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Show , , , : ; : -. rrr?' - , " "H ' ' y.yyy y-' fl 'y;- - v;- ;- - m h ' h v.-.-: : v y-- : . -y ; ' - t - ' h:- J r M "b ;. A r n '" V ';, " ' NOSER , S "i . 1 mm- i i i.i I ! ;.-f 'Ckaaf "Wat tmUntly tospiciocv sprang to H feet '.'J; , "Who let lhe in, taimT . -- - j . s - . ' .' Ht strode . toward tne door. ... . Tb shar? point o a ksite priued into hi throat and he stopped, 'r-. 'r-. Unc whuper; and thou shall roc bciide thy lathers T breathed the coolie that had entered nrst, pressing ths knife point in till a drop of biood tricJued down th ; tiade. . - ", -' 1 f Chung Wo's yellow face turned a mottled brown and whne; ue'oivered and his hands dropped helplessly at his siUcs. , Another, cooue drew a suxen girdle trora under his' blouse, and, with the help ot the third, -'knotted tbe great man's hands to his hips. "Come wicn us, and-hold thy breath lest thou sicken suddeni)-," the knue-wielder whispered, switching his weapon mtq the small of Chang's oack. incy passed through the anteroom, where two mora coolie were tryuig to tutf the bound and gagged ecreury mto closet three sues too small for him. 1 hec left him, and the party slipped down the stairs oa padded koles. In the street a carriage with curtains drawn and the door opened awaited them. Chun Yo was thrust in and tnree of his captors climbed L with bin, while the others mounted the box. "Now," said the man with the knife, as the car riage roiled noisily over the paving stones, "where hast thou hidden Loo Puck? Speak quickly and see that thou'syeax no lies, lest we carve thy body into u.vn bait" Chung Wo was stubborn and crafty. He knew they would not take his hie until he revealed ih prison ot Loo Puck and if he could gain a little erne die hatchetmen would discover the secretary and come to his rescue. "1 know not of whom ye speak nor where any Loo Puck may be," he said. Ihe coolies hung tnemselves upon him and pinned their knees into hi pudgy stomach. One caught the old man's gray queue, w nipped it around his neck and twisted rt into a slip-knot. Then he pulled it taut, tauter, tauter still until Chung Wo choked and his face tell tor ward on his breast. '".Veiff knowest thou ot whom we speak and where she may be found?" The laintest bobbing of the sunken head answered them. The noose was loosened until the fat president could catch his oreath in quick gasps. "Have mercy, O strong-hearted ones," he gurgled through hi returning breath. "Mie sleepeth m Sullivan Sulli-van Alley, where tl - houses re high and there are no doors and the white pig lose their way in the burrows ot the rats. Spare my miserable bones, ;e scourges of the gods, and 1 will take ye to her." They drove t- the close, narrow mouth of Sullivan Alley, into which so many countless ennses have poured dark and bloody secrets. Strolling as non-chantly non-chantly as though on a mission of pleasure, the party went half the length of the alley, slipped into a cellar and threaded a mare of four-smelhng passages underneath under-neath the ground. They emerged into a gloomy, crumbling, oid building, its hallway lighted by a flickering flicker-ing tin lamp. A grim-visaged heathen eyed them suspiciously sus-piciously trom a shadowy doorway. "Give him the proper signal or thou knowest the price," one of the coolies whispered in Chung Wo s ear. He murmured a word and the heathen faded away. Up one flight of stairs and down another, through corridors and winding passages where the sun nyr gleamed, the old man led them. There were no lights to guide them, and secret doors, traps and blind balls were passed through or evaded only by the oid mans keen sense of direction. Ah. gladly would he have played them false had he dared. But these were, indeed, in-deed, desperate men. At length he paused. "She is beyond this door," he said, "and the key is in this pocket." , A coolie took the big brass key from Chung Wos IN THIS COMPLETE STORY, f "The Brotherhood of Six," Charles K. Moser has given us a flashlight glimpse that pierces through the 6 veil of mystery usually shrouding the Chinaman and his darksome haunts from Western eyes. In this T story the Chinaman ceases for the moment to be a yellow, incomprehensible