THE ENCHANTED ISLAND

But wait a bit! There was something queer about it
all, and that is now to be told.

All that day was feasting and drinking and merry-
making, and the twinging and twanging of music, and
dancing of beautiful dancing-girls, and such things as Selim
had never heard tell of in all his life before. And when
night came they lit thousands and thousands of candles of
perfumed wax ; so that it was a hard matter to say when
night began and day ended, only that the one smelled
sweeter than the other. ,

But at last it became midnight, and then suddenly, in
an instant, all the lights went out and everything was as
dark as pitch—not a spark, not a glimmer anywhere.
And, just as suddenly, all the sound of music and dancing
and merry-making ceased, and everybody began to wail
and cry until it was enough to wring one’s heart to hear.
Then in the midst of all the wailing and crying, a door
was flung open, and in came six tall and terrible black
men, dressed all in black from top to toe, carrying each a
flaming torch ; and by the light of the torches King Selim
saw that all—the princes, the noblemen, the dancing-girls
—all lay on their faces on the floor.

The six men took King Selim—who shuddered and
shook with fear—by the arms, and marched him through
dark, gloomy entries and passage-ways, until they came at
last to the very heart of the palace.

There was a great high-vaulted room all of black
marble, and in the middle of it was a pedestal with seven
steps, all of black marble; and on the pedestal stood a
stone statue of a woman looking as natural as life, only
that her eyes were shut. The statue was dressed like a
queen: she wore a golden crown on her head, and upon

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