MAY 19, 1912- i3 KING NAN CONJU pro hpt i in r . h 4V I MI M 1 I w. - V. v- r.VfF I 1 LAI. -I I II I J Vi . A ii l a i i i ixx a 7s r . ea-r'f - . S" , From fhe Sunshine o Royal Favor the Noble Beast Has Turned to the Shadow of a Trickster's Wand. ry EPOSED from th palac of Kin I I Manuel II of Portugal with th " other playthings cf the young. p.easur-lovlng mcurcb, a roaI pet lion la now dole muokfr trlcka for aa American magician. The thn In the Hons atatua In life ! aa great aa tbat of his royal owner and tie life history and present usefulnese of this monarch of the African Jungi make as Interesting- a storr as any that has Tar been told of the poor unfortunate boy King. The lion waa christened Leo as manr lions before htm have been but hla new master. Charles J. Carter, the magician, who brought him to this country only a few weeks ago on the Lu.ilLar.la, calls him Baby, ana for a very (rood reason. Carter claims, moreover, that Baby Is the most Intelligent lion in captivity and that he is the best actor In his company, which has toured- the world. For. while he was belnir taught hla part In The Lion's bride." In wnlcii he plays the principal role, he Intro duced oat of his own Imagination the most effective parts of his "business": and though it Is necessary for him to pick up hla cues with the utmo3t pre clelon and to make several springs at (Ivan moments, he haa never yet missed a cue. To a magician and Illu sionist this Is a necessity. Further more Carter asserts that Baby knows what Is said to him and has means of communication by which Carter at least knows what Baby thinks about It ail. Cawsj-t ta Jaaarle. Baby waa not born In captivity but the influences of his gentl rearing have apparently made him as domestic In hts tastes and Inclinations as a house cat and as gentle and affeciion te. Much of tne savagery and boor Ishness In the face of food which Is characteristic of wild animals Is ab sent In his demeanor and he neither rends his rood nor bolts It but dis cusses it like a true aristocrat. Evi dently his royal education haa been effective In making him a gentleman in bearing aa well as In heart. Ills mas ter value him at $10.000 but he cost htm much less and carries Insurance en the lion life, tie haa a valet de rhaunbr and on several occasions has been accorded the honor of a military escort and an armed guard. The royal period of his extstnee In captivity began when he wae f months id. Prior to that time r.e was as free as his parents, who were of some Importance In the Jungloa of Africa. With his brother Baby was basking In the lasy sunshine of a tropical "after noon and exciting the signified amuse ment of his proud parents when this highly domestic scene rudely dis turbed bv the clamorous approach of a roval hunting party organised for the amusement of young King Manuel It. wh sought diversion from the arduous and unaccustomed duties of state In the ptessure of the chase. The account of the hunt which was published In the It.al LlsV-n tlaietts .re.lits the kins of the Jungle w;th a brate fight, and describes In the most complimentary terms the hravery of the ve.utl.ful Manuel, who killed both the father and mother lions In self-defense an.i took captive the two fluffy, snarly I if- now took on a very rosy tint for Baby and he took to his new ou.rters In the palace like a duck to a rrvi.l pond, but his brother, brooding over hie orphaned state, wasted away an.i died of voluntary starvation. Th troublous times upon which Portugal and Its l-resnonslble young ruler were entering disturbed Baby not st all. They dM not seem to make tr.u.-h Impression, either, upon Mr.nuel until the retal October 1. 11(J. when h was deon.ed and had to flee for his precious I f'. The King had already taken luhv'e education seriously and BY A. TALTTJt I 11 rK Hr. strayed Into th hotel lobby Ilk a lost pup. a tattered Individual redolent of long country walks and haphaxard meals, fac bronzed by th elements, and characteristics ef th evperlea-e.l. I.e'.aurly he re garded th register, his countenance not changing until hla ey caught th nam of a fan well known In th West and not a stramrer In the l ast. -Mr. Walton In" h asked th clerk Th lord cf th establishment turned to th key-rack. "He Is." n replied. "What name?" "Splvlns Jim Pplvlns." "Front! Ah. ther he Is now. Never niit.d. Front." said th clerk. r-rlvln advanced to meet a man Ms ant. thesis In appearanc. "Ah. Wal ton." he whispered: "I want to hav a word lth you. Yes. sir: Jim Splvlns. Met you nrst In 'Frisco, then In Fan, then stumMed across yon In th Poets' Corner of th Abbey, and last met you li Chlrag". Krmember me plvlns. Ah. you !..' lUv ou t'-r.e I wouU h rleaj'.l to (ii to jour room; yea, sir" Shonlder to shout Vr ther walked to t elevator, and Walton s suite was hardly entered befor Kplvin was un bending a lo.iua.