It was some little time before he could understand the situation. He
first remembered the fight with the junks, then he recalled the landing
and burning the village; then, as his brain cleared, came the
recollection of his start with Fothergill for the temple among the
trees, his arrival there, and a loud report and flash of fire.
"I must have been knocked down and stunned," he said to himself, "and I
suppose I am a prisoner now, and one of the fellows must be carrying me
on his back."
Yes, he could understand it all now. His hands and his feet were tied,
ropes were passed round his body in every direction, and he was fastened
back to back upon the shoulders of a Chinaman. Percy remembered the
tales he had heard of the imprisonment and torture of those who fell
into the hands of the Chinese, and he bitterly regretted that he had not
been killed instead of stunned in the surprise of the temple.
"It would have been just the same feeling," he said to himself, "and
there would have been an end of it. Now, there is no saying what is
going to happen. I wonder whether Jack was killed, and the sailors."
Presently there was a jabber of voices; the motion ceased. Percy could
feel that the cords were being unwound, and he was dropped on to his
feet; then the cloth was removed from his head, and he could look round.
A dozen Chinese, armed with matchlocks and bristling with swords and
daggers, stood around; and among them, bound like himself and gagged by
a piece of bamboo forced lengthways across his mouth and kept there with
a string going round the back of the head, stood Fothergill. He was
bleeding from several cuts in the head. Percy's heart gave a bound of
joy at finding that he was not alone.
Then he tried to feel sorry that Jack had not escaped, but failed to do
so; although he told himself that his comrade's presence would not in
any way alleviate the fate which was certain to befall him. Still the
thought of companionship, even in wretchedness, and perhaps a vague hope
that Jack, with his energy and spirit, might contrive some way for their
escape, cheered him up.
As Percy, too, was gagged, no word could be exchanged by the midshipmen,
but they nodded to each other. They were now put side by side and made
to walk in the centre of their captors. On the way they passed through
several villages, whose inhabitants poured out to gaze at the captives;
but the men in charge of them were evidently not disposed to delay, as
they passed through without a stop. At last they halted before two
cottages standing by themselves, thrust the prisoners into a small room,
removed their gags, and left them to themselves.