“With a monkey on a string!” chimed in Joe.
“Flowers a-bloom and birds a-wing,” from Tad.
“Catching coin like anything!” wound up Reggie. “Oh, it’s a great life! I always envied the hand-organ man.”
The fortunes over, Dolly begged Mr. Rawlins to tell how the Fire Spirit was induced to write on the blank papers.
“I have a contract with the Spirit,” he declared, “and if I order him, he will write for me. No one else can command him.”
“Oh, now, I dunno ’bout that,” drawled Uncle Jim, who had been an eager-eyed spectator of the fortune telling, though he had said little. “S’pose, now, Dolly, you hold up this here piece of blank paper an’ see if the Sperrit won’t write on it.”
Dolly took the sheet of paper offered her, and put it in the tongs. Slowly some writing appeared. It said: “Mr. Rawlins is fooling you. Make him tell, (signed, The Fire Spirit.)”
“I thought so,” cried Dolly, and going to him, she said, coaxingly: “Now, Mr. Rawlins, you must tell us. The Fire Spirit commands you.”
“Then I shall have to, of course,” and Mr. Rawlins laughed good-naturedly. “Well, since you will have the veil torn from the mystery, I’ll own up. The way to produce that writing is simply to write it on the papers beforehand, with milk—”
“With milk!”