Not wholly satisfied and half doubting, they let me draw off with their pleadings renewed. Then, as I thought something might happen before I could let them know, I gave them two rifles from the store we had collected, and telling them to bar and bolt their gate, showed them how a shot or two would probably drive off an attack. We clattered on and lost them in the gloom....

It was almost dark as we re-entered the ruined Legation lines and picked our way slowly though the debris which still stood stacked on the streets. Fatigue parties of many corps were finishing their work of attempting to restore some order and cleanliness, and clouds of murky dust hung heavily in the air. All round these narrow streets there was an atmosphere of exhaustion and disorder, crushed on top of one another, which oppressed one so much after the open streets, that an immense nostalgia suddenly swept over me. We had had too much of it; I was tired and weary of it all. It was mean and miserable after the great anti-climax. It was like coming back to a soiled dungeon.

We picked our way right through where two days before no vehicles could have passed, and I stabled all the animals and carts, and handed them over to where they were needed. Then I ordered that our captured things, our weapons, and my few last belongings should be loaded into one remaining cart, and ordering my men to follow, without a word of explanation I started off again. I had made up my mind.

We passed rapidly enough out and again sped in the blackening night down the long street just as we had returned. Almost too soon we reached that great gate on the corner to find it barred and bolted. Somehow my heart sank within me at this; was it too late?

But there were cries and a confusion of voices. Somebody peered through. Then there was delight. The gate was unbarred by weak women's hands, and the soft Manchu voice which had first begged me to stop was speaking to me again....

Inside I found the courtyards and the lines of rooms which fronted each square were immense and furnished with richly carved woodwork; it was a rich house, and there was a profusion of everything which could be wanted—only no men! We securely bolted and barred the main gate, and for safety loopholed a little, because that is an art in which we had become adepts. Then, with candles murkily shedding their light, I explored every nook and corner to guard against surprise, always with that soft voice explaining to me. It was very quiet and soft with that atmosphere around; it was like a narcotic when a roar of fever still hangs in one's ears. I became more and more content. After all, we had become abnormals; a shade more or less could make no difference.... That night was a pleasant dream....



III

THE SACK CONTINUES

August, 1900.

* * * * *

To rediscover the ease and luxury of lying down, not brute-like, but man-like, seemed to me an immense thing. I had had my first night's sleep on a bed for nearly three months, and I wished never to rise again. I wished to be immensely lazy for a long period—not to have to move or think or act. But that could not be. All sorts of marauders were sweeping the city and working their wills in a hundred different ways. Half a dozen times, as soon as daylight had come, shots had been fired through my gateway. European soldiery, who had broken away from their corps, and native vagabonds and disguised Boxers, who had hidden panic-stricken during the first hours after the relief, were now prowling about armed from head to foot. The vast city, which had been given over for weeks to mad disorders and insane Boxerism, was in a receptive condition for this final climax. There was no semblance of authority left; with troops of many rival nationalities always pouring in, and a nominal state of war still existing, with the possibility of a Chinese counter-advance taking place, how could there be?... There was nothing left to restrain anybody....

I thought of these things lying at my ease, and debated how long I could stay in that unconcerned attitude. It was not long. For as I lay, there was a thunder of blows somewhere near, and then a crackle of shots, whose echoes smote so clean that I knew that firearms were pointed in the direction of this house. I jumped up without delay. I was not a minute too soon, for as I seized my rifle, one of my men ran in and shouted to me that foreign cavalrymen had burst in, shooting in the air, and were now driving out all the animals and looting all the carts as well. Nothing could be done unless I lent my leadership.

Hastily I ran out, feeding a cartridge into my rifle-chamber as I rushed. This time I was determined to give a lesson and pay back in the same coin. The marauders were Cossacks again.

There were only four of them, however, and when they caught sight of me they tried to stampede my mob and bolt ingloriously with them. But we were too quick. I gave the first man's mount my first cartridge in a fast shot, which took the animal well behind the shoulder and brought the rider instantly down in a heap to the ground. That mixed them up so that before they could extricate themselves they were all covered with our rifles and the gates tight shut. Then we calmly dragged the men off their ponies and kept them in suspense for many minutes, debating aloud what to do. Finally we let them go after some harsh threatening. The man who had lost his mount, nothing abashed, swung himself coolly up behind a comrade, with his saddle and bridle on his arm, without a comment. And as soon as they were in the open street they galloped fast away, as if they feared we would shoot them down from behind. That showed what was going on elsewhere....

I knew now what to expect unless we made very ready, for surely a sharp revenge attack would come as soon as it was dark. So grimly we set to work, with a return of-our old fighting feelings, and rapidly fortified the main gate against all cavalry raids. We dug a broad moat behind the gate, and threw up a respectable barricade with the earth we had gained. Then we brought some timbers and built them in on top with the aid of bricks and stones, so as to have a line of loopholes converging on the entrance. We trained some of the many rifles we had picked up in the same direction, and strapped them into position, just as the Chinese commands had done all along their barricades during the siege. In this way we made it so that in a few seconds a dozen of the enemy could be brought to the ground without the defending force showing a finger. That would be enough for any Cossacks....

Before midday we had added a couple of lookout posts to the roofs, and then, secure in this new-found strength, I determined to go abroad once more to collect supplies and food. That decision was materially helped by an incident which showed that everyone was acting and that it was the only way. As we cautiously opened our main gate and prepared to sally out, a cart came by, accompanied by several men from the Legations on horseback, who were much excited. Well might they be; they had two of their number inside that cart, both shot and bleeding badly from flesh wounds. They had been right to the east of the city, they reported, where the Russians and Japanese had come in. It was terrible there, they said. Nothing but dead people and fires and looting. Chinese soldiers had still remained there in hiding and were defending some of the bigger buildings belonging to Manchu princes. Plunderers, also, were everywhere on the road. They advised caution and told us not to trust ourselves in the alleyways. They had been caught like that, and their servants and horse-boys had deserted in a body four miles away immediately fire was opened on them from some fortified house. That made me all the more determined. I would go and be shot, too, if necessary, since it was the order of the day, but I made up my mind that it would be no easy job to catch me sleeping. Already I understood fully the new methods and the new requirements.

We rode away, stirrup to stirrup, I, a single white man, with a dozen doubtful adherents, made savage at the idea of loot, as companions, and held to me only by a questionable community of interests. Yet what did it matter, I thought. One lives only once and dies only once. That is elemental truth. So tant pis.

In our joy at being on those open streets again, with never a passer-by or a vehicle to obstruct one's rapid passage, we went ahead in a whirlwind of dust. We passed street after street with always the same silence about us we had noticed the day before. Everything was closed, tight shut; there was not a cat or a dog stirring abroad. Near the Legations and the Palace, where the fear lay the heaviest, it seemed like a city of the dead.

Yet we knew that there were plenty of living men only biding their time and waiting their opportunity. It was only night that these people desired; a good black night so that no one could see them flit about. You felt in the small of your back as you rode along that ugly faces were looking at you from the silent houses, and that at any moment shots might ring out suddenly and bear you to the ground. But that was merely a preliminary feeling. Soon it added zest to the entertainment. What, indeed, did it matter? It only made one more and more reckless.

We sped swiftly along, only twice seeing men of any sort in several miles of streets. Once they were fellows who, on our approach, scuttled so quickly away to hide their identity that we could not be sure whether they were white or yellow. But once, without concealment, a band of mixed European soldiery, in terrible disorder, who first wished to fire on us, and then when they saw me set up a colourless sort of cheer, appeared suddenly, only to disappear. We never paused an instant; we kept straight on.

As we made our way farther and farther to the east and came across rich districts of barricaded shops, signs were clear that pillaging had gone on here already with insane violence, but by whom or at what time it was impossible to say. Sometimes there were battered-in doors and windows, with ugly, swollen corpses stretched near by; sometimes the contents of a rich emporium had been swept, as if by some strange whirlwind, out on the street to litter the whole driving road many inches deep with the most heterogeneous things. On the ground, too, were dozens of the rude imitation flags which had been so frantically made by the terror-striken populace in order to disclaim all association with Boxerism and the mad Imperialism being now so summarily swept away. Jeering looters had torn these things down and cast them in the dirt to show, as a reply, that there was to be no quarter if they could help it. These grim notes limned speakingly on everything, made it plain that a movement was in the air which could hardly be arrested. It made one feel a little insane and intoxicated to see it all; and as one's blood rushed through one's veins, after that long captivity, one had, too, the desire to add a little more destruction, to break down places and to shoot for the amusement of the thing. You could not help it; it was in the air, I say. It was a subtle poison which could not be analysed, but which kept on coursing through one's veins and heating the blood to fever-pitch. The vast open streets needed filling up with noise and rapid movements, one thought; the inhabitants must be galvanised to life again, one felt....

