throws a
handkerchief over his extended arm and produces in succession three or
four shallow glass dishes filled to the brim with water in which live
gold-fish are swimming. Of course the dishes are concealed somehow
upon the person of the performer.

Peter had discovered how the trick was done, and he resolved to do it
now. So the folks all gathered in one end of the parlor, and in a few
moments Lamb entered the door at the other end. He said,

"Ladies and gentlemen, you will perceive that I have nothing about me
except my ordinary clothing; and yet I shall produce presently two
dishes filled with water and living fish. Please watch me narrowly."

Then Peter flung the handkerchief over his hand and arm, and we could
see that he was working away vigorously at something beneath it. He
continued for some moments, and still the gold-fish did not appear. Then
he began to grow very red in the face, and we saw that something was the
matter. Then the perspiration began to stand on Peter's forehead, and
Mrs. Brown asked him if anything serious was the matter. Then the
company smiled, and the magician grew redder; but he kept on fumbling
beneath that handkerchief, and apparently trying to reach around under
his coat-tails. Then we heard something snap, and the next moment a
quart of water ran down the wizard's left leg and spread out over the
carpet. By this time he looked as if joy had forsaken him for ever. But
still he continued to feel around under the handkerchief. At last
another snap was heard, and another quart of water plunged down his
right leg and formed a pool about his shoe. Then the necromancer
hurriedly said that the experiment had failed somehow, and he darted
into the dining-room. We followed him, and found him sitting on the sofa
trying to remove his pantaloons. He exclaimed,

"Oh, gracious! Come here quick, and pull these off! They're soaking
wet, and I've got fifteen live gold-fish inside my trousers flipping
around, and rasping the skin with their fins enough to set a man
crazy. Ouch! Hurry that shoe off, and catch that fish there at my left
knee, or I'll have to howl right out."

[Illustration: THE GOLDFISH TRICK]

Then we undressed him and picked the fish out of his clothes, and we
discovered that he had had two dishes full of water and covered with
India-rubber tops strapped inside his trousers behind. In his struggle
to get at them he had torn the covers to rags. We fixed him up in a
pair of Dr.