"Thank you." "Good night, Maya." "Good night, Su Yen." "Su Yen?" "Yes, I am Su Yen." "What do you want?" "I have no money." "I have nothing for you." "I have nothing." "My purse is empty." "There's nothing." "You must be made to respect the Red Dragon, Su Yen." "help me!" "help me." "The Tongs." "More coffee, captain?" "No, thank you, Confucius." "You can leave all this till later." "Thank you, captain." "More brandy, Mr. Ming?" "No, thank you, captain." "I have had more than sufficient." "I've lived in Hong Kong for the past 1 5 years." "I'd have to be deaf and blind to not to have heard of the Tongs." "But I still can't agree with you about their importance." "You judge a thing's importance by its effect on you personally?" "I was saying their effects are overdramatized." "They have their parallels all over the world." "Gangs of thugs, Iawbreakers, living off a small section of the population." "Even in a comparatively weII-ordered community like Hong Kong the Tongs touch the lives of 70 percent of the Chinese population." "No, Captain sale, I do not overdramatize." "I state fact." "Vice, terror, corruption, these are the weapons of the Tongs." "And by their use, they grow even larger and more powerful." "There's a police force in Hong Kong." "The police, however well they may intend, are ineffectual." "A witness too frightened to talk is no witness at all." "But I see I do not convince you." "I hope that you are never forced into a position where you have to change your ideas." "I don't think it's very likely." "Perhaps if we are to dock this evening I must start my packing." "You have been kind to me, Captain sale." "You have made my voyage a pleasure." "We've been happy having you onboard." "Thank you." "please accept this small gift for your daughter." "It is classic Chinese verse." "while I do not hope that she will understand it as yet, the book itseIf" "It is very beautiful." "Thank you." "Perhaps you'II dine with my daughter and me when you've finished business." "I should be honored, captain." "My business should not take me very long, I trust." "Good, and I hope it's successful." "I hope so, captain." "I hope so too." "You have smoked deeply of the pipe of dreams and your body has been purged of all earthly desire." "And now the time has come for you to go." "Take this, the ceremonial gauntlet." "And the sacred hatchet of the Red Dragon." "When you kill, Iet all see what you are and let all tremble." "Destroy the one who would destroy us." "Destroy him before the message he carries can reach those who would do us harm." "Your whole life has been a preparation for this moment." "Tide's rising high tonight." "Yes, it's been pretty high all week." "Good evening, captain." "Got the manifests?" "First officer has them, Mr. Beamish." "Thank you, sir." "hello, Captain sale." "I trust you had an uneventful voyage." "Yes, thank you, sir." "I had some business on Pier 1 4." "I thought I'd take this opportunity of welcoming you in." "An honor, sir." "Oh, Mr. Ming." "May I present my passenger?" "This is Mr. Ming." "Mr. Harcourt, district supervisor for the East India Company." "Your voyage was comfortable, Mr. Ming?" "Thanks to Captain sale, it was most agreeable." "And now, captain, I will say goodbye and thank you once more." "Goodbye, Mr. Ming." "And don't forget the dinner invitation." "He's still alive." "Good." "police will want to talk to him." "Excuse me, please, I'm a doctor." "allow me, please." "This man is dead." "We can't leave him here." "Two of you, carry him into that warehouse." "The doctor." "You, what are you doing?" "This is my brother, sir." "It was on a visit to our family that he came from the old country." "I beg you to allow us to take him home." "I suppose that's all right." "but let the police know." "We will do it." "We will do it immediately." "The blessings of our family upon you for this, sir." "I'II arrange for you to have his baggage." "I'II make out a report for the police." "No, you get home." "I'II take care of everything here." "WeII" "No, no, captain." "That's an order." "You've been away from home too long to waste any more time down here." "Get in touch with me tomorrow." "Thank you, sir." "Anna, that hurt." "What's the matter with you this evening?" "You're all thumbs." "I'm sorry, Miss helena." "I guess I'm excited because master's coming home." "He's been away long enough." "Pin that bit in there." "I've made a mess of it." "AII right, Iet me do it." "It's him." "Look at me, I Iook a fright." "Go and tell him I'II be there in a moment." "Don't let him come in here." "I Iook terrible." "AII right, Miss helena, all right." "Thank you." "hello, Anna." "welcome home, Captain sale." "The house has been empty without its master." "Thank you, Anna." "Where's Miss helena?" "Oh, she's in her room." "She worries about her appearance before her father." "She will not be long." "The bags are all there." "I'II go straight in." "AII right, master." "hello, baby." "Oh, why couldn't you wait?" "Why should I wait?" "I Iive here." "I'm your father, remember?" "You need a shave." "Hey, who told you you could put your hair up?" "I'm 1 6." "What have you got there?" "A present." "Let me see." "When I was young, girls