“You are a brave young man and no mistake,” put in Walter Raymond. “Not one man in a hundred would have tackled that dog. I wouldn’t have done it for a thousand dollars.”
“I don’t want any more of it,” answered the young magician, as he wiped the perspiration from his forehead. “Shall I go on with the performance?” he continued to the young man of the house.
“I don’t know as the folks are in the humor,” replied Walter Raymond.
“We’ll do a double act and make them forget the dog incident,” said Leo quickly.
The gardener was called, and he removed the body of the canine. As soon as this was accomplished Leo and Carl set to work to do some sleight-of-hand performances of a humorous nature.
Taking Leo by the nose, Carl pretended to extract from his mouth a handkerchief, a baseball cap, and then a live frog.
To those wishing to know how this was accomplished he would say they were purely tricks of dexterity. Carl had the articles mentioned about his person and concealed them in his hand as he reached for Leo’s mouth. A handkerchief and a baseball cap can be rolled into very small balls when it is necessary, and even a frog is small when tightly held.
Then, because Leo would not let him get anything else out of his mouth, Carl pretended to get angry.
“I’ll bang myself against the tree!” he cried, and, rushing up to the nearest hardwood tree, he brought his forehead up against the bark. A thump was heard and each time his head went forward another thump followed.
“Oh, he’ll hurt his head!” shrieked several of the girls.