in
such an agony of doubt. Hurrying homeward in the same direction, we
now met bands of our siege converts in groups of forty and fifty
strong. These men, who had come so near to starving during the siege,
were having their own revenge. They had sallied forth with such arms
as they could lay their hands on, and had been plundering all day
within easy reach of the Legations. They had done what they could, and
had gathered every manner of thing in which they stood most in need.
Each man had immense bundles tied to his back--it was the revenge for
all they had suffered. They had given no quarter either, and before
many more hours had gone by they would have made up for those long
weeks.... We soon left these groups behind, and with the whole
cavalcade now going at a hand-gallop, it dawned on our companions and
beasts which we had so curiously gathered during the day that we were
nearing our destination.

But here the roadway was absolutely deserted, and in the dusk I
realised that had we been farther from home we would almost certainly
be ambuscaded by some of the many ruffians Boxerism had unloosed on
the city. Here was a sort of neutral belt. At every turning I half
expected a volley to greet us; at every door-creak I thought there
would be some rush of armed men which would have been impossible for
us to meet without losing half the convoy. Yet these fancies were not
justified, for to my immense surprise, at a cross-road I saw numbers
of women in their curious Manchu head-dress standing at a big gateway,
all dressed in their best clothes. As we passed they caught sight of
me, and, nothing abashed, began immediately calling to me and waving
with their arms. This was extraordinary and unlocked for. At first I
thought that they were only courtesans, who had been deprived for so
long of all custom that they had been rendered desperate, and were
seeking to inveigle me _faute de mieux_; but remembering that such
women are confined to the outer city, I reined in my mount, halted
the whole caravan, and went slowly towards them, half fearing, I
confess, some ruse. Yet the women greeted me with fresh cries and
words. There were a full dozen of them of the best class, and they
explained to me that they had been left, absolutely abandoned, two
nights before by all the men of the household, who, fearing the worst
and hearing that the way out through the north of the city was still
open, had seized all the draft and riding animals