eally? Oh,
sir! Do--_do_ please buy it--it will be simply ripping! Do! do! Why, it
will be better than an aeroplane."

I had never in my life before seen my cousin so excited about anything.

"I should certainly advise you to purchase it," whispered Shin Shira.
"It is a very valuable rug, and no doubt you would find it very useful
in many ways."

I must confess to a considerable amount of curiosity myself as we
entered the shop and asked to be shown the carpet which Shin Shira
declared to be endued with such remarkable properties.

It was a very handsome one, and the shopkeeper showed it to us with a
considerable amount of pride.

"It's a genuine article, sir," he told me. "Came over only last week
from Arabia in a special parcel purchased by our agent in Baghdad--I
believe it's very old. These foreigners know how to make things which
will last."

I inquired the price, and hesitated considerably when I found that it
was far in excess of the amount I had intended to pay for a rug.

However, Lionel seemed so very eager, and Shin Shira assured me so
positively that it was really a bargain, that, with a sigh at what I
feared was a great piece of extravagance on my part, I took out my purse
and paid for it. "To where shall I send it?" inquired the shopkeeper.

"Let's ride home on it and save the cab fare," whispered Shin Shira,
pulling me down to his level by my sleeve.

"Good gracious!" I exclaimed.

"Why not? It will be the quickest way home, and certainly the least
expensive," persuaded the little Yellow Dwarf.

"But--but--" I protested.

Shin Shira had already spread the carpet on the ground, and pulling
Lionel on to it, beckoned me to follow.

Half mechanically I obeyed his instructions, and had no sooner sat down
on it, cross-legged, as I saw that Shin Shira and Lionel were doing,
than the little Yellow Dwarf cried out something in a language which I
supposed to be Arabic--and immediately we began to rise into the air.

[Illustration: "We floated away over the roofs of the houses."]

I shall never forget the expression of dismay on the countenance of the
shopkeeper and his assistants, when they saw us slowly floating in the
air towards the door.

"Open it! open it, somebody!" shouted Shin Shira, and a
bewildered-looking customer who had just entered instinctively pulled
the handle. Before we knew where we were, we found ourselves out in the
open air with a shouting, gesticulating, excited crowd watc