CHAPTER XVIII
LEGERDEMAIN
Mr. Leeds, a genuine Yankee, dressed completely in black, received hisvisitors with great deference. He spoke Spanish well, from having beenfor many years in South America, and offered no objection to theirrequest, saying that they might examine everything, both before andafter the exhibition, but begged that they remain quiet while it wasin progress. Ben-Zayb smiled in pleasant anticipation of the vexationhe had prepared for the American.
The room, hung entirely in black, was lighted by ancient lamps burningalcohol. A rail wrapped in black velvet divided it into two almostequal parts, one of which was filled with seats for the spectators andthe other occupied by a platform covered with a checkered carpet. Inthe center of this platform was placed a table, over which was spreada piece of black cloth adorned with skulls and cabalistic signs. The_mise en scene_ was therefore lugubrious and had its effect uponthe merry visitors. The jokes died away, they spoke in whispers,and however much some tried to appear indifferent, their lips framedno smiles. All felt as if they had entered a house where there was acorpse, an illusion accentuated by an odor of wax and incense. DonCustodio and Padre Salvi consulted in whispers over the expediencyof prohibiting such shows.
Ben-Zayb, in order to cheer the dispirited group and embarrassMr. Leeds, said to him in a familiar tone: "Eh, Mister, since thereare none but ourselves here and we aren't Indians who can be fooled,won't you let us see the trick? We know of course that it's purelya question of optics, but as Padre Camorra won't be convinced--"
Here he started to jump over the rail, instead of going through theproper opening, while Padre Camorra broke out into protests, fearingthat Ben-Zayb might be right.
"And why not, sir?" rejoined the American. "But don't break anything,will you?"
The journalist was already on the platform. "You will allow me,then?" he asked, and without waiting for the permission, fearing thatit might not be granted, raised the cloth to look for the mirrorsthat he expected should be between the legs of the table. Ben-Zaybuttered an exclamation and stepped back, again placed both hands underthe table and waved them about; he encountered only empty space. Thetable had three thin iron legs, sunk into the floor.
The journalist looked all about as though seeking something.
"Where are the mirrors?" asked Padre Camorra.
Ben-Zayb looked and looked, felt the table with his fingers, raisedthe cloth again, and rubbed his hand over his forehead from time totime, as if trying to remember something.
"Have you lost anything?" inquired Mr. Leeds.
"The mirrors, Mister, where are the mirrors?"
"I don't know where yours are--mine are at the hotel. Do you want tolook at yourself? You're somewhat pale and excited."
Many laughed, in spite of their weird impressions, on seeing thejesting coolness of the American, while Ben-Zayb retired, quiteabashed, to his seat, muttering, "It can't be. You'll see that hedoesn't do it without mirrors. The table will have to be changedlater."
Mr. Leeds placed the cloth on the table again and turning toward hisillustrious audience, asked them, "Are you satisfied? May we begin?"
"Hurry up! How cold-blooded he is!" said the widow.
"Then, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats and get your questionsready."
Mr. Leeds disappeared through a doorway and in a few moments returnedwith a black box of worm-eaten wood, covered with inscriptions inthe form of birds, beasts, and human heads.
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began solemnly, "once having had occasionto visit the great pyramid of Khufu, a Pharaoh of the fourth dynasty,I chanced upon a sarcophagus of red granite in a forgotten chamber. Myjoy was great, for I thought that I had found a royal mummy, but whatwas my disappointment on opening the coffin, at the cost of infinitelabor, to find nothing more than this box, which you may examine."
He handed the box to those in the front row. Padre Camorra drew back inloathing, Padre Salvi looked at it closely as if he enjoyed sepulchralthings, Padre Irene smiled a knowing smile, Don Custodio affectedgravity and disdain, while Ben-Zayb hunted for his mirrors--therethey must be, for it was a question of mirrors.
"It smells like a corpse," observed one lady, fanning herselffuriously. "Ugh!"
"It smells of forty centuries," remarked some one with emphasis.
Ben-Zayb forgot about his mirrors to discover who had made thisremark. It was a military official who had read the history ofNapoleon.
Ben-Zayb felt jealous and to utter another epigram that might annoyPadre Camorra a little said, "It smells of the Church."
"This box, ladies and gentlemen," continued the American, "containeda handful of ashes and a piece of papyrus on which were writtensome words. Examine them yourselves, but I beg of you not to breatheheavily, because if any of the dust is lost my sphinx will appear ina mutilated condition."
