The entire play takes place inside a barracoon, an enclosure to hold slaves

Narrator – Li Tong as an old man.

Li Tong - Chinese man who works in a barracoon as an employee of foreign slave traders. Appears as old man and in late 20's.

Armindo Cruz - Portuguese ex-seaman who rents barracoons and charters ships to make profit from the Chinese coolie trade to Peru and Cuba. Known and feared for his cruelty. Age: Middle-aged

Dr. Murray - dissipated and alcoholic English doctor well paid to certify that Chinese coolies are fit for their grueling sea voyage. Age: About 50

Captain Elliott - Once proud American clipper ship captain now reluctantly involved in the coolie trade. Age: Late middle age

James Turner - corrupt British harbour master. Age: 30's

Mr. Anderson - incorruptible emigration agent: late 20's, early 30's

Ah-fuk - chief Chinese crimp, one who specializes in kidnapping or otherwise inducing Chinese coolies into the barracoon

Brother - A Chinese from a scholar gentry family kidnapped and brought into the barracoon. Age: late teens/early 20's

Sister (Tiang-si) - Captured while trying to free her brother. Mid 20's

Three Chinese musical players - er-hu, gong, cymbals

Chinese male prisoners

Chinese and Eurasian and Caucasian male guards

At rise the stage is completely dark. From the darkness is heard the sound of a two-stringed Chinese fiddle, an "er-hu." The pentatonic melody it is playing is painfully beautiful, almost heartbreaking.

Suddenly, as the music stops and a glimmer of light fades in, we hear a sound and even catch a glimpse of a naked or nearly naked CHINESE MALE running across the stage. In the style of the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1911) most of his head has been shaved and the remaining hair at the back of his head has been braided into a long pigtail (queue). The CHINESE MALE performs in response to commands of an O.S. VOICE.

Run!..Turn! Flap your arms! Bend over!..Jump about while turning!..Duck walk!..Stoop!..Jump about! Quickly! Do not make the foreign-devil angry!...Enough! Spin your queue!..Enough! Now sign the paper and rejoin the other coolies upstairs! Do as you are told or you will be beaten!

NARRATOR

I am Li Tong, a Canton man of the clan Loi. I was born in Goose Run Village during the year of the dragon, hour of the tiger. This is a barracoon. I play music here; with this: a two-stringed fiddle. We call it an er-hu. The foreign-devils say the melodies I play are almost painfully beautiful, melancholy, plaintive and heartbreaking. My father always said it was the perfect instrument to express emotions. I have learned that it is certainly the perfect instrument to express pain.

(The narrator glances toward the semi-dark stage where Chinese and men of mixed Chinese-Portuguese blood are lighting the wicks of tallow candles and oil lamps.  The stage should, however, remain quite dark)

NARRATOR (cont)

I will play music here until I die. That day will not be far off; but before I journey to the Land of the Yellow Springs I want you to know the truth about what happened when I was still young. When I worked in a barracoon as a free man. I have much to apologize for. That much is clear. And as you will see my crimes were horrific. But please know I neither sold coolie slaves nor was I a coolie who had been enslaved. I simply served the various foreigners who ran the barracoons and sailed the coolie ships. I had learned English well from missionaries and in my father's shop I had worked with numbers and an abacus. These skills made me valuable to the foreigners who derived their profit from the coolie trade.

        (The NARRATOR plays several notes, smiling

        at the memory of happier times)

NARRATOR (cont)

As a boy, I used to love to sit under the shade trees and listen to the itinerant story tellers who traveled from village to village filling our eager minds with outrageous gossip and tales of adventure and news of outside-the-province people. And one day a foreign-devil storyteller with long nose and green eyes dressed all in black with high black hat and silver cross and holy book with red letters spoke of his three-in-one-god and how the son of his god who was mocked and murdered would return and we should be ready. When I saw that even the Manchu soldiers would not disturb the temple he built to his god, I did the great washee and I too wore a cross.

(At the sound of a whip and a scream

the narrator pauses to look toward

the stage, then continues)

NARRATOR (cont)

My father was very angry but when the Taiping rebels came they spared me and my family because they too were of the cross. And I met a woman I loved very much. And for a few years I was very happy…But that is all gone now.

