Accordingly he walked over to where Dewey and his apprentice were
working.
"Look here, Dewey," he began, "me and some of the rest of the boys
have takin' over this yere matter of your givin' work to this
Chinaman, and we don't like it."
"Why not?" asked Dewey coolly.
"We don't feel no call to associate with sich as he."
"You needn't; I don't ask you to," said Dewey quietly. "I am the
only one who associates with him."
"But we don't want him in camp."
"He won't trouble any of you. I will take charge of him."
"Look here, Dewey, you've got to respect public sentiment, and
public sentiment is agin' this thing."
"Whose public sentiment--O'Reilly's?"
"Well, O'Reilly don't like it, for one."
"I thought so."
"Nor I for another."
"It strikes me, Hodgson, that I've got some rights as well as
O'Reilly. Suppose I should say I didn't choose to work in the same
camp with an Irishman?"
"That's different."
"Why is it different?"
"Well, you see, an Irishman isn't a yeller heathen."
Dewey laughed.
"He may be a heathen, though not a yellow one," he said.
"Well, Dewey, what answer shall I take back to the boys?"
"You can say that I never intended to employ the Chinaman for any
length of time; but I shall not send him off till I get ready.
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