ad just finished was a most conclusive one; it seemed
to him unanswerable, and that the Department would have trouble in
disputing his facts and figures. He had not since he sat down to his
work given another thought to the juggler, and he almost started as a
figure appeared in the veranda at the open window.

"Ah, Rujub, is it you? I have just finished my work. Come in; is Rabda
with you?"

"She will remain outside until I want her," the juggler said as he
entered and squatted himself on the floor. "I am not going to juggle,
sahib. With us there are two sorts of feats; there are those that are
performed by sleight of hand or by means of assistance. These are the
juggler's tricks we show in the verandas and compounds of the white
sahibs, and in the streets of the cities. There are others that are
known only to the higher order among us, that we show only on rare
occasions. They have come to us from the oldest times, and it is said
they were brought by wise men from Egypt; but that I know not."

"I have always been interested in juggling, and have seen many things
that I cannot understand," Bathurst said. "I have seen the basket trick
done on the road in front of the veranda, as well as in other places,
and I cannot in any way account for it."

The juggler took from his basket a piece of wood about two feet in
length and some four inches in diameter.

"You see this?" he said.

Bathurst took it in his hand. "It looks like a bit sawn off a telegraph
pole," he said.

"Will you come outside, sahib?"

The night was very dark, but the lamp on the table threw its light
through the window onto the drive in front of the veranda. Rujub took
with him a piece of wood about nine inches square, with a soft pad on
the top. He went out in the drive and placed the piece of pole upright,
and laid the wood with the cushion on the top.

"Now will you stand in the veranda a while?"

Bathurst stood back by the side of the window so as not to interfere
with the passage of the light. Rabda stole forward and sat down upon the
cushion.

"Now watch, sahib."

Bathurst looked, and saw the block of wood apparently growing. Gradually
it rose until Rabda passed up beyond the light in the room.

"You may come out," the juggler said, "but do not touch the pole. If you
do, it will cause a fall, which would be fatal to my child."

Bathurst stepped out and looked up. He could but just make out the
figure of Rabda, seemingly already higher