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186 shot; when this is given, they wait a few moments, then creep out as stealthily as possible, load and fire the gun without exposing themselves, and then run back to the bomb proofs. Of course, artillery practice of this kind is very slow, but as the Peiho batteries had nearly one hundred and fifty guns in position, they could do a good deal of shooting when taken in the aggregate.

About an hour before noon the admirals, followed by their gunboats, advanced up the river. The Chinese gave them a liberal number of shots on the way; but very few struck the vessels. The attention of the forts was drawn toward the fleet scattered along the river, and the garrison seemed totally unaware that the storming parties were landing just above the line of forts, partially concealed by the gunboats and smaller craft grouped together. They were not aware that it was the custom of European soldiers to take batteries by assault, but supposed that a battery was to be fired upon only on its front, where it was best prepared to resist attack. To all appearances they were completely surprised at the manœuvre of the outside barbarians, and as the distance was very small, the men were inside the forts in a very short time. As the leaders of the storming party sprang into the battery there seemed to be a panic among all the defenders, and a wild rush for safety followed immediately. The storming parties chased the fleeing Chinese; but the latter were too swift for them; terror added wings to their flight, and in a few minutes not a Chinese soldier was to be seen. Occasionally some of them halted as if to show fight, but the gleam of the English sabres made their hearts sink, and they renewed their flight with greater precipitation than before. Less than fifteen minutes after the first sailors and marines landed, the whole garrison of the forts was dispersed. Their loss was not very great; they fled so quickly that there was little chance to harm any of them