sounded like the bellowing of tortured animals. Between the cries we could hear the chief tormentor's words of command: »Harder! » followed by blows, and fresh torrents of inarticulate confession.
GEORG and EFFE had a look into this hell, where the poor wretches stood bound and stark naked but for a loin-cloth; but I cannot describe this horrible scene of torture, nor the refined, devilish ingenuity of the torturers. At last the sufferings of the victims reached a point at which they lost all control over their cries of pain; they laughed and cried at once, and bellowed with an undertone of entreaty that might have melted a stone. One stout fellow did not utter a sound under the torture. He remained perfectly silent; but a cold sweat poured from his forehead, and at last he collapsed and lay insensible on the ground. Another, who was uttering fearful yells, suddenly fell silent — he had fainted. In an hour or two the courtyard was quiet again.
The reason why we did not see much of the magistrate of Kanchow was that his valuable time was all taken up with the administration of this sort of justice. On the coast, torture has been abolished; but there in the interior of China it flourishes just as in olden times. It is perhaps even worse now than then; for public order and discipline used to be stricter. When we asked questions about it we were told that only cruel, terrifying punishments had any effect on the rogues who murdered, looted and robbed. It was also said that the robber-bands themselves applied torture to the well-to-do farmers and peasants whom they attacked. There were even modern western names for different kinds of refined torture, such as »riding on the engine », »the telephone », and »the aeroplane ».
During the civil war whose last stages we had witnessed in Sinkiang, another war had been raging in the regions east of the Gobi proper. SUN TIEN-PING was a robber general of whom we had often heard when we were last at Kuei-hua. He and his bands were then on the northern bend of the Yellow River. He had been commissioned by Nanking to march to the province of Ch'ing-hai (Kuku-nor), conquer it, colonize it with his army, and »develop » it. But MA PU-FANG at Hsining and MA HUNG-K'UEI in Ning-hsia did not approve of the plan. So SUN had first to beat MA HUNG-K'UEI, as the province of Ning-hsia was on SUN'S way to Ch'ing-hai.
War broke out, and MA HUNG-K'UEI was at first defeated. In their extremity the Tungans sent envoys to Nanking begging for support, whereupon Nanking forbade SUN to carry out the plan. The latter, however, refused to obey, and continued to make preparations for his march through Ning-hsia. So Nanking took strong measures, sending aeroplanes, guns and troops to support the Tungans. At the same time General Fu Tso-YI at Kuei-hua received orders to attack SUN from the rear. He did so; SUN had to give way before superior numbers, and finally agreed to withdraw to Peking and Tientsin.
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