pink walls of the Imperial city, which form a background to the bridge, although he might as well have ordered musical drill.  Meanwhile the unfortunate J——­ was caught half way across the stone bridge by some other Chinese snipers, who had been lying concealed there all the time behind some piles of stones.  He was hit several times, though not killed, as several people swear they saw him crawling down into the canal bed on his hands and knees.  Volley-firing continued at the Main Gate, and the aforesaid British officer cursed himself into a fever of rage over his men.  Even when J——­ had finally disappeared, no steps were taken to see what had become of him; he was calmly reported lost.  This was the opening of the ball at the British Legation.

No sooner was it dark than M——­, the chief, appeared on the scenes, smoking a cigarette reminiscent of his Egyptian campaign, and clad in orthodox evening dress.  This completed everyone’s anger, but the end was not yet.  At ten in the evening a scare developed among the women, and it was decided to begin fortifying some of the more exposed points.  Everybody who could be found was turned on to this work, but in the dark little progress could be made excepting in removing all possibility of any one going to sleep.

But the sublimely ridiculous was reached in an out-of-the-way building facing the canal, an incident displaying even more than anything else the attitude of some of the personnel of our missions to China.  Sleeping peacefully in his nice pyjamas under a mosquito net was found a sleek official of the London Board of Works, who wanted to know what was meant by waking him up in the middle of the night.  Investigations elsewhere found other members of this Legation asleep in their beds; everybody said the young men were all right, but those above a certain age...!

The night thus spent itself very uneasily.  They were only learning what should have been known days before.

When day broke in the British Legation things had seemed more impossible than ever.  Orders and counter-orders came from every side; the place was choked with women, missionaries, puling children, and whole hosts of lamb-faced converts, whose presence in such close proximity was intolerable.  Heaven only knew how the matter would end.  The night before people had been only too glad to rush frantically to a place of safety; with daylight they remembered that they were terribly uncomfortable—­that this might have to go on for days or for weeks.  It is very hard to die uncomfortably.  I thought then that things would never be shaken into proper shape.