)
"I was a bit interested in them two boxes, an' seein' as this is a
free country, I thought I'd just step in an' make a bid on them,"
and with the words, Mr. Gibney walked over and busied himself in
an inspection of the two crates in question.
The fact of the matter was that so embarrassed was Mr. Gibney at
the exposition of his ignorance that he desired to hide the
confusion evident in his sun-tanned face. So he stooped over the
crates and pretended to be exceedingly interested in them,
hauling and pushing them about and reading the address of the
consignee who had failed to call for his goods. The crates were
both consigned to the Gin Seng Company, 714 Dupont Street, San
Francisco. There were several Chinese characters scrawled on the
top of each crate, together with the words, in English: "Oriental
Goods."
As he ceased from his fake inspection of the two boxes, the King
of the Forty Thieves approached and surveyed the sailor with an
even greater amount of distrust and suspicion than ever. Mr.
Gibney was annoyed. He disliked being stared at, so he said:
"Hello, Blumenthal, my bully boy. What's aggravatin' _you_?"
Blumenthal (since Mr.
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