by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XIII
CAPTURING THE TAKU FORTS
One afternoon Rex went to see his friend the midshipman at thebarricade.
“I wish you would tell me,” Rex said, “all about the capture of theTaku Forts. Beyond the fact that they were captured I have heard nextto nothing.”
“Well, it is rather a long story,” the middy said, “but as everythingis quiet, I don?t mind telling you about it if you like.”
“I should be very much obliged if you would,” Rex said.
“Well, then, here goes. You have not seen the place, I suppose?”
“No.”
“Well, the mouth of the river is strongly fortified, especially onthe north side, where there is a big casemated fort with earthworks,mounting altogether some fifty guns of different sizes. A third of amile farther up the river is the inner fort, which is very strong, butsmaller than the other, and mounts about thirty guns. An earthworkcovered–way connects the two forts, and the parapet is pierced formany small guns. On the south side, extending a mile along the shore,are a number of casemated batteries, mounting about one hundred andtwenty guns. These are good guns, and for the most part modern. Thereis also an inner fort a mile inland, built for the defence of the mainmagazines.
“All these fortifications consist of earthworks with cement andconcrete galleries. They are wonderfully well built; certainly as goodas any I have ever seen. You see, mud is the usual substance withwhich they build houses in China, and they are wonderfully cleverwith it. At many points of the fortification there are high and verypowerful redoubts, which carry at their angles very big modern guns,mostly Krupp quick–firers. All these forts seem to have been designedby foreigners; I don?t think the Chinese would ever have been up tosuch work if they hadn?t had foreign instructors. Apparently, however,they sacked these fellows when they had finished the batteries, andthemselves carried out the rest of the work. There hasn?t been anyregular garrison in these forts for some years, but officials andhangers–on have resided there. When the row began, however, troops camemarching in, and we calculated that at the time of the bombardmentthey were occupied by some eight thousand men. I fancy they were goodsoldiers, for they came from Hunan, which province is considered toturn out the best soldiers in China. Their general, Liu, came from thesame place.
“Unfortunately the water near the forts is very shoal, and war–vesselsthat drew twenty feet of water were obliged to heave–to five miles offthe bar; that is to say, ten miles off the forts. By the fifteenththere were twenty–five foreign men–of–war here—British, French,German, Austrian, Russian, Italian, and Japanese. An American ship cameup a day or two before the battle. It was difficult getting news so farout, so the admiral?s light–draught yacht anchored close outside thebar, and they ran a wire into the destroyer Fame, which was anchoredjust outside the fort. By this means despatches were wired out to theyacht, and either flashed or semaphored to the fleet. A mile above thefort was the Imperial naval yard and docks, and lying moored to thewharves were four very fine thirty–two–knot German–built destroyers,with full Chinese crews on board.
“During the day before the battle everyone was on the qui vive, forit was known that a summons to surrender next day had been sent into the forts. Only two trains were despatched for Tientsin, and boththese had to be worked by engineers from the fleet, for all the Chinesehad disappeared. A large Japanese force was landed from their ship,and encamped by the side of the railway at Tongku, two miles from theforts. Later in the day they shifted camp to the other side of therailway, to make room for a large Russian infantry force that had justcome in from Port Arthur. Two hundred blue–jackets from our shipsencamped near them in the evening, at the head of the road to theforts. A train came down from Tientsin in the afternoon containing anumber of foreigners, principally women and children, who at once tookshelter on some merchant steamers lying off the wharves.
“During the day the _Fame_ dropped her end of the wire, and, steamingup the river, took up her station by the four Chinese destroyers in themiddle yard. The _Algerine_, which had been lying between the northand south forts, also moved up the river to a berth about a third of amile off the inner north fort. A quarter of a mile higher three Russiangun–boats were moored in line; higher still lay the German gun–boats,moored to one of the wharves; and a little lower down was the French_Lion_. At another wharf higher up lay the Japanese _Atago_, and higherup the United States paddle–wheel steamer _Monocacy_. I hope I am notboring you with too many particulars?”
“Not at all, I am much obliged to you for giving me such a goodaccount; I seem to be able to see the whole thing.”
