ring fruit.

The poor King and Queen shuddered at the sight and kept close to
Daimur, who was so busy thinking that he hardly noticed them.

"By my cap," he said to himself, "I know there is a stair to the
Magician's house from the shore on the other side of this hill, and the
house is a strong stone one built into the hill. I wonder," he
thought, "if we can find the stair."

They walked, or rather Daimur walked and the doves flew slowly towards
the hill, but soon came to a great wall of rock that jutted out for
half a mile, and over which they could see by the tree tops a terrific
wind was blowing.

Daimur announced his intention of trying to scale the wall, but even as
he spoke a sudden gust of wind swept down upon them, causing the trees
to scatter fruit in all directions, and almost upsetting the three
doves.

"What did I tell you?" said King Cyril. "We do not get much of it
here, but look how the treetops are bending above us. It is of no use
to try to climb up."

Feeling rather disconsolate Daimur turned around and started following
the great wall of rock which ran away around the hill, winding in and
out until it ran right into the sea.

"This wall is the same on the other side of the island," said the King,
"it runs into the sea on that side also, so that the Magician's
dwelling is completely shut off from the rest of the island."

They went on, keeping close beside the wall, until they came to the
place where it crossed the sand of the seashore, and Daimur stood lost
in thought, gazing at the rough stones which towered above his head.
Then with a sudden exclamation he took his spade from his shoulder and
commenced digging in the sand at the foot of the wall.

He soon found that it was only buried about three feet in the sand, and
in a few minutes he had succeeded in making a hole under it wide enough
to crawl through on his hands and knees, the doves immediately
following him.

Once inside, the shore looked very much the same as it did elsewhere,
and the only wind was the natural breeze, fresh and briny, which blew
in from the sea.

They crept along, keeping close to the ground, under the shade of the
trees, and after a while came up close to the hill, which at this side
seemed to be of solid rock, and ran very close to the water.

Built against the hill was a long, low house of white stone, with a
flight of marble steps leading up to the door, while directly in front
of it running out a shor