were taught to say please." "I'm not sure you're gonna like it." "please." "That's better." "Oh, it's beautiful." "Where did you get it?" "Oh, dear, early classical verse." "I'm not very good at that, I'm afraid." "Yes, he said it might puzzle you." "Who said?" "Never mind." "Anyway, it's not my real present." "This is." "Daddy, I Iove it." "Let's try it on, shall we?" "Oh, thank you, darling." "Thank you, thank you." "And I may wear my hair up, mayn't I?" "would it make any difference if I said you couldn't?" "Anna says I'd be married and have children by now if I were Chinese." "Thank your lucky stars you're english." "Did you have a good trip?" "How long did you stay in Singapore?" "I want to know all about it." "At dinner." "I wanna go have a look at the garden." "I told Wong to do all sorts of things...." "place your bets." "place your bets, gentlemen." "It's time." "full house." "House wins." "place your bets, gentlemen." "full house." "House wins." "full house." "House wins." "Thank you." "Why is it these occidentaIs indulge in their vices the same way that they run their lives, full of noise and vulgarity?" "It's fortunate that they should choose to indulge in these vices." "It gives us the opportunity to gratify them." "well?" "killed, the moment he stepped off the boat." "And the paper he was carrying?" "We took the body, we searched it and his luggage." "There was nothing." "Searched it?" "How thoroughly?" "There is nowhere we didn't look." "Either he had memorized the names or he previously got rid of the paper." "If the names were in his head, we have no further need to worry." "But I'm of the opinion that he passed that paper on before he landed." "What about the crew?" "No." "He was a passenger." "He would have associated with the officers." "You will start with the first officer and then the captain." "Yes, sir." "If they find nothing?" "Then we shall dispose of the crew." "That paper must be found." "Come in." "Captain sale is here, sir." "Jackson." "hello, Bob." "What's all this about?" "No." "Not very nice, is it?" "It is Wingarde, your first officer?" "Yes." "He lived aboard?" "Yes." "In this cabin, here?" "No, no, this is mine." "well, this is where we found him." "And look at all this." "Whoever they were, they were looking for something." "Any idea what?" "No." "Now, what could anyone have wanted in this ship that would have made them do this?" "I have no idea." "There's one other thing." "Look." "The fingers." "It's a Tong killing." "Who are you?" "What do you want?" "My father!" "Anna!" "No!" "Oh, no, no!" "helena?" "helena!" "You checked the whole room?" "Sir." "Any fingerprints?" "No, sir, nothing." "well, try the garden." "Start at that open window and work through it." "Footprints, bIoodstains, anything you can find." "Very good, sir." "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you some questions, Jackson." "Jackson, are you listening to me?" "Yes, Bob." "I'm sorry." "I didn't realize you were here." "I asked him to come." "He may be able to help." "There's nothing anybody can do to help now." "You realize this was a Tong killing?" "I hadn't thought about it." "Your first officer, Wingarde, in your cabin." "And now helena." "They're looking for something." "They think you've got it." "What is it?" "I haven't the slightest idea." "Think, man." "There must be something." "I've told you, there's nothing." "You say this is a Tong killing." "well, do something about it." "Go after the Tongs." "Have you any idea what a Tong is?" "Yes, of course I have." "It's a secret society, Jackson." "So secret that we know practically nothing about them." "You know they exist." "Doctors know cancer exists." "You're supposed to represent law and order, to protect people from this." "Why don't you do something about it?" "Captain sale." "The inspector asked me here because for a Iong time now I've been trying to help him in his work against the Tongs." "As you know, the company we both work for employs thousands of Chinese." "And it's among these that the Tongs operate." "But not any longer, if what you're trying to tell me is true." "well, believe me, it is." "I've helped where I can scraps of information that have leaked through, things like that." "Why don't you try and help him?" "You think I don't want to?" "My daughter's been murdered." "Find out who did this, Bob." "If you don't, I'II find out myself." "I shouldn't advise that." "I don't care." "You say you know practically nothing." "That's saying you can't do anything." "What am I to do?" "Let the murderer go free?" "If you don't want to be charged." "I don't care." "Go away, Bob." "Leave me alone." "Jackson, I'd" "Get out!" "Leave me alone." "Finished?" "Yes, sir." "AII right, Iet's go." "Does Anna Chang live here?" "This is her address, I understand." "I'm Captain sale." "Anna works for me." "Can I help you?" "I'm afraid the old man speaks no english." "Yes, I'm looking for Anna Chang." "She works for me." "You may see her, but...." "When did this happen?" "Late last night." "Have the police been told?" "There is no cause to tell the police." "It's plain for all to see." "The Tongs." "There is only one Tong here, my son." "You know about them?" "AII