CHAPTER IV

Summary

Towards the middle of the day, there was a commotion in the yard, and soon afterwards, the jailers and some other people came in, and I and two more, a marine and a boy, were carried out; after waiting a short time in the yard, our cages were again shouldered, and we were conveyed through the town to the residence of a mandarin, but not the same house we had been at two days before. We were taken into the entrance-hall, which had the usual canopy at the further end; being, I suppose, the “Hall of Ancestors.” I was released from my cage directly it was set down, and found myself with the English prisoner I had previously seen. He told me he was Captain Anstruther, and had been kidnapped at Chusan; that our heads were in comparative security, but that perhaps we should have a long imprisonment, as the Chinese would only consent to give us up, if the English would evacuate Chusan; but to this condition we could not hope the commander-in-chief would accede. However, he was, at the desire of the mandarins, going to write to Chusan to this effect, and by this means our countrymen would know where we were, and perhaps be enabled to procure our release.