By this time both the American and French soldiers were ranging along the Pei-Ho, and the scattering of the Boxers brought on their doom. One detachment fell into the hands of the Frenchmen, and were killed almost to a man; while the other—by far the larger detachment—ran into the arms of the other companies of Major Morris’s battalion. A fierce rough-and-tumble fight ensued, the most of it on the American side falling to Company C; and then the Boxers leaped into the stream to swim for the other shore. At least twenty were laid low on land, and as many more killed or wounded in the water.
It was soon learned that the lighter had started from Tien-Tsin on the evening of the day before, in the midst of the heavy downpour of rain. It carried twenty-eight people, mostly English and German, although there was one American and his wife and little girl.
“The bombardment at Tien-Tsin is something awful,” said the American, whose name was Margoss. “At first the Chinese couldn’t get our range; but now they have it, and they pour shot and shell into almost any place they select. My partner in business, Mr. Mackley, was sitting on the front porch of his residence when a shot struck the top of the porch, killing him instantly. Most of the stores are in ruins, and the people have all they can do to keep the fires that start from spreading.”
“What are our soldiers doing?”
“I know nothing of any but the marines under Captain McCalla, and they can do but little outside of holding their own. Some of the sharpshooters are out every day, picking off every pig-tail who shows himself. But that is only a drop in the bucket; for the government troops of China have united with the Boxers, and combined they number thousands to our hundreds. If the Chinks could fight as the foreign troops fight, we should be wiped out in no time.”
“The barbarities are something dreadful,” put in Mrs. Margoss. “The Chinese are very brutal, literally hacking women and children to death; and this has so angered some of the Japanese and Russians that they can’t be held in check, and consequently they are taking no prisoners, but putting all the enemy to the sword or bayonet. In some cases women and children are treated like the men, for the Japanese and Russians say they are not to be trusted.”
This version of affairs was corroborated by all the others in the boat. The refugees were very bitter, for many of them had lost everything but the clothes on their backs. Two in the craft had been wounded, and two had leaped overboard and disappeared.
A consultation was held; and it was decided that the lighter should be used to ferry the American and French soldiers over the river, that they might have more of a chance to get into Tien-Tsin. On a pinch the craft could carry several hundred men, so it did not take long to complete the movement. This done, the lighter was again turned over to the refugees. With the latter went all the Americans and French who had been wounded, under an escort of eight Frenchmen,—clever shots, who could do a good deal in the way of protection if the lighter got into another tight corner.
By the time the battalion was ready to continue its march toward Tien-Tsin it was broad daylight. As the soldiers came closer to the foreign quarter of the city, they kept closer together; and a vidette was sent ahead, that they might not fall into a trap.
The evidences of a bombardment were now to be seen on every hand. The Pei-Ho was full of the dead bodies of Boxers, some washed up on the shore by the tide and others floating aimlessly hither and thither. Here and there a savage “chow” (Chinese wolf dog) was feeding on the corpses. Where the road was not torn up, it was strewn with household effects, soldier equipments, and the like. At one point there was a hasty breastworks built of a pile of salt.