The Luminaries

he’s a God-d—ned liar,’ Mannering said.
    ‘Dick!’ said Frost. ‘You said yourself that the Aurora’s a duffer!’
    ‘Of course it is!’ shouted Mannering. ‘So where in hell did all that gold come from—all of it smelted by
this
filthy heathen—and in
this
very room? Is he in league with Crosbie Wells? Ask him!’
    He shook his pistol at Ah Sook, who said, after confirming the answer with Ah Quee, ‘He not know Crosbie Wells.’
    Ah Sook could easily have shared his own intelligence with Mannering—the intelligence that had brought him to Ah Quee’s hut that very afternoon, seeking the other man’s advice—but he did not approve of Mannering’s interrogative technique, and he felt that the magnate did not deserve a helpful answer.
    ‘What about Staines, then?’ said Mannering to Ah Sook. His fury was acquiring a desperate edge. ‘What about Emery Staines? Aha: you know
that
name, don’t you, Johnny Quee—of course you do! Go on: where is
he
?’
    This question was relayed from Ah Sook to Ah Quee, as before.
    ‘He not know,’ said Ah Sook again, when Ah Quee was done.
    Mannering exploded with annoyance. ‘He not know? He not know? He not know a lot of things, Johnny Sook, wouldn’t you say?’
    ‘He won’t answer if you ask him like that!’ Frost cried.
    ‘You hush, Charlie.’
    ‘I won’t hush!’
    ‘This isn’t your business, d—n it. You’re getting in the way.’
    ‘It’ll be my business if any blood gets spilled,’ Frost said. ‘Put down your gun.’
    But Mannering only thrust it once again at Ah Sook. ‘Well?’ he snarled. ‘And you can wipe that stupid look off your face, or I’ll wipe it off for you. I’m asking
you
, now—not him, not Johnny Quee. I’m asking
you
, Sook. What do
you
know about Staines?’
    Ah Quee’s eyes were moving back and forth between them.
    ‘Mr. Staines very nice man,’ said Ah Sook pleasantly.
    ‘Nice man, is he? Care to say where the nice man might have disappeared to?’
    ‘He leave,’ said Ah Sook.
    ‘Did he, now?’ Mannering said. ‘Just upped his sticks, did he? Left all his claims behind? Walked out on everyone he knows?’
    ‘Yes,’ said Ah Sook. ‘It was in the paper.’
    ‘Tell me why,’ said Mannering. ‘Why would he do that?’
    ‘I not know,’ said Ah Sook.
    ‘You are playing a very stupid hand—both of you,’ said Mannering. ‘I’ll ask you one last time, and I’ll spell it out slowly, so you understand. A very large fortune has recently come into play. Hidden in a dead man’s house. All of it—every last flake of it—had been smelted and stamped with the word
Aurora
. That’s the signature of my old friend Quee here and if he denies it he can rot in hell. Now, what I want to know is this. Did that gold really come from the Aurora, or did it not? You ask him that. Yes or no.’
    Ah Sook put this question to Ah Quee, who decided, given the gravity of the circumstances, to respond with the truth. Yes, he had found a bonanza, and no, it had not come from the Aurora, though when he smelted the gold he had stamped it with the goldmine’sname, in order to ensure that the profits, at least in part, would return to him. He explained that, strange as it sounded, he had found the gold on Anna Wetherell’s person, sewn into the seams of her gown. He had first discovered it nearly six months ago, and had deduced, after some thought, that Anna must be trafficking the metal on behalf of someone else. He knew that Anna Wetherell was Mannering’s girl; he also knew that Mannering had falsified his own financial records before. It was reasonable to conclude, therefore , that Mannering was using Anna Wetherell as a method of transporting gold out of the gorge, in order to evade duty at the bank.
    ‘What’s he saying?’ said Mannering. ‘What’s his answer?’
    ‘He’s telling a frightfully long story,’ said Frost.
    He was—and it was Ah Sook’s turn to be enthralled. Anna Wetherell had been concealing a
bonanza
? Anna, whom Mannering would not permit to carry even a purse upon her person, for fear of thieves? He could not believe it!
    Ah Quee continued.
    He could not forget his earlier grievance with Dick Mannering, for it was explicitly by Mannering’s hand that he was now forced to remain indentured to a duffer claim. Here was a chance both to get his revenge, and earn his freedom. Ah Quee began inviting Anna Wetherell back to his hut each week, always when she was addled with opium, for upon