Those in the veranda had come out now, the juggler warning them not to approach within six feet of the pole.
Higher and higher the girl went, until those below judged her to be at least a hundred and fifty feet from the ground.

Then the light died out, and she disappeared from their sight.

There was silence for a minute or two, and then the end of the pole could be seen descending without her.

Another minute, and it was reduced to the length it had been at starting.
The spectators were silent now; the whole thing was so strange and mysterious that they had no words to express their feeling.
The juggler said something which Mr.Hunter translated to be a request for all to resume their places.
"That is a wonderful trick," the Doctor said to Bathurst.

"I have never seen it done that way before, but I once saw a juggler throw up a rope into the air; how high it went I don't know, for, like this, it was done at night, but it stood up perfectly stiff, and the juggler's attendant climbed up.