Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-05-20

thea eyes before the cutting, cold gaze
OF b dwarf, whose wan and grotesque
face-an spite Of the smile Of his blood
red and too large lips-seemed at some
moments to be fraught with evil.
This evening the manikin was in q
worse humor than usual; his jeers were
more biting and more bitter, and be.
meath the coat Of flour covering his
scanned features he appeared not pale
u livid. His eyes had sharp and
menacing fash In them, and never left
Rita, who, gayly posed before her mir
ror, was having her bodice laced by the
handsome gymnast Icarus.
In the circus the orchestra was finish
ing a waltz by Metra. The curious were
gradually quitting the stable and re-
turning to their places. The sharp GUS
OF the r~tng-master's whip were cracl;-
ing in the arena; the show had begun,
lcarus placed a last rose in the hair of
the equestrienne and ran to chalk her
shoes. He stumbled against his dwarf
ish comrade.
The clown seemed very busy in exam
lining the gas-metre, and pushed him
away with IN oath. Then. without
more ado. the acrobat sent him reeaing,
and leapdng on a ladder, cried, with a
laugh, "Out Of the way, you pitiful
pigmy"
Aesop uttered a roar Of rage and
anger, then suddenly calming himself,
returned to the metre, and after having
followed with an eye Of hatred the
ascent Of Icar,ls, began fumbling with
the mechanism Of the stop-cocks.
A great clapping of hands. A frantic
ovation. Two hundred pretty women
dropped their fans, and leveled their
o-pera-glasses, and, a trife pale, smiled
with a delicious dread. Icarus was up
there-high up at the top of the circus
hanging to the last trapeze, and turning
over and over in It, slowly and without
IN effort.
At times he paused, and his face was
seen radiant in the foolish pride Of trl-
umph. Below, in the ring, the clowns
e stretching a circular net, and in
oil the circus reigned deep silence brok-
en- only by a feminine whisper: "How
graceful! What a handsome felloww
The gymnast then, finding his public
sufficiently warmed up, raised himself
ut n pull, stiffening himself ON his
wrists.
The trapeze, violently thrown back,
described a great arc, and, letting go
the bar, the man shot forward like an
arrow into space.
There was a feeling of apprehension
in the crowd, and an "Oh!" Of alright
uttered by a thousand breasts. The
acrobat reached the second trapeze, and
calmly let himself swing in its decreas-
ing oscillations.
Slowly he thus darted eleven tunes,
calm and smiling as he made the TOUR
Of the circus, and rejoicing at feeling
beneath him the immense painting Of
the tilrong.
At the eleventh trapeze he paused to
prolong this emotion-his glory-and his
eyes sought out Rita. The equestriennc
saw him, and with the handle OF her
whip threw him n kiss.
The elated %1carus, hanging by one
hand. saluted her; then he brought his
trapeze to rest. He was about to com.
plete his task.
Enough" said some voices. \
NO! Bravo! Encore!w cried the la.
dies, eager to feel NICE more the per
verse Joy Of an enticing pain.
For the twelfth time the hanuso,u.
gymnast, stiffening his muscular r
essayed his terrible flight.
But an appalling cry Of terror, a fran
tic shout arose.
In III instant, suddenly-like a candM
put out by the flap of a bats wing--the
thousand glistening lights of the circus
were extingulshed all together. mt the
precise and fatal moment when the
man was darting into space.
At the same instant there rose from
the ring a laugh, terrible, vibrating
with hate.
Then in the black and hideous oh
security, in the pitchy darkness that
filled the circus lately SO blazing, poig
nant shrieks rolled from row to row
Women fainted, and the spectators
with their hearts crushed in hopeless
terror, shudderingly sat as If petrifed
in their places, and peered into the
night that filled the dome. The net wa
empty, the acrobat must be looked fol-
in the gloom. In the search, lanterns
were brought and carried toward the
top Of the circus. Five minutes = five
centuries, elapsed. Some one cried.
Bengal lights"
Then, while here and there people
yer trying to relight the burners. u
blaze Of violet and red, of green and
azure, flashed out and with a powerful
Illumination lit up at one flash every
corner of the circus with its fantastic
and trembling CLEANS.
And suddenly, as in the flames Of a
transformation scene, was seen. rigid.
clamped to the trapeze, Prince Icarls,
hanging motionless.
An unheard of horror paralyzed him
in a supernatural frenzy. His hair stood
erect. His distorted face, whittier than