ally
waiting for, sent an uncomfortable thrill down our backs, and made us
look at each other with a forced and unnatural smile. This feeling was
heightened when Hop Sing slowly rose, and, without a word, pointed with
his finger to the centre of the shawl.

There was something beneath the shawl. Surely--and something that was
not there before; at first a mere suggestion in relief, a faint outline,
but growing more and more distinct and visible every moment. The chant
still continued; the perspiration began to roll from the singer's face;
gradually the hidden object took upon itself a shape and bulk that
raised the shawl in its centre some five or six inches. It was now
unmistakably the outline of a small but perfect human figure, with
extended arms and legs. One or two of us turned pale. There was a
feeling of general uneasiness, until the editor broke the silence by a
gibe, that, poor as it was, was received with spontaneous enthusiasm.
Then the chant suddenly ceased. Wang arose, and with a quick, dexterous
movement, stripped both shawl and silk away, and discovered, sleeping
peacefully upon my handkerchief, a tiny Chinese baby.

The applause and uproar which followed this revelation ought to have
satisfied Wang, even if his audience was a small one: it was loud enough
to awaken the baby,--a pretty little boy about a year old, looking
like a Cupid cut out of sandal-wood. He was whisked away almost as
mysteriously as he appeared. When Hop Sing returned my handkerchief to
me with a bow, I asked if the juggler was the father of the baby. "No
sabe!" said the imperturbable Hop Sing, taking refuge in that Spanish
form of non-committalism so common in California.

"But does he have a new baby for every performance?" I asked. "Perhaps:
who knows?"--"But what will become of this one?"--"Whatever you choose,
gentlemen," replied Hop Sing with a courteous inclination. "It was born
here: you are its godfathers."

There were two characteristic peculiarities of any Californian
assemblage in 1856,--it was quick to take a hint, and generous to the
point of prodigality in its response to any charitable appeal. No
matter how sordid or avaricious the individual, he could not resist the
infection of sympathy. I doubled the points of my handkerchief into
a bag, dropped a coin into it, and, without a word, passed it to the
judge. He quietly added a twenty-dollar gold-piece, and passed it to the
next. When it was returned to me, it contai