inings.
Walking to the hotel, he would picture himself a king's son in
disguise, or else the owner of enormous treasure; would smile, and
clench his hands, and step exultantly; would think:

"If the Emir but knew me as I really am!" But, approaching the Emir,
such fancies vanished. They were of no use because no one would
believe them. It took Elias to give truth to wondrous stories by
judiciously eschewing points that could be verified. Iskender, in
great anguish, prayed to Allah to destroy Elias, or at least to teach
His servant a true story, that he might outshine the miscreant.
Dazzled by the triumph of that splendid liar, he thought of
story-telling as the only way to the Emir's good graces; and lay awake
whole nights constructing fables which the first faint light of dawn
showed to be worthless.

An appeal to the good nature of his rival failed irrevocably. When
Iskender entreated to be left alone with his Emir, were it but for five
minutes, Elias stiffened, crying:

"Curse thy father! What means this plaintive whisper in my ear? Thy
Emir! He was thine by his own will, and has tired of thee. Now he is
my Emir. It is natural he should prefer the society of a grown man who
has dwelt in England, and acquired the manner of its nobles, to that of
a loutish, sullen boy, untravelled, ignorant! Behold, I have stood thy
friend. But for me, he would have cast thee off entirely. . . . Leave
thee alone with him? No, by Allah, that I will not--and have thee
telling wicked lies against me."

Iskender turned away in great unhappiness, deeming his last hope gone.

That night he lay awake and thought of wealth as the only power that
could confound his enemies. At last he fell asleep and dreamt of
gold--nothing but gold; small rounded pebbles of it clothed the ground
for miles. It was more, ten thousand times, than all the wealth of all
the kingdoms put together. The sky above was black as pitch, though
something told him that the hour was noon; the gold put out the sun.
"All mine!" he thought, and was preparing to gather it, but some one
stopped him with an iron hand; and then he woke, to hear his mother's
snores and see the flicker of the night-light on the rafters.

His first sensations were of disappointment as though great wealth had
really lain within his grasp. But presently as he pondered on the
vision, his heart leapt up with exultation at the thought that here was
the nucleus of a story, marvellou