"It is a great power to possess," I said, regarding the lamp with awe
and amazement. "I hope I shan't do anything foolish with it."
"Don't be silly," said Shin Shira crossly. "I only wish I had your
chance. Why, you can do _anything_ with a power like that. Leave it to
me to think over for to-night, and I'll tell you the best thing to do in
the morning."
"But I'm starting for England the first thing to-morrow," I objected.
"Oh! you must put that off for the present," was the decided reply.
"I'll be here about eleven, and we'll talk over what's best to be done.
Good-night!" and the little fellow held out his hand and strutted off.
I slept very little that night, as you may imagine, and all sorts of
vague ideas came into my head as to what I should do with the wonderful
power which had so mysteriously come within my grasp.
I had arrived at no definite decision as to what was best to be done,
however, by eleven the next morning, when, punctual to the minute, Shin
Shira, looking very spruce and alert, knocked at my door.
I noticed with considerable interest that he wore in his turban the
diamond which I had so often admired, and he saw me looking at it at
once.
"Yes," he said, with a series of little nods, "it was very easy. An hour
ago I called on the Chief Magistrate, and found him full of apologies
and quite convinced that he had made a grievous mistake. It appears that
the original diamond, which Mustapha stole, when found, had some of the
gold setting still attached to it, proving beyond doubt that it was the
missing jewel, so that my own was returned to me; and the Magistrate
even insisted on providing a new aigrette and in having it replaced in
my turban by a skilled person. So here it is," and he took off his
head-dress and regarded it with considerable pride. "But now to your
affairs. I am still in favour of the idea of the diamonds."
"But how--" I began, when Shin Shira interrupted me.
"Are you game for a very exciting adventure?" said he.
"I--don't know." I hesitated. "I seem to have had about enough of
exciting adventures."
"It will be something to write about," suggested the Dwarf, "and will
undoubtedly make your fortune."
"Well," I said, "what is it? Let's hear."
"Do you remember where Sinbad the Sailor got _his_ diamonds from?"
"Yes, of course!" I replied, for I knew my _Arabian Nights_ by heart.
"Very well, then," said Shin Shira. "All you've got to do is to get the
Slave of the Lamp to bring us the Roc, which I happen to know is still
alive; we can then fasten ourselves to his claws, and he will fly back
to his home with us, and there, as you know, the ground is strewn with
precious stones."
"But why not send the Slave for them?" I argued.
"He evidently doesn't know where they are, and it's as well to keep him
ignorant on the subject, in case the lamp passed out of your power, in
which case he might use his knowledge in favour of his next master. And,
besides, the Roc couldn't carry him there."
"He wouldn't have to," said I. "The Slave evidently has the power of
being able to transport himself to any place at will."
"But _we_ don't know where to direct him to," said Shin Shira
impatiently. He was evidently bent upon carrying out his project, and at
last I somewhat weakly consented to his proposal.
I rubbed the lamp and summoned the Slave, who appeared promptly as
before.
"I'm sorry to ask such a difficult thing, but can you catch the Roc for
me and bring it here?" said I, somewhat apologetically.
"It shall be here, Master, in twenty minutes," replied the Slave
imperturbably, vanishing again at a wave from my hand.
"I don't know, I'm sure, what I want diamonds for, when I have such a
willing servant," I grumbled, still rather unwilling to venture upon
what I regarded as an uncanny undertaking.
"He can't provide you with money," said Shin Shira.
"Why not?" I asked.
"He'd have either to steal it or make it. If he did the latter it
wouldn't be legal, and, besides, if it was found out, you might be
arrested for circulating unauthorised coin."
"Oh, very well, then, let's go on this wild-goose chase if you're so
bent upon it," I said, seeing that he was determined to have his way. A
few minutes later we heard a great commotion in the courtyard, and
looking from the balcony we saw my Slave carrying by the legs an
enormous bird, who turned his head about from side to side, staring
stupidly at everything around him. Shin Shira bustled about and got
ropes and straps, and with the assistance of the landlord and one or
two onlookers, we were soon harnessed in quite an ingenious manner to
the claws of our strange steed (if one may call him so).
[Illustration: "His pinions were strong and mighty."]
