I again spoke to him, commanding him to rise and command his fellows to do the same. Then I communicated to them my desire to dispose of my stock. They could do nothing but look at me and at the long feathers; not a word did they utter for such a time I became provoked and said if they did not want to buy to begone. They shook their heads, saying there was no man among them rich enough to buy them. I told them to pile up their money in front of me, that I might know how much they had. I was surprised at the quantity; for it was considerable—as much as I had any particular use for. I divided the bale into equal parts, one for each Arab, and asked them if that was a fair exchange for their money, and I never saw such grinning since I learned to swim. There were fifty women in the party, and to each of those I gave a feather from my feathered horse’s tail, and they took turns in embracing me—in fact, they kept it up until I was sore from head to foot, for sometimes there were three or four at it at once, strung along from my neck to my ankles, and I begged them to desist. The shiek insisted I should select a wife or two from the lot as a slight token of his esteem. This kind offer I politely refused, giving as my reason that I was a man of adventure, and could not very well be burdened with a wife. At this, one of the most beautiful of the girls fell to weeping and tearing her hair. I had great difficulty in reducing her grief sufficiently for her to part with me; but at last, by filling a water-bag with gold, and presenting it to her, together with the remainder of the long feathers, I got away. The Arabs made a pretty sight as they moved across the desert, their feathers nicely wrapped in tissue paper and waving above their heads. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XVII _In which I give an account of the receipt of a curious message concerning a most beautiful princess and a labyrinth, and start out in search of both. I also give some details on transactions on the way, which I trust will be diverting._ ON reaching an oasis, I was very thirsty, and sought the well, to which I descended, and had about satisfied myself, when I observed a peculiar stone at the bottom, which I procured and was examining when I discovered it was hollow. Now, I knew not whether to break it open or seek some other means of ascertaining whether or not it contained anything of value. I pondered a while on the problem, when I found the stone was quite soft and easily crumbled in my hand. I was about to throw it away when I saw what appeared to be a piece of parchment rolled into a very small parcel. It proved to be what I had supposed it was, and upon it was written the following.: