you did not come we grew very much alarmed, and at daybreak
went back the way we had come, intending to search for you.

"Anxious not to miss finding you we even mounted a stair which led up
to a long half-dark room, quite off by itself. It was full of
mysterious-looking bottles and pots, many of them marked 'poison,' but
the queerest thing of all was a tiny well in one corner, on the cover
of which was printed in large black letters 'Enchanting Oil.'

"We lifted the cover and peered in. It was so dark in there that we
could see nothing, so I lit a match and by the light of it we looked
down a terrible depth and could see the oil shining dimly at the bottom.

"Just then Princess Helda accidentally touched the handle of the little
brass bucket which was drawn up to the top, knocking the match out of
my fingers. It fell into the bucket, which contained a few drops of
the oil. Immediately a flame leaped into our very faces and shot up
nearly to the ceiling. We turned and ran down the stairs again, and up
another flight near it which Helda knew would take us to one of the
living-rooms. There we ran about like mad shouting 'Fire,' and
thinking that you and the Queen would surely perish. We knew that some
of the fire must soon drop into the oil well, and when that happens I
am sure it will explode."

He had hardly said the words when a terrific roar shook the earth. The
flaming house suddenly scattered into a million burning pieces which
dropped into the sea, and some of which fell on the ship and had to be
thrown overboard.

A column of black smoke rose into the air and hid the island entirely
from view.

They lay to all morning, waiting for the smoke to clear away, but it
was not until mid afternoon that it began to disappear.

They sailed slowly nearer to the island, wondering what damage had been
done besides the burning of the house. As they came closer they seemed
to see houses by the waterside through the haze of smoke, which was
steadily growing thinner, and then what appeared to be streets.

Their wonder grew when they carefully steered back to the cove and
found that they were in a harbor that was lined with stone docks. Some
ships lay at anchor, packages of goods were piled up on the wharves,
workmen went back and forth loading and unloading the vessels, piling
goods into long warehouses, and the scene was a busy one.

The first thought that sprang to Daimur's mind was that they had made a
mist