“Except for everybody in the café,” I told him.
“That is all right,” Mr. Sing said. “You have a boat?”
“Thirty-eight feet,” I said. “Hundred horse Kermath.”
“Ah,” said Mr. Sing. “I had imagined it was something bigger.”
“It can carry two hundred and sixty-five cases without being loaded.”
“Would you care to charter it to me?”
“On what terms?”
“You need not go. I will provide a captain and a crew.”
“No,” I said. “I go on her wherever she goes.”
“I see,” said Mr. Sing. “Would you mind leaving us?” he said to Frankie. Frankie looked as interested as ever and smiled at him.
“He’s deaf,” I said. “He doesn’t understand much English.”
“I see,” said Mr. Sing. “You speak Spanish. Tell him to rejoin us later.”
I motioned to Frankie with my thumb. He got up and went over to the bar.
“You don’t speak Spanish?” I said.
“Oh, yes,” said Mr. Sing. “Now what are the circumstances that would—that have made you consider . . .”
“I’m broke.”
“I see,” said Mr. Sing. “Does the boat owe any money? Can she be libeled?”
“No.”
“Quite so,” Mr. Sing said. “How many of my unfortunate compatriots could your boat accommodate?”
“You mean carry?”
“That’s it.”
“How far?”
“A day’s voyage.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “She can take a dozen if they didn’t have any baggage.”
“They would not have baggage.”
“Where do you want to carry them?”
“I’d leave that to you,” Mr. Sing said.
“You mean where to land them?”
“You would embark them for the Tortugas where a schooner would pick them up.”
“Listen,” I said. “There’s a lighthouse at the Tortugas on Loggerhead Key with a radio that works both ways.”
“Quite,” said Mr. Sing. “It would certainly be very silly to land them there.”
“Then what?”
“I said you would embark them for there. That is what their passage calls for.”
“Yes,” I said.
“You would land them wherever your best judgment dictated.”
“Will the schooner come to Tortugas to get them?”
“Of course not,” said Mr. Sing. “How silly.”
“How much are they worth a head?”
“Fifty dollars,” said Mr. Sing.
“No.”
“How would seventy-five do?”
“What do you get a head?”
“Oh, that’s quite beside the point. You see, there are a great many facets, or you would say angles, to my issuing the tickets. It doesn’t stop there.”
“Yes,” I said. “And what I’m supposed to do doesn’t have to be paid for, either. Eh?”
“I see your point absolutely,” said Mr. Sing. “Should we say a hundred dollars apiece?”
“Listen,” I said. “Do you know how long I would go to jail if they pick me up on this?”
“Ten years,” said Mr. Sing. “Ten years at least. But there is no reason to go to jail, my dear captain. You run only one risk—when you load your passengers. Everything else is left to your discretion.”
“And if they come back on your hands?”
“That’s quite simple. I would accuse you to them of having betrayed me. I will make a partial refund and ship them out again. They realize, of course, that it is a difficult voyage.”
“What about me?”
“I suppose I should send some word to the consulate.”
“I see.”
“Twelve hundred dollars, captain, is not to be despised at present.”
“When would I get the money?”
“Two hundred when you agree and a thousand when you load.”
“Suppose I went off with the two hundred?”
“I could do nothing, of course,” he smiled. “But I know you wouldn’t do such a thing, captain.”
“Have you got the two hundred with you?”
“Of course.”
“Put it under the plate.” He did.
“All right,” I said. “I’ll clear in the morning and pullout at dark. Now, where do we load?”
“How would Bacuranao be?”
“All right. Have you got it fixed?”
“Of course.”
“Now, about the loading,” I said. “You show two lights, one above the other, at the point. I’ll come in when I see them. You come out in a boat and load from the boat. You come yourself and you bring the money. I won’t take one on board until I have it.”
“No,” he said; “one-half when you start to load and the other when you are finished.”
“All right,” I said. “That’s reasonable.”
“So everything is understood?”
“I guess so,” I said. “There’s no baggage and no arms. No guns, knives, or razors; nothing. I have to know about that.”
“Captain,” said Mr. Sing, “have you no trust in me? Don’t you see our interests are identical?”
“You’ll make sure?”
“Please do not embarrass me,” he said. “Do you not see how our interests coincide?”
“All right,” I told him. “What time will you be there?”
“Before midnight.”
“All right,” I said. “I guess that’s all.”
“How do you want the money?”
“In hundreds is all right.”
He stood up and I watched him go out. Frankie smiled at him as he went. Mr. Sing didn’t look at him. He was a smooth-looking Chink all right. Some Chink.
Frankie came over to the table. “Well?” he said.
“Where did you know Mr. Sing?”
“He ships Chinamen,” Frankie said. “Big business.”
“How long you know him?”
“He’s here about two years,” Frankie said. “Another one ship them before him. Somebody kill him.”
“Somebody will kill Mr. Sing, too.”
“Sure,” said Frankie. “Why not? Plenty big business.”
“Some business,” I said.
“Big business,” said Frankie. “Ship Chinamen never come back. Other Chinamen write letters say everything fine.”
“Wonderful,” I said.