and I grudge even this dayʼs halt, knowing that every hour is of importance, and that even while we are staying here to–day, the massacre may be going on.”Ah Lo had no consolation to offer. He felt that what his master said was true, and that at any moment the catastrophe might occur.The Japanese started early on the following day. They were already in advance, and for this reason they had been chosen to lead. A halt was made at Tung–Chow, ten miles distant, no resistance having been encountered on the way. The Japanese arrived long before the rest of the allies. They were very fast marchers, and their transport was light andhandy, and able to keep up with the infantry column. The Russians, on the other hand, were very slow marchers. They slouched along as if half–asleep, made very frequent halts, and their average pace rarely exceeded a mile an hour. Consequently the Americans, who followed them, were frequently blocked. The Russians, too, always stopped at a village, thus compelling the Americans to halt on the hot and sandy road. This accounted for the great number of casualties from sun–stroke among the American troops, for the very slow progress made by the Americans and British, and for the great amount of marching which they had to do during the hottest hours of the day, instead of completing their journey before the sun had attained its full strength.The Japanese generally completed their marches before the sun was high. The Americans seemed to suffer most from the sun, but they marched fast in the early morning and when the heat of the day was over. The British marching was good, and the Indian troops carried themselves well and marched in good order even in the hottest part of the day, though many fell out. As regards uniforms, the British were better off than the others. The Japs wore white, and consequently they were visible for miles, while the British khaki could scarcely be seen at a hundred yards. The Russians were also in white, but their uniforms being always extremely dirty the disadvantage was not so apparent. The Americans, like the British, had khaki, but they seldom wore their coats, and their blue shirts rendered them visible for considerable distances.On the following day a mixed body of Lancers, Cossacks, and Japanese cavalry scouted the country ahead and came in contact with the enemy half–way to Ho–hsi–Wu, where it was expected that the Chinese would make another stand. The main body halted and encamped, and the Japs threw outoutposts. During the day two squadrons of Bengal Lancers came upon a force of four hundred Chinese cavalry, whom they charged, killing forty or fifty and capturing their standards.The British always came in a long time after the rest of the force. They followed the winding of the river to protect the junks which were carrying up the heavy guns intended for the siege of Pekin. It was fortunate that forage was plentiful for the cavalry and the animals of the artillery and transport. The millet was standing high, and as frequently a large extent of this grain had to be cut down to make a clearance for a camping–ground, there was abundant fodder to supply all the demands. The junks came up very slowly, towed by lines of coolies on the bank, and their late arrival frequently excited great exasperation among the troops, who were dependent upon them for their supplies.Ho–hsi–Wu was a small village, near which was situated an arsenal stored with an enormous quantity of gunpowder as well as a supply of guns of the latest pattern. The Chinese had made an attempt to divert the course of the river by digging an enormous trench in the direction of some lowlying ground. Fortunately they had not had time to complete the work, for not only would it have still further lowered the river, but it would have rendered an attack on the village difficult, as the trench was twenty feet deep, and from twenty to thirty feet wide. As it was left it was still above the level of the water, and could be crossed easily. The village was therefore captured after only a slight resistance.The scene on board the long lines of junks was interesting, and, to a looker–on, amusing. Two or three times Rex handed his horse to Ah Lo and took passage in one of the junks. These, of course, were guarded by soldiers of the variousnationalities whose supplies were on board. All did their best to urge on their coolies, and as collisions were frequent, and boats every now and again ran ashore, the hubbub of shouting in five or six languages was appalling. Rudders were smashed, bulwarks crashed in, and damage done in every way, but the crowd of lubberly craft pushed on in spite of the confusion that everywhere reigned.The Japanese had unquestionably the best of it. They were comfortably settled down with their hospital erected before the Russians lumbered up. Everything they did was as well arranged as if they had been at home, and Rex could not but admit that these little soldiers were far ahead of those of any European country in point of organization, discipline, and the quickness and cheeriness of their movements. No looting was allowed among them, and very few outrages indeed were committed by them on the unfortunate peasantry. In this respect they compared very favourably with the troops of all other nationalities, even including our own, although General Gaselee set himself strongly against such acts, severely punishing such offenders as could be brought to justice.On the tenth the Japanese again pressed on, their outposts getting to within a mile of the retreating enemy. General Fukushima, the moving spirit of the pursuit, was asked in the evening if his troops were not very tired.“Yes,” he said grimly, “and so are the enemy.”This was the spirit in which he carried on the movement. The enemy were to be kept on the run, no time was to be given them to recover their spirits. They were even worse off than their pursuing enemy, for they had no commissariat, carried no provisions with them, and had to feed upon what they could gather at their halting–places, which was seldom more than melons and millet from the fields.The Japanese cavalry and infantry halted about three miles in advance of the main body. When the rest of the infantry came up, they were extended and searched all the villages near the line of march. This done, the cavalry again went on ahead for some distance, and the process was then repeated.In this way the army marched down to Matou. It was a long march, and the troops all suffered terribly from the heat, with the exception of the British, who were wisely kept at their last halting–place until late in the afternoon, and came on in the cool of the evening. The main body of the force bivouacked at Matou, the Japanese camp being three miles farther ahead.The next morning the Japanese arrived at Chan–Chia–Wan. The day was cooler than the preceding one, and some rain fell, affording great relief from the heat. The Japanese reached the place at eleven oʼclock, and sent on a strong detachment of cavalry, infantry, and artillery to reconnoitre. They discovered the enemy in a position south of Chungtaw. At about two oʼclock the Japanese brought up some more artillery and shelled the place, whereupon the enemy retired into Tung–Chow, a large and very wealthy city only thirteen miles from Pekin. The next morning the Japanese entered Tung–Chow without meeting with any resistance and took possession of half of the city. The rest of the allied army arrived somewhat later, and at once began to loot their portion of the town.All the river trade down to Tientsin passes through Tung–Chow, which contains even richer pawn–shops than Pekin itself. These are very important institutions in China, not only because of the richness of the securities on which money is advanced, but because they are used as storing–places for valuables by the general public, and contain immense quantitiesof jewellery, costly furs, jade, and works of art of all sorts and descriptions.The greater part of the lower class of the population had remained in the city, and they joined in the general looting, which was carried on everywhere whenever they saw a chance. Officers in vain tried to keep their men in control in the narrow streets, but in the Russian section the soldiers were allowed to do just as they pleased, and they gave themselves entirely to looting, rapine, and crime of every kind. The reports of the flying Chinese soldiers had aroused in the people an intense fear of the foreign devils, and so when the troops arrived at a town or village many of the inhabitants made away with themselves to avoid the outrages of a licensed soldiery. Women threw themselves out of windows or drowned themselves in wells, indeed whole families often committed suicide in order to avoid a worse fate. Thus, although very many terrible outrages were committed, these accounted for but a small proportion of the deaths among the Chinese people.The British camp was at the edge of the river, and the soldiers were not allowed inside the town, and stringent orders had been given against looting. Had the other generals taken the same view of the matter, the campaign would not have been disgraced by the plundering and murder of innocent people. The British general was proud of his troops, and justly so.Rex had secured a room in the quarter held by the Japanese and enjoyed a good sleep. He was greatly grieved at the awful destruction that went on in the town, and he could not but wonder at the cowardice of the Chinese in evacuating, without striking a blow, a place whose walls were at least as strong as those at Tientsin, and leaving its enormous wealth to the enemy. He got up early in the morning androde out. The sun had not yet risen, but the narrow streets were filled with the scum of the town, who, invisible the day before, had now returned in numbers, bent on looting the houses of their more wealthy countrymen who had forsaken them. Filthy beggars and coolies staggered along under the weight of furs and rolls of silk. The front of nearly every house was broken in and its contents turned topsy–turvy. The allies had taken the pick of the goods, but vast quantities remained for any who chose to carry them away.The changes of fortune that twenty–four hours had wrought were extraordinary. Rich men had become beggars, beggars had acquired that which made them wealthy.Rex let his horse help himself at the grain shop; the day was likely to be a heavy one, and the rations served out were but scanty.“Now, Ah Lo,” he said, as he joined the Japanese troops, who as usual started before daylight, “this is the last day of the march. By to–night our suspense will be over and we shall know what has happened.”The Japanese had reason to be proud of themselves. General Yamaguchi, on entering the town, issued a proclamation promising protection to non–combatants, and telling the people to remain in their houses. It was unfortunate indeed that the Japanese had not occupied the whole of the city. If they had, the scenes that have disgraced the nations would have been avoided.The Japanese advanced by an old stone causeway leading to the eastern gate of the Tartar City, the Russians by a road more to the south, but north of the canal, and leading to the northern gate of the Chinese city. South of the canal were the Americans, and still farther to the south the British. It had been arranged on the previous evening, at the meetingof the generals, that the column should halt a short distance from the city. This arrangement, however, was broken by the Russians, who marched close up to the city walls, and, meeting with no opposition and thinking that a surprise might be effected, advanced up to the gate. Here, however, they were met by a heavy rifle fire, which killed and wounded many men. They could not well retire, and their message begging for reinforcements was the first intimation of what had occurred. A subsequent rumour stated that they had succeeded in entering the city, and the other generals, annoyed at the trick by which the Russians hoped to have the glory of being the first to get into the city, at once marched forward with all haste and without consultation.The Japs had, as agreed, halted at a village three miles from the eastern gate, and in one of the dwellings attached to a joss–house, or temple, Rex and a few Japanese took shelter. As night came on, a drizzling rain began to fall. At nine oʼclock desultory firing was heard to the east, and half an hour after, a few shots somewhat nearer came from the direction of the eastern gate. Later, the fire increased, and the Japs got under arms. As the night was very dark it was impossible to tell what was going on, and, mindful of the arrangement that had been made, they could not attempt to advance. Just before daylight they started again, and then Rex learned of the trick the Russians had played, and that a messenger had arrived begging Fukushima to send reinforcements. The officer who brought the message said that if the Japanese joined the Russians the combined force could succeed in making an entrance through the wall into the city.Fukushima replied: “What about the Americans and the British?”The Russian officer shrugged his shoulders and said: “Whyshould we trouble about them when we can do without them?”Fukushima replied angrily that he had undertaken to attack at a certain time, and that he should stick to his undertaking.“This is a pretty bad beginning to the dayʼs work,” Rex said to the Japanese officer who was marching alongside.“I wish we had come without the Russians at all,” the officer replied; “they have brought disgrace upon us all by their infamous doings. They have worked on their own account since they started. They are surly brutes, and I would infinitely rather fight against them, as I have no doubt we shall have to do some day, than against these poor beggars of Chinese. It is perfectly scandalous that, after making an agreement only last night that we were to hold a council this morning and arrange for an attack in unison, they should sneak forward and try to get all the glory themselves.”

