He balanced his pole and walked the length of his rope--two or three hundred feet; he came back and got a man and carried him across; he returned to the center and danced a jig; next he performed some gymnastic and balancing feats too perilous to afford a pleasant spectacle; and he finished by fastening to his person a thousand Roman candles, Catherine wheels, serpents and rockets of all manner of brilliant colors, setting them on fire all at once and walking and waltzing across his rope again in a blinding blaze of glory that lit up the garden and the people's faces like a great conflagration at midnight.
The dance had begun, and we adjourned to the temple.

Within it was a drinking saloon, and all around it was a broad circular platform for the dancers.

I backed up against the wall of the temple, and waited.

Twenty sets formed, the music struck up, and then--I placed my hands before my face for very shame.

But I looked through my fingers.