Digital heart book

He
told me the blind man was a distinguished party boss,
called by some the King of San Francisco, but perhaps
better known by his picturesque Chinese nickname of the
Blind White Devil. "The Lambs must be wanted pretty
bad, I guess," my informant added. I have here a
sketch of the Blind White Devil leaning on the counter;
on the next page, and taken the same hour, a jotting of
Black Tom threatening a whole crowd of customers with a
long Smith and Wesson--to such heights and depths we
rose and fell in the front parts of the saloon!
Meanwhile, away in the back quarters, sat the small
informal South Sea club, talking of another world, and
surely of a different century. Old schooner captains
they were, old South Sea traders, cooks, and mates;
fine creatures, softened by residence among a softer
race: full men besides, though not by reading, but by
strange experience; and for days together I could hear
their yarns with an unfading pleasure. All had,
indeed, some touch of the poetic; for the beach-comber,
when not a mere ruffian, is the poor relation of the
artist.


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