“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“When will he be here?”
“I don’t know.”
“Have you no idea what time he will arrive? Will it be in an hour, or not until night?”
“Oh, he is away. He may be back in a week, or he may not be here for a month.”
“And we must wait for him—perhaps a month?”
“Yes.”
We then explained to him at length that we were American citizens, that we should be taken immediately before some authority and given ample satisfaction for such treatment. After much argument he consented to take a message for us to a certain superior officer’s assistant. The answer came back, “The prisoners must wait till the priestoff comes.”
We sent a more imperative message, demanding that some one be sent to us without delay.