“'Twas a mighty unsatisfyin' interview. Jonadab's idea of talkin' to
furriners is to yell at 'em as if they was stone deef. If they don't
understand what you say, yell louder. So between his yells and the
heathen's jabber and grunts the hullabaloo was worse than a cat in a hen
yard. Folks begun to stop outside the door and listen and grin.
“'What did he say?' asks the Cap'n, turnin' to me.
“'I don't know,' says I, 'but I cal'late he's gettin' ready to send
a note up to the crazy asylum. Come on out of here afore I go loony
myself.'
“So he done it, finally, cross as all get out, and swearin' that all
Chinese was no good and oughtn't to be allowed in this country. But he
wouldn't give up, not yet. He must scare up some of the neighbors and
ask them. The fifth man that we asked was an old chap who remembered
that there used to be a liquor saloon once where the laundry was now.
But he didn't know who run it or what had become of him.
“'Never mind,' I says. 'You're as warm as you're likely to be this trip.
A rum shop is just about the place I'd expect that Kelly boy WOULD be
in. And, if he's like the rest of his relations on his dad's side, he
drank himself to death years ago. NOW will you head for the Savannah
Line?'
“Not much, he wouldn't. He had another notion. We'd look in the
directory. That seemed to have a glimmer of sense somewheres in its
neighborhood, so we found an apothecary store and the clerk handed us
out a book once again as big as a church Bible.
“'Kelly,' says Jonadab. 'Yes, here 'tis. Now, “James Kelly.” Land of
Love! Barzilla, look here.'
“I looked, and there wa'n't no less than a dozen pages of James Kellys
beginning with fifty James A.'s and endin' with four James Z.'s. The Y
in 'New York' ought to be a C, judgin' by that directory.
“'Godfrey mighty!' I says. 'This ain't no forenoon's job, Jonadab. If
you're goin' through that list you'll have to spend the rest of your
life here. Only, unless you want to be lonesome, you'll have to change
your name to Kelly.'
“'If I'd only got his middle letter,' says he, mournful, ''twould have
been easier. He had four middle names, if I remember right--the old man
was great on names--and 'twas too much trouble to write 'em all down.
Well, I've done my duty, anyhow. We'll go and call on Ase Baker.'
“But 'twas after eleven o'clock then, and the doughnuts and cheese I
had for breakfast was beginnin' to feel as if they wanted company. So we
decided to go back to the Golconda and have some dinner first.
“We had ham and eggs for dinner, some that was left over from the last
time Jonadab stopped there, I cal'late. Lucky there was hot bread and
coffee on the bill or we'd never got a square meal. Then we went up to
our room and the Cap'n laid down on the bed. He was beat out, he said,
and wanted to rest up a spell afore haulin' anchor for another cruise.”
CHAPTER XII
A VISION SENT
“Where's the arrestin' come in?” demanded Stitt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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