whole hosts of lamb-faced converts, whose presence in such close
proximity was intolerable. Heaven only knew how the matter would end.
The night before people had been only too glad to rush frantically to
a place of safety; with daylight they remembered that they were
terribly uncomfortable--that this might have to go on for days or for
weeks. It is very hard to die uncomfortably. I thought then that
things would never be shaken into proper shape.

In this wise has our siege commenced; with all the men angry and
discontented; with no responsible head; with the one man among those
high-placed dead; with hundreds of converts crowding us at every
turn--in a word, with everything just the natural outcome of the
vacillation and ignorance displayed during the past weeks by those who
should have been the leaders. Fortunately, as I have already said, so
far there has been no fighting or no firing worth speaking of. Only
along the French and Italian barricades, facing east and north, a
dropping fire has continued since yesterday, and one Frenchman has
been shot through the head and one Austrian wounded. It is worth while
noting, now that I think of it, that the French, the Italians, the
Germans, and, of course, the Austrians, have accepted Captain T----,
the cruiser captain, as their commander-in-chief, and that the
Japanese have signified their willingness to do so, too, as soon as
the British and Americans do likewise. Thus already there are signs
that a pretty storm is brewing over this question of a responsible
commander; and, of course, so long as things remain as they are at
present, there can be no question of an adequate defence. Each
detachment is acting independently and swearing at all the others,
excepting the French and Austrians, for the good reason that as the
Austrians have taken refuge in the French lines they must remain
polite. Half the officers are also at loggerheads; volunteers have