Page 208 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Unit 11: The Conjurers Revenge by Stephen Leacock

11.2 The Conjurer’s Revenge Notes

“Now, ladies and gentlemen,” said the conjurer, “having
shown you that the cloth is absolutely empty, I will
proceed to take from it a bowl of goldfish. Presto!”

All around the hall people were saying, “Oh, how wonderful!
How does he do it?”

But the Quick Man on the front seat said in a big whisper
to the people near him, “He-had-it-up-his-sleeve.”

Then the people nodded brightly at the Quick Man and
said, “Oh, of course”; and everybody whispered round the
hall, “He-had-it-up-his-sleeve.”

“My next trick,” said the conjurer, “is the famous
Hindostanee rings. You will notice that the rings are
apparently separate; at a blow they all join (clang,
clang, clang)—Presto!”

There was a general buzz of stupefaction till the Quick
Man was heard to whisper, “He-must-have-had-another-lot-
up-his-sleeve.”

Again everybody nodded and whispered, “The-rings-were-
up-his-sleeve.”

The brow of the conjurer was clouded with a gathering
frown.

“I will now,” he continued, “show you a most amusing
trick by which I am enabled to take any number of eggs
from a hat. Will some gentleman kindly lend me his hat?
Ah, thank you—Presto!”

He extracted seventeen eggs, and for thirty-five seconds
the audience began to think that he was wonderful. Then
the Quick Man whispered along the front bench, “He-has-a-
hen-up-his-sleeve,” and all the people whispered it on.
“He-has-a-lot-of-hens-up-his-sleeve.”

The egg trick was ruined.

It went on like that all through. It transpired from the
whispers of the Quick Man that the conjurer must have
concealed up his sleeve, in addition to the rings, hens,
and fish, several packs of cards, a loaf of bread, a
doll’s cradle, a live guinea-pig, a fifty-cent piece,
and a rocking-chair.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 203