"Is Giddings going to be in anything like his right mind when he wakes?" asked Mr. Baldwin.
"Oh, in a general way, I think he'll know what he's saying," replied the physician. "But he won't be at all bright before thirty-six hours have passed. Even then I can't guarantee him. Opium drives him to the verge of mania."
When several of the others had engaged in conversation, and the doctor had taken a seat near the young captain, Tom asked:
"Is opium smoking a very great evil in San Francisco, Doctor? That is, do very many take to it?"
"Not a very large proportion of the white population, I am glad to say," responded the physician. "Still, when the hop habit does get hold of our white people it works fearful havoc with them. Opium and morphine streak all the crime in San Francisco. These habits are the horrible revenge that the Chinaman has taken upon the city for the persecution the Chinaman once suffered at the hands of our hoodlums."
"Then opium and morphine are largely responsible for the crime and vice in the big city we have just left?" asked Halstead.
"No; I won't say they're responsible," replied Dr. Gray. "But they color the wickedness of San Francisco in their own way. There's a heap of wickedness in every large city, but the crimes and vices here take on aspects that are tremendously due to the use of opium and morphine by the criminal classes. A very large percentage of our San Francisco jailbirds use either opium or morphine. These drugs give them a lower order of intelligence, and make them more cowardly, though often more desperate when they find themselves driven into a corner. Captain Halstead, be sure you never allow yourself to be tempted to use either of those drugs."
"Thank you; I don't believe I shall," smiled the young skipper. "Especially, after what I've seen to-night."
"Great as the curse of alcohol is," added Dr. Gray, "the bane of opium is ten-fold greater. In two or three generations it would ruin any race."
"Then why isn't the Chinese nation destroyed?" asked Halstead.