On the afternoon of that first day of the siege, F. Huberty James, professor of English in the Imperial University, noticed several Chinese soldiers upon the bridge, a few hundred yards north of the legation gate. Without stating his motive to any one, although it is supposed he intended to converse with them, and, if possible, find out their orders in regard to us, he walked from the gate up the street along the canal to the bridge. He had no sooner arrived there than several Chinese soldiers, concealed behind the wall of Prince Su’s palace, fired upon him. The sentry at the legation gate saw him hold up his hands, then heard a report and saw him fall. He was seen to partly raise himself, when several of the ruffian soldiers hurriedly ran out, picked him up, and carried him behind the corner of the wall and beyond the reach of rescue. His fate was probably a hasty death at their hands, if, indeed, he was not already mortally wounded. When I heard of this sad affair, an hour after its occurrence, I could scarcely believe that my friend who had welcomed me to China in 1885 had come to such a cruel end. He had not an enemy in the world, and was uniformly gentle and considerate. His fate, following so closely upon Baron von Ketteler’s, the first day of our siege, cast a deep gloom over the entire community. Promptly at 4 P.M. the Chinese soldiers opened fire upon all the legations from behind the surrounding houses; but, very fortunately for us, most of their bullets flew high and went entirely over the legation district and must have injured Chinese residents in Peking at a distance. The British legation inside presented a scene of greatest confusion. Eatables and tinned stores of every description had been hastily dumped by coolies into all parts of the compound. Men, women, and children were busy for some hours trying to identify and collect the little stores they had brought or sent in, with the idea that a few days’ provision would be all that would be necessary, as no one believed that Admiral Seymour, Colonel Wogack, and Captain McCalla would be longer than a week at most in relieving us. Little did we imagine that many weeks of siege under shot, shell, and rifle-fire must be endured, with absolutely no word from the outside world, before we, or at least such of us as survived, would again come forth. Many had left their homes hurriedly, taking with them nothing but the clothes they wore. Having left my own house one week previous, and gone to the United States legation as a guest with my family, I had been requested not to bring in any supply of provisions, as it would alarm people, and it was hoped quiet would be restored in a few days. When obliged by the Chinese ultimatum to leave Peking or, as we decided after Baron von Ketteler’s murder, to take refuge in the British legation and await reinforcements, it was too late to visit my home outside of the foreign lines and remove anything from my storeroom.