“Well, I must tell you that the _Monocacy_ had been ordered to takeno share in the business, but she did useful work in giving shelterto a number of women and children. Although we knew that an ultimatumhad been sent in, nobody dreamed that the rumpus was going to beginso soon. We thought that, as usual, messages would be exchanged, andthat the thing would drag on a little before anything serious came ofit. The _Algerine_ had her ventilators up, masts all standing, andyards crossed. The Germans on the _Iltis_ had landed their boats andventilators some days before; the _Lion_ had housed her ventilators butstill had her yards crossed. At nine o?clock a long searchlight trainwent out under the command of Lieutenants Kirkpatrick and Riley, withthe twelve–pounder Hotchkiss, two Maxims, and a hundred men—German,British, and French. It was stoked by British blue–jackets, and wasdriven by a German engineer from the _Iltis_.
“All watched the glare of the searchlight for about three hours, tillit disappeared across the plain in the direction of Tientsin. Then allwho were on the port watch turned in. We had scarcely got into ourhammocks when there was the boom of a heavy gun, and you can imaginehow quickly we all jumped into our clothes again and ran on deck. Wecould see that the inner north fort was firing, and guessed that the_Algerine_, which was lying nearest to her, was the target. No returnshot came from her, and it was evident that she was taken as much bysurprise as we were. Bom, bom, bom went the big guns. It was about fiveminutes before the _Algerine_ replied, and shortly afterwards the threeRussian gun–boats returned the fire, and the _Iltis_ and the _Lion_also joined in.
“Of course, all this part of the business I am telling you fromhearsay, for we were necessarily only spectators of the affray; and youcan imagine, Bateman, that we were hopping mad with being altogetherout of it. It was enough to make one tear one?s hair. However, thegreat part of the blue–jackets and marines were ashore, and would soonbe having a look–in; but there were we, as much out of it as if we wereoff Spithead. Well, of course, now that I have had my turn ashore hereI am satisfied, but at the time it was maddening.
“Nevertheless it was a splendid sight, I can tell you. All the fortshad now joined in, and the flashes that burst from them and from thegun–boats were almost incessant. In a few minutes the _Iltis_ steameddown at full speed from her wharf and joined the three Russians and the_Algerine_, the crews of which cheered her enthusiastically as she wentinto action. Shortly afterwards the French _Lion_ also came down. Shehad been lying with her head up the river, and so had taken longer thanthe _Iltis_. She, too, was warmly welcomed. The whole of the forts werenow pouring in a heavy cannonade, and every gun that could be broughtto bear from the six gun–boats replied at a range of hardly a mile. The_Iltis_, with her eight 3.4 quick–firers, and the _Algerine_, with her4–inch guns, engaged the north fort. The _Lion_, with her two 5.5–inchguns, joined them, while the three Russians directed their fire on thesouth forts. They were all heavily armed, the _Bobr_ had a 9–inch gunin her bows, and a 6–inch in her stern. The _Corkoretch_ had two 8–inchguns and one 6–inch, and the _Gilyak_ had one 4–inch gun in her bows,two 2.6–inch guns and four 1.8–inch guns in her military top.
“All the ships kept up a heavy and methodical fire from themachine–guns in their tops, and so searched out the bastions; while theheavy guns made it impossible for the gunners to stick to their work.It was, however, difficult to keep up a
n accurate fire against a gunin the shade of the forts. Many of the Chinese soldiers left the fort,and, taking cover among the mud–houses, maintained a heavy fire on themen on deck and in the tops, and the _Gilyak_, which was closest to thevillage, suffered heavily.
“Meanwhile the _Fame_ and the _Whiting_ had been ordered to attack thefour Chinese destroyers lying in dock. As they approached, however,the Chinese crews jumped ashore and bolted. The _Fame_ grappled one,and towed it down the river to Tongku, two tow–boats belonging to amercantile company took the two others in charge, and the _Whiting_brought out the fourth. These four splendid destroyers, if they hadbeen manned with resolute crews, could have sunk six gun–boats withoutdifficulty.
“The battle raged till morning. The gun–boats were doing their utmostto keep down the fire of the forts; but although the practice wasexcellent, they quite failed to do so owing to the fact that it wasimpossible to get the exact range. Fortunately the fire of the Chinesewas extremely inaccurate. The gunners were evidently unaccustomedto work heavy guns, such as they were now handling, and althoughthey stuck gallantly to their work in spite of the large number ofcasualties, they did little damage. Sometimes the powder charges werealtogether too heavy, sometimes so light that the shot never reachedthe ships. Their shells almost all failed to burst. Sometimes a shotwould fall close alongside, and the next would go clean overhead.