-lousnea which would have been appalling to Walton bad It not Interested htm. "Tou re wondering what I'm doing; here? Just dropped n to se you. Her ttKlay: gon tomorrow, but I nver for get my friends. Just want to keep ou In touch v.lth m. Iont want to interfere with your business: Just to sound mv barbaric yawp as a strong er man hss said and then go on my way. Ion t want oi to talk: I can aav enough for both cf ns: yes. sir. "Travel. Ilk win, gives a bing to the tongue. Ion said that when yoa ro-. of your visit to th Poets' Cor ner. But. ur.llk wine. sir. travel serves. It lasts; lingers In th mem ory. And such memories as may come; For lnst.n-. -There was that part of my Hfe sttert In Terdel tt Itago. Its beginning Catlag It m.T.ths n and Its ending just long ruth hak on th road of Ttme f permit my coming to New York. I s"-ll never forget that time, for la It I spent the most delicious hours of mv l!f; tn It I reveled In Love a dream awakened fcr as man personally In hand, and the Hon could by that time do all tha parlor tricks that anr well-bred cat or dog about the palace could do: and besides, his clumsy paws, with their needle-sharp claws 'sheathed In satin aa thick as the Qoeen'i thickest Brussels carpet, had Inspired a wholesome respect In the other pets toward himself. But with the King and all other human beings Baby waa as gentle and affeo tlonate as a child, and he was the constant companion and chief amuse ment of th boy monarch. Tut Klags Lom Oat. Then cam th revolution: the In vasion of th palace by th despised and overtaxed republicans: the hur- ,,. - . V. TlahV VU left neu 1 1 . a 11 k - behind, unloved, feared and starved by the new occupants n- -r dene. Not knowlrur what else to do i.w . t. - ... linn h eeVOlUtlonlStS took him to the Jardln Zoologlco de Acctlmacao em Portugal. In tiie Parquo te Palbava In Lisbon. Here Baby put in a mile over a, J - and the fact of hi having been the L-. n? Pnrtiirfti'ft lion SlV him a atandlnff that none of th other wild beasts could boast. eui nis o"i" tlon wss not soured and be remained aa gentle aud playful aa before. He acquired. In fact, such a liking for human companionship and attention . i. . w- . . v-rv lonesome when the holiday crowd were not allowed In , . .. i n , n and voiced hla ini win i. . adneaa with almost human whimper- '"but the directors of th Garden were not atronsjv Inclined toward the Hon. for he aevored ot ine i rviw royalty, and they decided to aell th b'artr, who was In Lisbon at the time, bought him. The price was nominal very moaer . 1 1 SMin n tirrrt and tin- ate lor a ncu-i.u .. .7.V damaged Hon 100.000 rels. W hen It Is realised that In order to sausiy even . normal hunger It Is necessary to part with J00 rels In a good hotel It Lisbon, the ngure is noi lng. In American money the transfer . v. i n -noomnltehed for a OK Jl T I .n " - ' - sum approximating 1550. for which Carter obtained the Hon and the guar antee from the director of the soolog Ical garden. Jose Julia Lopaa Vallades. that the lion's teeth were sound, his digestion In good order and bis limbs in perfect condition. The deal waa made through Pig. Antonio Pantos, the wealthy manager of the I-shon Colyseu Dos Kecreloa, the most Important vaudeville house south of the Pyrenne. Carter found Hahy a oulck study and a thorough artist, quick to grasp th possibilities of the leading "heavy" In th melo drama. 1,11 ll l J I It'll KB" 1 1 . 1 .. . ' . . - . Ttabv s premiere. The theater wss the Utile Colyseu In Setubal. a city about subtleness but by th powers most un expectedly, almost unbelievably, ex erted by Nature. It ta of this I will tell you befor I again los myself In th Earth s mystlo mas. "You know me for a traveler. 