The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1900-03-08
THE DREAM RIDE OF A BOY.
IN Adrentmre after Neeti.g Ttco Indian, Juyg1ers.

r The shooting party had gone away
and left eight-year- Old Freddie behind
to his great disgust. 1t was just about
sunrise, the coolest, incest time O day
in India, and his mother was not yet
up, and the servants were busy else
where, so there was nobody to pre-
vent him from wandering to the
boundary of the tea plantation. There
he observed of a sudden quite unex-
pected and amazing sight.
= Two brown men, one quite old and
the other quite Young, were in the
shadow Of the trees. They were
stripped to the waist, and the old man
wore cummerbund and sandals, while
the young, wiry mans legs and feet
were bare. The old man was evident
ly instyucting the younger and super
vising a lesson far more interesting to
Freddie than the wor- ying intricaeies
Of the rea aling book and multiplication
table. Fish, fash! Flickerty, flick!
Upin the air, glancing in the mornings
slanting sunbeams, quivered prodi-
gious number Of knives. They must
sometimes have touched the juggler's
hands, but so deity did the man fn-
ger them that the knives darted about
his head and body like e swarm Of
great dragon flies, grazing his ears,
soaring abose his turban, swocping to
his knees, bat never by any accident
touching the ground until, with q
swift clatter and a aclash, they all came
together in the iuggler's grasp, and
he laid them down. -
Vow, the little boy@sezesat "a m51s5 @
%s4 s soosSeEsry wide open ineeed, and
VIXEN the fgsleaa5- a5sss 2safs< bis uncon-
scious legs had borne him, step by
step, right up to the iugglers, where
his brown hair and pale face and
pretty suit Of snow-white duck con-
trasted strangely with their cusky
skins and bright black eyes and cloths
of glowing colors. He was immensely
interested and rather awed. but By no
means afraid, for he had oeen born
in India and was accustomed to CON-
mune in q loEdly manner with all sorts
Of natives. Even travelling lugglers
were not unknown to him. So when
the swart!ly men salaamed humbly to
the little sahib, the boy acknowledged
their salute and said, with the simple
direetness of one used to being
oteyed:
"Do it again
The older man turned to the boy at
once with an air OF having expected
him, and smiled and salaamed very
Low in quite gratiied way. They
obeyed him at once, and the young
native began to perform even more
amusing tricks. It was almost terri
flying, but the curious and rather un-
nerving thing was that the oil juggler
never seemed TO take his eyes of the
boy. Tie old man gave him mat to
sit on, and smiled into his face with
great piercing eyes, and told him to
be good and he would see what he
would see. The old man then took 8
mango stone from a basket, and care
fully planted it Then he covered the
spot for an instant with the basket,
and there was the young plant already
sproutiug from the earth. Freddie
gasped, and the plant grew and grew
right before his eyes. It grew and it
grew and it grew, until in very short
time it was tree. Then it spread
and it spread, and had many branches
and leaves, and at last little mangoes
began to appear, and they grew and
ripened in marvellous way, until the
fakir plucked big Juicy one and gave
it to the boy, who ste it snd found it
delicious. Then The juggler waved
his hands and-the tree was gone.
Goodness mey' cried Freddie, II
don't see how that was done"
The oll"juggler smiled again and
took a coil of rope from the wonderful
basket. 1t was very ordinary rope,
inst, in fact, a wash line. But the
fakir threw one end of the coil far up,
and the marvelling boy saw that the
rope spun slowly out, up and up tow
ard the sky, quite straight as if some,
one were hauling at the upper end.
It went up and up until the end van
ished altogether.
ssGracious goody" cried Freddie.
sI don't see how that was done!'
The oil man clapped his hands,
and the young man seaped at the rops
at once and seized it and began tc
climb up, hand over hand, at tre'
mendous rate. and he went up and NJ
and mp until he also was out Of sight
81 never, never did!' cried Freddie,
who was now limp with amazement
ssWhe-e did he go to?''
"Therever he wished to 60, the
juggler said. Does the sahib wish te
go anvwhere?'
Yes cried Freddie with a sudder
happy thought. "Where my paps
and uncle are hunting.''
In q moment the iuggler placed tht
rooe in his hands.
ssClimb," said he, and without tax
ing time to think Freddie climbed.