“As daylight approached, the boats got up anchor, with the exception ofthe _Gilyak_, which had received a heavy projectile on her water–line.She made water fast, but still maintained a heavy fire, and remained ather moorings while the damage was being temporarily repaired, thoughshe suffered severely in consequence. You may imagine what a state ofmind we were all in on board the larger ships. There were those sixlittle boats fighting against a whole chain of huge forts that ought tohave sunk them at the first round.
“Meanwhile, of course, our fellows, the Russians, and Japs, who hadlanded the day before, were not idle. Naturally they got under arms assoon as the first gun was fired, but they could really do nothing untildaylight, for they were ignorant of the country, which was all cut upwith dykes and ditches.
“If the force had tried to cross there in the dark they would speedilyhave been broken up and half of them would have been mired. They chafedvery much, however, at the delay, though they recognized the necessityof it, and they set out eagerly at the first gleam of daylight.
“When they got up anchor, the gun–boats moved backwards and forwards,engaging a fort here, plumping shell into another somewhere else, andseeming to care nothing at all for the rain of shot and shell to whichthey were exposed. It was difficult for us to keep count of them,moving about as they did, and more than once a good many of us thoughtthat one of them was gone.
“Presently we were all in the boats and making for the shore. Day beganto break just as we approached the forts. At this moment the Chinesegunners doubled their fire, and now we thought the gun–boats couldnever live under such a storm of shot and shell. But their fire was asregular as ever, and the fact that they were all in motion seemed tobother the Chinese gunners as much as the darkness had done. A 10–inchgun isn?t easily managed by men who have never used such a toy before,so that although the fire from the smaller guns was more accurate thanit had been, it seemed to us that the big ones fired less frequently.The _Iltis_ was hit by a heavy shot, and at the same moment a magazineat the northern end of the south fort blew up. The Chinese fireslackened a little, but in a short time the action was as hot as ever.
“We and the Japs were making for the north forts, and the Russiansfor the other side. I tell you, Bateman, things looked nasty. By sixo?clock the storming parties were near the north forts, and a heavyfire was already opened upon them; but they pushed steadily forwarduntil at eighteen minutes past six the main magazine of the south fortsblew up. The concussion was terrible, and a dense black column of smokeand fragments of all sorts rose a thousand feet in the air.
“Firing stopped instantly, and for half a minute a dead silencereigned. Then a tremendous cheer rose from the gun–boats and stormingparties, and the latter raced forward to the assault. Firing wasrenewed more briskly than ever on both sides, but at half–past sixthe resistance had almost ceased, and the British flag was hoisted onthe north fort, followed a minute later by that of the Japanese. Thegarrison of the southern fort, appalled by the destruction that hadbeen made by the explosion, were already in full flight across theplain, and now those on the north side were endeavouring to followtheir example.
“The number of casualties among the storming party had not been large,that of the British and Japanese amounting to only twenty–six killedand wounded. The casualties in the gun–boats were remarkably few,almost miraculously so considering the fire to which they had beenexposed. The Russians had suffered most, having sixteen men killed andthree officers and fifty–two men wounded; the Germans had six killedand fifteen wounded; the French one officer killed and one man wounded;and the British three men killed and one officer wounded. The Chineseactually in the forts consisted of three thousand men. The rest were insupport behind and near the line of railway, and took no part in theaffair. Nearly one thousand killed were found in the forts, and theprisoners, who were nearly as many, were set to throw the bodies intothe river.
“All communications ceased with Tientsin from the time of the captureof the forts, and it was not till some days afterwards that we learnedfrom a man who rode through the Chinese lines that the place wasbesieged and that the garrison were hardly able to hold their own.
“There is no doubt that it was a fine action, and we, who had beenleft on board the ship, were very sore at being out of it; but, ofcourse, even if we had been ashore, we should only have been with theassaulting column, and their share in the business was a very smallone. The gun–boats had all the fighting and all the glory. I dare say,however, that we shall get our share presently. I don?t think theChinese are much good in the open, but I fancy they can stick to theirwalls, and in the narrow streets we may have very sharp work.”
“It must have been a grand affair,” Rex said. “Fancy six littlegun–boats fighting for so many hours against forts mounting nearlythree hundred guns! Of course some of these couldn?t be brought to bearupon them, but there must have been enough to blow them out of thewater in a quarter of an hour.”
