"Now, you yeller haythen, I'll cut off your pigtail in spite of that impertinent friend of yours—Dick Dewey. I'll show you that an O'Reilly isn't to be interfered wid."
"So he wants the poor fellow's queue, does he?" said Dewey to himself. "You're not quite smart enough, Mr. O'Reilly."
There was no time to lose.
O'Reilly was already on his knees, with the poor Chinaman's treasured queue in his hand, when he felt himself seized in a powerful grip.
"What are you about, O'Reilly?" demanded Richard Dewey, in a deep, stern voice.
O'Reilly uttered a cry, rather of surprise than alarm.
"What are you about?" repeated Richard Dewey, in a tone of authority.
"I'm goin' to cut off the haythen's pigtail," answered the Irishman doggedly.
"What for?"
"I've said I'd do it, and I'll do it."