are leaving the sinking ship quietly and silently, for a quiet word
passed round had informed everyone of what is coming, and no one
wishes to be caught. This is the sort of silent play I love to watch.

Just before this, however, down beyond the Austrian Legation came a
flourish of hoarse-throated trumpets--those wonderful Chinese
trumpets. Blare, blare, in a half-chorus they first hang on a high
note; then suddenly tumbling an octave, they roar a bassoon-like
challenge in unison like a lot of enraged bulls. Nearer and nearer, as
if challenging us with these hoarse sounds, came a large body of
soldiery; we could distinctly see the bright cluster of banners round
the squadron commander. Pushing through the clouds of dust which
floated high above them, the horses and their riders appeared and
skirted the edge of our square. We noted the colour of their tunics
and the blackness of the turbans. Two horsemen who dismounted for some
reason, swung themselves rapidly into their saddles, carbine in hand,
and galloped madly to rejoin their comrades in a very significant way.
For a moment they half turned and waved their Mannlichers at us,
showing their breast-circle of characters. They were the soldiers of
savage Tung Fu-hsiang, and were going west--that is, into the Imperial
city. The manner in which they so coolly rode past fifty yards away
must have frightened some one, for when I passed here an hour later
the Austrian Legation and its street defences had been suddenly
abandoned by our men. We had surrendered, without striking a blow, a
quarter of our ground! I remember that I was only mildly interested at
this; everything was so _bouleverse_ and curious that a little more
could not matter. It was like in a dream. Tramping back, the Austrian
sailors crowded into the French Legation and all round their lines and
threw themselves down. One man was so drunk from lack of sleep that he
tumbled on the ground and could not be made to move again. Everybody