1 have drank Marcobrunner In a Ble brich Inn. at th exact place wher Caesar crossed th Khln when he nia.le his second Invasion. I hav vis ited the battlefields of Boyaca and Carabo'uo. and traveled the route of Bolivar's march of 1S19. I hav tried to read th eternal question from the Sphinx. I have compared the natural wonders of Niagara and the Yellow stone with th falls of th Nyansa. Tb drear spots of Calcutta wer not overlooked becaus I had beheld the Joys of Naplev I hav traveled. I know th topography of th earth prtty we!L Concede my knowledge on that point; I know. Thank you. But never did I meet repoe until X enterd Terdel de Pago. "It was natural for m to travel. I wa bora with th wanderlust. And It was as natural for m to unacquaint myself with th aptness of things. My present condition reveals my nature- I am energetic, but my energies are often misplaced. I had th unhappy faculty of wanting to manufacture lc when In Alaska, and to make a new brand cf steam-heating apparatus when In the tropics. Other men ar mor gifted such man a Juan Belgardo, for instance, who figures In my story of Terdel d Kago. -jl was not a handsom man. His head was as bald as a tomato: his ears wer Ilk small cabbag leaves, and half Ms teeth wer iom from talk ing too much. His eyes wer as black on th Insl J as a battered pugilist s eyes ar on if outsld. And. for a man of wits, h was extrerooiy mean. Sir. h would not hav glvn a flvcnt piece to se an earthquake! He was energetic, however: a man ef tomorrow working Its dtiny today. He knew the coign of vantage to bo hold th coin of th realm. H will never b blind, becaus h will always se tl color cf gold. I found that out before I had bees la Terdel de Rag two weeks: as mob as I determined to court and marry ClarabeiJ who, by the way. mad th spot attractive. "I may aay too much: I may ro coco monotonous; but that Is a htunaa av w.. -. ' cw m tsrt t t ; .t - ?v &rrn '''-.-.exMa. tv.v id mllea from'Llsbon. The second rev olution had passed over the new re public and left Its people with even less regard for royalty, and with more vig orous stirrings of patriotism and re publicanism evident In its attitude. Carter advertised widely the fact that he would exhibit the King of Portugal's Hon In one of the Important acts in his entertainment. It drew a house, but one whose temper wss somewhat like that of the audience which frreeted Lady Gregorys Irish Players when they sousht to present for the first time The riay Hoy of the 'Western World" to t typical Irish-American audience. They were walling for Baby. The stag was set. It represented the palace of the Fhah of Persia. In the background was a double cage. In one-half of which Itahy is discovered walking restlessly tack and forth, switching his tall ecalnst the bars, snarling and bi-having ferocloutly as though waiting Impa tleialy for a long-delayed dinner of missionary chops. Th other half of thj cage waa vacant. A slender door stood between. It seemed that the Shah, who owned the Hon, had become desperately enam ored of the charms of Hester, a young wor.--.an In hie dominion. The beauteous Hector was oblivious to the advantages of the Shah's romantic attachment, as her affections wero fixed upon the ad vance agent of a Persian circus named Hadji. But the Shah was stubborn. He would compel the beautiful maiden to love blm or cast her to the Hon. In her extremity she appeals for her llfe,vbut in vain. The Shah sounds the alarm gong. Tha maiden is seised and la about to be cast into the outer cage when Prince Sahib, a powerful poten tate from Punjaub, ar.d a mysttc Sla hatma. or sacred man, appears. He had been entreated by the maiden's father to save her life. He bespeaks th j Shah with smooth words and asked him why he had taken the maiden pris oner and held her against her will. Th Shall hangs his head In guilty confu sion, but steadfastly refused to give the maiden up. The Prince therefore shows the Shah the sign of the Order of Yogi, the insignia of his mystic order, and tells the Shah that he Is able to release Hester by magic if he chooses, but the Shah still refuses, and the Prince takes his departure with a long tnreatenlng look as he exits. The fchah thereupon directs the In carceration of the young lady In the ante-rage preparatory to her execu tion and deputises a female slave to stand guard over her to see that she does not escape. The Fhah goes out, the prince comes. He bribes the female slave to assist him. ttoe Hon in the meantime, uttering convincing roars at frequent Intervals. Disguising himself aa a priest, the prince enters the ante rage, much to the relief of the harassed Hester. Now come the big moment for Baby. He crouches In the farther end of his fault. What has gon befor was nec essary: what comes is, I hope. Interest ing, it Is at least strange. "I was not a poor man. Between misfits of