CHAPTER IX
The Hong-Kong packet lay alongside the warehouse frontage. Ah Cumpatrolled the length of the boat innumerable times, but neverletting his glance stray far from the gangplank. This wasautomatically rather than thoughtfully done; habit. His mind wasbusy with a resume of yesterday's unusual events.
The young man desperately ill and the girl taking care of him! Ofcourse, there could be only one ending to such a bout with liquor,and that ending had come perhaps suddenly but not surprisingly. Butthe girl stood outside the circle of Ah Cum's knowledge--ratherprofound--of human impulses. Somehow logic could not explain her.Why should she trouble herself over that young fool, who wasnothing to her; who, when he eventually sobered up, would not beable to recognize her, or if he did, as something phantasmagorical?
Perhaps he should not apply the term "fool"; "unfortunate" might bethe more accurate application. Besides, he was a Yale man. He mightbe unfortunate, but he would scarcely be a fool. The Yale spirit!Ah Cum smiled whimsically. After fifteen years, to find thatpeculiarly Occidental attribute--college loyalty--still alive inhis heart! A Western idea that had survived; an idea that wasmerely the flower of youthful enthusiasm!
With his hands still in his sleeves, his chin down in speculationover this phenomenon, he continued his patrol.
"Hey, you!"
Ah Cum stopped and turned. Framed in one of the square ports of thepacket was a face which reminded Ah Cum of a Japanese theatricalmask. One side of the face was white with foamy lather and theother ruddy-cheeked and blue-jawed.
"Speak English?" boomed the voice.
"Yes; I speak English."
"Fine! I'll be wanting a guide. Where can I get one?" askedO'Higgins.
"I am one."
"All right. I'll be with you in a jiffy." Quarter of an hour laterO'Higgins stepped off the gangplank. He carried a small bag. "Thisyour regular business?"
"For the present. Will you be wanting me alone?" asked Ah Cum. "Igenerally take a party."
"What'll it cost to have you all to myself for the day?"
Ah Cum named the sum. He smiled inwardly. Here was one of thoseAmericans who would make him breathless before sundown. The boomingvoice and the energetic movements spoke plainly of hurry.
"You're on," said O'Higgins. "Now, lead me to a hotel where I canget breakfast. Wait a moment. I've got an address here."
O'Higgins emptied an inside pocket--and purposely let the batteredphotograph fall to the ground. He pretended to be unaware of themishap. Politely Ah Cum stooped and recovered the photograph. Herose slowly and extended it. An ancient smile lay on his lips.
"You dropped this, sir."
"Oh. Thanks." O'Higgins, bitten with disappointment, returned thephotograph to his pocket. "Victoria; that's the hotel."
"That's but a short distance from here, sir."
"O'Higgins is the name."
"Mr. O'Higgins. Let me take the satchel, sir."
"It's light. I'll tote it myself. Say, ever see any one resemblingthat photograph I dropped?"
"So many come and go," said Ah Cum, shrugging. "Few stay more thana day. And there are other guides."
"Uh-huh. Well, let's beat it to the hotel. I'm hungry."
"This way, sir."
"What's your name?"
Ah Cum got out his black-bordered card and offered it.
"Aw Come. That sounds kind of funny," said O'Higgins. Smiling, theChinaman gave the correct pronunciation. "I see. Ah Coom. What'sthe idea of the black border?"
"My father recently died, sir."
"But that style isn't Oriental."
"I was educated in America."
"Where?"
"At Yale."
"Well, well! This part of the world is jammed full of surprises. Imet a Hindu a few weeks ago who was a Harvard man."
"Will you be taking a pole-chair?"
"If that's the racket. I naturally want to do it up in properstyle."
"Very well, sir. I'll be outside the hotel at nine-thirty."
Ten minutes' walk brought them to the hotel. As O'Higgins signedthe hotel register, his keen glance took in the latest signatures.
"Anywhere," he said in answer to the manager's query. "I'm notparticular about rooms. Where's the dining room? And, say, can Ihave some eggs? This jam-tea breakfast gets my goat."
"Come this way, Mr. O'Higgins," said the manager, amusedly.
O'Higgins followed him into the dining room. That register would beeasy to get at; comforting thought. It did not matter in the leastwhat name the young fellow was travelling under; all James BoyleO'Higgins wanted was the letter H. There was something fatalisticabout the letter H. The individual twist was always there, even inthe cleverest forgeries.
The eggs were all right, but nobody in this part of the world hadthe least conception of what the coffee bean was for. Always asblack and bitter as gall. Coffee a la Turque wasn't so bad; but aguy couldn't soak his breakfast toast in it.
Two women entered and sat down at the adjoining table. After awhile one began to talk.
"The manager says there is still some doubt. The change will cometo-day. Ah Cum had no business taking him into the city last night.The young man did not know what he was doing or where he was."
O'Higgins extracted a cigar from a pocket and inspected it. HenryClay, thirteen cents in Hong-Kong and two-bits in that dear old NewYork. He would never be able to figure out that: all these milesfrom Cuba, and you could get a perfecto for thirteen cents. Heheard the woman talking again.
"I feel guilty, going away and leaving that ignorant child; but ourdays have been so planned that we dare not change the schedule.Didn't understand me when I said she would be compromised! He won'tbe able to leave his bed under four weeks; and she said she hadn'tmuch money. If she had once known him, if he were some formerneighbour, it would be comprehensible. But an individual she neverlaid eyes on day before yesterday! And the minute he gets up, he'llhead for the public bar. There's something queer about that youngman; but we'll never be able to find out what it is. I don'tbelieve his name is Taber."