automaton. The "ways that X are dark" are illumined and we can understand and sympathize with the little celestial maiden, with the 0 bereft father and mother, with the outraged feelings of the courageous lover, and rejoice in the fate that overtakes the illustrious Chung Wo. The author knows Chinatown and its denizens and possesses 6 power to make them known to his reader. ? Jerome Uhl, the artist who has illustrated "The Brotherhood of Six," shares this intimate knoul- X edge with the author. He uses no lay dummies for his models, but draws from the living, moving tig- 6 ures of Chinese in the innermost recesses of the burrows they call homes. The pictures he presents are 9 in consequence instinct with the spirit of a people that has always been and seem destined always to 2 remain an unsolvable puzzle to the great body of Caucasians. 0 ''""!' ' ' v3ml. 1906, by Tkimat H. McKt. ."T IT AH NENG, the little mother, sat among :f- l tne embers wailing and scattering - ' " 1 J I handful of ashes over her head, while r , JL. V . Fong Quong ran through the streets cry-i cry-i U "JK. "Loo Puck! Loo Puck! Oh, little , t Pch blossom of thy father's garden, where art thou?" An boor before she had been playing, her tiny baby ;, brother astride her hip, with a troop of small heathen ; V outside the bazaar door, while her father sat inside -, " and sipped tam-sku with his cronies. One moment he .looked out and smiled at his merry little girl, with her rosy cheeks set in her shining hair like an Oriental ' pearl in a clasp of jet The next moment he looked '. she ws gonel The other youngsters were still playing at their V games, laughing; whooping like little fiends of mirth-land, mirth-land, scampering hither and yon with pigtails trailing . : tassels of red silken floss at their heels, the merry imps played as if nothing had happened. Reassured, Fong Quong had calmly questioned them. They , t flocked about him. "Oh, she is here I She is there! She is hiding in ; that old barrel, revered sire!" they had severally chirruped. !'aw the fengihin (earth-devils) catch and eat her," cnd one tiny rascal, more imaginative than the rest But she was not here nor there, nor in the old barrel, nor in the cellars, nor the doorways nor the f Cy&" Lo Puck. little celestial maiden of thir-.teen thir-.teen years, whose beauty was like the ripeness of , peaches, like the tulips of Hanoi, was gone. And that is why the rice pot yawned empty of chow, and the little mother, Mah Neng, sat in its place among the cold embers crying out her grief, while h'png Quong roamed the alleys calling, calling monrn fully for his hrs-born though she were only a girl! When he came back to the bazaar at nightfall Mah ' Neng still sat at her weeping; she did not even raise her head, for she knew that his search had been , fruitless." The youthful heir to the house of Fong, x finding himself neglected, was contenting himself by solemnly scuffing in a corner with the kittens, while wree Chtng puppies licked his toes and yapped their h disapproval of his preferences for feline playmates. V'V-i'ong picked the little boy up and coddled him in his ' ; arms. "Hast thou called in the blue-coated fat-bellies of the white pigs, and hast thou summoned to council the wise ones of thy tong? Some base villains of the dark alleys hath stolen our Loo Puck and hidden her in a nest of foulness; why may not wisdom and blood mciey bring her back?" T have considered these things. The high man of the bluecoats has sent out his best ferrets. Our tnighty ones have sent men with cunning eyes and padded feet into dens where the white pigs cannot go out Loo Puck was not in them. Perchance the tde po iau tsi (highbinders) have taken her to some House of Dreadful Doom and are holding her for ransom. Ait! I know not; except that my heart is very sad and I mourn for my lily bud. Loo Puck. Ait I AUt" The little mother arose and slipped her fat feet into fr ;andals. "I go to the temple and beseech Kum Tah Foo Yum (Goddess of Women) for her help that Loo Puck come to no harm." ''Ait! Ate!" cried Fong Quong to himself when she had gone, "had I but sold her only two days ago to illustrious Chung Wo, the great one of the Suey Sings, 1 would now