Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-06
THE YELLOW DANGER
THE STORY OF THE WORLDS GREATEST WAR.
BY NJ P. SHIEL.
by r F. Fenn & o.
BY NJ. P. SHIEL
STORY OF THE WORLDS GREATEST WAR.
Copyright. 1899. by R. F. Fenno d Co.,


was necessary for him to move-the third
man was coming near.
He stole forward, inch by inch, sideways
with his chest against the wall. and his
face twisted round watching the two talk
ers. He came near them--he was opposite
to them-by stretched-out arm they could
touch him.
stealthily he erept. slowly as the NOV =
ment OF glacier; he was past them. And
ne was no sooner past them than, with in
cautious haste, eager only to be onto be
on-he sped away. During those instants
of slow motion he had passed through all
the terrors of the grave.
The two men calmly continued their talk;
the third came up and joined them Hardy
went onward undisturbed
For quite half an hour he stole forward.
all Ieers and tremors, like thief in the
night, through three halls, over court
yard, along two more Corridors without
anywhere meeting any one.
The slumberous cleaning deepened. He
began to think himself lost in this endless
structure, without hope of finding exit
But at last he saw an oblong of distinctly
lesser obscurity; he knew that this must be
door of exit from the prison
Could it be true? Was he really about to
escape into the open day-under the sky
the clouds? He leaped forward And as he
did SO, man stood in the doorway, and
leaned his back against the doorpost
1t was far from light now, but Hardy
would have felt the presence of that form
and face in the darkest midnight. 1t was
Sin-wan.
John was still in full career to make for
the door, when his eyes fell upon this man
and like shying horse he bolted aside
door, as he touched the wall, gave way
before his pressure. He rushed through
mad to put world of distance between
nm ana that face. AS he FASTENED for
ward, In the dark now he stepped upon
nothing, and tumbled headIone down q
flight of stone stairs
He had hardly time to pick himself up
When ne heard that some one was behind
him, descending the stairs, humming a
tune. And he knew that it was Sin-wan.
Oh ne rushed again. and again. In five
minutes, there was light. He stood between
two walls about five feet apart about ten
Ieet long; and at the end of them was A.
portal, painted green, half open; and be-
yond the portal, he saw-treesi
he was free! and yet he shuddered Be
hlhd MIN was Sin-wan, coming, coming
and before him the open gate: Init the
whole of the space between him and tbe
gate, and between the two walls was
paved with broken glass
There was not an inch of harmless ground
upon which to place his naked feet.
But Sln-wan was behind. Hardy stepped
forward and reached the gate and assed
through it, running
Every footprint which he left behind now
was footprint of blood
Still onward, painting hearti The hand
with which He leads is surely rough-hut
still, is He not leading?
Ana now for the bridge of marble ahead
"nlch spans the moat. He reaches It. and
starts and stops.
There, In the middle of the bridge lean
ing over the parapet looking at the water,
is a man.
This gauntlet also Hardy must run.
Crouching against the opposite parapet he
era wis forward
His lust to be free is now a thousand
thousand times more intense than ever be-
fore. Every danger that he has escared
has added to his terror. deeper terror.
to his hope wilder frenzy Like a beast
he crawls forward on hands and knees.
step by step, without sound.
Bur as he Is exactly opposite the man,
the man turns quite around. Hardy leans
to his feet. They are face to face. and
eye to eye
An is over, then. He has been seen,
But no! What mean those cropping hands
that hesitating step, as the man turns
slowly away? Is he blind? Can those eyes
see nothing? So John Hardy believes Here.
at least is Providence and the leadInp
Hand.
Away, once more, toward the palace of
Yen How, and then down the long avenues
to the portal of the Imperial City" This
part OF the way he remembers, having
passed through it before. Onward, in the
shade of the great trees, he limps. leaving
behind him his trail of blood. He meets no
one He is under the open sky. Among the
leaves signs the evening wind.
He reaches the great portal, and strange
to say, there is no one there. He passes
out. He is In an open space-beyond the
Imperial walis-whteh properly belongs to
the Chinese City.
So far has he escaped feeling of abso-
lutte security rushes upon him. and with 1t
an overwhelming, speeches. gratitude. He
drops to his knees; his face turns upward
In an ecstatic agony of love to the skies,
washed in tears; out stretch his arms in
alteration
But between his eyes and the sky comes
a face, and between his stretched-out arms
a a wit chra
his feet, recognizes the face of Yen How,
and faints in Yen Hows arms.
The slightest possible smile wrinkled the
corners of Yen How's eyes
'Poht" he said In English at is nothing
Why such cry that? 1t is your own
fault, boy. You ought to have known that
ProVidence-if there is such a thing-neVer
works In these outright ways. Yen How S
Providence does-but Yen How is a smaller
fellow altogether than the Big One above
If He Is there at all Is He there? Is He
there? Ah-may be, and may be not. But
just now it is Yen How for you, and not
He. The man cleaning the lanterns, and
the men talking together, and Sin-wan, and
the blind man-they all saw you. you know,
boy, because Yen How put them there to
see you. And it is hard to escape from
been kissing, and whom you have tried to
shoot. lille English boy. And Yen How is
not done with you yet-not yet-not yet.
But those EngiiShi'-here he ceased to
speak to the unconscious form In his arms,
and continued his meditative soliloquy in
Chinese-"those EngiishI They are just like
devils for fghtingi Only $50 or 200 of them.
they say at Kiao-Chau, and six weeks
gone, and they not killed off yet. Stupid
japanese ship-captains to let them get
away in that fashion. Howeyer-ah lillee
English kisser''-he addressed John Hardy
again-"wouldn' you like TO be with the 20O
white men at Kian-Chau now? 1 think
you might be able to play some tricks with
their help, too. But Yen How has you
tight-Yen How, the toad, the frog, Ell?
Stop though! isn't there something In your
Bible about plague of frogs In the land of
Egypt in the Pharaohs' time? Yes, surely
yes. Well, now, how would you like a lit
tie plague of frogs in your land of Eng
land, Ell? All, well. it is near. 1t is not
far off now. 81
At this point a man appeared; Yen How
handed him the limp body of Hardy.
and walked up and down long
time that night under the shade of the trees
of the imperial avenues.
About this time there were two men out
side the imperial precincts who ought to
have been within them. One was Sin-wan,
and the other was the father of Foo-chee
Ni-ching-tang
Ni-0ning-tang went to the dwelling of his
son, Foo-chee whom he loved, in order that
he might see Foo-chee, and receive from
him the references due to a father. And.
10, Foo-chee was not there; and Foo-ehee $
booth was deserted.
Said Ni-ching- tang: