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 lick 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; do you hear what a jabber they are kicking
up?"

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?" Percy asked,
after a pause.

"I should say not the least in the world, Percy. My hands are f