The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-11

of our shirts Q.ord John Hay had hssn taught Co eEn6FoldeR by his mother, and VIC heard aAerward that while they were composing the formal letter in camp he sAt by the river side stitching away at this secret message for usl The mes sage itself ran thus: Win attack in three days. Where are you ?
 "We knew that should the attack take place our lives would be In the greatest possible danger. and two of the three days were already gone. General Hung Chee (with other functionariesl came every day to visit, inteTogate, or threaten us To him we earnestly appealed, en- treating him to send out mediators te avert the threatened attack. 'Yoa must prevent the attack said he. But we are prisoners; we can do nothing-have 10 power!' In vain; they would not be- lieve us, and the same wearisome alter cation took place as had already occurred again and again. The first gun that is fired, said they, will be the signal for your heads to be thrown over the wall So there we were at q deadlock, and could only watch and wait The third day the sound of firing was heard, and Hung Chee rushed in in the greatest agi- ;asioE. 'TAsss. Dc ys: As.. sA.:s Now what will you dol' Of course there was nothing to be done but the same scene was enacted as before. How~ ever, luckily for us. the cannonading was not an attack, but only a salute in order to show the French where the English had taken up their position, for the mille, grew so high that our frieuds had quite lost sight of them, and they must indeed have passed our troops nearly at right angles, for they had been originally on our Jeff. Yet while the English were at. tacking Pekin h afeFward turned out that the French were engaged In footing the summer palace. some miles away on our right.
 "Our guards had gradually got to be almost on friendly terms with us. but from this moment they became daily more and more surly, and we saw by the scowling looks of all who approached us that our position had changed for the worse. One day we were told abruptly that the next would be our last If we desired to write to our friends, we were at liberty to do so.' It was what we had been daily expecting. yet the shock was none the less terrible. So Loeb wrote to his mother, and l long farewell letter to my wife. You may fancy what a tor ture that was! l asked for little locket, which had been taken from me, to en- close, and they gave me back the locket, and took our letters away. That night we believed to be our last, and it was bit. ter indeed to feel that this was to be the end of all our sufferings!
 Next day, ho~ever, Hung Chee ap. peared as usual, and after some few re- marks, passing rapidly by e-as If un- willing to be heard by the others-he whispered in my ear, You will be sci free today But we understood these words ouly in their very worst sense, for so threatening had the temper of the people become that those who came near us were quite as feTocious and insulting as on the very first day of our capture
 Presently two carts came driving in- to the courtyard, and Loeb and were each desired 10 mount one I'm afraid it's all over with us now!' said to him i; but once more appealed to Hung Chee. You must let us mount the same cart. We won't glve you any trouble but we must be allowed to be together To this at length he agreed, and then, for the 6rs! time by daylight, we turned into the streets of Pekin. Slowly we drove toward the outer gate, the streets crowded with people swarming about the cart, and threatening every moment to attack us. There are several gates to the town, im- mense, strong places, surmounted each by high tower, and with a large open space between that an the outer wall, |, which space is generally used for public executions.
 Beneath the gate we passed, and here, in this open space, the Tumbling cart stood still. So sure were we that the end at last had come that we grasped each others hands and blde one an. other solemnly goodbye Loch had a little pocket church service, which had been the greatest comfort to us during our imprisonment. It had been taken from him at first, but strange to say had been restored almost immediately when he asked for it. We now began to read the burial service together. and 90 deeply were we absorbed in prayer as to be al- most unconscious of what was passing around.
 Suddenly we experienced q sensation which thrilled us like the touch of cleo tricity, and seemed to bring Us back to life from the very gates of the grave. The cart was moving on. On to the outer wall, on through the outer gate, and there, with beating hearts and pulses leaping wildly, we found ourselves in the open country, with not sosi in sight ex- cept the driver of the cart and the Chi nese who were swarming on the walls sixty feet above us. Where are you go- ing to take us r we inquired of the driver Wherever you choose to go,' suTIily an. swered he. Then quick to the English camp, quick as ever you can go r Where IS il the driver demanded. Nay, that you must know better than we can tell you After some hesitation, the man turned abruptly to the left, and drove along the road which ran immediately under the city walls. In vain we urged him to speed. Oar horse was but sorry