Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including some inconsistent hyphenation. Some minor corrections of spelling and punctuation have been made. Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. The Romance of Modern Sieges [Illustration: THE SALLY FROM THE FORT AT KUMASSI Led by Capt. Armitage, some two hundred loyal natives sallied forth. At their head marched the native chiefs, prominent amongst whom was the young king of Aguna. He was covered back and front with fetish charms, and on his feet were boots, and where these ended his black legs began.] THE ROMANCE OF MODERN SIEGES DESCRIBING THE PERSONAL ADVENTURES, RESOURCE AND DARING OF BESIEGERS AND BESIEGED IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD BY EDWARD GILLIAT, M.A. SOMETIME MASTER AT HARROW SCHOOL AUTHOR OF “FOREST OUTLAWS,” “IN LINCOLN GREEN,” _&c._, _&c._ WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY LONDON: SEELEY & CO. LIMITED 1908 PREFACE These chapters are not histories of sieges, but narratives of such incidents as occur in beleaguered cities, and illustrate human nature in some of its strangest moods. That “facts are stranger than fiction” these stories go to prove: such unexpected issues, such improbable interpositions meet us in the pages of history. What writer of fiction would dare to throw down battlements and walls by an earthquake, and represent besiegers as paralysed by religious fear? These tales are full, indeed, of all the elements of romance, from the heroism and self-devotion of the brave and the patient suffering of the wounded, to the generosity of mortal foes and the kindliness and humour which gleam even on the battle-field and in the hospital. But the realities of war have not been kept out of sight; now and then the veil has been lifted, and the reader has been shown a glimpse of those awful scenes which haunt the memory of even the stoutest veteran. We cannot realize fully the life that a soldier lives unless we see both sides of that life. We cannot feel the gratitude that we ought to feel unless we know the strain and suspense, the agony and endurance, that go to make up victory or defeat. In time of war we are full of admiration for our soldiers and sailors, but in the past they have been too often forgotten or slighted when peace has ensued. Not to keep in memory the great deeds of our countrymen is mere ingratitude.