and day to increase, till at last I found
myself the owner of eighty camels. These I hired out to travelling
merchants, whom I frequently accompanied on their various journeys, and
always returned with large profits.

One day I was coming back from Balsora, whither I had taken a supply of
goods, intended for India, and halted at noon in a lonely place, which
promised rich pasture for my camels. I was resting in the shade under
a tree, when a dervish, going on foot towards Balsora, sat down by my
side, and I inquired whence he had come and to what place he was going.
We soon made friends, and after we had asked each other the usual
questions, we produced the food we had with us, and satisfied our
hunger.

While we were eating, the dervish happened to mention that in a spot
only a little way off from where we were sitting, there was hidden a
treasure so great that if my eighty camels were loaded till they could
carry no more, the hiding place would seem as full as if it had never
been touched.

At this news I became almost beside myself with joy and greed, and I
flung my arms round the neck of the dervish, exclaiming: "Good
dervish, I see plainly that the riches of this world are nothing to
you, therefore of what use is the knowledge of this treasure to you?
Alone and on foot, you could carry away a mere handful. But tell me
where it is, and I will load my eighty camels with it, and give you one
of them as a token of my gratitude."

Certainly my offer does not sound very magnificent, but it was great to
me, for at his words a wave of covetousness had swept over my heart,
and I almost felt as if the seventy-nine camels that were left were
nothing in comparison.

The dervish saw quite well what was passing in my mind, but he did not
show what he thought of my proposal.

"My brother," he answered quietly, "you know as well as I do, that you
are behaving unjustly. It was open to me to keep my secret, and to
reserve the treasure for myself. But the fact that I have told you of
its existence shows that I had confidence in you, and that I hoped to
earn your gratitude for ever, by making your fortune as well as mine.
But before I reveal to you the secret of the treasure, you must swear
that, after we have loaded the camels with as much as they can carry,
you will give half to me, and let us go our own ways. I think you will
see that this is fair, for if you present me with forty camels, I on my
side will give you t