"Yes, sir--well, say, about a dozen times altogether. Now I"m going to chuck it, for it"s too risky. And so, I"ve sold the story of how I do it to the newspaper syndicate for more than I"d make out of it in a dozen performances. You can read it all in to-morrow"s papers, but Mrs. Embury, she asked me to tell it here and I said yes--"cause-"cause--well, "cause I wanted to!"
The boyish outburst was so unmistakably one of admiration, of immediate capitulation to Eunice"s charm, that she blushed adorably, and the others "laughed outright.
"One more scalp, Euny," said Elliott; "oh, you can"t help it, I know."
"Go on, Mr. Hanlon," said Eunice, and he went on.
"You see, to make you understand it rightly, I must go back a ways.
I"ve done all sorts of magic stunts and I"m kinda fond of athletics.
I"ve given exhibitions along both those lines in athletic clubs and in ladies" parlors, too. Well, I had a natural talent for making my ears move--lots of fellows do that, I know; but I got pretty spry at it."
"What for?" asked Embury.
"Nothing particular, sir, only one thing led to another. One day I read in an English magazine about somebody pulling off this trick--this blindfold chase, and I said to myself I b"lieved I could do it first rate and maybe make easy money. I don"t deny I"m out after the coin.
I"ve got to get my living, and if I"d rather do it by gulling the public, why, it"s no more than many a better man does."
"Right you are," said Elliott.
"So, "s I say, I read this piece that told just how to do it, and I set to work. You may think it"s funny, but the first step was working my forehead muscles."
"Whatever for?" cried Aunt Abby, who was listening, perhaps most intently of all.
"I"ll tell you, in a jiffy, ma"am," and Hanlon smiled respectfully at the eager old face.
"You see, if you"ll take notice, the muscles of your forehead, just above your eyebrows, work whenever you shut or open your eyes. Yes, try it, ma"am," as Aunt Abby wrinkled her forehead spasmodically.
"Shut your eyes, ma"am. Now, cover them closely with the palm of your left hand. Press it close--so. Now, with your hand there, open your eyes slowly, and feel your forehead muscles go up. They have to, you can"t help it. Now, that"s the keynote of the whole thing."
"Clear as Erebus!" remarked Hendricks. "I don"t get you, Steve."
"Nor I," and Eunice sat with her hand against her eyes, drawing her lovely brows into contortions.
"Well, never mind trying; I"ll just tell you about it." Hanlon laughed good-naturedly at the frantic attempts of all of them to open their eyes in accordance with his directions.
"Anyhow, you gentleman know, for I know you all belong to a big athletic club, that if you exercise any set of muscles regularly and for a long time, they will develop and expand and become greatly increased in size and strength."
"Sure," said Hendricks. "I once developed my biceps--"
"Yes, that"s what I mean. Well, sir, I worked at my forehead muscles some hours a day for months and I kept at it until I had those muscles not only developed and in fine working condition but absolutely under my control. Look!"
They gazed, fascinated, while the strange visitor moved the skin of his forehead up and down and sideways, and in strange circular movements.
He seemed distinctly proud of his accomplishment and paused for approbation.
"Marvelous, Holmes, marvelous!" exclaimed Hendricks, who had discovered that Hanlon did not resent jocularity, "but--what for?"
"Can"t you guess?" and the young man smiled mysteriously. "Try."
"Give it up," and Hendricks shook his head. "I think it"s more wonderful to get thought-transference by wiggling your forehead than any other way I ever heard of, but I can"t guess how it helps."
"Can"t any of you?" and Hanlon looked around the circle.
"Wait a minute," said Aunt Abby, who was thinking hard. "Let me try.
Is it because when the thought waves jump from the "guide" to you they strike your forehead first--"
"And it acts as a wireless receiving station? No, ma"am, that isn"t it. And, too, ma"am, I owned up, you know, that the whole thing was a fake, a trick. You see, there was no "thought-transference,"--not any--none at all."
"Then what do you accomplish with your forehead muscles?" asked Eunice, unable to restrain her impatience.
CHAPTER V
THE EXPLANATION
"Just this, Mrs. Embury, the impossibility of my being blindfolded.
As a matter of fact, it is practically impossible to blindfold anybody, anyway."
"Why, what do you mean?" interrupted Hendricks. "Why is it?"
"Because the natural formation of most people"s noses allows them to see straight down beneath an ordinary bandage. I doubt if one child out of a hundred who plays "Blind Man"s Buff" is really unable to see at all."
"That"s so," said Embury, "when I played it, as a kid, I could always see straight down--though not, of course, laterally."
"And noses are different," went on Hanlon. "Some prominent beaks could never be blindfolded, but some small, flat noses might be. However, this refers to ordinary blindfolding with an ordinary handkerchief.
When it comes to putting fat cotton pads in one"s eye sockets, before the thick bandage is added, it necessitates previous preparation. So, my powers of contracting and expanding my forehead muscles allow me to push the pads out of the way, and enable me to see straight down the sides of my nose from under the bandage. Of course, I can see only the ground, and that but in a circ.u.mscribed area around my feet, but it"s enough."
"How?" asked Eunice, her piquant face eagerly turned to the speaker.
"How did you know which way to turn?"
"I don"t like it," declared Aunt Abby. "I hate it--I"m absolutely disgusted with the whole performance! I detest practical jokes!"
"Oh, come now, Miss Ames," and Hendricks chuckled; "this isn"t exactly a joke--it"s a hoax, and a new one, but it"s a legitimate game. From the Davenport Brothers and Herrmann, on down through the line of lesser lights in the conjuring business--even our own Houdini--we know there is a trick somewhere; the fun is in finding it. Hanlon"s is a new one and a gem--I don"t even begin to see through it yet."
"Neither do I," agreed Mason Eliott. "I think to do what he did by a trick is really more of a feat than to be led by real thought-transference."
"Except that the real thing isn"t available--and trick-work is." Hanlon smiled genially as he said this, and Embury, a little impatiently, urged him to go on, and begged the others to cease their interruptions.
"Well," Hanlon resumed, "understand, then, that I cannot be really blindfolded. No committee of citizens, however determined, can bandage my eyes in such a manner that I can"t wiggle my forehead about sufficiently to get the pads up or down or one side or the other until I can see--all I want to." Hanlon knotted up his frontal muscles to prove that a bandage tied tightly would become loose when he relaxed the strain. "Understand that I can see the ground only for a few inches directly at the front of me or very close to my sides. That is all."
"O.K.," said Hendricks. "Now, with your sight a.s.sured for that very limited s.p.a.ce, what is next?"
"That, sir, is enough to explain the little game I put over in the newspaper office, before trying the out-of-door test. You remember, ladies, Mr. Mortimer told you how I followed a chalk line, drawn on the floor, and which led me up and down stairs, over chairs, under desks, and all that. Well, it was dead easy, because I could see the line on the floor all the time. Their confidence in their "secure"
blindfolding made them entirely unsuspicious of my ability to see. So, that was easy."
"Clever, though," and Embury looked at young Hanlon with admiration.
"Simple, but most perfectly convincing."
"Yes, sir, it was the very simplicity of it that gulled "em. And, of course, I"m some actor. I groped around, and felt my way by chairs and railings and door-frames, though I needn"t have touched one of "em. My way was plainly marked, and I could see the chalk line and all I had to do was to follow it. But it was that preliminary test that fixed it in their minds about the "willing" business. I kept asking the "guide" to keep his mind firmly on his efforts to "will" me. I begged him to use all his mental powers to keep me in the right direction--oh, I have that poppyc.o.c.k all down fine--just as the mediums at the seances have."