eaded. This caused some consternation among the rebels, as the death
of the girl was looked upon as an omen of direct misfortune.

For a very long time she had been going around the country dropping
beans into the ground outside any houses she came across, the
superstition being that wherever a bean was dropped there in the very
spot, perhaps at the very moment, for aught that we know, an invincible
warrior would spring up. She had dropped some millions of beans, but the
ranks were not swelled as a consequence.

The _ch'en-tai_ had also been out all night, and as men were captured so
they were beheaded on the spot without mercy and their heads
subsequently hung outside the city gates. The headman of a small
village--some forty li from the city--succeeded in capturing one of the
leaders, and great credit was due to him; but soon the leader was
rescued again by his followers, who then brutally killed and mutilated
the body of the headman, causing him to undergo the ignominy of having
his tongue and his heart cut out. Fighting was going on everywhere, and
by the end of March things were at their height. The fact that rain was
badly needed tended only to aggravate the situation, and that lustrous
comet made things worse. Day by day miserable processions brought the
wounded into the city, and the last day of the month, taken by sudden
fright and almost getting out of hand, the panic-stricken people raised
the cry that the rebels were marching direct for the city gates. Through
the capital tactics adopted by the mandarins, however, this was
prevented; but, on the following day, the chapel belonging to the United
Methodist Mission at an out-station was burnt to the ground and the
houses of the people razed and looted. The caretaker, a faithful Hua
Miao convert, was taken, stripped of his clothing, and threatened with
an awful death if he did not betray the foreigners. He refused manfully
to divulge any information whatsoever, and was on the point of being
sacrificed, when the _ch'en-tai_ came unexpectedly upon the scene with
his military. He released the Miao, captured thirty-six rebels, killed
sixteen more where they stood, and carried away many of their horses and
the dreaded Boxer flag around which the men rallied.

And now comes the smartest thing I heard of throughout the rebellion.

A man named Li was the most dreaded of the trio of rebel chiefs, a man
of marvelous strength, and who seemed to be able to fascinate his m