After the looting of the Chao family, the Weichuangites were, on the whole, filled with a mixture of delight and fear; Ah Q also was filled with delight and fear.
But at midnight, four days later, Ah Q was suddenly taken by force to the district seat. In the black night a company of soldiers, a company of militia, a company of police, and five spies quietly made their way to Weichuang and under cover of darkness, surrounded T'uku Temple. They put up a machine gun directly facing the door; but still Ah Q did not rush out. When there was no movement for a long time, the captain, becoming highly excited, offered a reward of twenty dollars, and it was not until then that two of the local militia took the risk, climbed over the wall, and entered. Thus, working from within and from without, the whole mass crowded in and extracted Ah Q, but not until he had been dragged out of T'uku Temple and brought near the machine gun did he become slightly awake.
By the time they reached the city, it was already noon. Ah Q beheld himself hauled to a dilapidated yamen, and, after turning five or six
