A MARABOUT PUZZLED.* BY ROBERT-HOUDIN. TEALOUS of my reputation as a French sorcerer, I thought I must perform before the unbeliever a few tricks as a specimen of my late performance. I had the pleasure of astounding my audience, but the Marabout continued to offer me a systematic opposition, by which his neighbours were visibly annoyed; the poor fellow did not suspect, though, what I had in store for him. My antagonist wore in his sash a watch, the chain of which hung outside. I believe I have already mentioned a certain talent I possess of filching a watch, a pin, a pocket-book, &c., with a skill by which several of my friends have been victimised. I was fortunately born with an honest and upright heart, or this peculiar talent might have led me too far. When I felt inclined for a joke of this nature, I turned it to profit in a conjuring trick, or waited till my friend took leave of me, and then recalled him: "Stay," I would say, handing him the stolen article, "let this serve as a lesson to put you on your guard against persons less honest than myself." But to return to our Marabout. I had stolen his watch as I passed near him, and slipped into its place a five-frane piece. To prevent his detecting it, and while waiting till I could profit by my larceny, I improvised a trick. After juggling away BouAllem's rosary, I made it pass into one of the numerous slippers left at the door by the guests; this shoe was next found to be full of coins, and to end this little scene comically, I made five-franc pieces come out of the noses of the spectators. They took such pleasure in this trick that I fancied I should never terminate it. 1 the Marabout, who, as I expected, remained serious and impassive. When calm was restored, my rival began speaking hurriedly to his neighbours, as if striving to dispel their illusion; and, not succeeding, he addressed me through the interpreter. "You will not deceive me in that way," he said, with a crafty look. "Why so?" "Because I don't believe in your power." "Ah, indeed! Well, then, if you do not believe in my power, I will compel you to believe in my skill." "Neither in one nor the other." I was at this moment the whole length of the room from the Marabout. "Stay," I said to him; "you see this five-franc piece ?" "I am ready," the Arab said, in an incredulous voice, as he held out his tightlyclosed fist. I took the piece at the end of my fingers, so that the assembly might all see it, then feigning to throw it at the Marabout, it disappeared at the word "Pass!" My man By kind permission of the Publishers. A MARABOUT PUZZLED. opened his hand, and, finding nothing in it, shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, "You see, I told you so." 15 I was well aware the piece was not there, but it was important to 425 "You are aware," I said, with assurance," that I require a talisman in order to be invulnerable, ard, draw the unfortunately, I have left Marabout's mine at Algiers." attention momentarily from his sash, and for this purpose I employed the feint. "That does not surprise me," I replied, " for I threw the piece with such strength that it went right through your hand, and has fallen into your sash. Being afraid I might break your watch by the blow, I called it to me: here it is!" And I showed him the watch in my hand. The Marabont quickly put his hand in his waistbelt, to assure himself of the truth, and was quite stupefied at finding the five-franc piece. The spectators were astounded. Some among them began telling their beads with a vivacity evidencing a certain agitation of mind; but the Marabout frowned without saying a word, and I saw he was "I now be- peat here a trick which you performed in your theatre;" and offering me two pistols he held concealed beneath his burnous, he added, "Come, choose one of these pistols; we will load it, and I will fire at you. You have nothing to fear, as you can ward off all blows." I I confess I was for a moment staggered; sought a subterfuge, and found none. All eyes were fixed upon me, and a reply was anxiously awaited." The Marabout was triumphant. Bou-Allem, being aware that my tricks were only the result of skill, was angry that his guest should be so pestered, invulnerability; then, satisfied with the result, I slept soundly, for I was terribly tired. By eight the next morning we had breakfasted, our horses were saddled, and our escort was awaiting the signal for our departure, which would take place after the famous experiment. None of the guests were absent, and indeed a great number of Arabs came in to swell the crowd. The pistols were handed me; I called attention to the fact that the vents were clear, and the Marabout put in a fair charge of powder and drove the wad home. Among the bullets produced I chose one, which I openly put in the pistol, and which was then also covered with paper. The Arab watched all these movements, for his honour was at stake. We went through the same process with the second pistol, and the solemn moment