"That’s a new view of the matter--to me, at least," I confessed. "But even that calculation will be much amiss if the agitators get the upper hand. They call for expulsion--not merely exclusion. They say ’The Chinese Must Go,’ and some of them mean it." "I have no fear," said Big Sam calmly. "Their violence will overreach itself. I may say that I rely upon them more than on the justice of our cause to prevent hostile action against my people. The more violent their outbreak, the stronger the reaction, and the less the likelihood of harsh measures to restrict our right to come and go as we please. Come, Mr. Hampden, I will wager you a good cigar that we have a rising in San Francisco that will call out the United States troops, and that there will be no legislation against my people." I looked into the bland and impassive face before me, and wondered if the considerations at which he had thus hinted could explain his alliance with Bolton. It was in keeping with the principles of oriental diplomacy that he should be planning to prevent exclusion by encouraging the agitators to violence, and be prepared to profit by either success or failure. Yet as I looked into the fathomless brown depths of his eyes, I refused to believe that he had revealed the full measure of his policy or the reasons for it. "I will certainly risk a cigar on that," I returned gaily. "Then you consider the exclusion of my people inevitable?" "I do. It is necessary to the control of this coast by the white race, and I feel certain that it must come." "I do not recognize the necessity of the white race controlling this coast," said Big Sam dryly. "Probably not." "Besides, you forget that there is a class of your own people who will be much injured by an exclusion policy," he said. "The steamship and railroad companies will lose much money. The man who employs a hundred laborers will find his expenses increased by fifty dollars or one hundred dollars a day. Do you think they are going to submit quietly? The exclusion policy will find its enemies among your own people." "Then you will take no part in the struggle?" I inquired. Big Sam gave his head a diplomatic shake. "I am a guest in your country, and I understand the obligations that such a position implies." He spoke the words exactly as he would have said, "I shall protect my own interests," and, by an intangible suggestion, it was this meaning that they conveyed to me. Then he turned the current of conversation abruptly: "I think," he said, "it is well to bring the girl back here where she can have the care of a doctor of her own race." He spoke with outward calmness, but there was a trace of inward perturbation in his manner. I stared at him in astonishment.