e obtained from its blubber, and with this ye can trade. Then, too,
its bones are valuable."

The people thanked Rabba for his good advice, and immediately they
set about doing what he bade them. They told him this was a bewitched
land, the country of Kishef, abounding with terrible monsters both on
land and in the sea, and ruled over by a malignant jinn, named Hormuz,
who gave them no peace. They asked Rabba to try and kill this sprite
who said that only a stranger to the land could do him harm, and so
Rabba and his faithful Ali, mounted on horses, set forth on their
adventures.

"I think I know this country," said Ali. "I believe I landed once on
the other shore. We cannot be far from the wilderness in which the
Israelites wandered."

For several days they journeyed through forests and across plains and
nothing happened. At last they came to a broad, high wall which barred
their progress. They could find no opening through which to pass, and
while they were wondering what to do, a strange figure suddenly
appeared on the wall. One of his legs was longer than the other, and
his arms were also of different length. His ears and eyes were also
unequal, and he hopped and bounded along the wall at amazing speed.

"My name is Hormuz," he cried. "Who are ye?"

"Strangers," called Rabba, and as soon as he heard the word, the
sprite darted swiftly off along the top of the wall. But although the
horses ran at topmost speed, they could not overtake him, and he
quickly disappeared. Where he was lost to sight, however, there was a
hole in the wall, and through this Rabba and Ali just managed to take
their horses. A vast wilderness lay before them.

Ali picked up two clods of earth and smelt them.

"As I thought," he said, "this is the wilderness of the Israelites.
Come, I will show thee strange sights."

Before nightfall, they came to a place where the bodies of a large
number of men lay strewn on the ground.

"These men must have been giants," said Rabba, as Ali, with his spear
uplifted, rode under the raised knee of one of the bodies. "These must
be the bodies of the Ephraimites who left Egypt before the rest of the
children of Israel and were slain."

He cut off a portion of a garment that still covered one of the
bodies, but when he tried to move he could not. He seemed to be rooted
to the spot. Nor could his horse move.

"Oh, oh," cried Ali, "my horse has lost its power to move. Thou must
have taken something from