“Oh, no, you’re not as old as this god,” Cliff told her. “But it has strange powers and we are going to show them to you.” She shivered and drew back but Nicky smiled gaily at her.
“It won’t hurt you,” he said. “Now you stand it up in front of you—prop it against this book! Now, make a circle in the air in front of it, and then draw a circle around it with your index finger on your left hand, and then say—‘Abacca-abbaca-brab!’ three times and see what happens—it won’t hurt.”
The woman looked at Sam. He was grinning, but he nodded for her to do it. She hesitated and then, taking some bits of queer stuff from a bag she had, muttering some charm to protect herself from evil, she made the circles and muttered the words of Nicky’s fol-de-rol.
There came a thump, and a small bar of gold fell onto the table. Tom had flung it adroitly, of course, but she fixed her eyes and stared as if she would pop her eyes out.
“How—how—” she stammered.
“Want to know how it was done?” demanded Nicky.
“I’ll give you this gold if you tell me,” she said.
“I see,” began Tom.
“I know,” said Nicky.
“I’ll tell—” began Cliff. But suddenly all three saw that Mr. Neale, whom they had long before taught their secret signs, was making a sign which they all interpreted to mean, “Seeing All, I see nothing; Knowing All, I know nothing; Telling All, I tell nothing,” the oath of the Mystery Boys. Nicky grinned and nodded.