The hydraulic press., 1861-04-13

tinued to show an increased degree of irrita-
tomas he went, at length, lashing himselfinto
such apparent fury, that the foam actually
stood upon his lips, and being naturally pos
sessed ofan exceedingly yunprepossessing face,
be looked to the white spectators at least,
as demon escaped from Dante's Inferno.
Finally his rage seemed to reach that boiling
point, just capable of anything, and seizing
hold of her, he put her beneath the basket !;
or rather he inverted the basket COM
pletely over her person. She was then
hemmed in, and entirely at his mercy. Hav-
ing thus disposed of her, in spite of the
child's screams and entreaties, the man drew
his sword, which was as bright and polished
as Venitian mirror, and appeared as ifabout
to wreak some further evil upon the object
of his ire and after some minutes during
which he talked to the child and to himself,
as if justifyng his anger, he did actually
plunge his sword down into the basket, and
draw it out dripping with blood or at least
with blood red drops.
The child's screams were piteeus and heart
rending in the extreme, but all in vain /; for
be plunged his dripping weapon again, and
again, and again, into the basket in which
she was confined. As he did so the screams
Of the wretched victim became fainter and
fainter by degrees, quivering and quavering
like the last few whispers Of dying breeze !;
till at length they almost entirely ceased and
then, as every one sat, horror-stricken and
breathless, and scarcely knowing where to
look, or which way to turn, a faint, low
sigh, drawn out like the expiring note of an
Aoian harp was distinctly heard by every
one in that hnshed assembly, till it, too,
ceased and all was still--still as an Indian
-tide-stil as death. The child's voice
was hushed foreyer-hushed in the lullaby
of death.
When the man seemed to have carried his
rage TO its utmost extremity, warned by the
looks of the soldiery, that it would be well to
close the exhibition without delay, he raised
his bloody sword for a moment before the
eyes Of the assembly, and then struck the
basket smartly with it, which falling over on
its side, left exposed the place which it had
before covered. Conceive the dismay and
astonishment of the spectators, when in place
of the expected corpse of the little girl,
which every one fully expected to see-guess,
reader but you would not guess right, if
you guessed for week of Sundays. Well,
then, we saw nothing-a blank. an empty
space, void Of substance, animate or in
animate. Nothing but the fat sand of the
court yard. No vestige of dress, or any
other thing to indicate that the girl had ever
been there. The amazement of the beholders
was, if possible, rendered more intense,
when, after the lapse of q few seconds, the
identical little girl came bounding from the
side of the eourt-yard-it seemed from
among the spectators feet-and clasped the
juggler round the knees with every sign of
affection, without tie slightest marks of hay-
ing undergone any injury whatever.
Mind, this was not performed in a room or
on a stage, replete with contrivances, and
pitfalls with trap-doors. Then it would
have been an easy feat; but this was an open
court yard, as well known to the spectators
as to the performers the feat performed in
the centre of court, every point of the
circumference of which was crowded with
spectators, who never for an instant took
their eyes off the performers. As to the
notion of sabterranean passage, the very
nature Of the ground put that out of the
question; and besides, that nothing of the
kind existed, was made plain to all who chose
to satisfy themselves on that point, by look
ing at the scene of the performance when
they had closed. Every one was sure that
the child had been put below the basket, and
that she did not get out of it in the natural
way but she did get out; and how?
cannot say.