The second attempt 6/8

A roll of drums from the band brought two men into the ring carrying a circular glass table on a pedestal stand. As they ran off there was a flash and a bang. When the smoke cleared, Mephisto the Magnificent stood before his audience. A good many of them must have seen him before judging by the roar of applause that greeted him. He waved graciously and removed the cloak and hat in which he'd made his entrance. He was dressed in a waistcoat which left his arms bare and was wearing 'devilish ' make up, including a small pair of horns and a forked tail.

He held up his hand until the applause died down, then without changing his position, a succession of doves began to appear from his raised hand. They flew down and landed on the glass table until there were six of them sliding about on the slippery surface. Taking off his waistcoat he casually threw it on top of the birds and almost immediately removed it. They had all vanished and he proved the waistcoat to be empty, using the conjuror's classic gesture to show both sides of the garment.

Jennifer Jane and Fern both joined in the rapturous applause. It didn't seem possible, yet he'd not only performed the illusion but also done it in front of a circularly seated audience. He continued in much the same manner for the rest of his act, including production of a rabbit and the hat as well.

"Now, as spring is a little late this year, I will show you how to speed up the growth of all the flowers in your gardens."

Small flowerpots were brought into the ring and placed upside down on the glass-topped table. One by one he turned them the right way up and showed them to be empty. He turned round slowly as he was doing this so that everyone round the ring could see properly.

As he faced Jennifer Jane and Fern, he seemed to hesitate slightly for the first time in his presentation. He quickly regained his composure and continued smoothly with his act. Jennifer Jane wasn't sure what had gone wrong but certainly no one else in the audience seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. Mephisto cupped his hands together and produced a flow of earth, pouring it into each of the flowerpots.

"Not even I can make it rain to order," he joked, as one of the ring hands brought him a watering can.

He carefully watered each of the pots and waved his hands over them. In ten seconds daffodils sprang from the earth in each pot and grew to full bloom. With a sweeping gesture, the flowers flew from the pots into his hands and he began throwing them into the audience. He kept some of them and walking round the ring, passed them to people sitting in the front row to examine. Fern was given one of them. She studied it closely, it was definitely a real daffodil. Once again Jennifer Jane noticed that Mephisto looked at her closely, while he gave Fern the flower.

While he was doing this, the ring hands had brought in two translucent glass boxes, each big enough for an adult to stand in and placed them on opposite sides of the ring. The glass-topped table was removed as they left. Mephisto stood near Jennifer Jane as he made his next announcement.

"For my last illusion, I need the help of a member of the audience. He reached out towards Jennifer Jane; "perhaps this young lady would like to assist me."

Jennifer Jane went willingly, Alfred had more or less told her what would happen during this trick and she might be lucky enough to find out how it was done if she took part. Mephisto turned on a light in one of the glass boxes and opened the door.

"Just stand inside there my dear and don't be frightened, I'm going to send you across to the other box."

He closed the door leaving the light on. Jennifer Jane could hear him making grand claims for the difficulty of this feat of magic and then the light went out. There was a strange feeling of motion, first in one direction and then another.

It only lasted a couple of seconds and to her absolute amazement she found herself standing in the guardroom of the Witches' Home. The witch on duty turned round and took one horrified look at her as she arrived, then rang the alarm bell.