_Mr. Moul_ (_to_ Mrs. MOUL, _as they halt before a darkened interior representing a coolie sleeping in an Indian hut, which a leopard is stealthily entering_). Ah, now I do call that something _like!_ Lovely! _ain't_ it? _Mrs. Moul._ It's beautiful. 'Ow ever they can _do_ it all! (_After a pause_.) Why, I do believe there's a _animal_ of some sort up at the further end! Can you see him, SAMSON? _Mr. Moul._ A animal! where? Ah, I can make out somethink now. (_With pleased surprise._) And look--there's a man layin' down right in front--do you see? _Mrs. Moul._ Well, I never! so there is! To think o' _that_ now. They _'ave_ got it up nice, I will say that. [_They pass out, pleased with their own powers of observation._ IN THE INDIAN THEATRE. _Hindu Magician_ (_as he squats on the stage and takes out serpents from flat baskets_). Here is a sna-ake--no bite--Bombay cobra, verri good cobra. (_Introducing them formally to audience._) Dis beeg cobra, dis smahl cobra. (_One of them erects its hood and strikes at his foot,_ _which he withdraws promptly._) No bite, verri moch nice sna-ake. (_He plays a tune to them; one listens coldly and critically, the others slither rapidly towards the edge of the platform, to the discomposure of spectators in the front row; the_ Magician _recaptures them by the tail at the critical moment, ties them round his neck and arms, and then puts them away, like toys._) Here I have shtone; verri good Inglis shtone. I hold so. (_Closing it in his fist._) Go away, shtone. Go to Chicago, Leeverpool, Hamburg. (_Opening fist._) Shtone no dere. I shut again. (_Opening fist._) One, two, Inglis shillin's. (_Singling out a_ Spectator.) You, Sar, come up here queeck. Comonn! _The Spectator._ Not me! Not among all them snakes you've got there--don't you think it! _The Magician and a Tom-tom player_ (_together_). Verri nice sna-akes--no bite. Comonn, help play. _Angelina_ (_to_ EDWIN, _as the invitation is coyly but firmly declined_). EDWIN, do go up and help the man--to please _me_. And if you find him out in cheating, you can expose him, you know. [EDWIN _clambers up and stands, smiling feebly, at the_ Magician's _side amidst general applause_. _The Magician_ (_to_ EDWIN). Sit down, sit down, sit down. Now you count--how menni sillings? Dere is seeks. _Edwin_ (_determined not to be taken in_). Four, you mean. _The Magician._ I tell you seeks. Count after me--One, tree, five, seeks. Shtill onli four, you say? Shut dem in your hand--so. Now blow. (EDWIN _puffs at his fist_.) Open your hand, and count. One, two, tree, four, five, seeks, summon, ight, nine, tin, like, vise! Dis Inglisman make money verri moch nice; verri goot Inglisman. Put dem in your hand again, and shut. Hûblo! Now open. [EDWIN _opens his fist, to discover in it two small and extremely active serpents, which he rejects in startled dismay_. _Angelina_ (_to herself_). How _nasty_ of EDWIN! He _must_ have felt them inside.