arrived. Solemn, indeed, it seemed to everybody-to the spectators, who were uncertain of the issue --to Madame Houdin, who had in vain besought me to give up this trick, for she feared the resultand solemn also to me, for as my new trick did not depend on any of the arrangements made at Algiers, I feared an error-an act of treachery-I knew not what. Still I posted myself at fifteen paces from the sheik, without evincing the slightest emotion. The Marabout immediately seized one of the pistols, and, on my giving the signal, took a deliberate aim at me. The pistol went off, and the ball appeared between my teeth. More angry than ever, my rival tried to seize the other pistol, but I succeeded in reaching it before him. 66 You could not injure me,” I said to him; "but you shall now see that my aim is more dangerous than yours. Look at that wall." I pulled the trigger, and on the newly whitewashed wall appeared a large patch of blood, exactly at the spot where I had aimed. The Marabout went up to it, dipped his finger in the blood, and, raising it to his mouth, convinced himself of the reality. When he acquired this certainty his arms fell, and his head was bowed on his chest, as if he were annihilated. It was evident that for the moment ho doubted everything, even the Prophet. The spectators raised their eyes to heaven, muttered prayers, and regarded me with a species of terror. This scene was a triumphant termination to my performance. I therefore retired, leaving the audience under the impression I had produced. We took leave of Bou-Allem and his son, and set off at a gallop. The trick I have just described, though so curi ous, is easily prepared. I will give a description of it, while explaining the trouble it took me. As soon as I was alone in my room, I took out of my pistol-case-without which I never travela bullet-mould. I took a card, bent up the four edges, and thus made a sort of trough, in which I placed a piece of wax taken from one of the candles. When it was melted, I mixed with it a little lamp-black I had obtained by putting the blade of a knife over the candle, and then ran this composition in the bulletmould. Had I allowed the liquid to get quite cold, the ball would have been full and solid; but in about ten seconds I turned the mould over, and the portion of the wax not yet set ran out, leaving a hollow ball in the mould. This operation is the same as that used in making tapers, the thickness of the outside depending on the time the liquid has been left in the mould. I wanted a second ball, which I made rather more solid than the other; and this I filled with blood, and covered the orifice with a lump of wax. An Irishman had once taught me the way to draw blood from the thumb, without feeling any pain, and I employed it on this occasion to fill my bullet. Bullets thus prepared bear an extraordinary resemblance to lead, and are easily mistaken for that metal when seen a short distance off. With this explanation the trick will be easily understood. After showing the leaden bullet to the spectators, I changed it for my hollow ball, and openly put the latter into the pistol. By pressing the wad tightly down, the wax broke into small pieces, and could not touch me at the distance I stood. At the moment the pistol was fired, I opened my mouth to display the lead bullet I held between my teeth; while the other pistol contained the bullet filled with blood, which, bursting against the wall, left its imprint, though the wax had flown to atoms. THE WHITE CHIP HAT. A SCENE ON THE AUSTRIAN FRONTIER. "DEY must not pass !" was the warning cry of the Austrian sentinel To one whose little knapsack bore the books he loved so well. They must not pass? Now, wherefore not ?" the wond'ring tourist cried; "No English book can pass mit me," the sentinel replied. The tourist laughed a scornful laugh; quoth he, 'Indeed, I hope 66 There are few English books would please a Kaiser or a Pope; But these are books in common use; plain truths and facts they tell"Der teufel! Den dey most not pass!" said the startled sentinel. "This Handbook to North Germany, by worthy Mr. Murray, Need scarcely put your government in such a mighty flurry; If tourists' handbooks be proscribed, pray have you ever tried To find a treasonable page in Bradshaw's Railway Guide? This map, again, of Switzerland-nay, man, you needn't start or Look black at such a little map, as if 'twere Magna Charta; I know it is the land of Tell, but, curb your idle fury We've not the slightest hope, to-day, to find a Tell in your cye (Uri)." 66 427 Sturmwetter!" said the sentinel, "Come! cease dis idle babbles! Was ist dis oder book I see? Das Haus mit sieben Gabbles? I nevvare heard of him bifor, ver mosh I wish I had, For now Ich kann nicht let him pass, for fear he should be bad. Das Haus of Commons it must be; Ja wohl! 