commercial Judgment I had made proportionate calculations. Trad ing In the South Seas had swelled the gains of toy exporting from Holland and Ivory dealings In Africa. So I was able to buy a residence near the woman who had won my heart my heart, sir, which had never turned to ward woman! And I mad a flourish w ith my wealth to correspond with the house and th vast estate in th rear. I entered th bast society because Clarabel was to b met there. I waa soon looked upon as a desirable suitor for her hand. There was another suitor, however: Juan Ilelgardo. although my coming set him back Just when his courting had attained almost to the pinnacle of success. My wealth waa greater than K 1 , I cage and with one terrific roar leaps at the partition, which separates blm from the trembling maiden. The par tition gives way. The entire cag fall apart, and lo! the terrible lion is In stantly changed Into the magician him self. Riot Nearly Brought On. Th audience had sat quietly enough, but at this cries of "down with King Manuel's Hon" started in the top gal lory and were taken up In the pit A riot seemed Hkely. The people outside the theater who could not get in threat ened to demolish the windows and storm the stage, when Carter bethought him of a scheme to startle the audience Into submission. He brought Baby out on the stage, ostensibly to take a cur tain bow, held In leash only by a slender cord. Inside of four minutes there was not a seat In the house oc his. I might say, and modestly refrain from mentioning the fact that my good looks were also greater. And It was Inevitable I should have fastened upon property abutting his, so that we could each tell every act of the other. "I will not attempt to describe th charms of Clarabel. I could rhapso dize. Such, sir, is the way of love. I wish to be as brief as possible. I found myself often in her company, and welcomed by her; Belgardo shoved aside to accommodate me, for which I gained his sincere enmity. And when I found diamonds on my property aa I did within six weeks this enmity knew no bounds, especially when an investigation railed to reveal precious stones In his own property. "Clarabel'a Joy was plain when my wealth was thus unexpectedly In creased. It was simply, you under stand, a case of finding diamonds where no on had presumed them to be. Dig ging tor potatoes, I remember, brought them to light. I lavished glfta on the woman of my heart as soon as I saw thes stones wer to be had for the mere matter of picking them op: and after a while I arranged to hav my property mined scientifically. "Then Katur stepped in. I was away from home on day when the town was shaken by an earthquake. Some frail buildings wer toppled over; much ground waa disturbed. My own prop erty waa upheaved as was Belgardo's. W wer In th zone. "And In Belgardo's ground on my light wher no diamonds had been be fore, war now so many as to be lying loosely on th soil! Mother Nature had Imply stolen them from me by her convulsive throw, and given them to my rival In love, for I was surprised to find no further trace of diamonds when having my estate inspected. Not one stone was to be found In th property which, before th quake, had contained countless gems. "You. sir, being primarily a matter of fact man of business, will ignore th existence of luck; many men do. Many men blush at the thought of luck as they blush at the thought of facing th naked truth. But her was luck for both of ns good for him. bad for me. - -Jim Pplvlns,' said Belgardo to me. shortly. 1 will now show you how to win Clarabel. "I laughed at him. Mankind, by Umhtar unadorned, post sops, dscaj; W-W$8j& 'Wt -'-'ill' ' i cupled, and no one came Tjack to the box office to demand his money. From this auspicious beginning of his theatrical career Baby played all through Portugal and Spain. France and Belgium. It was In Liego, Belgium, that Baby Inadvertently caused another riot. His act was over and his case wheeled into the wings. During the Intermission a Belgian audience repairs to two convenient bars on either side of the auditorium, there to refresh them, selves against the second half of the entertainment. During this Intermis sion, one of the stage hands, who waa unaccustomed to handling lions, acci dentally loosened the door at the top of the cage and Baby stuck his head out In playful fashion and grinned at him. a felicitous phrase, sir, that I myself coined. " "You make love as energetically and lnspiringly as a cow chews