Gold Mountain (28 page)

Behind me, Elena said, “Uncle Jacobi, Suey Wah told me there were men fighting on the docks. Did you know?”

Pandora waited a moment for a response from me, but when I said nothing, he shrugged and turned to his niece. “Yes, so Miss Hudson has been telling me.” To Suey Wah, he said, “I understand there is a fine vessel waiting to take you to your own safe harbor.” The metaphor escaped Suey Wah’s literal turn of mind and seeing her puzzled expression, I translated Jake’s comment into words the girl could understand.

“Yes,” Suey Wah answered, “so Qing says and she is my friend who would not lie to me.” Neither Jake nor I missed the slight tinge of sadness in her tone. “Qing says I will learn many things at my new school and one day I will be able to return to my friends, to Mrs. Ruth and Mr. Martin, to Lo Mo, and to my dear Qing. It will not be so very long, Qing says.” Suey Wah paused before concluding, “But I believe it will seem very long to me.”

“Sometimes we must do the hard thing,” I said, refusing to be drawn into a discussion that promised more emotion than I was ready to handle. “Now say your thank you to Miss Elena. Mr. Pandora is going to get us to the yacht. We hope it’s still there.”

Suey Wah bowed her thanks and took my hand, asking as she did so, “But how will we get past all those angry men?” I led her into the street past Jake Pandora, who stood holding open the door.

“I have no idea, but Mr. Pandora says he knows a way,” I paused before adding deliberately, “and I am sure we can trust him to get us to the schooner safely.”

Jake Pandora did exactly as he promised. His knowledge of the back streets and alleys allowed us to take a circuitous but successful trip completely around the clashing strikers and policemen, although sounds of the conflict were always present. As Jake had noticed, other streets in the vicinity were empty of traffic and pedestrians and remained so as we moved north. Except for the increasingly distant shouts, we could have been the only people in the city.

When we finally stood on the dock that stretched out toward the schooner—the vessel still waited, thank God—I lifted a hand and waved the bright blue kerchief I’d been wearing as a sash around my waist in the general direction of the yacht. In almost immediate response, I saw a quick wave of red from the deck of the boat. Someone had been watching and waiting for us. A good sign. We had moved north of the chaos of the strike and our menacing shadow had disappeared, as well. It appeared we would have no interference when we transferred Suey Wah to the waiting vessel. A small boat was lowered from the yacht onto the water, and we watched its approach.

As we waited, I commented, “It’s a beautiful yacht, isn’t it? I’ll bet it’s a smooth ride. I love the freedom of being on the water.”

When the small boat grew close enough, the man rowing stopped to throw some ropes toward us. Jake stepped up, caught them, and fastened them to an upright along the pier. He pulled the small boat closer as the man picked up the oars again, and when the rowboat finally knocked against the wharf, a woman hopped out, grabbing Jake’s hand for support but so steady on her feet I thought she would have landed safely on the pier without his help. Smaller than I in both height and breadth, she still gave an impression of competence and energy and athletic strength.

“Miss Hudson, I’m Sarah Fremont. I’m honored to meet you.” She had an infectious smile and a face that bubbled with good humor. “And is this Suey Wah?” At Suey Wah’s shy nod, Miss Fremont said in perfect Chinese, “This is a great adventure, is it not, child? Were you very afraid?”

I could tell Suey Wah liked Miss Fremont instantly, felt a quick, ignoble pang of jealousy at the woman’s perfect language skills and the responding interest I saw on Suey Wah’s face, and was immediately ashamed of myself.

“I was not afraid at all. Qing said we would be safe and Mr. Pandora promised to take good care of us.
Is
this an adventure?”

“A very big one for such a little girl, but then I’ve heard it is not the first adventure you’ve had. Are you brave enough to come with me?” Miss Fremont held out her hand and after giving me a quick look, Suey Wah detached her hand from mine and placed it in Miss Fremont’s.

“Yes. Qing says I am to go.” Suey Wah looked from the woman to the yacht floating like a cork on the blue bay water. “Will it be a very long trip?”

