Evening star., 1921-06-05

to the ground nedv1ly. The cage
broke, and out went Mr.. Leopard like
a flash of lightning, heading straight
for the Chinese quarter.
The Chinese saw him coming, and a
panic started. They tumbled over one
another in getting out of the way,
and two of them were scratched The
leopard was quite as frightened as
charge of the bullock cart came
running for me, and I went to the
Chinese quarter to find the leopard.
He had taken refuge in a house, and
I finally discovered him hiding under
the stairs, his eyes shining in the
darkness. Since it was Impossible to
get rid of the mob of Chinese and re-
ca.ging under the circumstances would
have been too dangerous. we had to
shoot the animal. We took the other
leopard back to Orchard road and
built a new cage
TN 1902. just before the rainy season,
was resting in Singapore after
six months of hard work. Just as 1
had almost decided to go to Europe.
I happened to see in an old copy of
the New York. Clipper an advertise
ment of a steam merry go-round
That gave me an idea: there had
uCNCE pccH d -SO-TOuHu IN the
Malay peninsula, and l was confident
enough of my judgment of Malay ma
ture to gamble that 1t would be a sue
cess. Mr.. Lambert didn't agree with
me. Forget about it," he advised.
Take the steamer and have a good
vacation" But l went to the Hong
kong and Shanghai Bank and cabled
$4,000 in gold to the factory at North
Tonawanda, New York, with instruc-
tions to ship me the merry-go-round
on the first boat, via London. 1t ar
rived nine weeks later and 1t cost me
clio in freight. The rain was beating
down steadily in Singapore. and so
transshipped 1t to Penang.
A few days later I was in Penang.
driving around in a rickshaw, look
ing for a good location. while the
merry-go-round. still in crates. was
the Hotel de la Paix / found good
open space. and I routed out Of bed
the Chinese merchant who owned 1t.
I told him that I should like to rent
the lot for a show. and that, II he
would come to terms with me. l
free of charge. Now a Chinese likes
a show better than anything else on
earth. and so We were not long in
closing a bargain. / was to. pay him
a rental of 81 Mexican a day and to
have an option of two months on the
L
write out the agreement, and so.
since I didn't want him to change
his mind. l paid him $50 for one
month, writing the receipt i'm my
pith helmet. He signed in my hat:
then we pasted a stamp in it and
Cancelled the stamp by writing the
date across it. p
While Ali and my coolie boy were
getting the merry-go-round unload
ed l collected a gang of laborers Nnd
an engineer. All that day we worked
at uncrating the merry-go-round and
putting it together. The natives
stood around. watching US and specu-
thing could possibly be. The merry
go-round ran on wheels on a track
and the horses were connected with
eccentrics, which worked them up
and down; a good loud organ was
connected by belt with one of the
wheels. The merry-go-round carried
fifty-six people.
l began business on the Chinese
New Year day. The merry -go-round
was the sensation OF Penang. The
crowds f1ocked to see 1t. and the ma
tives lined up for several hundred
yards. each with his dime in his hand.
waiting for his turn. We were so
busy that l could not even go to the
hotel for a meal: the brassy organ
of the merry-go-round shrieked from
early in the morning until late at
night. In two days I took in $500
Mexican.
On the third day the merchant from
whom 1 had rented the lot announced
that he was going to build a fence
privilege Of standing and watching
the merry -go-round. told him that
wouldn't allow it: that all of
Penang could come and see my show