Their advance was unimpeded except by snipers, and at about 2 p.m. a handful of 1st Sikhs and 7th Rajputs broke their way through the rotten Water-gate, and rushed to the Legations, which were but a few hundred yards away. Great as was the excitement then, it became even greater when General Gaselee, his Staff (among whom was a Naval officer), and men from the 24th Punjab Infantry, 1st Sikhs, and Bengal Lancers, rode up and greeted the Legation folk whom they had done so much to relieve. The Legations had been reached, but it must not be supposed that nothing remained to be done. The Chinese were still resisting the entry of the other forces, and had as yet shown no intention of leaving the British and Americans in undisturbed possession of the various gates, portions of the various walls, and other defences which they had occupied. Before, however, relating how the complete occupation of this wonderful four-in-one City came about, there are some impressions to be placed on record, about the looks and feelings of relievers and relieved in the Legations. Naturally enough the first wave of enthusiasm was unreserved—people wept for joy, laughed for the same reason, members of the relieving force were kissed and petted—in fact exactly the same thing happened as always has, and always will happen, at the successful termination of an Historical Siege. As usual, too, the relievers were astonished at the clean, almost immaculate appearance of many of the women and several of the men. The contrast was certainly extraordinary; on the one hand a gathering of people who looked at first sight as if they had been picnicing, instead of having borne parts in a long and dangerous Siege. On the other a body of men ragged, dirty, and unshorn, who by their appearance could not possibly have been doing anything else for the last ten days but march and fight. It was not until one looked closer that it was possible to realise that these comparatively spotless men and women were tired and worn, and that their white faces and wan looks proved that they had been through as much and more than their ragged but healthy-looking relievers, whose worst enemy had been the sun, and who perhaps could have marched the same distance and fought the same battles straight over again. There were not many among the besieged who could have stood the strain of the Siege over again and lived! Their appearance gave rise to ridiculous, fictitious, and wicked suggestions. One often heard it questioned whether they had such a bad time after all, or, as one man put it,—“Plenty to drink, enough to eat, lots of games, and some first-class shooting! Where’s the hardship? In fact, what more does one possibly want?” Other people go to the opposite extreme, and thank Providence that a general Massacre did not come off. The only explanation that suggests itself is this. The Empress doubtless aimed at the death of the Europeans in the Capital, including of course the