Our ponies—The ride through the streets—Evil‐smelling lanes—The walls—The shattered gate‐towers—The Japanese guard—The taking of the City and relief of the Legations—The paved high‐road—A fertile country—The villages—A ruined temple—Bengal Lancers and Mounted Infantrymen—A ride through the fields—Distant view of the palace—The ornamental gate—The entrance—The sepoy guard—The outer courtyard—Bronzes on the temple verandah—A network of courts—Royal Artillery mess in the pavilion that had served as the Emperor’s prison—The shaded courtyard—Officers’ quarters looking out on the lake—A marble‐walled lake—Lotos—Boats—A walk round the lake—The covered terrace—The Bersagliere guard—Pretty summer‐houses—The Empress’s temples—The marble junk—A marble bridge—Lunch in a monarch’s prison—The hill over the lake—A lovely view—The Hall of Ten Thousand Ages—Vandalism—Shattered Buddhas—The Bronze Pagoda—The island—The distant hills—Summer quarters of the British Legation—The ride back—Tropical rain—Flooded streets—A swim _pages_ 115‐132 CHAPTER VII A TRIP TO SHANHAIKWAN A long journey—The junction at Tong‐ku—Mud flats—A fertile country—Walled villages—Mud forts—Defended stations—The canal—Tong‐shan—The refreshment room—The coal mines—Hills—Roving brigands—Shanhaikwan—Stranded at the station—Borrowing a bed—Hunting for a meal—A Continental café—Spatch‐cocks—A woman without pride—A mosquito concert with refreshments—Rigging up a net—A surprise for the British and Russian station officers—A midnight introduction—An admiring Russian—Kind hospitality—Good Samaritans—The Gurkha mess—Fording a stream—A Russian cart—The Great Wall of China—Snipe—The forts—The old camp—The walls of the city—On the cliffs by the sea—The arrival of the Japanese fleet—A shock for a Russian dinner‐party—The sea frozen in winter—A cricket match—Shooting snipe on the cricket pitch—Dining with my Russian friends—Vodki—Mixed drinks—The wily Russian and the Newchwang railway—Tea à la Russe—Heavy rain—The line flooded—Cossacks on a raft—Cut off from everywhere—An orderly of the 3rd Bombay Cavalry—A sowar’s opinion of the Russian invasion of India—Collapsed houses—Friendly scene between Japanese soldiers and our sepoys—The floods subside—The return—Smuggling arms—Lieutenant Stirling, D.S.O. _pages_ 133‐168 CHAPTER VIII OUR STRONGHOLD IN THE FAR EAST HONG KONG AND THE KOWLOON HINTERLAND