Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1873-11-11


Bay with Its multitudes of shipping,
burst into view as we rounded the
last rocky head-land.
The boatmen maintained q vigor-
Gus and animated conversation in
their own vernacular, not word of
which then understood, as they
toiled at their oars. The comman-
der spoke to me in a curious jargon
called "pigeon English" and l was
astonished to find by the inquiries
he made that he was perfectly
aware of the purport of my mis-
sion on shore, he tried, in fact, to
''pump" me, but in that he failed
signally.
"You wanchee go Pedda waaf,
sa {? he said at last, and, on my re-
plying in the affirmative, he added,
"All light; can go belly soon, sav
Then he jabbered something which
appeared to highly amuse the
crew; for they laughed heartily
and echoed, GAIL light; Pedda
waaf, sa," repeatedly.
Mr.. Rogers had told me prior to
my departure that the pier he nam
ed was located near a tall clock
tower "amidships of the town." as
he had expressed it; so was rath-
er surprised to see that the boat
was heading for an insulated wharf
abutting from the sea wall near
Happy Valley, which I recognized
by the obelislxs and gravestone. In
a dubious tone of voice / asked if
that was really the place l had to
land at, and the pig-tailed skipper
aussred me so confidentially that it
was "Pedda waaf," that l, unac-
quainted with the mendacious hab-
its Of the Chinese, felt bound to be-
lieve him, and ascend to the jetty,
though its appearance differed
much from the description of it the
mate had given me.
"S'pose you wanchee chair you
come long with me-" said the boat
man as he followed me up the steps ;
and so l saw no one near to whom
/ could apply for informotion, l had
to accept his services as guide and
follow in his wake. He obsequi-
ously offered to carry the dispatch
boxes but / refused to part with
them, so he merely muttered sort
Of chuckling ejaculation and trot-
ted on.
Presently we came to small row
of tenement houses and my guide
induced me to enter and by telling
me that his brothers, who were
chair-bearers, lived above, and that
he would rouse them from their
slumbers and order them to carry
me to Gs hong.
Out of my innocence of the Chin
ese character / believed him; and
thinking all was right, I placed the
two cases | had with me on the
floor, and settled myself upon a
trestle bed, whereupon reposed a
bevy of small children and a curly
headed animal that appeared on
first sight to be dog, but which
l subsequently discovered was a
juvenile pig. AS my guide left the
apartment, ascending by small
ladder to the floor above, quaint
little, almond-eyed, olivaster Chin
ese girl entered and after staring at
Inc in speechless astonishment for a
moment, came toward me and
whispered a word into my ears the
purport of which l did not under
stand, so | only smiled and nodded
in answer until l became aware, by
her peculiar gesticulations, that she
wished to convey me information
that in Yankee parlance, / had bet
ter "get,' as | was by no means in
respectable society.
My guide and his confrercs were
making such noise by their bois-
ferrous wrangling above my head
that l suddenly became convinced
that mischief was meditated and |
that was singled out as the VIC
tim; and when my comical little
companion pointed at the dispatch
boxes with her taper little finger
and afterward drew her hand across
her throat in q most significant
manner, it instantly occurred to me
that my secret was coveted, that j
had fallen among thieves, and that
foul measures might be resorted to
in order to obtain possession of my
treasures.
Naturally impulsive in my ac-
tions, l seized the tin cases and