have a thousand yen. But how-can how-can one of the Hop Sam Tong sell the flesh of his flesh to a Suey S;ng? Besides, I had promised her in marriage to our cousin. But Luey Chen will have none of her now, fhough she be found again. Aief Ait'. It is hard indeed to lose one's woman-child or a thousand yen !" As he sat lamenting with the rolypoly youngster cuddled in the hollow of his arm. the draught from beneath the loosely hung door to the broken chimney wafted a tiny bit of rice paper across the floor. He laid the baby tenderly on a mat and picked up the bit of paper. Spread open, the flimsy billet displayed a line of scraggy Chinese characters rudely brushed in dark rreen ink. He read: window. The four panes, each no wider than a hand's breadth, were grimy with dirt, the accumulations of years. All the windows t'.iat spotted the square court, like flyspecks on kaolin wall-, were similar ; here and there a little painted face peered out through the iron bars, smiling sometimes, a sad, wistful smile. But this window was high up ; a face pressed against it could not be seen from the yard below. T he room itself was not so bad, save that its finery was frayed and soiled with the musty odor of aging tilth. In one corner there was a low couch covered with mats. On the mats lay a little girL She was weeping softly, her head buried in her arms. The heavy door swung back 011 its hinges without a warning creak, and a man came into the room a fat old man with mirthful features, an upper lip like the foreshortened snout of a tapir, eyes that glistened like polished shoe buttons and huge creases under his chin. He wore breeches of green .satin, tightly bound at the ankles, a blouse of wine-colored silk, and an iron-gray queue swung from below his conical cap with its red button, signifying his rank as a mandarin. "Art still playing the storm-cloud and splashing us with rain, little golden fairy?" he said, noting the girl's tears. "Come, come, Miss Bright Eyes, it is high time for the sun to shine. Lift up thy face and let me see thy smiles." The trembling figure in the girlish tunic of blue made no answer. "Ah, listen now, fragrant little jasmine flower. Hear the words of one who hast much !uve for thee, and give thyself over to happiness. Behold, 1 have brought bracelets of jade for thee and silver bangics to tinkle pretty tencs against thine ankles! And here are golden butterflies anu tar-pms for thy hair, which hath the glury of the night 111 it already. Wilt thou not accept ac-cept of these miserable offerings from thy lord?" "T would have only my mother, Man Neng. most noble lord,' she said Detweeu her sobs. "Foolish one! 1 am thy father and thy mother also. There is no other; hast it not jet come to thee thci art the slave of Chung W o and art bound to his v:!:.- ' Lou Puck slipped 011 her knees at his feet: "Uh, gracious lord, 1 pray thee let me go to Mah Neng. Illustrious one, 1 shall die here, 1 shall die here: 1 pray thee, it is that 1 want the little mother, Mah Neng !" For answer, Chung Wo caught her under the arms and s.vur.g her up to the level ot his breast. distantly di-stantly the pleidir.g child turned into an inturiated little beast. :.e s:rea;ard like a tortured kitten and nung her pointed nails into his leering yclluw face with ail her lunous strength Chung Wo hurled her from him to the heap of matting, mat-ting, and coolly walked to the duor. His skin smarted with the sting ot her scratches, but he was smiling. It was late that night when Chung Wo sat m the inner sanctum ot the Suey Sing long, smoking the pipe of peace with himseil. None but his secretary guarded the antechamber, but, in the secret gathering hall, where the blood-cla:i met in its grisly councils, a score of hatchet wieiders plajed tan-ta:i within sound of his voice. The secretary pushed aside the green baize curtain and stood in the presence ot the might one. He kow-toweU kow-toweU twice, touching his head to the "oor . " hxaltcd greatness, ' he slid, "a Jog ot a coolie stands without the door, he craves to infect the air thou breathest with his diseased bones." Chung Wo frowned. ""What doth he want r" "He hath a complaint, graciousness." V;!1. let him enter. I will feed his eyeballs to the ravens it he hath r.ot sufficient cause." The coolie entered, a young man in faded overalls, clogs ar.d a juniper that smellcd of tish and sea-water. sea-water. Three times he kowtowed betore the great one of earth. "What wilt thou, base-born"" f "Uh., i'.iustriuus one, I am a poor rr..i:t. as thou dost see Alas' My fsther is dead and h:s bents he in this land of the inndeis. My mother weepetii for them by the waters of '1 se Kiaiig. and A:e'. I have no money tj send them. 1 supplicate- " "But thy father was not of the Sue;.