The first round was very effective, six Boxers being killed and as many more wounded. The attack came largely as a surprise, for the Celestials had been so intent upon killing those in the boat that they had paid no attention to what might come behind them. At once yells and shrieks arose; and, when Company A poured in a second and a third round, the Boxers scattered, some running up the shore, and the others down. They fired only a handful of shots, and these did little damage. By this time both the American and French soldiers were ranging along the Pei-Ho, and the scattering of the Boxers brought on their doom. One detachment fell into the hands of the Frenchmen, and were killed almost to a man; while the other--by far the larger detachment--ran into the arms of the other companies of Major Morris’s battalion. A fierce rough-and-tumble fight ensued, the most of it on the American side falling to Company C; and then the Boxers leaped into the stream to swim for the other shore. At least twenty were laid low on land, and as many more killed or wounded in the water. It was soon learned that the lighter had started from Tien-Tsin on the evening of the day before, in the midst of the heavy downpour of rain. It carried twenty-eight people, mostly English and German, although there was one American and his wife and little girl. “The bombardment at Tien-Tsin is something awful,” said the American, whose name was Margoss. “At first the Chinese couldn’t get our range; but now they have it, and they pour shot and shell into almost any place they select. My partner in business, Mr. Mackley, was sitting on the front porch of his residence when a shot struck the top of the porch, killing him instantly. Most of the stores are in ruins, and the people have all they can do to keep the fires that start from spreading.” “What are our soldiers doing?” “I know nothing of any but the marines under Captain McCalla, and they can do but little outside of holding their own. Some of the sharpshooters are out every day, picking off every pig-tail who shows himself. But that is only a drop in the bucket; for the government troops of China have united with the Boxers, and combined they number thousands to our hundreds. If the Chinks could fight as the foreign troops fight, we should be wiped out in no time.” “The barbarities are something dreadful,” put in Mrs. Margoss. “The Chinese are very brutal, literally hacking women and children to death; and this has so angered some of the Japanese and Russians that they can’t be held in check, and consequently they are taking no prisoners, but putting all the enemy to the sword or bayonet. In some cases women and children are treated like the men, for the Japanese and Russians say they are not to be trusted.”