The marines led in single file at the double, and the other companies taking the movement up, there was soon a long Khaki and blue snake on the road, to serve as a target for the Chinamen. Scarcely had the rear of the line left cover, when the comparatively peaceful road became dotted with bullets, which, with the splashes in the adjacent canals, went to make the onlooker hold his breath with anxiety to see how long the fire would be in taking effect. It was not long, first one, and then two others, falling forward; but on the whole the casualties were surprisingly light during the first half of the journey. The looked-for rest at the half-way hut, which had held forth such an alluring prospect, turned out to be most uncomfortable, as the spot was semi-enfiladed from a walled prison on the left, and two more casualties took place. About three minutes saw the men again advancing, and as they emerged from the little stopping place, a withering fire came from the suburbs, the prison, and innumerable loopholes in the top of the city wall. The Chinese must have been considerably upset at the general trend of events, for they missed an opportunity such as but seldom falls to the lot of any number of snugly entrenched troops. Every man should have been hit, so great was the expenditure of ammunition; but although the casualties were rather more numerous—three men being killed, and an officer and a dozen or so others wounded,—on the whole the force again escaped lightly. It was during the second advance that Midshipman Guy of the “Barfleur” gained his V.C. for bandaging a wounded man under this heavy fire, and eventually carrying him back to shelter, where unfortunately his wounds proved fatal. Everything comes to an end, and at last the houses were reached. These proved to be big enough to shelter the whole force, as well as the mixed detachments already there; the total number would be about 300, comprising Japanese, French, Austrians, marines, bluejackets, and some of the Chinese regiment. So crowded were the men at first, that those who were not energetic enough to explore for themselves, had to lie out in the rear of the centre house, a position which was open to fire from two sides; and it was not until a Frenchman and one of the Chinese regiment had been killed, that some of them began to look about them, and to make the most of the ample cover that there was. In order to eliminate the objectionably long term “the Author,” and to facilitate the flow of incident, I, who happened to be one of the midshipmen with the party, propose to take up the thread of the narrative:—