CHAPTER X.

SOME TRICKS IN MAGIC.

"You don't mean it!" exclaimed the professor. "Noddy Nixon, the young man who made all the trouble for us! I thought we had seen the last of him."

"I hoped we had," said Jerry. "But you can't always get what you want in this world."

"No, indeed! There is a purple grasshopper I've been hunting for for nearly five years, and I never found it!" spoke the naturalist.

"I wonder if Noddy saw us?" asked Ned.

"It doesn't make much difference," was Bob's opinion. "He'll run across us sooner or later. If he stops in the same village we do he's sure to hear about us."

"Then we may as well put up overnight in this town," said Jerry, sending the machine ahead again. Though the boys kept a close watch, they saw no more of Noddy, for his automobile disappeared around a turn of the road.

When the red touring car came up to the village, such a crowd of curious Mexicans surrounded the auto that the occupants had difficulty in descending.

"I guess Noddy couldn't have come here, or these people wouldn't be so curious about our car," said Bob.

"Oh, you can depend on it, he's somewhere in the neighborhood," was Ned's opinion.

The keeper of the tavern, running out, bowed low to the prospective guests.

"Enter, señors!" he exclaimed. "You are welcome a thousand times. The whole place is yours."

"Will you guarantee that there are no robbers?" asked Jerry.

"Robbers, señors? Not one of the rascals within a thousand miles!"

"And will my bugs, snakes and specimens be safe?" asked the professor.

"Bugs and snakes! Santa Maria! What do you want of such reptiles? Of course they will be safe. The most wretched thief, of which there are none here, would not so much as lay a finger on them."

"Then we will stay," said the naturalist.

"Out of the way, dogs, cattle, swine, pigs and beasts!" cried the innkeeper, brushing the crowd aside. "Let the noble señors enter!"

At these words, spoken in fierce tones, though mine host was smiling the while, the throng parted, and the boys, accompanied by the professor, made their way to the inn.

It was not long before supper was served. There were the frijoles and tortillas, without which no Mexican meal of ordinary quality is complete, but the adventurers had not yet become used to this food. Then, too, there was delicious chocolate, such as can be had nowhere but in Mexico.

While the meal was in progress the travelers noticed that there was considerable excitement about the inn. Crowds of people seemed to be going and coming, all of them talking loudly, and most of them laughing.

"What is it all about?" asked Jerry.

"To-day is a fête day," replied the innkeeper. "No one has worked, and to-night there is an entertainment in the village square. Every one will attend. It will be a grand sight."

"What sort of entertainment?"

"I know only what I heard, that a most wonderful magician will do feats. Ah, some of those performers are very imps of darkness!" and the man muttered a prayer beneath his breath.

"That sounds interesting. Let's go," suggested Bob.

"I haven't any objection," said Jerry. "Will you go, Professor?"

"I will go anywhere where there is a chance I may add to the stock of scientific knowledge," replied the naturalist. "Lead on, I'll follow."

The meal over, the boys and professor had only to follow the crowd in order to reach the public square. A centre space had been roped off, and in the middle of this a small tent was erected.

On the payment of a small sum to some officials, who seemed to be acting as ushers, the travelers managed to get places in the front row. There they stood, surrounded by swarthy Mexican men, women and boys, waiting for the performance to begin.

Suddenly from within the tent sounded some weird music: the shrill scraping of fiddle and the beat of tom-toms. Then a voice was heard chanting. A few seconds later a young man, dressed completely in white, stepped from the tent and sat down, cross-legged, on the ground. A score of flaring torches about him gave light, for it was now night.

He spread a cloth on the ground, sprinkled a few drops of water on it, muttered some words, whisked away the covering, and there was a tiny dwarfed tree, its branches bearing fruit.

"The old Indian mango trick!" exclaimed the professor. "I have seen it done better, many times."

The next trick was more elaborate. The youth in white clapped his hands and a boy came running from the tent. With him he brought a basket. The youth began to scold the boy, beating him with a stick.

To escape the blows, the boy leaped into the basket. In a trice the youth clapped the cover on. Then drawing a sword at his side, the youth plunged it into the wicker-work several times. From the basket horrible cries came, growing fainter and fainter at each thrust of the weapon.

With a cry of satisfaction the youth finally held his sword aloft. The boys could see that it ran red, as if with blood.

"Has he stabbed him?" asked Bob, in frightened tones.

"Watch," said the professor, with a smile.

The youth opened the basket. It was empty. The boy had disappeared. The youth gave a cry of astonishment, and gazed up into the starlit sky. Naturally, every one in the crowd gazed upward, likewise. All at once there was a cry from behind the youth, and the boy who had been in the basket, laughing and capering about as if being thrust through with a sword was the biggest joke in the world, moved among the assemblage, collecting coins in his cap.

"Another old Indian trick," said the professor. "He simply curled up close to the outer rim of the basket and the sword went through the middle, where his body formed a circle."

"But the blood!" exclaimed Bob.

"The boy had a sponge wet with red liquid, and when the sword blade came through the basket he wiped the crimson stuff on it," explained the professor.

The tricks seemed to please the crowd very much, for few of them saw how they were done. The Mexicans cried for more.

The youth and boy retired to the tent. Their place was taken by an old man, wrapped in a cloak. He produced a long rope, which he proceeded to knot about his body, tying himself closely. Then he signed for two of the spectators to take hold, one at either end of the cord, which extended from under his cloak. Two men did as he desired.

Then the old man began a sort of chant. He waved his hands in the air. With a quick motion he threw something at one of the torches. A cloud of smoke arose. There was a wild cry from the two men who held the rope. When the vapor cleared away the magician was nowhere to be seen, though his cloak lay on the ground and the men still held the ends of the rope that had bound him.

An instant later there came a laugh from a tree off to the left. Every one turned to look, and the old man jumped down from among the branches.

"He tied fake knots," said the professor. "While he was waving his hands he managed to undo them. Then he threw some powder in the torch flame, and while the smoke blinded every one he slipped out of his bonds and cloak, went through the crowd like a snake, and climbed a tree. The tricks are nothing to what I have seen in Egypt and India."

"Perhaps there is nothing wonderful but in India or Egypt," spoke a voice at the professor's elbow. He turned with a start, to see the old magician standing near him. The naturalist had not spoken aloud, yet it seemed that the Mexican had heard him.

"There are stranger things in this land than in Egypt," went on the trickster. "Buried cities are stranger. Buried cities, where there is much gold to be had and great riches."

"What do you know about buried cities?" asked the professor.

"Ask him who sat in the road, who drew the circle in the dust. Ask him whom ye vainly sought," replied the Mexican, with a laugh.

The professor started.

"It can't be! Yes, it is. It's the same Mexican we met before, and to whom I gave the tobacco," said the naturalist.

"_Si, señor_," was the answer, as the old man bowed low. "And be assured that though you mock at my poor magic, yet I can look into the future for you. I tell you," and he leaned over and whispered, "you shall soon find what you seek, the mysterious city. You are on the right road. Keep on. When ye reach a place where the path turns to the left, at the sign where ye shall see the laughing serpent, take that path. See, the stars tell that you will meet with good fortune."

With a dramatic gesture the old man pointed aloft. Involuntarily the professor and the boys looked up. Then, remembering the trick that had been played on them before, they looked for the Mexican. But he had disappeared.