The Mahdi dropped it. The reptile coiled itself as if ready for a spring.
The men shrieked.
The unbelievers slunk away.
The believers were delighted and yet awe-stricken at the miracle.
The Mahdi grasped the snake round its neck just as it was about to spring.
The body straightened out, and looked stiff and lifeless.
It gradually shrunk until it became again the empty piece of skin, so small that it could be held in the closed hand.
Whether this was trick or miracle, sleight-of-hand performance or some freak of nature, the reader must determine. The Buddhist fakirs of India and the Mohammedan dervishes of Persia and Turkey perform the same thing to-day, save that they place the snake skin on the sand and cover it with a paper cone. When the cone is removed the skin has disappeared, and a live snake has taken its place.
The unbelievers fell on their faces, and with one voice declared:
“Thou art the Mahdi!”