"But now I am coming to a trial that I witnessed myself. I remember, as I went into the Provincial Criminal Court, one day, seeing the judge sitting behind a large table, covered with a red cloth. Secretaries, interpreters, and turnkeys stood at each end of the table, only the judge having a right to sit down. Soon after I arrived the prisoner was led in by a chain who immediately threw himself down on the ground before the judge. The crime brought against him was robbing an official of high rank. It was thought that he could not have committed the robbery alone, and was asked how it was effected, and who were his accomplices. He would not say. Then he was beaten; but still this brought no answer. Both an arm and a leg were then put into a board, which made it almost impossible for him either to walk, or sit, or stand. His poor back must have ached terribly; and while one man dragged him along by a chain, another held a whip to urge him forward.
"And he had never committed the robbery after all, but gave himself up in place of his father, a man named Wang-Yangsui, who was really the culprit."
Tears were in Sybil's eyes as she listened.
POOR OLD WANG-YANGSUI IN THE CAGE.
"And he suffered all that?" she said.
"Sons have been known to allow themselves to be transported to save their parents, and then only to have felt that they did their duty."
"And in this case was the real culprit ever found out?"
"Yes; the father, moved with compassion for his boy, gave himself up."
"And did they not let him off," Leonard asked, "as the son had suffered so much for him?"