COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 281 



from the cart. I waited anxiously : in about a 

 quarter of an hour I heard the clank of chains, and 

 looking over the cart saw poor Parkes being led 

 away in irons, a man with a lantern going before 

 him. I called out to him. He bid me good-bye 

 in case we were separated, and said, ' The chains 

 are not very heavy '. 



" In a few minutes I was led before three 

 mandarins, who were seated in a small room. I 

 was forced to kneel in front of a table at which they 

 sat a torturer on either side of me holding my hair 

 and beard, which they occasionally pulled when any 

 question was addressed to me. On one side of the 

 room was a low flat wooden bed, with rollers and 

 ropes at each end, and I had no difficulty in recog- 

 nising a rude kind of rack. On the walls and on 

 the table were different instruments of torture. 

 Getting very tired of the cuffs and kicks I got when 

 unable to answer the questions put to me, which 

 being in Chinese I was unable to understand, I made 

 signs with my head for my hat, which had been 

 knocked off, and which was lying in front of me, and 

 at the same time made an effort to rise, on which 

 I was knocked down on my face, and had it repeated 

 two or three times. An iron collar was then fastened 

 round my neck, with a long heavy chain descending 

 from it. I was then removed through various court- 

 yards into one where I found Parkes seated on a 

 bench, having irons fastened on his ankles. The 

 same was done to me. I fortunately had on jack- 

 boots, which protected my ankles somewhat from the 



