"HELL'S GATE." "BRITISH COLUMBIA. 1881" "I can't read this." "The best firecrackers in town." "Bring good luck to the New Year." "And peace to your families." "Why don't you buy some fortune messages from me?" "Don't walk away." "It's a bad omen for me." "Don't gamble, if you can't afford to lose." "please, sir." "It's a mistake." "I was going to pay." "I promise." "I just need a little more time." "You took too much time, that's the mistake." "This one's on the house." "What are you gawking at, little rat?" "Scat, or you'II get the same medicine." "little Tiger." "I'm back." "Loser." "Pick it up." "little Tiger!" "Don't use your hand or your brain will get rusty." "Can you split one of these with a firecracker?" "Yes, I can." "Look at that." "Where is the walnut?" "You're supposed to split the shell, not demolish it." "The two halves should stay on the table." "That's impossible!" "It's not how much powder you use, it's where you place the charge that counts." "Try it now." "Nice and clean, little Tiger." "Here." "A lucky present for the New Year." "Thank you." "Your luck is about to change." "It's you." "Come in." "Dirty shirts, there." "The boss says he doesn't need you." "Go home." "My apologies." "He's just a foreign devil." "Let's get the hell out of here!" "What does that mean?" "Something about his mother." "little Tiger." "Same advice." "It's not only a case of how much powder, but where you put the charge." "My boss wants to offer you a better job." "One dollar a day for building a railway." "You shut your mouth." "And keep your hands off my workers!" "You can make more than $300 in a year." "You have no business here." "Leave." "We are leaving." "My apologies." "Goodbye." "We're rolling out of here, right now." "Business is lousy." "A handful of small change for a whole day of work." "Yesterday was worse, next to nothing." "I need to eat." "I'm starving." "Starving?" "You want to make some real money?" "I've got a deal for you." "We're hiring workers to go to gold Mountain." "A dollar a day, more than $300 a year." "really?" "Yes, you want to go?" "Yes, we do." "Meet me at the pier day after tomorrow." "Sure." "Father." "I will find you." "You should fix your back door." "Come back, all of you!" "Drop the knives or he'II put a bullet in your brainless skulls!" "His hand's shaking." "He's not going to shoot, he's scared." "I've seen this kid before, the little bastard" "What's your name, and who's your boss?" "tell me, now!" "My foot!" "Eat this!" "You used me as a shield!" "You're dead meat, Di Hong." "I want you dead!" "What the hell's going on?" "Have you seen a white man and a kid run past here?" "Speak!" "First door on the right." "Nobody here, boss." "Nobody here, boss." "Then..." "find Di Hong." "Yes!" "A day." "A day." "A dollar." "A dollar." "Foreign money." "Foreign money." "Foreign money." "Foreign money." "gold Mountain." "gold Mountain." "We're hiring men for gold Mountain!" "We're hiring men, a dollar a day!" "Where?" "gold Mountain." "One dollar a day." "We are hiring men, one dollar a day." "For your family, you could make $300 in one year." "$300, it's a Iot." "Can we trust them?" "What do you have here?" "Nothing." "What have you got to lose?" "This is a chance for a better life." "Or you could stay here and starve to death." "gold Mountain." "One dollar every day." "What about the gold?" "I heard there's gold lying in the ditches." "Mr James..." "He promises... if you work for the NichoI railway Company, you can keep any gold you find," "tell everybody here we're set to go." "We've closed." "please leave." "Happy New Year!" "Happy New Year!" "Those your parents?" "They know you're going to gold Mountain?" "They're dead." "When I Ieft, my mother cried her eyes out." "I told her in a year or two" "I'd be back to buy her a little farm." "I'II find myself a wife, maybe two." "We'II have a dozen children..." "That's your dream?" "A pair of fat wives and a litter of kids?" "That's my dream." "What about yours?" "When I come back," "I'II build a factory right in my village, so every man in the village can work." "Just one factory?" "To start with." "until the farms are replanted." "What are you laughing at?" "You've got big dreams." "What does that mean?" "Hey, kid." "What's your name?" "little Tiger." "You're little anyway, but I don't see any tiger." "If you're in this book, you get paid." "If you aren't, you don't get a penny." "Where are you from?" "Guangdong." "Where in Guangdong?" "A village called Ping Wei." "I know the place." "It was destroyed." "It's not there any more." "Nothing good ever came from Ping Wei, anyway." "Hey!" "Tea Boy!" "Where the hell are you?" "Coming!" "Next!" "Next!" "Tea boy, your turn to have your queue cut." "Excuse me, have you heard about a man named Li Hong Man?" "He's from Guangdong." "Cave-in!" "Cave-in!" "Run!" "Doctor!" "They want a man to set charges behind the cave-in." "crawl inside a cave-in?" "It's a death trap." "Five dollars for fifteen minutes of work." "Count me out." "It'II come down on my head." "Five dollars!" "Easy money." "Who wants the job?" "Sir, I'II do it." "Never mind you." "I worked in a fireworks factory in Hong Kong!" "I know about explosives." "This isn't fireworks, it's dynamite." "I can do it." "I'm not sending your bones home to your parents." "I don't have any parents." "little Tiger." "Same advice." "It's not how much powder you use, it's where you place the charge that counts." "little Tiger, come and talk." "Hide this." "Don't flash it around." "And have some respect for yourself." "Don't trot after the boss' son like a pet dog." "They'II work you to death and spit on your grave." "Their friendship means nothing." "Remember this, only Chinese look after Chinese." "Wang Ma, have some water." "So, you're on dynamite crew and I'm still lugging tea paiIs." "I volunteered." "It's an extra dollar a day, so I can go home early." "A buck more a day?" "Didn't you know that?" "Wang Ma." "Thank you, boss." "It's hot and dry, these fuses are too short." "Too short?" "regulation length." "It's too hot and dry for this length." "Get your ass back to work!" "Don't make trouble for me." "Pass me the bowl." "What for?" "Just pass it to me." "Sir." "I want to work for the dynamite crew." "Be a good tea boy first and then learn about other things." "You little rat, you think you can hide away from me?" "What the hell's going on?" "This crazy kid attacked me for no reason." "Liar!" "You attacked me!" "You are lucky I don't teach you a lesson." "Without your gang here, you'II get the lesson!" "I know you from Hong Kong." "You're a thief and a coward, hiding behind your boss' ass." "Knock it off!" "Back to your own tents!" "AII of you!" "Now!" "I got my eye on you, mister." "Next time..." "I'II let him cut off your balls." "Get out!" "TO BE CONTINUED..."