CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER IX
_OLD SLEUTH'S OWN._
No. 41.
The Twin Ventriloquists;
OR,
NIMBLE IKE AND JACK THE JUGGLER.
A Tale of Strategy and Jugglery.
By OLD SLEUTH.
[Illustration: "Great Scott, the hound spoke!"]
NEW YORK:
J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
57 ROSE STREET.
The Twin Ventriloquists;
OR
NIMBLE IKE AND JACK THE JUGGLER.
A Tale of Strategy and Jugglery.
By OLD SLEUTH.
Copyright, 1895, by Parlor Car Publishing Company.
All Rights Reserved.
NEW YORK:
J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
57 ROSE STREET.
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THE TWIN VENTRILOQUISTS;
OR,
NIMBLE IKE AND JACK THE JUGGLER.
A Tale of Strategy and Jugglery.
BY OLD SLEUTH.
CHAPTER I.
NIMBLE IKE ENCOUNTERS AN EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURE AND TWO WONDERFUL
VENTRILOQUISTS PLAY PARTS AGAINST EACH OTHER WITH ASTONISHING
RESULTS.
"Great Cæsar!"
The exclamation with which we open our narrative fell from the lips of
Nimble Ike, one of the most remarkable ventriloquists that ever sent a
human voice rambling around through space under the most extraordinary
inflectional disguises. Detectives disguise their appearance, but
ventriloquists disguise their voices, and make them represent at will
all manner of individualities, in the human or animal. Nimble Ike, as we
have intimated, was a wonderful ventriloquist; he had played more pranks
and worked more wonders with his talent than any other person possessed
of the remarkable gift. He had paralyzed professionals and amazed
amateurs, and with the aid of his marvelous vocal powers had performed
many good deeds on the side of right and justice, forcing rogues to
confessions and scaring schemers and roués out of their wits. He was a
daring youth, possessing many talents other than the gift of
ventriloquism to a remarkable degree. He had never met his match, and
when not engaged in aiding some persecuted person or working with
detectives he amused himself in various ways by an exercise of his
powers. As stated, Ike had never met his match either among
professionals or amateurs. He stood number one as a ventriloquist
wonder. He had been told of a youth who also possessed the gift in a
most remarkable manner. He had never met the youth and was led to doubt
the fact that there was another who came anywhere near him. One day Ike,
having nothing else to do, determined to visit the Metropolitan Museum
in Central Park. He had been there before and enjoyed himself every
time, but he had never attempted any of his pranks. On the occasion when
we introduce him to our readers, he was standing beside a mummy case
containing the linen-bound remains of some poor Egyptian who died
thousands of years ago, and he was deeply interested in the description
and explanations offered by a sallow-faced gentleman who was a great
scientist and Egyptologist. An old maid teacher of an archæological turn
of mind had chaperoned her class of young lady pupils and had secured
the services of the sallow-faced man with the big spectacles to act as
guide and expositor for the occasion. As stated, Ike was greatly
interested in what the professor had to say; he felt quite serious and
was in no mood to amuse himself, when a most startling, soul-thrilling
incident occurred. The professor had all the young ladies gathered close
around him like so many serious mourners standing around the casket of a
deceased friend. He had been descanting in a very earnest manner and
finally said:
"Now, ladies, if that mummy could speak he would."
Here the professor stopped suddenly, his spectacles fell from his face,
his hands went up and his face blanched, while the young ladies fell
back trembling with terror, for, from the interior of the mummy case
came the astounding announcement:
"I can talk. What do you want me to tell you?"
The words came clear and distinct, and they came, as appeared, directly
from the lips of the mummy; and so realistic was the declaration that
one might expect to see the lurid-looking object rise in its thousands
of centuries old shroud and look forth from the sunken hollows where its
eyes had once beamed forth.
As stated, Ike was standing near the mummy case, but the wonderful
ventriloquist was as much amazed as any one. He did not believe the
mummy spoke--he was too great an expert in vocal deceptions--but he was
amazed all the same, and his amazement arose from the discovery that
there was one living person besides himself who could produce such
amazing results. He glanced around and there was only the one party who
had been standing near the mummy, and that was the professor with the
ladies gathered around him. Some distance off a very trimly-built youth
stood gazing at the stuffed birds in a case. Our hero had not seen his
face; he could not be the vocal deceiver, however, and the question
arose, Who had performed this marvelous trick? Meantime the professor
had gathered his spectacles from the floor and had to a certain extent
recovered from his surprise and bewilderment, and he ejaculated:
"That was most extraordinary."
He beckoned the ladies about him once again, but they came forward very
reluctantly and our hero, Nimble Ike, scanned their faces to learn which
one of the pretty girls was the ventriloquist who had worked the great
trick. All their faces wore an expression of surprise and alarm, and he
was forced to conclude that the voice magician was not one of them, and
his final conclusion was that the sallow-faced scientist was the
culprit--yes, the sallow-faced man with the big nose and goggles had
made the inviting statement, knowing that he could seemingly make the
mummy talk. His surprise and alarm, our hero concluded, was all a
pretense and a part of his little joke, and it was then that Ike turning
away uttered the ejaculation "Great Cæsar!" His blood was up; the
professor was a wonderful ventriloquist, but Ike determined to have some
sport and give the professor ventriloquist, as he appeared to be, the
surprise of his life. He determined to make the mummy do some tall
talking and force the professor to a betrayal of genuine surprise.
