"It's a genuine article, sir," he told me. "Came over only last week from Arabia in a special parcel purchased by our agent in Baghdad—I believe it's very old. These foreigners know how to make things which will last."
I inquired the price, and hesitated considerably when I found that it was far in excess of the amount I had intended to pay for a rug.
However, Lionel seemed so very eager, and Shin Shira assured me so positively that it was really a bargain, that, with a sigh at what I feared was a great piece of extravagance on my part, I took out my purse and paid for it. "To where shall I send it?" inquired the shopkeeper.
"Let's ride home on it and save the cab fare," whispered Shin Shira, pulling me down to his level by my sleeve.
"Good gracious!" I exclaimed.
"Why not? It will be the quickest way home, and certainly the least expensive," persuaded the little Yellow Dwarf.
"But—but—" I protested.
Shin Shira had already spread the carpet on the ground, and pulling Lionel on to it, beckoned me to follow.
Half mechanically I obeyed his instructions, and had no sooner sat down on it, cross-legged, as I saw that Shin Shira and Lionel were doing, than the little Yellow Dwarf cried out something in a language which I supposed to be