        (Not without difficulty, the NARRATOR gets

        up and sits on the stool)

NARRATOR (cont)

The time came when China was once again plunged into chaos and many had little or no food. In that turmoil, my father lost everything, and I was content to make money as I could; I was not one of those known as a 'crimp,' a Chinese who kidnapped his own people and sold them to foreigners. And so I could live. And I could live with myself. Then, one day, on the 15^th day of the seventh month, during the time of year we call Cold Dew, everything changed. And yet, except for the storm, known today as The Great Storm, it was a day which began much as any other. I had overslept but it was still early morning when I made my way on foot from my one-room lodging at a cheap Swatow inn, fighting the howling wind and heavy rain every step of the way.

(At the sounds of pounding on the barracoon

door, the NARRATOR stands up and faces the

stage)

NARRATOR (cont)

I arrived soaking wet and still flustered from my ordeal and pounded on the door until the guards finally let me in. Even these burly men had some difficulty in shutting the door against the fury of the wind and torrential rain. It was at Armindo's urging that I had changed my outside rainwear from the coconut fibre typical in the Swatow region to the attire of Westerners.

Yes, that's right, I remember now - the wooden venetians at the windows had been nailed shut to prevent coolies from escaping. And so inside the barracoon daytime was hardly distinguishable from the night. There were about three hundred men in the barracoon. All Chinese coolies. Not counting their jailers, of course. They were as they are now - Portuguese and mixed-blood Chinese-Portuguese from Macau. And some, I am ashamed to say, were pure Chinese. The coolies thought they were waiting for a ship to take them to "Gum San - the Gold Country... California;" but they were not. And that is why the door was locked and barred and the venetians were nailed shut and the keepers had keys...and guns and knives and swords and rattan rods and leather whips...

I apologize for the odor. The only ventilation we had was through the crevices of the venetians and of the thick, pitch pine door when it was open. The door at the rear was always locked except when the outside kitchen staff carried in the baskets of coarse rice and poor quality tea in narrow-mouthed earthen pots. And when the tall jars overflowing with urine and excrement were removed from the terrace through the same door. The only other door was upstairs; it opened onto a terrace and the terrace jars were all the coolies had for a privy. The terrace was, of course, too high for a coolie to jump down and escape...Although some tried. Although I did no cooking for the coolie slaves or crimps, I would sometimes prepare fruit or congee or even dumplings for ARMINDO, Dr. Murray and Captain Elliott. On cold winter days I also placed lumps of heated charcoal inside small brass and copper braziers so that our feet and hands might stay warm.

(slight smile) Despite all that he was, ARMINDO was the only one who cared about the smell. So every day just before he arrived, one of the guards lit joss-sticks - sticks of incense; and soon the sandalwood aroma hid the offensive odors...as the music was used to hide the screams of coolies being whipped.

NARRATOR

Armindo was the only man I knew about whom I could say that, whatever he was, he was to perfection. Some of the foreign-devil slave sellers who came to the barracoon were the cruelest, most dangerous men on earth. Men who had survived only by making certain that those opposing them did not. And yet I never failed to see Armindo intimidate such men and impose his will on them. It was not simply that they knew he feared nothing; it was as if they sensed that whatever it was that inhabited his tortured soul was not quite human. If I had to sum him up in one phrase, it would be an intensity of purpose. His anger, his laughter, his indignation, whatever it was was somehow more absolute, more focused – I almost want to say more pure – than that of other men. Armindo-

        (LI TONG suddenly stares at the audience)

Armindo DaCruz...Forgive me; I see from your lack of reaction that you do not know that name. Consider yourself fortunate. But, believe me, had you lived in southern China when I was a young man, you would have known it then. And had you displeased him in any way, it would have been the last sound in your consciousness before you slept and the first sound in your consciousness before you woke.

(There is the sudden and very loud sound of

pounding and the spotlight on the NARRATOR

immediately dims while the lighting of

of the stage setting immediately lights up.

Throughout the play – except when the spot

intensifies as he addresses the audience –

the NARRATOR observes the play in profile)

 

(The frightened CHINESE MUSICIANS rise quickly

with the docile air of men desperately afraid

of being beaten)

What the devil you whipping him for?

What?!

(to the musicians)

Stop that infernal noise, you heathen devils!

I said, what the devil you whipping him for?

Bloody heathen's still refusin' to sign his contract!

ARMINDO

The Chinaman is dead, you damn fool!

...What's one coolie more or less?

That's thirty Spanish dollars I lost! I ought to cut your heart out! If you don't know how to whip coolies without killin' 'em, get the hell out!

Unless you'd like to try me.

MAN WITH THE WHIP

I got no quarrel with you.

