"Let me get it. Those Spiggoties will not give it to you."
Allan went to the door and called to the guard. An instant later he returned with a tin cup.
"I guess they knocked me out," Kirk said, dazedly. "I never was hit like that before—and jailed! Say! We must get out of her. Call the chief or the man in charge, will you? I can't speak the language."
"Please, sar, if you h'anger them they will beat us again."
"Beat! Not here?"
"Oh yes. They might kill us."
"They wouldn't do that!"
"A white man they killed lahst h'autumn, and several of my people have passed away in this prison. Nobody can 'ear nothing. Nobody knows what 'appens 'ere."
"Oh, well, they wouldn't dare touch us—I'm an American citizen. I'll notify the consul."
Roused at the mere suggestion. Kirk staggered to the door and shouted lustily. When no one answered, he shook the iron grating, whereupon a guard leisurely approached, and, after listening stolidly to his request, went back to his post at the other end of the hall. This time the American sent forth such an uproar that a man evidently corresponding in authority to a sergeant appeared with the command to be quiet.