"There is a house there, standing in that little grove a hundred yards
away," Percy said.

"It looks like a temple," Fothergill replied. "However, we will have a
look at it." And calling two sailors to accompany him, he started at a
run towards it, Percy keeping by his side.

"It is a temple," Fothergill said when they approached it. "Still, we
will have a look at it, but we won't burn it; it will be as well to
respect the religion, even of a set of piratical scoundrels like these."

At the head of his men he rushed in at the entrance. There was a blaze
of fire as half a dozen muskets were discharged in their faces. One of
the sailors dropped dead, and before the others had time to realize what
had happened they were beaten to the ground by a storm of blows from
swords and other weapons.

A heavy blow crashed down on Percy's head, and he fell insensible even
before he realized what had occurred.

When he recovered, his first sensation was that of a vague wonder as to
what had happened to him. He seemed to be in darkness and unable to move
hand or foot. He was compressed in some way that he could not at first
understand, and was being bumped and jolted in an extraordinary manner.
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 to these brutes, and one of them 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 dropp