"Ah, him go joss house," he said. "Say, you comee longer me. Meetee him dlere."
Harry assented, and to the new Jackson street joss house, the most important Chinese temple of America, they went.
The big hall contained many Chinamen, most of them standing around with their hats on talking business, for this joss house has a good deal of the character of a Chinese commercial exchange.
But there were worshipers there before the idols, if they can be so called.
Really, it bears no resemblance to Christian worship.
When a Chinaman gets down on his knees before the idols and throws joss sticks out of a box just as a gambler would throw dice, he is consulting the spirits of his ancestors as to what course to take in business, love or pleasure. Just this and nothing more.
There were about twenty Chinamen thus engaged when Harry entered the Jackson street joss house, and among them he spied Ah Lung throwing the sticks for all he was worth.
"Dlere he be. We waitee," said Wun Lung. "Him findee out what go to happen to-night."
So Harry stood waiting while the joss stick throwing went merrily on.