d. Thus the door not being completely closed, the catch of
the lock, despite a double turn of the key, shot back again; so
instead of closing the door behind him, as Ali fondly imagined, he
left it ajar.

Eminah waited till the sound of her husband's footsteps had quite
ceased. Then she softly opened the door, and at first contented
herself with peeping in. Perceiving nothing to frighten her back, she
ventured right in, cautiously peering around at every step lest any
angry spirit should suddenly rise up before her.

Before her lay a long corridor, and she went right to the very end of
it. Then she came upon a spiral staircase, which was so dark that she
had to painfully grope her way along. A fatal curiosity goaded her on
in spite of the darkness, and presently she found herself in a large,
round room, dimly lit by a hanging lamp.

All round the walls of this room were arranged marble benches,
pitchers of water, funnels, and curious instruments of iron, leather,
and wood, of all shapes and sizes, looking all the more
incomprehensible in the semi-darkness. These were, no doubt, the
implements with which Ali was in the habit of making gold, thought
Eminah to herself, and, discovering a convenient niche at the head of
the staircase, she squeezed herself into it so that she could see
everything from thence without being seen herself.

A few moments afterwards the door at the opposite end of the room
opened, and Ali and twelve dumb eunuchs entered with torches. The room
was illuminated at once, the eunuchs thrusting the torches into large
iron sconces; one of them then proceeded to light the fire and pile up
various instruments around it; some sort of liquid also began bubbling
in a caldron. Ali meanwhile was sitting down on a camp-stool and
distributing his commands in a low voice. "Now we shall see how Ali
makes gold," thought Eminah.

But now at a sign from Ali two of the eunuchs entered a trap-door, and
a few moments afterwards the rattling of chains was audible; the
trap-door opened again, and in came two old men, peculiar-looking
creatures, with long gray hair, closely cropped beards, and strange
garments, the like of which Eminah had never seen before.

"Ah! no doubt these are the spirits which help Ali to make gold,"
thought Eminah to herself. "Well, at any rate, they are in chains, so
I need not be afraid of them." And, like the timid spectator of some
strange drama, she looked out from her hiding-place at t