The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-11

there is oaly ons sovereign h the world. and that he is the emperor of China. Whan my answers displsased them, one of the judges would mako sign b the executionefs, wAo thereupon would beat or mAltreat me; but noticed lt vas all done on a sort of system. At oae time they would pull out my hair and wAiskeEs, at another they would shake thumb screw in my face-all with . view to in. timidation. Presently, by way Of bring. ing the scene to an end, thought would simulate a fainting 6t but the result vas 90 extremely unpleasant that did not at tempt it again.
 "At last ! was taken back to my dun. geon, and given some cakes of millet and hot water to drink. (All the prisoners had hot water; cold water is considered unwholesome It was . chamber of moderate size, and would have been rather stufy even fer eight or ten people. yet into this space were crowded no less than seventy-three other prisoners, and some of them had been there for years They were not chained as l was, and most of them were tolerably civil, and inclined to be sympathetic. One man, who fancied our people had done him an injury, was insoient at first, aud abused me l; but luckily the Chinese are suscepti- ble to chaff, and soon got the laugh on my side. By day there was big grated window locking into little court, so we got some air; but by night, when the grating was boarded up, the stench was intolerahle, and one felt as though one were intoxicated.
 "This went on for seven days, during which was repeatedly subjected to in- terrogation. My great object was to i'm. no power of authority whatever, for 1 hardly knew how long my strength or even my reason might hold out, or what l might not be induced to say, especially if they were to employ torture in my then weakened condition. At last one day they came and said they wished me to write to Lord Elgin. Of course was only too enchanted They brought paper and pens and sat down as close to me as possible, scarcely leaving mo a foots space wherein to write, so that they might watch every stroke that was made. be- gan. 'Oh stop! stopP said they, the letter must be in Chinese Then said 1, it will be useless, for Lord Elgin will not be able to read it. Never mind, they replied, he can easily get ap inter- preter.' There was nothing for it but to submit, so l began to date my letter Court of Punishment Stop stopl' cried they again that won't do at all You've been long enough in China to know that it is not good manners to talk of such things as prisons, and punish ments, and the like We'll said l, every letter must begin with date, and can only date from the place where | ann But they did not like that at all and desired me simply to say that we were we'll and were kindly treated. They were evidently most unwilling that our friends should know we were in prison. Perceiving that had thus some hold upon them, l persisted in my determina- tion. 'No,' said l, if you like to lodge me in palace shall be happy to date from a palace, but so long as 1 am in 8 prison l can only date from my prison. For two days they argued and wrangied d over this point, but saw that our future depended upon it, and was determine d not to give way. At last they decided to remove me. My chains were taken of and after nine days in this oathsome dungeon l was conducted to : sort of little temple, a small circular building enclosed within an outer courtyard. Now said they, 'you can write that you are weil treated.' 'Ah, but my friendp l replied. He may be dead for what know. You must either take me to him or bring him to me before 1 can say that we are well treated.' After some further hesitation they agreed even to this, and presently MT. Loch was brought in. You may imagine how thankful we were to find ourselves together once more.
 Then began my letter, our inquisi- tors scrutinizing every word. would not say all that they desired, but stated in formal words that we were we'll and civ lilly treated, and of course the latter did not in the least convey to our friends our real situation. But said 1, we must sign our names in English or else Lord Elgin will not believe that it really comes from us.' This also, however, they ob- jected to. 'Oh, well then, said l again, it is simply no use sending the letter. So at last they gave way about this, and Loch wrote his name in full, very big, and l did the same, and around the names we contrived to introduce q message in Hindostanee, which we trusted they would not understand, and which to the uneducated eye looked only like so many twirls and dourishes. For seven days we got nc answer. We were not bound, but had guards in the same room with us day and night, and were never alone for a moment Whenever we asked tor infor. nation, we were told that our army was cut to pieces 'our friends had met with their deserts, and been swept from the face of the earth etc. So we knew not what to think.
 At last we were told that letter had arrived, together with bundle of clothes for which had asked, and of which we stood sorely in need. The letter Qike our owp) was written in Chinese, and was formal and cautiously expressed.
 Hoping 'tha, all might be amicably ar- ranged, provided the Chinese would treat