I stepped up to the first hut we came to, rapped at the door and when a chink opened it told him we were very hungry and would like something to eat.
"No sabee," says the chink, slamming the door.
I tried other huts with the same result. It was "no sabee" with all of them. I told Billy that my errand was a failure and his jaw dropped.
"How much money have you got, Billy?" I asked.
Billy dug down and brought up a lone nickel. I had a dime. I asked Billy to give me his nickel and told him that as we couldn't beg any grub maybe we might be able to buy fifteen cents' worth of something. With the fifteen cents I strode forth to try my luck once more.
I saw a very old Chinaman in front of his hut and asked him if he would sell me fifteen cents worth of grub.
"No gotee anything; only law (raw) meat."
"What kind of meat?"
"Pork chop," answered the old man, briefly.
"All right, here's fifteen cents; give me some meat."