“Just like the East Indian jugglers I’ve read about,” put in Jerry.
“I think probably he was something on that order,” agreed Professor Snodgrass. “Strange how he should have known about the buried city, and we have spoken to no one about it since we came to Mexico.”
“Let’s look and see if we can find a trace of him,” suggested Bob.
The boys alighted from the car. They made a careful search around the spot where the old man had sat. There was the circle he had drawn in the dust, and the mark where the powder had burned, but not another trace of the Mexican could they find. They looked behind trees and rocks, but all they found was big toads and lizards that hopped and crawled away as they approached. The professor annexed several of the reptiles for specimens.
“How do you explain it all?” asked Jerry of the naturalist, when they had taken their seats in the automobile again. “Have those men any supernatural powers?”
“I do not believe they have,” replied the professor. “They do some things that are hard to explain, but they are sharp enough to do their tricks under their own conditions, and they disappear before those who can see them have gotten over their momentary surprise.”
“The disappearing was the funny part of it,” went on Jerry. “I can understand how he made the smoke. A pinch of gunpowder would produce that. But how did he dissolve himself into thin air?”
“He didn’t,” replied the naturalist. “I’ll tell you how that was done. It is a favorite trick in India. When he suddenly called to us to look behind us he took advantage of our momentary glance away to hide himself.”
“But where?”
“Behind that big rock,” and the naturalist pointed to a large one near where the Mexican had been sitting.