6i was fifteen then. when the japanese surrounded the village, your maternal grandfather andgrandmother lowered me and your young uncle into a dry well. we never saw them again. lateron i learned they were killed that very morning.

i don’t know how many days i hunkered down inside that well. your uncle died there, and hisbody began to stink. the toad and yellow-banded snake stared at me until i nearly died of fright.

i was sure i’d die down in that well. but finally your father and your granddad came along.

granddad wrapped the fifteen ‘38’ rifles in oil paper and tied them with rope, then carriedthem to the edge of the well. ‘douguan, look around and make sure nobody can see us.’

granddad knew that detachment leader leng and the jiao-gao soldiers still had their heartsset on these guns. the night before, when he and the others were asleep in a tent at the foot of thevillage wall, blind eye, who was keeping guard, heard something bump up against a wax tree onthe downward slope. then he detected the soft sound of footsteps coming towards the tent; hecould tell there were two people, one brave, the other not so brave. he could hear them breathing.

raising his rifle, he shouted, ‘halt right there!’ the men threw themselves to the ground in panicand began crawling backward. getting a fix on the direction, blind eye aimed and pulled thetrigger bang! he heard the men roll down the slope and dart in among the stand of wax trees. heaimed and fired again. someone yelled. granddad and the others, awakened by the gunfire, ranup, weapons in hand, just in time to see two dark figures dart across the ditch and vanish into thesorghum field.

‘there’s nobody around, dad,’ my father said.

‘remember this well,’ granddad said.

‘i will. it belongs to beauty’s family.’

‘if i die,’ granddad said, ‘come get these guns and use them as a bartering chip to join up withthe jiao-gao regiment. they’re at least better than detachment leader leng’s troops.’

‘let’s not join up with anyone,’ father said. ‘let’s recruit our own army. we still have amachine gun.’

granddad snorted with a wry smile. ‘it’s not as easy as you think, son,’ he said. ‘i’m wornout.’

after father uncoiled the rope from the rickety windlass, granddad tied it around the bundle ofguns.

‘are you sure the well is dry?’ granddad asked.

‘i’m sure wang guang and i played hide-and-seek here once.’ father bent over to peer into thewell, where he saw the outlines of two bodies in the dark recesses.

‘dad, there’s somebody down there!’ he screamed.

they knelt on the step at the mouth of the well and strained to see who it was.

‘it’s beauty!’ father said.

‘take a good look. is she alive?’

‘i think i can see her breathing – there’s a snake coiled beside her – and her baby brotherharmony’s there, too.?.?.?.’ father’s words echoed off the walls of the well.

‘are you afraid to go down there?’

‘i’ll go down, dad. beauty’s my best friend!’

‘watch out for that snake.’

‘snakes don’t scare me.’

granddad untied the well rope from the bundle of guns and secured it around father’s waist,then lowered him slowly into the well, keeping the weight on the windlass.

‘be careful,’ father heard granddad say from the top of the well as his foot touched aprotruding brick and he stepped down on the floor. the black snake with the colourful bandraised its head menacingly and flicked out its forked tongue, hissing at father. during his days offishing and crabbing at the black water river, father had learned how to deal with snakes, andhe and uncle arhat had eaten one, baked in dry cow dung. arhat told him that snake meat is acure for leprosy; after eating it, they had both felt hot all over.

now father stood at the bottom of the well without moving, and, the instant the snake loweredits head, he reached down, grabbed it by the tail, and shook it with all his might until he heard itsbones crack. then he grabbed it just behind the head and twisted it hard. ‘dad,’ he shouted,‘stand clear!’

granddad backed away from the mouth of the well as the half-dead snake came flying out.

granddad’s skin crawled. ‘that little imp’s got the nerves of a thief!’

father helped beauty sit up and shouted in her ear, ‘beauty! beauty! it’s me, douguan. i’mhere to save you!’

father tied the rope around beauty’s waist. granddad carefully turned the windlass and hauledmother out of the well. then he brought up the body of my young uncle.

‘dad, send the guns down!’ father said.

‘stand clear.’

the windlass creaked as the bundle of guns was lowered into the well. then father untied therope and put it around his waist.

‘pull me up, dad,’ he said.

‘is the rope secure?’

‘yes.’

‘make sure it’s tight. this is no time to be careless.’

‘it’s good and tight, dad.’

‘did you tie a square knot?’

‘what’s wrong with you, dad? it was me who tied the rope around beauty, wasn’t it?’

father and granddad looked down at beauty as she lay on the ground. her skin was stretchedtaut over her cheekbones, her eyes were sunken, her gums protruded, and her hair was a tangledmess. her baby brother’s fingernails had turned blue.