him at
the moment, and he vanished.

I stood looking at my little friend in great bewilderment.

"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 Ni