O'Higgins tore free the scarlet band of his perfecto, the end ofwhich he bit off with strong white teeth, and smiled. You certainlyhad to hand it to these Chinks. Picked up the photograph, looked atit, handed it back, and never batted an eye! The act was as clearas daylight, but the motive was as profoundly mysterious as therace itself. He hadn't patrolled old Pell Street as a plain clothesman without getting a glimmer of the ancient truth that East isEast and West is West. He would have some sport with Mr. Ah Cumbefore the day was over, slyly baiting him. But what had youngSpurlock done for Ah Cum in the space of twenty-four hours that hadengaged Ah Cum's loyalty, not only engaged it but put it on guard?For O'Higgins, receiving light from the next table, had no doubtregarding the identity of the subject of this old maid'sobservations.
A queer game this: he could not move directly as in an ordinarycase of man-hunt. He had certain orders from which on no accountwas he to deviate. But this made the chase all the more exciting.What was the matter with Spurlock that was to keep him in bed threeor four weeks? He would dig that out of the hotel manager. Anyhow,there was some pleasurable satisfaction in knowing where the quarrywould be for the next three weeks.
There was now a girl in the picture, so it seemed. Well, this wasthe side of the world where things like that happened. The boywould naturally attract the women, if the women were at allromantic. Good looks, with a melancholy cast, always drewsentimental females. Probably some woman on the loose; they were asthick as flies over here--dizzy blondes. That is, if Spurlock hadbeen throwing money about, which was more than likely.
"As long as I live, I'll never forget that dress of hers," Prudencedeclared.
"Out of a family album, you said," Angelina reminded her sister.
O'Higgins struck a match and lit his Henry Clay, thereby drawingupon himself the mutual disapproval of the spinsters.
"Beg pardon," he said, "but isn't smoking allowed in the diningroom?"
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bsp; "It probably is," answered Prudence, "but that in no wise mitigatesthe odiousness of the procedure."
"Plumb in the eye!" said O'Higgins, rising. "I'll tote theodiousness outside."
He was delighted to find the office deserted. He inspected theformidable array of rifles and at length walked over to theregister. Howard Taber. From his wallet he brought forth a yellowletter. Quickly he compared the Hs. They were so nearly alike thatthe difference would be due to a shaky hand. But for perfectsatisfaction, he must take a peek into the bedroom. Humph. A crisisof some kind was toward. It might be that the boy had taken onedrink too many, or someone had given him knock-out drops. TheOriental waterfronts were rank with the stuff.
But that Chink, Ah Cum! O'Higgins chuckled as he passed into thehall and rested his hand on the newel-post of the staircase. He'dhave some fun with that Chinaman before the morning was out.
O'Higgins mounted the stairs, his step extraordinarily light forone so heavy. In the upper hall he paused to listen. There wasabsolute quiet. Boldly he turned the knob of a certain door andentered. The mock astonishment of his face immediately becamegenuine.
The brilliant sunshine poured through the window, effecting anoblong block of mote-swimming light. In the midst of this lightstood a young woman. To O'Higgins--for all his sordid business hewas not insensible to beauty--to O'Higgins she appeared to haveentered the room with the light. Above her head was an aura ofwhite fire. The sunshine broke across each shoulder, one lancestriking the yellow face of a Chinaman, queueless and dressed inEuropean clothes, the other lance falling squarely upon the face ofthe man he had journeyed thirteen thousand miles to find. Herecognized the face instantly.
There came to O'Higgins the discouraging knowledge that upon theheels of a wonderful chase--blindman's buff in the dark--would comea stretch of dull inaction. He would have to sit down here inCanton and wait, perhaps for weeks. Certainly he could not move nowother than to announce the fact that he had found his man.
"I beg pardon," he said. "Got the rooms mixed."
The young woman laid a finger on her lips, cautioning O'Higgins tosilence. The detective backed out slowly and closed the doorwithout sound.
Outside in the hall he paused and thoughtfully stroked his smoothblue chin. As he understood it, folks saw in two or three days allthere was to see of Canton. After the sights he would have totwiddle his thumbs until the joints cracked. All at once he saw away out of the threatening doldrums. Some trustworthy Chinaman towatch, for a small bribe, while he, James Boyle O'Higgins, enjoyedhimself in Hong-Kong, seeing the spring races, the boxing matches,and hobnobbing with Yankee sailors. Canton was something like ablind alley; unless you were native, you couldn't get anywhereexcept by returning to Hong-Kong and starting afresh.
Satisfied that he had solved his difficulty, he proceeded to hisroom. At nine-thirty he climbed into the chair and signified to AhCum that he was ready.
"You speak English better than I do," said O'Higgins, as thecoolies jogged across the bridge toward the gate. "Where did youpick it up?"
"I believe I told you; at Yale."
O'Higgins laughed. "I'd forgotten. But that explains everything."
"Everything." It was not uttered interrogatively; rather as thoughAh Cum did not like the significance of the word and was turning itover and about in speculation.
"Ye-ah," said O'Higgins, jovially. "Why you pretended not torecognize the photograph of the young fellow you toted around thesediggings all day yesterday."
Many wrinkles appeared at the corners of Ah Cum's slant eyes--as ifthe sun hurt--but the rest of his face remained as passive as agraven Buddha's.