I nodded. "Go on," I said.
He arrived at the London docks very shortly after the Jupiter.
Indeed, the crew of the latter vessel had not yet been paid off
when Hi Wing Ho presented himself at the dock gates. He admitted
that, finding the fireman so obdurate, he and his friend Li Ping
had resorted to violence, but he did not seem to recognize me as
the person who had frustrated their designs. Thus far I found
his story credible enough, excepting the accidental severing of
the pigtail at Suez, but now it became wildly improbable, for he
would have me believe that Li Ping, or Ah Fu, obtaining
possession of the pigtail (in what manner Hi Wing Ho protested
that he knew not) he sought to hold it to ransom, knowing how
highly Hi Wing Ho valued it.
I glared sternly at the Chinaman, but his impassive countenance
served him well. That he was lying to me I no longer doubted;
for Ah Fu could not have hoped to secure such a price as would
justify his committing murder; furthermore, the presence of the
unfortunate Jewess in the case was not accounted for by the
ingenious narrative of Hi Wing Ho. I was standing staring at him
and wondering what course to adopt, when yet again my restless
door-bell clamoured in the silence.
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