who live here know of the Red Dragon Tong." "Look around you at the squalor and the filth." "See the children underfed and diseased." "Ask yourself, why is this, when their fathers earn good money?" "Why don't the children eat?" "Why don't the people live in decent homes?" "Why do the sick die from lack of medicines when it's so easy to obtain opium?" "Ask all these questions, and I shall give you but one answer:" "The Red Dragon." "Our enemies are very thorough." "This is a remarkably accurate document." "We are all named." "If this list had been delivered to the so-caIIed Iiberators we should have been finished in Hong Kong." "Is there any proof how the list was compiled?" "The grandmasters found the body of one of our members." "He had been tortured." "And before he died he saw fit to divulge the contents of this list to those who killed him." "That was when they first sent us news of the messenger." "It cannot do us any harm now." "Have we eliminated all those who may have read this list?" "The messenger is dead." "The woman who took the paper from the book is dead." "The EngIishman, the father of the girl?" "Captain sale?" "No, he would not have read it." "The woman Anna would've removed it before anybody was aware of its existence." "It was regretful about the girl." "Yes, it was." "But there is nothing more that we can do about it now." "It could bring trouble." "She was english." "The police have been called in." "The police?" "The police have been ineffectual for the Iast hundred years and will doubtless continue to be so." "We have dealt with this matter of the paper quite long enough." "What of the opium?" "The next shipment is due on Pier 9 tomorrow." "Distribution has already been arranged in the normal manner." "The second officer is asking for more money." "He can be disposed of." "Yes?" "Some tradesmen are behind with their protection payments." "Then you must see to it they learn the error of their ways." "Six new girls are due in from the mainland." "Three can be used here, the others can go to the King Street house." "Watson of the East India Co." "is of little further use to us." "His addiction to the pipe has made him idle and untrustworthy." "He has been of use for a Iong time." "We have sufficient support in that company." "See to him." "I have received an order from Peking." "The grandmasters desire us to increase our remittance by one-quarter." "That will be difficult." "They know that." "But extra funds are needed if we are to fight against those who would do us harm the seIf-styIed Iiberators." "Make no mistake, the group that compiIed that list is growing daily in power." "They include people from all over the mainland." "We have nothing to fear here." "But our last allegiance is to the Red Dragon in Peking." "They request us to increase our remittance by one-quarter." "Very well, we shall do so." "Whatever they command, we are bound to comply." "We've had some slight cause for concern the past few days." "But now that that letter has been destroyed there's nothing to trouble us further." "Proceed, then, with your appointed tasks secure in the knowledge that we of the Red Dragon Tong will continue to remain inviolate." "Maya, I've come to tell you" "I heard." "First thing this morning." "I just could not believe it." "Why, only last week she was here, Miss helena." "I showed her this little netsuke." "I want your help, Maya." "Come and sit down, captain." "I'II give you some tea." "Sit there, captain." "I will pour you some tea." "How can I help you?" "Grief is such a personal thing." "Thank you." "That's all right." "But I just have to find out what happened." "AII morning I've been asking questions." "And getting no answers." "That is why you are here." "Maya, we've known each other for 1 5 years." "I've got to ask you this question." "What can you tell me about the Red Dragon?" "It would need great courage to answer such a question." "And such courage I do not have." "I would do anything to help you in your grief." "But what are you asking?" "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." "In this, I can have no part." "Just leave it alone, is that what you're saying?" "Oh, no, captain." "I couldn't talk to you Iike that." "AII I say is, I cannot help you." "And even if I couId, I would not." "I'm not going to leave it alone, Maya." "It might be all right as far as you're concerned." "But there are things a man can't leave alone." "I understand." "God grant you may never regret it." "Was that an accident?" "Captain sale, you frightened me." "What happened to your hand?" "There is nothing wrong with my hand." "Oh, that." "It happened a Iong time ago." "It is forgotten now." "What happened?" "The accident." "What sort of an accident?" "I told you, sir, I have forgotten now." "Then I'II remind you." "It was done by the Red Dragon Tong, wasn't it?" "I know of no such thing." "You're lying." "I'm not lying." "please, Captain sale, you must not" "I want to know about the Red Dragon Tong." "Who did this to you?" "It's impossible for me to tell." "tell me!" "No, wait." "Understand me, captain." "We have all heard of the death of your daughter." "We are all deeply sorry." "But we know nothing of this