Page:O'Higgins--Old Clinkers.djvu/302

 "He's the mut that got us all in trouble the time o' the fire on that other Dutch boat."

"I thought the 'Jiggers' were at the bottom of that," the chief said, with a pretended innocence.

"They blamed it on us. They blamed ev'rythin' on us—because some o' the fat heads higher up used th' association in their damn con games."

The chief scowled at this reference to the conspiracy that had ousted him. "You're a 'Jigger,"' [sic] are you?"

"That's what I am," "Shine" admitted, with bravado. "I'm a 'Jigger' all right, but I ain't a back-sticker, any more'n half the other fullahs I know—an' they didn't ask us before they put up their deal with the Commissioner, if yuh want to know."

The chief's dignity would not let him