“He came here, evidently, for the purpose of blackmailing me,” Lemon said. “He has papers stolen from the mountains—lists, he says they are—and they should be taken from him by force.”
Slocum and Chang Chee started toward the boy, but he waved them back with his hand.
“I will lay the papers on the table,” he said. “You are quite welcome to them for the present.”
“I’ll take him down to the police station,” said Chang. “He ought not to be at large. Come, youngster.”
“You seem to be able to talk pretty good English now,” laughed Ned. “Much better than the slang you gave out in the mountains.”
“Come!” shouted the Chinaman. “You are here alone, so there is no need of a fight. Come along!”
“We’ll see about my being here alone presently,” Ned said. “Anyhow, I’d better be here alone than with any one of you in the dark streets. I should be murdered before a block was passed. That is what you came to Frisco for, to murder me—just as the man in the lake cavern was murdered.”
Those in the room looked at each other and remained silent. There was a tense moment, when every person there seemed gathering for a spring, when the lust of blood seemed in every glaring eye, but it passed.
“Where are the Chinamen you brought away from the British border?” asked Ned of Chang Chee. “Are they in this city? Oh,” he continued, as Chang glared at him, “we knew that you were about to bring in a batch. You usually light forest fires in order to attract the attention of the rangers when you get ready to unload a band of Chinese on Uncle Sam. That is Doyers street cunning, Chang!”
“You see,” he went on, “we have had the good luck to discover why the forests in Northern Idaho and Montana have been set on fire so frequently. I don’t care to say what I think of the wisdom of your course in so attempting to hide your movements, except that it attracted attention instead of diverting it. You firebugs might have been arrested long ago,” he continued, turning to Slocum, “but it was thought best to wait until the head center of the whole conspiracy was in the hands of the law. Now that this has been accomplished, I may speak.”