The humbug, described with such seriousness and conviction, wasgradually having its effect, so much so that when the box was passedaround, no one dared to breathe. Padre Camorra, who had so oftendepicted from the pulpit of Tiani the torments and sufferings of hell,while he laughed in his sleeves at the terrified looks of the sinners,held his nose, and Padre Salvi--the same Padre Salvi who had on AllSouls' Day prepared a phantasmagoria of the souls in purgatory withflames and transparencies illuminated with alcohol lamps and coveredwith tinsel, on the high altar of the church in a suburb, in orderto get alms and orders for masses--the lean and taciturn Padre Salviheld his breath and gazed suspiciously at that handful of ashes.
"_Memento, homo, quia pulvis es_!" muttered Padre Irene with a smile.
"Pish!" sneered Ben-Zayb--the same thought had occurred to him,and the Canon had taken the words out of his mouth.
"Not knowing what to do," resumed Mr. Leeds, closing the box carefully,"I examined the papyrus and discovered two words whose meaningwas unknown to me. I deciphered them, and tried to pronounce themaloud. Scarcely had I uttered the first word when I felt the boxslipping from my hands, as if pressed down by an enormous weight,and it glided along the floor, whence I vainly endeavored to removeit. But my surprise was converted into terror when it opened and Ifound within a human head that stared at me fixedly. Paralyzed withfright and uncertain what to do in the presence of such a phenomenon,I remained for a time stupefied, trembling like a person poisonedwith mercury, but after a while recovered myself and, thinking thatit was a vain illusion, tried to divert my attention by readingthe second word. Hardly had I pronounced it when the box closed,the head disappeared, and in its place I again found the handful ofashes. Without suspecting it I had discovered the two most potentwords in nature, the words of creation and destruction, of life andof death!"
He paused for a few moments to note the effect of his story, thenwith grave and measured steps approached the table and placed themysterious box upon it.
"The cloth, Mister!" exclaimed the incorrigible Ben-Zayb.
"Why not?" rejoined Mr. Leeds, very complaisantly.
Lifting the box with his right hand, he caught up the cloth with hisleft, completely exposing the table sustained by its three legs. Againhe placed the box upon the center and with great gravity turned tohis audience.
"Here's what I want to see," said Ben-Zayb to his neighbor. "Younotice how he makes some excuse."
Great attention was depicted on all countenances and silencereigned. The noise and roar of the street could be distinctly heard,but all were so affected that a snatch of dialogue which reached themproduced no effect.
"Why can't we go in?" asked a woman's voice.
"_Aba_, there's a lot of friars and clerks in there," answered aman. "The sphinx is for them only."
"The friars are inquisitive too," said the woman's voice, drawingaway. "They don't want us to know how they're being fooled. Why,is the head a friar's _querida_?"
In the midst of a profound silence the American announced in a toneof emotion: "Ladies and gentlemen, with a word I am now going toreanimate the handful of ashes, and you will talk with a being
thatknows the past, the present, and much of the future!"
Here the prestidigitator uttered a soft cry, first mournful, thenlively, a medley of sharp sounds like imprecations and hoarse noteslike threats, which made Ben-Zayb's hair stand on end.
"_Deremof_!" cried the American.
The curtains on the wall rustled, the lamps burned low, the tablecreaked. A feeble groan responded from the interior of the box. Paleand uneasy, all stared at one another, while one terrified senoracaught hold of Padre Salvi.
The box then opened of its own accord and presented to the eyes ofthe audience a head of cadaverous aspect, surrounded by long andabundant black hair. It slowly opened its eyes and looked aroundthe whole audience. Those eyes had a vivid radiance, accentuated bytheir cavernous sockets, and, as if deep were calling unto deep,fixed themselves upon the profound, sunken eyes of the tremblingPadre Salvi, who was staring unnaturally, as though he saw a ghost.
"Sphinx," commanded Mr. Leeds, "tell the audience who you are."
A deep silence prevailed, while a chill wind blew through the roomand made the blue flames of the sepulchral lamps flicker. The mostskeptical shivered.