ARMINDO

You will have, if you ever kill one of my Chinamen again.

Li Tong...Li Tong!

(LI TONG appears from out of the

darkness, as always eager to please

ARMINDO. He rushes to ARMINDO and

takes his hat and jacket. He

hangs them up carefully on wall

nails)

I'm chilled to the bone. Hurry up with the tea.

Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I overslept.

ARMINDO

And add a bit of ginger to it; it’s bloody cold out there.

LI TONG

I have done that, sir, it is all prepared.

(LI TONG obediently brings fruit and

tea while ARMINDO removes his two

pearl-handled pistols from his belt.

As he speaks, he carefully examines

the powder in the pistols' priming

pans, then changes the flint in each

cock. He might also clear the barrels

with his ramrod, etc.)

And how many times have I told you: when we got a storm, we don't need the damn heathen music! Nobody out there can hear anybody screamin' in here during a typhoon! Tell the buffle-headed musicians not to play except when they're needed or I'll ship them out!

I am sorry, sir. It won't happen again.

ARMINDO

The storm smashed open the shed door. Tools are gone. Most likely blown out to sea by now.

LI TONG

Yes, sir, I know. Even the barracoon was barely visible until I was almost upon it.

ARMINDO

Aye. A black silhouette that bids no one welcome. Sheets of rain sweeping from one end of the roof to another and the tempest winds battering its China fir frame. It was moaning, Li Tong, almost like a living thing.

LI TONG

Yes, sir, I heard it. I thought it sounded like an enraged beast maddened by the fury of the storm but unable to escape.

ARMINDO

                       (chuckling)

Well, maybe that’s what it is.

Mornin', Li Tong. Glad to see you here. The other so-called interpreters know about as much English as I know Chinese.

Thank you, Dr. Murray. I arrived late because of the storm. But I’ll get you a brazier. You'd better dry off.

(LI TONG hands him a towel. DR. MURRAY

rubs his face and arms)

I wager this weather'll be the death of me yet. And the lightning’s in the north sky, so we can expect a lot more of this misery before it’s over. (motions toward the door) What was that about? Not dead of disease, I hope. If so, I need to examine him.

LI TONG

No, sir, he died of a beating.

DR. MURRAY

Well, that’s a relief; no contagion for us to worry about and no more hell on earth for that poor creature.

The rains loosened the sand. Bones of Chinamen are exposed all along the north shore of the island. The lucky ones had coffins. But now their coffins are bein' swept out into the river. Poor bastards had no peace in life and now-

You're late, Dr. Murray.

I was detained.

By a bawdy house bottle and a more-than-willing chick-a-biddy, I'll wager.

Chick-a-biddy?

(He places his hat on his head and

carefully adjusts it to his satisfaction)

At my age I consider myself fortunate if I manage to enjoy a few moments pleasure with a wrinkle-bellied hedge whore. But, no, my dear Armindo, I was in point of fact detained by the emigration agent.

What the bloody 'ell does he want?

He boarded the clipper and ordered your crew to reland the pork.

Reland the- What the hell is wrong with the pork?

Maggots. Small maggots, to be sure, but it seems he has discovered them in the deepest recesses of the joints and he wishes me to remind you that according to the Chinese Passenger Act-

(While he speaks the following, ARMINDO

snatches an iron-handled whip from the

wall)

I don't want to hear about the bloody Chinese Passenger Act! Of course the bloody pork has maggots: The chuckle-headed Chinamen dry salt it instead of keeping it in brine.

(The PHYSICIAN places his leather doctor's

bag on a table and sits in a chair behind

it. LI TONG approaches him with a cup of

tea but DR. MURRAY waves it away)

DR. MURRAY

I gave up that scandal broth years ago, Li Tong. Give it to your boss.

(While LI TONG gives the cup of tea to ARMINDO,

DR. MURRAY pulls out a flask of Brandy and a

glass. He polishes the glass with a small

towel then carefully pours the brandy)

DR. MURRAY (cont)

Soaked to the bone, I am, Li Tong, but my tongue feels like the skin of a dried shark; a most unpleasant sensation that I shall endeavor to remedy immediately.

To those dear friends who refuse nothing: the gallows and the sea.

(He drinks it down and clears his throat. DR.

MURRAY looks about for a spittoon and LI TONG

quickly moves the spittoon closer to DR. MURRAY'S

feet. DR. MURRAY expectorates into the spittoon,

then primly wipes his mouth)

The whole blooming lot of them get the mulligrubs from their own addle-pated stupidity and some beetle-browed emigration agent relands my pork!

