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PARTISAN REVIEW
he sometimes would threaten to 'tear me to pieces' if the ransom
should fail to come within a certain period of time, I could see he
meant it only as a joke. For he believed all 'foreign devils' in China
were mighty wealthy people and that my 'folks at home' would cer–
tainly be glad to part with 'a tiny fraction of their fortune' to see
me set free.
"But my host, in his happy dreams, had never suspected that
the money would be paid by his own government and that those
gentlemen in Peking (the incident happened before your Generalis–
simo launched his Northern Expedition) as well as the local military .
and police officers had made up their mind to have him caught and
executed as due punishment for a crime that had caused everybody
concerned so much embarrassment. In those years, you know, when
the 'face' of a government was a t stake, justice naturally became a
matter of secondary importance. So, soon after my release, the
strongly reinforced local garrison, having somehow or other located
the 'den' of the bandits, started a campaign and captured every one
of the dozen people responsible for my kidnaping. This, of course, 1
did not know until some time later.
"One day, I was summoned before the colonel of the garrison.
He said he had a man there whom he wanted me to identify. When
that man was hustled in, in chains and swollen with bruises, I cried
out, 'Isn't that Big Brother Wang?'-for that was how my kidnaper
was called by his followers. 'So that is our man,' said the colonel,
rather gleefully. 'Do you want to say some prayers for him before
he dies?'
"'Do you mean to kill him? Oh, no! Big Brother Wang is a
good man, he is only foolish. I would be glad to pay the bail, take
him
to my church and answer for his subsequent conduct.'
" 'I very much appreciate your benevolence, Shen-fu,' said the
colonel. 'But as a soldier, I knew nothing but to obey my orders.
But I don't think that man stands any chance of getting his pardon,
though his followers may.'
"But the prisoner interrupted our conversation. 'No more of your
hypocrisy, you foreigtt monk!' (So I was no more his
ts'ai-shen.) 'I
let you sleep in my own bed and I fed you with big pieces of meat
and the best wine I had fermented for myself. But I would rather
have fed a dog than an informer like you. I let you go and you told
