He bowed again. “What do you want with us?” said my sister, becoming bolder. “I await your commands,” said the genie, in a voice like the roaring of a waterfall. “Oh!” said my sister. “Is it the ring of hair on my finger? Is that it?” He bowed again, extending his hands. “Then please! please! take us away from here!” cried my sister. “What is it you seek?” said the genie. “We seek the best thing in the world!” cried my sister. “Take us where we may find it!” “What do you mean by the best thing in the world?” said I to my sister. “I don’t know,” said she; “but the genie ought to know, and he’ll take us where we may find it. Won’t you?” said she, looking up at him. “Hearing is obedience!” said the genie, and little jets of fire spurted from his nostrils. “Where will you take us?” said I. “I will take you where you may find the best thing in the world,” said the genie. “And if you find it, it will be the best thing in the world for me too, because it will release me from the power of the One-Armed Sorcerer, who dwells in an island far out in the Great Sea. If you don’t find it, it will be your own fault, and in that case,--beware!” “This sounds pretty doubtful,” said I. “No matter!” cried my sister. “We will find it. Take us there at once!” _They Start Upon a Journey Through the Air_ The genie stooped down over us, and under his right arm he gathered me up, and under his left arm he gathered up my sister. He stamped upon the earth so that it shook, and leaped into the air; and in an instant we were soaring over the treeless plain, and I was sick with dizziness. Higher and higher we mounted, with the speed of an arrow; we seemed to be flying straight into the face of the sun; I could no longer tell which was sea and which was plain below. I closed my eyes. [Illustration: The genie flew away with Tush and his sister] It was a long time before I opened them again. We were lower, and I could see the plain, flat and grassy, without a tree. The sun declined, and still we kept our course; I thought we should soon be at the end of the world; and still there were no trees anywhere on the plain below us. I ached in every limb; I cried out, but the genie did not hear me; and when I was ready to faint with exhaustion his speed suddenly relaxed, and I saw, at the edge of the horizon before me, what was, or seemed to be, a city. And still there were no trees. Scarcely a moment passed before the city rose in plain view; and with a swoop the genie descended upon the earth, and we were standing, all three of us, before a gate in the city wall, and my sister was arranging her hair before her mirror. A tall and muscular man stood beside the gate, as if on guard. He was chocolate brown in color, and he was bare except for a wide cloth twisted about his middle from waist to thigh, and in his right hand he carried a scimitar, which flashed in the sunlight. I looked around for the genie, but he was gone.