Was the caution needed?
It certainly was.
For a detective to mix up with Chinese opium smugglers in Chinatown, San Francisco, is always dangerous.
But Young King Brady felt confidence in Ah Lung.
Not only had he taken a liking to the man, personally, but having gone to the trouble to look him up in a business way, he found that the standing of the firm in white circles was very high.
"Half a million capital invested," one person stated.
"Good for anything they want to buy here," another firm declared.
"Squarest Chinese house in San Francisco," said another, and so on.
So Harry made his Chinese disguise, and at eight o'clock turned up at the handsome new store on Dupont street, near Sacramento, where the Lung Brothers held forth.
Inquiring for Ah Lung, he came up against his brother Wun, who was quite a different proposition, being in native dress and speaking broken English.