Show y C z 7 17 I 1 aj A THE FATAL STAR STAE A r yourth arth of ingv story T Is fourth of july in san francisco the clear clar blue sky sk like a mammoth bowl bo 1 cut cat from one great turc turquoise luois and over he town is a background for or thousands of 0 flags floating from the roots roofs of public buildings and windows of private patriots all the flags are big everything Is on a large scale in california the fruit that is exposed for sale the great roses that enamored youths are buying for their adored ones the children are playing in the streets with mighty torpedoes that make an explosion calculated to deafen one large men with ample ladies on their arms may be seen in every direction immense baskets are being borne to the doors of their customers by grocers butchers and con immense suppers are to be given tonight and many happy returns of the glorious fourth will be drunk in rivers of champagne everything is on a large scale but the chinese whose small figures and alert movements are in marked contrast to the bulk and size of everything else on which the eye falls yet little washy W ash washy wash balance on his head a clothes basket that would serve him for a cradle or in his kitchen for he is a favorite cook with california housewives stirs a pot in which he might easily be boiled himself in the arms of san francisco sleeps chinatown the curious offspring of old china of which americans think that they know all that is to be known because i they can visit the shops and go into all the strange places and it if they are in the humor make themselves sick with an opium pipe among opium smoking lin ham is an ordinary dealer he keeps no shop he executes orders tor for the favored few in each he be puts a surprise an invention for the day his are the curious boats all made of colored fire moving on the water apparently by means of a stream of fire at the stern stem manned by little men in blue and gold and crimson and all going off in a wonderful flash and whiz and sputter at last his are those cylinders which rising into the air discharge wonderful sprays and stars and jewels skyward while at the same time fiery I 1 little acrobats let themselves earthward by golden ropes and only vanish as they touch the ground his was the great green dragon that coiled and darted moonward and wrote july I 1 BLINKS UP AT THE PACE FACE OF A TALL MAN across the sky before it changed into the flag of our mr nation which every one so admired last independence day at present something that smells very curiously is smoking and steam ing in queer fashion in what looks like a little furnace and lin ham while bull busy with his ble hands twists his head about and blinks up into the face of a tall man in a curious theatrical I 1 costume who stands with hla his bars baro arms arm folded on an his chest and looks down upon ml him tho the man inan wants lin alln ham to invent a fatal trick such things thin are costly he says 1 I 1 do da not nat say that I 1 have wayt anything hiag of th sort but if I 1 had you jou would not buy them min toko they are speaking in chinese for min toko though not a child of chinese parents has been brought up by them you can believe the story that his father was a russian and his mother a tartar when you look at him A little chinese hoat woman took him from his dying mothers arms and nursed him with her own somewhere near those quarters where there are english E warehouses and the barbarian comes to to traffic in tea and porcelain and he starved starred and played and swam about with her own and early in his boyhood came to san francisco there he dwelt in chinatown ind and became renowned amongst the showmen of san franciso for his acrobatic feats tonight he is engaged to assist in a performance for mance on the lawn before the mansion of benson blashfield esq mr blashfield will have fireworks and a great supper the crowning feature of which will be tie the feats of min toko who amongst other things kv A COME TO ME ALL YE BUTTER FLIES throws a rope into the air where it az 1 caught by some unseen power sends i kitten up its length until it vanished agishe ani she from sight sends a monkey to find it follows himself and draws the rope up after him and ten minutes after i i heard calling from the inside of a 3 great lacquered box to be let out and there he is indeed coiled up like a great serpent oh there is nothing mm min toko cannot do and no one avei discovers how he be does anything now he laughs 1 I know you have what I 1 want or can make it in a twinkling lin ham he answers As for or money I 1 am richer than you think name your price I 1 have told you what I 1 want to kill kil 1 a 3 man without a knife or a blow or poison to kill him so that it ft seems to be done by b the hand of fate so that no one can suspect me he a chinaman 9 asks lin ham he is an american said mm min toko he has taken the woman I 1 love from me this rich man to whose house I 1 go tonight to