"If, on the contrary, on reaching the same place he perceived that a new route had been made, and that instead of a roundabout way of approach, as in the past, the house was now in a straight line from the point where he was looking at it, it would be possible to estimate approximately the number of minutes which he could gain on the time employed in the past, by calculating the delay imposed upon him by his age and his infirmities. "Those to whom deduction is familiar, at times astonish thoughtless persons by the soundness of their judgment. "A prince drove to his home in the country in a sumptuous equipage. "He was preceded by a herald and borne in a palanquin by four servants, who were replaced by others at the first signs of fatigue, in order that the speed of the journey should never be slackened. "As they were mounting, with great difficulty, a zigzag road which led up along the side of a hill, one of these men cried out: "'Stop,' said he, 'in the name of Buddha, stop!' "The prince leaned out from the palanquin to ask the cause of this exclamation: "'My lord,' cried the man, 'if you care to live, tell your porters to stop!' "The great man shrugged his shoulders and turning toward his master of ceremonies, who was riding at his side, said: "'See what that man wants.' "But scarcely had the officer allowed his horse to take a few steps in the direction of the man who had given warning when the palanquin, with the prince and his bearers, rolled down a precipice, opened by the sinking in of the earth. "They raised them all up very much hurt, and the first action of the prince, who was injured, was to have arrested the one who, according to him, had evoked an evil fate. "He was led, then and there, to the nearest village and put into a cell. "The poor man protested. "'I have only done what was natural,' said he. 'I am going to explain it, but I pray you let me see the prince; I shall not be able to justify myself when he is ill with fever.' "'What do you mean,' they replied, 'do you prophesy that the prince will have a fever?' "'He is going to have it.' "'You see, you are a sorcerer,' said the jailer, 'you make predictions.' "And then he shut him in prison, to go away and to relate his conversation to them all. "During this time, they called in a healer who stated that the wounds of the great nobleman were not mortal in themselves, but that the fever which had declared itself could become dangerous. "He was cured after long months. "During this time the poor man languished in his prison, from whence he was only taken to appear before the judges. "Accused of sorcery and of using black magic, he explained very simply that he had foreseen the danger, because in raising his eyes he had noticed that the part of the ground over which the herald had passed was sinking, and that he had drawn the following conclusions: "The earth seemed to have only a medium thickness.