“A snap. You’ll see. And it’s a wonderful boat with all kinds of treats on board. And then there is a school full of girls waiting to meet you. Oh, Suey Wah, we will have a wonderful time!” Sarah Fremont had an enthusiastic way of speaking that made a person excited just listening to her. She could have read the train schedule aloud and we’d still have felt like shouting “Yippee!”

Suey Wah turned her face toward me. “Good-bye, Qing. Will you come and see me?”

“I will. I promise.”

“And will you let me know when Mrs. Ruth’s baby is born so I may say a prayer for the little one?”

“Of course, I will.”

“Then I suppose I am ready to go.”

I leaned down, kissed her cheek, and whispered in her ear, “Be brave, little bird. This will be the best nest yet.”

Without warning, Suey Wah wrenched her hand from Miss Fremont’s grip and threw both her arms around my neck. “I will miss you very much, Qing.”

I gently detached Suey Wah’s arms from my neck. “And I will miss you, but Miss Fremont is waiting for you. Go on now.”

Jake handed Miss Fremont into the small boat first, then lifted Suey Wah into Miss Fremont’s waiting and capable arms. He and I stood shoulder to shoulder and watched them as they were rowed back to the yacht and were helped on board. I could see Suey Wah’s little hand waving wildly from the deck and after a wave of my own, I turned resolutely away.

“I would appreciate it if you’d help me find a cabbie that will take me back to Grove Street,” I said with as dispassionate a tone as I could summon.

“I can do that.”

“And thank you. Thank you very much. I feel such relief knowing Suey Wah is out of harm’s way.”

“What about you?” As we retraced our steps, his casual question puzzled me.

“What about me?”

“Are you out of harm’s way?”

“I was never in harm’s way.”

“Think, Miss Hudson, think. If someone thought the child knew dangerous information, and someone knew you spoke the language and had spent a great deal of time with the child, what natural assumption might that someone make?”

“Oh.” I stopped so abruptly that Pandora bumped into me. I brushed off his muttered apology. “Oh, I see. But I don’t know anything because Suey Wah didn’t know anything.”

“I believe that, but I’m not a man whose life could be ruined if he were connected in any way with smuggling Chinese girls into California, an action both illegal and immoral. You should probably watch your step.”

I had not considered the idea that I might be in any danger until Jake Pandora put the thought into my head, and the notion made me bad-tempered. “I will, but I hate having to be circumspect.” We started walking again.

“I have noticed that prudence does not come naturally to you.”

“As much as humility comes naturally to you,” I retorted as we began to climb a steep side alley.

“I am generally considered to be a good-natured man of acceptable modesty.”

“Considered by whom? Strangers and foreigners?”

“By people who know me, Miss Hudson, people who don’t always feel the need to contradict and be so damned right all the time.”

I halted once more. We were on an incline and because I was walking ahead, when I turned to face him we were almost at eye level.

“Is that what you really think of me?” I demanded.

“What I think of you, Dinah, depends on the day I’m thinking it, and right now I think”—he smiled, put a palm to each side of my face, and kissed me squarely on the mouth—“I want to kiss you.” He kissed me a second time before he put both hands on my shoulders and turned me away from him to face forward. “That happens sometimes on the rare off moments when I don’t feel like throttling you. Turn right here.” I turned, taking his direction and his kiss in stride.

“You are an exceptionally handsome man, Mr. Pandora, and probably used to women throwing themselves at you, but there’s one thing you don’t know about me.” By then we were walking side by side and without missing a step he turned to glance at me.

“And what would that one thing be, Miss Hudson?”

“I never throw myself at men who are more beautiful than I am. It goes against the grain.”

I could tell by his expression that my words startled him. He stopped briefly in his tracks, began to laugh in a way that despite my bold words I found incredibly attractive, and resumed his stride. There is something about humor in a man that overcomes a multitude of deficiencies, not that I saw all that many deficiencies in Jake Pandora at the time. He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes, which had teared up from laughter.