Be that as it may, as your designated ship surgeon, I concurred that we have no choice but to replace the pork or else-

Replace thirty casks of pork!? Over my dead body! You can doctor it up by runnin' pickles over it. That'll take care of the bloody maggots.

Temporarily.

Long enough until we get out to sea!

You best not be forgettin' you work for me, Doctor Murray.

I...never...forget I work for you. And you should never forget that without my attestation as to the good health of the coolies, you don't receive permission to sail.

ARMINDO

Strong taste, this. This Hyson?

LI TONG

Yes, sir.

Shade of primrose and a brisk, agreeable flavor. Just what I used to drink before I gave up tea in favor of something a bit more fortifying to my system.

My dear Armindo, many of China’s finest teas barely color the water.

ARMINDO

Aye, some do not. And many aren’t teas at all.

DR. MURRAY

True. If anyone knows how to pull the wool over a tea drinker’s eyes it is the Chinamen. They give the poorest quality tea to their Manchu overlords because the Manchus add milk, and in restaurants they serve rotgut known as foreign-devil tea to us because they think we would not know a fine quality tea if it bit us on our behinds.

ARMINDO

Is that a fact?

DR. MURRAY

Indeed, sir. Of course, such chicanery is not limited to transactions in tea. Ducks being weighed by the pound, I will not deign to describe the manner in which pebbles are shoved down the poor birds’ gullets to cheat the foreign housewife. But with tea their manner is far more subtle.

ARMINDO

Aye. I’ve heard plenty of gup about how John Chinaman adulterates the tea and makes a profit while passing off sloe or ash as tea leaves. And of course he is clever enough to add Prussian blue and other trickery to the coloring.

(DR. MURRAY runs one chubby hand through

the white hair of his ring beard, looking

from ARMINDO to LI TONG and back to ARMINDO)

What the deuce! Surely you are not suggesting that Li Tong is adulterating our tea?

ARMINDO

I suggest nothing. But I did once spot such trickery in a barracoon in Macau. The Chinaman that done it got himself shipped out along with the rest.

ARMINDO

Li Tong, pour this water out of the pot and get me a plate.

NARRATOR

During the time I was in the tiny makeshift kitchen, Dr. Murray did not say a word. I think he understood that Armindo now suspected me of substituting poor quality tea and selling the better grade for profit. It was not uncommon among my people to do so. I suppose I should have been indignant but I did as he asked. I had never had the courage to oppose him. Nor had any other man. The most frightening thing about him to me were his eyes. They were a charcoal gray, the same cold shade of gray as the ash left by the joss-sticks my father burned in his village temple.

ARMINDO

Our bill for tea has doubled since the arrival of our young friend here. Did you know that, Dr. Murray?

DR. MURRAY

Well, of course it has; it has everywhere in southern China and the port cities. The Taiping rebels have seized the tea growing provinces and blockaded the trading routes.

(ARMINDO continues to stare at the leaves)

ARMINDO

Aye, that they have.

(THE MEN stare at the leaves in silence.

The only sounds in the barracoon are the

hawking and spitting of the COOLIES and

the GUARDS and the creaks of the roof and

walls in protest of the wind’s fury)

DR. MURRAY

And just what are you hoping to discover, sir?

ARMINDO

If the tea is genuine, the leaves will retain their color. If they’re sloe or ash or something else, the false coloring will be carried off in the water. And these leaves will be black.

NARRATOR

Another minute went by. I had done nothing wrong, but I had no idea if that could be proved to Armindo’s satisfaction. I knew it was absurd but as each second passed I felt a guilt rise up in me, as if I had something to confess. I knew it was my own weak nature and Armindo’s strong character which made me feel that way. My nerves were being strained as if I were about to be found guilty of a crime. And I think at that moment to please Armindo I would have confessed to that which I had not done.

DR. MURRAY

Satisfied?

ARMINDO

More tea if you please, Li Tong.

LI TONG

Yes, sir.

Replace the pork?! Next they'll be demandin' we provide every Chinaman wot goes on board with his own concubine!

An interesting thought. But I dare say we may have some trouble with this particular agent.

I never met an emigration agent that a stack of silver dollars couldn't buy.

This one-

This one won't be any different. One way or another, I always bring them to their bearings. And what about Captain Elliott? Did he say the ship is ready to sail?

