sed, and, tugging hard, pulled it out of Barton's hands.
This capture, trivial though it was, filled the Boxers with enthusiasm.
With fierce shouts they rushed at the gates and attacked them with
hatchets. But, as the gates were of iron, and had been made and fixed
with the intention of resisting such assaults, their efforts were in
vain. Soon they recognised that they were wasting their strength, and,
at a signal from their leader, they turned away and ran to seek shelter.
Soon there was not a living Boxer visible to the missionaries and their
friends.

They had had enough fighting for one day, and did not again expose
themselves. The besieged party took the opportunity to strengthen their
defences and make other preparations for a long siege.

'I hope,' Barton said, in answer to a question from Charlie, 'that we
shall be relieved within a week from to-day, as the missionaries who had
to seek shelter here sent trustworthy messengers to Peking and
Wei-hai-wei with letters to the British officials, telling them of their
sufferings and whither they were bound; and the day before you arrived I
sent off two messengers with notes for the captain of any British
warship they could find, stating that we were besieged.'

About ten o'clock on the following morning the Boxers renewed their
attack, but in a manner which the defenders had not expected. Instead of
rushing into the open, as they had done before, they fired from the
houses facing the mission building.

'Get the women and children into the basement at once,' Barton shouted
to one of his colleagues, for some of the Boxers were firing from the
roofs of the houses into the mission enclosure.

'The Boxers take good care to keep under cover,' Charlie remarked.
'Evidently we have taught them to respect us.'

'They won't remain concealed for many hours,' said Ping Wang. 'When they
get excited they will make another attack on the gate.'

His words came true. For nearly one hour the Boxers continued to fire
upon the missionaries' house, doing severe damage to it. Their success
elated them, and the fact that the besieged did not reply to the attack
probably made them believe that they had used up all their ammunition.
At any rate, they suddenly rushed out of the houses and made for the
mission gate, waving flags and shouting wildly. Fred and Barton, at some
newly-made loop-holes, and Charlie, Mr. Wilkins, and Ping Wang at their
former positions, fired rapidly at the advanc