ith a grin, refused Phil's proffered
twenty-five cents, backing up and finally racing away.

A special performance in Chinese was being given by a troupe of actors
from Vancouver and all Chinatown who could were there.

Phil paid his admission to a huge, square-jawed Chinaman at the
pay-box, and pushed through the swing doors, inside.

The theatre was crowded with Orientals, who, for the most part, were
dirty, vile-smelling and expectorating.

About half-way down the centre of the aisle, he took a vacant seat on
the end of one of the rough, wooden, backless benches which were all
that were provided for the comfort of the audience. The place was very
badly lighted, although the stage stood out in well-illuminated
contrast.

Phil's first anxiety was to locate Jim. He scanned the packed benches,
but all he could see was stolid, gaunt-jawed, slit-eyed Chinamen.
There did not seem to be another white man in the place.

Someone nudged him on the arm. He turned. A sleek Chinaman, whom Phil
had often seen on the streets--the janitor, Phil remembered, for The
Pioneer Traders,--grinned at him.

"You tly catch Missee Langfod?" he whispered.

"Yes!" nodded Phil.

"He down there, flont seat."

Phil looked in the direction indicated and, sure enough, there was
Jim--alone, in the middle of the foremost and only otherwise
unoccupied bench in the hall--all absorbed in the scene that was being
enacted on the platform.

Contented in the knowledge that he now had his friend under
surveillance, Phil directed his interest to the stage, for he had
never before been present at so strange a performance.

The opera, for such it appeared to be, was already under way. The
lady, the Chinese equivalent of a prima-donna--dressed in silks
emblazoned with gold spangles, tinsel and glass jewels, with a strange
head-dress, three feet high, consisting of feathers and pom-pons--was
holding forth in what was intended to be song. It occurred to Phil
that he had thrown old boots at tom-cats in Mrs. Clunie's back-yard
for giving expression to what was sweet melody in comparison.

The actress's face was painted and powdered to a mere mask. Her finger
nails were two inches longer than her four-inch-long feet. She rattled
those fingers nails in a manner that made Phil's flesh creep, although
this action seemed highly pleasing to the audience in general. The
lady, Phil learned from the Chinaman at his side, was a famous
beauty.

The scenery requ