“One would certainly think so, but we must remember that the guns hadto be very much depressed, and the gunners could not very well make outthe boats in the dark. Of course the flashes of their guns showed theirposition, but I expect the Chinese, who were new hands at the work,did not understand how to sling those heavy pieces about or give themthe right elevation. There is no doubt that they stick to their gunsmanfully. I was talking to some of the _Algerine_ fellows and they toldme that several times when they had managed to send shell after shellclose to a gun that had been annoying them, it was silent for a halfa minute or so and then, when they thought that they had finished withit, the beggars began to fire again as regularly as before, though itis probable that three–fourths of the detachment before working it hadbeen blown into smithereens.”
“Listen! Do you hear the shouting? The relief party must be coming in.”
“Oh, bother!” the middy said; “I can?t be there to see it.”
“Well, I can,” Rex said, “I will come back and tell you all about it;but I don?t suppose I shall hear much till evening. You will be offduty then, won?t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, come and dine at our place. I shall get hold of two orthree of the men I went up with if I can.”
He went off at a run and soon joined a number of residents and menoff duty who were awaiting the arrival of the force. The head of thecolumn was just coming in. A portion of the relief force led, and thenAdmiral Seymour?s men, many of them carrying the sick and wounded onstretchers, doors, and other make–shifts. The rest of the force broughtup the rear. Seeing Major Johnston coming along with his marines, Rexpressed forward to shake hands w
ith him.
“Ah, you got through then, Bateman! I am glad to see you; I havewondered many times whether you got safely into Pekin. I certainly didnot expect to see you here, though I thought we might meet when wemarched into Pekin.”
“Yes, I got in all right. I stopped there till about a week ago, andthen came back here. If you have nothing better to do, will you dinewith us this evening, and bring Trimmer and Lawson with you?”
“With pleasure. We shall scarcely have time to make any messarrangements for ourselves.”
“Have you had heavy fighting?”
“We have, indeed, and we have lost a good many men. I began to thinkat one time that we should not get back, and I believe if we had nottaken the arsenal very few of us would have survived to tell the tale.However, I will tell you about that this evening.”
“Thank you! I will run home at once and tell my people that you arecoming.”
Rex hurried home and told his mother that four officers were coming todinner.
“I did not say anything about sleeping here, Mother, but if you canmanage it I am sure it would be a blessing to them, for they have onlyjust got in, and will certainly not be able to make other arrangements.”
“They will have to be content with very simple fare,” Mrs. Batemansaid. “Of course, no fresh meat can be had, so we shall have to manageon tinned meat and vegetables, of which, fortunately, we have anabundant and varied supply.”
“You may be sure that they will not be particular, Mother, for I expectthey have been on very short rations for some time. You give us acapital dinner every day, and I am sure you can turn out as good a onefor them.”
Mrs. Bateman smiled.
“Well, I dare say we shall manage something that will be good enoughfor hungry men.”
Rex then went down to his friend the middy.
“I have nothing to tell you, Robinson,” he said, “but Johnston and twoof his chums are going to dine with us, so you will hear it all then,and my mother says she can give you a bed for the night.”
“Thanks! that is a luxury indeed, Bateman, only it will be awfulgetting up so as to be here on duty again at six in the morning.”
“Oh, nonsense! no one wants to sleep after five in this weather. I amgenerally up soon after four.”
“Yes, but you must remember that I have had no sleep to speak of forthe past three days, and the chances are that we shan?t turn in untilmidnight, as we shall have to hear all about the expedition. However, Iwill put in as much sleep as I can between that hour and five. I had agood four hours this morning.”
At half–past seven the three marines and the middy arrived at Mr.Bateman?s. Rex had, an hour before, gone to Major Johnston, and toldhim that it had been arranged that he and his friends were to sleep inthe house.
“That will be a great comfort, Bateman,” he said; “we have not hadour clothes off for three weeks, and it will be delicious to lie downbetween sheets and to have a bath in the morning. I warn you, though,that we shall want a bath before dinner, for we can?t sit down to atable as we are.”
“All right, Major! if you come round in half an hour you will find oneready for you.”
Accordingly, on their arrival they were shown at once to their rooms.
“I cannot tell you, Bateman,” the major said as they came downstairsagain, “how much we are obliged to you. A good dinner is not a thingto be despised, but a bath is even a greater luxury. I am sure I couldnot have enjoyed dinner unless I had had the bath, for we have had fewopportunities for washing since we left here.”
An excellent dinner was served, and was greatly enjoyed by the fourguests.
“I can assure you, Mr. Bateman,” the major said, “that while eatingyour good fare it is difficult to believe that the past three weekshave not been a very uncomfortable dream.”
“How have you been getting on, Mr. Robinson, since you came here?” Mr.Bateman asked.