RELIEF IN SIGHT

On the afternoon of the 4th of August the British and American troops marched out from Tientsin to Hsi–Ku. The route led through the almost deserted and ruined city, and through villages which straggled away for miles on the northern road. The weather was threatening when the start was made, and heavy rain began to fall when they were half–way out. The roads soon became soft and slippery, and all felt that they would have a bad time of it if the weather continued to be wet. The rain ceased, however, when they reached their destination. They halted at a village near the fort. Here General Gaselee took up his head–quarters, while the British troops bivouacked to the left and the Americans to the right of the road. Orders were issued for an early start, and the troops lay down on the wet and miry ground to get what sleep they could.

The enemy were known to be entrenched in a position extending across the river and railway, their right resting on an embankment running from Hsi–Ku in a westerly direction, their left being five miles away on the other side of the river, at a camp near a railway bridge. Beyond this the country was inundated. The main body of their force was in the centre, where the line crossed the river. Here the position was covered by a series of rifle–pits and trenches, which, being partly concealed by the high crops, would have been very difficult to capture from the hand of a determinedenemy. A grove of trees on the left bank of the river, and within the loop made by a double bend, marked the centre of the position. A battery of artillery was posted on the embankment, and a line of entrenchments across the plain. On the left bank of the river the position was protected by a canal running along its whole length.

It had been arranged that the Japanese, British, and Americans were to advance against the enemyʼs position on the right bank of the river; that the Japanese were to lead the attack, with the British in support and the Americans in reserve; while the Russians and French, assisted by the guns of the British Naval Brigade, were to operate on the left bank.

The British and American troops had not a very long period of rest, for before the night had passed, the Japs arrived, having started after dark. They marched straight through the village, and the troops there, by no means sorry to leave their uncomfortable quarters, at once got under arms and followed them. All moved forward to the westward under cover of the embankment upon which the Chinese battery stood. It was necessary to capture this before advancing against the main position.

When the orders were issued for the Japs to leave at eight oʼclock, Rex had been rather disposed to sleep comfortably at home, and join them in the morning, for he knew that his services would not be required, and as a thunderstorm was coming on just as they formed up, that feeling increased. Finally, however, he made up his mind to march with the troops, and when he found that they were not to halt, but were going straight forward to the attack, he rejoiced that he had not given way to his first impulse. He had brought with him a waterproof sheet and carried his rifle. Ah Lo, who of course accompanied him, had a large bag of provisionsslung over his shoulders. His waterproof, which he wrapped round him, kept him dry during the thunder showers, and the brisk march which the Japanese kept up prevented him from feeling the cold.

“You are not going forward to the attack, are you, master?” Ah Lo asked, as they approached the scene of action.

“No; my father only allowed me to come with the force on condition that I would not take part in the fighting unless the position became so critical that I could not help myself, and really I have no desire to fight. I want to be able to see what is going on all round, and if I were to go forward I should only see the little that happened near me.”

Presently bright flashes broke out ahead on the embankment, and these speedily grew into a storm of musketry. As it was still dark the Japanese did not suffer heavily, the majority of the bullets going overhead. Rex climbed up on the embankment, and from there he could see, by their fire, that the Japanese advanced steadily till they were close to the guns. Then they suddenly stopped firing, but two or three minutes later a volley flashed out, evidently but a few yards from the Chinese line. For a moment the two lines became mixed; then, even above the roar of musketry, Rex could hear the cheers of the Japs, and he knew that the guns were won. For some distance the fire drifted away along the embankment, showing that a hot pursuit was being kept up.

It was now three in the morning and there was a cessation of hostilities for an hour and a half. Then, when the Chinese position could be made out, the Japanese and British guns opened fire upon it from behind the embankment. The Chinese replied energetically, but in half an hour their fire began to relax, and soon ceased altogether; it was evident that they were already withdrawing their guns.

