All thoughts of relief have been pushed into the middle distance—­and even beyond—­by the urgent business we have now on hand.  For the attacks have been suddenly resumed, and have been continuous, well sustained, and far worse than anything we have ever experienced before, even in the first furious days of the siege.  What stupendous quantities of ammunition have been loosed off on us during the past forty-eight hours—­what tons of lead and nickel!  Some of our barricades have been so eaten away by this fire, that there is but little left, and we are forced to lie prone on the ground hour after hour, not daring to move and not daring to send reliefs at the appointed intervals.  So intense has the rifle-fire been around the Su Wang-fu and the French Legation lines, that high above the deafening roar of battle a distinct and ominous snake-like hissing can be heard—­a hiss, hiss, hiss, that never ceases.  It is the high-velocity nickel-nosed bullet tearing through the air at lightning speed, and spitting with rage at its ill success in driving home on some unfortunate wretch.  They hiss, hiss, hiss, hour after hour, without stopping; and as undertone to that brutal hiss there is the roll of the rifles themselves, crackling at us by the thousand like dry fagots.  At first this storm of sound paralyses you a little; then a lust for battle gains you, and you steadily drive bullets through the Chinese loopholes in the hope of finding a Chinese face.  Whenever they bunch and press forward we wither them to pieces....  But men are falling on our side more rapidly than we care to think—­one rolled over on top of me two hours ago drilled through and through—­and if anything should happen to the relieving columns and delay their arrival for only two or three days, this tornado of fire will have swept all our defenders into the hospitals.  The Chinese guns are also booming again, and shrapnel and segment are tearing down trees and outhouses, bursting through walls, splintering roofs, and wrecking our strongest defences more and more.  Just now one of our few remaining ponies was struck, and it was a pitiable sight, giving a bloody illustration of the deadly force of shell-fragments.  The piece that struck this poor animal was not very big, but still it simply tore into his flank, and seemed to burst him in two.  With his entrails hanging out and his agonised eyes mutely protesting, the pony staggered and fell.  Then we despatched him with our rifles.

Our casualty list has now passed the two hundred mark, they say.  In a few days more, fifty per cent. of the total force of active combatants will have been either killed or wounded.