Presently the conjurors begin to quarrel among themselves, and at the same time others begin to play upon tom-toms, etc., making an awful noise and distracting the attention of the spectators away from the basket containing the boy. Meanwhile the conjuror has procured a large piece of cloth, and has attached one end of this strip to one of the poles—one of those nearest the onlookers. He then proceeds to attach it to each of the other four in turn, thus enclosing the basket in a roofless tent, the front side—the side nearest the audience—being enclosed last. At least, so it appears. What has really happened, however is this. At the moment when the noise was created, and the conjuror’s assistants began quarreling among themselves, and the spectators’ attention was accordingly distracted as much as possible, the conjuror crosses in front of the basket for a moment, as though to ascertain the cause of the disturbance, and for an instant conceals the basket from view. In that instant the boy leaps from the basket, darts between the legs of one of the assistant conjurors, and is lost behind them before the cloth is withdrawn that had concealed his escape. It has taken only a second or two, and the interval is so short no one remarks upon it—especially as they were distracted by the noise, etc., at that instant. The careful enclosure of the basket subsequently also tends to convey the impression that the boy is still within it. But he has now escaped; he has turned the corner, and is hidden from the view of the spectators. He carries with him the cloth containing his jacket and turban, which he proceeds to don. Then, climbing a near-by tree, he is ready to cry out to the spectators whenever he receives the signal from the conjuror to do so. Another method of escape is the following: The conjuror wears a thick strap under his loin cloth. The boy, under cover of the enveloping blanket, reaches up and grasps this strap, and by its aid he draws himself from the basket, and round, behind the juggler. He is hidden for the moment by the conjuror’s body and the blanket, which the juggler has removed from the basket. The boy slips away into the crowd, through confederates, as in the manner last described. THE DRY-SANDS TRICK.