night has a daughter I 1 love her you grin why not I 1 am hand some I 1 am no chinaman I 1 am famous I 1 am a favorite with the ladies and she smiled on me you grin again of course the rich man would say no I 1 did not mean to ask the rich man it II she loved me that was enough I 1 could spirit her away where they would never find us that is what I 1 mean to do you are mad says lin ham no says the acrobat she could be won she can be still it if I 1 can kill this man do you mean her father cries lin ham no tonight to night they celebrate her marriage said the acrobat tomor to mor baor row the bridegroom will take her away tonight to night I 1 must kill him she will be a widow for awhile afterward mine it is the dream of a madman says un lin ham does it matter to you asks the acrobat 1 I 1 know that it was you who made the toy the rich tea merchant gave to his wite wife when he found she was false to hinl him the little bird that perched on her wrist and sang and bit her fingers like a real bird and of the bite she died I 1 know it was you who no r nore more reminiscences cries lin ham 1 I admit that I 1 have another toy thit with a slight I 1 make in ten minutes wald wipe your rival out of existence but of what avail would it be bea rich american ladles ladies do not marry such as you her relatives would kill you ou if you touched her hand 1 I have kissed it thrice when we were alone says sas mm din toko yes I 1 have kissed her hands three times the next time it should have been her mouth let me kill this bridegroom so that she cannot suspect me and it shall be yet look he thrusts his bis hand band into the bosom gosorn of his tunic and draws forth a pouch see he whispers piling bank notes before lin ham how much for that toy toya the eyes eves of the old man glitter he gathers up the heap in his claw like hands and says slowly this sum makes me have enough with which to return to china and live there happy happ for the L he rest of my life after fter all what does one more dead barbarian matter but I 1 will tell you ou this unless you ou can make your rival take the toy to in his own hands it is useless I 1 can manage that mm min toko replies the old chinese goes to a little decess in the room before which hangs a beaded screen and comes back nold ing in his hand a curious curious kite you fly it like an any other kite he be explains P ains vt when hen at its full length you vou begin to call come down butterfly but teru A butterfly butterf lv ds d s ends the cord and flies away awa I olio rose ro ou say sav A rose glides down the atri string ng and drops to ashes come comedown down prett mouse you iou call next the mouse descends and uns up your shoulder and is gone one hen you call for a blue bird for or a hite bird for a red bird for a vellow mellow id d a greer green bird b rd thus it might end ith the applause appia appi ause uso of the people but et me work upon this kite ten minutes minnies longer and add one trifle more and hen there will be something else to see then you mou may ma call aloud come to me out of the sk sky bright star and far above you ou you ou may see a star hine bine right ight as any an in the heavens at this moment he whom you QU wish to kill must hold the cord for that star brings beath AS it touches the mans breast ife departs from him mark me well the other things that come down the oord cord are innocent as drops of dew rhe he star is fatal I 1 understand replies mm min toko hasten with your our work lm lin ham A A little later the rhe old chinese puts into the hands of the te younger lounger man a paper box cove coerced red wit arh shining roses but ter flies and birds and says to him am mm in toko the great performer you have bought of me a pretty kite which brings down from heaven the birds of the air and the sowers flowers the spirits pluck luck for all I 1 know you ou may coax the he i stars down its cord also it is well 0 1 5 1 I DIE FOR YOU mode made it if any accident happens that is the fault of others not mine I 1 am not responsible 1 I absolve you from all responsibility un lin ham replies min toko he throws about him a cloak that covers his theatrical costume and carries the box downstairs where a carriage containing the paraphernalia used in his exhibition awaits him and is driven to mr residence there they celebrate not only the glorious fourth but a wedding early in the evening the rich mans daughter rosabel Blash neld had bad been married to mr arthur ware the son of another california maate ma enate there has been or usual reception the or usual display of gorgeous presents a fine band has been playing professional dancers have done their part now they are ready tor for min toko and his performances for mances the whole lawn Is flooded with electric light and in mig mighty aty tents all decorated with roses they are se setting forth a feast the bride and bridegroom sit bit upon a sort of throne that seems made of orange blossoms tiers