f course, the people which participated in things of this sort are dead now, and so is nearly every one which ever knew anything about the matter, but occasionally you will run across an old Hawaiian whose memory you can always refresh by showing him a bit of silver, and then you will hear tales of the days when smuggling opium into Honolulu was a common practise.
There are some who will tell you that the blocks on the sidewalk on the right hand side of Alakea street were taken from the holds of smugglers. Nothing so very astonishing, only, in the middle of these blocks the initiated found a can of opium. Parties would contract for a load of Chinese stone and the unsuspecting Customs man would pass the ship which brought it. But when the stones were safely carried away, this same Customs man would have been astonished, could he have seen a man remove a layer from a block and take out from the cavity a can. He would have been further astounded could he have seen what the can contained.
Ah Pung had contracted for such a load of stone and was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the ship bearing it.
Smuggling opium was getting to be a risky proposition and in view of the alarming number of captures which the government had made and the large amount of fines which it had collected from those whom it captured, Ah Pung made a mental resolve, as he walked down to the Pilot House to ask if the Fanny had been sighted, that with the sale of this load, his part in this illegal business terminated.
The Fanny was making an unusually slow passage, and many were the conjectures placed upon her delay.
“Bet you she’s got a load of opium this trip,” said one old sea dog to a group of his companions.
“Your bet is safe,” was the reply from the youngest of the number, “she had a load of it last trip. My opinion on her delay is this: Her captain’s got the wind that somethin’ is blowing wrong and he’s not going to risk his cargo and his ship by coming in, unless the coast is clear.
“Old Captain Mitchell is too crafty a sea dog to be caught napping. He’s been engaged in this smuggling business for over twenty years. Used to smuggle wines from Portugal into Boston Harbor at one time, and then, when he found the job getting pretty hot, he took his ship when no body was looking, and went into smuggling opium. I was first mate under him two trips ago, and I know.
“I’ll bet you,” he said suddenly to the first speaker, “I’ll bet you that this old Chink has got the cargo on board the Fanny this time.”