Chap. XV. ATTACK ON BRITISH LEGATION. 247 
fired by Mr. Lowder, and they disappeared. Still 
the noise and clamour and conflict continued out- 
side; and it seemed very long indeed before we 
saw any of those (to the number of some 150) 
Tycoon’s and Daimio’s men who had been held to 
afford us such ample protection ! At last, two or 
three of the officers permanently on service ap- 
peared to say that they hoped the house was clear, 
but begging us to keep together at one end while 
they made further search. 
“ I had now a moment of respite to turn to 
Messrs. Oliphant and Morrison and dress their 
wounds, though amidst alarms of renewed attack, 
which, I may add, recurred at frequent intervals 
until daybreak. . . . Most providentially the 
parly, which seems to have been destined to pene- 
trate the interior of the house and finish the work 
there, mistook their way to the part occupied by 
myself from the beginning, and where all who 
remained after the first alarm were speedily col- 
lected, as the most defensible position. Had they 
entered the grounds from that side (and nothing 
was easier), steps and a path led directly to my 
bedroom, and I should have most likely had no 
time to seize a weapon, for there was nothing to 
obstruct their entrance.” 
Fortunately for the little band in the Legation, 
the yakoneen guard, when it arrived, fought 
bravely, and the assailants were driven out of the 
premises. It would seem, therefore, that, owing 
to this on the one hand, and to the ignorance of 
