he means of buying a thousand more."

I could not of course deny that what the dervish said was perfectly
reasonable, but, in spite of that, the thought that the dervish would
be as rich as I was unbearable to me. Still there was no use in
discussing the matter, and I had to accept his conditions or bewail to
the end of my life the loss of immense wealth. So I collected my
camels and we set out together under the guidance of the dervish.
After walking some time, we reached what looked like a valley, but with
such a narrow entrance that my camels could only pass one by one. The
little valley, or open space, was shut up by two mountains, whose sides
were formed of straight cliffs, which no human being could climb.

When we were exactly between these mountains the dervish stopped.

"Make your camels lie down in this open space," he said, "so that we
can easily load them; then we will go to the treasure."

I did what I was bid, and rejoined the dervish, whom I found trying to
kindle a fire out of some dry wood. As soon as it was alight, he threw
on it a handful of perfumes, and pronounced a few words that I did not
understand, and immediately a thick column of smoke rose high into the
air. He separated the smoke into two columns, and then I saw a rock,
which stood like a pillar between the two mountains, slowly open, and a
splendid palace appear within.

But, Commander of the Faithful, the love of gold had taken such
possession of my heart, that I could not even stop to examine the
riches, but fell upon the first pile of gold within my reach and began
to heap it into a sack that I had brought with me.

The dervish likewise set to work, but I soon noticed that he confined
himself to collecting precious stones, and I felt I should be wise to
follow his example. At length the camels were loaded with as much as
they could carry, and nothing remained but to seal up the treasure, and
go our ways.

Before, however, this was done, the dervish went up to a great golden
vase, beautifully chased, and took from it a small wooden box, which he
hid in the bosom of his dress, merely saying that it contained a
special kind of ointment. Then he once more kindled the fire, threw on
the perfume, and murmured the unknown spell, and the rock closed, and
stood whole as before.

The next thing was to divide the camels, and to charge them with the
treasure, after which we each took command of our own and marched out
of the valley,