Meanwhile the Japanese had been advancing. Supported by a mountain battery on their right, and taking cover in the high maize, they worked up close to the position held by the enemy on the river bank. A little after five oʼclock they burst out from their cover with a cheer, and dashed at the outlying trenches. As they crossed the open they suffered heavily from a flanking fire poured in upon them from the grove of trees on the other side of the river. The Chinese in front also stood sufficiently long to inflict severe loss upon them, for they had left the maize in too close formation. Without a halt, however, they held on, sweeping the Chinese before them, and carrying entrenchment after entrenchment. Their cavalry cut up the flying Chinese whenever opportunity offered.

The British and Americans had now come up, and with the Japanese on the right, and the Americans on the left, the combined force worked their way along the river bank.

Occasionally the Chinese offered some slight resistance at long range, and it was expected that they would make a stand at Peitsang, where they had a number of strong positions. But, as at Tientsin, the panic of the first fugitives speedily communicated itself to those behind, and position after position was evacuated, without an effort to retain them, before the steady advance of the allies. The troops moved along the river, clearing out the villages and quickening the pace of the fugitives. At nine oʼclock they occupied Nangsung, and as all firing ceased pushed on to Peitsang, which they found deserted, and halted there.

On the left bank of the river the Russians and French had failed to turn the Chinese right in the early morning, as they found that the whole country was flooded there, but the defeat of the Chinese left involved, of course, the retirementof their right, and at nine oʼclock the Russians were able to occupy the position on the railway.

Almost the whole of the casualties involved in the battle were among the Japanese, who lost sixty killed and two hundred and forty wounded. The British had four killed and twenty–one wounded, while the Americans, being in reserve, had not suffered at all. The loss of the Chinese was very small. At one point they had lost fifty killed, but very few had fallen in the rest of the entrenchments, owing to their hurried flight. They had been defeated simply because they had lost heart, a fact which promised well for the success of the expedition, for in their flight they had probably communicated their fears to the troops behind them. That in an army of twenty–five thousand men there should have been only a hundred killed was a proof that the courage that had evaporated after their first dayʼs sturdy defence of Tientsin had been by no means restored during the interval that had since elapsed.

The Russians and French joined the rest of the force at ten oʼclock, and that day the baggage came up. It was of the most miscellaneous description. There were pack animals of all sorts—horses, mules, ponies, and donkeys; there were carts of all shapes and sizes, from the great American wagons, each drawn by four mules, down to little vehicles like costersʼ barrows, drawn by little Japanese ponies. Even the Japanese, whose arrangements were far better than those of the rest of the allies, were but poorly provided. They had only intended originally to take a brigade to Pekin, and had brought transport sufficient for that; but when so large a portion of the British force was detained for work in the south, they were obliged to take a division, and consequently a double strain was thrown upon their transport.

ill318

THEIR CAVALRY CUT UP THE FLYING CHINESE.

THEIR CAVALRY CUT UP THE FLYING CHINESE.

THEIR CAVALRY CUT UP THE FLYING CHINESE.

On the following morning the main body of the Japanese advanced along the right bank of the river, repairing the breaches that had been made in it. The British and Americans, with two battalions of Japs and a battery of field–artillery, were to advance upon Yangtsun; the Russians and French were also to march upon that bank. An early start was made, the Russians and French going on ahead of the British. They followed the line of the river. General Gaselee marched by more direct roads, and, getting ahead of them, came into touch with the enemy at half–past nine. Their position was a strong one, their right resting on a bridge close to the river, in an angle made between it and the railway embankment. Near this bridge were the ruins of Nangsung railway–station, which formed the centre of their position. Their left extended far to the eastward, where the town of Nangsung lay hidden behind a number of villages. Generals Gaselee and Chaffee took up their position on a high sand–hill two miles away from the railway–station, from which they were able to direct the operations.

The enemyʼs fire was first drawn by a company of Cossacks, who had been sent on ahead of the Russian force to reconnoitre. The main body of the Russians had not arrived, nor had the Japanese detached to co–operate with the British and Americans. Nevertheless, the general decided to attack at once. The 12th Field Battery was brought up on the left, and opened fire on the villages near the railway–station. Under cover of this the infantry attack developed, the British advancing in extended order through the high maize, and the Americans on the left of the railway embankment, covered by the fire of Rallyʼs battery.

While the preparations were being made, General Linivitch came up and explained to General Gaselee that the Russians were advancing on the enemyʼs right, along the road running parallel with the river. The Japanese detachmentalso came up. The advance now became general, the British in the centre, the Americans on the right, and the Russians on the left. The British led the direct assault upon the enemyʼs entrenchments. The 1st Sikhs, who were at the head of the line, moved steadily forward in the face of a very heavy rifle fire, which was maintained until they arrived at a short distance from the railway–station. As usual, however, the Chinese lost heart when they saw that they were about to be charged with the bayonet, and retreated to the top of the railway embankment, from which for a short time they kept up a fire upon the American regiment next to the Sikhs. The front entrenchment was carried just about eleven oʼclock, and a quarter of an hour later the fire ceased, the enemy retiring towards Yangtsun.

The Russians passed out to the rear of the captured villages, seized the railway–station, erected a battery, and bombarded the villages round Yangtsun and the town itself. Meanwhile the force on the right were engaged in clearing out the villages in that direction, the Bengal Lancers scattering the demoralized enemy in every direction. Yangtsun was occupied without resistance during the afternoon. The losses had been comparatively slight. The British casualties were under fifty, of which twenty–four were among the Sikhs. The Americans lost seventy–four and the Russians twenty–seven, but these proportionately large numbers were accounted for by the fact that both these detachments advanced in somewhat closer order than the British, who, keeping their line well extended, suffered comparatively little loss, though they were exposed to a heavier fire than the others. The Japanese had taken no part in the engagement, as they had been on the other bank of the river.

The troops were very much exhausted after their two daysʼ marching and fighting in the great heat, and the next daythey remained at Yangtsun, partly for rest and partly to give time to the junks to come up. A council of war was held, and it was decided that the road should now be left, and that the whole force should proceed on the right bank of the river. The Japs were to lead the advance, the Russians were to follow, the Americans to come next, and the British to bring up the rear.

During the day Rex went out to look at some of the captured villages, but he was so horrified by the number of peasants whom he found lying dead that he soon returned to Yangtsun. The Russians appeared to have killed everyone they met, whether soldiers or quiet peasants. The Americans, in the villages they had taken, had acted very differently. In these places he found that the peasants had not been molested. He had himself been with the detachment of the Japanese that joined the British, and had therefore been a witness of the fighting.

“I cannot say much for your countrymen, Ah Lo,” he said. “If they are not going to fight better than they have done, they had much better have cleared off the road altogether and left it open for us to go quietly to Pekin.”

“Chinaman no good to fight,” Ah Lo said contemptuously. “Fight well enough at distance, but no good when they see that Europeans always come on in spite of their firing. Very good to kill missionaries, no good to fight soldiers.”

“Do you think we shall find the Legations safe, Ah Lo?”

“I hope so, master; but if they go on fighting all the time, instead of same as when we were there, Chinese must have taken nearly all the Legations. I expect all the people are crowded up into British Legation; they make great fight there.”