Oh, yes. The clipper is all shipshape and Bristol fashion. The ship isn't the problem. It's the acting harbour master. Elliott's on his way over with him now.

Doesn't he know the arrangement we had with Nicholson?

We'll soon find out. And, if I were you, I'd cut those Chinamen down and get them out of sight.

What the bloody hell for?!

Because the acting harbour master is a fellow named James Turner and I heard when he was at Ningpo he was the sort who worried about how Chinamen are treated.

Turner. Aye. I know that name. Damn his eyes! Li-tong! Get those Chinamen cut down and put 'em with the others. And get Ah-fuk over here.

Where is Ah-fuk?

(ONE of the MEN points to a sleeping

figure. LI TONG walks over to him and

lowers his voice)

Ah-fuk...Ah-fuk! Wake up! Armindo wants you.

                (The man rolls over)

NARRATOR

                (AH-FUK rolls over and grunts)

NARRATOR (cont)

Ah-fuk was one of the most repulsive looking men I knew and on occasion when speaking with him I had been unable to repress a shudder. He had prominent, feral eyes set into a thin dark lupine face and even his most relaxed expression seemed to suggest that sudden violence was just below the surface. On the orders of a magistrate, part of his upper lip had been cut away. It was the Manchu government’s way of discouraging inveterate opium smokers from continuing with their habit. In addition to disfiguring his face, the punishment had also affected his speech. He compensated by raising his upper lip when he spoke and moving his lips in an exaggerated way. He had also once contracted smallpox and his deeply pitted face was what we Chinese call a “chop dollar face,” because the Mexican and Spanish silver dollars introduced by the foreign devils were tested for purity so often by our merchants that the tiny testing implements left a myriad of small holes on the faces of the dollars. I knelt beside him, steeled myself to look upon him at such close range, and lowered my voice still more.

LI TONG

Did you take care of that thing we discussed?

NARRATOR

As was his habit, he inhaled noisily and widened his mouth before speaking. His upper lip raised up as if it were some living thing which moved independently of his will.

Ah-fuk, Did you take care of that thing we discussed!

AH FUK

Don't worry. It is done. But the storm-

Ah-fuk!

The storm what?

We will talk later.

NARRATOR

He snatched up the dice and placed them inside his sleeve. Before I could pose another question he leapt to his feet and hurried over to Armindo. I followed quickly after him. He placed one fist inside the other as we do in greeting and gave him a slight bow. I remember how his long, thin queue always hung down his back, its natural hair oil already having permanently stained his tunic.

You bring the new coolies?

Hab got. First chop coolies. Number one.

First chop?! You bracket-faced, buffle-headed loon, half the bloomin' coolies you bring me are so sick they die before they reach Peru. I'm within an ames ace of buyin' all my Chinamen from somebody else.

Ga la! First chop! You looksee! You catchee plenty dolla'!

That better be right. Bring 'em out!

NARRATOR

Dr. Murray had wanted to change over to steel pens but Armindo insisted we stay with quills. He claimed the steel pens lasted only ten days, that they corroded, that their ink flowed poorly and the needle-like nibs scratched the coolie contracts to shreds. And so we continued to use a feather from the wing of a goose as our writing instrument.

Move about to show the outside barbarians that you are healthy. Otherwise, you will be taken outside and left to starve on the island. And don't think anyone will take you to the mainland. They are too afraid to interfere with the foreign-devil business. So do as I say. Run!..Jump!..Turn!..Bend over!

He looks strong enough to me. 'Ave 'im duck walk again.

Walk like a duck again! Quickly! Before the foreign-devil is angry!

All right! Sign.

Sign the contract.

This is your number. Number two-nine-zero. When you go on board the black-sided coolie ship, a foreign-devil will call out your number. You will walk forward and he will ask you if you go on the voyage willingly. You say 'yes,' understand? Anyone who says 'no' will be beaten and dragged in the water from the rowboat! You understand?!

(The COOLIE nods)

Now go upstairs! If you cause trouble you will be whipped and left to hang by your thumbs.

(the COOLIE obeys)

(Much the same action is carried out with the

second COOLIE)

Jump! Squat! Flap your arms...Duck walk...Now, the other way.

(LI TONG looks to ARMINDO and DR.

MURRAY. Both men nod)

Enough! You are number two-nine-one. You heard what I said. When you are asked if you want to go, you say, 'Yes.' Otherwise you will regret it.

(The COOLIE walks forward and LI TONG

places the cord with number around his

neck)

Please, I am a charcoal seller. Some men told me where I might find better employment. But when I went with them I was gagged and tied and taken here.