“Thank you, Miss Hudson. That’s good to know. I’ll keep it in mind. Take a left here, please. Casey sometimes uses this corner. There, I see him. He’ll get you home safely.”

“I thought you might be in the thick of things, Jake,” Casey called from a distance. When he saw me, he doffed his cap. “And you here, too, Miss Hudson! That beats all. Not the place for a lady right now, I don’t think.”

With Suey Wah’s departure still on my mind, I was tired and sad and angry, yet in a strangely benevolent humor for all that. “You are absolutely correct, Casey, and I will be forever in your debt if you can get me back to Grove Street without putting me in the middle of a street fight.”

“I can do that easy enough. I know these streets better than Pandora here, and he’s a master of these docks.” I didn’t wait but climbed into his cab without assistance.

“Thank you again,” I said to Jake Pandora. “I’d have been lost without you today.” I paused purposefully before adding, “I’m afraid that’s as complimentary as a woman who needs to be right all the time can get.”

Pandora grinned at me. “I’m willing to accept whatever concessions you can spare, Miss Hudson. By the way, I have some information you might find interesting.”

“What?”

“It’s not the time or place to discuss that now,” Pandora answered, casting a quick look in Casey’s direction. “As long as the dock workers are on strike, I’ll have time on my hands. If you’re free Friday, I’ll treat you to lunch and some information that might come as a surprise.”

“You’re acting awfully coy, but all right, as long as I don’t have to dodge fist fights and street brawls.”

“They didn’t seem to bother you today.”

“I’ve had more experience with that kind of thing than I care to think about. Make no mistake, if I had my choice, I’d live a peaceful life.”

Jake Pandora eyed me with speculation and a half-smile. “Would you now? I wonder.” Without giving me the opportunity to defend my comment, he reverted to the topic of our Friday meeting. “Casey can come round Grove Street and pick you up just before noon on Friday. If it’s not safe, he’ll let you know.” He tossed a coin to the man he’d just volunteered and directed, “Get her home safe, Casey, and then come tell me what you know about this damned strike.”

Casey successfully completed the first part of his instructions and left me at the curb on Grove Street, waved a perfunctory farewell, and took off with his cab at a slow trot, presumably to conclude the second part of Jake Pandora’s request.

Chapter Ten

T
he dock strike quickly became the talk of the town. While Martin grumbled about the general unacceptability of strikes and the papers followed the strike’s progress with bold headlines, Ruth and I tried to become accustomed to the house without Suey Wah’s presence.

“She was so little and so quiet,” Ruth remarked sadly. “It’s hard to believe I could miss her as much as I do.” I felt the same but did my best to bolster my sister’s spirits.

“I know, but we’ll see her again, and I was very impressed with Miss Fremont. I wouldn’t have left Suey Wah with someone I thought was incompetent or unkind, Ruth. And—” I always concluded with the same reminder “—in just a few weeks your new arrival will keep you so busy you won’t have time to miss Suey Wah.”

My sister invariably reacted to that comment with a vague smile and the slightest pat to her stomach, assuring herself that a baby did indeed rest there. “I know. Mother’s birthday was in September. Wouldn’t it be nice if the baby came on that same day?”

“I think that will be entirely up to the baby.”

Ruth sat down heavily, pulled her knitting into her lap, and then enjoined, “Now tell me again about how Mr. Pandora came to your rescue. I must say I never considered you to be a woman who needed to be rescued so frequently, Dinah.” I looked at Ruth quickly enough to catch her small smile.

“I asked his help one time, Ruthie. That doesn’t constitute frequent rescues.”

“There was the night of the cotillion, too, don’t forget.”

“He was not rescuing me from anything that night.”

“No. Now that you mention it, I agree that it did not look like he was preoccupied with rescuing you. Just the opposite, you might say.” She smiled again. “He’s certainly a handsome man.” When I didn’t respond, she raised her head from her knitting and looked at me with innocent eyes. “Don’t you think so, Dinah?”