I  was  sitting  in  the  officers'  mess  enjoying  a  little
"  bully  beef  "  and  biscuit  when  a  sharp  call  came,
with  the  mention  of  my  name.  It  was  the  second
in  command  of  the  British  contingent,  General
Barrow.  Asking  if  my  horse  were  saddled,  and
whether  I  could  go  without  delay  to  a  distant  part
of  the  Manchu  city,  where  it  was  reported  that  a
British  subject,  who  had  come  up  with  the  troops
on  the  permit  of  a  correspondent,  was  perpetrating
something  for  which  he  should  be  arrested  and
turned  over  to  the  Provost-Marshal,  he  said  :  "  I


China's   Dayspring  after  Thirty  Years

am  sending  two  officers  of  the  staff  and  a  bodyguard
to  arrest  the  man  and  I  wish  you  to  go  as  inter-
preter." With  the  aid  of  a  Chinaman  who  had
made  the  charges  and  brought  the  information
we  rode  towards  the  north-east  of  the  Manchu
city.  The  officers  thought  that  we  were  a  long
time  in  arriving  at  our  destination,  and  suspected
treachery  long  before  we  arrived  there.  After
assuring  the  guide  that  in  case  of  trouble  he  would
not  be  blameless,  we*  continued  our  journey  till  we
came  to  a  narrow  alley,  down  which  we  turned  ;
this  looked  more  suspicious  than  ever,  but  the  guide
assured  me  it  was  all  right,  and  that  we  were  nearly
there.  On  the  journey  we  encountered  many  snipers
who  from  house-tops  and  street  corners  were  having
a  shot  for  what  proved  to  be  the  last  time  in  these
quarters  during  the  war.
