Jack Fabian is a Canadian outlaw who illegally smuggles Chinese people into the United States, and one of Jack’s gang members tells this story. Notorious for being able to get across the border undetected, he has made a rare mistake and ends up in a U.S. jail for three months awaiting trial. Jack manages to escape jail and makes his way back to Canada. While Jack had been in jail, some lawyers, looking to exploit the law that bars Chinese immigrants, come up with a scheme in which a person from China can pay a couple hundred dollars to have a United States citizen claim to be their father. This cuts into the business of Jack and the other smugglers. Jack has always been free with his money, so while the others are willing to lie low, Jack is desperate to take a job sneaking someone over the border.

When Jack tells Tie Co, “a nice-looking young Chinaman,” (105) he is so desperate for money that he would be willing smuggle one person over the border at a time, Tie Co asks if Jack will take him. This does not make sense to Jack because Tie Co has worked his way up in his Canadian laundry.