Muchee think
tonight!"
And after saying a few words to the guards, who had been regarding
this conversation with an air of surprise, the Chinaman retired.
The guards had for some time abandoned the precaution of sitting up
at night by the cage, convinced that their captives had no longer
strength to attempt to break through its fastenings or to drag
themselves many yards away if they could do so. They therefore left
it standing in the open, and, wrapping themselves in their thickly
wadded coats, for the nights were cold, lay down by the side of
the cage.
The coolness of the nights had, indeed, assisted to keep the two
prisoners alive. During the day the sun was excessively hot, and
the crowd of visitors round the cage impeded the circulation of
the air and added to their sufferings. It was true that the cold
at night frequently prevented them from sleeping, but it acted as
a tonic and braced them up.
"What did he mean about the villages attacking each other?" Percy
asked.
"I have heard," Jack replied, "that in some parts of China things
are very much the same as they used to be in the highlands of
Scotland. There is no law or order. The different villages are like
clans, and wage war on each other. Sometimes the government sends
a number of troops, who put the thing down for a time, chop off
a good many heads, and then march away, and the whole work begins
again as soon as their backs are turned.
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