COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 291 



that we had been employed on the same service and 

 had been captured together. Hangki made some 

 difficulty as to this, but the following day I was 

 released and taken as I have described with Parkes 

 to the temple. 



" We had scarcely finished dinner when Hangki 

 came to claim the fulfilment of Parkes' promise to 

 write a letter. He dictated to Parkes what he 

 wished said, and Parkes wrote it in Chinese, and as 

 Hangki dictated it in the plural, Parkes said when 

 he had finished, ' it required also the approval of 

 Loch, and as he can't write Chinese he must just 

 write across in English he approves '. Hangki 

 readily agreed to this, and suspecting they had a 

 man who could read English, I wrote in Hindostanee, 

 although in English characters, that the letter was 

 written at the dictation of the Chinese Government, 

 and signed my name. We afterwards learned that this 

 was the first intimation that Lord Elgin had received 

 of our being alive. Each day we received visits from 

 Hangki and other mandarins ; endless discussions 

 ensued. We felt they were delaying matters danger- 

 ously ; that probably our army would have to act 

 before the Chinese had decided what to do. We 

 knew then our lives would be forfeited. On the 2nd 

 October by Hangki's desire we wrote for clothes. 

 We made a backgammon board out of a cushion of 

 a stool ; played a few games in the evening. Lovely 

 cloudless weather how we longed to be free and 

 on horseback ! Ten days after we had written the 

 clothes came only a shirt or two and pocket-hand- 



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