“Once the pole just grazed my back, and for this I went to the clothesline and taking a shirt sleeve in my teeth I jerked it off the line, stamped on it and then tore it to pieces. He nearly foamed at the mouth when he saw this. And I was just walking up to get another when some one slipped up behind me and threw a blanket over my head. Well, of all the rolling and tumbling that went on then you never saw the like! First I was on top, then the two Chinamen were. My legs were loose and you better believe I used them. I kicked and kicked. Then all of a sudden it seemed as if every Chinaman in all Chinatown was sitting on top of me. They came from over the fences, from all directions, and every one that came proceeded to sit on me. At last there were so many of them I could not move. They tied all four of my feet together and strung me on a pole, which they suspended over a place where a bonfire had been made over which to make soap. Some one removed the big kettle of soap and then they put me right where the kettle had been. Next they took the blanket off my head and began dancing around me, and spit at me and jabbed me with sticks, doing everything they could possibly think of to torture me.
“The blood ran into my head so from being hung upside down that I could scarcely see, and the ropes binding my feet cut into me until I bled. But still these heathen Chinese showed no mercy and I was beginning to wonder if they intended leaving me to die a slow death when the first Chinaman said, ‘Let’s build a fire under him and cook him alive! Roast goatee is velly, velly good, me hear.’
“This seemed to please the crowd, and they joined hands and ran around and around me, chanting some heathen song until the old Chinaman who had proposed cooking me alive came with some matches and shavings to start the fire.
“Then for the first time I began to be worried, and thought, ‘Well, at last I am in a tight place I can’t get out of,’ when I heard howls of pain and rage and the fierce growl of a dog. Opening my eyes to see what was taking place, I saw Stubby biting the heels of the Chinaman as he stooped to light the fire, while Button sat on his back scratching the very shirt off him. In about two minutes the yard was cleared of Chinamen, I can tell you! Stubby bit and Button clawed them until they were glad enough to climb the fences to get away alive.
“They had frightened the Chinamen off and saved me from being roasted to death. But how were they ever to get me off that pole?
“At last I thought, ‘Perhaps if I wriggle and squirm my weight will break the pole. Anyway, I am going to try it.’
“And soon I found that by moving my body in a certain way I could start a certain motion that made me swing up and down and the more I moved the higher I went and the pole began to creak. Then presently it broke in two and came down all in a heap. I had scarcely touched the ground when Stubby and Button began to gnaw the ropes that bound me, and in a jiffy they had gnawed them through and I was loose.
“Do you think I ran away when I was free once more? No, indeed, I did not! I stayed right there to get even with Mr. Chinaman who had proposed to cook me alive. It was very dark in the yard now as night had closed in while all the fuss was going on. So I proposed to hide and wait for the Chinaman to show himself in the yard. Well, all I can say is that if he ever did show himself I had made up my mind to kill him. Stubby and Button hid too, and then we waited. And as we waited the earth under our feet began to quiver and shake and low, rumbling noises were heard like distant thunder. These shakings and tremblings of the earth continued growing more and more violent until they threw me off my feet once or twice, while the ripping, roaring noises grew louder and more frequent. Presently fire bells began to ring and the night sky was illuminated with vivid red reflections from huge fires. But still we three watched for those Chinamen to come out of the house.
“‘Come on, Billy!’ Stubby barked in a whisper. ‘Let us get out of here. We must be having one of those terrible earthquakes they sometimes have out here in this country.’
“‘Yes, come, Billy,’ urged Button, ‘and leave the Chinaman to the mercy of the ’quake. Perhaps the earth will open and swallow him!’