The suburban citizen., 1902-06-28


with strange exclamation he fell
upon the cloak, rolled it between his
aat palms. padded II, smoothed it and
peeped beneath its hem. as it seemed
suddenly to swell and spread. The
silence OF curiosity. If not or respect.
fell upon us, but | confess that my
hair stood on end and | could feel the
goosehesh on my spine. when the
wizard jerked away the cloak and dis
closed chubby. bright eyed, naked
Indian boy sitting sQuarely before rs
on the sand. 1t could have been no
ordinary hallucinatlOn, for the child
leapt nimbly to his feet, chattering to
his creator. Ali Beg as we exchanged
cries Of wonder. I'm afraid I'm telling
it very badly, am l Anne?" CThis to
Mrs Montford, who had come to listen
at the doorway But she said: NO,
it's all right Only don't go past the
place where Come In, please, Harry"
"All right, Anne. Then, let's see.
Oh, yes. that boy was there as real
as any boy 1 ever saw at night by
the light Of either moon or torch, The
adept bowing and grinning like n
pleased chimpanZee now dropped the
cloak again. went Historically to work
with his lean hands, turning from his
| task only twice to look at the boy who
stood silent beside him gazing about
at the white faces of the fascinated
audience. When the cloak began to
assume the form and size that seemed
to satisfy the adept he whipped II
away again, and there, as plain as
himself or the boy, yawnlng as if just
awakened its mean, furtive yellow
eyes darting lurid glances upon us,
lay full-grown leopard, the hair on
its tawny back rising angrly as Ali
kicked him into standing posture,
his foetid breath coming to our nos
trls as he snarled with rage, his tail
whipping the sand into our faces as
he lashcd it about Oh, it was a real
leopard, think. At all events, 1 re.
member some of us who happened to
haze them slipped out our pistols, and
can still see old Dinwiddie biting
his gray moustache as he reached for
lis sabre
But it was the climax of the weird
spectacle which followed. By a series
OF yindictive kicks and cuffs the adept
was working the sinister beast into a
fury. The great cat was snarling and
swapping. leering and striking at him.
when he suddenly furled the cloak
round the boy. who. all calmness and
silence. was standing near Then
thruSting the drab mass OF boy and
cloak 1T the creature. Ali stepped aside
and stood motionless while the brute
fell tooth and claw upon the covered
boy. There was roar. fountain of,
sand, the men jumped UP, some scared.
some furious, some ran to the house
for weapons, and it would have gone
hard with Ali Beg and his diabolical
beast if Pitcairn had not jumped up
cool as 4 veteran on dress parade, to
restore order But we We're all stand
lag excited and panic-Strlcken over
the boys fate, when the bowlng Orlen-
tai suddenly laid his hand on the
leopard withdrew the cloak and
Devoured? Vanished?
Il don't know, gentlemen" said
Major Montford; Il can't tell what be-
came OF the little black fellow. Ali
Beg had no sooner made his low
showed US that the boy was gone.
obeisance (they call it 'salaam) TO
Colonel Dlnwiddle and the circle than
he waved the empty cloak few times.
spread it above the leopard's head and
covered that chop-licking demon. AS
we looked the cloak dropped down,
down, till it lay fiat and spreading on
the sand. The leopard was gone
picked up the ill-smelling cloak myself.
and if the earth had opened and swal-
lowed the beast. il could not have dis
appeared more thoroughly. Well.
that's nearly all of the supernatural
part OF the story. We repeated II till
every man in the station was half
dafy about mysticism and bankrupt
with paying admission fees. Wed
have all become Buddlsts, | guess, IL
one fine day Colonel Dinwiddes niece
hadn't come along, touring India with
a party Of English folks aud a camera.
She was the prettiest, daintiest-'
Now stop, Harry" cried Mrs. Mont.
ford. "Pll finish the story. Well as
the major was saying, l came along
and found the whole station crazy
about the mysterious performances of
Ali Beg OF course, | had a camera,
and | made up my mind to see the
show and make as many pictures OF
it as l could. OF course, that meant
"A matinee in the middle of the day,
when the sun is at the proper angle
for photographs. And we had it, 1t
all happened just as Harry told it, and
was swapping away all right till
we'll l didn't exactly"
"Out with ii, Anne! You tainted
when you saw the leopard laughed
| MOntrOrd
But you, you picked up the kodak
and went ahead swapping it and turn
ing the films, didn't you?"
Yes, and | was quite methodical