Rujub, the Juggler

nd reading an English paper that had arrived

g, Doctor. I

an hour late, and that I was to come r

r. I have been round at Mrs. Hunter's; she is going to

missing an exhibition when I get the chance. I hate anything I don't understand, and I go with the

t is not all quit

that the jugglers show their best tricks to the whites-they know that, as a rule, we are altogether skeptical; but I have seen at native courts more than once the most astounding things-things absolutely inc

ngs done by some of the higher class of jugglers, and that under circumstances that did not seem to admit of the possibility of deception, that I am obliged to suspend my judgment, which, as you may imagine, my dear, is exceedingly annoying to me; but some of them do possess to a considerable extent wh

foresee evil for you. I saw you la

o your dream will

ook hi

ill suffer, and others too;' and he looked at a group of s

men are the

of course,'

lock on his shoulder, another is examining his priming, the third is sitting down by the tir

good deal younger then, my dear-such a fool as to be deterred from wha

e. He moved just as I fired, and though I hit him, it was not on the fatal spot, and he charged right down among us. He caught the very three men the fakir s

trong for him to knock down. Then another man who was with me came up and killed him, and they got me down and carried me back, and I was weeks before I was about

holy man, that he is going to die, he makes no struggle to live. In several cases I have seen natives, whose deaths have been predicted, die, without, as far as my science could tell me, any disease or ailment whatever that sh

I have heard of second sight among certain old

ten about second sight among the Highlanders; and some of the incidents are so well authenticated that I scarcely see how they can be denied. Of course, there is no accounting f

inct, it is really almost inexplicable. Take the case that dogs have been known to be taken by railway journeys of many hundred mile

l think I have been preaching a se

occupied with his own t

g, Major?" the Doctor a

fficers, and they profess to have no idea whence they came or what is the meaning of them. I wish we could get to the bottom of this thing; it keeps th

d reprovingly, "I am sure y

, and it is all the worse if taken in connection with this absurd idea about the greased cartridges. I grant that it was an act of folly greasing them at all, when we know the idiotic prejudices the natives have; still, it could hardly have

Rumzan interrupted, com

ow, Isobel, let us think

id, as she sat down. "There is going to be a famous juggler the

s morning, just as he was going down to the lines, and he accepted. He said he should be able to get back in time. However, I don't

. I am off for three days tomorrow. A villager came in this morning to beg me to go out to rid them of a tiger that has established himself in their neighborhood, and

again, and the two subalterns expressed th

s in it, Mr. Wils

e thought you were the last sort of man

n questions. When you have been here as long as I have, and if you ever get as much sense as I

son said good humoredly,

lows who come around to the veranda, and I have seen co

hurst?" Isobel asked. "I suppose yo

Wilson's opinion, but I have seen things since that I could not account fo

eeing a good conjurer since they came out, Mr. Bathurst. I s

which was quite different to anything I have ever seen, though I had often heard of the feats he had performed. I was s

he do, Mr.

the feat of the d

you were not looking," Richards

amp, and as I certainly saw her till she was some thirty or forty feet up in the air I don't see how she can have managed it. For, even suppos

down that way, how could s

f it should happen to be the same man, and he will do the sam

at the station were assembled. Chairs were placed in the veranda for the ladies, and a number of lamps hung on the wall, so that a strong light was thrown up

if he objects. I don't think myself it is quite fair having a light behind him; still, if he

ow called up. He and the girl, who followed him, salaamed deeply, and ma

id. "They have evidently a lively remembrance of past fav

to the juggler, "Mr. Hunter has put some posts with lamps behind you, Rujub

rkness. Any of the sahibs who like to stand behind us can

the answer was translated; "we will light the lamps,

nd lit the lamps, and the servants sto

a plant four or five inches high was seen. He covered this with a tall basket, which he first handed round for inspection. On removing this a mango tree some three feet high, in full bloom, was seen. It was

rhaps you will be kind enough to ex

re idea than

hards. He promised us at dinn

s made

Bathurst? It seems a

of times. Ah! now he is going to do the basket trick. Don't be alarmed when you hear the girl cry out. You may b

ced on the ground and the girl stepped into it, without

saw it done I was nearly throwing myself on the juggler, and Wilson is a hot headed boy, and is likely as not to do so. If he did,

ggler and the girl inside. Presently the man appeared to become enraged, and snatching

d the first thrust, a

el among them. Wilson and Richards both started to rush forward,

n the trick before she stepped forward without hesitation, opened the lid of the ba

become of the girl?

etween him and Richards

e had sworn to me they had seen it." He was too much confounded even to reply, whe

s he wiped his forehead with his pocket han

came across, and Richards touched her with evident doub

the next feat, for generally those just seen were the closing ones of a performance, b

girl rose beyond the circle of light she remained distinctly visible, a sort of phosphoric light playing around

hen the light died out, and she disappeared from their sight. There was silence for a minute or two, and then the end of

thing was so strange and mysterious that t

r. Hunter translated to be a reque

ent I don't know, for, like this, it was done at night, but it stood up perfectly stiff, and the juggler's attendant climbed up. He went higher and higher, and we could h

herself in the cente

is being performed," the juggler said; "harm mi

pearance from the ground. It rose higher

e until its head towered above that of the girl, and then began to twine itself round her, continuously rising from the ground until it enveloped her with five coils, each thicker than a man's ar

great was the feeling of wonder. The Do

," he said, "though I have hea

like to see more?"

