, PAUL that bears them " The djinn smiled aid bowed and brought him to the midst of the garden to a tree heavy with fruit First Usul ate his fill and refreshed himself, and thought he had never tasted anything better Then he plucked three for Alhen He rose to leave, and turned to d dijmni and boasted, "Fruit as excellent as this, and so poorly guarded1 Any outcast might fill his belly here " The djmn answered, "Tt is guarded well enough If the outcast you speak of were not to reach his hearth by nightfall, he would become as we Many indeed have eaten these portyguls, and as you see, we are all still here And as for that, is your journey a long one9" But Usul said no more, for he knew he had overreached himself, and cast about to find a way out of his new-made troubles It was clear that he could not return the way he came, for that would be a day and a night in its making, and he would either be m Alhen's pit or gathering dew with a scythe long before that So if he could cot go the safe way, he must go the straight way, and trust whatever had brought him thus far to bring him farther To that purpose he marked where the sun rose and set a course straight and fast for Alhen's castle His path led him over a jagged rock wall, from which he looked at the sand basin before him, and all seemed well, he saw kaymuo, dust sand, tn the basm, but with a good suit that was no more than the buzzing of a fly He ran down the face of the slope, flying like die wind and thinking, "I shall surely make it on time '' But as he reached the level, he felt no ground beneath his feet, and he knew that what he had thought a sand basm was instead a chasm filled with bar almeda, and tn this dust he would sink lower and lower until he breathed no more Usul felt the dust rise to his knees, and he pulled his cloak from him aid threw it across the dust before him, but it did him little good He sank more slowly, but still he sank, and now the dust was rising to his hips He looked round carefully, so as not to thrash and flounder, but saw nothing in reach- no spar of rock, no plant, no firmer sand Usul tried to inch his way onto his spread-out cloak, but the dust sucked him down, and now it had swallowed him up to the arms Then he raised his head and cned out, "Azfar, come to me'" and the Yellow Djmni swirled in a dust cloud above his head "Here I am," said the demon "What do you want of me9" ' Get me out of this dust," Usul commanded "I offered you a service when you were your own master," the djinni replied, "but Alhen has spelled you-you are not free But I will do it for one of the portyguls of the garden which you carry' * Take it then,' said Usul And the djinni, telling Usul to hold fast to his cloak, swept under the dust and rose inside the cloak, bearing Usul up out of the bar almeda and setting him down on firm sand on the farther side And taking his reward, Azfar departed Usul brushed the dust away and settled his garments He saw a mouse n