The show was a great success. We put on a fireworks display, fire eating, close-up magic and some small illusions. Towards the end of the function a quietly spoken man came to me and said that he ran a shopping centre not far from the hotel and wondered if I might be available to work the following day?. I thought of a price, tripled it , and without batting an eye he asked " Do you want that in money or gold?"

I looked around the room, I could see people smiling into their programs as I accepted the offer, something was going on that I did not know about.

The shopping centre turned out to be a very large corrugated iron shed built on top of a hill in the middle of the jungle. All the vegetation had been cleared around the building for a space of fifty meters . I was informed by one of the submachine gun carrying guards positioned at each entrance to the trading post that this area was a killing ground to provide line of sight if the centre came under attack.

The next image I have is of myself standing in the mud , outside the shed, in full tails suit and white gloves...slowly walking around the building as a mime robot.

There appeared to be absolutely no audience apart from the guards who I noticed as I walked round and around the shed. After forty five minutes as a Robot I came around to the door, yet again and staggered inside to the shade, if not the cool. There was my host jumping up and down almost beside himself..."Very good!" he said, " Excellent, exactly what I needed, keep going, keep going,". I looked at him wondering if the jungle heat and high humidity affected everyone like that. "Not a particularly large turned out, I ventured." My host turned "Oh! don’t you worry about it, they are out there. On you go keep it up."

I had a drink and ventured forth outside again. Nothing, ...nobody,....clear ground and solid jungle....I walked as a robot around the building again and then very faintly I heard a small rustling sound. I froze and then as a robot turning only from the waist I turned 180 degrees and before my eyes were several dozen small, naked, pygmy men. Dark skin , dense curly hair and very pronounced sloping faces. Many were, carrying spears, bows, machetes and a variety of wooden paddle like devices which I could only assume were also weapons.

I don’t know who was more surprised but as I completed my turn and took one step forward complete pandemonium broke loose. The front rank of "warriors" turned around and against the press of people climbed up over the top of those immediately behind and ran over their heads to get away from me. ....I froze. It must have been over half an hour when leg cramps began to set in . I remained frozen silently watching those who were watching me.

Suddenly individual warriors emerged from the group. One would scuttle towards me, pick up a small twig off the ground and launch it at me, then he would turn tail and run back towards the group where he would be welcomed with great cheering. Suddenly I was squeezed on my arm very gently from behind. It seems that the stick throwing was a distraction for someone to creep around behind me. This person was to see if I was real or not. For me it was a signal to change character. I "Came to life" and became the magician. fire from hands, coins, balls, ring, colours, light, manifestations from the air, everything I could access of magic craft. Once the ice was broken The numbers of nationals swelled. As they gathered around. Without language, without religion, with out force, we came together and played...or so it seemed.