My men needed every kind of wearing apparel, for they had been in rags althrough the siege, and as soon as possible they showed that they appreciated the situation, and did not intend to stand on ceremony. They set to work as soon as they saw what they wanted. A huge Chinese boot, gaudily painted on a swinging sign-board, proclaimed a boot-shop, where in ordinary times they could buy every kind of foot-covering. But now it was no good attempting such methods. So they tilted straight at the shop-door without hesitation, and beating a wild rataplan of blows on the wooden shutters, demanded an entry in a roar of voices. Otherwise they would shoot, they added. In very few seconds, at this clamour, some shuffling steps were heard and trembling hands unbarred in haste, fearing a worse fate. We then saw two blanched and trembling shopkeepers, whose dirtied clothes and dishevelled hair showed that they had had days and nights of the most wretched existence. Shakingly they asked what we wanted, adding that they had not a piece of silver or yet a string of cash left. The Boxers had taken everything weeks before; now honourable foreign soldiery were beating them because they were so poor. My men did not trouble to answer; they went to work. They wanted boots and shoes, and plenty of them, since there were plenty to take, and so they searched and picked and chose. But presently one man gave vent to an oath, and them, in his surprise, laughed coarsely. He had discovered that there were only boots and shoes for the left foot. There was nothing for the right foot, not a single boot, not a single shoe! Once again they did not trouble to speak, but merely pushing fire-pieces against the luckless shopkeepers' heads waited in silence. Immediately the men broke down anew and began whining more explanations. It was true there were no right feet, they said. The right feet were over there in a neighbour's shop. That shop had all the right feet; they had only left feet. This seemed strange humour. Yet it was a good, if crude, device which these cunning shopkeepers had hit on even in their distress. For they knew that looters would probably not waste time attempting to match shoes in such confusion, when so much better things were lying near. They hoped at least to save their stock by this device; and it seemed certain that they would. I said not a word; this was a family affair.

In the end a bargain was struck; two pairs of shoes for each man, and the rest to be left untouched. Then the right feet appeared soon enough from hidden places, and the shopmen were saved from further loss. With all the other things the same procedure was adopted along this shopman's street. A bargain was struck in each case, which saved one side from undue loss and gave the other far less trouble. In this new fashion we captured chickens, eggs, sheep, rice, flour, and a dozen other necessaries, only taking a quarter of what we would have seized otherwise, in return for the help given. It was curious shopping, but everybody was curious now. What you did not take, somebody would seize ten minutes later.

These occupations were so peaceful and gave so little difficulty, that it soon seemed to me as if everything was actually settling down quietly in this one corner of the city. Yet it was not so. We were only having momentary luck. For presently soldiers of various nationalities began passing in many directions, some returning from successful forays, and others just starting out to see what they could pick up. And on top of them all came a curious young fellow from one of the Legations, galloping along on a big white horse he must have just looted. He was accompanied by no one. He had been half-mad for weeks during the siege and now seemed quite crazy as he rode.

It was he who had again and again volunteered to play the part of executioner to all the wretched coolies engaged in sapping under our lines who had been captured from time to time, and whose heads had at once paid the last penalty. This man had done it always with a shot-gun, and he had seemed to gloat over it; and in the end people had taken a detestation for him, and looked upon him for some strange reason as a little unclean. Now he was madly excited, and as soon as he saw me he called out, in his thick Brussels accent, and made a long broken speech, which I shall never forget.

"Have you seen them?" he said, not pausing for a reply. "It is the sight of all others—the best of all. Hsu Tung, you remember, the Imperial Tutor, who wished to make covers for his sedan chair with our hides, and who was allowed to escape when we had him tight? Well, he is swinging high now from his own rafters, he and his whole household—wives, children, concubines, attendants, everyone. There are sixteen of them in all—sixteen, all swinging from ropes tied on with their own hands, and with the chairs on which they stood kicked from under them. That they did in their death struggles. Everywhere they have acted in the same way. They call it hanging, but it is not that; it is really slow strangulation, which lasts for many minutes, because at the last moment the victims become afraid and try to regain their footholds."

The man paused a minute and licked his dry lips. To me there was something hideous in this story being told on that sacked street. His voice sounded a little like those Chinese trumpets, whose gurgling notes make one think instantly of evil things. Then he went on, more furiously than ever:

"And the wells near the Eastern Gates, have you seen them, where all the women and girls have been jumping in? They are full of women and young girls—quite full, because they were afraid of the troops, especially of the black troops. The black troops become insane, the people say, when they see women. So the women killed themselves wherever they heard the guns. Now they are hauling up the dead bodies so that the wells will not be poisoned. I have seen them take six and seven bodies from the same well, all clinging together, and the men have tried to kill me because I looked. But I was well mounted; I could look as long as I liked, and then gallop away so fast that not even their shots could catch me. The place is full of dead people, nothing but dead people everywhere, and more are dying every minute."

Then he came up to me and whispered how soldiers were behaving after they had outraged women. It was impossible to listen. He said that our own inhuman soldiery had invited him to stay and see. Yet although I swore at the man and told him to go away, I could not drive him from me. He wanted to talk and he had found some one who had to listen. Indeed, he clung to me all the way home, as if he had been at length frightened by his own stories and by his imagination. Steadily he became more and more curious. He watched me eat, he watched me drink, but he would take nothing himself. He wanted to go out again. He must have movement, he said, and he insisted on riding to Monseigneur F——'s Pei-t'ang Cathedral. He had not been there yet, and a curiosity suddenly seized him to see the place where others had suffered in the same way as ourselves. That reminded me, too, that everybody had almost forgotten about this Roman Catholic cathedral, forgotten completely because they were now at their ease. It had been two whole days before troops were even sent there to see that all was well, and even these only went because a priest had been killed half way between the Legations and the Cathedral. I decided to go, too. It was almost a duty to make this pilgrimage. So we quickly left again.

For a few minutes after leaving the occupied area we threaded streets with men from the relief columns in full view, but soon enough we found ourselves in treacherous roadways, all littered with the ruins and the inexpressible confusion which come of desultory street-fighting spread over long weeks. To me this was a new quarter—one which I had not been near since the month of May, and soon it was equally clear that it was still a very evil place. Only yesterday men who had broken away from the French corps were found here, some dead and some horribly mutilated. Yet in spite of this the same signs of mock friendliness greeted our eyes on every side—those fluttering little flags of all nations, so rudely made from whatever cloth had been handy. Every building displayed some flag—every single one; but there now were other signs, too—signs which showed that all this quarter had been picked so clean that it was of no more value to marauders. Little notices, some in French, some in English, and a few in other tongues, were scratched on the walls or written on dirty scraps of paper and nailed up. Half in jest and half in earnest, these curious notices said all manner of things. For the wretched people who had been plundered or otherwise ill used had already fallen into the habit of asking from the soldiery for some scrap of writing which would prove that they had contributed their quota, and might, therefore, be exempted from further looting. Scrawled in soldiers' hands were such things as, "Defense absolue de piller; nous autres avons tout pris"; or, "No looting permitted. This show is cleaned out." Everywhere these signs were to be seen. Here they must have worked fast and furiously....

Riding quickly, at last we reached the famous cathedral, with great trenches and earthworks surrounding it, and the torn and battered buildings showing how bitter the struggle had been. To our siege-taught eyes a single look explained the nature of the defence, and the lines which had been naturally formed. It was written as plain as on a map. The priests and their allies had now hauled the enemy's abandoned guns to the cathedral entrances and the spires were now crowned with garlands of flags of all nations. But that was all. There was no one to be seen. Everybody was away, out minding the new business—that of making good the damage done by levying contributions on the city at large. It was all dead quiet, silent like some deserted graveyard. The sailors and the priests and their converts, remembering that Heaven helps those who help themselves, had sallied out and were reprovisioning themselves and making good their losses. Indeed, the only men we could find were some converts engaged in stacking up silver shoes, or sycee, in a secluded quadrangle. These had become the property of the mission by the divine right of capture; there seemed at the moment nothing strange about it.

This silent cathedral, with its vast grounds and its deserted quadrangles torn up by the savage conflict, became to us curiously oppressive—almost ghostlike in the bright sunshine. It seemed absurd to imagine that forty or fifty rifle-armed sailors, a band of priests and many thousands of converts had been ringed in here by fire and smoke for weeks, and had lost dozens and hundreds at a time through mine explosions. It seemed, also, equally absurd that the twenty or thirty thousand men who had poured into Peking had already become so quickly lost in the expanses of the city. Where were they all?...

My mad companion had tired, too, of looking, and wanted again to rush off and discover some signs of life. He wanted, above all, to see the place where the first companies of the French infantry had suddenly come on a mixed crowd of Boxers, soldiers and townspeople fleeing in panic all mixed together, and had mown them down with mitrailleuses. There was a cul-de-sac, which was horrible, it was reported. The machine-guns had played for ten or fifteen minutes in that death-trap without stopping a second until nothing had moved. The incident was only a day or two old, yet everyone had heard of it. People exclaimed that this was going too far in the matter of vengeance. But everything had been allowed to go too far....