“That is so, Ah Lo; the less space they have to defend, the stronger they become, but they will have a terrible experienceif they are all crowded into the British Legation. The place was full enough when we left. Still, I can hardly hope that, if the Chinese have gone on attacking all the time, we could hold more than our own Legation. The French Legation was almost destroyed before we came away, the Russian Legation could only be held with difficulty, and more than half the Fu had already been captured. I try to think that it is all right, but I am horribly anxious. All the time that was wasted after we had taken Tientsin I was regretting that we had not stopped at Pekin. Our two rifles might not have been of much good, but we should certainly have been of some use, and above all, I wanted to be there in case the Legations were captured. My cousins have their Chinese dresses ready, and I cannot help thinking that there must have been some points that were not attacked where I could have lowered them down from the wall and so escaped into the city. Once away from the fighting, we ought to have been able to find some place of concealment among so many ruined and deserted houses.”

“Perhaps they stand out all right,” said Ah Lo.

“I hope so, Ah Lo, I hope so with all my heart, but I am terribly anxious, and I grudge even this dayʼs halt, knowing that every hour is of importance, and that even while we are staying here to–day, the massacre may be going on.”

Ah Lo had no consolation to offer. He felt that what his master said was true, and that at any moment the catastrophe might occur.

The Japanese started early on the following day. They were already in advance, and for this reason they had been chosen to lead. A halt was made at Tung–Chow, ten miles distant, no resistance having been encountered on the way. The Japanese arrived long before the rest of the allies. They were very fast marchers, and their transport was light andhandy, and able to keep up with the infantry column. The Russians, on the other hand, were very slow marchers. They slouched along as if half–asleep, made very frequent halts, and their average pace rarely exceeded a mile an hour. Consequently the Americans, who followed them, were frequently blocked. The Russians, too, always stopped at a village, thus compelling the Americans to halt on the hot and sandy road. This accounted for the great number of casualties from sun–stroke among the American troops, for the very slow progress made by the Americans and British, and for the great amount of marching which they had to do during the hottest hours of the day, instead of completing their journey before the sun had attained its full strength.

The Japanese generally completed their marches before the sun was high. The Americans seemed to suffer most from the sun, but they marched fast in the early morning and when the heat of the day was over. The British marching was good, and the Indian troops carried themselves well and marched in good order even in the hottest part of the day, though many fell out. As regards uniforms, the British were better off than the others. The Japs wore white, and consequently they were visible for miles, while the British khaki could scarcely be seen at a hundred yards. The Russians were also in white, but their uniforms being always extremely dirty the disadvantage was not so apparent. The Americans, like the British, had khaki, but they seldom wore their coats, and their blue shirts rendered them visible for considerable distances.

On the following day a mixed body of Lancers, Cossacks, and Japanese cavalry scouted the country ahead and came in contact with the enemy half–way to Ho–hsi–Wu, where it was expected that the Chinese would make another stand. The main body halted and encamped, and the Japs threw outoutposts. During the day two squadrons of Bengal Lancers came upon a force of four hundred Chinese cavalry, whom they charged, killing forty or fifty and capturing their standards.

The British always came in a long time after the rest of the force. They followed the winding of the river to protect the junks which were carrying up the heavy guns intended for the siege of Pekin. It was fortunate that forage was plentiful for the cavalry and the animals of the artillery and transport. The millet was standing high, and as frequently a large extent of this grain had to be cut down to make a clearance for a camping–ground, there was abundant fodder to supply all the demands. The junks came up very slowly, towed by lines of coolies on the bank, and their late arrival frequently excited great exasperation among the troops, who were dependent upon them for their supplies.

Ho–hsi–Wu was a small village, near which was situated an arsenal stored with an enormous quantity of gunpowder as well as a supply of guns of the latest pattern. The Chinese had made an attempt to divert the course of the river by digging an enormous trench in the direction of some lowlying ground. Fortunately they had not had time to complete the work, for not only would it have still further lowered the river, but it would have rendered an attack on the village difficult, as the trench was twenty feet deep, and from twenty to thirty feet wide. As it was left it was still above the level of the water, and could be crossed easily. The village was therefore captured after only a slight resistance.

The scene on board the long lines of junks was interesting, and, to a looker–on, amusing. Two or three times Rex handed his horse to Ah Lo and took passage in one of the junks. These, of course, were guarded by soldiers of the variousnationalities whose supplies were on board. All did their best to urge on their coolies, and as collisions were frequent, and boats every now and again ran ashore, the hubbub of shouting in five or six languages was appalling. Rudders were smashed, bulwarks crashed in, and damage done in every way, but the crowd of lubberly craft pushed on in spite of the confusion that everywhere reigned.

The Japanese had unquestionably the best of it. They were comfortably settled down with their hospital erected before the Russians lumbered up. Everything they did was as well arranged as if they had been at home, and Rex could not but admit that these little soldiers were far ahead of those of any European country in point of organization, discipline, and the quickness and cheeriness of their movements. No looting was allowed among them, and very few outrages indeed were committed by them on the unfortunate peasantry. In this respect they compared very favourably with the troops of all other nationalities, even including our own, although General Gaselee set himself strongly against such acts, severely punishing such offenders as could be brought to justice.

On the tenth the Japanese again pressed on, their outposts getting to within a mile of the retreating enemy. General Fukushima, the moving spirit of the pursuit, was asked in the evening if his troops were not very tired.

“Yes,” he said grimly, “and so are the enemy.”

This was the spirit in which he carried on the movement. The enemy were to be kept on the run, no time was to be given them to recover their spirits. They were even worse off than their pursuing enemy, for they had no commissariat, carried no provisions with them, and had to feed upon what they could gather at their halting–places, which was seldom more than melons and millet from the fields.

The Japanese cavalry and infantry halted about three miles in advance of the main body. When the rest of the infantry came up, they were extended and searched all the villages near the line of march. This done, the cavalry again went on ahead for some distance, and the process was then repeated.

In this way the army marched down to Matou. It was a long march, and the troops all suffered terribly from the heat, with the exception of the British, who were wisely kept at their last halting–place until late in the afternoon, and came on in the cool of the evening. The main body of the force bivouacked at Matou, the Japanese camp being three miles farther ahead.

The next morning the Japanese arrived at Chan–Chia–Wan. The day was cooler than the preceding one, and some rain fell, affording great relief from the heat. The Japanese reached the place at eleven oʼclock, and sent on a strong detachment of cavalry, infantry, and artillery to reconnoitre. They discovered the enemy in a position south of Chungtaw. At about two oʼclock the Japanese brought up some more artillery and shelled the place, whereupon the enemy retired into Tung–Chow, a large and very wealthy city only thirteen miles from Pekin. The next morning the Japanese entered Tung–Chow without meeting with any resistance and took possession of half of the city. The rest of the allied army arrived somewhat later, and at once began to loot their portion of the town.

All the river trade down to Tientsin passes through Tung–Chow, which contains even richer pawn–shops than Pekin itself. These are very important institutions in China, not only because of the richness of the securities on which money is advanced, but because they are used as storing–places for valuables by the general public, and contain immense quantitiesof jewellery, costly furs, jade, and works of art of all sorts and descriptions.

The greater part of the lower class of the population had remained in the city, and they joined in the general looting, which was carried on everywhere whenever they saw a chance. Officers in vain tried to keep their men in control in the narrow streets, but in the Russian section the soldiers were allowed to do just as they pleased, and they gave themselves entirely to looting, rapine, and crime of every kind. The reports of the flying Chinese soldiers had aroused in the people an intense fear of the foreign devils, and so when the troops arrived at a town or village many of the inhabitants made away with themselves to avoid the outrages of a licensed soldiery. Women threw themselves out of windows or drowned themselves in wells, indeed whole families often committed suicide in order to avoid a worse fate. Thus, although very many terrible outrages were committed, these accounted for but a small proportion of the deaths among the Chinese people.