matter." "We know nothing of any Tong." "We know nothing." "I am sorry." "Excuse us, please." "We must return to our work." "Hey, you down there, get on with it." "Don't hang around there." "I have known him for 1 5 years." "He is a man of great integrity and great courage." "And of great ignorance, it wouId seem." "Does he realize that if he goes on behaving as he has he will very soon be dead?" "I have told him that." "It will not change him." "Perhaps we can use him." "We are all working towards the same end the destruction of the Red Dragon Tong." "What we were waiting for we have lost with the death of Anna." "But I feel Red Dragon Tong made their first real mistake when they murdered the daughter of Captain sale." "You can arrange that he call here at a certain time?" "Yes, I think so." "The Tong collector comes here tomorrow." "Tang Hao, a bully, a coward." "Confront him with sale, but do not get involved yourself." "You understand?" "It may well be that the captain will find out what he wants in his own way." "I would Iike that to happen to Tang Hao." "I asked you to come here today, captain because I wanted to apologize to you about my behavior yesterday." "ApoIogize?" "Yes." "I was a coward." "And I failed to help you." "Oh, I forgot to give you this." "It's the little netsuke that Miss helena wanted you to buy for her." "Oh, thank you, Maya." "Oh, excuse me." "I have come to tell you your payments are increased by one-quarter." "You do not ask about it now." "I will explain if you will come back Iater" "I am not here for explanations." "I'm here to tell you your payments are increased by one-quarter from today." "please, I will make the payment, but now I must ask you to go." "Do not touch me, woman." "Ling Too's tonight." "And remember, one-quarter more." "please go." "I said, do not touch me." "It is an honor, sir." "Who are you?" "What are you doing here?" "My name is Tang Hao, Captain sale." "How do you know who I am?" "Many times I have arranged the loading and unloading at the East India dock." "You work for the company?" "I am a pier supervisor." "Now I must go." "Wait a minute." "What's your business here with Maya?" "personal business, captain." "Where's Ling Too's?" "Sorry, I know of no such place." "What are these payments?" "What's he want?" "Nothing, captain, nothing." "Now I will go." "You're a Tong man, aren't you?" "Tong?" "Red Dragon, the people you work for." "I am a pier supervisor." "That's it, the Red Dragon." "No!" "No, stop!" "Captain, I will tell you." "No!" "AII right, now tell me." "The Red Dragon is a tong, a powerful tong." "well?" "It is a secret society, Chinese, not here in Hong Kong." "Hong Kong is British." "Don't lie to me." "I am not lying, captain." "It is a tong, a powerful tong." "I know that." "tell me something I don't know." "please, I cannot say." "please, you must not do this to me." "I am a sick man." "Captain, a glass of water, please, quickly." "A glass of water, please." "You underestimate the oriental mind, captain." "The Chinese theater is the oldest in the world." "Lee, go to the Tong, be quick." "You, stand beside him, woman." "We will not have long to wait." "Then you will learn all you want to know about the Red Dragon." "You will learn how stupid it is for an occidental to pry into matters which do not concern him." "They obviously concern you." "You are right." "I have the honor to be a member of the Red Dragon." "In my capacity as dock supervisor, I render the Tong a valuable service." "And they are suitably grateful." "valuable service." "Terrorizing women, murdering innocent girls." "No harm can come of it now, so I will tell you what I do for the Tong." "A percentage of every cargo that comes to my pier goes direct to the Tong." "It is listed in the company's books as petty pilfering." "The company is very stupid, Iike you." "More than that." "Did you know that through Hong Kong the Red Dragon operate the biggest white slave market in the world?" "A very lucrative trade, captain." "Then there is opium." "It arrives here in bulk." "It is broken up and shipped to all parts of the world." "You see, vessels operating from the Chinese mainland are subject to very stringent searching regulations in foreign ports." "But not vessels from Hong Kong." "Hong Kong is British, Iike you." "Hong Kong can be trusted." "So you see the futility of a man such as yourself pitting" "You hit him pretty hard." "Hard enough, I hope." "We'II have to get him out of here." "I will arrange it, I have friends." "You're sure?" "Quite sure." "Now you must go." "You're not going to leave me here." "They'II kill me for this." "She's right, you know." "As soon as you've got rid of him, take her to my house." "Here's the key." "Where are you going?" "I have things to do now." "Maya will take you to my house." "Wait there till I come, you understand?" "Thank you, Captain sale." "Hey, the money." "One guinea." "What can you tell me about the Red Dragon?" "You heard me." "What about the Red Dragon?" "Up!" "Up, up." "Stand still." "Everybody, where you are." "I suppose I ought to thank you." "Never mind that." "What are you doing here?" "Asking questions." "You get any answers?" "None that would interest