“We sail early in the morning, and you know as much about when the Columbia will arrive as I do. I shall look for you either at Nagasaki or Port Arthur, and let me say frankly that I can hardly await the time when we shall be together again. When I arrive you must knock off for awhile and go sight-seeing and holiday-making with me.”
CHAPTER IV
TROUBLESOME DAYS IN PORT ARTHUR
Gilbert read Ben Russell’s letter with keen interest. The contents surprised him, just as his chum had thought they would, and he drew a long sigh of uncertainty as he laid the epistle down.
“Ben and Larry!” he murmured. “Yes, I’ll be more than glad to meet them both, but if the old Columbia gets into trouble with her cargo, what will become of them?” And then he fell to wondering if Ben was still wearing his uniform as a captain of the volunteers, or if he had donned civilian’s costume. The Russians would certainty not care for an American officer, in uniform, among them.
The following afternoon took the young American to an outlying quarter of the city. Here were located a number of humble houses occupied largely by Chinese and Japanese, who worked along the wharves and at the dry dock.
Gilbert wanted to find a Japanese stevedore named Jiru Siko, for he imagined that this individual knew something about Ivan Snokoff which was, perhaps, unknown to Nicholas Vanskynov. He knew that Siko lived at the end of the narrow and dirty street, with his wife and half a dozen children.
As he approached the spot he noticed that something unusual was taking place. A motley crowd of Japanese, Chinese, and Russians had collected near the house, and one Russian, who was armed with a stout club, was talking loudly and commandingly.
“Out of the house at once, you dirty dog of a Nippon!” came from the Russian. “Out of the house, I say. Your being there defiles the very walls.”
“I have paid the rent,” answered Jiru Siko, who was a small man, with a hand that had been hurt lately by having a box fall upon it. “Why cannot I remain?”
“Because the dirty sons of Nippon must leave this place,” shouted the Russian. “You are to go, and all the others are to go, too!”