With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Relief of the Legations

by G. A. Henty

“Of course I am. I regard myself as a consular student at present, and am certainly game to take part in whatever is going on, though, as you say, it seems wiser to gather in the part of the Fu that remains in our hands, and go straight from that to the gun.”

They started along the side of the canal. When the Japanese had gone on ahead, the rest of the force rushed up the little lane at the corner of the Fu. Here they found themselves suddenly face to face with a barricade, eight feet high and loopholed. It was impossible to assault it. The Italians, who were ahead, made a mad rush for the hole leading into the wall to the Fu. They almost fought their way in, for it was but wide enough for one man to pass at a time. The officer was wounded, and two of the marines were killed. While the struggle was going on, the volunteers stood with their backs against a wall which was a little out of the general line of fire, and when the Italians were out of the way they made a dash for the door, one by one. The first four got across in safety, but the last was hit in the shoulder and leg. The Japanese, meanwhile, had forced their way some distance north, but after having one man killed and two wounded, finding themselves unsupported, they fell back.

The failure of the affair excited much indignation in the Legation. It had been attempted without any knowledge of the ground, without any pains being taken to ascertain the enemyʼs position, and in a hasty and haphazard manner. Their success, however, gave great encouragement to the enemy.

The next day the Chinese gun again opened fire against the Fu, and under its cover a furious attack was made on the building. The Japanese, who had already suffered heavily, were forced back, fighting stoutly; and they must have been driven out of the building had it not been for a company of Christian Chinese whom their colonel had assiduously drilled, and who now fought as bravely as the Japanese themselves. With their aid the Japs recovered their lost ground by the end of the day.

The Chinese had shown particular animosity towards this company of converts, hurling curses against them and hitting them with stones. This was the result of an imperial proclamation which had been issued on the previous day, ordering that all missionaries and converts who did not repent of their former error should be slain.

The position at the American barricade was becoming more and more dangerous. The Chinese attack had increased in vigour, and they had built another barricade diagonally across the bastion, and almost touching that of the Americans. The consequence was that they could at any moment from their barricade pour into the bastion, and then make a rush over the American barrier. It was evident that if they were not driven out the wall must be abandoned. At daybreak, therefore, the Americans, strengthened by a reinforcement of British and Russians, gathered noiselessly behind their barricade, and, with the first gleam of light, dashed over it. They found most of the Chinese behind the new barricade asleep, and bayoneting them, drove the enemy also from the barrier on the other side of the wall. The Chinamen rallied, however, behind a barricade farther along the wall, and again opened fire, killing two of the American marines, and wounding Corporal Gregory of the British marines, and Colonel Myers, who had all along been in command. This was a serious loss to the defence.

By this time life in the British Legation had become smooth and regular, with the exception that a number of Chinese men and women, for whom no houseroom could be found, had to be accommodated in rude shelters in the square in front of the British envoyʼs house. All were settled down, and every crevice through which a musket–ball could enter had been closed up. The chapel had been divided into compartments, and some fifty people were lodged in it. The library had been thrown open to the use of all within the Legation. The wells were fortunately full, and the health of the whole company was excellent.

Communication was opened with the Fu, as a sloping passage had been driven down into the canal and a strong barrier erected at the lower end, so that it was possible to pass along it without risk of suffering from the fire kept up from the north bridge.

From another quarter, however, the enemy were giving a great deal of trouble. Owing to the burning of the museum the space between our outposts and the Imperial wall was clear. The Chinese had now built behind that wall a strong platform and mounted several cannon upon it, only one of which, however, was of foreign make. The parapet of the wall, heightened and loopholed, served as a breastwork, and as they put an iron shutter before the larger gun, they could with perfect safety bombard the Legation below, only three hundred yards away. The besieged could make no reply to the fire. The wall itself could not be breached unless by heavy cannon, and had the Chinese placed upon the wall some of the modern cannon, of which they had abundance, and added to their number, they could easily have destroyed all the Legations. But, strange to say, they contented themselves with only firing an occasional shot, which did a certain amount of damage no doubt, but nothing serious.