The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-01-18
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The Last, Lost Throw
Nv R O. Matheson, in All Story Magazine
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MIN Dy the yelLo" manu- - eAIS t
kau banker, the stake with which he
was to win enough TO save his parents
from death. A little would have done
it. but the little he had lost trying 70
gain tha much.
Past him streamed the life OF Ho-
nolulu's Chinatown. but unheeded it
ebbed and flowed. Lei bearing kama
kas chartered with the japanese fruit
sellers and bought their sticky, cloy-
ing, sweetmeats: Chinese, smoking
long stemmed pipes. gossibed before
him in the store of his cousin. sun
Man. among the boxes and barrels. Of
pungent wares. dried mushrooms. aba
Iones, mud packed duck eggs and sal
ted fruits. the smoke from their pipes
circling about the strips Of crisp bacon
and smoked. shiny fowls. swinging by
their bleached bills from rows Of
hooks. At the. corner the band Of
those strange people, the salvation
Army, sent strident music forth to
compete with the changing street car
gongs, the street cries and the wall
ings of a Chinese orchestra in near
by clubhouse. These sounds Wo Sun
heard not; these things passed unseen
before him His sight went past
them. to see a starving mother and a
father. old and weak: his ears heard
only the words but little from the
much you are earning win save your
father and your mother
Again his fingers fumbled within his
blouse and another letter was brought
forth. The hand that held this before
his eyes trembIed ard he was forced
to steady it against the bar of the
window, beneath the rudy glare of
the incandescent, the light from which
gave the selling, ruby tint to the slices
OF melon displayed beneath it. Many
times that day had Wo Sun read and
raread the words he had himself writ
ten there, the words that had scared
themselves into his brain and memory,
so deeply that the white smoke in
hailed during the day had not effaced
them, had not lost to him a single
one of the characters BACKED by his
brush on the slip of crimson paper,
had not allowed him TO forget for one
instant their dread ,purport. Again he
read:
ITO My Honorable Cousin Sun Man,
fsTfis viii come to you from my
dead body. the great company which
owns the cars<wiH pay you much gold.
Ny coffin you must buy then send the
gold to my honorable parents. They
@I,o
bones of me. your cousin, may sleep
at last with those Of mine ancestors
in China
There could be no misjudgment. Had
not the widow of Ian Suey brought
home gold. the price of Ian Suey's
bloody body dragged from beneath the
wheels of the crashing, killing trolley
car? From where he stood Wo Sun
could see the spot toward which he
had rushed with the crowd at news
of the accident and from where he
had watched the police wagon dash
away bearing the body to the morgue.
Had he not seen the gold, the cIink-
ing. yellow coin. which the bank had
paid to the widow for the little pink
slip of paper. given her by the white
lawyer man. and for nothing except
a
lawyer man? Dead men had their
price with the great car company, and
the price was many dollars and many
dollars would save a mother. starving,
and a father, old and helpless.
None noticed him as he slipped
across the street. A drunken sailor
Iurched against him as he stopped in
the shadow of a trolley post and wait
i II al nd
reeled on. The red coated exhorter at
the corner shouted a warning to his
hearers of the coming of the last day,
a troop of singing boys. drumming
ukuleIes, sauntered by him. their
flower wreathes unseen in his widely
staring eyes. What did death mean
TO him, what, was love for women, /
when father and mother starved and
money must be had. at any sacrifice,
at any price? with shoulder pressed
close against the pole ne waited, two
papers clenched in straining fingers.
Around the corner cleaned the cleo
trio headlight Of a trolley car. The
pole sang beneath his shoulder. He
must time his fall so that the watch
ing motor man might not be able to
drop the life saving fender and toss
him, bruised but alive, to one side
Claug! CIang! the big gong warned
the iostling, laughing, needless throng- /
He Iightened the cheap straw hat
he wore, pressing it more firmly on his
forehead with his free hand. He gath /
cred his blouse together, clutching il
at the throat, and drew IN his breath
sharply. Now the car was close At
hand, the shadow cast by the pole in
the glare Of the headlight being black !
around him The grinding wheels
spurned sparks and flashes as they bit
into the curving rails, which al the
chosen point brought the car sweep /
ing in close beside the curb Behind
his running time, the driver threw on
all speed to pass the long block. 4
form flashed out into the glare before
him Beneath his feet he felt the
platform heava and drag and crush. /
There was a hurried throwing on o.
brakes and q quick reversal Of power
Passengers pitched forward in their
seats and woman screamed.
What's the natter" and the con-
5uctor hurried 70 the side Of his mate,
still stralnfng at the brake handle