We rode out at a canter, and wondered more and more as we rode at the solitude, where so few hours before there had been such a deafening roar. We plunged straight into the maze of narrow streets, and then suddenly, before we were aware of it, our mounts were swerving and snorting in mad terror! For corpses dotted the ground in ugly blotches, the corpses of men who had met death in a dozen different ways. Lying in exhausted attitudes, they covered the roadway as if they had been merely tired to death. It was awful, and I began to have a terrible detestation for these Asiatic faces, which, because they are dead, become such a hideous green-yellow-white, and whose bodies seem to shrivel to nothing in their limp blue suitings. Such dead are an insult to the living.

We picked our way on our trembling mounts, trying vainly to push through quickly to escape it all. But it was no good. We had stumbled by chance on the actual route taken by an avenging column, and the men who had been mad with lust to loot the Palace, and had been turned off almost as an afterthought to relieve co-religionists, had vented their wrath on everything. The farther and farther we penetrated the more hideous did the ruins and the corpses become. There was nothing but silence once again—death, ruin, and silence; and at last we came on such a mountain of corpses that our ponies suddenly stampeded and went madly careering away. Frightened more and more by the sound of their galloping hoofs, the animals soon laid their legs to the ground and bolted blindly. Vainly we tugged at our bridles; vainly we tried every device to bring them to a halt. But again it was no good. It had become a sort of mad gallop of death; the animals had to be allowed to rid themselves of their feelings.

Eventually we pulled up far away to the west of where we had started. We were now near the districts which had only the day before been proclaimed highly dangerous to everyone until clearing operations had swept them clean of lurking Boxers or disbanded soldiery. But now attracted by a roar of flames, and indifferent to any dangers which might lurk near by, we followed up the trail of smoke hanging on the skies to see what was taking place. One's interest never ceased, yet it was only the same thing. French soldiers, some drunk and some merely savage, had found their way here by some strange fate, and being quite-alone had evidently looted and then set fire to a big pile of buildings. They were discharging their rifles, too; for as we approached, bullets whistled overhead, and sobbing townspeople, driven from their hiding-places, began rushing away in every direction. This was strange.

Our arrival was only the signal for a fresh discharge of rifles, and then there was no doubt who was attracting the fire. The men were deliberately aiming at us to drive us away! We halted behind cover, and then with the same callousness as they displayed, we gave them a volley back, as a note of warning. It was my insane companion who drove us to do that; but, forthwith, on the sound of that well-knit discharge, there was more firing on every side, some shots coming from houses quite close to us and some from the open streets. With the growing roar and crackle of the flames these shots made very insignificant popping and attracted but little attention. Yet I soon saw that this continuous firing could not come from the rifles of European soldiery, unless there were whole companies of them, and that perhaps we had been mistaken for other people. And soon my suspicions were confirmed by a confused shouting in the vernacular, and a rush of men from lanes not a hundred yards away. Then there were some half-suppressed blasts on the hideous Chinese trumpet and—Chinese soldiery....

They came out with a mad rush and charged straight at the drunken French marauders, firing quickly as they ran after the old manner which we knew so well. As we gazed, the men from the relief columns fell back in disorder without any hesitation—indeed, fled madly to the nearest houses and began pelting their assailants with lead in return. Suppressed trumpet-blasts came again, rallying the attackers; more and more men rushed out from all sorts of places, and as this was no affair of ours, and our retreat would certainly be cut off if we dallied, we retreated at full gallop farther and farther to the west. We were going straight away to where might be our damnation.

I do not remember clearly how far we rode, or why we galloped, but soon we arrived almost at the flanking city walls miles away, and found ourselves among scores and hundreds of the enemy, who were still lurking on the streets, half disguised and mixed with the townspeople. They fired at us as we rode; they fired at us when we stopped; for many minutes there was nothing to be heard but the hissing of lead and fierce yells....

Conscious that only a big effort would pull us through, we boldly turned bridle and galloped to the south—reached a city gate, went through at a frantic pace, and sought safety in the outer Chinese town. Here it was quieter for a time, but as once more we approached the central streets, down which the Allies had marched, we came across other marauders. This time they were Indian troops going about in bands, with only their side arms with them, but leaving the same destruction behind them. Then we came across Americans, again some French, then some Germans, until it became an endless procession of looting men—conquerors and conquered mixed and indifferent....

It was eight at night before I pulled up on my foundered mount at home. I confess I had had enough. We were dead with fatigue. This was too much after one had those weeks of siege.



IV

CHAOS

August, 1900.

* * * * *

The refugee columns have gone at last, and have got down safely to the boats at Tungchow, which is fifteen miles away, and in direct water communication with Tientsin. It is good that nearly all the women and children and the sick have been packed off. This is, indeed, no place for them. An Indian regiment sent a band, which played the endless columns of carts, sedan chairs, and stretchers out along the sands under the Tartar Wall, until they were well on their way. That made everyone break down a little and realise what it has been. They say it was like India during the Mutiny, and that it was impossible for any one to have a dry eye. Even the native troops, rich in traditions and stories of such times, understood the curious significance of it all. They talked a great deal and told their officers that it was the same.

Thus, winding away over the sands and through the dust, the only raison d'etre of this great relief expedition has passed away. Probably a conviction of this is why the situation in Peking itself shows no signs of improving. Some say that it has become rather worse, in a subtle, secret way. More troops have marched in, masses of German troops and French infantry of the line, and columns of Russians are already moving out, bound for places no one can ascertain. Nothing but moving men on the great roads.

It is the newly arrived who cause the most trouble. Furious to find that those who came with the first columns have all feathered their nests and satisfied every desire, they are trying to make up for lost time by stripping even the meanest streets of the valueless things which remain. They say, too, now, that punitive expeditions are to be organised and pushed all over North China, because these new troops, which have come from so far, must be given something to do, and cannot be allowed to settle down in mere idleness until something turns up, which will alter the present irresolution and confusion....

But for the time being there is little else but quiet looting. Even some of the Ministers have made little fortunes from so-called official seizures, and there is one curious case, which nobody quite understands, of forty thousand taels in silver shoes being suddenly deposited in the French Legation, and as suddenly spirited away by some one else to another Legation, while no one dares openly to say who are the culprits, although their names are known. Silver, however, is a drug in the market. Everybody, without exception, has piles of it. Also, the Japanese, who are supposed to be on their good conduct, have despoiled the whole Board of Revenue and taken over a million pounds sterling in bullion. They have been most cunning. The only currency to be had is the silver shoe. These shoes can be bought at an enormous discount for gold in any form, and even with silver dollars you can make a pretty profit. The new troops, who have arrived too late, are doing their best to find some more of this silver by digging up gardens and breaking down houses. Marchese P——, of the Italians, who always pretends that he has been a mining engineer in some prehistoric period of his existence, calls it "working over the tailings."

In consequence of this glut of silver and curiosities, a regular buying and selling has set up, and all our armies are becoming armies of traders. There are official auctions now being organised, where you will be able to buy legally, and after the approved methods, every kind of loot. The best things, however, are being disposed of privately, for it is the rank and file who have managed to secure the really priceless things. I heard to-day that an amateur who came up with one of the columns bought from an Amerian soldier the Grand Cross of the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle, set in magnificent diamonds, for the sum of twenty dollars. It seems only the other day that Prince Henry was here for the special purpose of donating this mark of the personal esteem of the Kaiser after the Kiaochow affair. Twenty dollars—it is an inglorious end!

The native troops from India, seeing all these strange scenes around them, and quickly contaminated by the force of bad example, are most curious to watch. When they are off duty they now select a good corner along the beaten tracks where people can travel in safety, squat down on their heels, spread a piece of cloth, and display thereon all the lumps of silver, porcelain bowls, vases and other things which they have managed to capture. You can sometimes see whole rows of them thus engaged. The Chinese Mohammedans, of whom there are in normal times many thousands in Peking, have found that they can venture forth in safety in all the districts occupied by Indian troops once they put on turbans to show that they are followers of Islam; and now they may be seen in bands every day, with white and blue cloths swathed round their heads in imitation of those they see on the heads of their fellow-religionists, going to fraternise with all the Mussulmans of the Indian Army. It is these Chinese Mohammedans who now largely serve as intermediaries between the population and the occupation troops. They are buying back immense quantities of the silver and silks in exchange for foodstuffs and other things. A number of streets are now safe as long as it is light, and along these people are beginning to move with more and more freedom. But as soon as it is dark the uproar begins again. The Chinese have had time now, however, to hide all the valuables that have been left them. Everything is being buried as quickly as possible in deep holes, and search parties now go out armed with spades and picks, and try to purchase informers by promising a goodly share of all finds made. It is really an extraordinary condition....



V

SETTLING DOWN

End of August, 1900.

* * * * *

It shows how little is still generally known of what is going on in our very midst, and low disordered things really are, when I say that I only learned to-day that the whole city—in fact, every part of it—has been duly divided up some time ago by the Allied Commanders into districts—one district being assigned to every Power of importance that has brought up troops. They are trying to organise military patrols and a system of police to stop the looting, which shows no signs of abating. Everybody is crazy now to get more loot. Every new man says that he only wants a few trifles, but as soon as he has a few he must, of course, have more, and thus the ball continues rolling indefinitely.... Nothing will stop it.

Yesterday, just as a man of the British Legation was telling me that the system was really all right, that it was, in fact, a working system which would soon be productive of results, and that the bad part was over, a huge Russian convoy debouched into the street where we were standing. It was a curious mixture of green-painted Russian army-waggons and captured Chinese country carts, and every vehicle was loaded to its maximum capacity with loot. The convoy had come in from the direction of the Summer Palace, and was accompanied by such a small escort of infantrymen that I should not have cared to insure them against counter-attacks on the road from any marauders who might have seen them in a quiet spot. A dozen mounted men of resolution could have cut them up.

The carts lumbered along, however, indifferent to every danger, in their careless disorder. Their drivers were half asleep, and things kept on dropping to the ground and being smashed to atoms. Just near us the ropes stretched round one cart became loosened by the rocking and bumping occasioned by the vile road, and the contents, no longer held in place, began spilling to the ground. As soon as he had seen this, the Russian soldier-driver became furious. He would have had to do a lot of work to repack his load properly, so he soon thought of a shorter and easier way: he began deliberately throwing overboard his overload! Three beautiful porcelain vases of enormous size and priceless value suffered this fate; then some bulky pieces of jade carved in the form of curious animals. C—— tried to stop the man, but I only smiled grimly. What did it matter? In Prince Tuan's Palace I had seen, a couple of days before, the incredible sight of thousands of pieces of porcelain and baskets full of wonderful objects de vertu smashed into ten thousand atoms by the soldiery who had first forced their way there. They only wanted bullion. Porcelain painted in all the colours of the rainbow, and worth anything on the European markets—what did that mean to them!

The convoy at last bumped away, leaving merely a long trail of dust behind it and those fragments on the ground, and C—— became silent and then left me suddenly. Perhaps the idea had finally entered his respectable British head that we had become grotesque and out of date, and that we should retreat and make room for other men. Nobody cares for anybody else. Only a few hours before a reliable story had been going the rounds that some Indian infantry had opened fire on a Russian detachment in the country just beyond the Chinese city, pleading that it was a mistake. How could it have been? There is only one really sensible thing to do, and now it is too late to do that; to set fire to the whole city and then retreat, as Napoleon did from Moscow. The road to the sea is too short and the winter too far off for any harm to come.

The first cables have at length come through in batches from Europe, by way of the field telegraphs, which are now working smoothly and well. Everybody of importance is being transferred, but it is impossible to find out where they are all going. All the Ministers now pretend that they had asked for transfers before the siege actually began, and that they will be heartily glad to go away and forget that such a horrible place as Peking exists. Yet from the nervousness of those who have been told to report for orders in Europe, it cannot be all joy.



VI

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT

August, 1900.

* * * * *

Fortunately my friend K——, of the Russian Legation, rescued me at a moment when I was prepared only to moralise on this infernal situation, and to see nothing but evil in everything both around me and in myself. I like to put it all down to the strange stupor and lack of energy which have settled down on everything like a blight, but I believe, also, that there must be a little bit of remorse at the bottom of my feelings. K—— came in gaily enough, pretending that he was looking for a breakfast and had learned of my retreat by mere chance as he rode by. He had heard, I believe, as a matter of fact, that there were a number of women on the premises, and that I was living en prince. Perhaps, he had a number of reasons for coming. From what he told me, however, it soon appeared that he had known L——, the commander of the Russian columns, for many years, and had just done business with him; and that, in consequence, the Russian commander, who is a pleasant old fellow, risen from the ranks, had said that he could have a private view of the Palace if he swore on his honour that he would not divulge the excursion to any one. He must, also, not take anything. He did not tell me all at first. It came out bit by bit, after I had been sounded on a number of points. Then he asked me if I would like to come, and if I, too, would swear.

Of course, I duly swore!

Eventually we started on our long ride; for it was necessary for us to go right round the Imperial city, skirting the pink walls so as not to become involved in other people's territory, or to be noticed too much. That was one of the preliminary precautions, K—— said. All the way round, that ride was a beautiful illustration of the way the International Concert (written with capital letters) is now working. At absolutely every entrance into the Imperial city there were troops of one nationality or another: American, British, French, German, Japanese, and others—all looking jealously at every passer-by, and holding so tight to their precious gates, that it appeared as if all the world was conspiring to wrest them from their grasp. They thought, perhaps, that this Palace is the magic wand which touches all China and can produce any results; that both in the immediate and dim future the obtaining of a good foothold here will mean an immense amount to their respective countries. What fatuous, immense foolishness! For a moment, as I looked at these guards, I had the insane desire to charge suddenly forward and call upon the French, in the name of their dear Ally, Czar Nicholas, to hand me their gate, or else take the consequences; to do the same to the others; to mix them up and confuse them; to tell them that a new war had been declared; that they would soon have to fight for their lives against formidable foes—to tell them mad things and to add to the rumours which already fill the air. These troops, which had been hurled on Peking in frantic haste, had only come because it was a matter of jealousy—that was now clear to me. They themselves did not know why they had come, or with whom they were fighting, or why they were fighting. They knew nothing and cared less. And yet it does not much matter. It is not really they who are to blame, nor even their officers. I know full well how instructions are issued and how little the pawns really count.... The despatches from the Chancelleries of Europe, how grotesque they can be! Everybody is always so afraid of everybody else.

Yet while I was thinking these things, K—— was not. He was secretly worried, as he rode, whether L——'s promise would materialise, or whether there would be another impasse. Somehow I felt certain that there would be more difficulties, in spite of all assurances. Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'on connait les Russes, as C——, our old doyen, always says....

We passed at length into the Imperial city by the northern entrances, far away from everybody else, and found ourselves in the midst of a big Russian encampment, with rows upon rows of guns ranged in regular formation and lots of tents and horses. All the soldiery here were taking it very easy on this sunny day; had, indeed, stripped themselves, and were now engaged in sluicing themselves over with ice-cold water from a beautiful marble-enclosed canal. These hundreds upon hundreds of clean white men, with their flaxen hair and their blue eyes, seemed so strange and out of place in this semi-barbaric Palace and so indifferent. How curious it was to think that only a few days ago the Empress and all her cortege had passed here!

We sought out the post commander and told him our purpose. The difficulties began quickly enough then, as I had anticipated. The officer explained to us that our request was out of order and impossible; that no one was allowed inside the inner precincts or had ever been there; and hinted, incidentally, that we must be mad. K—— listened to all this in that insulting silence which is a sure sign of gentility, and then, ransacking his pockets, brought out a letter and handed it to our man. That produced a change which might have been highly amusing at other times. There was the complete volte-face which amuses. The officer suddenly saluted, clicked his heels, and said in a silky way, like a cat which has tasted milk, that this order was explicit and made things different; that, indeed, we might go at once if we liked, only we must be discreet—highly discreet. He would accompany us himself. Such trivial details were soon arranged.

We left our ponies and our outriders then and marched forward quickly on foot. The soldiery around us stared and laughed among themselves as soon as they saw where we were going. This made me understand that this excursion had been taken before, probably under the same orders and in exactly the same way. It was only a well-rehearsed comedy. K——, who is really a bit of a coward, did not appear to relish the comments made, and now became suddenly reluctant. He told me afterwards that he had overheard the men saying that we might be killed inside, as there were many people there. So in silence we all marched on.

The first gate we reached was a beautiful example of the art of this Northern country. There were splendid pillars of teak, marble tigers and marble fretwork beneath, with much glittering colouring around. A strong post of Russian infantry was on guard here, and sitting inside the enclosure with the men off duty were a number of Palace eunuchs. They all seemed quite intimate together and were chaffing one another—soldiers and eunuchs laughing heartily at some coarse jest.

We wended our way through a marble courtyard, which wore a rather deserted and forlorn look, and which had huge low-lying halls and dwellings for the Palace servants ranged on either side. These appeared to be all deserted now, but at regular intervals were Russian sentries standing up on lookout platforms. They were peering over the walls in every direction, and seemed to be keeping a very sharp lookout. The officer said that many guards of other nationalities were well within rifle-shot from here, and that men were continually trying to steal their way right into the inner Palace by scaling the walls. He called them robbers!

The next gate was much smaller, and showed from its very appearance that we were nearing the actual Palaces—the hidden, mysterious abodes of the Tartar rulers who had so ignominiously fled. Here the sentries had the strictest orders, for, stopping us short with their lowered bayonet points, they looked askance at us, and politely asked the officer who we were and why we had ventured here. In the end, to set their minds at ease, he had to tear a leaf from his pocket-book, write an order, and make us sign our names. Upon this, the non-commissioned officer in charge of this post detached himself and joined our little party. We were not going to be allowed in alone, and imperceptibly the affair assumed a graver and more consequential aspect. Then, quietly advancing, we four were speedily lost in the huge maze of gardens and buildings. The area covered by the Palaces was enormous.

Beyond this was a succession of high, picturesque-looking buildings of a curious Persian-Tartar appearance, with little galleries running round them, and drum-shaped gateways of stone pierced in unexpected places. There were also flowering trees and beautiful groves. It was, indeed, charming, and over everything there was a refined coolness which to me was something very new. We came on a last sentry, who, at a word from his sergeant, drew a heavy iron key from a wooden box hanging on the wall and fitted it to a lock. The key turned with a faint screeching, which seemed out of place; the little gate was thrust open and closed behind us, and ... at last we were within the sacro-sanct courtyards of the rulers of the most antique Empire in the world....

Around us there was now a curious and unnatural quiet, as if the world was very old here, and the noises of modern life remained abashed at the thresholds. I knew well from a study of the curious old Chinese maps, which the vendors of Peking objets d'art always offer you, where we were, and it was almost with a sense of familiarity that I turned and made my way to the east. There I knew in ordinary times the Empress Dowager herself lodged in a whole Palace to herself. Somewhere not very far from us I caught the soft cooing of the doves, which everyone in Peking, from Emperor to shopkeepers, delights to keep, in order to send sailing aloft on balmy days with a low-singing whistle attached to their wings—a whistle which makes music in the air and calls the other birds. Who has not heard that pleasant sound? Even the Empress Dowager must have loved it. Here, in her private realm, the doves were cooing, cooing, cooing, just like the French word roucoulement, spoken strongly with the accent of Marseilles. You could hear these birds of the Marseilles accent saying continually that French word: Roucoulement, roucoulement, roucoulement, with never a break....

We ran up some flights of marble steps, following these gentle sounds, and walked along a broad terrace adorned with fantastically curved dwarf-trees, set in rich porcelain pots, and made stately with enormous bronze braziers. The Russian officer, and even the Russian sergeant, were agreeably stroked by the contact with all this quiet and seclusion and this old-world air, and they murmured in sibilant Russian. It pleased them immensely.

We hastened to the end of the terrace, going quickly, because we were anxious to find more delights; and as we turned at the end, without any warning there were a few light screams and a little scuffle of feet which died away rapidly. Women....

We caught a disappearing vision of brilliantly coloured silks and satins and rouged faces passing away through some doors, and then before we had satisfied our eyes, several flabby-faced men suddenly came out and called imperatively to us to stop and go away. We could not go farther, they said.

The two men of the Russian army, with the instinct of discipline which we lacked, halted as if orders were being disobeyed, and looked at K—— for inspiration. K—— stroked his thin moustaches, and put his head a little on one side, as if he were debating what to say. I—well since I had nothing to lose, and it did not really matter, I went forward without any delay, asking our interlocutors roughly what they meant and what they were doing here, and telling them, too, that we were going on. I knew that they were sexless eunuchs, who would stammer as I had heard them stammer in the old days when I had seen them trafficking things they had been donated by officials desirous of cultivating their friendship, in the mysterious curio shops beyond the great Ch'ien Men Gate. Nor was I wrong. Stammering, they replied by asking how it was that orders had been broken. Stammering, they said that all the great generals had promised that the inner Palaces were to be kept immune; now men were for ever climbing in, and others were coming openly as we were doing. What did we wish?

I am afraid I was rude, for questions in these times do not sit well on such folk, and I told them more roughly than ever to go quickly away, or else we would hurt them. Perhaps we would even hurt them badly I insinuated, fingering my revolver, for we had a duty to do. We were going to inspect the entire Palace and see that all was well. And before these men had recovered from their surprise we had pushed right into the Empress Dowager's own ante-chambers.

I saw, as I walked in, that a long avenue in the distance led directly to a high yellow-walled enclosure. That must be the Imperial seraglio, where the hundreds of young Manchu women provided by tradition for the amusement of the Emperor were imprisoned for life. In the haste of the Court's flight, the majority of them had been abandoned, and only the most valuable taken off. Everybody had heard of that.

Gently discoursing to the disturbed eunuchs, we went through room after room, which even on the hot autumn day seemed cool and peaceful. The objects de vertu which littered the small tables, and the scrolls which hung from the walls, did little to relieve the sombre effect of those high ceilings and carved wood frescoes. Yet there was a little air of distinction and refinement which showed that an immeasurable gulf separated the favoured dwellers of this Palace from even the greatest outside. Even here Royalty does more than oblige; it compels....

With the eunuchs protesting more and more vigorously, and seeking to stay our advance by a curious mixture of suggestion and imploring and resistance which is a quality of the East, we slowly passed through apartment after apartment. Some now were furnished with luxurious long divans which eloquently invited graceful repose. What scenes had not this silent furniture witnessed, and how little could the makers have supposed, as they cunningly carved and stained and coloured, that barbarians from Europe would be one day insolently gazing on their handiwork!...

I had lagged somewhat behind, when some curses and imprecations dragged my wandering attention to the doors beyond. Two eunuchs had fallen on their knees and were now kowtowing and begging with renewed vigour, while a third was standing more resolutely than his fellows with outstretched arms, imperatively forbidding any further advance. The most interesting point had been reached; this must be the greatest thing of all.

But these eunuchs were beginning to fatigue us with their airs of duly authorised custodians who could do as they pleased, and going up, we now told them that unless they went quickly away we would kill them then and there. We all drew our revolvers, stood over them, and waited a minute of two. Then, as if they had acted their parts right up to the end, the men on their knees got up suddenly, shook themselves, bowed to us politely without a trace of feeling, and left.... "Enfin," said K——.

At last we were in this dear Empress's bedroom, the abode which shelters for such a considerable number of hours of every twenty-four the most powerful woman in Asia. We looked eagerly. At one side of the room was a large bed, beautifully adorned with embroidered hangings; ranged round there was a profusion of handsome carved-wood furniture, with European chairs upholstered in a style out of keeping with the rest; on a high stand there were jewelled clocks noisily ticking; and hidden modestly in one corner was nothing less than a magnificent silver pot de chambre. She was here evidently very much at her ease, the dear old lady. That little detail delighted me. The rest was rather banal.

Sans ceremonie, I seated myself on the Imperial bed—it seemed to be the most peaceful act of vandalism I could commit in repayment for certain discomforts occasioned by this old lady's whims during eight weeks of rifle-fire. And as my recollections went back to those terrible days, I came down heavily as I could on this august couch. I must confess that as a bed it was excellent; the old lady must have slept well through it all, while she caused us our ceaseless vigil....

This solitude in the most secluded of spots in the whole Palace made us more and more inquisitive, and soon K—— and myself were hard at work, rummaging every likely hiding-place.

Our escort watched our antics and said nothing. It made an odd enough little scene that, and I liked to think of its incongruity—we two sets of men, who had not known of each other's existence an hour ago, now absolutely alone in this retreat, from whence the siege had been largely directed.

K—— continued rummaging, making an extraordinary amount of noise, and exclaiming to himself now and again as he came across trifles which interested him. Then I discovered a compote, or preserve made of rose-leaves, which was so sweet and fragrant that we began promptly eating. There were also Russian cigarettes, au bonheur des dames, yet quite fit to smoke, and then just as we were becoming reasonably content, K—— gave a tremendous oath and brought out something in his hand. Then I knew that he was lost—that there would be speedy complications; it was a Louis XV. painted watch—his greatest weakness. Peking is full of these watches, some genuine enough and many spurious. They were made the vogue centuries ago by the clever Jesuit priests, when the first disciples of Loyola to come to China were playing for kingly stakes in the capital of Cathay, and were not ashamed to use any means which the ingenuity might discover to delight the Manchu rulers of that day. Many of the most beautiful watches in France, with amorous paintings of the most voluptuous kind decorating the inside case, were brought to Peking and distributed among the high and mighty. That set up a fashion for such pretty things; more and more were brought, until Peking became a storehouse, stocked with this specialty. Everyone even to-day has an example or two of this art, if they can afford it.

I thought of these things as I saw K—— trifle with that watch and scrutinise it more and more closely. He looked at it for a last time longingly, and then, without a word, suddenly placed it in his pocket. That was cool. But at once the Russian officer started forward protesting; we were breaking our words; we had begun looting; he would be forced to arrest us. As he spoke, the man became so red and excited, that K——, who pretended at first merely to smile indulgently, became more and more alarmed, and finally replaced the watch without a word. But still he continued this curious search, and coming across other things, I noticed vaguely that he seemed to be placing them all together in little collections, so that he could easily get at them again....

Then we wandered away to other great buildings, and we came on a beautiful set of princely rooms, full of ticking clocks and rich tapestries, and with such things as solid gold bonbonnieres, studded with coarse, uncut stones, lying on the secretaires and small tables. These, I believe, were the Emperor's apartments in normal times. There were lots of beautiful things here—vases, enamels, jade, cloisonne, and much wondrous porcelain; and although everyone had been saying that Peking was not as rich as in 1860, when those strings of beautiful black pearls had been brought home for the Empress Eugenie, still it was clear that these Palaces contained a wealth undreamed of outside. Indeed, there were magnificent things....

Round the corners, as we walked, we saw the eunuchs looking and lurking, and finally disappearing whenever they thought that they were seen. There were more of them now, too, and, seeing us quite alone, they were beginning to pluck up courage and wished once more to interfere. I thought for an instant as I looked at their evil faces of tearing down some rich embroidery and fashioning from it a sack just as I had seen those Indian troopers do so few days before; then of setting to work and piling everything I fancied into it and making as if I intended to go off.

