Hop
Sing held one hand in the smoke, raised the other aloft and made a
blood-curdling oath of some sort which, by the expression of his face,
probably consigned the owner forever more to the nethermost depths 'of
Tophet.
"Why, where is Ali Sing?" asked Jo the next morning, when she found the
tall slave still in the kitchen.
"He got heap sick cousin. He go way. I stay. He come back bime-by." Jo
knew that it was useless to question further.
The summer drifted by and still Sing did not return. Rand walked in one
day with the first flurry of snow, from his claim in the south. He
caught both of Jo's hands in his without a word, kissed them tenderly
and let them go.
"Rand," she faltered, "it is so long since I've heard from you. You have
been acting so strangely-for months!"
"Jo, have you not heard the talk that has been whispered with my name
ever since Sing disappeared? They say that I know too much about the
holdups; that I helped the Chinaman to escape; that Digger Dan and Hop
Sing are one; that - "
"I would not listen to such falsehoods," cried the girl, her grey eyes
flashing.
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