The Indian boy looked tall because he was thin, even to his smiling face. He eyed Biff and the other boys closely as he passed them, giving the drum a few quick, extra beats as an invitation to come along. Biff turned to his companions and ran his hand through his shock of blond hair.
"Dad must have given his friend a good description of me," Biff told the others, "so I am sure to be spotted soon. The more we circulate, the easier it will be to find me, so we may as well see where this drummer boy is leading us."
They wound up at an open corner where some buildings had been demolished to make way for one of the wide new streets that were being cut through the city's congested areas. Temporarily, at least, it had been turned into an outdoor theater, for a man in baggy white clothes and a huge turban was beckoning the crowd his way as he announced:
"I, Jinnah Jad, greatest jadoo wallah in Bengal. I make jadoo with duck. You see."
By "jadoo" Jinnah Jad meant "magic," and the term "wallah" signified that he performed it. The jadoo wallah filled a small tub with water from a big jar, then placed a miniature imitation duck in the tiny pond thus formed. As Jinnah Jad made mystic passes over the toy duck, it dived into the water, only to come popping up again at his command.
As the boys moved closer with the interested crowd, Jinnah Jad gestured them into a semicircle and announced:
"I show you magic with mango. First I make tent where it can grow—"
As he spoke, he set three sticks in the ground so they formed a tripod about four feet high. He took a cloth from a big heap and wrapped it around the sticks, making a little tepee. He held up a mango seed, about the size of a large pear, then pushed it in through the opening of the tent, as though planting it.
Soon Jinnah Jad pulled away the cloth and showed a little sprout instead of just a seed. He formed the tent again, using a larger cloth. He piped a tune on a hollow gourd that he used as a flute and pulled away the cloth. There, spreading out from the tent, was a small mango tree, with fruit on its branches!
As the crowd buzzed its admiration, Jinnah Jad turned to the slender boy with the drum and said, "Chandra, you bring me rupees, so I make more jadoo." The boy promptly picked up a wooden bowl and started through the crowd, taking up a collection, nudging people with the bowl and gesturing to their pockets whenever they hesitated at contributing a few coins.