"I am Imuthis," declared the head in a funereal, but strangelymenacing, voice. "I was born in the time of Amasis and died under thePersian domination, when Cambyses was returning from his disastrousexpedition into the interior of Libya. I had come to complete myeducation after extensive travels through Greece, Assyria, and Persia,and had returned to my native laud to dwell in it until Thoth shouldcall me before his terrible tribunal. But to my undoing, on passingthrough Babylonia, I discovered an awful secret--the secret of thefalse Smerdis who usurped the throne, the bold Magian Gaumata whogoverned as an impostor. Fearing that I would betray him to Cambyses,he determined upon my ruin through the instrumentality of the Egyptianpriests, who at that time ruled my native country. They were theowners of two-thirds of the land, the monopolizers of learning, theyheld the people down in ignorance and tyranny, they brutalized them,thus making them fit to pass without resistance from one dominationto another. The invaders availed themselves of them, and knowing theirusefulness, protected and enriched them. The rulers not only dependedon their will, but some were reduced to mere instruments of theirs. TheEgyptian priests hastened to execute Gaumata's orders, with greaterzeal from their fear of me, because they were afraid that I wouldreveal their impostures to the people. To accomplish their purpose,they made use of a young priest of Abydos, who passed for a saint."
A painful silence followed these words. That head was talkingof priestly intrigues and impostures, and although referring toanother age and other creeds, all the friars present were annoyed,possibly because they could see in the general trend of the speechsome analogy to the existing situation. Padre Salvi was in the gripof convulsive shivering; he worked his lips and with bulging eyesfollowed the gaze of the head as though fascinated. Beads of sweatbegan to break out on his emaciated face, but no one noticed this,so deeply absorbed and affected were they.
"What was the plot concocted by the priests of your country againstyou?" asked Mr. Leeds.
The head uttered a sorrowful groan, which seemed to come from thebottom of the heart, and the spectators saw its eyes, those fieryeyes, clouded and filled with tears. Many shuddered and felt theirhair rise. No, that was not an illusion, it was not a trick: the headwas the victim and what it told was its own story.
"Ay!" it moaned, shaking with affliction, "I loved a maiden,the daughter of a priest, pure as light, like the freshly openedlotus! The young priest of Abydos also desired her and planned arebellion, using my name and some papyri that he had secured frommy beloved. The rebellion broke out at the time when Cambyses wasreturning in rage over the disasters of his unfortunate campaign. I wasaccused of being a rebel, was made a prisoner, and having effected myescape was killed in the chase on Lake Moeris. From out of eternityI saw the imposture triumph. I saw the priest of Abydos night andday persecuting the maiden, who had taken refuge in a temple of Isison the island of Philae. I saw him persecute and harass her, evenin the subterranean chambers, I saw him drive her mad with terrorand suffering, like a huge bat pursuing a white dove. Ah, priest,priest of Abydos, I have returned to life to expose your infamy, andafter so many years of silence, I name thee murderer, hypocrite, liar!"
A dry, hollow laugh accompanied these words, while a choked voiceresponded, "No! Mercy!"
It was Padre Salvi, who had been overcome with terror and with armsextended was slipping in collapse to the floor.
"What's the matter with your Reverence? Are you ill?" asked PadreIrene.
"The heat of the room--"
"This odor of corpses we're breathing here--"
"Murderer, slanderer, hypocrite!" repeated the head. "I accuseyou--murderer, murderer, murderer!"
Again the dry laugh, sepulchral and menacing, resounded, as thoughthat head were so absorbed in contemplation of its wrongs that itdid not see the tumult that prevailed in the room.
"Mercy! She still lives!" groaned Padre Salvi, and then lostconsciousness. He was as pallid as a corpse. Some of the ladiesthought it their duty to faint also, and proceeded to do so.
"He is out of his head! Padre Salvi!"
"I told him not to eat that bird's-nest soup," said Padre Irene. "Ithas made him sick."
"But he didn't eat anything," rejoined Don Custodio shivering. "Asthe head has been staring at him fixedly, it has mesmerized him."
So disorder prevailed, the room seemed to be a hospital or abattlefield. Padre Salvi looked like a corpse, and the ladies,seeing that no one was paying them any attention, made the best ofit by recovering.
Meanwhile, the head had been reduced to ashes, and Mr. Leeds, havingreplaced the cloth on the table, bowed his audience out.
"This show must be prohibited," said Don Custodio on leaving. "It'swicked and highly immoral."
"And above all, because it doesn't use mirrors," added Ben-Zayb,who before going out of the room tried to assure himself finally,so he leaped over the rail, went up to the table, and raised thecloth: nothing, absolutely nothing! [40] On the following day hewrote an article in which he spoke of occult sciences, spiritualism,and the like.
An order came immediately from the ecclesiastical governor prohibitingthe show, but Mr. Leeds had already disappeared, carrying his secretwith him to Hongkong.