"I can guarantee their safety, Mr. Hampden," said Big Sam. "Your police have impressed it thoroughly on the minds of our people that the white race is not to be meddled with by any but white men." I hesitated, still fearful of the dangers that might follow the custody of the girl. "There is then no resource but to turn the girl into the street," said Big Sam decisively. "I can not risk my plans merely to secure her safety." "Nor your life," I retorted. "Oh, a man will die when he dies. Life, death, riches, poverty--they are man’s fate. But my plans--they are much to me and my people." Big Sam then pulled a cord that swung behind him. The door opened and the Chinese girl, frightened and tearful, was pushed in. "The decision is for you, Mr. Hampden," he said. I looked upon her and thought what the decision meant to her. "Does she go with you, or with the tongs?" he asked. "I have decided. I will take her," I said with sudden resolution. "On the conditions I mentioned this morning?" "It is late to bargain," said I. "On the contrary," he said, "it is necessary. It is only with these conditions of compromise that I can hope to make my peace with the tongs." "You have my promise," I said, rising. "One moment," said Big Sam. "I believe you are a brave man, Mr. Hampden." "I really don’t know," I replied. "At least you do not mind hearing a few revolver shots?" "Not at all." "They will serve to amuse some of our friends who are on the watch." The implied information that we were spied upon by sentinels of the tongs startled me for a moment, though I might have known that they would not neglect so obvious a precaution. "If you and your friend wouldn’t mind breaking a window and smashing something and firing a shot or two yourselves and making a good deal of noise before you carry off the girl, it would oblige me." "Why should we attract so much attention? Is it not better to slip out quietly?" "Do you think to avoid the eyes that are watching?" said Big Sain. "The bold course is the best. We make sound as of a fight. The watchers of the two tongs will each believe that the other has made an attack. They will hasten to the meeting places to summon help. For a minute the road will be clear. Then you must run for it." This was more of an enterprise than I had bargained for, and if I had had time to think I should have got out of Big Sam’s net and left him to carry out his plans through some other agency. But I did not stop to reflect and acted at the urging of the wily Oriental. "Take the girl," he said, and spoke to her in brief command. "My men will assist you to disturb things down-stairs." I picked my way down the steps, and the soft clack of the Chinese shoe sounded behind me as the girl followed. Big Sam accompanied me to the lower floor, and, after making sure that our hack was where we had left it, he gave orders to his men. I hastily explained the situation to Mr. Baldwin.