ess and all the
members of her retinue who came out from the wings specially to
witness the sight.

The rank and file of the Royal Bodyguard--with emphasis on the
_rank_--also stood idly by enjoying the spectacle.

At last, the Brigand Chief slew the Captain of the Guard, and the
latter, as soon as he had finished dying, rose to his feet and walked
calmly off the stage. Then, amid the rattle of drums and empty
cocoanut shells, accompanied by fiddle squeaks, the Royal Guard rushed
upon the Brigand Chief, overpowering him and loading him up afresh
with his lately lamented chains and cannon balls.

A number of influential people--Princes, Mandarins and things,
including the recently kidnapped only daughter of the Empress--pleaded
for the gallant fighter's life.

But,--up to closing time that night--the Empress remained obdurate;
this being absolutely necessary, as the play continued for six
successive evenings.

Throughout the most intensely dramatic incidents, Phil failed to hear
a hand-clap or an ejaculation of admiration or pleasure from the
sphinx-faced yellow men about him. Yet they seemed intensely
interested in the performance.

Cabbages and bad eggs, so dear to the heart of the white actor, would
have been preferable to that funereal silence.

Phil was just thinking how discouraging it must be to be a Chinese
actor, when, by some signal, unintelligible to him, the play ended for
the night. He rose with the audience, made quickly for the only exit
and took up his position on the inside, there to await Jim's arrival.
When the greater portion of the audience had passed out, Jim rose from
his seat in front, picked up a white sheet from a corner of the stage
and whirled it about him, throwing an end of it over his left shoulder
in the manner of the ancient Grecian sporting gentlemen.

From his looks, he had about three days' growth of whiskers on his
face. His eyes, big and dark-rimmed, glowed with an intense inner fire
that would have singled him out from among his fellows anywhere.

Jim was well-known and respected among the Chinamen, the more so
because of his vagaries.

Suddenly, he raised his arm in a rhythmic gesture of appeal. He
uttered one word, arresting and commanding in its intonation:--

"Gentlemen!"

There were not very many gentlemen there, but each one present took
the ejaculation as personal. The little crowd stopped and gathered
round, gazing up with interest at the erect figure in the