We Approached
A Deeply Interested Crowd, And In The Midst Of It
Found A Fellow Wildly Chattering And Gesticulating
Over A Box On The Ground Which Was Covered With A Piece
Of Old Blanket.
Every little while he would bend down
and take hold of the edge of the blanket with the extreme
Tips of his fingertips, as if to show there was no
deception - chattering away all the while - but always,
just as I was expecting to see a wonder feat of legerdemain,
he would let go the blanket and rise to explain further.
However, at last he uncovered the box and got out a spoon
with a liquid in it, and held it fair and frankly around,
for people to see that it was all right and he was taking
no advantage - his chatter became more excited than ever.
I supposed he was going to set fire to the liquid and
swallow it, so I was greatly wrought up and interested.
I got a cent ready in one hand and a florin in the other,
intending to give him the former if he survived and the
latter if he killed himself - for his loss would be my gain
in a literary way, and I was willing to pay a fair price
for the item - but this impostor ended his intensely
moving performance by simply adding some powder to the
liquid and polishing the spoon! Then he held it aloft,
and he could not have shown a wilder exultation if he
had achieved an immortal miracle.
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