"Well, Percy, my boy, so they caught you too? I am truly sorry. It was
my fault for going with only two men into that temple; but as the
village had been deserted and scarcely a man was found there, it never
entered my mind that there might be a party in the temple."
"Of course not, Jack; it was a surprise altogether. I don't know
anything about it, for I was knocked down, I suppose, just as we went
in, and the first thing I knew about it was that I was being carried on
the back of one of those fellows. I thought it was awful at first, but
I don't seem to mind so much now you are with me."
"It is a comfort to have someone to speak to," Jack said, "yet I wish
you were not here, Percy; I can't do you any good, and I shall never
cease blaming myself for having brought you into this scrape. I don't
know much more about the affair than you do. The guns were fired so
close to us that my face was scorched with one of them, and almost at
the same instant I got a cut across my cheek with a sword.
"I had just time to hit at one of them, and then almost at the same
moment I got two or three other blows, and down I went; they threw
themselves on the top of me and tied and gagged me in no time. Then I
was tied to a long bamboo, and two fellows put the ends on their
shoulders and went off with me through the fields. Of course I was face
downwards, and did not know you were with us till they stopped and
loosed me from the bamboo and set me on my feet."
"But what are they going to do with us, do you think, Jack?"
"I should say they are going to take us to Canton and claim a reward for
our capture, and there I suppose they will cut off our heads or saw us
in two, or put us to some other unpleasant kind of death. I expect they
are discussing it now."
Voices were indeed heard raised in angry altercation in the next room.
After a time the din subsided and the conversation appeared to take a
more amiable turn.
"I suppose they have settled it as far as they are concerned," Jack
said; "anyhow, you may be quite sure they mean to make something out of
us. If they hadn't they would have finished us at once, for they must
have been furious at the destruction of their junks and village.
"As to the idea that mercy has anything to do with it, we may as well
put it out of our minds. The Chinaman, at the best of times, has no
feeling of pity in his nature; and after their defeat it is certain they
would have killed us at once had they not hoped to do better by us. If
they had been Indians I should have said they had carried us off to
enjoy the satisfaction of torturing us, but I don't suppose it is that
with them."
"Do you think there is any chance of our getting away?"
"I should say not the least in the world, Percy. My hands are fastened
so tight now that the ropes seem cutting into my wrists, and after they
had set me on my feet and cut the cords off my legs I could scarcely
stand at first, my feet were so numbed by the pressure. However, we
must keep up our pluck. Possibly they may keep us at Canton for a bit,
and, if they do, the squadron may arrive and fight its way past the
forts, and take the city before they have quite made up their minds as
to what kind of death will be most appropriate to the occasion. I
wonder what they are doing now? They seem to be chopping sticks."
"I wish they would give us some water," Percy said. "I am frightfully
thirsty."
"And so am I, Percy. There is one comfort, they won't let us die of
thirst; they could get no satisfaction out of our deaths now."