not a soldier, he was a Boxer; and in place of the former incomplete
attire of red sashes and strings, this true patriot wore a long red
tunic edged with blue, and had his head tied up in the regulation
_bonnet rouge_ of the French Revolution. Round his waist he had also
girded on a blue cartridge-belt of cloth, with great thick Martini
bullets jammed into the thumb holes. This we thought very curious at
the time, as the Boxers were supposed to laugh at firearms. Elated by
this little affair, we pushed on, and came upon other men working
round our lines in small bands, and exchanged shots with them. All
were Boxers in this new uniform; but although we tried to entice them
on and corner them in houses, they were too cunning for us, and broke
back each time. In the end we had so stirred up this hornet's nest
that the scattered firing became more and more persistent, and stern
orders came for us to fall back.

We came in feeling elated, but Colonel S---- was looking serious, for
he had discovered that the extent of Prince Su's outer walls, which
have to be held in their entirety, is so much greater than was
expected, and every part can be so easily attacked from the outside,
that the task is desperate. There are less than fifty men in all for
these long Japanese lines, and if we take more from elsewhere it will
be merely creating fresh gaps.... Decidedly it is not enticing. The
whole line from the north right round to the south, where the
Japanese, French, Austrians, Italians and Germans are distributed,
ending on the Tartar Wall itself, is terribly weak. And as I began to
understand this, an hour after this afternoon adventure I became quite
gloomy at the outlook.

Everything, indeed, was upside down. Matters in the British Legation
were not improving, and the fighting air which exists elsewhere is not