you." "Wait a minute." "What is it?" "I told you before, leave it alone." "You're fooling around with something you know absolutely nothing about." "Not so far, but I'm learning, Bob, all the time." "Maybe, but each new fact you learn brings you one step closer to the day I pull you out of the harbor with your throat cut." "How'd you know I was here?" "I got a message." "But don't rely on the police to help you out next time." "If I couId, I wouldn't be here." "Don't talk to me like that." "And watch your step." "well, what happened?" "The police were in time." "They went in." "After a few minutes, Captain sale came out by himself." "Good." "Go back to Ling Too's." "It is as I said, Red Dragon Tong made a fatal mistake when they murdered this man's daughter." "We may yet succeed, though Anna and Ming are dead." "I don't like using him for our own ends." "He knows what he's doing." "It is the same end." "There is this difference only:" "He means to destroy his daughter's murderer, one man." "We seek to destroy the whole Tong, a group of maybe 1 00 men." "If Anna and Ming had passed on their message we could have done it." "Now, with Captain sale, we have a wedge." "Behind which we can drive in deep until we split Red Dragon Tong and all the evil and filth that is in it spills out and is gone forever." "The wedge is fixed." "The next blow must be his." "But if he learned nothing at the opium den?" "He has the girl." "Why did you hit that man this afternoon?" "He would have killed you." "But I'm nothing to you." "He is less than nothing." "He sent you for help." "We all know what you did about that, but where did he mean you to go?" "I shall not tell you." "I'm not playing games, young lady." "Where were you to go?" "I shan't tell you." "If I do, you will go there and be killed." "What difference will it make to you if I am killed?" "If you are killed, I shall have nowhere to go." "well, at Ieast you're honest about it." "I shall fetch you some dinner now." "Your dinner, captain." "Thank you." "I did not know what you liked." "I hope this will do." "You know this argument of yours about not having anywhere to go just won't do." "You can't stay here." "well...." "well, you can stay tonight." "We'II talk about it in the morning." "Good morning, Captain sale." "The harbor master told me I might find you here." "What can I do for you?" "well, I've had a piece of information." "It's very disturbing." "I think you ought to know." "We'd better go into my office." "Beamish is there." "He wants to see you about something." "Good morning, Mr. Beamish." "Good morning, sir." "Your daughter, I'm deeply sorry, sir." "Thank you." "Now, captain, what can I do for you?" "Mr. Harcourt, do you realize that a percentage as high as 5 percent of every cargo that comes into the dock is stolen?" "I'm sure it is." "It happens in every port in the world." "I don't mean petty pilfering." "I mean organized, systematic theft." "I don't see much difference." "AII trading concerns allow for a 5 percent loss of cargo in transit." "Some even go as high as 7 percent." "Yes, but this 5 percent goes straight into the pocket of the Red Dragon." "The what?" "The Red Dragon Tong." "It's a secret society" "I know what it is, captain." "I'm only surprised that you should listen to such fairy tales." "How is this mythical 5 percent supposed to get to the Tong?" "Find a man called Tang Hao." "He's around here somewhere." "He's a dock supervisor." "He'II tell you if you make him." "Tang Hao, eh?" "well, for your information, Captain sale Tang Hao was picked up by the police late last night." "He was dead." "Dead?" "But he wasn't...." "Wasn't what, captain?" "It doesn't matter." "I suppose you don't know whether they got any statement before he died?" "I haven't the faintest idea." "I doubt it, though." "Considering he was dragged out of the harbor with his throat cut." "Come and sit down, Lee." "I have something to tell you." "Tang Hao is dead." "Did I hit him that hard?" "No, you didn't kill him." "It happened later." "Of course, the Tong." "The Tong?" "Why do you say that?" "He had talked to you." "I am pleased this has happened." "Was he your husband?" "I wouldn't have married him even if he had killed me." "But you lived with him." "I belonged to him." "He bought me." "Bought you?" "My mother sold me to him when I was 1 5." "I was one of three daughters." "I was not really Chinese like my sisters." "I was a haIf-caste." "I was chee-chee." "And as soon as I was old enough to understand this I knew, too, that I should be sold." "So on my 1 5th birthday, Tang Hao came and took me away." "I have hated my Iife ever since." "But you could have run away." "Where to?" "If you have a dog or a horse and it runs away you catch it and beat it so that it won't run away again." "But you're not an animal, Lee." "That's what I was to Tang Hao." "He bought me, and I belonged to him." "So that I couId care for his house, cook his meals and warm his bed." "It is difficult for you to understand these things, Captain sale." "You are an occidental." "You don't want to think that here in Hong Kong, a British colony a boy or a girl can be bought and sold like an animal." "You think that because the British