pen with a little sigh of satisfaction.

The memo he had 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.