the line of lesser lights in the conjuring business--even our own
Houdini--we know there is a trick somewhere; the fun is in
finding it. Hanlon's is a new one and a gem--I don't even begin
to see through it yet."

"Neither do I," agreed Mason Eliott. "I think to do what he did
by a trick is really more of a feat than to be led by real
thought-transference."

"Except that the real thing isn't available--and trick-work is."
Hanlon smiled genially as he said this, and Embury, a little
impatiently, urged him to go on, and begged the others to cease
their interruptions.

"Well," Hanlon resumed, "understand, then, that I cannot be
really blindfolded. No committee of citizens, however
determined, can bandage my eyes in such a manner that I can't
wiggle my forehead about sufficiently to get the pads up or down
or one side or the other until I can see--all I want to." Hanlon
knotted up his frontal muscles to prove that a bandage tied
tightly would become loose when he relaxed the strain."
Understand that I can see the ground only for a few inches
directly at the front of me or very close to my sides. That is
all."

"O.K.," said Hendricks. "Now, with your sight assured for that
very limited space, what is next?"

"That, sir, is enough to explain the little game I put over in
the newspaper office, before trying the out-of-door test. You