Yet such a comedy would not be worth the candle; the officer and the sergeant would have to go through the formality of arresting me, and the eunuchs would not even be noticed....

Engrossed with such thoughts, and no longer amused by my surroundings, I must have forgotten myself for a moment in a brown study; for when I came to, I was surprised to find that we four had drifted some distance apart, and that K—— was now whispering rapidly to the Russian officer alone, and that the sergeant was standing far away, with his back turned to them, slily fingering the things on the tables. Then the sergeant allowed his hand to linger longer than was necessary, and, throwing a sharp look round out of the corners of his eyes, he suddenly thrust some object into his pocket. He, too, had succumbed! I paid not the slightest attention to these curious developments, but pretended to be gazing idly at nothing. Still, I kept my eyes on the alert. K—— was manifestly plotting for those watches; it was not my business—what did it matter to me if he took everything there was?

The officer, whatever the arguments, was obviously not yet very convinced, nor very happy. He shook his head vigorously again and again, and protested in that thick Russian undertone, which always seems to me to explain what Russians really are. Yet those thick tones were becoming gradually monotonous and less emphatic, and presently slower and slower, until they stopped altogether. Then K—— came towards me, and said carelessly that he supposed I wanted to wander around a little more on my own account to see what else there was. It was an invitation to disappear. Very well! I moved off suddenly and sent the eunuchs scurrying back. There was a wish to split up the party for a few minutes so that no one would know what the others were doing. I knew I should immensely annoy the eunuchs by going towards the women's quarters. Well, I would not cavil....

I walked rapidly enough then down that back avenue I had observed before, and looked neither behind me nor to the right or left. I would go straight through to the end, Dieu voulant! It would be interesting to have the unique experience of exploring the poor Emperor's most private domains. But then I remembered that the women had screamed and run away when they had caught sight of us in the beginning. Now they would be securely locked in, and it was absurd and dangerous to think of storming a gate by one's self. Farther and farther I walked away until I became doubtful....

I suddenly became aware that I was in front of a small door; that the door was ajar; and that an amused talking and moving was going on very near with many ripples of laughter rising clearly in the still air. It seemed that the fates were helping me for some inscrutable purpose. I must discover that purpose. Without a quiver I boldly walked in.

I came on them without any sense of emotion, although nothing could have been so novel—a number of groups of young Manchu women, some clothed in beautiful robes, some in an undress which was hardly maidenly. They were sitting and standing scattered round a large courtyard, and hidden somewhere above them in the yellow tiled roofs were more of those cooing doves with that strong accent of Marseilles: "Roucoulement, roucoulement, roucoulement," they said very gently this time, yet without ever ceasing. Their soft voices made beautiful music.... For some reason none of the harem were surprised. Two or three of the younger women ran back a step or two, and clasped the hands of the others with broken ejaculations. Then they all sought my eyes, and somehow we began smiling at one another. All women are the same; these knew somehow that I would not hurt them. Yet in spite of this fact I stood there embarrassed, knowing not what to say or do. I had supposed myself inured by now to all the most impossible situations—yet it seemed so absurd that I should be here, alone, absolutely alone, among dozens of young women who were the Emperor's most inviolate property—virgins selected from among the highest and most comely in the land; forbidden fruit, which had not even been tasted because of the Emperor's lack of masculinity.... I thought rapidly of the various classes into which these women are divided according to immemorial custom: of the concubines of the first rank, of the second, of the third, and even of the fourth, who are merely favoured hand-maidens of the Biblical type. Then I wondered whether it was true that when the former Emperor Hsien Feng had suddenly died, and the Empress Dowager had selected the child Kuang-shu to succeed him, she had caused the child to be mutilated, so that the question of the next heir should remain in her own hands.... The women would know.

And yet even Imperial concubines must have opportunities which no one suspects, for I was suddenly relieved of the necessity of breaking the ice by their breaking it for me. Without embarrassment they suddenly began plying me with questions, and not waiting for replies, they asked what was going on outside; what was going to happen; who was I; why had I come; why was I not a soldier?... The questions came so fast and thick that before I had realised it I had forgotten my surroundings, forgotten the time, forgotten most things, I am afraid, and was deep in the middle of an astonishing conversation, which never flagged and which was continually broken with laughter. Then I was brought to ominously. I heard a door shut with a thump; I saw the women pinch and look at one another and cease talking. What did that door mean?

On purpose I did not turn round; that would have been fatal. I did as I always do now: I gained time to lessen the shock. Some day, when I have much leisure, I shall, doubtless, prepare tables specially adapted to every situation and to every temperament, which will show exactly the number of seconds, minutes, and hours which are necessary on an average to accustom one's self to anything. It is possible to do so; it will be astonishing when it is done. For the time being, I thought of this rather glumly—indeed, without a trace of enthusiasm—and I wished a little that I had not been so foolish in putting my head inside the lion's mouth. I remembered the story a former Secretary of the British Legation used to tell us of two Englishmen, who, in the unregenerate days in Cairo—or was it Constantinople?—climbed into the harem, and were cruelly mutilated for their audacity before they could be rescued. I became so glum as this flashed through my mind, that my great system of preparation was in imminent danger of breaking down. So I turned suddenly round on my heel, and looked squarely ... it was as I had thought.

The door I had entered had been quietly locked, and now, inside, were standing, with moving lips and menacing air, those evil-looking eunuchs. This time there were four of them. Two were the two who had knelt and prayed that we should not enter the Empress Dowager's private apartments; one was the man who had stood up and been almost threatening; the last one was so tall that his aspect of strength almost gave the lie to the assumption that he had been mutilated for Palace use. These last two would be difficult; the others I could leave out of my calculations.

Faithful to my theory, and trusting to this strange ally, I merely opened my revolver-pocket; then it was with a sense that I was irretrievably lost that I saw that two of the opponents were armed in the same way. My theories and preparations were all falling to the ground. I would probably follow them in person in a very few minutes. Nobody would be the wiser....

I stood there waiting while these men muttered at me, as if they now hated me bitterly, and yet did not know how to commence, and with the women behind me chattering affrighted. In vain I tried to work out how many eunuchs there really were in this vast Palace; whether a great number had gone away with the Court, or whether these four men would summon four more, or perhaps fourteen, and possibly even forty or four hundred. They always say the Palace contains three thousand....

It was all no good, however, for it was my turn to play, and without I played we might remain standing there in this manner until it became dark. Then I could be beaten to the ground and thrown down a well without any one being the wiser. No search could be made for me, and if one was made, nothing would be found. Men were continually missing in Peking, and no one knew how they met their fate....

I advanced now with my hands empty and my mind fairly made up. Everything depended on a new theory, which I was about to test, a mere Chinese theory concerning eunuchs—that their mutilation makes them bestial, but also downtrodden and quite spiritless and peculiarly weak. That is why the old Empress could thrash them to death whenever they displeased her, without their daring to raise their hands or make one single struggle. Now, as I walked forward, I could see my old Chinese teacher, who had taught me these strange theories concerning eunuchs, sitting in front of me and slowly waving his fan, and showing by an analysis of things I did not clearly understand, how Nature had laws and decrees which cannot be violated without bringing heavy and immediate punishment in their train. As I walked forward I could not help seeing that old figure of a Chinese teacher in front of me, and prayed that he was correct. If he was not ... then I stopped thinking and acted.

I did it neatly, with some brutality, because I had been absolutely surprised, and had not yet recovered, and, also, because I was more than a little afraid. Six paces off I threw myself in two savage bounds against the tall man; caught him with my right hand by the outstretched right arm, hurled him round once by the force of my own impetus and the strength of my grasp; and then, as he swiftly swung with loosened legs, stopped him suddenly short with a mighty up-driven blow of my right knee, which sang so deep and cruelly into his soft flesh, that it grated harshly against his spinal column. Nobody can resist that blow—according to the old man's theory, least of all a eunuch—nobody, nobody. It should be certain as death, once you have the right grip. With a gurgle my man had sunk to the ground a mere shapeless mass, perhaps really dead; and with by breath coming hot through my nostrils at this success I closed fiercely with the second, seized him by the throat, wrenched at him like a madman, and carried him staggering back. The other trick demands the six paces and the impetus; I would have liked to have tried it again, but I had not dared....

But it was finished with dramatic suddenness, for even as I ran the second eunuch, gasping for breath, backwards, the other two rushed to the door, opened it hurriedly, and then stepped aside with loud implorings and supplications. I accepted. I let go my grasp and quickly jumped out. I, too, had had enough. As I went through I caught a last glimpse of that curious scene framed by the red gate-posts and the roofs beyond—the senseless eunuch on the ground, the other standing near by, coughing and reaching at his throat, the women of the seraglio in their gaily flowered coats pressing curiously round.... But I had enough. I did not tarry. Rapidly I walked away, with a little prayer in my heart. I felt almost as I had felt once when I was nearly drowning.

