Suzuki was very polite, but he didn’t want to come any nearer, even after that.  He told Lew Wee he was almost certain they didn’t want him on street cars with it, no matter if it was worth thousands of dollars.  It might be worth that much, and very likely was if the price depended on its condition.  But the best and most peaceful way for Lew Wee was to find a motor car going that way and ask the gentleman driving it to let him ride; he said it would be better, too, to pick out a motor car without a top to it, because the other kind are often shut up too tightly for such affairs as this, like street cars.  He said the persons in street cars are common persons, and do not care if a thing is worth thousands of dollars or not if they don’t like to have it in the car with them.  He didn’t believe it would make any difference to them if something like this was worth a million dollars in American gold.

So Lew Wee thanked Suzuki Katsuzo, who went quickly on his way; and then he tried to stop a few motor cars.  It seemed like they was as timid as street cars.  People would slow up when they seen him in the road and then step on the gas like it was a matter of life and death.  Lew Wee must of said “Can happen!” a number of times that morning.

Finally, along come a German.  He was driving a big motor truck full of empty beer kegs, and Lew Wee says the German himself was a drinking man and had been drinking so much beer that he could nearly go to sleep while driving the car.

He slowed up and stopped when he saw Lew Wee in the middle of the road.  Lew Wee said he wanted to go to San Francisco and would give the driver a dollar to let him ride back on the beer kegs.  The driver said:  “Let’s see the dollar.”  And took it and said:  “All right, John; get up.”  Then he sniffed the air several times and said it seemed like there had been a skunk round.  Lew Wee didn’t tell him he had it in his bag because the driver might know how much it was worth and try foul play on him to get possession of it.  So they started on, and the German, who had been drinking, settled into a kind of doze at the wheel.

Lew Wee was up on the beer kegs and enjoying himself like a rich gentleman riding to the city in his motor car.  It was kind of nice, in spite of being used to his pet, to be going through the air so fast.

The German seemed to be getting sobered up by something, and after about five or six miles he stopped the car and yelled to Lew Wee that a skunk had been round this place, too; and mebbe he had run over one.  Lew Wee looked noncommittal; but the German was getting more wakeful every minute, and after a couple more miles he pulled up again and come round to where Lew Wee was.  He says it seems like a skunk has been round everywhere; and, in fact, it seems to be right here now.  He sees the sack and wants to know what’s in it.  But he don’t give Lew Wee a chance to lie about it.  He was thoroughly awake now and talked quite sober but bitterly.  He ordered Lew Wee to get off of there quickly.  Lew Wee says he swore at him a lot.  He thinks it was in German.  He ain’t sure of the language, but he knows it was swearing.