Chapter I: Preface

The campaign which ended with the relief of the Pekin Legations is unique in its way, carried on as it was by an army made up of almost all the nationalities of Europe. The quarrel originated in the rising of a mob of ruffians who were known by us under the name of Boxers. The movement spread like wildfire, and soon developed into the wholesale massacre of the missionaries of Northern China. The Empress, seeing the formidable nature of the rising, and hoping to gain by it the expulsion of all foreigners from her dominions, allied herself with the Boxers, besieged the various Legations, and attacked Tientsin, which stands upon the river by which the trade with Pekin is carried on. Admiral Seymour, with a force of little over a thousand men, marched to the relief of the Legations. The railway, however, was cut both before and behind him, and after severe fighting he retired upon a Chinese fortress a few miles from Tientsin, where he maintained himself until he was relieved by another force which had arrived by sea and had destroyed the forts at the mouth of the river. Tientsin itself was captured by the allies after one dayʼs hard fighting, and the army then advanced to the relief of the Legations. The opposition they met with was trifling in comparison with that which they had encountered at Tientsin, and they arrived at Pekin not a moment too soon. It was found that the Legations had been very hard pressed, some of them having been destroyed by fire. But the garrison had maintained a heroic defence, aided by the native Christians who had escaped the massacre and taken refuge with them, and who had done excellent work in the building and constant repair of the defences, sometimes under the heavy fire of the enemy. The Empress had fled, but negotiations were opened with her and terms of peace were ultimately agreed to. For the particulars of the campaign I have relied chiefly upon _The War of the Civilizations_, by George Lynch, _China and the Powers_, by H. C. Thomson, and _The Siege of Pekin Legations_, by the Rev. Roland Allen, M. A.

G. A. HENTY.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. SCHOOL, 1

II. THE BOXERS, 20

III. IN DISGUISE, 39

IV. A RESCUE, 55

V. WITH SEYMOURʼS COLUMN, 76

VI. IN PEKIN, 96

VII. FORTIFYING THE LEGATIONS, 110

VIII. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE, 134

IX. IN THE ENEMYʼS CAMP, 148

X. A MISSION, 180

XI. THE FIGHT AT TIENTSIN, 211

XII. DELAYS, 232

XIII. CAPTURING THE TAKU FORTS, 251

XIV. SURROUNDED, 270

XV. RELIEF IN SIGHT, 286

XVI. THE CAPTURE OF PEKIN, 303

XVII. THE STORY OF THE SIEGE, 322

XVIII. CONCLUSION, 337

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

“THE TIGER SEIZED HIM BY THE SHOULDER,” _Frontis_ ii

REX RESCUES HIS COUSINS FROM THE BOXERS, 62

REX INTERROGATES A WOUNDED BOXER, 100

“THEY WERE LOWERED DOWN ONE AFTER THE OTHER,” 142

“REXʼS REVOLVER CRACKED OUT,” 170

“THERE WAS A LULL OF SURPRISE THEN A CONFUSED JABBERING,
FOLLOWED BY SEVERAL MUSKET–SHOTS,” 200

“BASIL GUY RAN BACK AND BOUND UP HIS WOUNDS,” 236

“THEIR CAVALRY CUT UP THE FLYING CHINESE,” 290

Map illustrating the Relief of the Pekin Legations, _Facing p._ 1

WITH THE ALLIES TO PEKIN