“I guess you had better move on,” said the officer, turning to Chase.
“And leave my clothes and money? I guess not. They’re mine and I want them. I make a complaint against this man, and it is your business to arrest him.”
“Go on without another word,” said the policeman, “or I’ll make it my business to run you in.”
Chase was not a city boy, but he knew what the officer meant. Filled with surprise and bewilderment, he turned about and made his way around a corner, out of sight. When he reached the next street he looked back, and saw that the policeman was standing on the corner watching him.
“Now I am beaten,” thought Chase, turning down the first street he came to, in order to leave the hated officer out of sight. “A landshark robs me in broad daylight, and a policeman upholds him in it, and threatens to arrest me if I say another word! I wonder if that is what city folks call justice!”
Chase lost heart now, for the only time since his first night on board the Petrel. With no clothing or money, alone in a strange city, where the officers appeared to be in league with the rascals, and an honest boy was followed and watched as if he were a suspicious character, it was no wonder that he felt afraid and dispirited. He did not dare remain in San Francisco now, for if, while in search of employment, he should chance to wander back on policeman Jenkins’s beat, that officer might arrest him and have him locked up as a vagrant. The bare thought was horrifying to Chase, who hurried along as if he hoped to get away from it, turning down every corner he came to, until at last he found himself near the wharf again. Here he was accosted by a stalwart young fellow with a pack on his back, who hurriedly asked if a boat, which was lying close by with steam up, was the one that carried passengers from Fr’isco to Vallejo.
“I am sure I don’t know,” answered Chase. “I am a stranger here. Where is Vallejo?”
“It is on the other side of the bay,” replied the man. “It is the place where they go to take the cars for the States.”
“Then I should like to go there,” said Chase, eagerly. “I am bound for the States.”