t to him--a large keg was withdrawn from its
place on a shelf, and a gentle Chinese, clad, like himself, in satin
brocade, dug into the contents of the keg with a ladle and withdrew
from it a black, molasses-like substance, which ran slowly and gummily
from the ladle into the small silver box which the customer had
produced. The box finally filled, with some of the gummy, black
contents running over the edges, our gentleman withdrew himself,
having accomplished his purpose. Tucked into the security of his belt,
it was impossible to detect the contraband as he again stepped over
the boundary line which separated Chinese from European soil.

Half an hour after our Chinese gentleman had stepped across the
boundary line into the native city, with a large supply of opium
concealed in his belt, part of which he would retail to certain
friends who had not time enough to run across into the European
concession to buy it for themselves, a young Englishman stood, by
curious coincidence, upon the same spot recently occupied by the
Chinese. He also stood with one foot upon Chinese soil, with the
other upon the soil of the Foreign Concession, and regretted, with
considerable vehemence, that at this dividing line his efforts must
cease. He had been pursuing, for perhaps a mile, the proprietor of a
certain gambling den, whom he wished to apprehend. But at the boundary
line, which the Chinese had reached before him, his prey had escaped.
He was off somewhere, safe in the devious lanes and burrows of the
native city. Therefore he stood baffled, and finally made his way back
into the Settlement, along the quais, and finally reached his rooms.
He pondered somewhat over the situation. That which was permitted on
Chinese territory, was prohibited in the foreign holdings--and the
reverse. It just depended whether you were on this side the line or
that, as to whether or not you were a lawbreaker. Morality appeared
arbitrary, determined by geographical lines--a matter of dollars and
cents. Lawson walked slowly along the Bund, turning the matter over in
his rather limited mind. Take the opium business, he considered. The
Chinese considered it harmful, and wished to abolish it. Very good.
Yet the Foreign Concessions made money out of it and insisted upon
selling it.

Take another example, he reflected--gambling, his job. Or rather, his
job was the suppression of gambling--in the foreign holdings. The
Chinese considered it harmless, a matter of