flag flies over our heads we know how to behave like english people." "We don't and we never will." "You took me from Tang Hao, so now I belong to you." "You don't belong to anyone." "You can do what you Iike." "Then I shall stay here with you." "That isn't exactly what I meant." "I shall be no trouble." "I shall cook for you, look after you." "No, Lee." "We have to find somewhere for you to go." "Even if there were somewhere else I still want to stay here with you." "Why?" "That day when Tang Hao sent me to Lee Chung's I knew right away that I wouldn't." "What is it?" "Lee Chung's." "please, I didn't say it." "Don't go there." "What is Lee Chung's?" "It is a café, it is of no importance." "Why don't you want me to go there?" "They will kill you." "Listen to me." "The Tong murdered my daughter, did you know that?" "I know, but there is nothing you can do about it." "Nobody fights the Tongs." "Nobody has." "If they had, helena wouldn't have been murdered." "Somebody has to go after them." "The Tongs have killed and tortured thousands of Chinese people." "It didn't disturb you?" "I didn't know about it." "Even if you had, it wouId have made no difference." "Go on, go to Lee Chung's." "Get killed." "I don't care." "Mr. Jackson." "Captain, I do care." "please be very careful." "They are clever men, clever and dangerous." "Mr." "Harcourt, we are honored." "Good evening." "Sir?" "No, I'm not staying." "I have called to give you a warning." "About Captain sale?" "Yes, how did you know?" "It became necessary for me to know." "That question's been resolved." "He will be eliminated." "When?" "Today or tomorrow." "With a man in Captain sale's position we shall have to exercise more care." "I don't advise you to wait too long." "He's no fool." "He's a dangerous man, and he's after you." "It was idiotic to involve him at all." "A most unfortunate accident, Mr. Harcourt." "Now that you have delivered your message and given us the benefit of your invaluable advice, you'd care to stay?" "Three new girls who've just come in." "They're without experience, of course." "I think I will, then, yes." "place your bets, gentlemen." "He that loves pleasure shall by pleasure fall." "Two pair, the house wins." "Mohammad has come to the mountain." "We shall have to put an end to these festivities." "Perhaps you'd be good enough to ask our guests to leave." "Sir?" "Brandy, please." "certainly." "How much?" "One shilling, please, Captain sale." "You know me?" "Everybody knows you, captain." "An honor, Captain sale." "A great honor." "I'm Lee Chung, the owner of the place." "Sit down, Lee Chung." "I wanna talk to you." "We're very busy, as you can see." "I don't think" "Sit." "If you wish." "Now, what can I do for you, captain?" "well, for a start you can...." "I want to know where I can...." "You're not feeling well, captain?" "Hot in here." "Fresh air." "Can I help you?" "Let go." "Leave me alone." "I'm all right." "welcome, Captain sale." "You have been looking for us, I understand." "It was fortunate that you visit." "It saved the trouble of sending for you." "You have meddled in matters which do not concern you." "You've poked into the affairs of the Red Dragon Tong for no other reason I can see than that of personal revenge." "It was unfortunate about your daughter." "Don't you dare." "Most unfortunate." "But what is done is done." "There is nothing more we can do about it now." "The moving finger writes, and having writ...." "There is one more thing before we dispose of you" "You filthy, murdering" "You surely didn't expect anything else, captain?" "One plays with fire, one must expect to be burnt." "Severity of the burn being governed by the strength of the fire." "And you have chosen to play with a very large fire indeed." "whilst I believe that your interference has been comparatively ineffectual I can afford to leave nothing to chance." "You will therefore be good enough to tell me whom you have seen and what you have learned since you embarked upon this somewhat foolish enterprise." "No, I didn't suppose that you would without some form of persuasion." "So we must attempt to persuade you." "You present us with somewhat of a problem but one which I am sure we have overcome." "Your death, when it comes, will be attributed to natural causes." "Overdose of opium." "But this would hardly be consistent if your body were found marked with scars inflicted by us." "So of necessity, our means of persuasion must be invisible ones." "Have you ever had your bones scraped, captain?" "It is painful in the extreme, I can assure you." "These needles are very sharp, designed to penetrate the flesh leaving a remarkably small point of entry almost completely invisible." "But with careful and expert manipulation they can be made to scrape the bone to the very marrow." "Ingenious, isn't it?" "I will ask you once more, Captain sale." "You will tell me who you have talked to and what you have learned." "Very well." "Leave him here." "Give him time to reflect, and he may realize that we're not doing this for amusement." "We will continue tomorrow." "See if you can stand." "This way, quick." "Leave him to me, captain." "Who are you?" "Captain!" "Look out!" "Come." "This way." "Don't