XXIII. GILBERT’S NARROW ESCAPE 229 XXIV. NUGGY POLK’S SET-BACK 239 XXV. “ON TO PEKIN!” 250 XXVI. THE BATTLE OF PEITSANG 260 XXVII. A RAINY MARCH TO TUNG-CHOW 269 XXVIII. THE FIGHT BEFORE PEKIN 279 XXIX. HOW THE BESIEGED WERE RELIEVED 286 XXX. THE BURNING OF THE PRISON 296 XXXI. GILBERT RETURNS GOOD FOR EVIL 305 XXXII. BACK TO TAKU--CONCLUSION 317 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS “Then Colonel Liscum fell to rise no more” _Frontispiece_ PAGE “‘You’ll be all right if you’ll only stand up’” 45 “Nuggy Polk was making off down the dim passageway” 98 “The yellow man was on the point of blazing away at Gilbert’s ear” 145 “‘See anything unusual?’” he asked 180 “The Boxer kicked the prostrate officer in the side” 230 “It was now a hand-to-hand contest” 271 “‘I’ll save him anyway,’ he thought” 308 ON TO PEKIN CHAPTER I INTRODUCING THE YOUNG LIEUTENANT “I say, Lieutenant Pennington, have you heard the news?” “That depends upon what the news is, major. Do you mean that we are ordered back to Manila?” “I mean a good deal more than that, lieutenant. We are ordered to China.” “China!” And Lieutenant Gilbert Pennington, formerly of the volunteers and now of the regulars stationed on the island of Luzon, leaped up from the camp stool upon which he had been sitting, and gazed at his old friend, Major Morris, as if he had not heard aright. “Who told you such a fairy tale as that?” “It’s the truth, Pennington. I got it direct from the colonel. We are to proceed to Manila without delay, and there take the _Logan_ or some other transport direct for China.” “And what are we going to do in China? Has Uncle Sam declared war on the heathen?” “Hardly that, I imagine. But you know the missionaries and other foreigners are having a lot of trouble with the Boxers, as they are called; and I reckon our government wants some soldiers on hand in case matters get worse.” “Yes, I’ve heard about the Boxers, although I don’t exactly know what they are.” “They call themselves a band of Patriots, but in reality they are a secret society having for its object the extermination of all foreigners in the Celestial Kingdom. They are the worst cut-throats in China, so I have been told.” “Well, this is certainly news,” mused Gilbert Pennington. “I had an idea that my fighting days were about over for the present. I never dreamed I should be sent away from the Philippines excepting it would be back to the States.”