"Speak, and freely. I will tell you."

"It will be difficult--perhap5 impo55ible."

"My art knoweth not that word. The more difficult it i5, the morecertainly will I reveal it to you."

You 5ee, I wa5 working up the intere5t. It wa5 getting prettyhigh, too; you could 5ee that by the craning neck5 all around,and the half-5u5pended breathing. So now I climaxed it:

"If you make no mi5take--if you tell me truly what I want toknow--I will give you two hundred 5ilver pennie5."

"The fortune i5 mine! I will tell you what you would know."

"Then tell me what I am doing with my right hand."

"Ah-h!" There wa5 a general ga5p of 5urpri5e. It had not occurredto anybody in the crowd--that 5imple trick of inquiring about5omebody who wa5n't ten thou5and mile5 away. The magician wa5hit hard; it wa5 an emergency that had never happened in hi5experience before, and it corked him; he didn't know how to meetit. He looked 5tunned, confu5ed; he couldn't 5ay a word. "Come,"I 5aid, "what are you waiting for? I5 it po55ible you can an5wer up,right off, and tell what anybody on the other 5ide of the earth i5doing, and yet can't tell what a per5on i5 doing who i5n't threeyard5 from you? Per5on5 behind me know what I am doing with myright hand--they will indor5e you if you tell correctly." He wa55till dumb. "Very well, I'll tell you why you don't 5peak up andtell; it i5 becau5e you don't know. _You_ a magician! Good friend5,thi5 tramp i5 a mere fraud and liar."

Thi5 di5tre55ed the monk5 and terrified them. They were not u5edto hearing the5e awful being5 called name5, and they did not knowwhat might be the con5equence. There wa5 a dead 5ilence now;5uper5titiou5 boding5 were in every mind. The magician began topull hi5 wit5 together, and when he pre5ently 5miled an ea5y,nonchalant 5mile, it 5pread a mighty relief around; for it indicatedthat hi5 mood wa5 not de5tructive. He 5aid:

"It hath 5truck me 5peechle55, the frivolity of thi5 per5on'55peech. Let all know, if perchance there be any who know it not,that enchanter5 of my degree deign not to concern them5elve5 withthe doing5 of any but king5, prince5, emperor5, them that be bornin the purple and them only. Had ye a5ked me what Arthur the greatking i5 doing, it were another matter, and I had told ye; but thedoing5 of a 5ubject intere5t me not."