ignette of war--those dozens upon dozens
of curious soldier faces framed in slouch hats only half
understanding; the imploring eunuch on the ground, the huddled mass of
slaughtered men swimming in their blood in the shadow behind; that
thick smell of murder and sudden death rising and stinking in the hot
air; and the last cruel note of that Chinese figure, with a shriek of
agony and fear petrified on the features, swinging in long, loose
clothes from the rafter above. In the bright sunlight and the sudden
silence which had come over everything, there was a peculiar menace in
all this which chilled one....

Perhaps the eunuch had divined from my different dress that he would
be better understood by me than by these rough crowds of rank and file
who crushed him in; for, as I gazed, he had thrown himself at my feet,
with muttered words and a constant begging and imploring. I noticed
then that the unfortunate man could not walk, could only drag himself
like a beaten dog. The reason soon transpired: both his legs had been
broken by some mad jump which he must have essayed in his agony to
escape. I quieted the man's fears as best I could, and, tearing a
sheet from a note-book, wrote a description of him, so that a field
hospital would dress him. Then, anxious to learn something concrete
with this vapour of haziness and confusion blinding us all, I began
questioning him quickly about the Palace, the numbers of soldiery
within, the strength of the inner enclosures, and the residences of
the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. The man answered me willingly
enough, but suddenly said it was all no use, that we were too late.
The Emperor, the Empress Dowager, indeed, the whole Court, had
disappeared--had fled, was gone....

Gone!

On my life, I could scarcely believe my ears. After all these weeks of
confusion and plotting, had the Empress Dowager and her whole Court
fled at the very last moment, and, by so doing, escaped all
possibility of vengeance? Was it really so? One might have known that
this loose-jointed relief expedition could accomplish nothing, would
do everything wrong; and still we were acting as if everything was in
our hands. Then, suddenly, I fined down my questions, and imperatively
asked when the Court had fled; exactly at what hour and in what
direction.

At first I could get no reliable answer, but, pushing my questions and
assuming a threatening attitude, the shattered eunuch at length
collapsed, and whinin