her cud,' I replied. "You must show me.' "ut I had no Intention of letting him show me. I courted my fair one as sed ulously as theretofore, if attention will replace, the fervor of gifts. Presents I could not now make my wealth had been lavished In attendance on Cupid. "However, my idea was to tell of my revefses. Do not think I Intended idly to sit and watch Belgardo gather the gems that had been mine. I knew nnd he knew that without financial backing my suit with Clarabel would be lost. Therefore, I resorted to Yan kee logic. I visited a Judge and ob tained a writ asking Belgardo to show cause why the diamonds, which had been mine, should not continue as my property, and restraining him from dig ging for them. "He brought the matter to Issue in th courts. He had engaged the best lawyer In Terdel de Bago as his coun- 1 vri) Without more ado grips broke for the stage, Jumped over the footlights Into the pit and ran up the center aisle screaming "au lion." It did not take the audience long to leave the theater, but they all came back when they were assured that there was nothing to fear. It is not so easy to travel comfort ably with a lion as people unacquainted with that form of pleasure might sup pose. Railway officials are skeptical, and golden assurances often have to be extended before their fears are pla cated, but It is wonderful what allt tle assurance of this kind will do. In genuity often results in smoothing the way where the other method is too ex pensive. For instance, when Carter was seeking passage from Ostend to Dover, he resorted to a little Yankee face tiousness to enable him to get across In a hurry, as he had no time to wait for a freight boat and he had 125 1 UCL HSM sel. and helped him with argument, In this strange case. And our battle was famous for new facts of Blackstone in that part of the world. "I based my ownership of the dia monds on my previous possession and the transference of the property with out my consent. The stones had not been given to him by me, I argued; nor had he purchased them from me. And In making this claim I introduced, I believe, one of the most unique argu ments ever heard in a court of Justice. "To these allegations his lawyer re plied that the earth had owned the gems and had willingly given them to Belgardo. "Discarding rhetoric, my counsel ar gued most logically tbat I had bought the diamonds when I had bought my land, and therefore they were mine by right of purchase. But bis attorney parried his thrust with an application that staggered me. He insisted I should identify each stone. If I could suffi ciently prove that this and that dia mond had been my property, relin quishment would be readily and wil lingly made. He contended that Juan Belgardo had purchased a piece of ground known and recognized on-the map as such a lot on such a block. Title had been clear. Consequently all property In that section specified and mapped thus belonged legitimately to him. If he wished to plant potatoes, it was his privilege to do so. He could build on every Inch if he so de sired. Or he could dig for diamonds if he liked. What he did with what was legally his own was none of my business. And was It consistent with Justice, argned his counsel, to suppose that, if, while he was digging for pota toes he should discover diamonds, he should be obliged to hand those dia monds to me simply because my ground failed to show presence of diamonds thought to be there? Was this the understood interpretation of the law? "Technicalities were greatly In evi dence. This case was as great a stick ler as was the case of Shylock trying to get his pound of flesh, no more, no less, without spilling a drop of blood; and In legal annals stands without a parallel for strangeness. "My lawyer pleaded logically from my viewpoint. All he asked waa that I be given that which, without my con sent had been taken from me. He said I wanted what was rightfully nrlne. but which J could not provs waa lawfully V 1 trunks, besides the lion, to transport He carefully saw to it that the trunks were all on board beforo he sprung it upon the gaily uniformed courtiere maratlme eta d'Assurances d'Ostend. In other words, the superintendent of the boat company, that he had a Hon also to go on board. This was merely men tioned In a casual, offhand way, as if It were the everyday business of the boat to carry lions the same as other passengers. , Teuton Is Fooled. He had already paid a sum approxi mating T50 for the