"Kahta you damn plisman tink I hide Pete?" she yelled. "Pete hyu mesachie, him damn bad Siwash; if him come I say 'mahsh, klatawa, go, you damn thief.' Oh, you damn plisman, what for you make mess my house? You tink Pete him one pin I hide him lik' dat?"
They bade her dry up and when she refused they took her by the scruff of the neck and bundled her outside. She sat in sawdust and yelled till they left her shack and searched the others. They found nothing, of course, but they found out one thing, and that was the readiness of most of the men of the Mill, Siwashes or Whites, to give away Pete with both hands. For they, at any rate, were certain that it was he who had spiked the logs and killed poor old Skookum Charlie. And since he had killed a Chinaman, too, all the men from the Flowery Kingdom were ready to do the same. Old Wong said so to the "damned plismen." But as the Chinamen relied on the police to save them from abuse and injury, they were even readier to help than the Siwashes.
"Supposee we savvy Pete, we tellee you allo tim'," said Wong. "My tink Pete damn bad man, spikee logs, killee my flin Fan. Fan velly good man, my flin, and Pete spoilum 'tumach,' killee him dead. All light, we come tellee."
There wasn't a doubt about it, that if Pete turned up in Shack-Town he would be given away, and though the police went away empty-handed they had high hopes of nailing him shortly.
They had had a considerable pow-pow that morning in the Engine-Room before work started up and there wasn't a soul found there to say a word for Pete. This was natural enough.
"A man that'll spike logs ain't a human being, boys," said Long Mac seriously.
"Killing his own tilikums," said Shorty Gibbs. "It was horrid seein' pore old Skookum!"
"The Chinky was horridest," said Tenas Billy. "I picked him up."
"So you did," said Shorty. "But what d'ye think Pete's doin'?"
"He'll be on the scoot."