"Yes," mentally concluded Ike, "the next time you'll shed your goggles
for fair."
Ike was in no hurry, however; he intended first to watch the professor
and find out if he were really the vocal wonder.
The young ladies finally gathered around, for the professor's talk had
really been very interesting. He said:
"Young ladies, I wish to ask you a question. What scared you?"
The ladies did not answer, and the professor again inquired:
"Were you scared by my demonstration or did you, ah--ah--well, did you
hear a voice?"
One of the young ladies answered:
"We heard a voice."
"You did?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then it was not a delusion; no, it was not a delusion, but it was one
of the most extraordinary incidents that ever occurred since the days of
miracles, or, to explain it on scientific grounds, we were all so
engrossed on the subject under conversation that by some singular
psychologic phenomena, our imaginations were momentarily spellbound by a
concentration of all the nerve forces upon a given thought, and thereby
our imaginations were abnormally stimulated to such a degree as to make
the extraordinary deception possible."
The girls stared, but did not comprehend the professor's explanation,
although it was about as plain as scientific and medical explanations
usually are.
Ike was unable to decide. The professor appeared to have fully recovered
and again became rapt in the subject of his discourse. The young ladies
also appeared to have recovered from their alarm and were deeply
interested in all the professor said. Ike, however, had lost all
interest in the lecture. He was piqued, he did not understand how it
could be that there was really another who possessed a ventriloquistic
talent almost equal to his own. As stated, he watched the professor and
finally the good man again arrived at a point when he said:
"If that relic of the past centuries could speak he----"
"I can speak," again came the voice from the mummy case.
The professor stared, the ladies stared, but the expression of surprise
was not equal to what it had been at the first exhibition. The
professor, however, came to a dead stop, he looked slowly around and
finally in a husky voice remarked:
"I do not understand it."
Neither did Ike, for he was convinced that the professor was not the
acrobatic vocalist. The latter, however, was a man of nerve, a genuine
scientist, and he said:
"Young ladies, do not be scared; that linen-wrapped object, that corpse,
that has lain swathed in its funeral habiliments for over thirty
centuries, says he can speak. We will let him talk." And from the mummy
case came the statement:
"I think a fellow who has been silent for thirty centuries should have a
chance to get a word in."
Ike was "on to it." He was too great an expert not to fathom the
mystery. He had met his match at last. He was fully assured that the
lithe-looking chap who was studying the ornithological department was
the ventriloquist, and our hero muttered:
"You are having lots of fun, mister, but now I'll give you a scare."
The ventriloquist stranger was still gazing in the bird case, when close
to his ear came the startling announcement, seemingly from the bird
case:
"What's the matter with you? Why do you disturb that poor old Egyptian
who has been asleep for over three thousand years?"
Ike's test brought its result. He saw the strange youth give a start. He
turned about, but he did not look at the talking stuffed bird; he turned
around to see who it was that had so cleverly matched him. It was a
great game all round. The professor was bewildered, the ladies were
bewildered, and the young fellow at the bird case, who had bewildered
every one else, was himself bewildered. In fact, Ike, the master, was
the only one who at that moment held the key to the whole mystery, and
knew just what it was all about.
Ike enjoyed his momentary triumph, and so for a few moments nothing
startling occurred.
The professor kept repeating, "This is most extraordinary," and the
balance of his party evidently thought so.
The young man who had been looking in the bird case, however, as it
proved, was a "Jim Dandy," as the boys say. He was not to be kicked out
so easily. He also, as our narrative will prove, was an expert and a
very brave and resolute lad. He walked around looking into several cases
for a few moments and then quietly edged over toward the mummy case
around which still lingered the professor and his party, and Ike
realized that a most remarkable duel was portending--a duel between two
wonderful vocal experts. Our hero had fully identified the young man on
whom he had retorted as the individual who had made the mummy speak.
"I'll have first shot," thought Ike, and as the young man passed close
to a second mummy case and stood a moment looking at the bandaged face
as a "throw off," the relic of a thousand years appeared to say to him
in a hoarse whisper:
"Look out, young man, look out, you may get hit with a club made three
thousand years ago."
There was a perplexed look upon the young man's face for a moment, and
then his bright, clear eyes wandered around and he too fell to a
discovery, as he believed.
The professor meantime had become exceedingly nervous and he said:
"I believe I will adjourn the lecture for to-day."
As the professor spoke, there came a voice from the mummy case saying:
"Yes, you had better adjourn it forever, for you don't know what you are
talking about."
The professor advanced close to the mummy case to gaze directly at the
lips of the three-thousand-year corpse. He was determined to solve the
mystery, but as he bent over the venerable object there came an
unearthly yell that froze the blood in his veins. He leaped back, the
young ladies ran screaming away and there would have been a great scene
were it not that at the time there were no other persons in that
particular department of the museum.
The professor led the way down to the office to tell his wondrous tale,
while the young man who had first started the joke approached and gazed
intently on the face of our hero, the great Nimble Ike. The latter
returned the gaze and for a few moments it was a duel of stare; neither
appeared disposed to open the conversation, while in the mind of each
there dawned a suspicion, and finally the young stranger mustered up
sufficient courage to ask:
"Say, young fellow, who are you?"