The British camp was at the edge of the river, and the soldiers were not allowed inside the town, and stringent orders had been given against looting. Had the other generals taken the same view of the matter, the campaign would not have been disgraced by the plundering and murder of innocent people. The British general was proud of his troops, and justly so.

Rex had secured a room in the quarter held by the Japanese and enjoyed a good sleep. He was greatly grieved at the awful destruction that went on in the town, and he could not but wonder at the cowardice of the Chinese in evacuating, without striking a blow, a place whose walls were at least as strong as those at Tientsin, and leaving its enormous wealth to the enemy. He got up early in the morning androde out. The sun had not yet risen, but the narrow streets were filled with the scum of the town, who, invisible the day before, had now returned in numbers, bent on looting the houses of their more wealthy countrymen who had forsaken them. Filthy beggars and coolies staggered along under the weight of furs and rolls of silk. The front of nearly every house was broken in and its contents turned topsy–turvy. The allies had taken the pick of the goods, but vast quantities remained for any who chose to carry them away.

The changes of fortune that twenty–four hours had wrought were extraordinary. Rich men had become beggars, beggars had acquired that which made them wealthy.

Rex let his horse help himself at the grain shop; the day was likely to be a heavy one, and the rations served out were but scanty.

“Now, Ah Lo,” he said, as he joined the Japanese troops, who as usual started before daylight, “this is the last day of the march. By to–night our suspense will be over and we shall know what has happened.”

The Japanese had reason to be proud of themselves. General Yamaguchi, on entering the town, issued a proclamation promising protection to non–combatants, and telling the people to remain in their houses. It was unfortunate indeed that the Japanese had not occupied the whole of the city. If they had, the scenes that have disgraced the nations would have been avoided.

The Japanese advanced by an old stone causeway leading to the eastern gate of the Tartar City, the Russians by a road more to the south, but north of the canal, and leading to the northern gate of the Chinese city. South of the canal were the Americans, and still farther to the south the British. It had been arranged on the previous evening, at the meetingof the generals, that the column should halt a short distance from the city. This arrangement, however, was broken by the Russians, who marched close up to the city walls, and, meeting with no opposition and thinking that a surprise might be effected, advanced up to the gate. Here, however, they were met by a heavy rifle fire, which killed and wounded many men. They could not well retire, and their message begging for reinforcements was the first intimation of what had occurred. A subsequent rumour stated that they had succeeded in entering the city, and the other generals, annoyed at the trick by which the Russians hoped to have the glory of being the first to get into the city, at once marched forward with all haste and without consultation.

The Japs had, as agreed, halted at a village three miles from the eastern gate, and in one of the dwellings attached to a joss–house, or temple, Rex and a few Japanese took shelter. As night came on, a drizzling rain began to fall. At nine oʼclock desultory firing was heard to the east, and half an hour after, a few shots somewhat nearer came from the direction of the eastern gate. Later, the fire increased, and the Japs got under arms. As the night was very dark it was impossible to tell what was going on, and, mindful of the arrangement that had been made, they could not attempt to advance. Just before daylight they started again, and then Rex learned of the trick the Russians had played, and that a messenger had arrived begging Fukushima to send reinforcements. The officer who brought the message said that if the Japanese joined the Russians the combined force could succeed in making an entrance through the wall into the city.

Fukushima replied: “What about the Americans and the British?”

The Russian officer shrugged his shoulders and said: “Whyshould we trouble about them when we can do without them?”

Fukushima replied angrily that he had undertaken to attack at a certain time, and that he should stick to his undertaking.

“This is a pretty bad beginning to the dayʼs work,” Rex said to the Japanese officer who was marching alongside.

“I wish we had come without the Russians at all,” the officer replied; “they have brought disgrace upon us all by their infamous doings. They have worked on their own account since they started. They are surly brutes, and I would infinitely rather fight against them, as I have no doubt we shall have to do some day, than against these poor beggars of Chinese. It is perfectly scandalous that, after making an agreement only last night that we were to hold a council this morning and arrange for an attack in unison, they should sneak forward and try to get all the glory themselves.”

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

THE CAPTURE OF PEKIN

The day was just breaking as the Japanese moved forward. Rex rode with their advance guard, which was moving along on the road with flanking parties in the woods close by. Suddenly there was a sound of rifle shots in the woods, and bullets whizzed through the air overhead. The column at once broke up, and, taking shelter among the bushes, began to advance in the direction of the firing, which became heavier every moment. It was a complete surprise, for no idea had been entertained that the Chinese would advance beyond the protection of their walls.

The main body behind had halted. Some wounded men were carried out of the woods, but they could give no particulars as to the force that had attacked them. Presently a mounted Russian officer dashed out from the wood and rode up to the head–quarter staff, where he shouted to Fukushima that the Russians and Japs were firing upon each other.

Orders were at once given to cease firing, and investigations showed that the affair had been caused by a few Chinese lurking in the wood, who had fired upon the Japs. The Russians, whose movements were unknown to the Japs, were advancing on the other side of the wood, and the Japanese bullets flying over their heads led them to believe that they were attacked by the Chinese, and so the two allied forces skirmished briskly with each other until the mistakewas discovered. Unfortunately several men were wounded on both sides, and two Russians killed.

As soon as the matter was cleared up the Japanese resumed their forward march, and in a short time, on rounding the base of a small eminence, they saw the great wall of Pekin and the massive gate–house.

For a quarter of a mile outside the town extended a labyrinth of narrow streets. The road ran straight through these to the first gate leading through the great tower. To reach this the wide moat, crossed by a great stone bridge, had to be traversed. The gate itself could not be seen, as the road made a sharp angle at the tower, and therefore guns could not be brought to play upon it until they were close up. Beyond this gate was a large yard, and from this opened the inner gate of the wall itself.

Not a soul was to be seen in the streets, and the Japanese moved forward with a general feeling of expectation and wonderment. Why did not the Chinese open fire? They were within short range, and yet there was no sign whatever of the foe.

They began to think that, as at Tung–Chow, the entry was not going to be opposed, when suddenly, as they rounded the bend, a tremendous fire broke out from the walls and a storm of bullets smote the column. Pending orders, there was nothing for it but to rush for shelter, and the dispersal of the solid battalions resembled that of a crowd when a thunder–shower breaks suddenly overhead. For a time nothing could be done. Crowded in the little houses, the troops waited for the engineers, who were to blow up the gate, to complete their work.

Rex, by stooping low, made his way forward until he reached a point where he could watch what was going on in front. Here he could see the little Japanese soldiers cheeringas they advanced, running forward towards the gate under a tremendous fire of musketry. Of the first detachment more than half fell before they had gone many yards, but others pushed on until almost the last man had fallen. Attempt after attempt was made, the brave fellows going forward as cheerfully to almost certain death as if to a fête. It soon became evident, however, that success could not be attained even at the greatest sacrifice of life, and twenty minutes after its commencement the attack was given up.

Nothing could now be done until night fell and afforded a screen for the forlorn hope to get up to the gate. The Japanese artillery were brought up and placed on some elevated ground beyond the suburb outside the wall, and opened fire on the gate and its surroundings. Meanwhile the troops were withdrawn from the houses near the walls, and, scattering among those at a safer distance from it, lay down and waited for further orders.

