Part 20 (1/2)

”Drayage charges, Gib, drayage charges. We give a man a dollar to tow 'em down t' th' s.h.i.+p.”

”Forget it,” answered Mr. Gibney magnanimously, ”an' let's go over an' get a drink. I'm all shook up.”

After the partners had partaken of a sufficient quant.i.ty of nerve tonic, Mr. Gibney suddenly recollected that he had to go over to Market Street and redeem the s.e.xtant which he had p.a.w.ned several days before. And since McGuffey knew, from ocular evidence, that Mr. Gibney was ”flush,” he decided to accompany the mate and preserve him from temptation. There was safety in numbers, he reasoned. Captain Scraggs said he thought he'd go back to the _Maggie_. He had forgotten to lock the cabin door.

CHAPTER XVII

Had either Mr. Gibney or McGuffey been watching Captain Scraggs for the next twenty minutes they would have been much puzzled to account for that worthy's actions. First he dodged around the block into Drumm Street, and then ran down Drumm to California, where he climbed aboard a cable car and rode up into Chinatown.

Arrived at Dupont Street he alighted and walked up that interesting thoroughfare until he came to No. 714. He glanced at a sign over the door and was aware that he stood before the entrance to the offices of the Chinese Six Companies, so he climbed upstairs and inquired for Gin Seng, who presently made his appearance.

Gin Seng, a very nice, fat Chinaman, arrayed in a flowing silk gown, begged, in pidgin-English, to know in what manner he could be of service.

”Me heap big captain, allee same s.h.i.+p,” began Captain Scraggs.

”On board s.h.i.+p two China boys have got.” (Here Captain Scraggs winked knowingly.) ”China boy no speak English----”

”That being the case,” interposed Gin Seng, ”I presume that you and I understand each other, so let's cut out the pidgin-English.

Do I understand that you are engaged in evading the immigration laws?”

”Exactly,” Captain Scraggs managed to gasp, as soon as he could recover from his astonishment. ”They showed me your name an'

address, an' they won't leave th' s.h.i.+p, where I got 'em locked up in my cabin, until you come an' take 'em away. Couple o'

relatives of yours, I should imagine.”

Gin Seng smiled his bland Chinese smile. He had frequent dealings with s.h.i.+p masters engaged in the dangerous though lucrative trade of smuggling Chinese into the United States, and while he had not received advice of this particular s.h.i.+pment, he decided to go with Captain Scraggs to Jackson Street bulkhead and see if he could not be of some use to his countrymen.

As Captain Scraggs and his Chinese companion approached the wharf the skipper glanced warily about. He had small fear that either Gibney or McGuffey would show up for an hour, for he knew that Mr. Gibney had money in his possession. However, he decided to take no chances, and scouted the vicinity thoroughly before venturing aboard the _Maggie_. These actions served but to increase the respect of Gin Seng for the master of the _Maggie_ and confirmed him in his belief that the _Maggie_ was a smuggler.

Captain Scraggs took his visitor inside the little cabin, carefully locked and bolted the door, lifted the zinc flap back from the top of the crate of ”Oriental goods,” and displayed the face of the dead Chinaman. Also he pointed to the Chinese characters on the wooden lid of the crate.

”What does these hen scratches mean?” demanded Scraggs.

”This man is named Ah Ghow and he belongs to the Hop Sing tong.”

”How about his pal here?”

”That man is evidently Ng Chong Yip. He is also a Hop Sing man.”

Captain Scraggs wrote it down. ”All right,” he said cheerily; ”much obliged. Now, what I want to know is what the Hop Sing tong means by s.h.i.+pping the departed brethren by freight? They go to work an' fix 'em up nice so's they'll keep, packs 'em away in a zinc coffin, inside a nice plain wood box, labels 'em 'Oriental goods,' and consigns 'em to the Gin Seng Company, 714 Dupont Street, San Francisco. Now why are these two countrymen o' yours s.h.i.+pped by freight--where, by the way, they goes astray, for some reason that I don't know nothin' about, an' I buys 'em up at a old horse sale?”

Gin Seng shrugged his shoulders and replied that he didn't understand.

”You lie,” snarled Captain Scraggs. ”You savey all right, you fat old idol, you! It's because if the railroad company knew these two boxes contained dead corpses they'd a-soaked the relatives, which is you, one full fare each from wherever these two dead ones comes from, just the same as though they was alive an' well.

But you has 'em s.h.i.+pped by freight, an' aims to spend a dollar an' thirty cents each on 'em, by markin' 'em 'Oriental Goods.'

h.e.l.luva way to treat a relation. Now, looky here, you b.l.o.o.d.y heathen. It'll cost you just five hundred dollars to recover these two stiffs, an' close my mouth. If you don't come through I'll make a belch t' th' newspapers an' they'll keel haul an'

skull-drag th' Chinese Six Companies an' the Hop Sing tong through the courts for evadin' th' laws o' th' Interstate Commerce Commission, an' make 'em look like monkeys generally.

An' then th' police'll get wind of it. Savey, policee-man, you fat old murderer? Th' price I'm askin' is cheap, Charley. How do I know but what these two poor boys has been murdered in cold blood? There's somethin' rotten in Denmark, my bully boy, an'

you'll save time an' trouble an' money by diggin' up five hundred dollars.”

Gin Seng said he would go back to Chinatown and consult with his company. For reasons of his own he was badly frightened.