led to recompense his involuntary host
very handsomely. For after he had finished eating, and before he rose
from his seat, he heard a slight rustling sound outside the room, as
though some one were stealthily approaching.

Now the Caliph, before lying down to rest on the previous afternoon,
had taken the precaution to bestow the mysterious and wonderful charm
he had picked up, in a place of safety. He had put it inside his
turban, in such a way that he could feel it pressing like a soft
elastic pad upon his forehead. And therefore, in virtue of his contact
with that charm, he was still invisible to every other human being.

Such being the case, the thief peering into the room saw no one but the
keeper of the inn, who was sleeping very soundly. Entering, therefore,
with noiseless tread, his feet being bare, he approached the sleeper,
and extracted very dexterously a small packet of coin which he carried
secreted in his girdle. With this packet the thief glided from the
room, and stopping outside but a single instant to place it inside the
folds of his own turban, he walked briskly away.

The Caliph followed him closely. About a hundred yards from the door
of the inn there flowed a small stream or brook, across which the only
bridge was a couple of planks. Just as they arrived at this point the
Caliph took off the fellow's turban, and, with a push from behind,
threw him into the water. The stream was neither deep nor swift, and
the thief soon picked himself up, scrambled to the other side, and
then, without once looking back, took to his heels, being fully
persuaded that it was the man he had just robbed who had pursued and
overtaken him. The Caliph, after taking the parcel of coin out of the
turban, which he then threw away, walked quietly back towards the inn,
without deigning to bestow another thought on the thief whom he had
thrown into the water.

Before he reached the door of the inn, he saw the innkeeper, who had
awoke and discovered his loss, rush out of the house wild and
bareheaded, his turban having tumbled or been knocked off in his
excitement. Running past the invisible Caliph, and loudly cursing all
villains and robbers, and especially that one who had just taken his
money, he caught sight of the thief himself, scrambling up, dripping
wet, on to the opposite bank of the stream, and, with much
vociferation, he continued in hot pursuit. The noise he made brought
out, of course, all those who ha