Be quiet!

COOLIE

I would rather die than go on the outside barbarian ship. Others say it has no shrine to the heavenly goddess. How will it find its way in a storm?

LI TONG

You were burned by joss-sticks before. Do not cause more trouble or you will receive even worse! Here! Sign!

(LI TONG dips his finger in ink and presses

it to the contract. The COOLIE moves off

and the next COOLIE attempts to move about

as ordered)

LI TONG

Hurry up! Flap your arms about and run!..All right, now jump up and down!..Now duck walk!..Stoop!..Enough! Now, spin your queue! Quickly, you coffin chisel, or else the red faced barbarians will whip you again!

LI TONG

Hiding coins in your queue! For that you will be beaten! And lose your queue. All of you had better remember what I told you: If you cause trouble you will be beaten! Go to the back! Wait there!

NARRATOR

Ah-Fuk walked to me while still intently studying the coin. I suspected the man was a triad member and that it was a coin issued by one triad or another. But when I saw what it was, my pulse raced. I turned to Armindo.

LI TONG

This is a coin of the Taiping rebels. Tai ping tien guo. Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace.

(ARMINDO studies it in silence then

rapidly turns it over in between his

fingers as a gambler might do. A

nervous tremor has crept into DR.

MURRAY’s voice)

DR. MURRAY

The rebels are getting stronger all the time. Rumor has it Frederick Ward was killed fighting them at Tse-kie. And now one of the Taiping armies is said to be heading this way.

NARRATOR

We all knew what Taiping rebels did to anyone involved in opium or prostitution or in any religion other than their bizarre form of Christianity. Or even to anyone subjecting himself to the Manchu hairstyle. No doubt they would have nothing pleasant in store for anyone involved in the slave trade. Ah-Fuk had had a narrow escape from them and I could tell he was becoming excited. His men had also grown very quiet. He spoke hastily and his deformed upper lip jumped about.

AH-FUK

Plenty piecee bad man Taiping hab got this side, too muchee likee cut throat pidgin.

ARMINDO

Tse-kie is only some ten miles from Ningpo, is it not?

DR. MURRAY

Yes. Just a short ride inland. And not that far from here.

(ARMINDO stares at the coin)

ARMINDO

Well, let’s hope if one of their mobs is heading this way it’s one of their all-women outfits. I wouldn’t mind a tryst with their so-called silken army. I hear they look right proper flash packets in those silken gowns of theirs.

DR. MURRAY

Aye, silk they looted from Hangchow. But I hear they fight more bravely than the men.

ARMINDO

Well, Dr. Murray, I have no interest in rumors. Li Tong, have our best men question that man carefully and thoroughly. Now bring in the next coolie.

(AH-FUK takes a step toward ARMINDO)

AH-FUK

But what if-

ARMINDO

Be quiet, you bullet-headed fool! We’ve all smelt powder and heard ball. If the bloody long-hairs want a fight, they’ll find one waiting for them here. Now bring up the next man.

Jump! Run! Squat!..Duck walk and flap your arms!

(While the next coolie is leaping and duck-

walking and flapping his arms, he begins to

cough and stumble. DR. MURRAY rises and looks

into his eyes and mouth and runs his hands

along the man's body as if checking the health

of an animal)

This man is sick.

No sick. It too much laining. Him hab cold.

No, not a cold. His teeth are discolored and his cheeks are sunken. His skin is withered and chalky pale. And he’s short of breath. The man's an opium smoker and he’s at death's door.

You no 'cassion makee so-fashion!

I warned you not to bring me anymore like that. One more time and I'll find another crimp. You savvy?!

...I savvy.

Take him out.

He'll die out there.

He'll die where 'e's goin', so what's the bloody difference?

(DR. MURRAY reaches for his doctor's bag)

I might be able to save him with-

He'd be shark meat before we were three days sail out of Swatow. (to the CHINESE) Take 'im out!

COOLIE

At least I will die with my bones in Chinese soil! You are not going to the Gold Country. You are going to hell! Escape while you can!

What did he say?

                            (hesitating)

He...he just said his life is hell and he knows he will die soon.

That's it?

Yes.

(ARMINDO makes a very fast movement, grabbing

LI TONG behind his head, pulling it down by

his queue, very close to the candle. LI TONG

is very much afraid)

The missionaries taught you good English. And you're smart. All that makes you useful to me. And the Spaniards say even the lie that lasts only half an hour is worth telling. And that may be. But, so help me God, you lie to me one more time, and I'll ship you out on the next coolie ship! You savvy?