The Slave released him, and the Roc immediately flew slowly up into the
air, violently shaking his claws now and then in a vain endeavour to get
rid of the unusual weight. Fortunately, however, the straps and ropes,
which had been fastened over the bird's back as well, were very strong,
and so the worst thing that happened to us was a thorough shaking.
This was of no consequence, and when I realised that I was quite safe, I
began actually to enjoy the strange experience of being carried through
the air, I knew not whither. In this case, however, the distance was not
nearly so great as one might have expected, for leaving the city, the
great bird soared over a tract of forest land, above one or two more
towns, and so out into the open desert, in the midst of which was a
range of rocky mountains. His pinions were strong and mighty, so that he
flew very rapidly, and in a little less than two hours he had alighted
on a kind of tableland, at the top of one of the mountain peaks, and we
were at our journey's end.
There was no doubt but that we were at the right place, for the ground
was strewn with stones which, though uncut, sparkled, in the places
where they had been chipped or broken, with a hundred different
brilliant colours and shades.
Shin Shira drew his knife and quickly cut the ropes and straps which
bound us to the now struggling bird, and he was soon released from his
uncomfortable burden.
He shook himself once or twice and preened his great feathers, and then
stalked off to where an enormous nest could be seen in a cleft in the
rocks.
I have no doubt the patient and stupid bird told his mate in bird
language what a very strange and uncomfortable experience he had had,
and at all events he kept out of our sight from that moment.
Shin Shira at once busied himself by gathering some of the largest gems
as quickly as possible; and taking from his pockets some strong linen
bags which he had thoughtfully provided, he handed two to me and told me
to fill them for myself.
This I did, and also put several into my various pockets. I was just
about to say that I thought we had sufficient, when Shin Shira called my
attention to a balloon hovering just above our heads.
There were two people in the basket, and they were peering at us over
the edge through glasses.
Presently one of them shouted an order, and the balloon quickly
descended, so that we could hear the rush of escaping gas as it was
being released.
"Hullo there!" shouted a voice over our heads, "who are you? We've never
before heard that these mountains were inhabited."
"Neither are they," replied Shin Shira. "We are geologists from Baghdad,
and are taking home specimens of the rocks and stones."
"Oh, we're going to Baghdad. Can we give you a lift?" said the voice
kindly, and the balloon descended still further, till at last we were
able to see the two occupants distinctly.
"It's really very kind of you;--I--I think we will accept your offer,"
said I, while Shin Shira frowned disapproval.
"Don't go," he whispered, "we can get some more precious stones if we
wait a little longer."
"But how are we to get back?" I answered.
"The Magic Lamp," said he.
"Oh, but I've left that behind at the hotel," I replied.
"In that case," said Shin Shira regretfully, "there's nothing else to be
done, I suppose."
So we thankfully accepted the aeronauts' kind invitation, and were soon
floating comfortably towards Baghdad.
I must confess that it was far more pleasant than the outward journey
had been.
Before we got to Baghdad, though, Shin Shira had the misfortune to
disappear, much to the horror of the aeronauts, who thought he had
fallen out of the basket, and who would scarcely credit my explanation
when I told them of Shin Shira's peculiar misfortune in this respect.
He left the two bags of precious stones behind him, and they stood
beside mine at the bottom of the basket.
For a few minutes the balloon, being freed from Shin Shira's weight,
rapidly ascended, but presently there was a terrible escape of gas and
we began to descend again at a great rate.
"Throw out the ballast!" cried one of the aeronauts, and the other,
seeing the four bags of what he thought were worthless stones, in his
haste and eagerness thrust them overboard.
I was too alarmed at the moment to notice what he was doing, and it was
only when matters had been put right, by stopping the escape of gas,
that I realised what had happened.
It was useless, however, to cry over spilt milk, and all my thought now
was to get back to the hotel in safety.
This we eventually did, and my ballooning friends accepted my invitation
to take dinner at the hotel with me, so that after my adventure of the
day I had a very pleasant evening. It was not till the next morning that
I discovered that Aladdin's Lamp had vanished--had, in fact, probably
been stolen.
There was nothing left to do now but to set out for England, which I
eventually reached; and on arriving in London, and having the stones
which I had brought back in my pockets valued, I found that there were
many worthless ones among them, and that the few good ones, when sold,
only realised sufficient to pay the rather heavy expenses of my journey
to and from Baghdad, with a very little over for myself to repay me for
the loss of my time.