isible. So he put it in his sash, by the side of a silver
watch which he had bought from the Jew that morning.

The possession of this piece of good fortune cheered Neangir up a
little, 'for,' thought he, 'I can sell these jewels for at least a
thousand sequins, and that will certainly last me till I have found my
father.' And consoled by this reflection he laid both watches beside him
and prepared to sleep.

In the middle of the night he awoke suddenly and heard a soft voice
speaking, which seemed to come from one of the watches.

'Aurora, my sister,' it whispered gently. 'Did they remember to wind you
up at midnight?'

'No, dear Argentine,' was the reply. 'And you?'

'They forgot me, too,' answered the first voice, 'and it is now
one o'clock, so that we shall not be able to leave our prison till
to-morrow--if we are not forgotten again--then.'

'We have nothing now to do here,' said Aurora. 'We must resign ourselves
to our fate--let us go.'

Filled with astonishment Neangir sat up in bed, and beheld by the light
of the moon the two watches slide to the ground and roll out of the
room past the cats' quarters. He rushed towards the door and on to the
staircase, but the watches slipped downstairs without his seeing them,
and into the street. He tried to unlock the door and follow them, but
the key refused to turn, so he gave up the chase and went back to bed.

The next day all his sorrows returned with tenfold force. He felt
himself lonelier and poorer than ever, and in a fit of despair he thrust
his turban on his head, stuck his sword in his belt, and left the house
determined to seek an explanation from the merchant who had sold him the
silver watch.

When Neangir reached the bazaar he found the man he sought was absent
from his shop, and his place filled by another Jew.

'It is my brother you want,' said he; 'we keep the shop in turn, and in
turn go into the city to do our business.'

'Ah! what business?' cried Neangir in a fury. 'You are the brother of a
scoundrel who sold me yesterday a watch that ran away in the night. But
I will find it somehow, or else you shall pay for it, as you are his
brother!'

'What is that you say?' asked the Jew, around whom a crowd had rapidly
gathered. 'A watch that ran away. If it had been a cask of wine, your
story might be true, but a watch--! That is hardly possible!'

'The Cadi shall say whether it is possible or not,' replied Neangir, who
at that moment perceived t