I savvy! I savvy!

Now. What did he say?

He...he told these men they are not going to the Gold Country. They are going to hell and they should try to escape.

(releasing LI TONG)

That's better.

(to his ASSISTANTS)

Bring him back.

Ask him if he's afraid to die.

The foreign-devil wants to know if you are afraid to die.

The next world will be much better than this. My spirit will rise to the Jade Heaven in the Western Paradise. I will be with the immortals. These foreign barbarians are like the silkworms which blight our mulberry leaves. Heaven will not endure men such as these and you - for helping such men - you will go to the Land of the Yellow Springs!

He says the next world will be better. That you are like silkworms destroying the mulberry leaves. And he damns me for helping foreigners.

But is he afraid to die?

He says he is not.

(ARMINDO stares at the COOLIE for a few

moments then stands up)

A man who's not afraid to die deserves a chance to cheat death.

Tell him the pistols are loaded. If he can kill me I order that he be let go.

Armindo, what-

And returned to the mainland. Unharmed.

Armindo-

Damn your eyes! Clap a stopper on your tongue!

The foreign-devil has told the others that if you can kill him, you are free to go. No one will harm you.

                            (whispering)

Go ahead. Grab it. Maybe you're faster than me.

Well, look at that. The Chinaman had the nerve, after all. The rain must have made the bleedin’ powder damp. When that happens, powder only flashes. A flash in the pan.

This one, though, I expect the rain didn't get to quite so much.

You are a turtle's egg!

What'd he say?

He said you are the egg of a turtle.

What the hell's that mean?

The turtle lays its eggs, then leaves. The turtle baby...does not savvy who is its baba.

        (ARMINDO laughs uproariously)

Do you hear that, Dr. Murray? The Chinaman called me a love-begotten child! A bastard!

ARMINDO

Li-tong, tell him I’m not going to kill him.

You’re not?

Hell, no.

(ARMINDO throws the pistol to LI TONG

who fumbles it, but manages to hold on)

You are.

...I cannot kill someone.

Sure you can. Killing a man is just a question of what’s in it for you. In this case, it’s your life or his. You don’t take his, I’ll take yours.

Armindo, there’s no call to-

Shut your trap! (To LI TONG) I’ll count to ten. You use that barking iron on him, or, by Christ, I’ll load this one and use it on you. One! Two! Three! Four!

Five! Six!

I cannot kill someone!

You’ve been killing men for years! Helping me send them to the Chinchas to work themselves to death. We’re one and the same kind, Li Tong. Haven’t you figured that out yet? (beat) What is it? You can send men to a slow death but you can’t give a brave man a quick one? Seven! Eight!

Nine!

Well, I’ll be damned! You see that, Dr. Murray? Our interpreter has what it takes to kill another man. That beats the Dutch and the Dutch beats the devil! I better bear that in mind.

Li-Tong, Get me the cleanin’ oil and powder horn! Ah-fuk! This heathen celestial has guts. Have your men take him the hell out of here. Into town. No harm is to come to him.

(ARMINDO reaches into his pocket and

pulls out several Mexican dollars)

(He hands the dollars to the surprised

COOLIE)

And I better not find out later that these dollars Mex found their way into your pocket. Savvy?

I savvy.

        (The COOLIE stares at the coins and

COOLIE

I will not take devil-faced money!

        (In the silence that follows, one of

        the CRIMPS quickly retrieves the coins. 

        ARMINDO stares at LI TONG)

LI TONG

He says he will not take your devil-faced money.

(ARMINDO steps forward, standing just inches

away from the COOLIE, and stares into his

eyes.  He reaches out and takes the coins

from the CRIMP)

ARMINDO

Tell him he can use the devil-faced money to buy medicine or, if he likes, to buy more opium. But if he’s smart, he’ll use it to buy arms; weapons powerful enough to drive men like me from his land.

LI TONG

He says for you to use the money to buy weapons to drive men like him from China. Take it and leave!

        (ARMINDO is holding the coins in his hand,

        palm up.  The COOLIE looks at the coins,

        then reaches over and takes them.  He

        stares at LI TONG)

ARMINDO

Enough gab! Now escort him into town.

No guarantee his pistol's powder was too damp to fire. You took a hell of a chance.

We take a hell of a chance the day we're born.

