:

"THE TIME IS COME!
BY WHOSE HAND?"

Delivering himself in this manner, Tung Fel drew back the hanging
drapery which concealed the front of his large box, and disclosed to
those who were gathered round, not, as they had expected, a passage
from the Record of the Three Kingdoms, or some other dramatic work of
undoubted merit, but an ingeniously constructed representation of a
scene outside the walls of their own Ching-fow. On one side was a small
but minutely accurate copy of a wood-burner's hut, which was known
to all present, while behind stood out the distant but nevertheless
unmistakable walls of the city. But it was nearest part of the spectacle
that first held the attention of the entranced beholders, for there
disported themselves, in every variety of guileless and attractive
attitude, a number of young and entirely unconcerned doves. Scarcely had
the delighted onlookers fully observed the pleasing and effective scene,
or uttered their expressions of polished satisfaction at the graceful
and unassuming behaviour of the pretty creatures before them, than the
view entirely changed, and, as if by magic, the massive and inelegant
building of Ping Siang's Yamen was presented before them. As all gazed,
astonished, the great door of the Yamen opened stealthily, and without
a moment's pause a lean and ill-conditioned rat, of unnatural size and
rapacity, dashed out and seized the most select and engaging of the
unsuspecting prey in its hungry jaws. With the expiring cry of the
innocent victim the entire box was immediately, and in the most
unexpected manner, involved in a profound darkness, which cleared away
as suddenly and revealed the forms of the despoiler and the victim lying
dead by each other's side.

Tung Fel came forward to receive the well-selected compliments of all
who had witnessed the entertainment.

"It may be objected," he remarked, "that the play is, in a manner of
expressing one's self, incomplete; for it is unrevealed by whose hand
the act of justice was accomplished. Yet in this detail is the accuracy
of the representation justified, for though the time has come, the hand
by which retribution is accorded shall never be observed."

In such a manner did Tung Fel come to Ching-fow on the seventh day of
the month of Winged Dragons, throwing aside all restraint, and no longer
urging prudence or delay. Of all the throng which stood before him
scarcel