"
"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.
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