- Sing5" "Na. heaven-born, but " The s;cretary entered again and kowtowed: . - '-. I ? A , ....,. ,,r-V , . i. ?T "V: , -i .-iWa.A,,-., WV.i... M''.rvj- 1 s r, , i 'Cr-vJV.. .1 -v '. M" I v'v'tV''-y-- IK?'- i.'i.;-' y yaflf . n kr-v 'y:':srh .. :. '-: y i . - ' .V . :; " ' - . ' ' 1 ITT " C I 1 I l-l 1 . i "AH. LISTEN NOW. FR AC 'RANT LIT TL!-" J ASM INT. 1 LOW I- K ' son of h.s mother's sister. Chen gripped bis LLus. b tl",e fall skirt. " hat Ceil's news is this t!ie street dogs bulk of the n-.aid thou hast promised me feir v. ;:e-' "A te, most no'ole ot k.ntnen. it is true w hut th ;t hearest. But 1 swear to tne-. ry the sacred shade of our grancisire, that mine is -t the tuult " "how is it that this thing has occurred'" the ourg-er ourg-er man questioned, and hor.g yuong t !.: h::v, Luey chen wat shrewd. L nder l;i smoutli, yu::g At tv o . c n 1:1 ::-..- r.K.i mug, w lien ill Chinatown w-.s sti.; owus wit.i s:.xp "He! opium, iucy L neu and t..c r.-e choseti s'.r.piiags suattca together m .1 uttie r.iom where . :W .1 siag.e cand:c g-earace. 1 . tne n.:iter i th' lunld'.e o! r.ien on t':ir floor U a .ilacic c ck of Shanghai. t und iti.l mu fried ; a shallow 1.0:-.:; l.v.1. .1 y kei nMaded k:.ite air J a hypodermic r.ecc'.e were near the rno;;cr. "tlr -,ther." Luey Chen sp oke solemnly, when a bar 1 mhM in -Awe ftp' h "J'vW .:ftw-M --..:;;:;' .. y . - j5S1,;...-. jr,; i.v r V"V ;' . V ' . , 4 Si- i,ir v - -. 'i i- - ' -V4 r-jrjrv ".., w-Y' ylf Aft H I 'ii""' m:frr. h . y yX'ti'Mt'-e "Mr-';J. 7t-- sum mere uwcit an ancient sotii mat wa.i umiui' .. wise in the ways of evil, nd it was toid of hini m t:-.e cabalistic books of the na-n:an ( sorcerers ) that m lorm-er lorm-er incarnations he had beer, a weasel. "1 hy ma:d," he breathed in hong (Juong's car. 'had lips like the cherries lor ripeness. Her iirauly was as the perfume of violets, w.-.ich maketh a raur, cth las breath with its sweetness. Canst te that 1, alotte o: many men, desired her? It seems not so to me. hut others have sought of thee to have her ? Speak sor.h . cousin, softly." ' ' Ae," answered Fong ' une only, yet. But t .v d;.s ."go, this night, the illustrious c:r .. g o, wh ... thou know ct is mightiest 01 the Srigs. li . ottir n.e a thousauu of t.'Te w tar? ;i en io 1:1.: r l.er his young 1,1 to. Bui L-ccaU?- sire a as pro.nis-d . iIro aii! becuine she ws t-u; and .-a.al. ., the flov.er or say heart--1 won!: r. m-te i'.er with 1 -gray hairs, 'lis thus that I have at icast a :: so. id il er yen and Lev. I'u.k. : . .-.! I a poor :r..in ' Luey Chen breathed (ju;.k. . t,-e rasmg b-t..-. fanned his eyes to spurns of fl.ini" " 1 ir-ou wouiiiit not sc.; her to l.-.m: " N j . and the great cue v. axed a ;n.: s.l w .-. 1: 1' . afterward we sippsa iroin tne t -cups ot deh.-r.'t .. : r.enJsinp, and he bought ot n.y unw t rthnuss a si.n .. tunic." Aye. he did ail that, I v.i.l u 't de-u t." and C'h-u -lips cui led. "He is no fool. But luoi: ta.cu art thing ot wood and hast no more oraiuj t.-.aa a t :.. tom' ' "Hear me, guileless cousin! Heed thou the wa;-.; rice paper ana seeK no more thy 1 .00 Puck. But kr -.1 thy whm.r.g tongue between thy teeth and te.l it : . even in tli) pr.ijers th:.t thoi: ha t t-.ld me tins tiling, h may be tl: .t 1 . -,,1 mid I. i'u'; : - thec -and ti, u w lit then gi e l.er to rue. He turned and slipped through the clanging door into the fi-gow chambe of the date of i ortur.c. I-ung yuong, more quiet in his mind, shuffled to Ins clingy home behind the bazaar, where Mah Neng and her tiny son slumbered together on the rice mats. But Luey Chen slept not. At the fi-;o-u table he slyly touched a gaming youth upon the sleeve: "When the cock crows twice the roost is full," he said very softly. The gambler did not give him a glance. Sometime after Chen went, he gathered up his winnings and casually strolled out of the den. Five times that night, in five different palaces of pleasure, Luey Chen stealthily touched a youth and whispered under, his breath. "When the cock crows twice the roost is full." Not a man seemed to notice him. but afterward each left. ahaL basiacu be w do;zS ?