"Well, it seems to have begun at last," he said. "The Mail docks have been set afire, and the report comes that the Chinamen down there are being killed by a big mob."
"There was talk of burning the City of Tokio with the thousand coolies it has brought," I said, with a shudder at the thought of the barbarities that were perhaps being enacted on the threatened dock.
"The Tokio isn't in yet," said Coleman. "The report of her arrival was a mistake."
"I don't believe there's any real fight in the mob," I said. "We have just cut the head off the beast."
Coleman grasped my hand.
"I'm obliged to you for the work you have done," he said. "The guns you sent in will be put to good use. And now would you mind taking a company down to the docks?"
"Not at all," I returned unhesitatingly, resolved to live up to the figure I had assumed in his eyes.
"You have something of an interest down there," he added. "Kendrick's lumber-yards are right near the docks, and you may want to do something to protect them." Then turning to the despatching officer, he said: "Put Brixton's company under command of Captain Hampden. Brixton won't be back to-night."
"I should like," I said, "to add to it the men I have brought back from the House of Blazes. In affairs of this sort it's some advantage to be acquainted with your men, and we've rubbed shoulders to-night in a way that is better than an introduction."
Coleman looked at the dozen men who lined up at my call, and gave a nod of assent.