ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 291 



wicked juggler drew his sword and slashed the girthing 

 through, causing it to tumble down in a heap. Dreadful 

 screams were heard, followed by silence, while mangled 

 limbs together with drops of blood were seen falling to the 

 ground. No wonder women fainted ! Then, while con- 

 sternation and horror still tied every tongue, the juggler 

 called out, ' Idtherao ! ' (' Come here ! ') and instantly the 

 slaughtered boy came running back, nobody seeing whence, 

 and plumped himself down on the grass safe and sound, 

 and quite careless of the sensation he caused, before the 

 nervous people who had fainted had yet ' come to.' There 

 lay the girthing twisted about on the ground, and the sword 

 beside it, but where was the dread shower that every one 

 had seen fall ? There were no signs of it ! 



At this point the gentlemen of the cameras appeared, and 

 the first person they spoke to was the juggler in his native 

 Hindustani, who showed as much intelligent interest in 

 their proceedings as any one, though making no comment. 



The written notes they had made tallied with each other, 

 as with the observations of every one present, in every par- 

 ticular right through the performance ; but the cameras 

 gave the He direct to all such evidence for the climbing of an 

 impossible ladder or the falling of broken limbs. The plates 

 intended to perpetuate these scenes among others showed 

 nothing of the kind ! 



A juggler's tricks are his means of livelihood, so no 

 questionings are permissible, but the thirst for elucidation 

 here was very keen, and spoken of openly. A little English 

 may have been included in this man's stock of knowledge, 

 and the gist of the talk all around not lost on him ; however, 

 he gave no sign, nor vouchsafed a hint. In silence he packed 

 his basket, relaxing only so far as to allow a non-committal 

 smile to flit across his face at some one's remark that ' the 

 girthing was still all in one piece, so the sword could only 

 have cut through empty air.' 



