With the Allies to Pekin: A Tale of the Relief of the Legations Read online

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  WITH THE ALLIES TO PEKIN

  THE TIGER SEIZED HIM BY THE SHOULDER.]

  WITH THE ALLIES TO PEKIN

  A TALE OF THE RELIEF OF THE LEGATIONS

  BY

  G. A. HENTY

  Author of “With Roberts to Pretoria” “Redskin and Cowboy” “With the British Legion” &c.

  _ILLUSTRATED BY WAL PAGET_

  NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER?S SONS 1903

  COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER?S SONS.

  _Published September, 1903._

  THE CAXTON PRESS NEW YORK CITY, U. S. A.

  PREFACE

  The campaign which ended with the relief of the Pekin Legations isunique in its way, carried on as it was by an army made up of almostall the nationalities of Europe. The quarrel originated in the risingof a mob of ruffians who were known by us under the name of Boxers. Themovement spread like wildfire, and soon developed into the wholesalemassacre of the missionaries of Northern China. The Empress, seeing theformidable nature of the rising, and hoping to gain by it the expulsionof all foreigners from her dominions, allied herself with the Boxers,besieged the various Legations, and attacked Tientsin, which standsupon the river by which the trade with Pekin is carried on. AdmiralSeymour, with a force of little over a thousand men, marched to therelief of the Legations. The railway, however, was cut both beforeand behind him, and after severe fighting he retired upon a Chinesefortress a few miles from Tientsin, where he maintained himself untilhe was relieved by another force which had arrived by sea and haddestroyed the forts at the mouth of the river. Tientsin itself wascaptured by the allies after one day?s hard fighting, and the armythen advanced to the relief of the Legations. The opposition they metwith was trifling in comparison with that which they had encounteredat Tientsin, and they arrived at Pekin not a moment too soon. It wasfound that the Legations had been very hard pressed, some of themhaving been destroyed by fire. But the garrison had maintained aheroic defence, aided by the native Christians who had escaped themassacre and taken refuge with them, and who had done excellent workin the building and constant repair of the defences, sometimes underthe heavy fire of the enemy. The Empress had fled, but negotiationswere opened with her and terms of peace were ultimately agreed to. Forthe particulars of the campaign I have relied chiefly upon _The War ofthe 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 SEYMOUR?S COLUMN, 76

  VI. IN PEKIN, 96

  VII. FORTIFYING THE LEGATIONS, 110

  VIII. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE, 134

  IX. IN THE ENEMY?S 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