I never thought I’d live to see the day you be giving silver to John Chinaman.

That John Chinaman has as much hate inside him as me. Why kill one of my own kind? He knew what he was made of; Li Tong here is just finding out what he’s made of, isn’t that right, Li Tong?

DR. MURRAY

Li Tong, are you all right?

LI TONG

Yes, sir. I am fine.

(DR. MURRAY offers him the flask

and a glass)

LI-TONG

No thank you, sir. I will be fine now.

What in damnation is that infernal noise?

(DR. MURRAY pours himself another drink)

Tonight'll be a full moon. The seventh of the year. The Chinamen believe hell opens up and the spirits of the dead are allowed to visit earth. Starting tonight. That's their welcome. (to LI TONG) That right?

Yes. The spirits are allowed to stay for one month. But many of these spirits are the restless ones.

Why restless?

Because they died violently and cannot rest until the person responsible is punished.

ARMINDO

Just like a Chinaman to risk his life in a storm to welcome dead spirits.

Boy say yes he spy looksee foreign-devil pidgin for Taiping. But

Taiping no can come this side. Hab too muchee afraid devil

cannon.

(DR. MURRAY holds out his glass, says his

toast and drinks his brandy down)

Very well, then, sir, a toast to the Taipings! All hands forward to splice the main brace!

Easy on that! I don't want you full as a fiddler's bitch before Turner even gets 'ere.

(saluting with his glass)

Aye, aye, sir! But this storm reminds me of action I was in on the coast of Chusan during the China War. Hell of a storm then, too.

ARMINDO

Are we in for another of your stories then, Doctor Murray?

DR. MURRAY

I had been sent ashore to find some provisions. We were at war with the Chinese in the north but the southerners would ready enough sell us what they could for Spanish dollars. What we really needed was eggs. But I was having a devil of a time making myself understood to the villagers. So I took my handkerchief out of my pocket like this, and rolled it up into a ball. Then I stooped down like this, held the handkerchief down here, then made like a chicken laying an egg.

DR. MURRAY

Cockadoodledo!

        (DR. MURRAY looks so ridiculous the MEN cannot

        help but laugh.  Even ARMINDO joins in)

LI-TONG

And they understood?

(DR. MURRAY climbs back up into his chair)

DR. MURRAY

Oh, yes. And once they stopped laughing, they rounded up all the eggs we needed.

        (The levity is quickly dispelled when

        ARMINDO turns to AH-FUK)

Bring the last one.

(The last COOLIE is a YOUNG MAN. His clothes

and manner suggest he is from a higher class

than the other coolies. The border of his

crown has been neatly shaved in the manner of

a scholar or a man-about-town. Unlike the other

coolies, his queue is loosely plaited and black

cord tassels have been affixed to it to give the

appearance of greater length. He is sobbing)

 

(DR. MURRAY's speech is slightly slurred as

he speaks to the boy)

Here, here, lad. The more you cry, the less you'll piss!

Tell the Chinaman to shut his bone-box or he'll end up in 'is eternity box.

Keep quiet or the foreign-devil will make it worse for you!

My father was taken by crimps and sent on board a foreign ship. He never returned. My mother has no other sons. If I am taken abroad who will burn incense before our ancestral shrine?

What's his problem?

He says he is his mother's only son. If he is sent away who will carry out his duties to his ancestors?

Bad luck, that. But if 'e don't shut 'is rice-trap, she won't have any son!

(Prodded by AH-FUK's threatening gestures, the man goes through the standard degrading routine)

Run! Flap your arms! Faster!..Duck walk!..Bend over! Squat!..Enough! Sign the contract!

(The MAN looks at the contract)

I can't read it in this poor light.

You don't have to read it! Just sign it!

Anchor your ass to a chair, Mr. Turner. I'm Armindo DaCruz. You already know Dr. Murray. Li Tong will get you tea.

You hurt?

I've never seen anything like it.

Like what, Mr. Turner?

All the sand is being blown away by the storm and the bones of the Chinamen are coming to the surface. They're swirling about like leaves. One of them hit my shoulder. It felt as if I'd been clubbed.

ARMINDO

Let Dr. Murray have a look at your-

Some of the poor buggers never had a coffin to begin with. Some were never even buried, just left to rot. And the storm has exposed their corpses and dead men are dancing about as if the wind were blowing life into them. The dogs and swine got hold of some. I saw a dog with the bones of a human hand in his mouth. And the way some of the bones were being blown along the ground, it almost looked like...like-