The other held out a silver coin, upon which the soldier's strong hand closed eagerly; but he opened it again instantly with a start and an exclamation of disgust, and out fell a large, fat, wriggling worm, amid a fresh roar of laughter from his comrades.
Then the conjurer stepped forth into the midst, and called out—
"Look, see! you sojeer say you all plenty brave men."
"Say we are?" echoed a soldier angrily; "why, do you mean for to say as we ain't, you lyin', coffee-coloured thief?"
"No, no, not speak one such word!" said the Hindu humbly. "Inglis man no fear nothing, me sabbee (know) plenty well. S'pose Inglis sojeer hold out hand, me put lemon on sojeer hand; cut lemon in half wid sword. Who come first?"
But no one seemed in any haste to do so; for, bold as they were, such a challenge made even these reckless men look grave.
Though they had all heard of this feat, none of them had ever seen it done; and to lay one's bare hand beneath a sword-stroke that would certainly hew it off if the juggler happened to miss the lemon (and very possibly whether he did or not), was a matter about which the boldest man might well think twice.
"What? are ye all afeared?" cried a tall, sturdy, rather good-looking young fellow, with a markedly reckless and defiant air, as he shouldered his way to the front. "Well, no man shan't ever say as Tom Tuffen showed the white feather afore a blackamoor! Go ahead, old 'un, 'ere's my 'and to work on; but mind, if yer cuts it off, I'll kill yer with t'other 'and afore ye can sing out 'Help!'"
The gleam of stern joy that shone for a moment in the seeming juggler's keen, black eyes, was strangely out of keeping with his cringing manner; and there was a perceptible change in his tone as he said, while putting back the soldier's extended right hand—