'tis so, and den Die sieben Gabbles are de talk of your chief public men; Potzmiekchen! it is dreadful books. Ja! Ja! I know him well; Hoch Himmel! here he most not pass," said the learned sentinel. "Dis Plato, too, I ver mosh fear, he will corrupt the land; He has soch many long big words, Ich kann nicht onderstand." "My friend," the tourist said, "I fear you're really in the way to Quite change the proverb, and be friends with neither Truth nor Plato. My books, 'tis true, are little worth, but they have served me long, And I regard the greatness less than the nature of the wrong; So, if the books must stay behind, I stay behind as well." "Es ist mir nichts, mein lieber Freund," said the courteous sentinel. I PASS'D her one day in a hurry, I ne'er saw a parasol handled So like to a duchess's doing- Surprising !-one woman can dish us Chip hat without flower or featherWell-gloved and enchantingly bodiced, Her waist like the cup of a lilyAnd an air that, while daintily modest, Repell'd both the saucy and sillyQuite the thing! For such a rare wonder you'll say, sir, I'm sage as old Voltaire at Ferney, Away flies the dream I had nourish'd— CRYSTALS UNCUT. N society, wholesales don't mix with retails; raw wool does not speak to halfpenny balls of cried a Yorkshireman. "You may turn a horse into a field in Yorkshire, and not be able to find him next morning." NEVER lend an umbrella, or your name to a bill: the chances are that the one will not be returned, and the other will. "Do you retail things here?" asked a greenworsted; looking specimen of humanity, as he poked his tallow in head into a shop in Fleet Street the other day. "Yes," was the laconic reply. "Well, I wish you would re-tail my dog; he had it bit off about a week ago." the cask looks down on sixes to the pound, and pig iron turns up its nose at tenpenny nails. SOME one says that a certain congregation pray on their knees on Sundays, and on their neighbours the rest of the week. A CITY merchant, who takes a business view of most things, when recently asked respecting a person of quite a poetic temperament, replied, "Oh, he is one of those men who have soarings after the indefinite, and divings after the unfathomable, but who never pay cash." 9 "I SUPPOSE, neighbour," said one elector to another, "you'll plump for Mr. as you did before?" "No," said the other, "I don't think I shall; the beef wasn't dressed to my mind at his last election dinner." "Is this your house and home?" asked a traveller of a farmer as he saw him boarding up a pig-sty. "No," replied the farmer; "I'm only boarding here." HEIGHT OF IMPUDENCE.-Calling a man, standing in the street, opprobrious nicknames from a thirdstorey window. A WRITER called at his printer's and accused the compositor of not having punctuated his poem, whereupon the typo earnestly replied, "I'm not a pointer-I'm a setter." In the newspaper account of an inquest held on the body of a glutton who died by devouring part of a goose, the verdict, suffocation, was printed, with more truth than was intended, stuffocation. A BACHELOR friend of ours has left a boardinghouse in which there were a number of old maids, on account of the miserable "fair" set before him at table. JOHN says he wishes this hot weather could come along next winter, it would save him so much trouble in the way of making fires. "WELL, I suppose you have been down to the New Forest; did you see anything of our old friend out there?" "Yes, gone deranged." "Gone deranged! how? What does he do? Real crazy?" "Yes, indeed; he doesn't know his own hogs from his neighbours'." A GENTLEMAN telling a very strange and improbable story, and observing one of the company cast a doubtful eye, "Zounds, sir!" says he, "I saw the thing happen." "If you did," says the gentleman, "I must believe it but I would not have believed it if I had seen it myself." 66 A GENTLEMAN, who was in arrears for several weeks' board and lodging, complained one morning that his coffee was not settled. "You had better settle for the coffee, and then complain," said the landlady. THE phrase "fighting on his own hook," is now more elegantly rendered "waging war upon the individuality of his personal curve." MR. PEPPER'S house being on fire, a large crowd was soon on the spot, when one of them remarked, "We've mustered enough to save Pepper." A DUN was somewhat taken aback the other day by the coolness with which the debtor said, "Call next Thursday, my dear sir, exactly at ten o'clock, and I'll tell you when to call again." A GENTLEMAN whose house was under repair, went one day to see how the job was getting on, and observing a quantity of nails lying about, said to a carpenter, "Why don't you take care of these nails?-they'll certainly be lost." "No," replied bill." Master Chopstick; "you'll find them all in the Ir you are a precise man, and wish to be certain of what you get, never marry a girl named Ann, for we have the authority of Lindley Murray, and many others, for the assertion that Ann is an "indefinite article." THE other day an old lady rushed frantically into the back garden in search of her daughter, upon being told that she had gone there with a "rake." |