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 ship," began Captain Scraggs.
"On board ship 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' ship, 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 ship 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 shipment, he decided to go
with Captain Scraggs to Jackson Street bulkhead and see if he
could not be of some use to his countrymen.
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