BOTCHAN
“That’s all right with the hotel; only I can't take my mind off the house.”
“But you take some sleep in daytime.”
“Yes, I take a nap, but it’s nuisance because I can’t go out.”
“Heavenly chastisement is a hard job, I’m sure,” I said. “If he gives us the slip after giving us such trouble, it would have been a thankless task.”
“Well, I'm sure he will come to-night…–… Look, look!” His voice changed to whisper and I was alert in a moment. A fellow with a black hat looked up at the gas light of Kadoya and passed on into the darkness. No, it was not Red Shirt. Disappointing, this! Meanwhile the clock at the office below merrily tinkled off ten. It seems to be another bum watch to-night.
The streets everywhere had become quiet. The drum playing in the tenderloin reached our ears distinctively. The moon had risen from behind the hills of the hot springs. It is very light out-
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