move, Mr. Jackson." "Stay quite still and it won't hurt you too much." "How long have I...?" "What's all this?" "The doctor said your chest was badly hurt." "You have been cut there." "Cut?" "How long have I been here?" "You were left on the doorstep early this morning." "It is 4:00 now, in the afternoon." "I must get up." "You are not to get up for one week." "Then only for a few hours." "Let me go, Lee." "I haven't got the strength to fight you." "I know." "And I will not let you go." "I thought I told you you couldn't stay here." "Who is going to put me out?" "You?" "What did they do to you, Mr. Jackson?" "Did they hurt you very much?" "Yes, very much." "But you are lucky." "You are alive." "I'II get you something to eat." "I don't want anything." "But the doctor said it wouId be good for you to eat." "I'm not hungry." "I just want to get up." "only in one week, Iike the doctor said." "AII right, I'II eat something." "You mustn't sit up." "I can't eat lying down." "Yes, you can." "I shall feed you." "You just can't stay here, you know." "I know." "Now eat." "Good morning." "Who are you?" "I am Dr. Fu Chao." "I've come to see Captain sale." "You are not his regular doctor." "unfortunately, Dr. Letts is unable to come today." "I am here instead." "The captain is in his room." "He is still asleep." "I'II try not to disturb him too much." "Oh, I am sorry." "I am very tired." "Yes." "May I go in?" "Yes, of course." "I'II make some tea." "That will be nice." "Mr. Jackson." "please forgive me, but I was so tired." "I should have realized." "I just let him walk in here." "It would have been my fault if he had killed you." "You can send me away if you wish." "Don't worry, Lee." "I'm not gonna send you away." "Cyanide." "You're a lucky man, Jackson." "Luck's a matter of degree." "If helena wasn't murdered, none of this would've happened." "If you'd done what I'd told you, it wouldn't have happened either." "well, admit it proves I'm getting somewhere." "It depends where you're aiming, Jackson." "The Tong or the individual." "They're the same thing, aren't they?" "well, probably they are." "But if we'd caught the individual when he'd murdered helena would you have gone on with this crusade of yours against the Tongs?" "I can't answer that, it didn't happen." "You can't answer it, that's all." "Can you tell me about this visit of yours to the Tong headquarters?" "I've told you everything I know." "I was drugged, I came to and there I was." "No clue at all as to where you were?" "None." "But that café proprietor probably has a good idea." "Captain sale, it's an honor." "You're feeling better, I trust?" "Never you mind about that." "Where did you take me to?" "Captain, I don't understand." "Go on, tell me." "Where, where, where?" "I want to know about the Tong." "I strongly advise that we move our headquarters." "This Captain sale is no fool." "It will not be long before he looks here." "Very shortly, Captain sale will not be looking anywhere." "You've said that before, you know." "I'm of the opinion that in the matter of sale, we should abandon caution." "Word has got around he defied us, we must make an example of him." "There will be a ceremonial killing." "Oh, that's just asking for more trouble." "I never did like your ceremonial killings anyway." "They're too showy to be efficient." "You are not required to like them, Mr. Harcourt." "They are traditional." "As to their being showy, that is the intention." "A famous British judge once admirably remarked:" "Justice must not only be done, it must be seen." "So it is with a ceremonial killing." "My son, the hour approaches." "This night, you shall taste the ultimate in pleasure." "Whatever you desire shall be yours." "Love, drink, the pipe of dreams." "So that tomorrow, when you go forth from this place all passion spent, your spirit shall be shining and pure." "When that man leaves here, Mr. Harcourt he will be steeped in opium." "And he will have spent the most pleasurable 2 4 hours of his entire miserable existence." "One thought and one thought only will occupy his mind:" "To kill Jackson sale." "Ten bullets will not stop him until he has achieved that objective." "Now, for your part in this affair." "My part?" "You will arrange for Captain sale to be on the wharf of Pier 1 3 at 1 0 p.m. tomorrow night." "You can do this, of course?" "I suppose so, yes." "well, see to it, then." "only one more, Mr. Jackson." "Be brave." "well, go on, Lee, hurry up." "The suspense is killing me." "You know that I have a great love for you." "Lee" "No." "Let me have my say." "I do not expect that you should love me." "only that I be allowed to love you." "I have never loved before and I ask nothing of you." "only your permission to stay here with you and serve you." "But I don't" "I never belonged before." "And now I feel that I do belong here with you." "You let me stay?" "AII right, Lee." "You can stay." "I will go." "Who was it?" "It was of no importance." "Perhaps not, but who was it?" "A messenger." "well?" "I tell you, it was of no importance." "Lee, come here." "You said just now you love me." "Yes, I do." "They why are you lying to me?" "He told me to give you this." "Is he still here?" "No." "Did