The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1901-10-01
INDIAN FAKIR'S ART.
MEN DOUBT THE EVIDENCE OF
THEIR OWN EYES.
Old Man Sends Up a Ball Which Carries
String Reaching Back to the
Ground-Boy Dismembered High ON
the String.

the String.
Those who say that the days of mir
Giles are over should go to India,
said a retired army officer, when, II
they are lucky enough to meet Faklr
of the Hills, they will not only have
reason to modify their opinion, but
can guarantee that they will make
them doubt even the evidence of their /
own eyes But | will describe one OF |
the things | myself witnessed some /
twenty years ago, and which you will |
confess is the most amazing expert
ence of which you have ever heard.
do not profess to account for 1t IN
any way; | only describe it exactly as
/ and my companions, any one OF
whom will corroborate me to the
smallest detail, saw it. 1t was dur
ing a shooting expedition in 1880, when
| and three brother officers had spent
long, firing day tracking man-eat-
ing tiger among the hills of the Cen
trail Provinces, about two days jour-
| ney from Leoni We were smoking
our cigars outside our tent prepare
tory to turning in for the night, for
we were all dead-beat, when we saw
two figures approaching us, salaaming
lower and lower as they came nearer
to us. One of them was dirty, I'M
kempt, grey-headed man, clad in a
turban and loincloth, who was unmls-
takably one of the fakirs who haunt
these hills and waylay tourists and
sportsmen with a view to backsheesh;
and the other was a small, equally
dirty and slightly-clothed boy of about
twelve. AS we knew their business we
affected to ignore them and awaited
developments, which soon came. While
the boy flung himself on the ground
the fakir put down a bag he was car
rying and took from it small ball OF
Irvine, such as grocers use. Taking
the free end of the twine between his
fingers he tossed the ball up in the
air. Higher and higher it mounted un-
til the eye could follow it no farther,
as it vanished seemingly into thin
air. The fakir then released the free
end, and, to our amazement, the string
remained vertically suspended in the
air as far as the eye could follow IT.
The old man then began to tug VIC
,lentIy at the string as if to recover the
vanished ball, but it refused to yield
an inch; and in affected rage he spoke
a few words to the boy, who rose from
the ground and. selling the Irvine with
both hands, began to climb up it. UP
and up he climbed, growing gradually
smaller and smaller until he was a
scarcely discernible speck, apparently
hundreds of feet from the ground.
Then he too vanished as completely as
the ball had done. After a few mo-
ments' waiting for the boys return
the fakir called loudly to him to come
down, becoming frantic with rage at
his refusal to obey. Then taking a
huge curve knife from his bag he grip
ped it between his teeth, and with
, murderous intent began to climb uI
the string after the vanished boy
1 Higher and higher he went until he in
turn was lost to sight. and we gazed
at each other and the thin line Of
String, the only material thing left tt
our vision, with dumb amazement
Then a distant shrek of pain and hor-
iror broke on our ears with startling
: effect, and a round, black thing came
rushing down through the air and fel
lat our feet. We looked at it in stupe
faction; it was the head of the boy
severed from the body, with quiverint
muscles and flowing blood, to prov,
that it was no Pigment to the fancy
A moment later one severed and bleed
v ing arm fell from the sky and theI
t. another: and these were followed b.
n two legs as neatly dismembered as i
t. cut off by the knife of a skilful sur
d geon. And then, while we were gazing
0 with horror at this grizzly spectacle
s the fakir himself re-appeared climb
o ing down the string and holding tn
S knife between his teeth. Calmly col
n .lecting the head and limbs he place.
them in his bag, threw it over hi
shoulder and began to walk away
He had not gone many PAGES before W
saw a movement in the bag. The faki
placed it on the ground and, to GU
"a establishment, saw the boy emerg
lie from it, smiling and as sound in bod
h as ever. A moment later the two wer
4 walking back towards us, salaamin
4 at every step; and l need not say tina
y they were we'll rewarded for their en-
v tertainment. How do i account 70
it? Well, as l have said, 1 don't pre-
fess to understand it at all, and onl
describe what we saw. Some say W
il were hypnotized, and saw just whs
~ the fakirs wished us to see. All
: know is that it was the most astound
M ing and mysterious that l have eve
to seen-and I've seen some strang
Nv sights.-Tit-Bits
a