Page:The further side of silence (IA furthersideofsil00clifiala).pdf/394

 "We bound him hand and foot with cords of ral- tan, which ate into his flesh as this chisel cats into the kamuning wood, and we used such force that he screamed aloud with pain. She who had been Hodoh fought and bit at us, like a wildcat newly caught in the woods, so we were obliged to bind her also, but gently, with the cloth of our sarongs, doing her no hurt. Thus we bore them back to the village whence Hodoh had fled upon that fatal night; and thereafter we put Pa' Ah-Gap to the torture of the bamboo."

"What is that?" I asked.

Tukang Búrok smiled grimly, his old eyes lighting up with a thrill of pleasurable recollection.

"It is not filling, Tuan, that I should describe it with particularity," he said. "There be certain methods, none the less, whereby the quick-growing shoot of the small bamboo can be taught to grow into the vitals of a man, causing him such slow agony as even the Shetans in Jehannam have scarce dreamed of.

"When first we bound him to the seat whereon he was to die, he glared upon us with the eyes of a wild beast, giving vent to no sound; and I was grieved that he did not pray for mercy, that I, with mockery. might refuse it to him. But later, when the bam- boo began to grow, he prayed to be spared till I. who sat beside him, keeping a ceaseless vigil and gloating over his pain, even I was nearly satisfied. His agony was very lingering and keen, and soon he entreated us to kill him, suing for death, as a lover