"Never you mind who I am," said the big man at the door. "You've seen me afore, and I've seen more of you than you might think. What I want is to know whether you ever found the Chinaman you went lookin' for a month ago; and that's what I be talkin' about. So now you know." The steward stood at the table with his wicked head on one side, considering rapidly while he affected to ransack his memory. "You mean the Chinaman who sold the doctored beer?" "I mean the Chinaman who sold you the beer that got doctored." "No--I never could lay hold of him," said the steward, ignoring the pointed improvement upon his phrase. "Well, I have," said the big miner in the doorway. "You've laid hold of him?" the other queried in nervous incredulity. The digger nodded a big black head that looked as picturesque as piratical in a knitted cap of bright scarlet. "I'd been lookin' for him, too, you see. You weren't the only folks who had some beer off that Chinaman the day he come along first; me and my mates had some, and it did us so little harm that we've always wanted some more. So I've been lookin' for him ever since, and yesterday I found him at the other end o' the diggin's, away past Sailor's Gully. And why do you suppose he'd never been near us again?" asked the big black man without shifting a shoulder from either door-post. "I don't know," said the steward, sulkily. "How should I?" "How should you? Because you told him never to come no more!" "He's a liar," hissed Jewson, with a tremulous oath. "And why should you say he ever came at all?" "Some other lie, I suppose," said Jewson, with another oath. "Because you told him to: went to the other end o' the diggin's to find him; bought a bit of opium from him, and told him to bring the beer next day. Oh, yes, they may be all lies," said the big digger, cheerfully, "but then again they may not. It's a rum world, mate, especially on the diggin's. I've known worse things done by coves I wouldn't have thought it of; but by the cut of your jib I should say you was capable of a good lot. Boss down driving, I suppose?" "Like to go down and tell him now--like me to let you down?" asked Jewson, with a venomous glitter in his little eyes. The digger laughed heartily in his face. "No, thank you--not without a third party handy to keep you from meddling with the rope! But I can wait, my friend, and I can come again. My claim's not so far away, and I'll be back at dinner-time if not before. Of course, they may be lies as you say; a Chinaman's a Chinaman, and that's why I come along now to have a quiet word with you first. But by the colour o' your gills, old cock, I don't believe they are lies. So now you know what's before you when your boss comes up. He may believe you and send me to the devil, but he's got to hear my yarn and judge for himself. So there it is. I like to give a man fair warning, and that you've got."