e crowd, lured it, enmeshed
it. But the magician had, a little, lost confidence in the power of his
spell. His mind dwelt uneasily upon his well-garbed auditor. What was he
doing there, with his keen face and worldly, confident carriage, amidst
those clodhoppers? Was there peril in his presence? Your predatory
creature hunts ever with fear in his heart.

"Guardy," the voice of the elfin child rang silvery in the silence, as
she pressed close to her companion. "Guardy, is he preaching?"

"Yes, my dear little child." The orator saw his opportunity and swooped
upon it, with a flash of dazzling teeth from under his pliant lips.
"This sweet little girl asks if I am preaching. I thank her for the
word. Preaching, indeed! Preaching a blessed gospel, for this world of
pain and suffering; a gospel of hope and happiness and joy. I offer you,
here, now, this moment of blessed opportunity, the priceless boon of
health. It is within reach of the humblest and poorest as well as the
millionaire. The blessing falls on all like the gentle rain from
heaven."

His hands, outstretched, quivering as if to shed the promised balm,
slowly descended below the level of the platform railing. Behind the
tricolored cheesecloth which screened him from the waist down something
stirred. The hands ascended again into the light. In each was a bottle.
The speaker's words came now sharp, decisive, compelling.

"Here it is! Look at it, my friends. The wonder of the scientific world,
the never-failing panacea, the despair of the doctors. All diseases
yield to it. It revivifies the blood, reconstructs the nerves, drives
out the poisons which corrupt the human frame. It banishes pain,
sickness, weakness, and cheats death of his prey. Oh, grave, where is
thy victory? Oh, death, where is thy power? Overcome by my marvelous
discovery! Harmless as water! Sweet on the tongue as honey! Potent as a
miracle! By the grace of Heaven, which has bestowed this secret upon me,
I have saved five thousand men, women, and children from sure doom, in
the last three years, through my swift and infallible remedy, Professor
Certain's Vitalizing Mixture; as witness my undenied affidavit, sworn to
before Almighty God and a notary public and published in every newspaper
in the State."

Wonder and hope exhaled in a sigh from the assemblage. People began to
stir, to shift from one foot to another, to glance about them nervously.
Professor Certain had them. It needed but the first