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106 When he arrived at Taku, he was ready to drop from exhaustion. But, without waiting to obtain even necessary refreshments, he secured a row-boat, and had some sailors take him out to the flagship of Admiral Kempff of the United States Navy, to whom he told his story in detail.

Our admiral was quick to act on the information received, and word was at once passed to the other warships and to the allied forces in and around Taku and Tongku. A relief force was immediately organized, consisting of four hundred Russian and one hundred American troops, the latter under Major Waller.

The march of the relief force was steady, up the bank of the Pei-Ho, but, as Tien-Tsin was neared, the resistance of the Chinese became stronger; and on the second day out it looked as if the allied forces would be surrounded and annihilated. But a force of one thousand British troops came up soon after this, and after a hard fight the relief guard entered the foreign quarter of Tien-Tsin.

This was as much as was known at Nagasaki when Gilbert arrived there; but other movements of great importance had taken place, and some of