Seu was standing in the doorway of Town Hall, his round-bellied bulk
almost filling it. He saluted Cudyk with a lazy, humorous gesture of
one fat hand.
"Hello, Min," Cudyk said. "You're efficient, as always. Pepper again?"
"Yes," said Mayor Seu Min. "I hate to waste it, but I don't think the
water buckets would have been enough this time. This could have been a
bad one."
"How did it start?"
"A couple of Russkies caught Jim Loong sneaking into Madame May's," the
fat man said laconically. His shrewd eyes twinkled. "I'm glad you came
down, Laszlo. I want you to meet an important visitor who arrived on
the Kt-I'ith ship this afternoon." He turned slightly, and Cudyk saw
that there was a man behind him in the doorway. "Mr. Harkway, may I
present Mr. Laszlo Cudyk, one of our leading citizens? Mr. Cudyk, James
Harkway, who is here on a mission from the Minority People's League."
Cudyk shook hands with the man, who had a pale, scholarly face, not
bad-looking, with dark intense eyes. He was young, about thirty. Cudyk
automatically classified him as second generation.
"Perhaps," said Seu, as if the notion had just occurred to him, "you
would not mind taking over my duties as host for a short time, Laszlo?
If Mr. Harkway would not object? This regrettable occurrence--"
"Of course," Cudyk said. Harkway nodded and smiled.
"Excellent." Seu edged past Cudyk, then turned and put a hand on his
friend's arm, drawing him closer. "Take care of this fool," he said
under his breath, "and for God's sake keep him away from the saloons.
Rack is in town, too. I've got to make sure they don't meet." He smiled
cheerfully at both of them and walked away. Lee Far, appearing from
somewhere, trailed after him.
A young Chinese, with blood streaming brightly from a gash in his
cheek, was stumbling past. Cudyk stepped away from the doorway, turned
him around and pointed him down the street, to where Seu's young men
were laying out the victims on the sidewalk and administering first aid.
Cudyk went back to Harkway. "I suppose Seu has found you a place to
stay," he said.
"Yes," said Harkway. "He's putting me up in his home. Perhaps I'd
better go there now--I don't want to be in the way."
"You won't be in the way," Cudyk told him. "What would you like to do?"
"Well, I'd like to meet a few people, if it isn't too late. Perhaps
we could have a drink somewhere, where people meet--?" He glanced
interrogatively down the street to an illuminated sign that announced
in English and Russian: "THE LITTLE BEAR. Wines and Liquors."
"Not there," said Cudyk. "That's Russky headquarters, and I'm afraid
they may be a little short-tempered right now. The best place would
be Chong Yin's tea room, I think. That's just two blocks up, near
Washington and Ceskoslovensko."
"All right," said Harkway. He was still looking down the street. "Who
is that girl?" he asked abruptly.
Cudyk glanced that way. The two M. D.'s, Moskowitz and Estrada, were
on the scene, sorting out the most serious cases to be carted off to
hospital, and so was a slender, dark-haired girl in nurse's uniform.
"That's Kathy Burgess," he said. "I'd introduce you, but now isn't the
time. You'll probably meet her tomorrow."
"She's very pretty," said Harkway, and suffered himself to be led off
up the street. "Married?"
"No. She was engaged to one of our young men, but her father broke it
off."
"Oh?" said Harkway. After a moment: "Political differences?"
"Yes. The young man joined the activists. The father is a conservative."
"That's very interesting," said Harkway. After a moment he asked, "Do
you have many of those here?"
"Activists or conservatives? Or pretty girls?"
"I meant conservatives," said Harkway, coloring slightly. "I know the
activist movement is strong here--that's why I was sent. We consider
them dangerous in the extreme."
"So do I," said Cudyk. "No, there aren't many conservatives. Burgess
is the only real fanatic. If you meet him, by the way, you must make
certain allowances."