of seats occupied by people in evening dress surround the lawn leaving an archway through which the performers enter it is opposite the bridal throne and as min toko passes through bowing and smiling his eyes meet those of the bride and he be Is seems ems to give her special greeting standing in the midst of the circle he begins to gather from heaven knows where white roses of wh which ich be h makes a mighty ball how no one can guess this he throws toward the throne As it floats in the air it opens and forth flies files a little pink cupid who flings kisses abroad and flies skyward and is gone thunders of applause follow this compliment to the b ride bride and then the little boy in waiting on min toko brings in the chairs the tables the fans the wands the boxes and the show begins it is sufficient to say that the man seems to be able to overcome the laws of bravi gravitation tation to stand upon nothing to fold himself up like a foot rule to put himself away in spas spaces that seem impossible a and nd to do all this gracefully with beautiful accessories the brides eyes never IL leave ave him min toko did not boast falsey falsely though his position and residence in chinatown seem to her to place him as far beneath her as though she were an empress and he a serf she has always admired him intensely ard she knows that he is in love with her she has often wished that he were of her race and kind he has been made a sort of pet amont the californians before whom he be has performed and he has had opportunities to speak a few words to her and as he said to kiss kis her hand thrice tonight to night she feels that she bids him adieu and tonight to night he fascinates her stran ely when at last as usual he inquires if any two of the audie audience nep will assist him in some closing clos ng performances she whispers to her bridegroom come arthur let us zo so and the young man awfully bad form but if you wish it of course it is a look that min toko has given her that makes make her do this thing and the bridegroom hands her down into the center of the lawn ind they three s stand t a n d t together 0 g e t h e r t there h e r e w will I 1 i i y you 0 u b be e p pleased 1 e a s ato to help me fly this kite sir says mm min toko to the bridegroom as he flings nto the air the thing WP we know of see this is how the kite darts dans upward swiftly in a moment its brilliant bast is no longer visible only a long c opper copper colored cord sh immers in the air from mm min toko s hand moonward come to me all ye butterflies utter flies he C ries cries come come and down the cord sweep a myriad butterflies and cover the performers performer s bosom and vanish little mouse he ries fries come little mouse a and n d whistles exquisitely and the little gray e creeps down sits on his shoulder and is gane one and now sir mm toko davs sav s with a bow to 0 the groom and a amle to the bride if you like you may call a blue bird and a whre white ard b rd a red bird a yc yellow ilow bird a green bird and after that one of the stars from heaven and he puts the cord into the bridegroom and groom s hand who calls loudly here aou blue bird come if you can and there is a blue bird and amidst shouts of and while the bride claps her little lilo palms and showers smiles about her the birds of all colors come down the green bird has arrived and disappeared when sud suddenly dealy the bride puts forth her hand band playfully and snatches the cord coid from the bridegroom s hand you shan L hane all the fun she says with a pretty pout I 1 intend to call the star down myself ah how the cord pulls no you shant shan t touch it I 1 will do it alone what do you say mm alin toko brightest star of heaven come to me Is that right she bhe beams on him and lifts her sweet shrill voice and calls aloud and far up in the sky appears a great diamond star that shimmers sh immers and glows as it comes earthward and with one wild spring mm min toko snatches the cord 1 1 1 from the brides bride s hand saying something that she only hears as he does so and pushing her fiercely from him so that she falls into her bridegroom s arms then the star is upon min breast and he lies upon the ground and the gaudy kite flutters down and lies beside him and those who gather about him see that he is ie dead with the fearful burn of electricity upon his bosom the kite must have attract attracted od it they say plainly when he snatched it from the brides hand he be saw that there was danger poor fellow how brave how noble there are no more festivities that night of course no feast no fireworks all night the bride weeps bitterly and when in the morning her bridegroom bears her away she is still brokenhearted broken hearted the words that min toko whispered as he snatched the fatal cord from her are still stall ringing in her ears she will never repeat thera them to any one but she seq can never forget them they were I 1 adieu my love I 1 die tor for you |