Having observed the growing effect of the fluid on the chick I spread some more of it on him. The result was marvelous indeed, for he grew to such a height it made me dizzy to look upon the flying ground. He expanded in every direction, and his back became large enough for me to walk around upon it with comfort. By dint of exercising some caution I secured a bit in his mouth and was pleased to find he answered quite readily to the rein. I then turned him about and made for the flock, which stood in open-mouthed wonder—for none of them had ever seen such a chick. He so shook the earth with his tread that it frightened them and they made off at the top of their speed, which appeared to me quite slow, as I had not the slightest difficulty in riding down first one and then another and pulling out the best feathers. This I continued to do until I had a bale of them many feet square. Then I put them into a frenzy and they scurried across the sand out of sight. I thereupon stopped my horse and alighted with my bale of ostrich feathers. Perhaps it was the love of mother or of father or home, anyhow something, some impulse took possession of my chick and he trotted away leaving me in the burning sand. I grabbed at his tail as he started, but only succeeded in getting fifty or sixty feathers, each about ten feet long and all beautifully curled. I was somewhat fatigued and lay down on my bale. When I awoke I was surrounded by a herd of Arabs, all with their faces in the sand, muttering exhortations. I spoke in their own tongue, commanding the shiek to arise. When he had done so I asked him the cause of this proceeding. He seemed tongue-tied, with hardly strength enough left to point at the feathers of the young bird. I asked him what that had to do with it, and after about an hour of urging, with the greatest difficulty he told me, but he had to turn his back to the long feathers, for every time his eyes caught sight of them, he wiggled and twisted, gasped and choked, and would have burrowed his head in the sand at my feet if I had not made him stand up straight. He said he had no words to describe his admiration for a man who could find such feathers. After about another hour he managed to face the feathers again with composure, though he accomplished it by the exercise of great care; he turned but an inch at a time, and first took a very little peek out of the tail of his eye, then one a little larger after he had got over his spasms, and so on until at last he was fairly capable of real thought. Then he begged the privilege of hefting one of them. I handed one to him, whereupon he cried aloud to his followers, who jumped to their feet and began to sing as he waved the feather backward and forward. When he had finished he returned it to me most tenderly and fell upon his face; whereupon the others did likewise.