y at the
Chinese barriers with insane cries. No effort could be made to save
him, because hundreds of Chinese riflemen were merely waiting for an
opportunity to pick off our men. So the doomed Russian reached the
first Chinese barricade unmolested, put a leg over, and then fell back
with a terrible cry as a dozen rifles were emptied into his body. By
a miracle he picked himself up even in his dying condition, and made
another frantic effort to climb the obstacle. But more rifles were
then discharged, and finally the wretched man fell back quite
lifeless. Then over his body a fierce duel took place. Chinese
commanders having placed a price on European heads, these riflemen
were determined not to lose their reward. Man after man attempted to
drag in that dead body; but each time our men were too quick for them,
and a Chinese brave rolled over. In the end they hooked the corpse in
with long poles and it was seen no more.

A yet more blood-curdling case is that of a British marine, who has
been hopelessly mad for weeks now. He shot and bayonetted a man in the
early part of the siege, and the details must have horrified him. They
say he first drove his bayonet in right up to the hilt through a
soldier's chest; and then, without withdrawing, emptied the whole of
the contents of his magazine into his victim, muttering all the time.
Now he lies repeating hour after hour, "How it splashes! how it
splashes!" and at night he shrieks and cries.... In that miserable
Chancery hospital, swept by rifle-fire and full of such cries and
groans, the nights have become dreaded, until it is a wonder the
wounded still live....

Still, with all this, the Yamen messengers continue to come and go
with clockwork regularity. Yesterday the Chinese Government excelled
itself, and made some who have still a sense of humour left laugh
cynically. In an original official despatch--that is, not a mere
covering despatch--it politely informed the Italian _Charge
d'Affaires_ that King Humbert had been assassinated by a lunatic, and
it begged to convey the news with its most profound condolences!
Perhaps, however, there was a wish to point a moral--a subtle moral
such as Chinese scholars love. Yes, on second thoughts that was rather
a clever despatch; in diplomacy the Chinese have nothing to learn....

XXV

THE PLOT AGAIN THICKENS

8th August, 1900.

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Some strange deity is helping the Chinese Governm