Rex himself had only had to fight on two or three occasions, for the barriers were all held by the marines and guards of the various Legations, while the civilians, although formed into corps, and ready in case of attack to rush to any threatened point, had so far not been called upon for service. At night, however, they took turns to keep watch at exposed positions, and during the day worked at whatever might be most required. The students were formed into a corps by themselves, and Rex acted with them. They occupied a crowded quarter, but were full of life and spirit, made light of their work, and at night formed quite a merry party.
“I am afraid you are very hard worked, Rex,” Jenny said one day.
“Not a bit of it,” he replied. “My hands were very much blistered the first two or three days, but they have got hard now, and my back has quite forgotten how to ache. As far as I am concerned I quite enjoy it, and I could not be living among a better set of fellows.”
“I suppose you will get harder work shortly, but up to the present time there have been very few casualties.”
“It is quite certain now that we have regular troops fighting against us; that is shown by their new method of attack. Instead of making an onset on one point at a time, they now assail us from all points simultaneously. The fires all took place on the same day, and that tremendous bombardment two nights ago began all round at the same moment. That canʼt be the work of the Boxers.”
“Then it will be more serious?”
“No, I donʼt know that it will be much more serious, except that no doubt they will bring up their cannon and plant them closer than they are now. But this development shows that Prince Tungʼs party has not got the entire control over the Empress. A proclamation has been stuck up at the tower to–day appointing several Chinese generals to the command of the Boxers. It is certain now that we have got to depend entirely upon ourselves. It is also certain that Seymour has either been annihilated or obliged to fall back. I consider it absurd to calculate that, now that the Taku Forts have fallen, an army will come up from the coast and arrive here in a few days. After the now certain failure of Seymourʼs expedition it is evident that a much stronger column must be employed, and such a force can hardly have been gathered yet. Then the railway, which has no doubt been destroyed between Tientsin and the sea, will have to be repaired. As we know that the cathedral at that place has been burnt, there can be no doubt that the settlement has been besieged. The Boxers there are probably in great force, and these will have to be cleared out before any attempt can be made to relieve us. I certainly should not say so to anyone else, but my own opinion is that we shall be lucky if we see the head of the relieving party before another month.”
“A month! You donʼt mean to say that! Why, we shall all be starved out long before that!”
“It is wonderful how one can hold on if necessary,” Rex said. “No doubt we shall be put upon half–allowance, and the number of mouths to be fed is tremendous, but we still keep on discovering stores in the houses and shops within the line, and these have never been methodically searched yet. We have also got the ponies to eat. Fortunately the native Christians are not accustomed to a meat diet, so the ponies will last the Europeans a good long time. I donʼt know whether there are any rats in the Legations,” he said with a laugh. “According to the accounts of most sieges, when the garrison were reduced to an extremity they always seem to have maintained themselves on rats. I dare say they are not bad eating if one is driven to it.”
“I havenʼt seen any rats,” Jenny said with a little shudder, “and I hope I shanʼt see one, either alive or cooked. I am sure I could manage very well with a little rice or flour and tea.”