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
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