The herald., 1893-10-24

Il must have rope-muSt have q
ropei" exclaimed Abalani nervously, and
he gesticulated in the air quickly with
his right arm, his actions seeming to
fascinate me.
"Ahr'
he ceased the action, and lowering
his arm displayed large coil of native
rope in his hand that 1t would have been
impossible for him to have concealed
about his person. Then, with a quick
motion, he pitched one end of the coil
straight up into the air, keeping the 9TH
er end in his grasp.
The line seemed to catch up there in
the atmosphere. 1t staid there dangling
down between us.
Abalani ordered Alsli to climb mp, hur-
rying him with word of impatience
and stamp of his foot.
Alli shook the rope with one hand, as
If to see If it were quito secure, and then
did as he was requested.
Up, up, up. he clambered, higher and
higher, gradually growing smaller and
smaller as he ascended until he actually
disappeared from view. Yet we could
tell that he was still climbing away up
there, for the rope before us trembled
with the motion that he made. Abalani
did his best to study it.
Then suddenly the fakir clapped his
hands and sprang to one side. We heard
the rushing sound of body falling
through the air, and then the form of
Akli landed upon his feet before us un-
hurt and smiling. Another clapping of
Abalani's hands, and rope and boy both
disappeared.
The fakir stood alone before us. Kellar
Abalani perform the trick again. When
it had been done second time, Abalani
left us as perplexed as before.
For my part l gave the whole riddle
up. | had seen many a strange feat of
jugglery, but this one completely non
plused me. Kellar was determined not
to leave Boolak until he had satisfied
himself as to how the trick, or feat, had
been performed.
A week passed. Our host enjoyed
Kellar's quandary keenly as boy, and
joked him about it. However, Kellar
joined us on the porch one afternoon
with a certain amused expression upon
his face that made me feel reasonably
sure that something interesting was up.
81 should like to see little Al1li climb
just once more this afternoon" he said,
dropping into low steamer chair with
more satisfaction than had noticed him
evince for the past week, "Con and
should be leaving tomorrow or the next
day at the latest"
70 make known wish there was to
have it gratified. After coffee that aft
ernoon Abaiani came walking gravely
up the shaded path, his slight figure
clothed as before-in the flowing mantle
and scanty breechcloth-tha dark cop
per ring, shade lighter in color than
the breast it hung against, his only dec
grafton. As before, he was alone.
There were the same low salaams, his
dry, hard palms that were of almost the
whiteness of mine being stretched over
US. Few words were spoken. The man
could not have been more deferential.
But at the same time l thought that
detected CLEAN of egotistical challenge
in his dark eyes that made me hope Kel-
lar would succeed in detecting his trick
and increased my desire to know how it
was performed.
We moved down to the place in the
garden where we had witnessed the act
before, lIellar slipping into the house a
moment first. Little Akh appeared AS
bright and smiling as when we had first
seen him. The rope appeared, Alili had
it, when 1 heard Il slight, sharp
"clickr' on tho side where Kellar was
standing. When little Akli had clam
bered out of sight, Abalani clapped his
hands twice. We shuddered as we heard |
the sound of Alzli's falling body The !
rope had disappeared, and the little fel-
low stood there bowling before us. The
next moment he was gone.
Kellar hurried me into the house and |
to our room. The room had dark |
closet, and soon Kellar was hold up
dripping by plate from his camera
for me to view by the dim light of ouy
ruby lantern.
/ could see our host, arms aSimbo, |
looking up wonderingly. could see Aba
lani-showing up white in the negative
his thin arms raised above his head, his /
feet braced widely apart. as they had
been when steadying the rope for little
Akli to climb when 1 had heard the
shutter of the camera snap. But there
was no little Allli to be seen anywhere,
nor any rope, for that matter.
Abalani had mesmerized our host, /
Kellar and myself, but it was beyond
his fallir skill to Inesmerize our detect
i've amera.-Conyers G. Converse in
New York Herald.