fraternalism by the other assorted denizens of the region. Their squat

figures and characteristic squinting physiognomies, grotesquely combined

with flashy American clothing, appeared more and more numerously among the

loafers and nomad gangsters of the Borough Hall section; till at length it

was deemed necessary to compute their numbers, ascertain their sources and

occupations, and find if possible a way to round them up and deliver them

to the proper immigration authorities. To this task Malone was assigned by

agreement of Federal and city forces, and as he commenced his canvass of

Red Hook he felt poised upon the brink of nameless terrors, with the

shabby, unkempt figure of Robert Suydam as arch-fiend and adversary.

IV

Police methods are varied and ingenious. Malone, through unostentatious

rambles, carefully casual conversations, well-timed offers of hip-pocket

liquor, and judicious dialogues with frightened prisoners, learned many

isolated facts about the movement whose aspect had become so menacing. The

newcomers were indeed Kurds, but of a dialect obscure and puzzling to

exact philology. Such of them as worked lived mostly as dock-hands and

unlicenced pedlars, though frequently serving in Greek restaurants and

tending corner news stands. Most of them, however, had no visible means of

support; and were obviously connected with underworld pursuits, of which

smuggling and 'bootlegging' were the least indescribable. They had come in

steamships, apparently tramp freighters, and had been unloaded by stealth