, he is
doing everything that he should do. Already I honour this little man;
soon I feel I shall be his slave.

But not only is there order within these Japanese lines; attempts are
being made to find out what is going on beyond--that is, to discover
what is being done in this deserted corner of the city, which is
abandoned to the European. Although all is quiet without, it is not
possible that everyone has fled, because some rifle-firing is going
on.... When I arrived the Japanese had already discovered that a
Chinese camp had been quietly established less than a quarter of a
mile away. Half an hour afterwards a breathless Japanese sailor
brought in a report that snipers had been seen stealthily approaching.
I was just in the nick of time, as Colonel S---- immediately decided on
a reconnaissance in force; any one who liked could go. Would I go?

We slipped out under command of the colonel himself and worked through
tortuous lanes down towards the abandoned Customs Inspectorate and the
Austrian Legation. We reached the rear of the Customs compounds
without a sound being heard or a living thing seen. All along hundreds
of yards of twisting alleyways the native houses stood empty and
silent, abandoned by their owners just as they are. Even the Peking
dog, a cur of great ferocity, who in peaceful times abounds everywhere
and is the terror of our riding-parties, had fled, as if driven away
by the fear of the coming storm. In the distance, as we stealthily
moved, we could hear an occasional rattle of musketry, probably
directed against the French Legation and the Italian barricade, where
it has been going on for twenty-four hours; but so isolated is one
street in Peking from the rest by the high walls of the numberless
compounds and the thick trees which intercept all sounds that we could
be certain of nothing. Perhaps the firing was not even the enemy at
work, whoever he may be; it might be our men....

But directly in front of us all was still, and just as we thought of
stealing on, a Japanese whispered "Hush," and pointed a warning
finger. We flattened ourselves against houses and scurried into open
doors. Suddenly it was getting exciting. Down another lane then came a
noisy sound of feet, incautiously pattering on the hard ground to the
accompaniment of some raucous talk. It is the very devil in this
network of lanes and blind alleys which twist round the Legations, and
no force could properly patrol them....

With