Page:The Song of the Sirens.djvu/296



"And then, you know," Balbinus went on. "Slaves and rabble try and not one of them can stay on a log. Then an acrobat minces out on a slack-rope, and takes a long jump for a log and lands neatly on it and stays there. And he dances and skips and makes the log turn under him and pirouettes and turns flip-flops and walks on it on his hands and stays on."

"Yes," said Proculus, "I've seen that too."

"You know what a peculiar trick of balancing he has so the log never lurches and throws him off?"

"Yes," said Proculus.

"Did you ever see anybody climb arena-rollers with a similar trick of balancing?"

"No, I never did," said Proculus, "and I don't believe it could be done."

"Neither would I have believed it," said Balbinus, "until I saw it. That frantic murderer jumped for the lowermost roller, and somehow got his right arm and right leg over it, hugging belly-flat to it. He hung on when it turned. Then he clung to it with both legs and one arm and got his right arm over the second roller. Then he got both arms round the second roller and steadied himself. Then up went his right leg and he was sticking to the second as he had stuck to the first. The whole audience was dead still, everybody that could see him watching