A CLEVER TRICK.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 161, 19 June 1884, Page 3

A CLEVER TRICK.

Avbiol, the celebrated French clown, lately deceased, wae a man of remarkable courage, coolness, and ready wit. Curing one of his professional tours in Russia he got into a scrape, from which, however, his presence of mind enabled him to escape triumphantly. He had been engaged, while at St. Petersburg, to give an entertainment to certain residents in the Basil Island. It was in the dead of winter and the Neva was frozen hard. Auriol dressed himself in his clown's costume at his lodgings, dressed himself up in furs, hired a sledge, and started for his destination, instructing his driver to make a short cut across the river. Probably being tempted by Auriol's costly pelisse, the istvostchik, a tall, powerful fellow, pulled up suddenly when they were about half ■ way across, Kdown from his perch, and letting reins, turned towards his fare with menacing gestures. A moment’s hesitation would have cost Auriol his life; but he proved equal to the emergency. Thowing off his furs and revealing himself to his would-be assailant in the motley garb of his profession, he sprang out of the sledge and proceeded to execute some of his most amazing gambols on the ice, Paralysed with terror by so ter. rifle an apparition, the istvostchik made one ineffectual attempt to cross himself, staggered forwards, and with an agonised cry of " The flend himself I" tell flat and motionless on his face. Without further loss of time Auriol slipped on hie furs, picked up the reins, and jumped into the sledge, and drove off, safe and sound, to fulfil his engagement. Next morning the istvostchik’s corpse was found, stiff and stark, lying face downwards on the frozen breast of the Neva.