Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/297

Rh bagged knees of his faded pink tights, and showed no interest in either.

The Professor teetered complacently on heel and toe. "I am in-structed to an-nounce … for the ben-e-fit of those in-dividuals who may happen to be in the vi-cinity of this building at ten on Mon-day morning … that Professor Hei-namann on that o-casion will perform a daring ah-scension from the roof of this buil-ding to the ex-tra-or-dinary al-titude of some thousands of feet above the sur-face of the earth … if the weather on that o-casion happens to be pro-pitious."

The aerialist was staring at the back of the Professor's head, startled.

"And," the Professor continued, "when the daring navi-ga-tor has de-scentit again from the clouds to ter-ra fir-ma … the vehicle in which he per-formed this en-tirely new and novel ah-scension … will be placed on ex-hibition in this hall for the bene-fit of the Am-erican pub-lic … dur-ing a short en-gage-ment … be-fore the Pro-fessor makes his so-journ to Paris and Lon-don."

That promise caused no excitement among the "visitors." They were accustomed to hearing the impossible promised and then seeing the commonplace performed. It startled Heinamann for the moment only; he had photographs and a history of his life for sale, and he hastened to offer them while the wonder was still new. It puzzled Madame Carlotta, listening in her tent; but she decided that the Professor was making an heroic effort to draw a crowd for Monday.