; but the fact
that the police are allowed to arrest anybody they please without
showing any authority whatever is a curious contradiction which the
Britisher may be pardoned for smiling at.

Detective Jonathan H. O'Flaherty and I had a rather warm argument upon
this point, and I must say that in the end I had to admit that there was
a good deal to be said in favour of the utter want of liberty to which
Americans have to submit.

"For instance," said my guide, "to-morrow is a public holiday. At
daybreak I guess we'll be afther locking up every thief, vagabond, and
persons suspected of being varmint of this description in this great
city, and it's free lodgings they'll have till the holiday's played out.
In that way crime is avoided, and the truth of the saying proved that
'prevention is better than cure.'"

"But there is an unpleasant feeling that this autocratic power may lead
to mistakes. In England the police must have a warrant," I said.

[Illustration: ITALIANS.]

"Guess, stranger, if we waited for a warrant the varmint'd vanish, and
there'd be the divil to pay. No, sir, I reckon we Amurricans don't wait
for anything--we just take the law into our own hands right away. A
short time ago I was sitting enjoying some singing in one of the saloons
in the Bowery here, and right through in front of me sat two foreigners
with the most perfect false whiskers on that I ever clapped eyes on.
That was enough for me. I went outside, sent one of my men for
assistance, and then sent in a theatrical lady's card to one of the
gentlemen. The bait was taken, and he came out. We arrested him straight
away, and made him send in for his friend, who came out, and we nailed
him as well. Turned out afterwards that they had come to kill one of the
actresses--love affair, revenge, and all that sort of thing. In your
country guess you'd have arrested them after the murder; we had them
before. There was no harm done, but they got a fine of a few dollars."

He put his hand suddenly upon mine as he said this. For a second I
thought that he imagined _my_ whiskers were false, and that this was
only a plant to lock me up! It was evident my nerves were becoming
unstrung, and as soon as we were in the street my good-humoured and
excellent guide told me that in another five minutes we would begin our
voyage of discovery. We passed through the Chinese quarter, down Mott
Street, and I could not but feel a pang of sympathy for these aliens,
looked