It might all have been in dumb show for the understanding I got of it. On the one side was accusation and reproach. On the other was sullen excuse and defense. I could see that the anger of Big Sam grew as he spoke. Then at some denial or evasion of the men before him he clapped his hands, a door opened and the young girl whose abduction I had witnessed stepped in. She gave a cry as she saw the two men who had seized her, and would have shrunk back. The old man, who had been standing in dejection in the rear of the crowd, made an inarticulate sound of satisfaction and started toward her. Big Sam jumped to his feet; the rage in his eyes overflowed into his face, and his voice rang out sharply. The girl ran to Big Sam and clasped her hands, then threw herself on the floor before him. [Illustration: The girl threw herself on the floor] At the sound of Big Sam’s words the old man stepped back mumbling. Big Sam waved his hand, the abductors and the old man were led away, and the girl, with hands clasped, lay bowed to the floor beside me. The rage slowly faded out of the face of Big Sam. With a word he raised the girl to her feet, motioned her to a chair and seated himself. "Of what use is it to hold the power of life and death over men, when folly and greed are more powerful than your will?" Big Sam spoke with a smile, but there was a bitterness in his tone. "Neither money nor fear can put brains into the head of a fool," he continued, with the same acrid savor to his words. "I suppose you have hardly understood what has gone on, Mr. Hampden." "I confess I am much in the dark." "Necessarily, as you do not understand our language. You saw the beginning of the trouble. You have seen what followed. I wish you could tell me the end." "I’m sorry," I answered, "that I’m not a prophet--" "It would be worth something to me--to both of us--if you were." He paused a moment and turned to his charge before he continued: "This girl, as you may suppose, is a valuable piece of property." "I had not looked at her in that light." "A defect of your western training, Mr. Hampden. She belongs to one of our tongs--or to the leading men of that tong, which amounts to the same thing. Another tong has been most anxious to secure her, and has offered as high as three thousand dollars for her possession. It was refused and four thousand demanded. I interfered so far as to order that the girl should be reserved until some man offered to make her his wife. She is pretty--very pretty, to our notions--and I have interested myself so much in her welfare as to think that she would grace a home. I suppose I do not need to tell you that the leaders of the two tongs have no such destiny in view for her." "Well, no, if rumor does them no injustice," I assented.