passage! and the boat had already waited an hour, while the baggage was being put on board. But the superintendent put his foot down hard when it came to passing the Hon. He called attention to the regu lations on the back of the ticket, w'alch prohibited the transportation of ' wild forest-bred beasts." and he Insisted that the Hon was a wild beast. Mr. Carter declared that he was not a wild beast, that it was a good, tame, do mesticated actor, and not a Hon at ail. in fact, and after about an hour's ar gument, while the captain of the boat fumed up and down the deck, he finally convinced the doubting Teuton that the animal in the cage was nothing more or less than an American Whang doodle, a well-known American quad ruped of the cat tribe. Inhabiting prin cipally the sta.tes of Alabama, Louisi ana and Texas, although now they were being grown in The Bronx, New York, and were making their appearance on Broadway. The perplexed uniformed courtiere maratlme eta d'Assurances d'Ostend nervously looked up In the restrictions to the boat company whether or not a Whangdoodle were permissible upon the line, and finding no restrictions on any animal of this sort he reluctantly allowed the cage to be put upon the boat, and the voyage, delayed for three hours, was begun. When the lion was brought to this country the Cunard Line officials sta tioned an armed guard over his cage in addition to Fritz, his regular valet. This guard was relieved every four hours, the ceremony partaking of the dignity of guard mount. The lion proved so gentle and amiable that one of the men whose duty it was to exer cise the dogs and horses came to Mr. Carter and asked him when he should exercise the lion. But the captain, hearing of this contemplated tour en force, gave a peremptory order that it should not take place at all. and so Baby got no exercise on the voyage; but it is a matter of record that he was the only passenger on the ship that was not seasick, for the voyage was rough. However, he was landed safely and has since been living on the fat of the land ever since his arrival In America. Fat of the land, as applied to the King of Portugal's lion, is 15 pounds of the best beef, raw, nce a day, and a barrel of water. Lost Love. mine. And my opponent's natural re tort was that, as he had previously said, if I could identify the diamonds as those which had been imbedded in my property I could receive them. "The court was puzzled. There was absolutely no precedent to guide him in the conduct of affairs. By granting equity to one he would be working a palpable unfairness on the other; and the environment was dedicated- so the tablets on the walls said to Justice. "One thing was positive: Without the diamonds I would be a poor man, for my counsel fees were equivalent to the value of my estate the case was worth the price. For myself, I cared not, save only that I must relinquish all thought of Clarabel and that tor my heart. "I visited her once Just to talk this matter over with her. Sir, I spoke plainly to her. 'If my suit is lost," I told her, 1 will be a ruined man. I will be unable to marry you, much as my heart desires you. I would not pull you down to my level: a shiftless wanderer on the face of the earth. I can struggle as often as I have strug gled, but my love for you must not let you suffer abasement' "So it was understood. EUI1, the de cision was a heavy blow to me, for I wa8 told that what was Belgardo's wos his own to do with as ho felt Inclined. If Nature had turned burglar and robbed me, my only recourse for satis faction was by identifying the gems as those stolen from me. This was the law of the criminal courts; It must be the law In this case. "That is why you find me here In straitened circumstances. That is why I am in New York, the mecca of the hungry, the disconsolate, the fail ure. I still smile, but my heart aches. In time, perhaps, memories of Clarabel will become fainter and Thank you. sir: I had no Intention of borrowing a five-spot from you; I wished merely to tell su of my self, and to let you know of my past since last seeing you. We have met many times before ah, the Marcobrunner of the Rhine! And we shall meet again. Meanwhile, this five-spot will help. When we next meet I hope we'll both be opulent. "Hav I detained you too long? Par don me. but one will grow loquacious over fond memories. Well, as we used to say, I don't know wher I'm going now, but fas on my way." (Copyright by Shortstory Pub. CoJ f 109.0