Accordingly, he thought it best to keep the Mongolian under his
personal charge as long as he remained in camp.
Ki Sing followed him to his tent as a child follows a guardian.
"Are you hungry, Ki Sing?" asked Dewey.
"Plenty hungly."
"Then I will first satisfy your appetite," and Dewey brought forth
some of his stock of provisions, to which Ki Sing did ample justice,
though neither rat pie nor rice was included.
When the lunch, in which Richard Dewey joined, was over, he said:
"If you will help me for the rest of the day, I will pay you
whatever I consider your services to be worth."
"All lightee!" responded Ki Sing, with alacrity.
Whatever objections may be made to the Chinaman, he cannot be
charged with laziness. As a class they are willing to labor
faithfully, even where the compensation is small. Labor in China,
which is densely peopled, is a matter of general and imperative
necessity, and has been so for centuries, and habit has probably had
a good deal to do with the national spirit of industry.
Ki Sing, under Richard Dewey's directions, worked hard, and richly
earned the two dollars which his employer gave him at the end of the
day.
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