"You have a nerve," remarked Cock-a-whoop Charlie.
"You Coon Dogs," continued my brother, "are making this county too hot for the Chinese--eh?"
"You bet yer life!"
"But won't you make it too hot for yourselves?"
The pack growled, inarticulate with astonishment and curiosity.
"Some of you," said Ajax, "have wives and children. What will they do when the Sheriff is hunting--you? You call this the Land of the Free, the Home of the Brave. So it is. And do you think that the Free and the Brave will suffer you to destroy property and life without calling you to account?"
"We ain't destroying life."
"And a heathen Chinee ain't a man."
"Quong," said Ajax, in his deep voice, "is hardly a man yet. We call him Mary, because he looks like a girl. You want him--eh? You are not satisfied with what you did yesterday? You want him? But--do you want him dying?"
The pack cowered.