-B-d. disappeared. LOO PL'CK, THE LITTLE CELESTIAL MAIDEN. "WHAT DEVIL'S NEWS IS THIS THE STREET DcGS BARK?" t-' users, f.tted it :::: tr. 1 .-ck by the flare of a match j. '. r'.ur.g the pen tne ;. r. lire rucr.i was i.af and there was no sound. They luhte-I more m..te..e and saw Loo Puck lying on the mats asleep. 1 a ere t-ardr .ps still wetting her . allies Trie : ''" had held ins knife against the old man s spi: : w w .t'...rew has w eapon and went o.-r to 'he '..'he lie '.aid a gentle hand on her '. :r ar. J she . v.iicj m.-tanth. , cow erir.g as if in tear ' 1 00 puck. 1 f.'e ('.: '," he said softly, and by the flail g : a !: in.i'.e.'. she saw him "Uh.. i u.. L:.e I.u- ..htnt !" she cried, and flung hi r arir. ... it him. " 1 ake to Mah. Neng , I want P '.-tt'.e red rose," her 'ur.j cousin answered er. ; i '.' " i h va art sate t a.iu Mah Neng shall I:: , hr..d in her : o. .:a." lie release ! h.unse't fr in ;! e girl's artns and walked calm.:- over t chant; N : :: c ;.:e .I man r..uh-"... r..uh-"... ! the .meue. he lr..ncI i.iii . the w md ..v. Here he ::cc more whipped the .;ueue nr. . a l';p-k:iot around t!:e oid mans nccK--and tied its tassel to one of tha ir -i harr ' Now veil, thou dev.', and pull on thy halter till the breath is choked cut of thy "... iy. if thou choose. See if the beggars m thr street -.'.ill near r -i v cri's and give thee help. Here 'halt the u St.. . until some of thine owa bloodhounds track thee to this he !e. lie p:ck-d Loo Puck up in ins arms and the Brcther-hc Brcther-hc e J f i passed 1 ut. CMtur.j? witli Loo Puck on the rice mats, while Mah Neng. the little mother, puttered about cackling like a jovous hen. Luey Cbcn placed in the girl's hands a tiny pair of golden-threaded sandals. She laughed like any . pleased child and held up to his hps a porcelain bowl filled -vith rice wine. Ie. sica'd fc-iemnjv. And thus were rjcr-y hrtrorhei. of iron had been wedged across the door, '"there is rave business before us this night, and, mayhap, for many nights. Let us take the great oath, that our hearts may be strong and heat together as the heart of but one." The Ave youths nodded assenting heads, but not a word passed their lips Luey Chen caught the Mack rooster in his hand and whipped the head from its body with a single knife blow. He caught the spurting jets of blood in the bronze bowl. The Brotherhood of Six then took the hypodermic needle and each extracted from the ball of his thumb a single drop of his own blood and mingled it with the rooster's. Then, one by one. they quaffed from the bowl. . . . The light from the court outside filtered in between he intiTHri-t pf thr mn hari .thai giu-Hed -the-iny "Another vile coolie with a tale of woe, graciousness gracious-ness !" "i ling him down the stairs'" roared Chong. "I am hearkening to the howls of one cur r. uv." But the supplicator tell on his knees agun. imploring: "It is my brother, wonderful eue. He hath brought his tears to aid my prayers that the divine-sprung Suey Sings may they have an hundred thousand sons! - help us entomb our father under the sacred peach tree." The second coolie, looking much like the first entered en-tered and fell on his knees beside his brother. His prayers were not less fervent. Chung Wo sat considering the matter. There came upon Ins chain of meditations the subdued sub-dued sounds of a scuffle in the ante-chamber. They ceased quickly-ruid a '-'-fl,,ennlie ann-j '- ';--T"u 'he THE SHARP POINT OF A KNIFE PRICKED INTO HIS THROAT ."Seek no more thy lowering rose lest thou find but jitveed bitten of the frost. And finding even this, per-' per-' Jf jnce thou lose thy son and thine own head, also. It J 7xS spoken." " Fong Quong sprang to the door, he looked into the ' 1 alley. f - Qutde the door he ran aeairiu.Luej. Chen. i joung i : - - |