Year: 1876

One of the jugglers, says writer in
Belgravid, then brought forth ball of
twine, and unwound about fifty yards Of
it in d coil in his hand; this coil he cut
through with knife, at each end of its
diameter, then doubling the several
lengths he cut them through again and
repeated the operation till the twine had
been divided into pieces not exceeding
four inches in length. Taking up these
disjecta he put them into the lads
mouth, and bade him swallow them,
which, after some effort, he to all
appearance did. Then, asking one of
the company for a sharp penknife, the
man obviously made an incisiOn in the
skin of the lads stomach. From this he
picked out, with the point of knife,
the end of thread this thread he
pulled forth, at first gently, then faster,
then hand over hand, until he had
coiled down on the ground a continuous
length of about one hundred yards of
wet sewing thread. This, If a deception,
was marvellous one, for the operation
had all the appearance and tokens OF re-
ality, since the skin of the stomach was
slightly raised around the orifce through
which the thread was being evidently
drawn.


Our friends were fairly puzzled; and,
to add to their perplexity, the operator
cut off the thread close to the skin and
placed piece of sticking plaster over it,
leaving it to be inferred that the supply
of thread was unlimited, and could be
drawn "to order"


"Master, give me one more piece OF
money" said he who appeared to be the
principal juggler, suddenly speaking in
English to Mr.. Hawthorne.


%WhyT asked the latter, taking a
rupee from his pocket and handing it to
the man.


"Good rupeep' said the man, jerking
the coin into the air with short flip
of his thumb nail, and drawing the true
ring from the metal. "Good rupee !!
Master sure can hold him tight in his
hand, so as not can run away"


"1o be sure can," replied the young
gentleman.


"Master try then," said the juggler,
taking Mr.. Hawthorne's left hand and
placing the rupee on the palm of it. He
then requested the gentleman to place
the palm of his right hand over the coin,
to close both hands tightly, and not let
the money by any means escape. Thor
oughly determined on the point, our
young friend pressed his hands together
| till he was red in the face.


"Master quite sure got money in his
hand ?" asked the juggler.


"Quite," was the reply.


eyes"


The juggler took the gentleman's two
hands between his own and muttered
some cabalistic words; then blowing
upon them and giving them a heavy
shake he asked, with grin, "Can feel
him now, master?" Starting from his
chair with bound, the young English
man, with an affrighted look, unclasped
his hands, and there fell on the floor be-
meath, not the rupee, but lively,
wriggling little brown snake, about If
teen inches long, which made immedi-
ately for the legs of Captain M'Turk.
Now this gentleman, who under ordinary
circumstances was as brave as lion, by
| no means relished, or was prepared for,
an encounter with the evil one, of whom
he doubtless believed the approaching
reptile was an incarnation so hastily
tossing both legs high up in the air the
worthy captain lost his balance, and to-
gether with his chair came heavily tC
the ground, though fortunately with nc
serious consequences beyond a broken
! back-of the chair, we mean. The
worthy skipper soon picked himself up.
and, seeing that the snake had been cap
tured by the lad, round whose arm il
was now entwined, joined in the general
laugh and seated himself again in an
other chair that was placed for him.