I found K——, five minutes later, sitting on the first marble terrace, with his pockets bulging out and an expression of ox-like satisfaction on his face. That was an antidote which speedily sobered me. The officer was farther on, and had also looted by his looks. The sergeant of the guard—well, I knew about him already. K—— smiled when I appeared, and said that I had been very quick and that he did not expect me so soon. I did not take the trouble to answer; explanations are always apologies. If I had told him the truth, he would never have believed me, and certainly never have understood. And if I had lied there would have been the same result. So I merely said I was ready, and that we had seen enough; and then, in silence, each man thinking of what he had done, we covered the way back very quickly and mounted our ponies. All the way home during that long ride I was amused by watching the heavy posts of soldiery belonging to the other columns, who were so jealously guarding their own entrances. How angry they would have been if they had only known!... That was an extraordinary day.



VII

THE FEW REMAINS

End of August, 1900.

* * * * *

Imperceptibly, I believe, things are settling down a little and assuming broad outlines which can be more easily understood as the days go by. Most people who went through the siege have now gone away. A few remaining missionaries and their converts have flowed far away and quartered themselves in some of the residences of the minor Manchu princes, and are now selling off what they have found by auction. They have the special permission of the Ministers and Generals to act in this way. Loot-auctions, indeed, are going on everywhere, and the few people who have managed to get through from other places in China with loads of silver dollars are making fortunes. There are enormous masses of silver sycee in nearly everybody's hands, and I am certain now that several of our chefs de mission are in clover. My own chief, who pretends to be virtuous because he is something of a faineant, to put it mildly, eyed me very severely the other day and said that everyone reported that I had developed into a species of latter-day robber-chief, and had slain hundreds of people. He said all sorts of other things, too. I let him exhaust his oratory before I replied. Then I inquired regarding the definition of the term treasure-trove, which has become the consecrated phrase for all our many hypocrites. The generals and many of his colleagues had much treasure-trove, I said; I had some, too. Of course, I admitted that if there were investigations, and everyone had to render a strict account, I would do the same; but for the time being I wanted to know that there was going to be only one law for everyone. Those were good replies, for some of the biggest people in the Legations are so mean and so bent on covering up their tracks that they are using their wives to do their dirty work.

I believe my chief thought for a moment that I knew something about an affair in which he was involved, for he only said one word, "Bien," and looked at me in a strange way. I knew I had frightened him, and that he must have thought that if I chose to speak later on there would be trouble. I had no such intention, of course, only I hated being annoyed by a man of little courage. Had he been courageous I should never have answered at all, except perhaps to offer him a share of my private treasure-trove!

Yet with all this settling down it seems to me that people must be becoming suddenly more and more commercial, and that an inspection of their accounts makes them wish for a little more on the profit side. For one morning a young Englishman, who has been living in Peking rather mysteriously for a number of years, marched in on me at a very early hour, accompanied by several Chinese, whom I immediately knew from their appearance to be small officials. The Englishman said that he had a plan and a proposition, and these he unfolded so rapidly that he made me laugh. It appeared that the men he had brought with him were ku-ping, or Treasury Guards of the Board of Revenue under the old regime; and, according to their accounts, they knew exactly where the secret stores of treasure were hidden in the secret vaults of the government. They explained that these stores belonged not only to the government, but were also portions of what peculating officials took from day to day and hid away until they could remove their plunder in safety after an inspection had been made. They said, did these informants, that there were millions in both gold and silver. They became very enthusiastic and excited as they talked.

I waited patiently to see how they proposed to solve this problem—did they wish a bold, open, frontal attack or an underground plot? Nothing is very astonishing now, and we have all the resourcefulness of condottieri, with a certain modern respectability added. But they were sensible people, and did not dream of the impossible. They supposed, they said, that I knew that the Russians had now full control of the Board of Revenue. Perhaps, if their commander could be approached in the proper way, the matter could be very rapidly attended to. The treasure could be seized in the name of the Russian Government and everyone could get a share. That is what they said.

At first I thought of refusing point-blank, for I was rather tired of these adventures; but the men were so persistent, and I had been so irritated by the pious insincerity of my own chief, that in the end I told them that I would see what could be done, although the matter did not interest me very much. I privately again thought of what our old doyen says, "Ce n'est pas pour rien qu'on connait les Russes," and wondered how long negotiations would last.

Of course it was a wretchedly long business, and before long I regretted bitterly that I had not been more hard-hearted. I managed to communicate with L—— that same day through R——, and explained to him as well as I could the whole affair. I found the Russian Commander-in-Chief a sly old fox, for his first idea was to thank me for the information and have the whole Treasury searched; if necessary, to dig down to a depth of twenty feet or so with the help of a regiment or two of infantry. That was his idea. In the end we managed to convince him that this was foolish, and that there must be places which his soldiers could not reach even by prodding down with their bayonets and spades to great depths. Secret chambers cannot be easily discovered even in this way, we said. That made L—— very angry, for no reason apparently but that the affair seemed a huge bother and trouble. He said in reply that the Japanese had taken everything in any case, and that this was going to be a fool's quest if he went on with it. Also, he would not listen to any arrangements being made and put in writing regarding the proportions to be paid to everyone if a find was actually made. Indeed, this last idea irritated him so much that he angrily said that we were deliberately plotting to take away the property of the Russian Government—property which the Russian Government could not afford to lose, and did not intend to lose, either. He even added that this was a city of robbers, and that people would not keep to their own territory, but were always trying to trespass. This made us laugh so much that he suddenly changed his manner, and said that the whole question was a serious one and would have to be referred home by telegraph. Otherwise he could not authorise any payments. K——, who was present, replied sarcastically that perhaps he would like to refer the question direct to the Czar, and begged him to be cautious in such a very important affair!

The last thing which could be got out of the Russian Commander-in-Chief was that he would telegraph at once to Alexieff at Port Arthur and ask his permission to arrange matters. If Alexieff said yes, we would go to work at once; otherwise nothing could be attempted. I knew that probably not a single word would be mentioned to any one out of Peking, and that these were mere manoeuvres. However....

I had almost forgotten the matter when, a few mornings after this interview, I was suddenly awakened at daylight and told that there were several Russian officers in my courtyard who wished to speak to me at once. Their business was urgent. I went out and greeted the men, and they said that L—— would be ready at two o'clock that day to go with his staff to the Board of Revenue and effect the seizure; and that a quarter share on all amounts seized would be given by the Russian Government for the information supplied. These officers added that they would have to go back at once; but in the end they remained with me the whole morning, drinking as hard as they could, and contenting themselves with despatching a Cossack to say that all was arranged.

We started to go to the Russian headquarters at an early hour, but in some mysterious way news must have been conveyed to other people of this latest development, for half a dozen men arrived and appeared immensely surprised to find these Russian officers there with me on their horses. They asked me, each in turn, whether everything had been arranged, and how much everyone was going to get, and where the treasure was to be stored. There was, indeed, no end to their questions, and they said that they estimated that the sum seized would amount to about ten or twelve million francs. Later on, each man took me aside, and explained what he had done to help the thing along, hoping that he would be remembered in the end, as this was a very big affair, and the more people in it the better. I confess I did not clearly understand all this; it was like floating a mining company. But I knew that most of these dear friends had been sitting shivering inside the Legations while the sack was going on, because they had no wish to risk their lives; and now that they thought they could safely earn an honest penny in a legitimate affair, they would stoop to anything!

We were soon such a huge cavalcade that I became nervous about the reception L—— would give us. The Russian officers, too, became more and more drunk in the open air, and kept on saying that they hoped there would be fighting, heavy fighting, for they felt just like it. A charge was what they wanted, they said. No one could find out with whom they proposed to fight, as the place we were going to was only a stone's throw away, with not a Chinaman near and a couple of strong companies of Russian infantry inside. The officers became intensely angry when everyone laughed, and said that although they were drunk, they were not like many people without stomachs about whom there had been so much talk. That was a nasty home-blow for some of them.

We found L—— ready enough; indeed, we had kept him waiting. He had most of his staff with him, and the usual escort of Cossacks standing by their horses, making it seem very official. Of course, L—— became furious when he saw the big crowd of people, and asked whether it was going to be a picnic. This word tickled one of the drunken officers so much, that suddenly he let his loose legs relapse and clapped his spurs into his animal, which reared horribly, and in the end sent him on the ground. I thought I should die of laughter. Then everybody became more and more fussy, because they were afraid of L——, but, fortunately, the general started off ahead, muttering to himself, and we rode after him like some procession. It seemed to me very absurd, and at that point I lost all confidence in the success of the expedition. Everyone had become too sanguine, and I fully believe that you cannot have any luck in such affairs with a crowd of idiots. Other people, who had no business to know of the affair, somehow managed to join us on the way, and when we reached the Board of Revenue we numbered dozens of men, not including the escorts.

There were about two companies of Russian infantry in occupation there, as I have already said, and in the first halls we found armed guards superintending hundreds of small Chinese boys at work stringing together copper cash. There must have been millions and hundreds of millions of these worthless coins either piled up in great mountains or scattered on the floors, and it would take months to sort them out and market them. It was the only thing the cunning Japanese had openly left!

