The foreign guard that arrived in Pekin on the evening of 31st May and following days numbered only 18 officers and 389 men, far too few for the defence, and ridiculously inadequately supplied with guns and ammunition. The British brought one old type Nordenfeldt; the Austrians, one quick-firing gun; while the Russians brought a supply of 12-pound shell, but left their gun behind. It seemed as if the powers only contemplated a demonstration, whereas this little force was destined to sustain a siege that will rank amongst the most memorable in history, and to hold--against Krupp guns and hordes of Chinese, firing at close quarters modern magazine rifles--gardens and buildings occupying some ten acres of ground, surrounded by a high wall, but in other respects before the commencement of the siege utterly unprotected. The superior number of the enemy and the daily bombardment was not the greatest danger they had to meet. One compound was crowded with women and children and native refugees; famine and failure of ammunition daily approached; the only hope of relief from these was the arrival of a relieving force. The thought of the horrors that must follow if this failed, and the awful fate at the hands of the fanatic and cruel Chinese soldiery which must befall the women and children, was ever before each member of the force, as day by day, for over nine weeks, day and night he guarded his post, cut off from the world outside and with hardly a hope of rescue. The British party consisted of 75 non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Marines, under Captains Strouts, Halliday, and Wray. There were also present of other nations--American, 3 officers and 52 men; Austrians, 5 officers and 30 men; French, 2 officers and 45 men; German, 1 officer and 51 men; Italian, 1 officer and 28 men; Japanese, 1 officer and 24 men; Russian, 2 officers and 79 men. The British brought an old-fashioned five-barrel Nordenfeldt, the Italians one small gun and 120 rounds, the Americans a machine gun with good supply of ammunition; but the supply of small arm ammunition was very scanty, ranging from 300 to 100 rounds per man. In addition to these trained men the embassies supplied of students and others 85 men, of whom 31 were Japanese armed with any rifle or weapon that they could find; and these men shared in all the fatigues of the siege, and added greatly to the strength of the garrison. At this time fearful and indescribable horrors were occurring in the Chinese city, thousands of Chinese Christians were cruelly tortured and killed. Reports came in daily of the murder of missionaries, of railway stations destroyed, and the gradual isolation of Pekin. Missionaries and their families and native Christians took refuge in the legations, and rescue parties were sent out to bring in others, and these reported the most terrible scenes of massacre and indescribable cruelty.