urned their thanks, and went away full of curiosity to
see how all this would end.

The young men were on hand at the appointed hour, and on the square
before the sheik's house they met the old man, who told them that the
steward would admit them. He went before them, not by way of the
decorated steps and gate, but through a little side gate, that he
closed carefully after them. Then he led them through many passages
until they came to the large _salon_. Here there was a great crowd on
all sides; there were richly dressed men of rank of the city--friends
of the sheik, who had come to console him in his sorrow. There were
slaves of every race and nation. But everybody wore a sorrowful
expression, for they all loved their master and shared his grief. At
one end of the _salon_, on a costly divan, sat the nearest friends of
Ali Banu, who were waited upon by slaves. Near them, on the floor, sat
the sheik, whose grief would not permit him to sit in state. His head
was supported in his hands, and he seemed to be paying little attention
to the consolations whispered to him by his friends. Opposite him sat
some old and young men in slave costume. The old man informed his young
friends that these were the slaves whom Ali Banu would free to-day.
Among them were some Franks; and the old man called his friends'
special attention to one of them, who was of extraordinary beauty, and
was still quite young. The sheik had recently bought him, for an
enormous sum, from some slave-dealers of Tunis, and was,
notwithstanding his high cost, about to set him free, believing that
the more Franks he returned to their fatherland the sooner the Prophet
would restore his son.

After refreshments had been handed around, the sheik gave a sign to the
steward, who now stood up amid the deep silence that prevailed in the
room. He stepped before the slaves who were shortly to be freed, and
said in a clear voice: "Men, who will receive your freedom to-day,
through the grace of my master Ali Banu, Sheik of Alessandria, conform
now to the custom of this house on this day, and begin your
narratives."

After much whispering among themselves, an old slave arose and began
his story.

* * * * *

THE DWARF NOSEY.

Sire! They are wrong who believe that fairies and magicians existed
only at the time of Haroun-al-Raschid, or who assert that the reports
of the doings of the genii and their