“And what of my rent money? Nine rubles, in clean money——”
“The rubles shall go for repairs, after you have left the house. Now out with you.”
“But my wife is not well. And my children——”
“No time have I to listen to woeful tales,” stormed the Russian, who was merely a rent gatherer, and who had been ordered by his rich master to clear out all the Japanese in the street. “Take your wife and children where you will, only leave here, and at once.”
“It is unjust,” stammered Jiru Siko.
“Yes, it is unjust!” came in a shout from half a dozen present.
“Ha, so you defy me!” shouted the Russian, in a rage. “Shall I bring the soldiery here to make you prisoners?”
At the mention of the soldiery the crowd fell back and several Japanese and Chinese slunk out of sight. Evidently they had had a taste of Russian law before and wanted no more or it.
Scarcely knowing what to do, for his wife was sick and his youngest child was but a babe four months old, Jiru Siko fell back to the doorway of his house and blocked the entrance.
“Come out of that!” continued the Russian. And then, without warning, he aimed a blow with his club at the Japanese’s head.