The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-06-18
THE
Convenient Iige eff.
q. q :

full blossoniSr yogi, IN III my years
IN India. One has TO come tohmerlca
10 hsI out the wonders and mysteries
0, thrOsophy," said j. c. Powton, form
erly OF her naJcsty's East India civil
service. '"But 14haye seen performs
Qnces OF Indian fakirs quite as mex
pIlcabIe as anything l have heard Of In
the Mahatnias. There was one in par
,sular In which I was concerned--n
natter OF some twenty years ago. 1t
had trasedy in 1t. and gone things
which neither YOU nor l can explain.
You understand no doubt, what an In
dian faNr Is-n man OF the Brahmtn-
,cal faith who dcvotes his life TO COM
runiOn With the Hindoo gods. Through
payer and contemplation and the
leading OF an sascetic life the. fakir at.
,anS powers that seem miraculous TO
the western mind.
"Thc faklr thatI am to tel you about
came one afternoon to Archie Redvon's
bungalow, heari Charpore, where had
been staying for a few dnys during q
round OF inspection He iwas an old,
brown-sS!nned man, with along, intel
kctual face. and huir and beard snowy
white. A waist cloth, turban and sun
ials were all he wore and the rest Of
his visible belongings consisted OF O
prayer mat, a hubble bubble, or native
water pipe. and an earthen, bowl from
which he ate his food. 4 He spread his
mot In the middle OF the compound,
seated himself cross-legged upon It, and
began TO take tinsel balls from soma-
where--from the mat It seemed, al
though none could be, seen upon it
md 10 throw them one by one up into
the air. Each one, as he threw, It, went
calling up, up, until It was out OF sight,
and none of them came down. Then he
did the boy and ladder and the mango
tree trick In a manner that showed that
he was faAr OF no common order.
"Thep he took, n hollow reed, fash
Toned 1t into q sort OF pipe, and went
round In the compound and on the out
side OF the bungalow. playing q wierd
tune. Presently n cobra poked Its
head out from "a hole in the wall, its
body followed, and the serpent came to
the ground, and glided aiorg after the
takir. Soon another cobra craWled out
Of the grass and followed the sound OF
the pipe. When the faMr stayed his
steps the snakes stopped, and as he
played on the reed they reared their
bodies and swayed to and fro as IL they
were keeping time with his piping He
called for q basket. A house servant
brought him one, and the fakir, with
bis bare hands, took the snakes each BY
the neck ard body, placed them In the
basket, pressed their heads down. and
tied a cloth over them.
This ended his performance. Red
won gave him a rupee, and handed
him five. for ! had never seen anything
10 compare with what he had done.
He gravely took the coins. after the
manner of the Brahmirs, without a
thank Or salaam. But as he dropped
them somewhere in his waist cloth his
eye feA on my servant Nagho, standing
at'my shoulder, and he looked at him
with strange intentness, then turned
10 me with a gaze as searching. Have
YOU ever CHANGED to notice 4 Hindoo's
eye--so sombre black. SO Keen to see
ind comprehend and revealing no more
than a pool of Ink might the thought
behind it. But noted iD the fakir's
eye what seemed to me TO be a flash
or percepuon,E OF discovery, Us his look
rested on Nagho and then on me. 1t
was the episode of:a moment. He said
nothing. bu; picked UP his mat and
pipe, put the basket. and snakes on his
shoulder, and went his way, taking the
direction of Charpore, three miles away.
On the next day ! had TO go to Ba-
ghra to meet the deputy collector there.
ToSsave distance I decided to travel in
& palanQuin over bullock trail too
rough for q carriage, instead OF going
twice as far around by the highway. ]
made the start in the middle OF the af-
terToon, expecting 10 arrive at BaShra
10 the early evening. In my travelling
sstchel were notes ard coin to the
value OF IL 900 rupees, which was tax
ing to the deputy collector. At the las,
hour Redvon showed some anxiety
about. ny taking the route I had cho-
zen. N
Once your start is made. don't
waste any time In getting through 70
Baghra, he said. Beyond Charpore
the road Is through jungle all the way.
There's a chance OF dacoitS-and then
Il your pa!anqulp bearers should run
upon them or get tiger scare, they
would think nothing OF setting down
the pasanquin and leaving you In the
Jungle. OF course. you have your re-
yo!ver by YOU in working order?' ~
Il had cleaned and oiled and reloaded
my revolver that morning, and told
EedYon so.i But he had still another
caution to give me. He looked ut
NaSho. who was filling a water vessel
from chatty: at the further end OF the
rtranda. E. u,
That servant of yours-have you
had him long?' he asked. My steward
tells me that he Is hill man, by birth,
that he talks the. argot OF the Indian
thieves guilds, and he carries q. tui.
war. Do YOU know that you can trust
h!m?' }lf5 n!
This was news TO me about Nagho.
had hired him two months before In
Calcutta He had come we'll recon-
Mended and had proved, q capable SER
want. l did not like the idea that he
Should have carried q tulwar unknown
70 me. The tulwar. let me explain, Is
The wlde-bladed knife, which the men
o. the hill tribes use SO effectively In
lighting, welding Il at close quarters
or throwing 1t. With this tuiwar q hill
man can cut OF the branch OF tree
twenty PAGES away or lop u mans arm
rom his body. l made up my mind
mat would find out more about Nag
no before took him with me on, an
esher trip, but to-day there was Moth
, Ag That could we'll do In the matter.
~ think the Hindoo Is all right l
tat TO Redvon. I'll have my eye on
hiin' though. Good by. Hope III see
YOU at Baghra next week
We shook hands and the four beaf-
sEs OF the .pnlaquIn trotted away with
NJ ut a four-m.!e-an-hour gait. with
HasIio ard two relay bearers following.
a. CharDore. where we stopped few
minutes crest, the bearers got hold OF
report about n tiger which was said
20 nave killed a man or two lately on
s sne road TO Baghra, and when they