“Nothing to grumble at, sir. We had pretty hard work the first twodays, but, thanks to your son, we now have a quiet day of it.”
Rex uttered a sharp warning ejaculation as Robinson spoke, but he hadnot thought of telling him that he and his companions wished nothing tobe said about the adventure.
“Thanks to my son!” Mr. Bateman repeated in surprise; “what can Rexhave had to do with it?”
The midshipman, who had too late heard Rex?s ejaculation, hesitated.
“I did not know that he had not told you, sir,” he said, “or else youmay be sure I should have said nothing about it.”
“Well, but what was it?” he asked.
The midshipman looked appealingly at Rex, and the latter said: “Well,Father, it was a little enterprise that Watson and Laurence and Icarried out on our own account; nothing worth talking about.”
“Well, but what was it, Rex?” his father persisted. “Mr. Robinson saysthat it has given him better times.”
“Well, Father, the fact is, we three and Ah Lo went out and silencedthose two guns that were so annoying for some days.”
“Well, but how did you do it, Rex? Now we know so much, of course wewant to know the rest. What do you know about it, Mr. Robinson?”
“Well, sir, all I really know about it is that your son came to me andasked me to allow a lantern to stand on the barricade. Of course I saidthat there was no objection to that. Then we went back fifty or sixtyyards and placed another lantern on a window, so that the two lanternstogether were in the exact line with those guns. At midnight Rex andhis two friends, with the Chinaman, went out, and that is practicallyall I know about the matter. I certainly had no idea that Rex had keptthe affair a secret. It is certainly a thing of which he had a right tofeel very proud, for it was a plucky business, and one which I was verymuch tempted to take part in.”
“Now then, Bateman,” Major Johnston said, “you see your light cannotbe hid under a bushel, so you had better make a clean breast of theaffair.”
Rex saw that it was of no use making any further mystery of it, so hebriefly explained how the idea had come into his mind, and how Watsonand Laurence had agreed to join him, the steps they had taken forplacing the lantern to enable them to find the guns in the dark, howRobinson had explained the working of the various parts of the guns tothem, and how they had carried their plan into successful execution.
“You ought not have done it,” his father said, when he had finished.
“But,” Major Johnston said, “I don?t think, Mr. Bateman, that your sonis to be blamed. It was a splendidly plucky action for which everyonein the settlement should thank him, for it appears that these guns weredoing an immense amount of damage. It was an act which I or any otherofficer in Her Majesty?s service would have been proud to perform.”
“I admit all that,” Mr. Bateman said, “but Rex is always running intodanger. I grant that so far he has got through safely, but you know theresult of taking a pitcher to a well too often.”
“I don?t think he is likely to come to harm,” the major said, “for itis not as if he undertook these things without thoroughly working hisplans out, so that failure is almost an impossibility. On our way uphe gave me a brief account of how he had got his cousins out of thatrascally governor?s yamen. I could not get the full details out of him,but judging from what he told me it was certainly an admirably–managedaffair. I think, Mr. Bateman, that you have a right to be very proud ofhim. If he had been in the army he would certainly have earned a V. C.for the way in which he silenced those guns.”
“Yes, I admit all that,” Mr. Bateman said, “and won?t scold, but allthis keeps his mother and myself in a state of great anxiety.”
“I don?t think, Father,” Rex said, “that in an affair of this sortthe risk is anything compared with that which one runs in a regularfight. These little excursions I have made have had very little riskin them—practically none. When you come to think of it, I can passanywhere as a Chinaman, and as I have always travelled at night I havebeen exposed to practically no danger whatever.”
“And so you h
ad sharp fighting here, Mr. Bateman?” the major said,changing the subject.
“Not actually severe fighting; that is, the Chinese have never got upreally close to us, although they have made a good many rushes, but thebombardment has been very heavy. The French settlement is practicallydestroyed, and a large number of our houses will have to be rebuilt.But worse than the artillery fire has been the sniping, which has beencontinuous all round, but more especially on the other side of theriver, where it has been absolutely incessant, and where it has beendangerous in the extreme to show one?s nose outside one?s door. Wehave done our best to keep it down, but I cannot say that success hasattended our efforts, for the Chinese have lain hid among the housesand ruins, and never show themselves except to fire.”
“Have the casualties been heavy?”