Rex went out with Fukushima to the hill on which the Japanese guns were preparing to open fire. There were no fewer than sixty–four of them, for the most part quite small, and these were soon all at work pounding the great tower and the wall. It was not long, however, before it became evident that the massively–built structure was not to be seriously injured by such puny missiles, and while the larger guns were still kept at work the smaller ones were turned upon the city wall. As a result the enemyʼs musketry fire diminished, and soon only an occasional shot rang out from the wall. The Chinese fired a few shells in reply, but strangely enough they did but little in that way, although the outlying suburb might very speedily have been set on fire and the Japs driven out from their shelter.

The Japanese fire continued for six hours, but even at the end of that time the gate–tower, although its face was closelypock–marked by the balls, had not been seriously damaged. The day passed slowly, and it was a relief indeed when, as darkness came on, the men again moved up into the houses on the main road and in the lanes branching from it. After all were ready they were still kept waiting, but at last two loud explosions were heard. The engineers had done their work, and in a few seconds the Japanese were swarming out of the houses and going forward at the double, keeping time as they went to the cheerful cry of “One, two; one, two,” with which they always advanced. But the Chinese were not taken unprepared. A storm of fire broke out from the great tower and the battlements on the walls, as heavy as that which they had encountered in the morning. But happily it was to a certain extent a random one, for although the moon had just risen, its light was not sufficiently strong to enable the defenders of the walls to make out the advancing enemy with any accuracy. Nevertheless, the middle of the road was so swept with fire that the Japs, as they advanced, had to take what shelter they could in the houses on either side. As they got to the last broad open space they halted at the corner and then went forward in batches, cheering and singing. Many fell, but many also reached the gate, and once under the wall they were in shelter from the fire. The leading parties, dashing through the gate which had been blown down, speedily drove back those of the defenders gathered there. The gate–house was soon captured, and the troops, as they entered, were marched up to the top of the wall, and, following this to the right and left, drove the Chinese before them, the latter, however, offering an obstinate resistance at each bastion.

From the walls the city appeared a mass of ruins. The continuous fire of the Japanese guns had created immense destruction; large spaces had been swept by shot and shell.At some points a heavy fire was opened from the ruins upon the white–clad column, which showed up very clear in the moonlight on the top of the wall; but this form of opposition presently ceased. Great fires could be seen burning in the direction of the Legations, and the column pressed on, anxious to be among the first to arrive there. Just at midnight, however, they came upon a Russian picket on the wall, and to their disappointment learned that the Legations had been relieved in the afternoon. They pressed on, however, and at two oʼclock entered the Legations.

The general and his staff stopped at the Japanese Legation, but Rex and Ah Lo pushed on over barricades and ruins to that of the British. Here they found almost every square foot of ground occupied, but they made their way among the sleepers until they reached the hospital. Here alone there were signs of life; lights shone in the windows. Rex, knowing the way well, moved quietly into the kitchen. Fires were still burning, and kettles and pots were boiling. On the floor, with her head resting on a chair, Mabel was sitting fast asleep. Feeling sure that Jenny was assisting in the wards, he remained quiet for a minute or two until the head nurse entered with a can for water.

“Ah, Mr. Bateman!” she exclaimed as she saw him, “I am indeed glad to see you. Your cousins have been very anxious about you. We have nearly finished in the hospital now, and shall get an hour or twoʼs sleep, I hope. I will send your cousin out to you at once.”

“No, thank you!” said Rex; “now that I know they are both well I am quite content to wait till morning, but I should be obliged if you would let Jenny know that I have been here.”

“I shall be very glad to do so.”

“We have been practically two nights without sleep,” saidRex, “and now I know that the girls are well, I feel that I have only to find room enough to lie down somewhere, and I shall be off to sleep almost before my head touches the ground.”

“I cannot ask you to stop here, Mr. Bateman, for our regulations are very strict.”

“Thank you! I was not thinking of that, and indeed I should much prefer the open air.”

He joined Ah Lo again, and, lying down on the ground close to the entrance of the hospital, he fell asleep almost immediately.

Although the Japanese had done by far the heaviest fighting and suffered the greatest loss, the other allies had in some cases had serious fighting. The Russian attack, although it had been made in defiance of the agreement entered into, that no advance whatever should be made against the city until all the allies had arrived at the positions assigned to them, was a gallant affair, and to a certain extent an accident. Their reconnoitring party, consisting of four hundred infantry and three guns, had pushed forward, meeting with no signs of the enemy until, to their surprise, they found themselves close up to the outer walls, at the angle where the walls of the Chinese and Tartar cities join. It was pitch dark when they arrived, and with a sudden rush they disposed of the Chinese guard on duty on the bridge immediately outside the Tung Pien gate, and then blew a hole in the gate itself with their guns. They then mounted on the Tartar Wall.

Up to this time the opposition they had encountered had been very slight, which may be accounted for by the fact that the Chinese were so briskly engaged at the time in an attack upon the Legations that the proceedings of the Russians had really been unnoticed. About this time,however, the moon rose, bringing into relief the Russians moving on the wall. Immediately a desperate fire was opened upon them. Nearly all the horses with the guns were at once killed, and the infantry, taking their places, dragged the guns back to shelter, near the point where they had entered the city. Urgent demands for reinforcements were then sent to the main body of the Russian force. The refusal of the Japanese to take part in the affair, on the ground that it was the result of a breach of the arrangement arrived at by the allied commanders, paralyzed the action of the Russian general, and it was not until ten oʼclock on the following morning that reinforcements arrived.

In the meantime the detachment had been exposed to a continuous and heavy fire, and had been obliged to sally out to defeat a force which advanced with the intention of taking them in rear. The attack, although made contrary to the agreement, was of great advantage to the Legations, for a furious onslaught had been made upon them with the evident intention of destroying them before the allies attacked the city, and therefore releasing the whole of the Chinese force for the purposes of defence. As soon, however, as the Chinese learned that the Russians had entered the gate, a considerable portion of the force round the Legation was withdrawn to oppose their advance, and from that moment the fury of the assault abated considerably.

The British had met with but slight resistance. Their main body had left Tung–Chow at two oʼclock on the morning of the fourteenth. When within a mile of the southeast gate, they bombarded a village and drove the enemy holding it into the town, and then advancing they entered the Chinese city, and pushed on until they reached the Chien gate of the Tartar Wall. Here they were welcomed by the allied troops holding the wall near the gate.

They could not, however, let them in, and for a short time the British force were exposed to a galling fire from the Chinese city and from other parts of the wall. The British, however, knew of the water gate which opens into the canal, running up between the Russian and British Legations and the Fu, having received news that it was likely to be unguarded, by a messenger sent out by Sir Claude Macdonald. General Gaselee, therefore, taking with him the 7th Rajputs and a party of the 1st Sikhs, made a dash for this gate, and got through without much trouble.

The Chinese, never dreaming that an attack would be made on that side of the city, had not placed a strong force there, and as soon as General Gaselee had entered by the water gate, a party of Americans and Russians was able without much difficulty to seize the Chien Mên, and so admit the main body of the British force, who were waiting there to enter.

