death, sure. I shall inform the authorities, I shall see you arrested and dragged into the city, I shall see you beheaded—you and all your family—zip! zip! zip!"
The robbing of the Chaos caused in the villagers a mixed feeling of pleasure and uneasiness; and it produced the same sort of feeling in Ah Q. Four days later he was arrested during the night, without warning, and taken into the city. It was a dark night. A squad each of regulars, militiamen, and armed police, and five detectives, entered Wei, surrounded the temple under cover of darkness and trained a machine gun on the gate. But Ah Q did not rush the siege as anticipated. After a while the commander of the expedition became impatient and offered a reward of twenty thousand cash, whereupon two militiamen volunteered to dare and die. They climbed over the wall and opened the gate. The expeditionary force rushed in and dragged out the sleeping Ah Q, who did not fully wake up or realize what had happened until he had been placed beside the machine gun.
It was noon when the triumphant expedition entered the city. Ah Q was dragged into a dilapidated yamen, marched through several compounds and then thrust into a cell. The heavy grilled door closed after him as he stumbled in. He was surrounded by solid walls on the other three sides. Looking around carefully, he discovered two other men in the cell.
Although somewhat frightened, Ah Q was by no means distressed by his new surroundings, for his room in the temple was no more sumptuous than this one. The other prisoners looked like villagers, and as they got to talking one said he was being held for back rent that his grandfather
