From the main sketch you will see that the holding of the Tartar Wall,
together with the American and Russian Legations, protects the British
Legation effectively from the south and partially, from the west; that
the Franco-German-Austrian lines, and the Su wang-fu, with the
Japanese, mask the east; and that of the other two sides on which the
British Legation walls and outbuildings really constitute the actual
defence line directly in touch with the enemy, the Imperial Carriage
Park, a vast grass-grown area with but half a dozen yellow-roofed
buildings in it, makes the western approaches very difficult to
attack, since they are easily swept by our rifle-fire; and that the
northern side is so filled with buildings belonging to the Chinese
Government (which it now seems cannot be destroyed), that I do not
apprehend attacks here. The only real dangers to the British Legation
in any case are these two corners to the north and the southwest....

Passing over to the Su wang-fu, you realise the extraordinary
difference between the danger points along the British Legation
northern and western barricades, and little Colonel S----'s command.
Here you are in direct touch with the enemy, for the snipers of
forty-eight hours ago have been strongly reinforced, doubtless
attracted by the possibility of loot.

[Illustration: Map of the siege.]

Soldiers and all sorts of banditti must have joined hands with the
Boxers, for it is clear that every hour is mysteriously adding more
and more men round our lines. You can hear the men talking, and you
can see bricks moving but fifty or sixty yards from where you are
squinting through a loophole as fresh barricades, that are gradually
surrounding us in a vise which may yet crush us to death, are silently