others said they had seen enough, but among the men t

ing," the Doctor said. "It would be sim

eption of Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Doolan,

uggler said, "for it is only on one side

this, he said, "The lights must now be extinguished and the curt

der over the fire, and by its faint ligh

ou the past," he s

nd then Dr. Wade sai

-it grew brighter and brighter; and t

girl appeared at the gate, and, stepping out, looked down the road as if waiting for someone. They could make out all the detai

eared on the smoke. It was a long, straight road, bordered by a j

nter exclaimed; "you are got

igures came out from the jungle

athurst, "dressed like a native and dyed." But no one els

el lean back heavily against the hand which he held at t

meone; I fancy this has bee

r, running in, brought out a lamp. The Doctor

; "carry her in her chair as she is, so tha

was

etter light the lamps again out here, and lea

t that the whole of the men were a go

at anything I have seen before. I have heard of such things frequently from

things in general. I fancy, Hunter, that we shall want a strong peg all round to steady our nerve

of agreement and the mate

er he had braced himself up with a strong glass of brandy and water. "I shou

ut it really didn't seem to me to be possible what you told us about the girl going up into the air and not coming down aga

should have been just as skeptical as you were when I first came out, and

t the Doctor

s. As I said, I have seen that ascension trick before, but how it is done I have no more idea than a child. Those smoke scenes, too, are astonishing. Of course they could be accounted for as thrown upon a column of white smoke by a magic lantern, b

rst scene, I suppose,

oung lady I married four years afterwards. Many a time have I seen her standing just like that, as I went along the road to meet her from the littl

here exists, to some extent, the power of thought reading. It is a mysterious subject, and one of which we know absolutely nothing at present, but maybe in upwards of a hundred years mankind will have discovered many secrets of nature in that direct

you masquerading as a native. I believe the other was Bathurst; it struck me so; and

ut there is no saying what I may come to. There is quite enough for us to wonder at in the other things. The mango and basket tricks I have seen a dozen times, an

it was a real

rl, and the quivering of its tongue as it raised its head above her. At any other time I should be ready to take my affidavit that it was a

the juggler any questions, Hunt

ms have frequently been offered them. In the present case you will certainly ask no questions, for the man and girl have both disappeared with the box and apparatus and everything connected with them. They

rd from natives that when they show any what I may call supernatural feats, they do not take money. It is done to oblige some powerful Rajah, and as I have said, it is only on a very

r talk, and in a very short time t

ctor said, as they went out. "I don't think either of us will be like

is entirely unaccountable by any laws

m at one time existed, but has been entirely lost, at any rate among Western peoples. The belief in magic is as old as anything we have knowledge of. The magicians at the court of Pharaoh threw down their rods and turned them into serpents. The Witch of Endor called up the spirit of

e, as far as I have been able to learn, of an exceptionally intelligent class, who believe that they possess an almost absolute mastery over the powers of nature. You see, fifty years back, if anyone ha

it is of course contrary to what we know of the laws of nature, but should such a power exist it would account for the disappearance of the girl from the top of the pole. Highland second sight, carried somewhat farther, and united with the power of conveying the

the Doctor's bungalow, and had

d at me at the time, and it certainly seemed absurd, but I was convinced I was not wrong. Now I know how it was; I told you at dinner today about the feat of the girl going up and

or keeping stores, and so on. I don't say it was that; I did not notice it much. There was a breach in the outside wall, and round it there was a fierce fight going on. A party of officers and civilians were repelling the assault of a body of Sepoys. On the

cture, you see, has so far come true that you have made the acqua

do not believe in it now. There was one feature in

was that,

as silent

s for it than most people would. When I first came out here I dare say you heard some so

le of Chillianwalla, and had then sold out, because you had shown the white feather. I need not say that I

is a hideous thing to say, but

mly. "Now that I know you, you are the las

that is fired. When I was born my father was in India. A short time before I came into the world my mother had a great fright. Her house in the country was broken into by burglars, who entered the room and threatened to blow out her brains if she moved; but the alarm was given, the men servants came down arme

rally much disappointed in me, and I think that added to my timidity, for it grew upon me rather than otherwise. Morally, I was not a coward. At school I can say that I never told a lie to a

no particular fancy for the army my father's heart was so set on it that I offered no objection. That the sound of a gun was abhorrent to me I knew, for the first time my father put a gun in my

d just in time to get up by forced marches to take part in the battle of Chillianwalla

ible. Happily for me the doctors declared I was in a state of high fever, and I so remained for a fortnight. As soon as I got better I was sent down the country, and I at once sent in my papers and went home. No doubt the affair was talked of, and there were whispers as to the real cause of my illness. My father was terribly angry when I returned h

wing to these rumors of disaffection among the Sepoys,

ness that the reason why I left the army was widely known, that I should welcome death, if it came to me noiselessly; but the thought

mprobable, but simply impossible. It is a horrible story to have to tell. This is the first time I have opened my lips on t