he say anything?" "Lee, what did he say?" "He said you are to meet him at Maya's shop this afternoon." "You will not go." "Jackson, you won't go there." "Yes, of course I'II go." "You mustn't." "You will only get into more trouble." "The murder of your daughter is avenged." "The thing is finished for you." "The man who gave you this ring saved my Iife." "Then he did it because he wanted it that way." "They are using you to fight the Tong." "They care nothing for you as a person." "I care, Jackson, and I ask you not to go." "I have to go, Lee." "please." "What does it matter about the Tong?" "Jackson, listen to me." "Listen to me." "I have to tell you that anything I may have done to help you was not prompted by personal feelings." "I didn't suppose it was." "I have spent half my Iife fighting the Tongs." "Shanghai, calcutta, San Francisco, now here." "And I have had to use whatever weapons I couId find." "And that's how you saw me, as a weapon." "I would be lying to you if I tried to deny it." "well, it's lucky for me you did." "I'd be dead otherwise." "We have succeeded in throwing the Tong off balance." "Now all that is needed is the push that will topple it completely." "You think I can help you give that push." "The Tong proposed to have you ceremoniousIy killed tonight." "Don't ask me how I know, we have our ways." "You have seen such a killing." "Mr. Ming, on the wharf." "Yes." "Ming was bringing us information against the Tongs." "This form of killing which you saw is designed to strike terror into all who see or hear about it." "Which it does, undoubtedly." "I tell you this, Captain sale, so that if you wish you can stay away from the wharf tonight." "We owe you that at Ieast." "But you'd rather I was there." "Your name has spread through the Chinese section of Hong Kong as a man who has defied the Tongs and lived." "For this reason, the Tong feel that there may be a violent reaction by the people at your death." "They will have their hatchet men posted among the dock workers." "If they can succeed in killing you and at the same time prevent any immediate rising by the people then their power has been completely restored." "Do I have a choice?" "One very simple one." "You can leave Hong Kong." "You're forgetting something, my daughter." "I am not forgetting." "But personal revenge is never a good motive upon which to act." "I ask you to act from a sense of what's right and just." "Remember everything you've seen of the Tongs." "The evils, the hardship, the corruption that trail in their wake." "And then answer me." "My answer's yes." "Then you will be on the wharf at 1 0:00 tonight." "The executioner will appear and will go to kill you." "This you must prevent yourself, we cannot help you." "And when he has failed there will be other Tong men there to attack you." "I believe at this moment my men and the people themselves will come forward." "That we can defeat the Tong in open battle and that so they will lose their only weapon, fear." "No guarantee the people will come forward." "None whatever." "A hundred years of inbred terror may hold them back." "And if it does?" "We shall be cut to pieces." "Yes, I suppose we shall." "But I shall be there." "Take this, the ceremonial gauntlet." "And the sacred hatchet of the Red Dragon." "Your whole life has been a preparation for this moment." "Our hearts go with you." "Good evening." "Captain sale?" "I am sorry." "Captain sale is not here." "He's not?" "well, where is he?" "Don't I know you?" "Where is he, woman?" "It's important." "I am sorry, I can't tell you." "Where is he, where is he?" "Let go of my hand." "He's down at the wharf, and I will tell him when I...." "I do know you." "You are a Tong man." "I saw you one night with Tang Hao." "You are Harcourt of the East Ind" "Good evening." "Good evening." "Have you loaded by high tide, away by morning." "Good." "Jackson." "My Jackson." "You seen Captain sale?" "He's onboard." "shall I fetch him?" "No, no, it doesn't matter." "Very good, sir." "No." "Harcourt." "Tong." "Oh, my Jackson." "It is the Red Dragon Tong." "kill them." "Death to the Tong." "I'm gonna go after Harcourt." "We've got to get away." "Don't you know what's happening?" "They're after us." "They'II be here." "Mr. Harcourt, there's nothing to be done." "What are you talking about?" "Get hold of whatever money you've got and run." "Like all occidentaIs, you find it impossible to accept the inevitable." "Come on, man, move." "You can sit here and wait for that mob to get in, but not me." "Give me some of that loot I've been earning for you." "I want my share, and I want it now." "Where is it?" "Very well, we will give you what you have earned." "That's better." "And make it quick." "No." "You're mad." "What are you doing?" "Considering that you chose to join us we can only treat you as we expect to be treated ourselves." "No, keep away from me." "sale, sale!" "The Red Dragon knows only one reward for failure, Mr. Harcourt." "help me, sale!" "help!" "No." "It Is too late for that now." "Put down that knife and leave us." "Do as I say." "You are to be congratulated, captain." "You've proved a most worthy opponent." "I wish you well." "May my ancestors look kindly upon me."