the diggers were of their
collection of tails, and the woe that fell upon the de spoiled Asiatics
was most profound, but touched no sympathetic chords in the callous
hearts of the miners.

It is not to be assumed that the Chows bore all their afflictions like
lambs. They had methods of their own of getting even, and were efficient
tent thieves, and peculiarly expert in the art of rifling tips, although
this was not proved against them until the eleventh hour. They fought
back on occasions, and one morning a big Californian was found near their
claims, beaten almost to death. Evidently the digger had deserved his
fate, and had been caught stealing wash-dirt from Sin Fat's tips; but his
denials were readily and gladly accepted by the whites, and another
excellent reason for demolishing the Chows was registered in the minds of
the men.

Being up just after daybreak one morning, or not yet having gone to bunk,
Levi Long was the unsuspected witness of acts of Chinese iniquity that
brought about the climax of the anti-Chinese agitation. There was no
water-supply at Simpson's Ranges, and the wash-dirt had to be carted four
miles to the river at Carisbrook, to be puddled and washed. This morning
the Chinamen were busy bright and early, carting their wash away; but the
Celestials, always frugal, to save as much as possible the expense of
drays, each carried two hide-bags of dirt suspended on a bamboo, and
followed the loaded carts through the diggings with the peculiar trot
they always adopted when bearing burdens. What Long noticed was that
every now and again, when passing the tips on the claims of the
Europeans, the sly Celestials dug their shovels into the wash-dirt, and
threw a few shovelfuls on to their own loads or into the bags they
carried. Keeping himself in concealment, Levi quietly awakened a few of
the diggers, and drew their attention to what was going on. The Chinamen
chattered noisily as they passed, and the movements of the crowd were
evidently artfully designed to cover the depredations of the thieves.

Within a quarter of an hour every white man on the field knew what had
been going on, and now the miners thought they understood the motive of
the Chows in always carting their dirt away in the gray hours of morning,
before the too-confiding Europeans were up and about. This was the last
straw. A meeting was held very quietly, and, to Done's astonishment, his
mate took an active part in the proceedings.

'Th