News of the utmost importance came to-day with the arrival of a native courier from Peking. He bore the following letter, addressed to the officer commanding any European troops "Besieged in British Legation. Situation desperate. Make haste. Sunday, 4 p.m.
"R. Hart."
The last two words are doubly underlined and are followed by notes of exclamation, and the two preced-questioned by Captain Wingate, the ing words underlined once. When
intelligence Officer, the courier said the message referred to last Sunday (24th June).
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.