“No; very slight indeed, which,” he added with a smile, “speaks welleither for our prudence or for the bad marksmanship of the enemy. Wehave brought cannon to bear upon them, but they stick there with greattenacity, and I fancy we shall find it very hard work to drive themout from Tientsin. There is the fort, and the yamen, and several otherstrong buildings; the wall, too, and its defences are strong, and ifthey stick there as stubbornly as they have done across the river, thecity will certainly not be taken without considerable loss of life.”
“Do you know when we are going to begin, Mr. Bateman?”
“I believe the Russians are going to turn out to–morrow morning;they have only been waiting for your return. Now, I fancy, they willconsider that we have strength enough for anything.”
“I should think we have,” the major said. “I am sorry to say thatyou must not put Seymour?s force above half the strength at whichit started. There has been a lot of illness, we have suffered muchfrom hunger and privation, we lost a good many men in the attack onthe forts, and many of those still in the ranks will not be fit forservice until they have had a few days? rest. If we put a thousand inline to–morrow it would be as much as could be fairly calculated upon.Still, many of those who would not be fit to take part in the attackwould be useful for the defence of the town if the Chinese should makea counter attack while the best part of the force is away.”
“Now, Major, we are all burning with curiosity to know what hashappened to you while you have been away. We have heard a score ofrumours, but not one authentic fact. We heard that you had enteredPekin, that you had been massacred, that you had disappeared aseffectually off the face of the earth as if it had opened and swallowedyou up. The very first news we got of your existence was from myson, who reported that on his way down from Pekin he heard heavy andcontinuous firing in the arsenal of Hsi–Ku, and he concluded that yourforce must be engaged. Some thought that you must be attacking theplace, others that you had taken it and were now besieged. The lattercertainly seemed the most reasonable, unless indeed, it was fightbetween the Boxers and the regular Chinese troops; for if you had notgot possession of the arsenal, it was impossible to imagine how you hadobtained sufficient provisions to keep you alive so long.”
“Yes, that supposition was the correct one, and we were quite on ourlast legs before we took the place.”
“Well, will you please tell us the whole story; it is not nine o?clockyet, so that, unless you are so dead tired that you cannot go throughwith it, you will get it done in reasonable time.”
“I shall be very happy to do so,” the major said. “If you had asked methis afternoon when we came in, I should have said frankly that I didnot feel equal to it; but the bath and the excellent dinner you havegiven us, have quite set me on my legs again.
“You will already have heard from your son what happened on our way upfrom Lang Fang, and of the little fight we had on the 14th of June.Well, the next day the outposts ran in and reported that the Boxerswere at hand in great numbers. The enemy arrived close on their heelsand made a determined rush at the fore part of the leading train, whichwas drawn up beside a well, where the men were engaged in watering.They were met by a withering fire, but pushed on with extreme braveryand did not fall back until some of them actually reached the train.Then they could do no more, and retreated, leaving about a hundreddead. This certainly gave us a better idea of their courage, and thedifficulties we should be likely to encounter, than anything that hadyet happened.
“At half–past five in the afternoon a messenger arrived on a trolleyfrom the rear, to say that Lofa station was attacked by a very strongforce of the enemy. Number two train had steam up, and the admiral atonce took a strong force down in it. On their arrival at the stationthey found that the fight was over, and the enemy having fallen backdiscomfited, the reinforcements started in pursuit, and harried theirretreat for some distance, accounting for about a hundred of them andcapturing a few small cannon.
“The next day we remained at Lang Fang, a strong body being employed inrepairing the line. Under the protection of a guard a train went backto Lofa, and on its return we learned that the repairs we had affectedon the line beyond that place had been a good deal broken up. Later,the officer of the guard at Lofa came in, and reported that threelarge bodies of Boxers were moving about in the distance, and that heexpected an attack would be made on the station. However, they movedoff quietly. They were probably on their way to destroy the line, fora train that left at four the next morning for Tientsin came back inthe afternoon, with the news that the line was so completely broken upround Lofa that it could not be repaired with the materials and men onboard.
“The admiral left an hour later to see for himself the state of theline. He pushed on for some distance, his men repairing the line asthey went, till he reached Yangstun, but only to find that beyondthat point the line was entirely destroyed. It was now evident to theadmiral, and to all of us, that if we continued to stop at Lang Fangwe should ere long have to stop there permanently, for our provisionswere almost entirely exhausted. The admiral had seen this some daysbefore, and had sent off several messengers to Tientsin to ask thatjunks should be sent up the river, and ammunition and provisionsforwarded by train to Yangtsun, his intention being to establish a basethere. But we never heard any more of these messengers, and the factstared us in the face that we were absolutely cut off from Tientsin.”