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But now the strange man, Dr. Philemon Pipp, was speaking again.

“Now that you all understand the trick,” he declared, “I will pefohm another foh youah entahtainment.”

The funny thing about it was that no one understood it at all–except the Toyman.

“Do you really?” the boys asked him, and he replied,–

“Pshaw! that’s easy, but watch, sonny, and see what he’ll try next.”

Meanwhile the man had taken off his tall silk hat.

“You see this hat, ladees an’ gents? Just a simple piece of headwear that has seen many suns and rains. No false bottom or top.”

And he tapped the hat to show them it was just an ordinary hat. Still, Marmaduke thought it was very much out of the ordinary. Never had he seen such a grand one–not even on Deacon Smithers.

“Now peel yuh eyes–careful–watch–everybody ready? Presto, chango–and here we are.”

And believe it or not as you may, out of that hat he drew a white rabbit–a real live white rabbit. He held it up by its ears for all to see.

And again he said,–

“Now that youall undahstand this simple little trick, I will–“

And again no one understood how to do it but the Toyman.

However, they just had to listen, for it was a wonderful speech.

“Ladees an’ gents and fellow citizens of–” the strange man paused, coughed, then leaned down to his helper. “What’s the name of this burg, Jake?” he whispered to him. “Ah, yes, fellow citizens of the glorious ceety of Five Corners–“

And Jehosophat whispered to the Toyman,–

“How does he know it’s so glorious when he can’t even remember the name?”

The Toyman chuckled and replied,–

“Oh, he’s a remarkable man, the Doctor, a very remarkable man. But listen, boy, listen, you’ll never hear the like again.”

So of course they listened–with all their ears, and their eyes and their mouths, too.

“I will introjooce to you,” went on the grand speech, “the famous Indian”–yes, that’s just what he said,–“the famous Indian, Chief-Afraid-of-a-Rat. Come on, Chief, don’t scare the ladies, and don’t scalp the little boys as long as they’re good.”

Then up on that wagon stepped a big Indian with moccasins on his feet, and a dress of deerskin with beads embroidered on it, and a headdress of many feathers and many colors too. He opened his mouth wide, and said something that sounded like a speech and yet like a song:–

“Ging-goo, ging goo, ging goo!
Tunk a tin, tunk a tin, tunk a tin!
Geegry goo, geegry goo,
All-a-man lissen!”

That’s what the Red Indian with all the feathers said, and it sounded very impressive.

As it was so hard for anyone who didn’t know the real Indian language to understand, the man with the long hair and tall silk hat, this wise Dr. Philemon Pipp, explained it.

“The noble red man, the last of his tribe, Chief-Afraid-of-a-Rat,” said he, “is a great medicine man. He says that from his native soil he has distilled a wonderrful medicine that works like magic.”

Then, wetting his lips, he leaned over and picked up one of the big bottles that was full of black juice like the water the children used to make from licorice sticks.

“If yuh have a pain or an ache, a misery in yuh back, if yuh suffah from stomach-ache or tooth-ache, or an ache in the head; if yuh feet burn and blister; if yuh tongue evah feels thick; if yuh feel a leetle inclined to dizzyness–in fact, if yuh have any ache or trouble in the world, this medicine will cure yuh, will bring instant relief.”

Then he took another bottle and said some more:

“One bottle of this medicine is worth five dollahs. Who would not give a paltry five dollahs for to be cured of his miseries? But–ladees and gents, because I was once born in your beautiful ceety I will sell–“

“Why, he even forgot its name,” whispered Jehosophat.

“Shush,” whispered the Toyman right back at him, “don’t give him away.”