(The letter of July 4 gave details of the siege up to that date, numbers of killed and wounded, and stated that Chinese troops had fired into the legation quarter continuously since June 20, and that we were hard pressed.) This answer of the British consul aroused great indignation among all the besieged. It had been impossible up to that time to get any word from the outside world, though many messengers were sent out, and then when one did succeed in getting through the Chinese lines, to receive a letter (and that from an official, too) which gave no information of any attempt to relieve us! Following is the story of the runner’s trip to Tientsin and back: Lin Wu Yuan, sixteen years old, a messenger, native of Shantung, living in Peking, arrived this morning, from Tientsin. He left Peking with letters on the night of July 4, disguised as a beggar. He was let down over the wall by a rope, crept along the moat to the Chien Men, slept under the gate, and in the morning walked to the Yungting Men, passed through, and went to Machiapu station without being molested. Hearing nothing there, he went to Tungchow and worked his way along the main road to Tientsin. At a village near Hoshiwu he was stopped by the villagers and made to work eight days. He reached Tientsin July 18, first met Russian, then Japanese, and on July 21 met the British troops at Peiving Men, the entrance through the defense wall, half a mile from Tientsin city, on the Peking road. He delivered his letters to a foreigner in citizen, dress, who spoke Chinese. On July 22 he was taken to the British consulate; there the consul gave him a letter. He was then sent to the foreign outpost at Hungchian (Red Bridge over the Paotingfu river, a half mile west of Tientsin city). On July 23 he left Hungch’iao, and soon met the Chinese troops. That night he slept at Yangtsun in a locomotive boiler near the bridge. The bridge there was not destroyed. That day he saw only Chinese infantry, the main body of which was at Peitsang; he saw no Boxers. The night of July 24 he slept near Hoshiwu; saw few soldiers and no Boxers. The night of July 25 he slept at Mat’ou. That day he saw a few parties of Boxers in villages, but none on the road. At Mat’ou and elsewhere he saw that the river was in high flood; few boats moving, but many moored to the banks. On July 26 had no adventures; he spent the night at Yuchiawei, twenty li from Peking. [Illustration: APPROACH TO HATAMEN GATE IN WALL DESTROYED BY THE RUSSIANS