distorted countenances, grinning upon us with the livid stare of
violent death through the dim medium of the coloured lamplight. My
blood seemed to freeze as my eyes encountered that ghastly gaze of the
dead, to which the upright position of the heads gave a sort of
semblance or mockery of life. An infant a few months old was pinned to
the counter below by a sharp piece of iron run through its little
body. The floor was two or three inches deep in thickening blood and
the entrails of the mutilated bodies. The arms and legs as well as
heads had been hacked off some of them and flung about the place.
Altogether a more hideous and revolting spectacle than this chamber of
horrors can never have been presented to mortal gaze. Such a scene,
and the sickening smell of blood, drove us out again almost
immediately. At that moment another party of the Japanese passed our
hiding-place. An infantry soldier in advance carried a large uncovered
flambeau, which threw a broad, red, steady glare over all surrounding
objects. I at once saw that these were all officers, excepting two or
three; smart, well-got-up, gentlemanly-looking little men in the
extreme; returning, perhaps, from calling off the last of their bloody
war-dogs, or making sure that all resistance had ceased. They were
laughing and chatting gaily, as if the massacre were rather a pleasant
affair than otherwise. When they had gone by, we issued into the
street, but had proceeded only a few paces when we saw a man carrying
a lantern appear round the abrupt bend before mentioned. He looked
like another Japanese hurrying after his companions who had just
passed. We returned with all haste to the doorway; and as we judged
that he had probably seen us, we re-entered the inner slaughter-house
and closed the door. We were right in thinking we had been seen, and
in about a minute we heard steps outside the door, which was presently
thrust violently open and the soldier entered, a low, sinister figure,
holding a drawn sword in what seemed to me a curiously white hand. He