The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-02-01

S'Nae W
"Stopped"'
In the sudden stiffness that pervaGeS
the great liners saloon everybody
pauses without knowing it and looks
AT the captain.
This gentleman merely settles TO his
luncheon more comfortably than be-
fore, while anchor chains rattle out
and the steam whistle blows and the
passengers hasten on deck to feel
heavy, tropical wind blowing off low
shore. along which tigers and alliga-
tors may creep to the waters edge by
night, but where now a noon sun lies
yellow on the huts and rice fields
which are the strangers first glimpse
Of Calcutta
The liner swings we'll out in the
stream.
Presently flashes through the brown
ripples of the Hoogly river a dusky
body. aud up the anchor chain nimbly
as a monkey scrambIes man. clad
only in n Ioin cloth and having "A tiny.
tight rolled red bundle fastened at the
water.
The mans first action is to pick up
from the deck a ball of Irvine with
which Il sailor is mending a pawlin
and unwind the string, which goes
Stra ght up in the air In defiance Of
the law OF gYavitation which should
have trailed it along the deck.
AS the fukir passes another sailor
who has bought a cOcoanut and is
cracking 1t open, he gently takes from
the mans hand half of the still full
shell. holds it high above ships buck
ct. into which water streams from the
cocOanut until the bucket has been
twelve times filled and empued. Next
the juggler asks for a large carthen
dish, pOurS into it a gallon Of water.
raises it nloft in his left hand-his
right being laid against his forehead.
The dish grows smaller by almost i'm
Derceptiblc degrees of shrinkage until
It completely disappears. Then, after
n pause, u tiny brown speCk is seen
IN the jugglerS hand. 1t grows larger
and larger until the dish is visible as
at first. filled TO the brim with water,
which the juggler pours out and which
runs down into the deck cutters.
A little alOof from the eager circle of
spectators sits a young American wo-
man her baby swinging in ham
mock, her five year-old daughter on a
cushion at her feet. The juggler stands
perfectly still. his eyes fixed abSentiy
upon the group, apparently concentrate
ing his forces upon some fresh wonder.
The American shrinks backward with
movement of rcpulsion, which the
juGgler evidently notices, for he turns
his gaze upon an English miss of tif-
teen who stands on the opposite side
of the semicrClc.
Suddenly the young mother sees the
English girl begin TO rise from the
deck and float across the space be
tween her and the hammock in which
rests the sleeping baby. To her hor
ror, the girl stOops over and takes W
the infant. Then the girl rises from
the deck. higher and higher, until she
is lost IN the clouds.
The mother is helpless TO cry out OF
TO move. She is i'll a sort of waking
nightmare AS she stares she per
ceiyes a spot in the tleecy clOuds-near
er, nearer it comes-she discerns the
form Of her baby-safe in the arms OF
the English girl, who gradually de
scends to the deck and lays the infant
back in the hammock.
With frantic effort the mother
bursts the spell that binds her anC
snatches up the child to find it SOUND
asleep. How could you let thai
strange girl take your little brother
away?' she screams to her startled
daughter. WHO sits quietly on the cush
ion
| why, mamma replies the child
''brOther has been asleep in his ham
mock all the time. No one has touch
ed him.
1t was but one more trick of tn
senses played by the holy man from
India. 1t was utterly ineXplicable.
/ The fellow came over the ships raj
dripping wet after n long swim from
shore The liner has just dropped an
Choir after n voyage of several thou
sand miles. A confederate is an i'm
possibility. An audience of about 10'
skeptical persons crowds close arounC
the juggler. There is no chance 70
! deception
Now the HindOo untieS the bundlt
! from behind his neck. opens a squar
/ Of red cloth. passes it to the audience
for inspection and then spreads it fla
on the deck His eyes turn inward
/ AID become fixed. He mutters to him
self. and. after walking three time
/ around the square, he thrusts his bar
/ hand and arm under the cloth ant
brings forth a rudely carved little boa
measuring not more than by inches
/ 1t is unchecked and empty. The on
thw1rt arros~ it is pierced with mas
+ hole. With tho boat he brings out ;
small co"0aurt.
II" ot1er~ the boat and the nut 70
the scrutiny of the passengers +,
those who see and touch il the nut i
= pronounced to be scraped clean ant
/ to be pierced with three small holes
The iuggler sticks Il thin bambo
wand Of about two feet into the mas
hole. then places the nut on the en-,
Of the wand. retreats TO distance 0
fitrn