expeditions; of the Legations tardily bestirring themselves in their
own defence, and realising that they must try and forget their private
politics if they are even to live, not to say one day to resume their
various rivalries and animosities. Imperceptibly we are being impelled
to take action; we must do something.

We woke up late on the 14th to the fact that loopholed barricades had
been everywhere begun on our streets, as effective bars to the inrush
of savage torch-bearing desperadoes, each Legation doing its own work;
and that the Chinese Government, with its likes and dislikes, would
have to be seriously and cynically disregarded if we wished to
preserve the breath of life. So barricades have been going up on all
sides, excepting near the British Legation, where the same
indifference and sloth, which have so greatly contributed to this
_impasse_, still remain undisturbed. Near the Austrian, French,
American, Italian and Russian Legations barricade-builders are at
work, capturing stray Peking carts, turning them over and filling them
full of bricks. So quickly has the work been pushed on, that in some
places there are already loopholed walls three feet thick stretching
across our streets, and so cleverly constructed that carts can still
pass in and out without great difficulty. We are still on speaking
terms with the Chinese Government, but who knows what the morrow may
bring?

But although you may have gathered some idea of the general aspect of
Peking from what I have written, it is more than probable that you
have no clear conception of the Legation quarter and what this
barricading means. It seems certain that we will have to fight some
one in time, so I will try and explain.