Rujub, the Juggler by G. A. Henty (best biographies to read .txt) 📗

The two Miss Hunters, Mrs. Rintoul, and several of the others said they had seen enough, but among the men there was expressed a general wish to see another feat.

“I would not have missed this for anything,” the Doctor said. “It would be simple madness to throw away such a chance.”

The ladies, therefore, with the exception of Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Doolan, and Isobel, retired into the house.

“You must all go on one side now,” the juggler said, “for it is only on one side what I am now going to do can be seen.”

He then proceeded to light a fire of charcoal. When he had done this, he said, “The lights must now be extinguished and the curtains drawn, so that the light will not stream out from the house.”

As soon as this was done he poured a powder over the fire, and by its faint light the cloud of white smoke could be seen.

“Now I will show you the past,” he said. “Who speaks?”

There was silence, and then Dr. Wade said, “Show me my past.”

A faint light stole up over the smoke—it grew brighter and brighter; and then a picture was clearly seen upon it.

It was the sea, a house standing by itself in a garden, and separated from the water only by a road. Presently the figure of a girl appeared at the gate, and, stepping out, looked down the road as if waiting for someone. They could make out all the details of her dress and see her features distinctly. A low exclamation broke from the Doctor, then the picture gradually faded away.

“The future!” the juggler said, and gradually an Indian scene appeared on the smoke. It was a long, straight road, bordered by a jungle. A native was seen approaching; he paused in the foreground.

“That is you, Doctor!” Mr. Hunter exclaimed; “you are got up as a native, but it's you.”

Almost at the same moment two figures came out from the jungle. They were also in native dress.

“You and Miss Hannay,” the Doctor said in a low tone to Bathurst, “dressed like a native and dyed.” But no one else detected the disguise, and the picture again faded away.

“That is enough, Rujub,” Bathurst said, for he felt Isobel lean back heavily against the hand which he held at the back of her chair, and felt sure that she had fainted.

“Draw back the curtains, someone; I fancy this has been too much for Miss Hannay.”

The curtains were thrown back, and Mrs. Hunter, running in, brought out a lamp. The Doctor had already taken his place by Isobel's side.

“Yes, she has fainted,” he said to Bathurst; “carry her in her chair as she is, so that she may be in the room when she comes to.”

This was done.

“Now, gentlemen,” the Doctor said, “you had better light the lamps again out here, and leave the ladies and me to get Miss Hannay round.”

When the lamps were lit it was evident that the whole of the men were a good deal shaken by what they had seen.

“Well,” Mr. Hunter said, “they told me he was a famous juggler, but that beat anything I have seen before. I have heard of such things frequently from natives, but it is very seldom that Europeans get a chance of seeing them.”

“I don't want to see anything of the sort again,” Major Hannay said; “it shakes one's notions of things in general. I fancy, Hunter, that we shall want a strong peg all round to steady our nerves. I own that I feel as shaky as a boy who thinks he sees a ghost on his way through a churchyard.”

There was a general murmur of agreement and the materials were quickly brought.

“Well, Wilson, what do you and Richards think of it?” the Major went on, after he had braced himself up with a strong glass of brandy and water. “I should imagine you both feel a little less skeptical than you did two hours ago.”

“I don't know what Richards feels, Major, but I know I feel like a fool. I am sorry, Bathurst, for what I said at dinner; but 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 again. Well, after I have seen what I have seen this evening, I won't disbelieve anything I hear in future about these natives.”

“It was natural enough that you should be incredulous,” Bathurst said. “I should have been just as skeptical as you were when I first came out, and I have been astonished now, though I have seen some good jugglers before.”

At this moment the Doctor came out again.

“Miss Hannay is all right again now, Major. I am not surprised at her fainting; old hand as I am at these matters, and I think that I have seen as much or more juggling than any man in India. I felt very queer myself, specially at the snake business. 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, but there was certainly no magic lantern here. The juggler was standing close to me, and the girl was sitting at his feet. I watched them both closely, and certainly they had no apparatus about them by which such views could be thrown on the smoke.”

“You recognized the first scene, I suppose, Doctor?” Bathurst asked.

“Perfectly. It took me back twenty-five years. It was a cottage near Sidmouth, and was correct in every minute detail. The figure was that of the young 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 little inn at which I was stopping; the very pattern of her dress, which I need hardly say has never been in my mind all these years, was recalled to me.

“Had I been thinking of the scene at the time I could have accounted for it somehow, upon the theory that in some way or other the juggler was conscious of my thought and reflected it upon the smoke—how, I don't at all mean to say; but undoubtedly there 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 direction. But I certainly was not thinking of that scene when I spoke and said the 'past.' I had no doubt that he would show me something of the past, but certainly no particular incident passed through my mind before that picture appeared on the smoke.”

“The other was almost as curious,