'Has anybody got a pair of scissors?' asked O'Reilly, taking the Chinaman by the queue.

 

'I've got one in my tent,' answered one of the miners.

 

'Go and get it, then.'

 

Ki Sing again uttered a cry of dismay, but it did not seem likely that his valued appendage could be saved. Public sentiment was with his persecutor.

 

He had one friend, however, among the rough men who surrounded him, the same who had already taken his part.

 

Richard Dewey's eyes glittered sternly as he saw O'Reilly's intention, and he quietly advanced till he was within an arm's length of Ki Sing.

 

'What do you mean to do, O'Reilly?' he demanded sternly.

 

'None of your business!' retorted O'Reilly insolently.

 

'It is going to be my business. What do you mean to do?'

 

'Gut off this haythen's pigtail, and I'd just like to know who's going to prevent me.'

 

At this moment the miner who had gone for a pair of scissors returned.

 

'Give me them scissors!' said O'Reilly sharply.

 

Richard Dewey reached out his hand and intercepted them. He took them in place of O'Reilly.

 

'Give me them scissors, Dewey, or it'll be the worse for you!' exclaimed the tyrant furiously.

 

Dewey regarded him with a look of unmistakable contempt.

 

There was a murmur among the miners, who were eager for the amusement which the Chinaman's terror and ineffectual struggles would afford them.

 

'Give him the scissors, Dewey!' said half a dozen.

 

'Boys,' said Dewey, making no motion to obey them, 'do you know what you are about to do? Why should you interfere with this poor, unoffending Chinaman? Has he wronged any one of you?'

 

'No, but that ain't the point,' said a Kentuckian. 'We only want to play a joke on him. It won't do him no harm to cut his hair.'

 

'Of course not,' chimed in several of the miners.

 

'Do you hear that, Dick Dewey?' demanded O'Reilly impatiently. 'Do you hear what the boys say? Give me them scissors.'

 

'Boys, you don't understand the effects of what you would do,' said Dewey, taking no notice of O'Reilly, much to that worthy's indignation. 'If Ki Sing has his queue cut off, he can never go back to China.'

 

'Is that the law, squire?' asked a loose-jointed Yankee.

 

'Yes, it is. You may rely on my word. Ki Sing, if you cut off your queue, can you go back to China?'

 

'No go back-stay in Melica allee time.'

 

'You see he confirms my statement.'

 

'That's a queer law, anyway,' said the Kentuckian.

 

'I admit that, but such as it is, we can't alter it. Now, Ki Sing has probably a father and mother, perhaps a wife and children, in China. He wants to go back to them some time. Shall we prevent this, and doom him to perpetual exile, just to secure a little sport? Come, boys, you've all of you got dear ones at home, that you hope some day to see again. I appeal to you whether this is manly or kind.'

 

This was a sort of argument that had a strong effect. It was true that each one of these men had relatives for whom they were working, the thought of whom enabled them to bear hard work and privations thousands of miles away from home, and Richard Dewey's appeal touched their hearts.

 

'That's so! Dewey is right. Let him go, O'Reilly!' said the crowd.

 

The one man who was not touched by the appeal was O'Reilly himself. Not that he was altogether a bad man, but his spirit of opposition was kindled, and he could not bear to yield to Dewey, whose contempt he understood and resented.

 

His reply was, 'I'm goin' to cut off the haythen's pigtail, whether or no. Give me them scissors, I tell you,' and he gave a vicious twitch to the Chinaman's queue, which made Ki Sing utter a sharp cry of pain.

 

Richard Dewey's forbearance was at an end. His eyes blazed with fury, and, clenching his fist, he dashed it full in the face of the offending O'Reilly, who not only released his hold on Ki Sing, but measured his length on the ground.

 ............