"Certainly," promised Matiah, blinking shrewdly across the square and estimating with his eye the distance he should have to run to reach the door in the garden wall. "All you have to do is to think of something you want, close your eyes, count slowly to a hundred, and I, wearing the three necklaces, will easily grant your wish. I thought you trusted me and that we were going to be friends," he finished reproachfully. "We were--er--that is--HERE, take them!" Unclasping the heavy chains, Skamperoo, who already had a wish in mind, thrust them into the merchant's hands. Closing his eyes, he made his wish and then began to count hysterically, "One--two--three--four--five--six." At six, Matiah was half way across the garden, when horrors! A great white horse with a golden tail and mane dropped like a plummet from the sky. Pawing up the sand in Matiah's path, he flashed his yellow eyes so wickedly, the merchant fell back into the cactus bushes, where he lay screaming with shock, pain and amazement. But Skamperoo, thinking all the noises he heard were but magic incantations, went calmly on with his counting. He had reached sixty before Matiah had recovered himself enough to crawl out of the cactus and make his way cautiously back to the bench. The immense white horse continued to stare at him threateningly, but as it made no attempt to spring forward he began to regain a little of his usual assurance and courage. "Great Garoo! Then there _was_ magic in the emeralds. This horse was undoubtedly the King's wish come true, a beastly wish!" shuddered the merchant as he stared in fascination at the pawing monster and wondered what to do next. He was afraid to run past the white horse and escape with the jewels, but HAH! he could make a wish for himself, a wish that would carry him and the emeralds far from Skampavia, the farther the better. Closing his eyes, he muttered a hurried sentence and waited tensely to be transported to Ev, a country he had once visited in his youth. But nothing at all happened, and gritting his teeth with vexation, Matiah opened his eyes just as Skamperoo finished counting a hundred. "So!" beamed the delighted monarch, embracing him heartily. "You have done it. You really _are_ a magician. Behold my horse, a horse in a thousand. A golden maned charger fit for a King, for a Conqueror--" "Of all the dumb things," fumed Matiah, wriggling fiercely away from Skamperoo, "of all the dumb things to wish for, a horse is about the dumbest of all!" "Dumb?" whinnied the white steed with an indignant snort. "I'm not a dumb beast, I can laugh, I can talk, That's becoz I'm from Oz and my full name is Chalk." "Cha--lk?" quavered Skamperoo, who had never heard an animal speak a word in his life. "He--he says his name's Chalk." The King looked appealingly at the merchant and seeing he would have to live up to the role of magician, Matiah assumed an air of careless superiority.