day duty now and very easy work at night. One
can have a good sleep now, but even this seems strange and out of
place.

XIX

THE FIRST REAL NEWS

28th July, 1900.

* * * * *

Something has again happened, something of the highest importance. A
courier from Tientsin has arrived at last--a courier who slipped into
our lines, delivered his quill of a message which had been rolled up
and plaited into his hair for many days, and is now sitting and
fanning himself--a thin slip of a native boy, who has travelled all
the way down that long Tientsin road and all the way back again for a
very small earthly reward. A curious figure this messenger bringing
news from the outside world made as he sat calmly fanning himself with
the stoicism of his race. Nobody hurried him or questioned him much
after he had delivered his paper; he was left to rest himself, and
when he was cool he began to speak. I wish you could have heard him;
it seemed to me at once a message and a sermon--a sermon for those who
are so afraid. The little pictures this boy dropped out in jerks
showed us that there were worse terrors than being sealed in by
brickwork. He had been twenty-four days travelling up and down the
eighty miles of the Tientsin road, and four times he had been caught,
beaten, and threatened with death. Everywhere there were marauding
bands of Boxers; every village was hung with red cloth and pasted with
Boxer legends; and each time he had been captured he had been cruelly
beaten, because he had no excuse. Once he was tied up and made to work
for days at a village inn. Then he escaped at night, and went on
quickly, travelling by night across the fields. Somehow, by stealing
food, he finally reached Tientsin. The native city was full of Chinese
troops and armed Boxers; beyond were the Europeans. There was nothing
but fighting and disorder and a firing of big guns. By moving slowly
he had broken into the country again, and gained an outpost of
European troops, who captured him and took him into the camps. Then he
had delivered his message, and received the one he had brought back.
That is all; it had taken twenty-four days. This he repeated many
times, for everybody came and wished to hear. It was plain that many
felt secretly ashamed, and wished that there would be time to redeem
their reputations. There would be that!

For about then some one came out from headquarters and posted the
translation