Among the natives it was quite the reverse. Husbands and wives, the
jolly barber knew them well, and he knew they would give him a better
reception.

Behold, then, Fragoso on the road, coming up the shady lane beneath
the ficuses, and arriving in the central square of Tabatinga!

As soon as he set foot in the place the famous barber was signaled,
recognized, surrounded. Fragoso had no big box, nor drum, nor cornet
to attract the attention of his clients--not even a carriage of
shining copper, with resplendent lamps and ornamented glass panels,
nor a huge parasol, no anything whatever to impress the public, as
they generally have at fairs. No; but Fragoso had his cup and ball,
and how that cup and ball were manipulated between his fingers! With
what address did he receive the turtle's head, which did for the
ball, on the pointed end of the stick! With what grace did he make
the ball describe some learned curve of which mathematicians have not
yet calculated the value--even those who have determined the wondrous
curve of "the dog who follows his master!"

Every native was there--men, women, the old and the young, in their
nearly primitive costume, looking on with all their eyes, listening
with all their ears. The smiling entertainer, half in Portuguese,
half in Ticunian, favored them with his customary oration in a tone
of the most rollicking good humor. What he said was what is said by
all the charlatans who place their services at the public disposal,
whether they be Spanish Figaros or French perruqiers. At the bottom
the same self-possession, the same knowledge of human weakness, the
same description of threadbare witticisms, the same amusing