L—— now called the officers of the guard, and explained to them that he was about to seize secret treasure which had been so well hidden by the Chinese that the Japanese had not been able to find it. He told them to give their assistance. The new officers, when they heard this, looked so sharply at one another, that everyone began to comment on it, and say that if there was nothing left they knew who was guilty. It was becoming delightful.

We started off in a body with the ku-ping, or treasury guards, who were giving the information, leading us. They took us past a good many huge buildings that looked like grimy old warehouses, and then stopped us short at one that appeared to be still barred and bolted. It took some time to open these doors, although the officers of the guard said that they had only been closed after they had taken over the place from the Japanese; and when we got inside it was so dark and dank that we could see nothing and could scarcely breathe. Candles had to be lighted, and as they threw feeble flickers of light across the gloom, hideous bats began flying madly about, and dashing to the ground in their fright great shreds of dusty cobwebs that must have been centuries old. Nobody minded that, however; it seemed just the sort of place where millions could really be found in these prosaic days!

The thing was now interesting, if only from a psychological point of view....

The ku-ping advanced, without hesitation, and brought us to a high wooden paling which shut off one half of this immense hall from the other. Inside the paling, as far as we could see, there were just mountains of empty sacks—hundreds of thousands of them, even millions, I should think.

But the paling was impassable. A small gate leading through it was still locked with a heavy Chinese padlock, and there was no key. One of the officers gave a wave of his hand, and a couple of the soldiers went out and reappeared with axes. In a few blows they had cleared a broad opening; the ku-ping sprang through, and, like bloodhounds that scent a trail, ran swiftly up the steep slopes of the great masses of empty bags, looking eagerly about them. Then, finally calculating aloud, they marked down a spot. They had located the exact place where they would have to begin to work. They stripped themselves to the waist with great rapidity, and, feeling that their reputations were at stake, without any warning they were heaving away among those empty sacks like so many madmen. Faster and faster they worked, throwing away the sacks. Choking clouds of dust, now rising as if by magic, filled the whole vast hall and drove us back coughing and gasping for air, until, fairly beaten, we had to stand outside. As if through a thick vapour we could dimly see those men still working more and more rapidly. I wondered how they could breathe....

In very few minutes, however, they also had had enough, but as they sprang down, and quickly gasping, sought the open air, they brought with them the end of a rope. They had evidently not only located the exact spot they were seeking, but had found the first trace which was necessary to make their search successful. Still, it was impossible to continue work in this way. It would take hours, at such a slow rate, to dig down beneath those mountains of old treasure-sacks. It would take more hours to excavate or open up chambers beneath. So we held a short consultation. There was but one thing to do. We must tear down one side of the building, so as to have more light, and to be able to put more men to work. No sooner decided on, than the thing was done, for in this work the Russians are supreme. They called in fatigue parties from the infantry companies in garrison, and telling them in simple language to break down one side of the building, in a few moments a wonderful scene began. I had seen some rapid work at short intervals during the worst agony of the siege, but never have I seen men who could handle the axe and the crowbar like these rude infantrymen. Everything went down under their blows—brickwork, woodwork, stonework, iron stanchions, everything; and with a rapidity which seemed incredible, gaping spaces appeared. Soon, standing outside, from a dozen different points, you could see the Chinese informants inside at work again, in those clouds of choking dust, thrashing up and down, like men possessed.

But energy is not sufficient for some things. Three men were attempting the work of a hundred. We must have more hands.

This time the dozens of small boys stringing cash in the outer courtyards were called in and told to fall to; and forming lines which oddly resembled those made by firemen, they were soon bundling out the empty sacks to the open at the rate of thousands a minute. Faster and faster they worked, as if the same frenzy had spread to them; wider and wider moved the rings of floating dust, until they hung high above everything and made the day seem dull and threatening. Then suddenly the ku-ping inside gave a shout. They had got low enough for the time being—they wanted to be able to see. The squads of sweating soldiers and the dozens of grimy little boys desisted and stood open-eyed to see what was to follow. They were beginning to appreciate the significance of it all.

We waited patiently and watched the great clouds melt away and settle on our clothes and silt into our eyes; and then finally, when it was clearer, a man inside struck a match, lit a candle and handed it down into a great hole which had been dug through the very centre of these decade-old bullion coverings. How deep the hole was I could not see, but the three men slipped in and were entirely lost to our view.

They seemed a long time down there without giving a single sign or making any noise, and we all became a little nervous. Perhaps the thing was really miscarrying. Soon I felt certain that it had miscarried, and bitterly regretted taking the matter in hand. Then one man came up gruntingly and began cursing and swearing as soon as he saw us. He did that because he was afraid. I feared the worst. On his shoulders there was one single great lump of silver and nothing else, and as he clambered out to where we stood he tilted it with a dull thud to the ground, and said sullenly that that was the only thing left, and that others had been there before us. He repeated this several times, so that there should be no mistake; there was only this enormous piece of silver and nothing else. The smile's left everybody's face. Never have I seen such a sudden change. However, to me it was kismet....

In some trepidation we at length approached L—— and told him what had been said, and then there was another storm. He said that it was impossible—that there must be some mistake—that the men had said that the bullion was there, and there it must be. As he spoke his anger rose again, and coming up and kicking the massive silver ingot, he asked again and again in a few words of French, which I believe he had learned especially for the occasion, "Mais ou est l'or? mais ou est l'or?" It was almost pitiful to hear him repeat these words again and again like a child. He believed we were cheating him....

The position had now become suddenly ridiculous, and I did not know what to do. Everyone soon took up L——'s attitude, and felt that they had been cheated by some one. Indeed, they acted as if they had lost valued possessions. They all clambered around me, and said that it was disgraceful, and that something should be done to punish the men who had brought the false information. They became so excited that it was necessary to create a diversion by going down into that hole ourselves to see exactly what it meant. That proved the last straw.

It was the dirtiest and most uncomfortable descent I have ever made. Sliding down through those piles of sacks led one to a false floor, some planks of which had been forced up by the Chinese informants. Beneath this was a short ladder, and, stepping down, one found one's self in an immense underground chamber. The air was so thick and dank here that it was almost impossible to breathe, and in the flickering light of the candles we could just see a confused mass of chests and boxes ranged round. Everyone of these had been battered open. The cunning Japanese must have been there first and taken everything. Alone that big lump of silver had been left because of its weight.

But there was something I missed. These ku-ping had been emphatic about the valuable weights we would find hidden—the standard weights of China in pure gold, which were centuries old, they said, and were the same as had been used during the Ming dynasty hundreds of years before. I asked for them—where were they kept? Perhaps we might at least have these.

Alas! they led me to a smaller chamber, with a curious little door formed of a single slab of stone, and pointed once again disconsolately to more rifled boxes. These outer chests covered smaller boxes, which were of the size of the weights themselves. I had always heard that the biggest weight of all was a square block of gold equal to the weight of a full-grown man. I would like to have seen that, but everything was gone. It was useless wasting any more time.

We came up again carrying some of those silk-lined boxes as explanations and souvenirs. But our friends were now all standing round some soldiers, who had accidentally knocked aside some flags of stone, and had found a deep hole underneath. They were now jerking away violently at some last obstruction, and finally they swept aside everything and bared some steep steps. As we stood wondering what had been discovered, and our hopes were almost revived, far down below appeared a grimy face, and a man at last ran up, rapidly exclaiming from surprise, as he mounted to the surface. It was one of our Chinese informants! Then suddenly we saw the point, and in spite of our discomfiture began laughing. The soldiers of the fatigue parties, slower than us to understand, at length followed our example; then the hundreds of small Chinese boys; then everyone else, until we were all laughing. For we had been fooled and well fooled by those clever little Japanese. When they had seized the Treasury, they had not only discovered the general stores of silver, but had managed to find this hidden entrance or some other near by. Without any trouble they had gone down and taken everything, swept the place clean, and left, probably as a supreme sarcasm, that one enormous lump of blackened silver.... We were indeed well sold. It was immense.

At that particular moment I do not think any one was very bitter at this absurd anti-climax after those great expectations. That is, excepting the old general. Somehow, he became convinced by our preparations that there would be much gold found as a just reward. Now once again he accused us all of making a fool of him, of knowing from the beginning that it was a wild-goose chase. I thought sarcastically about his telegram and the desire he had had in the first place to haggle about the terms; and I let him mutter on. It is always the one who laughs last who laughs best. I made a little plan.

We retired from the Chinese Treasury with rather indecent haste. L—— did not even look at the guard which turned out as we passed the entrance. When we had entered they had hurrahed him, and hoped that his health was good, in a chorus after their custom; and he had made a little speech in return, trusting that his children were also well! It was amusing if you happened to be able to appreciate that kind of wit. Most of my companions, however, did not. And yet with the clouds of dust which had settled on us and covered us from head to food with dirt it was impossible to look even dignified with success. And all my friends, who had been so cordial and admiring in the morning, how cold and distant they had become! They had not made anything—was not that a sufficient excuse for any behaviour?