Such was the marvellous feat which had been accomplished in Martin and
Davenport's Hall night in and night out for years, the solution of
which no one as yet had been able to discover. One can imagine, in
these circumstances, the tremendous excitement of the audience at the
prospect of seeing this notorious puzzle tackled--and tackled by a
member of a Firm which was already reputed to be doing all kinds of
weird and extraordinary things. But, whereas it was quite obvious that
John Martin was greatly perturbed (his eyebrows were working
nervously, and his lips and fingers twitching), Curtis, on the other
hand, was as cool as possible--he literally did not turn a hair.
"Now, gentlemen," he said, turning to the referees, "keep your eyes
well skinned and observe everything I do. Ladies and gentlemen," he
went on, raising his voice, "I am now about to show you how the coffin
trick is done. Observe me--I'm 'the corpse'--Mr. Kelson, here, is the
operator--" and Matt Kelson, rather to Hamar's annoyance advanced,
down the stage to take part in the proceedings.
"Watch me get into the sack!" He stepped into it as he spoke. "Look at
what I have in my hand," he went on, holding up his right hand in full
view of the audience. "I have a plug of wood covered with the same
material as this sack. As soon as I stoop down and the sack is pulled
over me I shall thrust this plug into the mouth of it and Mr. Kelson
will bind the sack round it.
Pages:
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173