From that time on Chris and Amos were inseparable, with the exception
of those times when Chris studied alone with Mr. Wicker. Amos, during
these hours, soon endeared himself to Becky Boozer, to whom he became
invaluable, for he took over those chores Chris had undertaken as his
share. These consisted of carrying water, peeling potatoes, or
watching the roasting meat in case it should burn. For Chris had less
and less time for such jobs, and Amos's laughter and willing happy
nature soon made Becky spoil him as much as she did Chris.
Another cot was put into Chris's room, and night after night they
would hang out the two mansard windows, watching what went on below
until it was too dark to see. Or else they would talk by the light of
their candle until they fell asleep.
Chris now knew how lonely he had been until he set Amos free from his
wooden shroud, but, warned by Mr. Wicker, he did not tell his new
friend that he came from another year as yet unreached by the time
they lived in.
"It is enough for a while," cautioned Mr. Wicker, "that Amos get used
to being limber and alive. That is change enough from a carved wooden
figure. It would only confuse and trouble him to think you do not
really belong where you are. So let him be happy. And I shall seal
your lips with regard to the secret of the Jewel Tree, for that must
be known to no one," and so saying he rubbed a salve over Chris's
lips.
"Now tell me what you are to journey after," commanded Mr. Wicker. But
when Chris attempted to talk of the Jewel Tree, the words would not
pass his lips but remained in his mouth like a handful of marbles.
"Good," said Mr. Wicker, rubbing his hands. "Not even to me. Excellent
stuff, this," he added, turning the tiny case that contained the salve
in his fingers. "I got it in India years ago, and this is the last of
it. But I hardly imagine I shall need it again. Its use is somewhat
drastic, but occasionally wise."
"Mr. Wicker," Chris said thoughtfully one afternoon after his lessons
and memorizing were over for the day, "of the three things in your
shop window that I liked best, two have been explained. Yet the third,
which still interests me, seems to have had, so far, no significance.
I mean, of course, the rope."
"Ah yes," Mr. Wicker agreed, nodding and stretching his feet out
toward the fire, "the rope. Very well, my boy, since it has come into
your mind again, that means that the time has come for you to discover
its use. Go and bring it to me."
Chris ran to get the coiled rope. He experienced almost a shock when
he touched it. It had looked harsh and coarse to the touch, of rough
hemp fibre, but on picking it up, the coils in his hand seemed almost
silky. Certainly they were more than usually pliable. Returning to the
study, the boy put the rope beside Mr. Wicker's chair. The magician
did not move, his feet still stretched comfortably towards the flames.
His dark handsome face was dreamy and remote, and Chris wondered in
what faraway place or time his teacher moved. The apprentice sat down
cross-legged with his back to the fire, and presently Mr. Wicker took
his gaze from the sparks and smoke to look thoughtfully at him.
"You have heard of the Indian rope trick, Christopher?"
"Yes--and no, sir," Chris replied. "I'm not sure how it works."
Mr. Wicker gave a chuckle. "Indeed? Well, let me tell you, my boy, no
one else does either. The rope is made to go up in the air, so stiffly
that the fakir--that is, the Eastern magician--can climb it. Some
claim to have seen the fakirs climb up it and vanish from sight, and
the rope disappear after them."
Mr. Wicker waved one hand as much as to say that those who had seen it
could believe as they pleased.
"A good enough trick, in its way," condescended Mr. Wicker, "but this
rope is capable of so much more remarkable possibilities as to throw
the Indian rope trick completely in the shade."
With one of his quick gestures, Mr. Wicker reached down for the rope
and was up and out of his chair, all in one movement.
"You shall learn, last of your lessons, a new way of using a lasso.
Not lassoing--" Mr. Wicker held up a finger to stress his point,
"that, too, you shall learn, but how to use this particular rope to
make the most of its--shall we say?--qualities."
Mr. Wicker smiled his sardonic smile, though his eyes were snapping as
brightly as the fire.
"Now Christopher," he began, running the rope through his long, fine
hands, "just push that table and the chairs to the wall, there's a
good lad, and we shall get the stiffness out of this rope." Chris
cleared the room. "And pull the curtains, my boy," added his master,
"for one never knows but that Amos or Becky Boozer might pass by at
the crucial moment. What they do not know," murmured the magician, "is
best for them."
[Illustration]
When the room was satisfactorily arranged, and candles had been lit,
Chris returned to stand by the fireplace beside his master, who was
turning the rope lightly in his fingers.
"Now Christopher, your attention please," said the magician, and his
tone was crisp and authoritative. "Imagine that you are in need of a
boat, and there is no boat."
With several twists of his hands the rope spun out into the middle air
of the room. It moved and twisted like a live thing, and Mr. Wicker,
Chris thought, seemed to be drawing the outline of a boat in the air
with the moving line. Even as this thought flickered in his mind, the
rope formed in mid-air the skeleton of a dingy, and then,
mysteriously, the rope added to itself until the bare struts and sides
were filled in and there, rocking lightly from the speed of its
creation, a small row-boat hovered in the air, as if it were tied up
to a dock.
"Go and feel of it, Christopher," Mr. Wicker urged. "Climb in it if
you like. I have left the two ends of the rope long enough to make
oars, if necessary."
Chris ran over and felt the sides of the boat. It was sound and
secure, no doubt of that. He went all around it, pounding its sides,
and at last heaved himself over to fall into its center. The boat
never stirred, and stamp as he would, the rope bottom and gunwales
resisted firmly.
"Gee! Mr. Wicker!" Chris exclaimed. "This is the best yet--except for
Amos. Golly Moses!" and as he sat down and took up the two loose ends
of rope still remaining, he found that he held not rope ends but two
oars. "Even oars!" Chris cried in delight.
Mr. Wicker stood with his hands behind his back, the firelight
outlining his black clothes and neat dark head.
"Yes," he said, in a matter-of-fact voice, "Quite so. Now climb out
and I will show you some of the other shapes of which it is capable. A
ladder," Mr. Wicker remarked as Chris rejoined him, "is almost too
simple. We can do that at any time."
Grasping the end of one oar, with movements too fast for Chris's eyes
to follow, in an instant the boat was a rope again, coiled over Mr.
Wicker's arm.
"Now!" said Mr. Wicker, and his eyes twinkled with mischief. The rope
flew out again, but this time took a strange outline--the outline of
an elephant.
"It will have to be a _small_ elephant," murmured Mr. Wicker, his
hands flying, "because of the size of the room."
The elephant, like the boat, took shape, the final ends of the rope
hanging down at its trunk and tail. After the elephant came a horse,
an eagle, and a dolphin, and Chris's admiration and zest to learn the
secrets of the rope grew with every change of shape.
"Very well," ended Mr. Wicker, "you shall learn." And placing his
hands over Chris's while the boy held the rope, he began slowly to
show him the magic twists and turns.