"A mad dog!"
"He is going to bite the young juggler!"
Shriek after shriek arose on the air and several of the boys and girls
fled from the scene.
It was truly a thrilling moment, and a youth with less nerve than Carl
Ross would have been paralyzed with terror.
But in knocking around during the past few years of his life the boy
juggler and magician had more than once been thrown into a position of
peril, and he realized that to lose his nerve would perhaps cost him his
life.
As the mad beast leaped for his throat Carl dodged to one side and
caught the animal by the left hind leg.
He whirled the body in the air and flung it with great force against a
neighboring tree.
The shock was such that for the moment the enraged beast was stunned. It
lay panting upon the grass, its glassy eyes rolling frightfully.
"Get into the house, all of you!" cried Leo, and picked up a wee bit of
a girl that was standing near. She was too young to realize her peril,
and gazed at him in wonder.
The crowd started pellmell, with Leo and his burden in the rear.
Scarcely had Leo moved when the dog recovered and stood up. He had his
eyes on Carl, and leaped once more for him.
Carl ran to where he had been performing. The four daggers he had used
were still on the ground and he picked them up.
Swish! One of the daggers flew through the air with lightning-like
rapidity. It struck the brute in the forehead, inflicting a telling
injury.
"He has knifed the dog!"
"That was a clever throw!"
Seriously wounded, the bulldog, with the tenacity of his race, still
showed fight. He crouched down, then made another leap for our hero.
As he did this his breast became exposed, and launching forth a second
dagger the young magician struck him fairly between the ribs. The
shining blade sank deep into the flesh, and with a snarl and a yelp the
mad bulldog rolled over--dead.
A shout went up from the neighborhood of the mansion. Nearly all who had
attended the party had seen the skillful way in which the dangerous
animal had been dispatched. Leo was the first to reach Carl's side.
"By jove! Carl, that was great!" he ejaculated. "You did him up in jig
time."
"You are a brave young man and no mistake," put in Walter Raymond. "Not
one man in a hundred would have tackled that dog. I wouldn't have done
it for a thousand dollars."
"I don't want any more of it," answered the young magician, as he wiped
the perspiration from his forehead. "Shall I go on with the
performance?" he continued to the young man of the house.
"I don't know as the folks are in the humor," replied Walter Raymond.
"We'll do a double act and make them forget the dog incident," said Leo
quickly.
The gardener was called, and he removed the body of the canine. As soon
as this was accomplished Leo and Carl set to work to do some
sleight-of-hand performances of a humorous nature.
Taking Leo by the nose, Carl pretended to extract from his mouth a
handkerchief, a baseball cap, and then a live frog.
To those wishing to know how this was accomplished he would say they
were purely tricks of dexterity. Carl had the articles mentioned about
his person and concealed them in his hand as he reached for Leo's mouth.
A handkerchief and a baseball cap can be rolled into very small balls
when it is necessary, and even a frog is small when tightly held.
Then, because Leo would not let him get anything else out of his mouth,
Carl pretended to get angry.
"I'll bang myself against the tree!" he cried, and, rushing up to the
nearest hardwood tree, he brought his forehead up against the bark. A
thump was heard and each time his head went forward another thump
followed.
"Oh, he'll hurt his head!" shrieked several of the girls.
But Carl did not hurt his head a bit. His head struck the tree very
lightly. The thump was made by his fist, which, however, was kept
concealed from the audience.
In the meantime Leo did some funny work on the ground, bending himself
into an odd shape backward and hopping around after the released frog.
By this time a crowd had assembled in the grounds, for the grown folks
were not supposed to come in until late. Seeing this, Carl stepped up on
a little bench.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, I will give you an exhibition of one of my
most wonderful tricks," he said. "Is any one of you a good shot with a
horse-pistol?"
There was a pause, and then an elderly gentleman with but one arm
stepped forward.
"I fancy I can accommodate you," he said with a smile. "I am considered
a crack shot, and was an officer in the cavalry."
"Very well, sir; I will give you the pleasure of shooting me."
As Carl spoke he brought out a long pistol.
"Please examine this," he went on, and as the pistol went the round of
the crowd he opened his valise and brought forth a horn of powder and a
good-sized ball.
"I wish you would mark this bullet so you will know it again," he
continued. "And will somebody bring me a nice, ripe apple?"
The apple was brought, and Walter Raymond marked the bullet with his
knife. Then with great gravity Carl proceeded to load the pistol.
"There goes the powder, here the paper, here the ball, and here more
paper. Did you all see it loaded?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Good! Thanks for the apple--I'll eat it after I am shot. Now then, Mr.
Cavalry Officer, kindly take your station over there, aim straight for
my heart, and fire."
"But--but I might kill you!" suggested the one-armed man nervously.
"Never mind--I'm like a cat that has nine lives. Go ahead. Ready?"
"Yes."
Carl took the apple given him and held it on his palm at arm's length.
"Now aim for my heart. Ready? Fire!"
Bang! With a loud explosion the pistol went off, and for a moment the
spectators were enveloped in smoke.
As it cleared away the young magician was seen to be standing as before.
There was a smile on his face.
"I am much obliged to you for shooting me," he said. "But what has
become of the bullet?"
Thus speaking he bit into the apple.
"Hullo! what's this? The bullet, I declare! Look!"
He was right; the bullet, with the mark still upon it, was embedded in
the heart of the apple!