"Melican man speak velly good," he said.
"Of course, you think so," sneered O'Reilly. "I say, boys, let's cut off his pigtail," touching the poor Chinaman's queue.
Ki Sing uttered a cry of dismay as O'Reilly's suggestion was greeted with favorable shouts by the thoughtless crowd.
CHAPTER XXVIII. — THE DUEL OF THE MINERS.
O'Reilly's suggestion chimed in with the rough humor of the crowd. They were not bad-hearted men, but, though rough in their manners, not much worse on the average than an equal number of men in the Eastern States. They only thought of the fun to be obtained from the proceeding, and supposed they would be doing the Chinaman no real harm.
"Has anybody got a pair of scissors?" asked O'Reilly, taking the Chinaman by the queue.
"I've got one in my tent," answered one of the miners.
"Go and get it, then."