only forty miles from Peking, but why he does not advance, why there
is this intolerable delay, we do not know. The Peking Government is
still decreeing and counter-decreeing night and day according to the
Government Gazettes. The Ministers of our eleven Legations are meeting
one another almost hourly, and are eternally discussing, but are doing
nothing else. We have blocked our roads with barricades and provided
our servants and dependents with passes written in English, French,
German, Italian, Russian and Chinese--so that everyone can
understand. We are now sick of such a multitude of languages and wish
all the world spoken Volapuk.

Thus with our rescued native Christians, our few butchered Boxers, our
score and more of fires lighting the whole of the horizon, here in the
middle of the night of the 16th of June we are no further forward in
our political situation than we were two and a half weeks ago, when
our Legation Guards arrived, and we esteemed ourselves so secure. Two
and a half weeks ago! It seems at least two and a half months; but
that is merely the direct fault of having to live nearly twice the
proper number of hours in twenty-four.

XIII

A FEW CRUMBS

18th June, 1900.

* * * * *

It has just transpired that Hsu Tung, an infamous Manchu high
official, who has been the Emperor's tutor, and whose house is
actually on Legation Street some fifty yards inside the lines of the
Italian Legation, has been allowed to pass out of our barricaded
quarter, going quite openly in his blue and red official chair. This
is a terrible mistake which we may pay for dearly.

Hsu Tung is a scoundrel who is at least thorough in his convictions as
far as we are concerned. It is he who has long been boasting--and all
Peking has been repeating his boast--that in the near future he is
going to line his sedan chair with the hides of foreign devils and
fill his harem with their women; and it is he, above all other men,
who should have been seized by us, held as hostage, and shot out of
hand the very moment the Chinese Government gives its open official
sanction to this insane Boxer policy. Had we acted in this way and
taken charge of a number of other high officials who live just around
us, we might have shown the trembling government that a day of
retribution is certain to come. And yet listen what happened. Either
on the 15th or 16th Hsu Tung sent the majordomo of his household
cr