Naturally, this puckered the majority of mouths for a smile at the very outset, and beginning that cake at one dollar, two dollars, three dollars, four dollars, etc., I ran it rapidly up to sixty dollars. I kept up a running fire of jokes, and every time I caught a smile on a pair of lips I would yell an extra dollar bid. Then I said: ‘Sixty dollars, last call. Once, twice, three times, sold to —’ I got that far, but in the rush which followed my voice could not possibly have been heard. The way those women scattered was a sight to see. They were frightened, because every one had smiled at some part or other of the harangue, and there was great fear I had accepted that smile for a bid and would compel some one of them to take that cake. So they fled, pell-mell, to the different corners of the hall, and I was much afraid they would never stop until they had reached home. When, however, peace was restored, I explained that it was all a joke, and they came back with such looks of relief on their faces that I had to laugh myself. The cake was offered a second time, and finally knocked down to a bona fide purchaser at ten dollars and twenty cents. Amid much cheering I retired from the stand, the hero of the hour. If there was no immediate profit in this, there was pleasure and practice, and I went to my hotel tolerably well satisfied with the way I had spent the evening. The next day, as I had hoped, I heard from the doctor. He told me in his letter that he had forwarded me a supply of the Goldentine Pens, and several other articles which he thought I could manage. He also gave an outline of the way he thought they could best be handled; and after looking the articles over I determined to follow his suggestions, adding some amendments of my own. As the business at the church fair had given me some little reputation, I thought I could not do better than begin operations that very evening. Since then, when engaged in street faking, I have generally had with me a musical assistant or two. Nothing will draw a crowd quicker than a few vigorous plunks on a banjo, or the squeak of a fiddle played “well up in G.” Not having such an assistant, I was fortunate enough to be able to secure some local talent. After a little music I stood up, made my bow, and gave about the following harangue: “Gentlemen, with your kind permission, I will entertain you for a few moments with a few tricks in legerdemain. I am a stranger in your place and hope to show you strange things. India is supposed to be the land of magic and the home of the conjuror, but India itself has never invented anything equal to that which I propose to do before your astonished eyes tonight. The first trick is one of my own invention, and one which no other man in the world than myself has ever successfully performed.