I give
him a punch on the nose an' 'e don't renew the offer: but that
night (we're layin' at Port Said) 'e tries to pinch it! I dam'
near broke his neck, and 'e don't try any more. To-night"--he
extended his right arm forensically--"a deppitation of Chinks
waits on me at the dock gates; they explains as from a patriotic
point of view they feels it to be their dooty to buy that pigtail
off of me, and they bids a quid, a bar of gold--a Jimmy o'
Goblin!"
He snapped his fingers contemptuously and emptied his pewter. A
sense of what was coming began to dawn on me. That the "hold-up"
near the riverside formed part of the scheme was possible, and,
reflecting on my rough treatment of the two Chinamen, I chuckled
inwardly. Possibly, however, the scheme had germinated in my
acquaintance's mind merely as a result of an otherwise common
assault, of a kind not unusual in these parts, but, whether
elaborate or comparatively simple, that the story of the pigtail
was a "plant" designed to reach my pocket, seemed a reasonable
hypothesis.
"I told him to go to China," concluded the object of my
suspicion, again rapping upon the counter, "and you see what come
of it. All I got to say is this: If they're so bloody patriotic,
I says one thing: I ain't the man to stand in their way.
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