The loss sustained altogether by the allies was small in comparison with what might have been anticipated in capturing a town very strongly fortified and defended by a garrison of courageous men. The Japanese lost about two hundred killed and wounded, the Russians a hundred and twenty–eight killed and wounded, the Americans, who with the French entered the city immediately after the Russians, twenty–four killed and wounded, while the British had but half a dozen casualties.

Rex slept soundly for three hours, and was then aroused by the din going on around him. When he started up he found that, in addition to the crowd who had occupied the place during the siege, numbers of soldiers—Sikhs, Rajputs, and Welsh Fusiliers, Royal Marine Infantry, and sailors, were moving about. Scattered among them were a few men of other nationalities who had missed their columns during the night and had straggled in. Officers and men alike wereendeavouring, with the scanty amount of water at their disposal, to get rid of the dust gathered during the two preceding days. All were talking and laughing in the highest glee at the satisfactory conclusion of their work. Most of them, like Rex, had slept on the ground, for it was impossible to find quarters in the already crowded houses.

Giving himself a shake as a substitute for a wash he went across to the hospital. One of the nurses came to the door.

“You are too early, Mr. Bateman,” she said. “Your cousins did not go to bed till half–past two, and we cannot think of waking them till eight. Fortunately not many wounded were brought in with the troops, and almost all our patients have benefited so greatly by the arrival of our friends that we are likely to have a quiet day of it. We did not tell your eldest cousin last night; we thought it best not to do so. They heard, of course, that you did not come in with the British, but one of the officers whom we questioned about it said that you were with the Japs, and would no doubt arrive with them. Your own arrival was the first intimation we had that the Japs had come in, so it was much better to let your cousin go quietly to sleep. Had she known that you were here she would have been wanting to see you, and to hear all about your doings.”

“Thank you!” said Rex; “it was much the best way. I should not have thought of coming in last night, but I feared that they would be uneasy when they found that I did not arrive with the British. Of course on the way up I spoke to several of the officers who had been with Seymourʼs expedition, but the chances are that none of them would come your way. Well, I will go to my friends at the college.”

He was received quite joyously by the young men he knew, and as he had only eaten a biscuit on the previous day, some cold food was at once placed before him.

“We have been out of meat for some time,” said Sandwich; “only about half a dozen mules are left alive, and they are so desperately thin that it would be useless to kill them; one might as well try to make soup out of a clothes–horse. Here, however, is bread and rice and some jam. During the amnesty we managed to buy a good many things, and among them six pots of jam. This is the last pot, so you see we are treating you royally.”

“Rice and jam are not to be despised, only I hope there is enough rice. I should be sorry to place any limit to the powers of my appetite just at present.”

“Well, you can eat as much as you like, but eat quickly, for we want to know about everything. We have only heard that there was very little fighting on the way up, and that the Japs did the principal part of it.”

“Yes, and I was fortunate enough to see it all, for I came up as interpreter to their head–quarter staff. I can tell you in very few words about our march up here; the principal event was the fighting yesterday. But I must finish eating before I begin talking about that.”

After he had made a good meal Rex gave them a full account of the storming of the gate by the Japanese. When he finished, Sandwich said: “Now, tell us how it is that they have been such a tremendous time in relieving us, and also what has happened at Tientsin.”

“The first question is easy enough to answer. All the generals made up their minds that the Legations had been captured and the whole lot of you massacred, and it was not until a despatch came down from Conger about ten days before we started, that they really woke up in earnest. But nothing had worked smoothly since the day when they came up to relieve Tientsin. We and the Japs and the Americans got on capitally together, but the others were always raisingdifficulties, especially the Russians. The general opinion among us was that they were playing a double game.”

“In what way, Bateman?”

“Well, that I really cannot tell you. Certainly their generals altogether opposed the march up, and it was only when Gaselee and Chaffee declared that they would go alone, if none of the others would accompany them, that the Russians had to give way. It was generally believed that they wanted in some way to pose as friends of China, and on the strength of that to get concessions and that sort of thing, and especially to obtain from China the concession of the whole of Manchuria. I have no doubt they will try on that game now, when things settle down again, unless the other Powers back up China.”

“It is a rum state of things altogether,” Sandwich said.

“Well, tell us all about Tientsin.”

“To begin with, then, Tientsin and the settlements have to a large extent ceased to exist.”

“What? Was the fighting so severe as that? We have heard nothing whatever about it.”

“Yes, it was very severe. As far as actual fighting went, you were not in it here at all. For eight or nine days we were bombarded by any number of guns. The French settlement, which was nearest to the enemy, may be said to have been completely destroyed, the cathedral and mission–houses burned, and the rest of the houses practically knocked to pieces. Our quarters were pounded pretty heavily, but not to the same extent. We were exposed to a continuous fire from the ruins of the Chinese college on the other side of the river, and from all the houses that remained on that side. Of course we had barricades erected at the ends of all the streets, but nevertheless it was not altogether pleasant to walk about in the showers of bullets and shot and shell whichcame practically from all directions. The hottest fighting was at the railway–station, where it went on night and day.

“Well, when large reinforcements came up, we took the offensive. The Russians and French did not do much, but the Japs, the Americans, and our fellows had some very hard work. At the end of the first day things looked pretty bad. We were established in the suburb outside the town, but farther than that we could not get, and indeed there was some question whether we should not fall back after dark. This, however, was negatived, but that it should have been even proposed showed that we were really in a tight place. Fortunately, during the night the same question was discussed by the Chinese, and they concluded that as it was evident that we did not intend to go they had better do so, and the greater portion of them accordingly marched away. In the morning we carried the gate between us, the Japs doing most of the fighting, and as soon as we were in, the Chinese bolted like sheep.

“We found that our artillery fire had been most destructive in the town, and that a large portion of the place was in ruins. This, however, was principally the work of the Chinese themselves, who, during the first stage of the affair, acted like madmen. No one knows how many of the people suspected of being friendly to us were massacred; some put it at tens of thousands. At any rate, it was a great many thousands, and the river was literally full of corpses. Besides killing these people they sacked and set fire to their houses, and this way an enormous amount of damage was done.

“The allies, it must be confessed, did a lot of looting. The Japs, all agreed, behaved best; we and the Americans very fairly; but the Russians, who had done practically nothing towards the taking of the town, acted in a most brutal way. Moreover, they actually wanted one of their number appointedgovernor. Fortunately, the other Powers would not agree to this, and in the end a commission of three—a Russian, a Jap, and an Englishman—were appointed to manage things. A lot of the Chinese were enlisted as policemen, and in a day or two the place, which was littered with dead, was got into some sort of order. If this had not been done, there certainly would have been a pestilence.”

“But what about Seymourʼs force?”

“They had to fight their way back, and were getting into great straits for provisions, when, luckily enough, by a sudden attack, they captured the arsenal of Hsi–Ku, five miles north of the native town. Here they found a tremendous quantity of weapons and stores, and a big supply of rice, and although the Chinese tried to recapture the place, they were able to hold it without much difficulty until, when the reinforcements came up from the sea, a strong body went out and relieved them. They could hardly have fought their way down without aid, for they had some hundreds of wounded, and a large number of the fighting–men would have been required to carry them.”

“And how about the capture of the Taku Forts?”

“Well, I will tell you all about that later. Of course, I did not see that; we were cut off from the sea for some days.”

“And what were you doing all that time?”

