The next morning there was a serious alarm. The Italians and Austrians fell back suddenly under a strong and violent attack, and had the Chinese pressed their advantage the Fu must have fallen and the British Legation have been laid open to attack on that side. Fortunately, on a previous occasion the Japanese had made a sham retreat, and, having induced the enemy to follow them, had then inflicted heavy loss upon them. Fearing a renewal of this strategy the Chinese fell back, and the Italian commander was able to rally his forces and reoccupy the abandoned position. The result showed, however, that the Italians could not be trusted to hold their ground without support, and consequently a small body of British marines were added to the garrison, an event that caused almost as much excitement as the return of a native messenger sent out in the morning by Mr. Squiers of the United States Legation.
This man reported that he had gone out by one gate and had come in by another. He said there were no soldiers in the Chinese city, that business was being carried on as usual inside the Chien Mên, the gate by which Rex had entered the city. To prove his statement he brought in with him a couple of chickens and a few peaches. He also reported that the Emperor and Empress were still in the city, and that the French and native converts still held out at the North Cathedral.
While discussing the matter afterwards Rex said to Sandwich: “The report quite bears out what I have said; there is no difficulty in going out of or getting into the city from the north side.”
“That seems to be so, but that does not show that it is at all easy to enter the Forbidden City, still less to reach the Empress. The question is: Where is Prince Ching? It seems to me that he is the chap that we want to get hold of.”
“It is certain that he disapproves altogether of the proceedings of the Empress and Prince Tung, and the sounds of firing which we have heard several times in the city can only be accounted for by the supposition that his troops are fighting Tungʼs. Of course Ching lives somewhere in the Imperial City, and as the Northern Cathedral stands in that part, there must be some way of getting in.”
“You are not thinking of carrying him off, are you?”
“No, I should like to carry Tung off, so that we could stick him up in some prominent position and send him word that we should cut his head off if the troops attacking us did not withdraw. No, I had no intention of doing any carrying–off, but I was thinking that it would be possible to take out a message to Ching of a friendly character, of course from Sir Claude.”
“That is not quite such an impossible business,” Sandwich admitted, “though the betting would be a hundred to one against your being able to see him.”
“Well, of course, it would be difficult, but one could not say how difficult till one tried. Nevertheless, as that messenger went out this morning and came in again, it is evident that things are going on pretty well as usual in the town, except round here, and that people walk about without being questioned or interfered with.”