"If you don't like to go alone," said Miss Kendrick, with a saucy shake
of the head and a very determined look about the mouth, "I'll ask you to
be my escort."
"But, I was about to ask--what will your uncle say?"
"Say?" cried the hearty voice of Wharton Kendrick, as his big frame
filled the doorway and his ruddy face shone in the light. "Why, shovels
and scissors, gentlemen, he would say just what she told him to. What's
it about?"
Miss Kendrick had risen, and with an emphatic nod of the head at this
indorsement of a blank check in her favor, looked at us steadily.
"In that case, we'd best be going," said Mr. Baldwin. "Miss Kendrick can
explain the case better than we."
"I shall expect you back in an hour," she said.
*CHAPTER VI*
*BIG SAM'S DIPLOMACY*
We walked down the street in silence, and I could feel Mr. Baldwin's
chilling disapproval of our errand radiating from him at every step.
"We had better take the Clay Street car down to the City Hall, and get a
hack at the Plaza," I said at last.
"I suppose that will be the best way," he assented coldly. "Since we
are in for this unfortunate business, the less notice we attract, the
better."
His tone roused a flash of temper in me, and I replied tartly:
"If the business is so distasteful to you, there are plenty of streets
that lead in the other direction."
"Very true," he said with a shrug. But his steady footstep told me that
he had no thought of turning back. We fell into silence, and so
continued until we reached the Plaza.
"What's this?" I exclaimed, for at the corner of Clay and Kearny Streets
a crowd was gathered, and a cheer, or rather a confusion of vocal
applause, broke out as we approached.
A man mounted on a cart was shouting fiercely to several hundred men who
had gathered about him, and I could hear such words as "leprous
heathen," "cursed Mongols," and other phrases of denunciation roll from
his lips.
I looked at him more closely. He was tall and broad-shouldered, and his
coarse, florid features brought in a flash of memory the scene in the
House of Blazes when the bleeding policeman had been rescued from his
hoodlum assailants.
"Why, that's Kearney!" I cried.
"A friend of yours?" asked Mr. Baldwin sarcastically.
"I met him once."
"Perhaps you'd like to renew your acquaintance," said Mr. Baldwin, as we
paused in curiosity on the edge of the crowd. "He seems to have an
education in classical history."
We caught some reference to the labor troubles of Rome, and the fate of
the freeman under the slave system that destroyed the ancient republic.
"I hadn't suspected it from a moment's speech with him," I said. "He
has a good voice for this sort of work."
The crowd again broke out into tumultuous shouts at some bit of pleasing
denunciation.
"Where are the police?" said Mr. Baldwin. "They ought to stop this."
I pointed to three or four members of the force who were standing near
the speaker, apparently indifferent to his language.
"That's a scandalous neglect of duty," said Mr. Baldwin. "But we had
better go about our unfortunate errand."
We had gone but two steps, however, before a hand grasped me by the
shoulder.
"Glad to see you, Hampden. Glad to see you interested in the cause of
the people. Welcome to our reception!"
It was the voice of Parks, giving boisterous greeting as he shook me by
the hand.
"Isn't he great?" he continued rapidly. "What do you think of his
speech?"
There was pride of authorship in his inquiry, and every movement
testified to the excitement and pleasure that thrilled him.
"Is this your first performance?" I asked.
"No," he said. "We've been trying it on the street corners at odd
times. Now we are ready to begin in earnest. What do you think of it?"
"I think you are rash to begin your agitation so near the police
station. Your man will probably find himself in jail before he gets
through his speech."
"The very thing!" said Parks explosively. "The best advertisement we
could have. Here's our motto: 'The Chinese must go.' You can see it
stirs 'em. Listen to that cheer. What could rouse the men of the city
faster than to have Kearney thrown into jail for expressing their
sentiments? Sir, if you think otherwise, you do not understand the
people."
Parks gave an emphatic shake to his head and another to his warning
forefinger that was held before me, and the wild look of the enthusiast
glowed in his face.
"Doubtless you are right," I admitted. "But I must keep an engagement
that will deprive me of the privilege of listening to your orator."
"You will have to listen to him some day," said Parks, shaking his
finger at us once more. "The day of the people is coming."
Mr. Baldwin had been watching us with some interest.
"Your friend appears to be very much in earnest," he said as we went our
way.
"There's a man who's very likely to be hanged because he thinks he has
an idea," I replied.
"I should say he was more likely to end his days in the violent ward at
Stockton," returned Mr. Baldwin.
"Perhaps you are the better guesser," I admitted. "It will depend on his
opportunities."
We had come among the hackmen at the other end of Portsmouth Square, and
I picked out one with courage in his face and a good span of horses to
his hack.
"This will do, I think," I said.
"Very good," replied Mr. Baldwin, stepping into the hack. "Have you
arranged any plan of proceeding? I suppose you know the condition of
affairs better than I." This last an evident apology for deferring to
my judgment.
"Yes," said I, as we lurched around the corner and rolled up Washington
Street. "You had better remain with the hack across the street and a
door or two from Big Sam's. I shall run up-stairs and tell him our
plans. If he approves of them we will bring the girl down, bundle her
into the hack and get her out of here as quick as the fates will let
us."
"You are certain you would not like company when you go up the stairs to
see Big Sam?" inquired Mr. Baldwin carelessly.
"I don't think it necessary," I replied.
"Are you armed?" he asked.
"I have a revolver."
"Very good. I have nothing but a penknife. It is hardly customary to
carry firearms when making a social call."
"I do not make a habit of it," I said coldly. "I expected to come here
to-night, and I did not foresee that I was to have company."
He made no reply to this, and the hack drew up near Big Sam's door as I
had directed.