“I joined the volunteers—every able–bodied man did so—and helped in beating off several attacks on the barrier. I also had a part in some of the fighting at the railway–station, which was about the hottest thing in the whole affair; indeed, we were only saved by the fortunate arrival of a party of Sikhs who came out to take the place of the garrison, and even with their aid it was a close thing, for the Boxers fought with the greatest pluck, and even crossed bayonets with us.

“But there, I have given you now a rough account of itall; details will follow later. Here is your breakfast coming in. I want to take a turn round and see how matters stood up to the time when we arrived, and after that I am going to see my cousins. I was going to say I suppose you will be all off duty now, but I hear that the firing has broken out again. That shows that although we have got in, the Chinese have not got out, and may give us more trouble before we have done with them. By the way, what has become of the Empress?”

“She bolted three days ago when she heard, I fancy, that you had taken Tung–Chow. I donʼt know whether it would be wise to send a force in pursuit of her, considering that the town is still full of Chinese troops and that there is so much to be done here. Besides, though she has a tremendous train of baggage with her, it would take some daysʼ march for infantry to catch her, and it would be a risky thing for our small force of cavalry to go alone, as of course she has taken a considerable body of troops with her.”

“Yes, I donʼt think they will pursue her,” Rex said. “There must be someone for us to treat with, and if we were to take her prisoner it is pretty certain that, directly we had gone, she would repudiate any treaty she might make, on the ground that it was obtained from her by force. The Chinese never hold to treaties, and this would afford them so excellent an excuse for breaking one that the agreement would hardly be worth the paper it was written on.”

“Well, I shall come back about ten oʼclock, and then, before I give you any details of what I have seen, I shall expect you to give me a full account of all that has taken place here since I went away.”

Rex now went to the hospital again. A nurse went to inform the girls of his arrival, and almost immediately they came flying out.

“We are glad to see you again, Rex,” Jenny said; “we have been in dreadful anxiety about you. When you went away we had no idea that it would be so dreadfully long before you came back.”

“I did not think it would be myself,” he said, “but it has certainly not been my fault that I did not get back sooner. I can assure you that I have been quite as anxious about you as you can have been about me.”

“We were so dreadfully disappointed yesterday when the troops came in, to find that you were not with them. We asked a good many officers, but only one knew anything about you, and he said that you were with the Japanese.”

“Yes, that was so. It would have been very difficult for me to get leave to come with my own people, but the Japanese were glad of an extra interpreter. Now, how have you been all the time?”

“We have been very well on the whole. Of course we are both thinner, for recently rations have had to be reduced very much; we have had no meat for the past fortnight, and not a great deal of anything else. At the same time we have been kept very busy, for the number of wounded has been large; but we were very glad to be fully employed, for it was much better to be working here than to have nothing to do but make bags to hold earth and sand.”

“I can quite understand that. The students were telling me that it was terribly tedious when they had nothing to do. Certainly they were called out to aid the guard at the barriers, when these were heavily attacked, but often two or three days passed without their being summoned.”

“And how are Uncle and Aunt, Rex?” asked Jenny.

“They are both well. They have been besieged just as you were here, and there was very hard fighting. The settlement indeed was very much knocked about, but fortunately,in spite of the severe shelling, hardly any lives were lost.

“We can come out with you now for an hour,” said Jenny, “and then you can tell us all about it, and what prevented the army from coming up to help us.”

The girls put on their hats and the three sallied forth. As they walked about, Rex gave them a graphic account of the fighting at Tientsin.

“And has Ah Lo come up with you, Rex?”

“Certainly he has. I should as soon have thought of coming without a hat as without him. He is a splendid fellow, and I have got so accustomed to his company that I really donʼt know what I should do without him.”

“It is time for us to go back,” Jenny said at last. “We shall be off duty this afternoon at three, and to–morrow or next day we shall leave the hospital, for most of the wounded are convalescent, and unless there is tough fighting the hospital will empty fast, especially now that we can get fresh fruit and meat and other things for the patients.”

Rex returned to the room occupied by the students, and there he found Sandwich waiting for him.

“I am feeling like a fish out of water, Bateman,” his friend said. “After being in readiness for the past two months to snatch up our rifles at any moment and run out to repel an attack, it seems strange indeed that we can ramble about without any fixed duty, and that our military work is over. Now, then, I will give you an account of what has happened here since you left. I have kept a journal ever since the siege began, so that I can tell you how everything was done in its right order.

“Nothing came of the letters sent in by Prince Ching. It was soon evident that the war party were supreme again, and the fighting went on as usual. One prisoner, who was takenthe day after you left, said that the Empress had issued an edict explaining that the firing of large guns was a dangerous practice and liable to do much mischief, and she therefore ordered the troops to confine themselves to the use of rifles only. There can be no doubt that this curious edict was issued, and it was supposed to have been the result of representations by the inhabitants of the damage inflicted by their gun fire. No doubt this was very extensive, for their fire was always high and every shot that flew over the Legations must have fallen in the city and inflicted damage there. At any rate there was much less firing afterwards, and although the shells did not inflict any very great damage here, it was a relief to be free of them. The gun, however, that was being worked against the defenders of the Fu, distant only about fifty yards, continued to do great damage, and one night the attack of the Chinese was so fierce that the Italian guard posted between the British and Japanese retired, and had the Chinese taken advantage of the movement both the Japs and ourselves would have been cut off and the Fu altogether lost.

“Next day the attack was renewed with great vigour, both on the defenders of the Fu and on the French Legation. At the latter place two explosions took place, the enemy having driven mines under it. The French were forced to retire from the main building, but held entrenchments that they had prepared behind it. At the same time the Chinese made a desperate attempt to force their way into the German Legation. They did actually break into the club and set it on fire, but were driven back at the point of the bayonet. The fire, however, spread, and there was great danger that the defence would be forced. The alarm–bell was rung here, the gates were shut, and everyone stood at his post. The attack was maintained with fury till eight in the evening, then it graduallyceased, and when the enemy retired they left the French and Germans still holding the remains of their Legations. All night the French Legation continued to burn, and the coolies in the Fu worked unceasingly to extinguish the flames.

“The next day letters were received from Ching urging that the Europeans should all leave the Legations and go to the yamen. The proposition was so absurd that a refusal, of course in polite terms, was sent, as even had the Europeans been inclined to trust themselves to the mercy of the Chinese, they would have been obliged to abandon the native Christians under their protection.

“On the sixteenth another communication arrived from Ching. The night passed quietly. In the morning two Chinese presented themselves at the German Legation. Both said they had come to enquire what we meant to do, and to ask if the Foreign Chinese Secretary would go out to discuss matters with the generals. They explained that orders had come to cease firing on the Legations, and the bugler said that General Nieh had been defeated between Taku and Tientsin and had committed suicide.

“An answer was sent that we did not propose to fire without cause, but that we could not allow the Chinese to continue to build barricades, as they had been doing ever since the first message from Prince Ching reached us. While these letters were being exchanged, Chinese soldiers kept coming up to the barricade unarmed and professing friendship. A French volunteer was foolish enough to get over a barricade and go out. He had better luck than he deserved, for he was taken to Jung Luʼs head–quarters, where he was well treated. He was closely questioned as to the state of things in the Legation, and said, in reply, that we were having a first–rate time, enjoying ourselves greatly, and wanted nothing but freshfruit. The Chinese thereupon gave him some melons and peaches and sent him back.

“Now I think I must stop for ten minutes and wet my whistle. I have not had as much experience as you in relating adventures, and I find this continuous talking somewhat trying.”

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